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At This Hour

Russia Unleashes Largest Strikes On Ukraine Since Invasion; New Study Examines The Effectiveness Of Colonoscopies; LA Council Members Face Calls To Resign Over Racist Remarks. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired October 10, 2022 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

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KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: Ukraine's president this morning says Russia is trying to "annihilate" his country. He said -- he said that after the people of Ukraine were running to take shelter and are now being forced to try to clean up from the more than 80 missile strikes that happened against Kyiv and other cities.

So far, 11 people have been killed in this, and many more were hurt. The pictures show the scale of the destruction and Kyiv a children's playground was hit by a missile. We saw Frederik Pleitgen. He was live there at the top of the hour just showing the crater in the ground with children's play equipment behind him.

Joining me right now from Kyiv is Sergii Leshchenko. He's a senior adviser to President Zelenskyy's chief of staff. Thank you so much for taking the time to jump on with me. So, the president says that -- said this morning. This morning's missile attacks had two targets, Ukraine's energy infrastructure, and Ukraine's people. What are you seeing in Kyiv?

SERGII LESHCHENKO, SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT ZELENSKYY'S CHIEF OF STAFF: Kyiv is destroyed in the area which has nothing to do with military infrastructure but which is very well-known for Ukrainians and foreigners as area to enjoy Ukrainian architecture, Ukrainian landscape, Ukrainian city.

And it's horrible because it was really a children's playground just in front of the main campus of Kyiv University. And it's also very famous bridge in the center of Kyiv. It's a pedestrian bridge, which is not possible to use for delivering of weapons or tanks. It's just for people to walk from one hill to another hill through the city. And it was two targets today of this attack.

Also, it was really brutally attacked our electricity infrastructure to make a total blackout of some Ukrainian cities tonight to show that Putin is able to not just destroy buildings but to destroy the electricity system, which will not let Ukrainians to live normal life, even if it is far away from the front line. And he badly shelled -- Putin badly shelled these infrastructure objects this morning.

This is why our president asked people to limit their using of electricity from 5:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. to have less pressure on the electricity system in Ukraine to fix the problem as soon as possible and to make Ukrainians possible to use the systems normally, but not tonight.

BOLDUAN: Do you think this wave of attacks is over? And if so, what do you think the real impact of this is? Let's just talk about the people in Kyiv. I mean, the people of Ukraine have been through so much already, but something like this, what do you think the lasting impact is going to be on this?

LESHCHENKO: This is a psychological attack because if the target was just an electricity system or just infrastructure to deliver military goods, as it was declared by Putin. It had to be done at night when we have a curfew and when there is no civilians on the street. And usually, Russians bombed in other cities at night. This time it was bombing at seven or eight or nine in the morning when all Kyiv inhabitants go into the offices, go into the work workplaces.

And of course, they were victims of this. They were witnessing this brutal attack. Of course, it's this video, these photos were shared among Ukrainians to make stronger psychological pressure on Ukrainians. So the initial goal of this attack is to keep Ukrainian under threat, under psychological pressure, and to destroy our electricity system not to let Ukrainians to live a normal life even far away from the frontline.

BOLDUAN: Sergii Leshchenko, thank you very much for taking the time to speak with me in the middle of all this. I really appreciate it.

LESHCHENKO: Thank you and thank you for your support of Ukraine and we are calling for more support of Ukraine from your governments as well.

BOLDUAN: Thank you for your time.

So, a new study examines the effectiveness now of one of the most common health screenings for millions of Americans. What you need to know? Next.

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[11:39:51]

BOLDUAN: A police officer in San Antonio has been fired after shooting a 17-year-old who is sitting and eating in his car in the McDonald's parking lot. The shooting was caught on the officer's body camera. That teenage boy is now fighting for his life. CNN's Josh Campbell has the very latest on this for us. Josh, what are you learning?

[11:40:09]

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kate, you know if you ask any respected law enforcement leader across the country what's the key attribute they look for in recruits, they'll tell you that is judgment and, of course, here in this case last Sunday, the judgment of this rookie officer now coming under heavy scrutiny. This officer now fired. I want to walk you through this video that we got of the police body camera footage. I'll warn you that this is graphic.

You see an officer walking up to a vehicle that he thought had evaded police a day earlier. He opens the door and you see the startled teen sitting there eating a meal. That quickly escalates, the team reverses, and then you see the officer opening fire five times.

The vehicle proceeds forward, the officer fires an additional five times. Now that teen was found about a block away suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He is still in the hospital according to his attorney.

But the San Antonio Police Department taking quick action to terminate that officer who had only been on the force for about seven months, he's been named as James Brennand. We've reached out to him for comment we have not yet heard back.

As far as where this goes next, the district attorney's office will investigate, they say, and then ultimately hand this over to a grand jury who will make the ultimate determination whether there will be any criminal charges.

I want to tell you we just got a statement in from the San Antonio police union. Of course, there was a question about whether they would be involved here in representing this former officer. And their statement they say that new police recruits must complete a one-year probationary period before becoming eligible for benefits by the union and the union will not be representing this officer.

The union president told me that he understands why this officer was fired, but they will not be commenting any further as this investigation continues. And of course, we'll have to wait and see where the investigation goes. Whether there are actually charges, in this case, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Josh, thank you so much.

CAMPBELL: Thanks.

BOLDUAN: All right, so major health news this morning. A new study just out examines the effectiveness of colonoscopies, which for many middle-aged Americans is a key yet dreaded rite of passage. Does that invasive cancer screening save lives? CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is joining us now with the details on this. So, Elizabeth, what does this study say?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Kate, this study shows that colon cancer screening, colonoscopies in particular, that it does save lives. Now it's a very complicated study. But the bottom line is that when people got colonoscopies in this huge study in three countries in Europe, Poland and Sweden, and Norway, it did save lives. Not as many as you might have expected, but it didn't save lives.

Let's take a look at what they found. So when they looked at 12,000 people in these three European countries that got colonoscopies, it reduced the colon cancer risk -- the risk of getting colon cancer by 30 percent. It reduced the risk of dying from colon cancer by 50 percent.

Now, what's interesting is that U.S. studies actually show better numbers than that. They show much more of a benefit of colonoscopies. I asked a doctor who has read this study and wrote an editorial why and he said, you know, there's reason to believe that the doctors doing the colonoscopies in Europe, they're not as good at it as the American doctors who do colonoscopies.

Another reason and sorry to get graphic here, but in the United States, people are sedated when they have colonoscopies. Most of the people in Europe in the study who got colonoscopies, most of them were not sedated, they weren't very comfortable, and that might have made the doctors kind of rush through it because who wants to watch someone be in pain?

Now let's take a look at another part of this study. In this study, the doctors in Europe, they invited people to get colonoscopies. Colonoscopies are not standard. What they found is that most of them said no, they didn't want to have them and that's led the editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, who -- which published this they said you have to get a colonoscopy for it to work, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Elizabeth, thank you so much, an important study for people to learn about.

COHEN: Thanks.

BOLDUAN: So, a comedian standup routine interrupted by this.

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BOLDUAN: But it's what she -- but it's how she handled that heckler and that moment that has everyone talking. She joins us next.

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BOLDUAN: Three Latino members of the Los Angeles City Council are facing calls to resign over racist remarks. Council president Nury Martinez is among them. She's issued an apology after audio leaked of a conversation that included racist remarks that she allegedly made about a fellow council member and his black child. CNN's Camila Bernal is in LA following this for us. Camila, what is going on here?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is just unbelievable, and now a lot of calls for resignation. This all started with a leaked audio that was posted online anonymously and then obtained by the LA Times. It's not been verified by CNN, but in it you hear these prominent Latino leaders here in Los Angeles, mainly talking about redistricting. But then they go on to talk about Mike Bonin, who is a white member of the city council with a black son.

You hear the president of the council, Martinez, and she goes on to say that she was at a parade with this child and that she says that he was misbehaving. She was worried that he was going to tip over the float because he was hanging off the railing, but then listen to what she says after.

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NURY MARTINEZ, LA CITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT: And then there's this you know white guy with this little black kid who's misbehaved. They're raising him like a little white kid, which I was like, this kid needs a beatdown. Like, let me -- let me take him around the corner, and then I'll bring him back.

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[11:50:15]

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BERNAL: Now she also says that he handled his child doesn't accessory and described him in Spanish as a monkey. These are all things she is now apologizing for. I want to read part of the statement that she released where she says, in a moment of intense frustration and anger, I let the situation get the best of me. And I hold myself accountable for these comments. For that, I am sorry.

Now, this apology is not enough for the parents of this child and for other members of the Los Angeles City Council who are calling for her and for everyone in that audio to resign. I want to read the statement from the parents of that child where they say we're appalled, we are angry and absolutely disgusted that Nury Martinez attacked her son with horrific racist slurs. And, of course, they're upset and asking for her resignation, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Camila, thank you so much.

So before we go, I want to end with this today. A standup comedian is being applauded for how she handled a heckler this weekend. A heckler that got completely out of control who repeatedly interrupted her when -- and then this comedian was attacked on stage. Watch this.

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ARIEL ELIAS, COMEDIAN: Guys, everybody vote for whoever you want to vote. I don't -- I don't care who you voted for. I'm just happy we're all here and gathered.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Say you vote for Biden.

(CROSSTALK)

ELIAS: I don't know. Why am I?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, you did.

ELIAS: Yes, so what? What's the matter?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can just tell by your jokes you voted for Biden.

(CROSSTALK)

ELIAS: All right. I can tell by the fact that you're still talking when nobody wants you to that you voted for Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

ELIAS: Thank God I think --

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you kidding me?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you (INAUDIBLE) kidding me? I never (INAUDIBLE) for these people ever again.

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BOLDUAN: Joining me now is that comedian, Ariel Elias. Thank you so much for coming on Ariel. We're just joking in the break like never did you think you're going to be up -- ending up on CNN after your gig on Saturday night? But what did you think when a beer came flying at your head and then you picked it up to chug it?

ELIAS: I couldn't believe that it happened. And then as soon as I picked it up and realized there was still liquid in it, I was just like, well, I have -- I have to drink this. I have to chug this.

BOLDUAN: Just like I -- this has to end -- this has to in some way that involves having some kind of humor and all of this.

ELIAS: Yes. Every -- anytime there's a weird interruption in standup, it's always like, well, how do I recover from this? How do I not dig a hole for the next comedian that he has to climb out of? And like, I don't know, how do we make this fun?

BOLDUAN: And also, after having a beer flying past my head, I could probably use a drink as well.

ELIAS: Yes, it helps.

BOLDUAN: Helped in the moment. When this happened for context, because we didn't play the entire part of the -- of the bit, you had reached the point in your set where you're asking the audience for if they had any questions to kind of go back and forth. Have you gotten anything close to this in the past when you opened it up like that?

ELIAS: No. It's never -- it's never really been hostile. Usually, when I asked that, it's fun to see what people are curious about, what audience members want to know. Sometimes that leads nowhere. Sometimes it leads to a new bit. But no, it's never been -- it's never been like angry.

BOLDUAN: Yes. So, the club owner told BuzzFeed that he's in touch with local law enforcement, like local police about what happened. And I actually talked to a comedian who's a friend of mine who's performed there in the past and said that there's been issues at this place with hecklers before. But still, you've said that the club has asked you back and booked you again for April. How do you feel about going back?

ELIAS: I feel like I should have asked for more money.

BOLDUAN: There's probably still time.

ELIAS: Yes. I don't know. I'll go back, I think. We'll see. I haven't like fully processed everything yet. But like, I'm a working comedian so I will go where people ask me to go.

BOLDUAN: Well, we also have seen in just the past year, I'll say, a series of incidents of comedians not just being heckled but being attacked or aggressively, you know, having beers thrown out their head, in your case, most famously, obviously, perhaps is Chris Rock at the Oscars.

Do you have like a message to the people that came at you over the weekend or anyone else who might feel emboldened to do something similar? It just seems that there's been more and more incidence of people not just heckling and you know maybe being overserved, but also taking way too far.

[11:55:08]

ELIAS: I don't know. Therapy is great. I highly recommend it. If you don't have access to therapy, just try like, writing down your feelings, and maybe you'll feel like throwing things less often. And also, like -- I don't know, comedy is supposed to be fun so like, go have a fun time. Don't look for a fight. That's it.

BOLDUAN: Yes. You can go like the --

ELIAS: I think you'll be happy if you're not always looking for a fight.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Well, it's -- and that's the thing. If you don't like it, there's always going to be another joke. And there's always another set. There's always another day for you to be onstage. Well, thank you for coming on. Thanks for how you handled it. And I really appreciate it. It's nice to meet you.

ELIAS: Nice to meet you too. Thanks for having me.

BOLDUAN: Ariel Elias, I'm going to see one of our shows next time I can.

Thank you all so much for watching. I'm Kate Bolduan. "INSIDE POLITICS" with John King starts after this break.

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