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New Day
At Least Eight People Dead In Indianapolis FedEx Shooting; Biden Administration Says Russian Agent Received Internal Polling Data; 91-Year-Old Police Officer Still On Patrol In Arkansas. Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired April 16, 2021 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[07:30:00]
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Opened fire at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis overnight. Authorities say four of those were shot and wounded and you have additional people in the hospital. The gunman is said to have taken his own life.
Jason Carroll joins us again at the scene. Jason, what more are you learning as you talk to police, as you talk to people on the ground there?
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Poppy, I can tell you that the FBI is now assisting with this investigation, lending their efforts to this as well.
A law enforcement source within the Indianapolis Metro Police Department tells us -- described a horrific scene inside the facility behind me.
A quick recap of what happened here. Apparently, the suspect entered through the parking lot and started shooting and once he got inside, continued shooting. Metro Police got the call at about 11:00. They arrived here immediately on the scene and described an active shooter situation.
One of the eyewitnesses who was here -- a FedEx employee -- says he thought he heard gunfire. He was out on a break and saw the shooter at one point and ducked down. And when he made his way away saw a body there on the ground -- someone he said was not moving.
Again, what we're being told -- eight people have been killed, four transported to local hospitals, one in critical condition.
The mayor of Indianapolis has tweeted about it, saying the following. I'm going to read it -- part of it to you.
"Indianapolis residents are confronted with the horrific news of yet another mass shooting -- an act of violence that senselessly claimed the lives of eight of our neighbors. As law enforcement works to learn more about this tragedy, our prayers are with the families of those whose lives were cut short." The suspect in all of this, Poppy -- again, trying to get more information about that. As you know, I was on the call with local authorities trying to get some more information about the suspect. They say it's still too early in the investigation.
They would only say that immediately -- almost immediately upon arrival the suspect took his own life. He's just described as a male. Trying to get more information on that for you, Poppy, as this investigation continues.
HARLOW: OK, Jason. Thank you very, very much.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: We did just get word --
HARLOW: Yes.
BERMAN: -- 10:30 --
HARLOW: Yes.
BERMAN: -- 10:30 a.m. news conference from police there. So we could learn more information in a couple of hours.
HARLOW: OK. You'll see that live right here on CNN in just a few hours.
For the first time, the Biden administration has confirmed that an intelligence operative who was given internal polling data -- remember this from the Trump campaign in 2016? Well, now we know that was passed on by him along to Russia's intelligence services. The information was revealed in the way of sanctions just handed down by the Biden administration against the Russian government.
We're joined once again by CNN senior law enforcement analyst Andy McCabe. He served as acting FBI director after the firing of James Comey and the start of the Mueller investigation.
Explain why this reporting on Konstantin Kilimnik matters so much.
And maybe we could pull up this graphic just so I can read it to folks to help them understand what we -- what we learned yesterday.
The Treasury announcement said that Kilimnik, quote, "...provided the Russian intelligence services with sensitive information on polling and campaign strategy during the 2016 presidential campaign. Kilimnik received those internal materials from then-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his deputy Rick Gates.
This is according to special counsel Robert Mueller's report. The report said that Gates repeatedly transferred internal data to Kilimnik through 2016 at Manafort's direction." Remember, Manafort ran the Trump campaign.
The missing link was well, did that get to the Russians, but now this connects it all. So, big picture, for anyone who said this is all hoax, what do you say to them this morning? ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST, FORMER ACTING DIRECTOR, FBI: They are wrong. They've been wrong all along and now we know that even more clearly.
Poppy, the significance of this is the fact that the investigation was opened to determine if there was an improper or illegal relationship between the campaign and the government of Russia. We knew that the government of Russia did things to help the campaign, right? They hacked into the DNC. They hacked into prominent Democratic leaders' e- mails and released those e-mails in a way to benefit the campaign of Donald Trump in 2016.
The question was did the campaign do anything for the Russians. And now, we have closed that loop and made that positive connection between the campaign to the Russian intelligence service via Konstantin Kilimnik.
I think it's important to remember that Rick Gates told the special counsel's office during their investigation that he had given Kilimnik internal significant polling data on multiple occasions. He passed it to him over the WhatsApp connection -- you know, an encrypted --
HARLOW: Yes.
MCCABE: -- chat function on his phone, and was careful to delete all those messages as soon as they'd been received by Kilimnik.
The question -- the -- what the special counsel team couldn't figure out is exactly what Kilimnik did with that information in terms of giving it to the government. And apparently, that connection has now been made.
[07:35:08]
BERMAN: And just so people understand, why would it be useful for Russian intelligence -- the government -- to have its hands on internal campaign polling data?
MCCABE: Right. So, the campaign polling data is important for the campaign because it -- that's how the campaign devises its strategy of how it's going to advertise itself -- how it's going to try to influence voters to vote for their candidate.
Well, that information became very important to the Russians because we know that the Russians engaged in a wide and persistent campaign to influence Americans' opinions with false information, with social media attacks, with all sorts of those things.
They were likely able to do that as effectively as they did because they had the benefit of the campaign's internal polling intelligence. That intelligence would allow the Russian intelligence services to be very specific and directed and targeted in the information that they were putting out. And we know that they were, right? We've seen that information and we've identified all those accounts. So it all makes a lot of sense.
BERMAN: We've got to let you go, Andy, but is this collusion?
MCCABE: It is in my world.
BERMAN: Andy McCabe, thank you very much.
MCCABE: Thanks, John.
It's been 100 days since the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, but there are still so many questions yet to answer. A reality check, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:40:53]
BERMAN: Ten (sic) days ago, the world watched as rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, fueled by lies from the then-president and his supporters about an election that was not stolen. So what has been learned since then?
John Avlon with a reality check.
JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: It's been 100 days since our Capitol was attacked by a violent mob of Trump supporters. They believed his big lie and many wanted to stop Congress from certifying a free and fair election and came ready to commit insurrection. They called themselves patriots. They've been revealed to be traitors and terrorists.
Now, a lot of new information has come out in the past few weeks and it can be hard to keep track as the news cycle moves on and false partisan narratives take hold. So let's start with facts first.
More than 370 people have been charged so far, hailing from 43 states. More than 140 officers were injured in the attack and one died. Two others died by suicide.
The rioters were overwhelmingly white men over age 35. And don't believe the hype this is about economic anxiety because 85 percent were employed, 30 percent were white-collar workers, and 14 percent were business owners. That's according to an analysis by the University of Chicago, which also concluded that fear of great replacement was a key driver among the insurrectionists.
At least 45 members of right-wing vigilante groups like the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys have been charged. Many came to the Capitol wearing tactical gear. Prosecutors say some communicated throughout the attack. There were maps of the tunnel system under the Capitol being posted on pro-Trump message boards.
An internal memo from the Norfolk office of the FBI highlighted chatter like this. "Get violent. Stop calling this a march or rally, or a protest. Go there ready for war. We get our president or we die."
But the Capitol Police ignored intelligence warnings ahead of the attack, stating clearly that "Congress, itself, is the target on the sixth."
An I.G. report also found that Capitol Police were woefully unprepared and even told to hold back on the riot control response, which led to them being outnumbered and overwhelmed. It took hours for troops to be deployed, with V.P. Mike Pence ultimately giving the order to clear the Capitol because President Trump was MIA.
Now, we still have not heard sworn testimony from people in the White House on that day that can attest to the ex-president's state of mind. But the president -- question of President Trump's culpability in the attack was addressed in a "VICE" interview with the former acting secretary of Defense, Chris Miller.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
INTERVIEWER, "VICE ON SHOWTIME": Do you think the president was responsible for what happened on the sixth?
CHRIS MILLER, FORMER ACTING SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I don't know, but it seems cause and effect, yes. The question is would anybody have marched on the Capitol and overrun the Capitol without the president's speech? I think it's pretty much definitive that wouldn't have happened. So, yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AVLON: There remain many unanswered questions, though.
We still don't know who placed pipe bombs outside the DNC and RNC. We don't know whether any members of Congress gave tours to rioters before the attack, as some Democrats allege. We don't know the results of a reported FBI investigation into whether foreign governments or groups funded extremists before the attack. And we don't know if any of the rioters will be charged with sedition.
But we know the truth will ultimately come out. We have seen how crazed hyperpartisan conspiracy theories pushed by lying political leaders and right-wing media can lead to an attack on our democracy, and we cannot let it happen again.
And that's your reality check.
HARLOW: Thank you for that, John Avlon.
All right. A rookie cop in Arkansas has seen more on the job than most people he protects and serves have seen in their entire lives. And he is living proof that age is, indeed, just a number.
Our Martin Savidge has his story in this week's Beyond the Call of Duty.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Officer L.C. "Buckshot" Smith --
L.C. "BUCKSHOT" SMITH, NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH COORDINATOR, CAMDEN POLICE DEPARTMENT: How you all doing?
SAVIDGE (voice-over): -- says he knows almost everyone in Camden, Arkansas --
SMITH: Hey, Bennie.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, what's going on?
SAVIDGE (voice-over): -- population 11,000 --
SMITH: Good to see you all.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): -- it's true.
SMITH: All right.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): At 91, he's spent more time protecting and serving than many residents have been alive -- 56 years.
[07:45:02]
SAVIDGE (on camera): Have you ever missed a day of work?
SMITH: No, not just to take off.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): For more than four decades, he was a deputy with the Ouachita County Sheriff's Department.
SAVIDGE (on camera): The first time you retired, how long did that last?
SMITH: Thirty days.
SAVIDGE (on camera): Thirty days?
SMITH: (Laughing).
SAVIDGE (voice-over): So, in his eighties, he became a rookie cop on the Camden Police Department.
SMITH: I love to meet peoples, help peoples, and do things for peoples.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): Chief Boyd Woody is Buckshot's boss.
CHIEF BOYD WOODY, CAMDEN, ARKANSAS POLICE DEPARTMENT: So my first year in law enforcement in the jail and Mr. Smith was my supervisor. He was over the jail at that time.
SAVIDGE (on camera): So he was your boss?
WOODY: He was my boss, yes.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): Officer Smith starts each day at 7:00 a.m.
SMITH: I like to check in 15 to 20 minutes ahead of time. SAVIDGE (on camera): You're always early?
SMITH: Yes.
SAVIDGE (on camera): Somehow, I'm not surprised.
SMITH: (Laughing).
SAVIDGE (voice-over): Patrolling neighborhoods, escorting school buses, investigations.
SAVIDGE (on camera): How many arrests have you made?
SMITH: I've taken more people home than I've arrested or took to jail.
SAVIDGE (on camera): So you try to come up with another way?
SMITH: Yes, yes, yes.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): Role model just may be Officer Smith's most important job, especially to younger officers.
MAYOR JULIAN LOTT, CAMDEN, ARKANSAS: Some of them come looking at policing as they saw it on T.V., looking at policing as they see it in a big city. This is a community.
SMITH: I tell them all this badge and gun don't make no police officer. You've got to respect folks. I want to be treated right and I figure you --
SAVIDGE (on camera): Yes.
SMITH: -- want to be treated right.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): Next month, Officer Smith will turn 92. The town is planning a parade.
SAVIDGE (on camera): Do you ever think you will retire?
SMITH: When the good Lord says so.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): Officer L.C. "Buckshot" Smith serving beyond the call because serving is his calling, and just about everyone in town knows it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What you say, buddy?
SMITH: All right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You doing good?
SMITH: Yes.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): Martin Savidge, CNN Camden, Arkansas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[07:51:25]
BERMAN: I think there's wide agreement that America's infrastructure is in desperate need of an upgrade. The White House wants to pay for this upgrade, largely, with increasing corporate taxes, but many business leaders not on board.
CNN chief business correspondent Christine Romans joins us now with much more on that -- Romans.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT, ANCHOR, EARLY START: Hi, John. Good morning.
You know, business groups, for years, have lobbied for critical improvements to America's economic backbone, but they don't want to pay higher taxes to fund it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS (voice-over): The White House wants to take back some of the Trump-era tax cuts for business to pay for roads, bridges, technology upgrades, and to fix what they call a rigged tax code.
BRIAN DEESE, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: Our corporate tax system is broken. It remains broken. The 2017 tax law made things worse.
PETE BUTTIGIEG, U.S. SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION: Major profitable corporations in this country paying less in taxes than a teacher or a firefighter.
ROMANS (voice-over): Congress, in 2017, slashed the corporate income tax rate from 35 to 21 percent and retained many write-offs and deductions that help companies keep their tax bills low.
Now, the Biden administration wants to lift the corporate rate to 28 percent. But companies argue they pay plenty of other taxes and raising their corporate rate now would derail the economic recovery.
NEIL BRADLEY, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, U.S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: They're going to put American businesses at a competitive disadvantage in a fiercely competitive world. That's bad for U.S. businesses and ultimately, bad for American workers.
ROMANS (voice-over): A few notable voices of dissent. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos says he's supportive of higher corporate taxes. So is the Lyft co-founder.
JOHN ZIMMER, CO-FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, LYFT: I think it is a smart investment.
ROMANS (voice-over): Of course, Amazon pays hardly any corporate tax, and money-losing Lyft doesn't have a tax bill at all.
The mantra of business, of course, has long been keep taxes low and most of America's top corporate leaders say higher taxes would hurt business, but there is a strong case that companies can afford it. Companies' share of taxes into the government coffers has been falling for 50 years.
MAYA MACGUINEAS, PRESIDENT, COMMITTEE FOR A RESPONSIBLE FEDERAL BUDGET: The cries and screams of corporate American being so overtaxed that it's really going to strangle our competitiveness just aren't borne out in the numbers. And when we had a huge corporate tax rate cut a few years ago, it did not lead to all the promised booms in investment and growth.
ROMANS (voice-over): In fact, companies used their tax savings to pay investors through record stock buybacks.
MACGUINEAS: That was not tax reform. We blew a $2 trillion hole in the national debt because that was tax cuts. And those rate reductions were actually much more aggressive than I think anybody was truly asking for.
ROMANS (voice-over): The White House plan, to take some of that back to pay for improvements that corporate America can benefit from. The administration's hope is public sentiment is on their side.
Three years after tax reform, at least 55 of the biggest companies paid no tax on billions in profits, leaving individual taxpayers largely funding the government. That may be why most U.S. adults -- 64 percent in a recent Reuters poll -- support a tax hike on big business.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Poppy, a lot of this could be negotiating and posturing. Corporate America may be open to higher taxes -- maybe, say, 25 percent -- far below, for example, where it was before the Trump tax cuts.
You'll recall when we were talking about tax reform a few years ago, Poppy, companies were asking for 25 percent. They got 21 percent. Now, the Biden administration is saying 28 percent. We'll see where they settle out.
HARLOW: The key is what percent higher do you support, not just OK, we'll pay a little bit more. How much more?
ROMANS: Right.
HARLOW: Thank you. That was a great piece. Thanks, Christine.
[07:55:00]
In a medical marvel, a British mother gives birth to twins she conceived three weeks apart. It is an extremely rare condition known as superfetation. I hope I said that right.
BERMAN: I certainly couldn't say it at all.
HARLOW: All right.
With only a handful of cases ever documented, their remarkable journey seen by millions on social media. And our Elizabeth Cohen has more on these super twins.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Baby Noah spent his earliest weeks all alone.
REBECCA ROBERTS, PREGNANT WHILE ALREADY PREGNANT: I had an early scan at seven weeks and another one at 10 weeks. Both times, they saw this tiny little baby on there and it was only ever one baby.
COHEN (voice-over): Until one day, a little sister joined him in the wound.
ROBERTS: One, two, three, whee.
COHEN (voice-over): Baby Rosalie first popping up on an ultrasound at week 12. Mom Rebecca and dad Rhys, who live in England, taken totally by surprise.
ROBERTS: What had happened was I got pregnant whilst I was already pregnant, which was absolutely crazy when they told us because that's not supposed to happen.
COHEN (on camera): When you heard that you must have been shocked.
ROBERTS: I couldn't believe it happened to me, but it did and it's lovely.
COHEN (voice-over): Rosalie was conceived about three weeks after Noah. With fraternal twins, like Noah and Rosalie, usually, two eggs are released at the same time, fertilized in the embryo's implant in the uterus at the same time. In Rebecca's case, two eggs were released three weeks apart, each embryo implanting in the wound separately.
DR. LILLIAN SCHAPIRO, GYNECOLOGIST: What's unusual in this case that the woman appears to have ovulated once for the larger baby and then later for the smaller baby.
COHEN (voice-over): Called superfetation, a 2008 study found fewer than 10 recorded cases in the world. For Rebecca, it was possibly helped along by the fact that she was taking fertility drugs.
Based on Noah's due date, the twins were born about six weeks early -- Noah at four pounds, 10 ounces; Rosalie, two pounds, seven ounces. Rebecca's Instagram documenting their development. After stays in the neonatal intensive care unit, both are in good health.
Rosalie, a fan of mobiles and Mickey Mouse; Noah, maybe not so much today -- they're certainly fans of each other.
ROBERTS: They definitely reach out to each other a lot.
COHEN (on camera): So, Rebecca, do you think of Noah and Rosalie as twins or older brother and younger sister?
ROBERTS: I definitely think of them as twins. They were born at the same time. And they might not have been conceived at the same time, but I still carried them at the same time and they were born at the same time. So, yes, I -- they're twins.
COHEN (on camera): Rebecca and Rhys tried for more than a year to get pregnant, making their special twins even more special -- Poppy, John.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: I love that story.
BERMAN: Well, there are certain stories you watch and like the only thing I can think of is wow --
HARLOW: Wow.
BERMAN: -- wow. I didn't know that could happen.
HARLOW: That could happen. And then -- but what a blessing.
BERMAN: Yes.
HARLOW: You know, you're trying and then you get two, and she said it's quite lovely. She didn't look like twins was hard at all. I know it is.
BERMAN: But it's like --
HARLOW: You know it is.
BERMAN: But it's like does that change -- I keep -- I guess this doesn't really change my life at all, but wow.
HARLOW: Wow.
BERMAN: It just makes me think things happen that I didn't know ever could.
HARLOW: Nice to have something to smile about his morning.
BERMAN: Yes, it is nice to have something about -- to smile about this morning when there is so much grim news.
We're getting new information from Indianapolis about a mass shooting there overnight. NEW DAY continues right now.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
BERMAN: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. I'm John Berman. Poppy Harlow here with me this morning.
And look, I do think it is fair to say that it feels like America is in an active shooter situation, period, full stop. The breaking news overnight, a mass shooting in Indianapolis. At least
eight people killed at a FedEx warehouse near the airport there. Four people taken by ambulance to the hospital as well.
So this event is now added to the list -- the long list -- the growing list -- the at-this-rate infinite list of mass shootings in this country.
HARLOW: It is. And police, this morning, say they quickly encountered the shooter right when they arrived at the scene and the suspect then reportedly turned the gun on himself.
BERMAN: Our Jason Carroll live at the scene in Indianapolis with the latest developments -- Jason.
CARROLL: And John, good morning to you.
The FBI now assisting with this investigation. A law enforcement source described what they saw inside and said it was a horrific scene of what they saw.
Apparently, this all starting at about 11:00 last night. That's when the calls initially came in. The suspect started shooting the minute he got inside this parking lot. Got into the parking lot.
