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Tennessee Lawmaker Facing Expulsion Argues For More Gun Control; Protesters And Police Clash In Paris Over Pension Reforms, Israel: Dozens Of Rockets Intercepted After Being Fired From Lebanon. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired April 06, 2023 - 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 ANCHOR (on camera): The breaking news this morning, the largest attack from Lebanon on Israel in more than 15 years. Israeli military officials say at least 34 rockets were fired from southern Lebanon. Officials in Israel are -- also add that 25 of those were intercepted by the Iron Dome. The IDF just tweeted that it is now conducting a security assessment of what happened and much more to come on that. Sara?

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Thank you, Kate. We're also following breaking news here in the United States, Tennessee lawmakers are preparing to expel three Democratic state representatives. All three are accused of breaking house rules while calling for stricter gun control measures alongside dozens of protesters.

Right now, lawmakers, you can hear them, they're debating other bills that have to deal with school shootings. None of those, however, include gun control. And just moments ago, we heard from one of the Democratic lawmakers who's going to expel, Gloria Johnson. We also heard from this lawmaker facing expulsion.

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JUSTIN PEARSON, DEMOCRATIC STATE REPRESENTATIVE, TENNESSEE: We don't need a solution that says if you don't lock a door, get someone with a gun. We need a solution that says people shouldn't be going to schools and to houses and to neighborhoods with weapons of war.

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SIDNER: That is from someone who may end up being expelled. CNN's Ryan Young has been following this throughout. He is there in Nashville just outside of this legislative session that's going on right now. Ryan, what have you been seeing and hearing from people? Because there were thousands of protesters gathered and now have pushed into the statehouse there.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Actually, they want to be in the statehouse because they want to be heard. A lot of people who showed up here, Sara, are teachers or parents who have kids in school. And they're concerned that nothing's being done to address the situation that's going on.

Yes, what's happening with these lawmakers is top of mind for a lot of people. But the parents who were here feel stressed about the idea that they could have this legislative session happen without any long- term solutions to the problems they see affecting people in schools all across America. I actually talked to a woman who said she identifies as a Republican, and she understands why lawmakers might want to use this as an advantage to get rid of these three members. But she says even though she believes in the Second Amendment, what she wants to see is change when it comes to protecting kids in school.

When you look on the inside here, you can hear the passion of the protesters who have shown up. They braved the rain. They've been standing out here for hours because they want their voices heard. They want something that happened and they believe lawmakers are using this other distraction with these three members to not really have a substantive conversation about what they want to see stepping forward.

Sara, in the last half hour, since we last saw each other, a lot more state troopers have appeared from the bottom of the building and have surrounded the state capitol to add another sort of layer. And you can see some of the men in green who are here to sort of protect the outside. I can tell you there's been no pushing or shoving and no one has sort of got angry at each other.

There's been no screaming in that sense, except for the protesters wanting their voices heard. There's even a band here that's been playing music because they said they want to drown out the lawmakers on the inside until their voices are heard and something has changed. So, you can just feel that passion as it reverberates through the state capitol area.

SIDNER: The lawmakers certainly can hear what is going on right outside their doors. We've also noticed as we've been watching this, as the speeches go on, these are about different issues, not the expulsion for right now. But we've been seeing that there are some protesters, some parents, some teachers, some students who have made their way into the chamber are sitting there with their signs so that they are not only going to be heard on the outside of the chamber but seen on the inside. Do you have any sense of how long this expulsion vote might take? I understand that the resolutions are one after the other, 63, 64, and 65.

YOUNG: Yes. And that has been the big question so far. Even some of the protesters arrived, not knowing how long this could take. We were told that people had planned to be here all day and they expect it may be that the Republicans would stretch this out throughout the afternoon maybe to have some of the protesters leave.

On top of all that, you have people who say they believe that these three may be expelled no matter what because this is a power move. And in the game of politics --

SIDNER: Yes.

YOUNG: -- when those three politicians decided to play to the crowd and use the bullhorn and they broke the quorum, that gave the opportunity and the advantage to the Republicans. So, they fully believe that this could happen before the end of the afternoon.

[11:35:05]

When you talk to other folks. They say look, how sad is that before all the folks are buried, who were shot and killed last week or had their final memorial, that they're going to have to experience this sort of situation where we're not focused on that as a community. And that is part of the conversation that we've been having with some of the people who've come out here. And they've been talking so passionately about some of the changes they would like to see with better doors, with better red flag laws, with something to be done that could have a change for the future of the state and for the kids and schools.

SIDNER: Ryan Young there live in Nashville outside the state house for us. And it is a sobering fact that guns kill more children than any other thing in this country. John?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): All right, Sara. The situation heating up again on the streets of Paris. Police confronting protesters. We're going to go back to the ground. Stay with us.

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[11:40:27]

BERMAN: You're looking at live pictures from the streets of Paris. The news that has been breaking all morning, a tense faceoff between police and protesters there that is turned violent at times. We've seen smoke bombs, we've seen tear gas, we've seen a cafe set on fire briefly not to mention broken glass and all kinds of debris.

This is the 11th straight day of protests in Paris as people there demonstrate against pension reform. The government of Emmanuel Macron wants to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. He's going to do it, it seems without parliamentary approval, and now we've had 11 straight days of these protests. And today, and really over the last few days, they have tended toward the violent with these direct confrontations between police and protesters.

Let's go right to Melissa Bell, who is on the streets of Paris. Melissa, you were telling us that as nighttime approaches, these protests become even more tense or have a tendency to. What are you seeing as we're what, about an hour or two hours away from nighttime where you are?

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): That's right. It wouldn't be very long. In fact, the marches occasionally stopping but slowly getting to where it's intending to go, which is the Place du Tertre just up ahead. We've done the lion's share of the march so far. And it is up ahead again, John, there we're seeing again, the police, charging places where small fires have been started where protesters have had to try and light up barricades. And there's riots. Police really are trying to clear the area. Now, what we've seen over the course of the last couple of weeks, as the intensity of the violence at the head of these protests has increased is also a much more confrontational approach from the police. There are some 45 inquiries underway into allegations of police violence. And so, this crystallization of all that anger that you're seeing once again today, at the head of this march, really an expression on one hand of the difficulty that police are having in trying to keep these events calm in a way that remains constitutional and by which they abide by their standards of conduct.

And that minority are very determined -- usually, far less protesters, determined to turn what had been fairly peaceful marches into a much angrier confrontation with the police. Really, their aim is that these things get so vital and the street -- country is so paralyzed by the strikes that the government be forced to the negotiating table. I have to say, John, even as they become more determined to see this movement through and carry on until the government backs down, we're hearing from the government a more and more determined sense that they intend to push this performed through whatever happens.

It's a question of who's going to decide to call off the hostilities first. No sign of that. This Thursday afternoon as we head towards the Place du Tertre where once again, there are fires being lit. And as you see the last couple of weeks, paving stones being thrown and a lot of tear gas used by riot police as they try and clear the protesters away, John.

BERMAN: And we've seen some of those flames. We've seen some of the smoke bombs. Melissa, you say the government -- neither the government nor the protesters show any signs of backing down.

And Emanuel Macron, the French president, Kate Bolduan just reminding me he's in Beijing. He's been meeting with the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping. He's not even there. Does the government give you a sense that he is monitoring these protests?

BELL: He's not in the country right now. And that, of course, only confirms the impression that a lot of people have. What we've seen on the signpost once again, today, so much of anger really focused on him. The talks that took place last night between the prime minister and the unions, but it is the representation of Emmanuel Macron, that presidency that has been so controversial.

And as you say, John, not in the country today. He's played so large on the world stage but to the French people who come out just in this protest movement, but we saw during the yellow vests, there's a lot of anger at the reforms he's been carrying out inside the country. He is a remarkably unpopular president with a lot of the people that you'll see here, the members of the trade unions, the workers who feel they'll be penalized by his reforms.

And one of the impressions that people give, and you'll see it again on the signposts here today, there were their slogans is that he is the president of the rich. This is a protest movement that has been fueled by anger of inflation, the cost of living, the fact that people are Trump -- struggling to make ends meet. They feel at a time when they have a president far too focused on what's happening in the outside world, and far too focused on trying to reform the economy.

[11:45:03]

These people are saying they're very happy with the model they had. And what they want is for people to keep on retiring with very generous state pensions they've had essentially since the end of World War Two when this social system was created here in France, John.

BERMAN: All right. Melissa Bell for us on the streets in Paris. As nighttime does approach, Melissa, please, as I keep saying stay safe and keep us posted. Thank you. We will continue to watch what's going on on the streets of Paris, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. We're also continuing to follow the breaking developments out of Israel. We'll take you live there next.

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[11:50:03]

BOLDUAN: One of the major breaking stories we're watching on the show today, the largest attack from Lebanon on Israel in more than 15 years. You see this video that we have coming in. And a security assessment is now underway by the Israeli military as officials there say at least 34 rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel. And in that video, you were seeing 25 of those were intercepted by the Iron Dome.

You're also seeing there some of the damage on the ground from those rockets. This is a huge escalation in the region. And this also comes after days of tensions over Israeli police operations at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

CNN's Hadas Gold, back with us on the phone now from Israel. Hadas, what's the latest you're picking up from there?

HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Yes, Kate, one of the reasons we're on the phone which is because we are getting on the road to get to the north to the scene of where these rockets fell. As you noted, 34 rockets were launched by somebody in southern Lebanon towards Northwest -- towards Northwest Israel. 25 of them were intercepted. But some of them as we are seeing did fall into populated areas.

And we are seeing the damage caused to things like cars, as well as shops. We're seeing what seems to be windows completely blown out from certain shops and restaurants in northern Israel. So, still damaged. But luckily, only two people have been lightly injured by shrapnel, that according to Israeli emergency services.

But still, there's a lot of questions, for example, who launched these rockets, where do they exactly come from, and who is ultimately responsible and who then will the Israeli military potentially target in response. We haven't seen a barrage of rockets like these since 2006 when there was a major war between Hezbollah and the Israeli military. Now, from experts that we've been speaking to in the last few hours, THESE are, you know, former generals, these are former security officials who say that neither Israel nor Hezbollah wants to see this escalate into something bigger. But it has the potential easily, you know, if one thing goes wrong, something happens. And then you can easily end up into a full-blown war.

So, right now, we're waiting to see what will the full Israeli military response be. Who will they specifically target? And we haven't, as far as I understand, seen an official response from Hezbollah or claim of responsibility, specifically from any sort of militant groups, although the place where these rockets were launched from is from an area where there's a lot of Palestinian refugee camps. So, it's very possible Palestinian militants are behind this.

But the Israeli military eyes nothing happens in southern Lebanon without Hezbollah's at least tacit approval. So, there'll be a big question of whether the Israeli military will target Hezbollah, in addition to whoever else they may target as a result of this barrage of rocket.

BOLDUAN: Just watching as you're -- as you're talking, we're looking at that video, Hadas, of the Iron Dome intercepting some of those rockets. Hadas Gold now on the road to head to see some of the damage where these rockets hit. Hadas, thank you so much.

Let's go over to the White House right now. CNN's M.J. Lee is standing by there. M.J., what do you hear? Are you getting any reaction -- any response from White House officials from the National Security Council about this dangerous unfolding situation?

M.J. LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Kate, we are actually just getting some information from an NSC spokesperson. So, I just want to let you know, what kind of reaction -- the scenes of violence we are seeing and have been seeing over the last several hours, what kind of reaction that is prompting within the administration. First of all, the NSC is making very clear right now that they are extremely concerned by the violence that they're seeing coming from all sides and that they would like to urge both sides to try to de-escalate the situation.

We are also being told that the president has been fully briefed. He's continuing, of course, to be briefed on the situation, and that the U.S. ambassador, Ambassador Tom Nides, and others throughout the federal government, that they -- that they continue to be in regular dialogue with Israeli officials, and that, that is going to continue.

Of course, we saw the State Department saying yesterday that they are firmly behind the idea of preserving the historic status quo of holy sites in Jerusalem. So, that's something else that we should expect U.S. officials to continue to emphasize throughout the day, as the situation develops. And the White House -- the NSC is also saying that they condemned the launch of any rockets at Israel. So, again, this is a very tense situation, a fast-moving situation that U.S. officials are watching very, very closely. I should also note, we do, of course, expect a White House press briefing within the next hour or so. So, that is when we should also be getting some new reactions from NSC spokesperson, John Kirby. This is a situation again, even yesterday at the White House briefing, this came up. And again, the U.S.'s position has been that they are monitoring this situation closely, but that they would really like all sides involved to de-escalate the situation as quickly as possible, Kate.

[11:55:14]

BOLDUAN: Yes, some critical moments hours ahead as that -- as that security assessment's underway in Israel. It'll be very important to hear from the White House on this in this moment. M.J., thank you very much for jumping up so quickly for us. Sara?

SIDNER: We have seen huge protests in Paris. There are rockets being traded back and forth between Lebanon and Israel. And we are awaiting what is happening in Tennessee, and whether lawmakers there will expel three Democratic lawmakers for protesting inside of the chamber.

Thank you so much for being with us. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. We will be back with you at 9:00 a.m. "INSIDE POLITICS" is up next.

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