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Bomb Suspect in Court; Lives Lost in Synagogue Massacre. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired October 29, 2018 - 06:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[06:30:00] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Just remember, the language here, it does matter and, in some cases, seems very deliberate.

Ahead on NEW DAY, we're going to speak with counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway to find out what the White House intends to do over the next week, month, two years to bring this country together.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: The man suspected of sending more than a dozen bombs to critics of President Trump and people President Trump went after will be in court today. So we have a live update for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: A major development overnight in South America. Just a colossal election there. And you can see the celebrations on the streets of Rio in Brazil after that nation elected a hard-right nationalists to be president. Jair Bolsonaro has called himself defender of freedom. He did that in his victory speech. This is a guy who has been criticized for making homophobic, racist, misogynist comments. Clearly all those three things in most cases. His victory caps one of the most polarizing and violent political campaigns in Brazil's history. And this is seen as a major shift, again, toward reactionary hard-right movements, another election victory for that type of movement in a key nation.

[06:35:19] CAMEROTA: Back here in the U.S., the man accused of mailing 14 package bombs to targets of President Trump's criticism will make his first court appearance in Florida today.

CNN's Rosa Flores is live in Miami with more.

What do we expect, Rosa?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, good morning.

Cesar Sayoc is expected to be in court at 2:00 p.m. this afternoon. Now this is his first appearance stemming from five federal charges out of the Southern District of New York that includes the illegal mailing of explosives.

Now, generally speaking, this proceeding is expected to be short. Sayoc will be informed of the charges against him. The judge will then ask him if he needs an attorney or not. Now, that all depends if his family will foot the bill, because as you know, Sayoc lived out of that white van that was plastered with stickers of President Trump.

Now, because we know that this case will be prosecuted out of the Southern District of New York, Sayoc will also need a removal hearing. Now, from what we understand, that hearing could be held today. It could be held this week. It all depends on what transpires today at 2:00 p.m.

John.

BERMAN: All right, Rosa Floras for us.

Rosa, thank you very, very much.

Eleven people killed in a Pittsburgh synagogue. Up next we're going to speak with members of the Tree of Life congregation who knew some of the victims.

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[06:40:41] CAMEROTA: Thousands of people attended a vigil last night to remember the 11 victims gunned down Saturday while worshipping at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh.

Joining us now are two members of that congregation, Fred Rabner and his son Jesse.

Gentlemen, thank you so much for being here with us and we're so sorry for your loss.

FRED RABNER, KNEW VICTIMS OF THE SYNAGOGUE MASSACRE: We appreciate you having us on to speak from Squirrel Hill's perspective.

JESSE RABNER, KNEW VICTIMS OF THE SYNAGOGUE MASSACRE: Thank you for having us, Alisyn. It means a lot.

CAMEROTA: Guys, I want to start by asking if you can help us all understand about the lives that were lost, some of the lives that were lost. And let's just start -- maybe I can even put up a picture of Cecil and David Rosenthal. This picture, I mean, in some ways, it just tells me so much about them, you know? They -- I like them already from this picture, not even knowing them.

And so, Fred, can you just tell us what these brothers were like and what they meant to the synagogue?

F. RABNER: Yes, the volume went out but I'm assuming the question was posed, I heard the beginning of it. Just to understand, I mean my son was bar mitzvahed at this synagogue. We live blocks from here. David and Cecil are fixtures in this community, not just this synagogue. Cecil's an individual who, since I'm 10-years-old, was around the JCC and was someone who was a greeter who would seat every single person who walked in the JCC and this Tree of Life Synagogue, shake their hand. He was someone who, when you drive by, he was a fixture. We would honk and wave to Cecil. Cecil's sister, I've known for a long time, and David as well. David was someone who everyone in this community would know just by facial recognition. I have no volume in my ear, but just expressing to you that those two individuals were as innocent as you could imagine.

J. RABNER: Walking into the Tree of Life Synagogue, almost every single time you'd see Cecil's face with a big smile and he'd greet you and it wouldn't be like a big conversation, but you could tell he's always happy. And he brought such good energy to the synagogue and Jewish Community Center in general.

CAMEROTA: And, Jesse, can you hear me? Do you have volume?

Fred, Jesse, can either of you hear me?

F. RABNER: I can hear you now.

J. RABNER: Yes. Yes.

CAMEROTA: OK, great. Thank you, guys, for being patient with our technical issues.

So I want to just talk about the brothers a little bit more. So they had special needs. And I'm just wondering how that manifested?

F. RABNER: Can't hear.

Can you hear, Jess?

J. RABNER: No.

CAMEROTA: Oh.

F. RABNER: There's no volume.

CAMEROTA: So, listen, we're struggling obviously with their sound. So we will take a very quick break and we will get back to Fred and Jesse as soon as possible.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:47:44] CAMEROTA: All right, everybody, thank you for being patient with us. We had some technological problems as we were trying to go to our guests, Fred and Jesse Rabner, to talk about the shooting at their synagogue, the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh.

So, Fred and Jesse, can you guys hear me now?

Fred?

Fred, Jesse?

J. RABNER: It's all good. We're good.

CAMEROTA: I'm not sure you're good.

Hey, Jesse, Fred?

F. RABNER: You going to hold it --

CAMEROTA: All right. We're -- we don't know how to explain what's going on, but they were coming on to tell us about the beloved members of the congregation that they lost this weekend.

Fred? Jesse?

F. RABNER: Hello?

CAMEROTA: Hi. Can you guys hear me now on the phone?

You're looking at the vigil right now while we get them set up on the phone. This is the vigil from last night. Thousands of people turned out in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood in Pittsburgh to remember the lives of these 11 people who were killed. I mean the age ranges are just stunning, from 54-year-old David Rosenthal, to 97-year-old Rose Mallinger. It's incredible what one gunman could do in terms of the loss in this congregation.

Fred and Jesse, I hope you guys can you hear me?

Fred, can you hear me?

F. RABNER: I can hear you, yes.

CAMEROTA: So, you -- you were both --

F. RABNER: Sorry, we were having a problem with the microphone.

CAMEROTA: I know, you guys are being so patient with us.

So you were telling us about Cecil Rosenthal. And can you just tell us a little bit more about -- I know he had special needs. And we have a picture here of him with his brother, David Rosenthal. Cecil was 59, David was 54. David's on the left, Cecil's on the right. And I -- I mean, look, through the picture you can see the friendliness and warmth of these brothers, but can you just tell us again your experience again greeting you?

F. RABNER: I mean just to be from Squirrel Hill, you would have to -- everyone in this community would know who David and Cecil are. I mean these are two individuals that were fixtures at the JCC local community center, these are individuals that were fixtures at the Tree of Life. My son, who went to Hebrew school at Tree of Life and was bar mitzvah there, would know Cecil and shake Cecil's hand when he walks into school (ph). He'd be someone that would be joining the kids for bagels at his Sunday school.

[06:50:12] Cecil's someone who, since I'm 10 years old, was at every single basketball practice that we held at the JCC, someone who would be there when we walked in and someone who would say good-bye when we left. And when I'd drive home from work, if I see Cecil at the bus stop, I honk and I say hello to Cecil. I know -- I know their sister very well as well. I mean I've known her my whole life. I don't know her very well. But these are just community members that are loved and there's not an ill bone in their body.

You know, Miss Mallinger is 97-years-old. Her son was my basketball coach growing up. These are people that are fixtures in the community.

And, by and large, the people that are at this synagogue at that early in the morning are people that are conservative Jewish believing people that go there early in the morning and pray every Saturday, to think that they were there in their most vulnerable moment to have something so heinous occur is just devastating to this community.

CAMEROTA: Yes. Yes, all of it is heartbreaking.

And so, Jesse, I wanted to ask you, because your dad --

F. RABNER: Put it to your ear.

CAMEROTA: Jesse, because you dad said that you went to kindergarten at the Tree of Life. You were bar mitzvahed at the Tree of Life. You went to elementary school. And so what will the loss of 11 members of the congregation mean to the community there?

J. RABNER: Well, it's hard to understand how well these loss -- how significant these losses are to our community unless you understand significance in the intimacy of Squirrel Hill. The community is knit so tight there one life affects thousands. It's a norm to be Jewish in Squirrel Hill, and it's a loving and peaceful community. These 11 lives, it's devastating for every single person that resides here.

My friends are being active in the community, organizing the vigil, and it's -- I mean, we're coming together very close, but it's a major hit on Squirrel Hill and we're not -- we're going to respond. We're going to stay strong.

CAMEROTA: And if you could hand the phone back to your dad, to Fred, I don't know if you guys can still hear me.

But, Fred --

F. RABNER: I'm sorry. Can you -- can you hear us?

CAMEROTA: Yes, we're using the old-fashioned way.

And, Fred, listen, I do know a little bit about Squirrel Hill. I do know about your community and your son's school, Allderdice High School, that's getting so involved in all of this. And how -- what is the message? I mean as congregants of this synagogue, what is carrying people through today in terms of their faith and the message of all of this?

F. RABNER: Well, you know, I was talking to my son and I'm reminded of a quote from Martin Luther King that darkness -- you cannot root out darkness. Only light can do that. And, you know, hate cannot root out hate, only love can do that. And I think that's how this community's responding. Squirrel Hill is not just a Jewish community. There's a diversity here. Everyone in the surrounding community is embracing each other. Pittsburgh, as a whole, is unifying. We're going to -- we're going to bring light, for example, by getting

in front of cameras and talking about how we're going to respond. People responding with love. We're going to love and be understanding. And if we unify in this way that we have been and we're seeing throughout Pittsburgh, that's the only way to defeat this type of hatred because there's no sense in what happened here. There's no sense in what happened in Parkland. There's no sense in what happened in Missouri. These are shootings that are senseless. And we're going to have to unify, have a singular message going forward and we're going to have to do something to address automatic weapons that can take out an entire congregation in seconds. There's no rational reason to have that type of weapon in such hands as we saw here. And until we address that issue and unify and address that issue as a country, we can't heal.

But this community, this city, we're going to -- we're going to approach it with compassion and love and try and use this event to galvanize, not only our community, but our city and hopefully this message throughout the country so that we can get some viable change.

CAMEROTA: And, Jesse, my last question is for you. Jesse, you're only 17 years old?

J. RABNER: Yes, that's correct.

CAMEROTA: And I'm just wondering how you get -- how you and your friends get your heads around what happened here?

J. RABNER: Well, as I was listening to the police dispatch live, it was excruciatingly painful envisioning my -- the synagogue that I was bar mitzvahed at being impacted with such terror and these innocent lives who, they were just going to pray, that they're dedicated every morning. It's hard, but me and my friends have confided in each other and it's -- not all 17 years olds are that emotional, but I've seen emotional sides of people that I really haven't seen before. And my phone has been blowing up with love and messages from my loved ones. Since the second those shots were fired, I've been in contact with family members around the country just checking in, making sure that our morale is OK and -- yes, it's been -- it's been hard.

[06:55:28] CAMEROTA: Well, Fred and Jesse Rabner, we are thinking of you. We're praying for your whole community. Thank you very, very much for being with us on NEW DAY today.

Thank you, gentlemen.

BERMAN: It's so important to hear about the people we lost and the contribution that they made to society. And it's all the more heartbreaking to know that they were killed for nothing.

CAMEROTA: As they were worshipping that morning. More on NEW DAY when we return.

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[07:00:06] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened will not break us.