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New Day Saturday

Mueller Report Raises Even More Questions; Don McGahn Under Attack; Horror in California Comes to an End for the Turpin Children; South Carolina Girl's Death Ruled due to Unknown Birth Defect; Severe Weather Ushers in the Easter Weekend; Christopher Ahn is in Custody; Columbine Students Still Threatened; Money Pours in to Repair Notre Dame Cathedral; Kate Smith Statue to be Removed; Westbrook-Lillard Square Off; Lorraine Warren, Paranormal Investigator, Dead at 92. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired April 20, 2019 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO)

LEON PANETTA, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: I believe he committed obstruction of justice, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Democrats say the Mueller report gives them a road map to investigate the president for obstruction.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Frustration is not obstruction. I think for those who are pursuing this, I think the American people are exhausted by it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Total B.S., as the president rages against the Mueller report, he appears to be singling out one particular person who spoke to investigators, White House counsel Don McGahn. Watch out for people that take so-called notes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The defendants Louise and David Turpin sobbed listing the toned down testimony of torture and captivity.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sometimes I still have nightmares of things that have happened, such as my siblings being chained up or beaten.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My parents took my whole life from me, but now I'm taking my life back.

(END VIDEO)

ANNOUNCER: This is "New Day" weekend with Victor Blackwell and Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Good "New Day" to you. Democrats are now demanding are release of the full runredacted Mueller report. And a democratic aid tells CNN they feel they are quote, "only at the beginning of this thing."

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN HOST: Yes, so where do the Mueller revelations end at this point? Do they end with impeachment as we're hearing more and more in the last 24 hours? Democrats are divided on that issue. There's a conference call we know scheduled Monday to talk about what they do next.

BLACKWELL: Meanwhile House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler has already formally requested the full report. The Justice Department is unlikely to hand it over without a court fight. Here's is CNN Senior Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The fight over the full Mueller report only just beginning. The democrats and the House Judiciary Committee sending a subpoena to the Justice Department demanding the full Mueller report be underlying evidence, wanting all the information by May 1st. They are not expecting to get what they are demanding and that could mean a court fight could take place. It could take months and weeks to get what the democrats want if they are successful.

Also, they're planning on issuing other subpoenas. They have been authorized to send subpoenas to five individuals - former White House officials for records that they may have received from the White House as they prepare to testify before Bob Mueller's investigation as it pertains to a potential obstruction of justice. One of the former officials, Don McGahn, the president's former attorney who, according to the Mueller report was ordered by the president to fire Bob Mueller. McGahn, according to the report, resisted in doing so.

Democrats were investigating potential obstruction of justice, want to learn more. One thing that is dividing the party in the days and weeks ahead at least in the aftermath of the Mueller report is whether to pursue impeachment proceedings. Elizabeth Warren, the 2020 presidential candidate, the senator from Massachusetts called on the House democrats to open up the impeachment proceedings. House democratic leaders are not so sure. Jerry Nadler, himself said that is not his goal at the moment. His goal he said is to investigate what happened. He said if they go down impeachment, they would make that decision after the investigation. Not close the door but he said he's not rushing into this at the moment. Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.

BLACKWELL: The democrats could pursue a line of investigation that the special counsel mostly avoided, and that's the president's finances.

PAUL: Yes, we do know that they plan to investigate whether the president is compromised by a foreign interest. So is this just another attempt to find a Russian link to the president after Mueller found no conspiracy? Joining us now, Business Politics Correspondent Christina Alesci. So Christina, what do the democrats want to know, specifically regarding the information they are seeking.

CHRISTINA ALESCI, BUSINESS POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Simply put, they want to follow the money. That's how one congressman described it. Now let's run through the democratic probes. House Intelligence and House Financial Services are teaming up to subpoena banks, including one of Trump's lenders, Deutsche Bank. Now these two committees are looking at slightly different things. Intelligence is looking into whether the president is compromised by foreign entities while financial services is actually examining elicit activity like money laundering and whether any of Trump's businesses are implicated in those activities.

Another committee, Ways and Means, and this one's got a lot of attention, is pressing for Trump's tax returns. This group has jurisdiction over the IRS, which has an obligation to audit the president's tax returns. Lawmakers want to make sure that's happening. Now lastly, House Oversight issued a subpoena to Mazars, an accounting firm that compiled the president's financial statements and all of this against the backdrop of the House Judiciary, as you said, issuing a subpoena for the unredacted Mueller report.

BLACKWELL: Well Christina, what are the chances the democrats get the information they want on the president's businesses and his finances?

[06:05:00]

ALESCI: That is the big question. Now it really depends on each individual request, the nature of it and what kind of subpoena it is. For example, the fight over the release of the president's tax returns is probably headed to the courts. Remember, the Treasury Department, which oversees the IRS has already rejected the committee's request and there's another deadline this week, which we'll report on. Treasury will likely continue to resist this.

Now House Financial Services, they might have more luck subpoenaing the banks. That committee oversees the banks so it's unlikely that the banks flagrantly ignore the request from that particular committee. Now as for the subpoena of Trump's accounting records, Trump's attorneys argue that House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings has overstepped his Congressional authority and these lawyers have already told the accounting firm, Mazers, that they'll pursue legal action if it complies with the request from Cummings.

PAUL: There's been a lot of talk about where the democrats are going. Is there a risk to the democrats in launching all of these investigations?

ALESCI: Yes I think the risk is the American public just grows tired of democratic investigations. They want Congress to spend its time addressing healthcare and economic policies. But, that risk does not seem to be stopping the democrats from pursuing these investigations. Christi, Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right, Christina Alesci, thank you.

PAUL: So let's talk about where the democrats are going next. Daniel Lippman, reporter and co-author of the "Politico Playbook" is with us now. Daniel, thank you so much. I want to look ahead first of all to Monday, this conference call among democratic leaders. What specifically are they going to be focusing on at that point?

DANIEL LIPPMAN, CO-AUTHOR OF "THE POLITICO PLAYBOOK": I think they are focusing on the strategy for pursuing, getting the full Mueller report and also how to message that. You know, remember Congressmen are obsessed with how to perceive -- have the public perceive what they are working on, why they are still focusing on this even though the bulk of the Mueller report has been out there. So, they will all want to get on the same page when dealing with this.

PAUL: Well, and they're not on the same page, as we know. Listen to what Elizabeth Warren tweeted yesterday. She said, "The severity of this misconduct demands that elected officials in both parties," she's referring to the Mueller report, "set aside political considerations and do their constitutional duty. That means the House should initiate impeachment proceedings against the President of the United States."

We know collectively, Dems have tried ardently tried to squash talk of impeachment. They want to focus on the legislative priorities, on the investigations, on the 2020 election. How much support is there, realistically, among democrats for impeachment?

LIPPMAN: There's huge support in the base of the party for impeaching Trump. They feel like there's enough evidence there from obstruction, but whether it's a good idea strategically, that's another matter. And you don't see democrats kind of charging the hill and demanding this happen. So if there was a smoking gun in the Mueller report about conspiracy or collusion, then it would have been off to the races.

But given the fact Elizabeth Warren is the only major democratic presidential candidate after the Mueller report to come out with impeachment, then, you know, where are the other candidates on this? The fact they are kind of staying away from this, that they want to defeat Trump on, you know, proper electoral terms. And, you know, they feel like they have a better chance against Trump than someone like Mike Pence who could kind of clear -- clean the slate. No one is charging Mike Pence with any of this stuff. They can have both their positive agenda of health care and energy and jobs and also they can keep the Mueller cloud over Trump with these various investigations.

PAUL: If - if we look back at the Clinton years, you now in terms of the impeachment and the investigations in the Clinton, a lot of people saw that as a personal failing on the Clinton part as opposed to, you know, the politics at play here with President Trump, but is there a risk that all of these investigations could paint, in some way, a sympathetic character in the president? That he is, you know, everything he says, I am under attack. This is a witch hunt. Does it further that narrative?

LIPPMAN: I think most Americans would want to see Trump's tax returns. They want to make sure he is not, you know, under foreign influence with his business dealings. So, you know, that's an important marker for democrats that they feel like they have the public support behind them or they otherwise would not be doing this. Remember, if they launch impeachment proceedings, then every Trump supporter in 2016, or many of them, would really rally around the president. They would view him as a martyr and they work doubly hard to defend him in 2020.

[06:10:00]

And if that impeachment effort was unsuccessful and the Senate republicans blocked it, then he would come out much stronger and, you know, if you are going to kill the king, you have to be successful. You can't have this, let's just try this impeachment, see how it works. No, you have to know that you're going to have the votes or otherwise, it's a wasted effort and really backfires on you. That's why democrats are really cautious right now.

PAUL: It will be interesting to see what's - or hear if we do at all what's on that call Monday. Daniel Lippman, thank you so much.

LIPPMAN: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: President Trump is ticked, let's try that, at his former White House counsel. Why the Mueller report has caused the president to lash out at Don McGahn. Even though some people say he might have saved the presidency.

PAUL: And listen, this is the moment we are hearing from two of the children who were rescued from what's been called a house of horror in California. What they said to the parents who routinely beat and starved them.

BLACKWELL: Also, a powerful and deadly storm with more than 40 million people under flash flood watch this morning. The damage it's already caused and where it's heading. We'll have that for you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:15:00]

BLACKWELL: President Trump went to twitter to attack former White House counsel Don McGahn calling his statements rather in the Mueller report fabricated and totally untrue. And here's part of what he said, "watch out for people who take so-called notes when the notes never existed until needed." Although I think that's the point of notes is that they're there when you need them.

PAUL: When you need them, that's true. You don't go to them until you need them. Trump is frustrated with some of the most damming episodes in the Mueller report obviously including when McGahn took notes of his conversations with the president. CNN White House reporter Sarah Westwood is in West Palm Beach, Florida. Sarah, I think what's interesting about this is I think the president was saying, "None of my lawyers take notes. They're great lawyers." I don't know what to make of that. I think most lawyers take notes, maybe I'm wrong. What are you learning there?

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right Christi and there is even an incident in the Mueller report in which President Trump expresses to his then White House counsel, Don McGahn, in his experience, good lawyers don't take notes. That's just one of the tense episodes depicted in Mueller's report that shows the fraught relationship between the president and McGahn.

Trump is angry about his betrayal as a dishonest chaotic leader in the Mueller report and he's angry about the way cable news has covered Mueller's findings. So his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani has sort of gone after McGahn a little bit questioning the veracity of his recollection of events as he told them to investigators. Remember that McGahn spent about 30 hours speaking to the special counsel. William Burke, a lawyer for McGahn released this statement, "It's a

mystery why Rudy Giuliani feels the need to relitigate incidents the attorney general and deputy attorney general have concluded were not obstruction, but they are accurately described in the report."

Now some of these events include in June, 2017, when Mueller says the president called McGahn at home, asked him to fire special counsel Robert Mueller on the grounds that according to Trump, he thought McGahn had conflicts of interest. McGahn refused to do that. And then in January, 2018, "The New York Times" reported that Trump wanted to fire Mueller. Trump then instructed McGahn to lie, essentially to deny that that ever took place. Now Trump, according to the tweets that you just read, Victor and Christi, clearly frustrated with how that is depicted in the Mueller report.

PAUL: Well and here's something that a lot of people noticed. This information about McGahn was absent from Barr's summary. What's the take away there?

WESTWOOD: That's right and Christi there has been scrutiny on the role of Attorney General Bill Barr and then the day the report was released in his press conference. But the four-page summary that Bill Barr released the weekend after the Russia probe was wrapped up, that didn't really contain a lot of details about people and events. It was a top-line summary that summarized the two volumes of the report. One, that there wasn't evidence of the Trump campaign colluded with Russia and, two, Mueller that did not reach a conclusion on obstruction, but according to Barr, there wasn't sufficient evidence for obstruction.

Here is what Barr wrote in the summary, "the evidence developed during the Special Counsel's investigation is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense." And of course critics look at that exchange between the president and McGahn, question how that isn't evidence of potentially some sort of obstructive behavior, but that, as you mentioned Christi, did not make it into the Barr summary.

PAUL: Yes, very good. Sarah Westwood, thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: And with that, let's say good morning to CNN Legal Analyst Shan Wu. Shan, to you, Attorney General Barr had to know that within hours of his news conference on Thursday that the omissions would be analyzed and the spin would be obvious. A few days out now from the immediacy of the release, do you see a strategy beyond the initial reaction to this is to an audience of one. Is there some greater strategy here for the A.G.?

SHAN WU, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: The only greater strategy is that it was very important to Barr to reach out, unnecessarily, I might add, to decide the obstruction issue. Mueller clearly left that open from a prosecutorial decision standpoint, very clear why he left it open. He says that the LLC regulation, the office of Legal Council policy, it says don't indict a sitting president was a controlling factor for him. And in addition to that, he points out that this is properly something which Congress can exercise its prosecutorial discretion over.

And he does a very beautiful job starting about page 159, really dissecting and analyzing all the arguments why Trump's people argued you cannot bring obstruction against the President of the United States and he completely disposes of those arguments. He clears the stage for Congress to take care of it and also in the footnote notes that after the president leaves office, he can be indicted and they have preserved the record to make it a possibility.

BLACKWELL: You know you bring up serving this up to Congress and there's been criticism on this network and others of A.G. Barr's statements during the news conference, also his letters. But I want to examine his truthfulness under oath when he was before Congress last week. Let me read from the Mueller report, first. This is volume 2, page 8, in which Mueller writes, "with respect to whether the president is found to have obstructed justice by exercising his powers under article 2 of the Constitution, we concluded that Congress has authority to prohibit a president's corrupt use of his authority in order to protect the integrity of the administration of justice." On the same page, "the conclusion that Congress may apply the obstruction laws to the president's corrupt exercise of the powers of the office accords with our constitutional system of checks and balances and the principal that no person is above the law."

Now watch this exchange between A.G. Barr and Senator Leahy. This was April 10. The attorney general had the report for two and a half weeks by the time he answered this question. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

SENATOR PATRICK LEAHY, (D) VERMONT: Did he express any expectation or interest in leaving the obstruction decision to Congress?

WILLIAM BARR, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES: Not that -- he didn't say that to me. No.

(END VIDEO)

BLACKWELL: How does that qualify as a truthful answer?

WU: Well, that was quite a long pause as he parsed his words there. I think if I were his lawyer, I would say that what Barr was, quote, saying quote, "not that he said to me," meaning not in the private conversation we had. He clearly said that in the report and I think that's part of the pause. Barr is trying to make sure he doesn't commit perjury before Congress by saying Mueller said nothing of the kind in the report. He says, "Didn't say that to me," and I think that that's very misleading. It's very, very troubling in this whole pattern of Barr's deliberately misleading the public is really unconscionable. I mean he took an oath to serve the people, to serve the Constitution. The president appoints him to serve the Constitution. He serves at the pleasure of the president not to pleasure the president.

BLACKWELL: So let me ask you about the subpoena that's been issued now; House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler for the full report, unredacted and the underlying evidence there. Does the spin from the A.G. and the omissions in public, does that play into the legal fight to come to try to get the full report?

WU: I think it does. Perhaps it doesn't play into it in terms of legally does it make it a stronger case or not, but it certainly provides a strong impetus for Congress to want to see the rest of it, particularly the underlying details no matter how voluminous it is because they don't trust Barr anymore. Traditionally the department and Congress engage in a lot of negotiation over just how much will be revealed and if that goes as it usually does, they're not going to end up with all whatever million plus pages of it. I think the fact that Barr has basically mislead them and mislead the public means they don't really have any choice to do their job. They have got to ask for as much detail as possible.

BLACKWELL: So a spokesperson for the Department of Justice has responded to the subpoena, calling it premature and unnecessary. Does approving the subpoena before getting the unredacted or getting the redacted report and then issuing the subpoena before getting this less redacted report undermine the argument that Nadler and democrats, at large, are trying to make about getting the full report?

WU: I don't think so. Because, when they approve the subpoena and even if they do issue that subpoena, once the issue the subpoena, it can be negotiated. That happens all the time, not just with congressional subpoena. When you get a subpoena in the civil case, once you receive it you immediately reach out to the other side and start negotiating over the scope of it. Can the documents be delivered in a rolling fashion without a witness appearing? So that's a very normal thing. It doesn't really undercut the legal strength whether or not they can get the documents or not.

BLACKWELL: OK, Shan Wu, good to have you.

WU: Good to see you.

PAUL: Well the California couple who routinely tortured their children for years learn their fate in court and that's not all. There's emotional testimony from two of the couple's 13 children. You are going to hear that.

[06:25:00]

BLACKWELL: Plus, no charges will be filed in the death of the South Carolina girl who died after a fight at school. We'll tell you about the birth defect that doctors say caused her death.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: So glad to have you with us, I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good morning to you. For the first time, we are hearing from two of the children rescued from an abusive home in California.

PAUL: They and 11 of their siblings, they were shackled, they were starved, they were routinely beaten by their parents. Well that part of their nightmare is over. CNN's Paul Vercammen has more directly from those children.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go on the record in the case of the People versus David and Louise Turpin. Over. Over. We have more directly from those children.

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: (voice over) The packed courtroom filled with quiet anticipation and raw emotion, two thin, neatly-dress adult children from the Turpin family delivered heart-breaking victim statements. The judge ordered that the media not show their faces.

UNIDENTIFIED TURPIN FEMALE: My parents took my whole life from me, but now I'm taking my life back. I'm in college now and living independently. I'm a fighter, I'm strong.

VERCAMMEN: The defendants, Louise and David Turpin sobbed listened to toned-down testimony of torture and captivity.

UNIDENTIFIED TURPIN MALE: I cannot describe in words what we went through growing up. Sometimes I still have nightmares of things that have happened such as my siblings being chained up or getting beaten. But, that is the past and this is now. I love my parents and have forgiven them for a lot of the things they did to us.

VERCAMMEN: The young woman wiped tears from her face throughout the sentencing hearing, especially when her parents gave their statements.

LOUISE TURPIN, PARENT WHO TORTURED HER CHILDREN: I'm sorry for everything I have done to hurt my children. I love my children so much.

DAVID TURPIN, PARENT WHO TORTURED HIS CHILDREN: I miss all of my children and I will be praying for them. I wish for the opportunity to have contact with them again. Thank you.

VERCAMMEN: The sensational house of horrors case broke more than a year ago. The Turpin's then 17-year-old daughter climbed through a window in their Paris, California, home, called 911 on a deactivated phone. ABC News obtained the chilling phone call.

(BEGIN AUDIO)

UNIDENTIFIED DISPATCHER: And how many of your siblings are tied up?

UNIDENTIFIED TURPIN FEMALE: Two of my sisters, one of my brothers.

UNIDENTIFIED DISPATCHER: How are they tied up? With rope or with what?

UNIDENTIFIED TURPIN FEMALE: With chains; they're chained up to their bed.

(END AUDIO) VERCAMMEN: Now the attorney for the adult Turpin children say all 13 siblings seen in old photos in those matching outfits are doing well.

The lawyer for the Turpin children says they are attending sports events, they're learning to grocery shop, they're moving away from the painful terror-filled childhood that led to their parents being sent to prison for at least 25 years. Reporting from Riverside, California, I'm Paul Vercammen.

PAUL: Paul, thank you so much.

And medical examiners in South Carolina have determined now that a fifth grade girl who died after a fight at school died of natural causes. According to the Colleton County coroner, 10-year-old Raniya Wright, died when a blood vessel ruptured in her brain and that that was a result of a birth defect not of the fight. Doctors say the birth defect caused headaches for months prior to her death and she received treatment for the headaches at least six times over the past two years. Now prosecutors say that fight, in no way, contributed to her death. No charges will be filed. An attorney for her mother says the family didn't know about the girl's condition.

BLACKWELL: Nine countries and three federal agencies here in the U.S. will investigate how the Boeing 737 Max plane was initially certified. Now the 737 Max was grounded in March after one of the planes flown by Ethiopian Airlines crashed and everyone on board was killed. That was the second accident involving the model in less than six months. This new review is unrelated to the on-going certification process that Boeing is undergoing with the FAA to recertify the planes.

Let's talk about this severe weather. It has the Easter holiday weekend shaping up to be a real mess for a lot of the south and the mid-Atlantic region.

PAUL: This morning, more than 40 million of you are under a flash flood watch and that lasts through the afternoon. There's a powerful, deadly storm pushing through that's carrying heavy rains, strong winds, even a few tornados.

BLACKWELL: At least four people are dead, including an 8-year-old girl after a tree fell through her home during the storm. Thousands of people - they have no power, that's across the south right now. Homes have been severely damaged, some roads are completely submerged. The question is, how long is the nasty weather expected to linger?

PAUL: CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar in the CNN weather center now. Answer that question for us, first and foremost. I know a lot of people want to know when this is going to end?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes in about the next 24 hours so this isn't really going to affect the entire holiday weekend. There is good news in that. But yes, yesterday was a very active day. Take a look at this. Over 300 total severe storm reports; 16 of those being tornado reports. Again, the closer you got to the coast, the more likely you were to pick up some of those tornado reports. Here is a look at some of the damage, t his out of South Carolina. You can see a lot of trees down. Trees on homes, trees on cars, trees on roads, on power lines. There was a significant amount of tree damage across much of the southeast. A lot of these cities, Atlanta being one of them, is basically a city in a forest so when you get these strong storms, you get a lot of tree damage. But it wasn't just severe storms in the form of wind. (inaudible) had a lot of flooding. This is Henderson County, North Carolina, that's just south of Ashville, a lot of rain.

[06:35:00]

The city picked up over five inches of rain. That's was not only just a daily record, but also their fourth wettest day in history for the city of Ashville and more flooding is expected today just in a different area. Now we're focused more on the mid-Atlantic and into the Northeast. That's where we have the majority of these flood watches. But even if you don't live here, you need to pay attention to this because there's a lot of folks traveling for the holiday weekend and you are going to have a lot of travel problems, not just in the northeast, but the Midwest and other portions of the southeast. A lot of airports, especially New York, yesterday had four hour delays. We don't expect them to be quite that bad today but even say an hour or two delay may in turn end up having a lot of problems for folks if they are planning to travel today.

PAUL: All right, good Allison. I'm going to call you from now on and find out what's going on. I ended up not listening to my husband. I ended up waking the dogs and halfway through huddled under a tree in pelting rain yesterday. Thank you Allison...

BLACKWELL: That's why I don't have a dog.

PAUL: ...for the heads up. Yes, that's why.

BLACKWELL: That's why. All right, a serious turn here, a former U.S. Marine is in custody in connection w after a brazen daylight raid of the North Korean embassy in Spain, what he's accused of stealing, that's next.

PAUL: Also join CNN Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta tonight first as he travels to Bolivia and discovers the healthiest hearts in the world on "Chasing Life," at 9:00. How are they so healthy? He'll find out. And then the ground-breaking report on the opioid crisis. CNN's special report, week four, "Pot Versus Pills" at 10:00, all tonight on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:40:00]

BLACKWELL: New this morning, a former U.S. Marine is in custody, accused of raiding North Korea's embassy in Spain. According to the "Washington Post," federal authorities say Christopher Ahn is one of the master assailants who tied up embassy staff, stole computers and then flew to the United States.

PAUL: Now this attack happened just five days before President Trump met with Kim Jong-un back in February. Yesterday a federal judge in Los Angeles granted is attorney's request to seal the case. Ahn is reportedly part of a group dedicated to overthrowing the Kim dynasty.

BLACKWELL: April 20, 1999, that's a day that changed so many lives across this country. Two students stormed Columbine High School in Colorado and killed 12 classmates and one teacher.

PAUL: I think if you think about it we all remember where we were when we heard that news. It was one of those moments and now we're 20 years later and sever school shootings later. Columbine survivors and first responders are remembering the people they lost and the lessons that they learned. Here is Scott McLean.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: On April 20, 1999, a high school in Littleton, Colorado, was under attack. There are students armed with guns and even homemade bombs walked on to campus and started shooting at their peers. In the moments that followed, live images of students running for their lives were broadcast nationwide. Then, 16-year-old Samantha Haviland, was one of them. She was in the cafeteria when the first shots were fired.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

SAMANTHA HAVILAND, COLUMBINE SCHOOL SHOOTING SURVIVOR: My friends had to pull me out of my chair to the ground. I didn't understand. I had no concept of someone shooting at me particularly in school.

MCLEAN: Haviland narrowly escaped the danger but her friend, Rachel Scott, did not. She was among the 13 people killed. Grant Whitus was the first SWAT officer to enter the building. He is the one seen here at the window to the cafeteria.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

GRANT WHITUS, FORMER JEFFERSON COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE SWAT LEADER: We broke the window, I went in right then, fully expecting to be in a fire fight.

(END VIDEO)

MCLEAN: But by the time police went inside 47 minutes after the initial gunfire, the shooters were already dead.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

WHITUS: By the time we arrived, there was hundreds of cops there and nobody had went in. Twenty years ago, this is how business was done, you know, patrol gets there, surrounds it, locks the scene down and waits for S.W.A.T. In hindsight, that was the biggest mistake.

(END VIDEO)

MCLEAN: It's a mistake he won't make twice. Since then, he's been teaching police to go straight to the sound of gunfire. For 10 years after the shooting, Haviland spent her life on high alert, always looking for the exits and looking out for danger. MCLEAN: That sounds exhausting.

HAVILAND: Hyper vigilance is extremely exhausting. It takes up a lot of mental energies.

MCLEAN: Haviland is now the head of counseling for all Denver public schools and sees that same hyper vigilance in more and more students every year, even kids who have never experienced trauma themselves. She says its thanks to monthly active shooter drills and graphic school shooting videos shared on social media.

HAVILAND: I can't say it surprises me; I can say it breaks my heart.

MCLEAN: Today, Columbine still attracts hollow threats and unwanted attention. Last week, a Florida teenager who police say was infatuated with the shooting took a one-way flight to Colorado and bought a gun, forcing the closure of schools across the region.

HAVILAND: I feel for the students and staff that are there because these children weren't born even 20 years ago when it happened, but they are the targets.

MCLEAN: A lot has changed since Columbine's school shooting truly shocked the country. Police tactics, gun laws, school security and hundreds of lives, but some things maybe never will.

HAVILAND: When I think back to high school, I don't think about the shooting, I think about the volleyball tournaments, and the speech tournaments and my friends. But, Columbine, to an outsider, is referring to the shooting itself.

MCLEAN: It means only one thing.

HAVILAND: It means only one thing.

MCLEAN: Scott McLean, CNN, Denver.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:45:00]

BLACKWELL: Hundreds of millions of dollars in donations are pouring in to rebuild the Notre Dame Cathedral that was destroyed in a fire last week. There's also a big benefit concert planned later today to assist in the restoration.

PAUL: In the meantime, tens of thousands of police are bracing for an upsurge in anti-government protests across France. Many of these people are frustrated about the amount of money that's being spent on the cathedral while so many every day workers are struggling. CNN International Correspondent Melissa Bell is in Paris outside the Notre Dame Cathedral. First of all Melissa, talk to us about this concert that's happening tonight, the investigation into the fire.

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right Christi. A concert here in Paris tonight under a very tight security as you can imagine given the context and, of course, Easter weekend services continue here tomorrow here in Paris, not of course at Notre Dame, which remains shut.

Investigators are still inside trying to sift through the evidence. We understand that their main lead is the idea that this fire that broke out on Monday may have been caused by an electrical fault, a spark from a short circuit. The cathedral itself was under renovation when the fire broke out and the idea is that maybe some of that equipment that was brought in, the elevators that were put in place in order to get that restoration done. There may have been some electrical short circuit.

But another interesting lead, we've just been speaking to a police source who tells CNN that they are looking into the problem of the fire detectors. Because as we understand it, at 6:20, there was a first alarm, the building was evacuated, but no fire was detected. It was only 23 minutes later, Christi, that fire - that another alarm went off, the fire was spotted and the fire brigades came in to begin what was going to be a formidable and incredibly complex operation. Why that gap? Were some of those sensors not working or not working properly. Because what we're hearing from that source is that by the time that second alarm went off and they were able to get up and do the inspection, that's when they saw the flames that were already three meters high and so very difficult to put out.

The investigation is moving on pretty fast. They've been speaking to dozens of people, collecting amateur footage. And one time-lapsed camera actually was put in place by the reconstruction company on the day of the fire amazingly, that's been handed over to investigators. So we should be able to get a fairly good picture fairly quickly of exactly how - what they believe was an accidental fire took hold.

All around, of course, Paris is bracing meanwhile for these yellow vest protests. It is the 23rd Saturday in a row that they've taken to the streets. They have been slightly quieter recently and the numbers did seem to be going down but what the Yellow Vest protestors are hoping for is that they're going to get another day like we saw on the 16th of March or again, at the end of December when Paris really saw a great deal of violence, so police bracing for that; 60,000 of them have been deployed across the country.

PAUL: All right. Melissa Bell, thank you so much for walking us through what's going on there today. Appreciate it.

BLACKWELL: Coming up, remembering the woman whose work inspired some of America's favorite horror movies.

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BLACKWELL: The New York Yankees and Philadelphia Flyers have pulled a version of "God Bless America" from playing at their games after learning the rendition is tied to racism.

PAUL: CNN's correspondent Carolyn Manno is here with this morning's "Bleacher Report." Good morning. CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Christi and

Victor, it's great to be with you. Its a rendition of "God Bless America" that fans have heard for decades, it's sung by Kate Smith. But after learning of the singer's racist past, the Yankees and the Fliers are now taking action. New York replacing Smith's version with this at last night's home game.

The team's organist playing a rendition of the song. The Yankees officially pulled Smith's version on April 1st after learning that some of her other songs featured overtly racist lyrics. On Friday the Fliers joined them and did the very same thing. Smith was a radio star back in the 1930s. She had close ties to Philadelphia and she frequently sang "God Bless America" before Flier's home games back in the '70s. The team even built a statue in her honor after her death in 1986. That statue has now been covered. Both organizations issued statements to CNN telling us that they are taking the matter very seriously.

Meantime, in case you missed it, two of the best point guards in the game putting on a show in the first round of the NBA playoffs; a pair of all stars, Russell Westbrook and Damian Lillard going toe-to-toe in game three last night. The Thunder coming into the game, down 2-0 in desperate need of a win. Westbrook rising to the occasion as he normally does. He went right at Lillard all game on both sides of the floor; 33 points on the night and sending a message with a monster block in the third quarter. Willard would respond, big time, erupting for 25 points in the third quarter.

Russell Westbrook ended up icing it in the clutch. Look at this, a little pump fake, drills the three, right in Lillard's face to put the game out of reach and then the trash talk alone basically tell you everything you need to know. That's what great about the playoffs. The Thunder getting a big win and you know it had to be their night when this happened.

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MANNO: Get that guy on a roster. Thunder fan Derek Williams(ph) and knocking down a half court shot. Very impressive. That was not even all Christi and Victor. So up comes Jessie Norman(ph) and he drills his half court heat. Both guys walking away with $20,000. That is not a bad night to be an OKC fan. There's some serious talent here. That is not easy to do you guys.

PAUL: Talent or some magnetic force that's pulling that ball in? Wow.

BLACKWELL: So one would have been phenomenal on its own; two back-to- back, that's amazing.

MANNO: And the win.

PAUL: That is amazing.

BLACKWELL: That is amazing.

PAUL: Carolyn, thank you.

BLACKWELL: Thanks.

All right this morning, we are remembering one of America's most well- known ghost hunters whose work inspired a string of Hollywood hits. According to her family, Lorraine Warren died peacefully in her sleep Thursday night.

PAUL: Now here's the thing, Warren and her husband investigated more than 3,000 paranormal and supernatural disturbances and her research and books led to films. I know you know these - "The Amityville Horror," "The Conjuring," and "Annabelle." Warren was 92 years old.

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PANETTA: I believe he committed obstruction of justice, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Democrats say the Mueller report gives them a road map to investigate the president for obstruction.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Frustration is not obstruction. I think for those who are pursuing this, I think the American people are exhausted by it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Total B.S., as the president rages against the Mueller report, he appears to be singling out one particular person who spoke to investigators, White House counsel Don McGahn. Watch out for people that take so-called notes.

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