Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Sheriff Says, Two Suspects Arrested, One on the Loose in Teens' Murders; Israel Launches Strikes in Gaza, Lebanon After Rocket Attack; GOP-Led Tennessee House Expels Two Black Democrats Over Gun Reform Protest. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired April 07, 2023 - 10:00   ET

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

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: For someone who ought to know better and didn't.

[10:00:02]

And don't talk about your -- I mean, we don't about our emotions. Just don't talk about it.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Stick with me. John, we're going to continue to follow this very closely.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, Kate. We're going to try to dig into the facts of what we just learned this triple murder in Marion County, Florida. There have now been two arrests a suspect is still on the run. Thankfully, CNN's Carlos Suarez has been following this story.

And, Carlos, just cut through all of this and explain to us what we just learned because we just got a lot of new information in the middle of all of that.

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's exactly right, John. So, from the very beginning, the Marion County sheriff kept alluding to this idea that detectives were looking into whether or not at least one of these three teenagers that were killed were involved in some type of gang activity.

I interviewed the sheriff earlier this week and I asked him, look, is this one -- is this going to be a case where possibly some of the folks that were in the car, some of the teens that died may not have known that one of their friends was involved in a gang. He said they were looking at that possibility. However, we now know this morning that, at least according to the sheriff, as well as the detectives in Marion County, it is now clear that all three teenagers that died were involved in some type of gang in Marion County.

The one thing that was asked a couple of times throughout the news conference was exactly why these three suspects, the three people that are being charged in deeds, that's at least two that have been arrested, why did they turn on the three teenagers. We know they were all in this car together. We know that they knew each other, even if it was for a brief period of time, and at least, according to the sheriff, if they were all up to up to no good, if they were all doing -- breaking the law in Marion County, why at some point last Thursday that something happened inside of that car that would lead half of the group to kill the other three.

The sheriff said that because they are still looking for that third person. He did not want to get into the specifics. But as he outlined in his news conference, they are -- at least two of the -- at least the two people that were arrested, these minors, have confessed to killing that third person that was found inside of Layla Silvernail's car. John?

BERMAN: And, Carlos, again, we're lucky to have you here because you know all the ins and outs of this case and have been talking to all the key people. Now that we heard that news conference inside that, and I'm not sure if you actually receive the indictment or any paperwork from the sheriff's department, yet he alluded to the fact that that had been transmitted to some reporters, I don't know if it came through yet, but do we know anything more about the timeline, any specifics?

SUAREZ: So we are waiting for a copy of the probable cause that the sheriff said should give a little bit more insight into what detectives are working with when it comes to this case. As for the timeline, we know this happened last Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The last time this car was spotted by some surveillance cameras in Marion County was around 10:40 on Thursday. They find the body of 16- year-old Layla Silvernail on Thursday. She had been shot. She's taken to the hospital. She ends up dying earlier this week.

On Friday, they find the body of a 17-year-old boy about a half mile from where they found Layla's body. And then on Saturday, they come across a third body that was about a few miles south of where the two other victims were found. The body of this 16-year-old, we now know, was found in the trunk of a car. The car in question here belonged to the first victim, Layla.

So, again, we're waiting for that probable cause that should give us a little bit more information, some more names and some details. But, again, John, three -- two arrests have been made, and they are looking for a third in this investigation.

BERMAN: And we should say three teenagers are dead. Carlos, let us know when that document comes in. Let us know when you have that new information because it will be key. Thank you so much for all the work you've done on this.

CNN New Central continues right now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: A major retaliatory strike in the Middle East. Israeli forces firing rockets overnight, which they say hit Palestinian targets in Lebanon and Gaza. These strikes are in response to the dozens of rockets fired from Southern Lebanon into Israeli territory yesterday. It is the most severe violence at the Israeli/Lebanese border since 2006.

Also this morning, two Israeli women were killed and another is in serious condition after a shooting in the West Bank. One Israeli official described it as a terror attack. A spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces told us last hour this incident is a treacherous event in the big build up of tensions in the Middle East.

[10:05:00]

CNN's Hadas Gold is near the Israel/Lebanon border. Hadas, what are you feeling this morning? And what are you hearing from people, because we have seen these rockets going back and forth between the two countries?

HADAS GOLD, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, the Airspace here in the northern part of Israel is still closed but you can actually see the Lebanese border just behind me on this hill. And so far, since those air -- the Israeli airstrikes in Southern Lebanon this morning, things have been calm here but tense. The Israeli military is saying that it was striking and they're making pains to make this clear, Palestinian targets in Southern Lebanon, where they believe those dozens of rockets were fired from yesterday. They were trying to strike those. Lebanese security sources telling CNN that the places that were targeted were more open areas, more agricultural places where these militias were holding their weapons.

And one thing that's been essentially made clear from both Lebanese politicians, not necessarily Hezbollah, of course, the militant group that controls Southern Lebanon, but Lebanese politicians as well as the Israelis, is that they have no interest in escalating this further because a bigger confrontation with Hezbollah, who has much, much greater arms and capabilities than a militant group like Hamas, well, that will be a huge, huge escalation.

Take a listen to what the Israel Defense Forces international spokesperson told CNN just in the past hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. COL. RICHARD HECHT, INTERNATIONAL SPOKESPERSON, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: We want to deescalate. I mean, there's a very, very sensitive weekend ahead with Passover, Ramadan and Easter, all aligning. And we're looking for a -- hoping for a quiet weekend, although we had another attack right after the prayers in Jerusalem, in the Jordan Valley, but we're looking to deescalate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLD: Now, that attack is referencing is when actually two Israeli sisters who run the ages of 16 and 20 were shot and killed alongside their mother, who was in critical condition while driving through the occupied West Bank. The Israeli police saying that this was a Palestinian terror attack. No suspects have been caught yet.

Meanwhile, most of the action, the cross-border, action actually between the Israeli military and Palestinian militants, have been down south in Gaza, the Israeli military carrying out several airstrikes overnight, they say, targeting Hamas targets. Militants have responded with more than 40 rockets fired back, material damage on both sides, including to a pediatric hospital in Gaza, but, thankfully, no injuries yet reported on either side.

So, clearly, the situation may potentially be calming down, although Israeli reservists have now been called up, specifically to the air force, but citizens who live, Israeli citizens who live near Gaza have been told they no longer need to stay close to shelters.

SIDNER: Hadas Gold live there from near the Israeli/Lebanese border, thank you so much for all those new details.

Let's discuss what's happening in the Middle East right now with former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro. He is also a distinguished fellow with the Atlantic Council. Thank you, Ambassador, for coming and talking about this.

There is a lot of fear right now that these exchanges of rockets between Israel and Lebanon might escalate into a full scale war that we saw back in 2006. Do you share are those concerns and are you heartened by what you just heard? You heard the lieutenant colonel with the IDF saying, we want to deescalate. You're also hearing some of that from Lebanon.

DAN SHAPIRO, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO ISRAEL: Well, this series of events has the feel of kind of kind of a coordinated assault by the network of proxies and terrorist organizations that Iran sponsors in the region, some Palestinians, some Lebanese, some Shia based in Syria. There have been attacks against Israel now from Syria, Gaza and Lebanon, all within the last week, as well as today's terrorist attack in the West Bank. That doesn't often happen at once.

So far, the Israeli response has been relatively restrained in both Gaza and Lebanon, and that suggests that they are looking to avoid an escalation if at all possible. There was a helpful statement from the prime minister of Lebanon criticizing those who would use Lebanese territory to spark conflict, conflagrations in the region.

So, hopefully, this round will be contained. I would certainly, though, not assume that even if it is contained, and that is the hope that we get to a quiet weekend for the holidays. I would not assume that Israel would not later find opportunities to strike at Iranian interests elsewhere in the region.

SIDNER: I do want to talk to you about why anger was heightened, particularly in the Arab world over the Israeli police raids at Al- Aqsa Mosque, one of the holiest sites for Islam, also for Judaism. People saw Israeli police beating people inside of that mosque, the holiest place, and police were faced with firecrackers coming at them.

I think in 2021, there were clashes there at the mosque, and that was kind of the catalyst for the 11-day war. Are you worried that we are heading to that place again?

SHAPIRO: Any time there are clashes at the holy sites in Jerusalem, which are among the most sensitive sites in the whole region, you have the possibility of an escalation.

[10:10:00] That is what happened last year. Certainly, Israel has responsibilities to do its best to promote calm, especially at those holy sites, and it's, of course, always debatable that every single decision, if it's the right one, the operational decisions dealing with extremist groups who are positioning themselves in the mosque to try to provoke clashes. Sometimes you can find cause to try to do those things differently.

But even if you can find fault with certain operational decisions, that's no justification for the array of attacks against Israel on three different fronts. That clearly means that somebody is behind all of this trying to strike a different tone and it's trying to actually escalate things in the region. So, now Israel has the responsibility to defend itself, and it has strong support from the United States to do so while still trying to deescalate and get back to quiet as soon as possible.

SIDNER: Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro, thank you so much for joining us on these very tense times in the Middle East. Kate?

BOLDUAN: The two Tennessee Democrats expelled from office, they say that they are not going anywhere. The Republican-led House formally kicked out representatives Justin Pearson and Justin Jones yesterday, but a third Democratic representative, Gloria Johnson, survived that vote.

Now, take a look at this. Less than 24 hours after that vote, as you can see here, the state legislature's websites shows their districts as now vacant. This all comes after these lawmakers, they broke decorum, the House rules, in order to join protesters calling for gun reforms.

CNN's Ryan Young is live in Nashville. Ryan, you watched, you reported for us, you're on all morning yesterday and afternoon and evening reporting as this was unfolding, but what are you hearing now from these lawmakers expelled and also about what happens now?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, some great questions. And, of course, the one thing that we keep hearing over and over, the fight is not over. The fight for gun control in this state is not over. But the fight for these three lawmakers is not over, and I say three because everyone is talking about forming a new coalition to try to go after this supermajority.

Now, that probably won't happen anytime in the near future, but what they believe they get these two lawmakers back into the seat, they can show a power move in terms of just being able to show that these districts won't be silent.

We heard over and over again that people didn't like the way this played out. You're talking about three members who went to the floor to talk about gun violence, and the fact of the matter is they admitted they broke the rules. There was that bullhorn that was used on the floor of the House, but no one thinks that they should have been thrown out because of that move and in terms of when I say, no one, part of the Democratic Party.

The Republicans have been very clear. They knew what they wanted to do yesterday. They saved the one member. Even she rubbed the fact that maybe race played a role in all of this that made a lot of people feel uneasy. But listen to the members who were thrown out yesterday as they talk about their next moves moving for court.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STATE REP. JUSTIN PEARSON (D-TN): This is not democracy. This is not what it is supposed to look like, and everybody needs to be very afraid and very worried that there are people in positions of power who are using and wielding that power to expel people who are duly elected to their seats.

STATE REP. JUSTIN JONES (D-TN): The thousands of young people here who are saying, we are scared for our lives, for our future, who begged this body to act. That's why I stood up there in the well and I'll continue -- I would do it again and I'll continue to stand for them because this is an issue of life or death.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Yes, Kate, sometimes you don't see it actually happen live on T.V., but this probably happened yesterday. These two young men have become superstars in the Democratic Party. I'll tell you over the next two hours or so, there will be several different news conferences.

But what we're told is Monday is the next day to circle because they plan to be back here at the statehouse, who also been told the plans and the local councils of the district they represent, they plan to send them back up here. They plan to have them back in their seats sometime soon, and the Republicans have something planned if that does happen as well.

So, all this is not over just yet. This fight will continue for quite some time. But the one thing that I was told by someone who was just walking by a few seconds ago, we're still not talking enough about gun control. That's been said to us over and over again, and this fight will not end and will probably play out on T.V. again. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Ryan, thank you so much. John?

BERMAN: Yes. I don't think this is the end. I think this is very much the beginning.

BOLDUAN: And it's on all of them that the idea of gun violence and gun reforms is falling by the wayside.

BERMAN: No question about that.

So, a man is dead in New Mexico after investigators say police end up at the wrong house while responding to a domestic violence call. How this turned into a front door shootout.

Plus, the IRS getting a much needed overhaul, what this means for taxpayers.

And later, after a turbulent first round, could Tiger Woods pull off an epic comeback at the Masters? We're live in Augusta with that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:15:00]

BOLDUAN: The IRS has just received an additional $80 billion in new funding. It's part of an upcoming overhaul to the agency intended to increase audits. Yes, friends. But officials say that the average taxpayer should not be worried. Let's find out why.

Vanessa Yurkevich is here. When people hear the word, audit, they shutter. So, please walk us through what this means.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's scary. A lot of Americans don't like to hear that. But what we're hearing from the new head of THE irs is exactly what they're going to be doing with this $80 billion they got from the Inflation Reduction Act.

So, key things to note is you're going to see audits increase for wealthy Americans and for big corporations but not for the average taxpayer and those who pay under or who make under $400,000.

And how do you do this? How do you make all these increases in audits on wealthy Americans and corporations? Well, part of this big cash infusion is going to go to hiring.

[10:20:03]

They're going to hire about 86,000 more people to work at the IRS over the next decade. That's to make up for about 20 percent of employees at the IRS who left over the past decade. And what that's going to do is help with customer service. It's going to reduce call times from about 20 minutes of waiting until about four minutes of waiting on the line, and agents are going to be able to pick up about 80 to 90 percent of the calls for 17 percent of the calls. A lot of people may know that they're waiting a long time listening to that music.

And this money is also going to go towards simple things, like buying more scanners so that the IRS can scan paper filings in a lot quicker and it's going to make it easier for all of us to file electronically. That's a big thing for people who maybe want to get sort of more into the 21st century.

But one of the big things that we heard from Republicans about this cash infusion was this is expensive. But what the IRS is saying is that this investment into the IRS actually means that they're going to see $100 billion in new revenue over the next decade. So, when you think about it, it might even out a little bit.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Is the juice worth the squeeze on this one? Maybe this time -- YURKEVICH: That's what the IRS is saying.

BOLDUAN: That's what the IRS definitely is saying. It's good to see, Vanessa, thank you. John?

BERMAN: All right. With me now is CNN Economics and Political Commentator Catherine Rampell. She is a Washington Post Opinion Columnist who, frankly, is obsessed with IRS modernization and reform. And I'm not joking about this. This has sort of been your white whale for a long time now.

CATHERINE RAMPELL, CNN ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, many people's white whale, to be clear.

BERMAN: So, is it happening?

RAMPELL: Yes. So, I took a tour actually of an IRS processing center last summer, and like the whole thing was just wild. We just heard about how they're coming into the 21st century. I think it would be nice if they enter the late 20th century because they have all of these disco-era technologies. They like are still using COBOL. For those watching out there who know what that is, that's a very old programming language.

A lot of the documents don't even get scanned in. There are workers who manually type digit by digit, the numbers from the paper return into the computer, which, as you can imagine, can result in a lot of human error, even if people are as fastidious as they can be.

So, they need these I.T. upgrades. They have been asking for these I.T. upgrades for a very long time. The challenge has partly been management, but largely that it's difficult to make these long-term investments if you have a lack of predictability in the funding stream over the next ten years. So, that was the point of this $80 billion cash infusion so that they could plan.

BERMAN: Maybe it will really happen this time.

All right, the jobs report just in a couple of hours ago, 236,000 new jobs added in March, the unemployment rate down to 3.5 percent, which is very low. Right around expectations, so what does this all mean?

RAMPELL: I think, in general, the report was pretty good on its own terms. There were some really good numbers under the hood also. So, black unemployment is at its lowest rate on record. The labor force participation rate, so that's the share of people in the workforce, particularly the share of prime working age people, people aged 25 to 54, that's back where it was pre-pandemic, so a lot of good stuff.

It's backward-looking, though. I mean, all of these reports are always backward-looking, and a lot has changed in the last month, given the banking turmoil, given a lot of other indicators we've seen about, for example, jobless claims going up. So, we don't know what that means.

I have heard some pessimistic spins from economists today saying, yes, it looks nice, but maybe it's just the calm before the recession, the calm before the slump. I hope that's not the case.

BERMAN: Yes. Well, what is the storm, though? What would the slump be?

RAMPELL: Well, we have a series the Fed rate hikes tightening financial conditions that basically operate on the economy with a long lag, and we don't know how long of a lag. So, if the Fed was raising rates last year, early last year, when they first began, then maybe we're starting to feel that tightening this year or maybe we're feeling it more this year with the banking crises, the banks failing, you might see a greater pull back on lending from regional banks around the country, which can affect businesses, which can, in turn, affect how much they hire and how much they invest.

So, you know, there's a lot of uncertainty about this economy. There is always uncertainty, but I feel like there's an unusually high amount right now because so many indicators are pointing in different directions, and, frankly, we haven't been in this situation before.

BERMAN: Right. Catherine Rampell, I'm happy for you that you're getting some of the IRS reforms that you want. Congratulations on your years' long quest.

RAMPELL: I cannot take credit nut thank you.

BERMAN: All right. I appreciate it. Sara?

SIDNER: All right, John.

Just into CNN, we're live at the Pentagon on the new investigation after alleged classified documents with U.S. and NATO intel were found circulating on social media.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:25:00]

BOLDUAN: Welcome back to CNN News Central.

At this hour, we have some new information coming in, concerns about a potential wider regional escalation after Israeli forces strike Palestinian militant targets in Southern Lebanon and Gaza. Just in, we're hearing from Hezbollah's deputy leader who now says Israel's, quote, attempts at fear-mongering are ineffective, end quote.

[10:30:00]

The latest strikes from Israel come after the dozens of rockets that were fired from Lebanon into Israel yesterday. John?

BERMAN: All right, Kate. This just in, the Pentagon.