Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Airport Reopens in Florida; Minneapolis Settles Lawsuit; Bank Shooter Being Tested for CTE; North Korea Launches ICBM; Mifepristone manufacturer Asks for Supreme Court Intervention. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired April 14, 2023 - 09:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:32:19]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN NEWS CENTRAL HOST: Welcome back to CNN NEWS CENTRAL. Here is a look at some of the stories that we are tracking right now.

Today, the man accused of allegedly leaking classified government documents is going to appear before a federal judge in Boston. Jack Teixeira was arrested by the FBI yesterday. He's accused of leaking documents, which included detailed intelligence assessments of allies and adversaries, as well as the U.S. military's assessment of the state of the war in Ukraine.

John --

JOHN BERMAN, CNN NEWS CENTRAL HOST: Kate, this morning, the Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport has reopened as south Florida tries to move past the historic flooding there. Passengers are now checking in, which is welcome news after what it looked like 24 hours ago. These scenes, of course, closed the airport. The National Weather Service says the deepest flooding was just over three feet. In other words, there were three feet of water on the ground, and that was north of the airport. There are new storms on the horizon, which could bring more rain to the area today. Not expected to be as widespread, but the weather service says any amount of rain could exacerbate the flooding there.

CNN's Leyla Santiago is at the I guess operational airport this morning, which -- which I'm sure does come as welcome news, Leyla.

LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, because it's sign of a return to normalcy somewhat. I've got to tell you, I went in there. I watched as passengers were checking in, getting through security. Even just watched a plane take off just behind me moments ago. But when you look up at that board, there are still a lot of flights listed as delayed, canceled, some on time. So, airport officials here urging anyone heading in or out of here to make sure you're checking that flight status.

And this, we came over here after we were in neighborhoods just within a few miles up here this morning, in which when I talked to neighbors, they too were sort of feeling a sense of relief because, listen, they woke up this morning, they went outside and the water was receding and there is no rain. So that is great news.

The issue is, there's a challenge coming this afternoon. They are expecting more rain. And that can be a challenge because that water is just saturated. I mean, take a look at some of the aerial images that we captured in those neighborhoods. I mean there is still water flooding some of those streets. I even saw one gentleman pull out a boat, which could have been the way he was going to get around this morning.

So, kind of a sigh of relief, not just at the airport, not just in some of those neighborhoods, because there are improvements, but people are still hesitant because they don't really know how this will fare come this afternoon when more water, which, as you mentioned, is not expected to be what we saw over the last 36 hours. Historic rain numbers.

Not expecting that, but because we don't really know what will come after the clean-up, a lot of eyes are kind of just weary right now as they wait to see how this afternoon will go.

[09:35:06]

John --

BERMAN: All right, Leyla Santiago, in Fort Lauderdale. Leyla, stay dry, if you can.

Sara --

SARA SIDNER, CNN NEWS CENTRAL HOST: The city of Minneapolis has settled two excessive force lawsuits against former Minneapolis Police Officer, and convicted murderer, Derek Chauvin for more than $8.8 million. Chauvin is currently in prison for killing George Floyd after putting his knee on Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes. Years before that murder, two other citizens in Minneapolis complained Chauvin had used the same kind of force when he detained them. They survived and sued the city. I spoke with one of those citizens, Zoya Code, in 2021.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZOYA CODE, SUED MINNEAPOLIS FOR ARREST BY CHAUVIN: My name's Zoya Code. And I'm all I've got. And you will not take my life. Like I told you, they will not take my life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: She says she complained to the police and they didn't do anything.

CNN's Natasha Chen has more details on this case and settlement.

Natasha, what can you tell us?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Sara, the Minneapolis city council yesterday voted unanimously to settle these two lawsuits. Ultimately awarding John Pope $7.5 million and Zoya Code $1.375 million.

These two incidents happened in 2017. After the settlement yesterday, the two people, through their attorney, decided to release body camera footage of what happened. And we're going to show you some of it. And I have to warn you, it is disturbing to watch.

We're going to start with what happened with John Pope, who was at the time 14 years old. Here's what we're seeing as police are responding to a domestic call.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get on your stomach.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) my own house.

You hitting me?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, please, John (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: get on - get on your stomach now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What'd I say?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Put your hands behind your back now

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I (INAUDIBLE) to y'all.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do not kill my son, please. Please, do not kill my son.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE). Mom, they're trying to kill (ph) me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't - don't kill my son, please.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN: That's very difficult to watch. And here you're seeing Chauvin kneeling on the back of Pope's neck. And, according to the lawsuit, that lasted for more than 15 minutes. In the earlier clip you saw Chauvin hit Pope with a metal flashlight.

And the attorneys say that these two cases, Pope and Code, are strikingly similar. And they say that Chauvin was using his, quote, signature move, with a knee on the neck.

And what we're going to show you next is a clip from Code's incident where police were also called to her house for a domestic incident. And, again, this is going to be disturbing to watch, but what you will see is Chauvin dragging her out of the house and attorney saying that he gratuitously slammed her unprotected head to the ground.

Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lift me up. You weak? You strong enough? Owe. That's how you're gonna slam me on the ground. That's how you're gonna do me. Just like all the other black people, huh? Just like the rest, huh? We going to be dead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, (INAUDIBLE). Dead. I'm going blackout.

Can you turn my neck around, please, I can't breathe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN: And according to the lawsuit there, Chauvin kneeled on her neck for more than four minutes.

Chauvin is currently serving more than 20 years in prison for the murder of George Floyd. The mayor of Minneapolis said yesterday that he should have been fired in 2017 because of these incidents. If the supervisors did what they were supposed to do, the mayor said, George Floyd would not have been murdered.

Sara --

SIDNER: I think that is what everyone is thinking. Very hard to watch those videos, especially that 14 year old screaming for his mother, similar to what happened in the George Floyd case.

Natasha Chen, thank you so much. John --

BOLDUAN: I'll take it, Sara.

The Kentucky state medical examiner and the family of the Louisville bank shooter have asked that more and additional tests be done on his body, specifically testing his brain for CTE. Here's why. A friend of the family tells -- tells CNN that Connor Sturgeon has had a history of what they have described as significant concussions while playing sports in high school. So much so that he eventually wore a helmet to protect his head while playing basketball. His family says that he was even known by classmates as Mr. Concussion, just to put a fine point on it.

Joining me right now is CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

And, Sanjay, you have done so much work in - you have done so much work and also reporting for CNN on this issue. What do people need to know about CTE?

[09:40:03]

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, just drawing these connections between CTE and this sort of behavior, that's obviously a very challenging thing to do. But we've learned a lot more about CTE, which was something we didn't even talk about, you know, 20 years ago. It stands for Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. And this is a model of the brain. Think of this not as a sort of focused area of the brain. Think of this as the entire brain taking these blows, often from sports like football, leading to concussions. And over time developing these changes in the brain.

And there's these different stages. Again, 20 years ago we didn't know any of this, but now they actually put it into four different stages of CTE. The first stage, sometimes being relatively with few symptoms or just depressive symptoms. Stage two, it starts to get more serious, and this can take place over years, but behavioral outbursts and severe depression. Stage three, you're adding on now memory loss and executive dysfunction. And then the worst is stage four. And, again this can take place years later, but with stage four you get really obvious symptoms, including psychosis and profound cognitive symptoms.

So, think of this as like an aggressive Alzheimer's like disease that comes about, Kate, as a result of repeated blows to the head. With him I guess they said a couple concussions in eighth grade. Another one maybe I think while he was in high school. But this is what the examiners are going to be looking at.

BOLDUAN: And, Sanjay, what is known, and maybe not known, about - if -- about any connection between CTE and violent behavior?

GUPTA: There's a fair amount that is -- that is known now. I mean this is one of the cardinal symptoms is that there is a tendency for aggressive behavior. There may even be - you know, we hear about suicides, for example. So oftentimes the aggression is sort of pointed inward. The idea of homicide, of directing it outward, less so. But, look, there have been a couple of very high profile stories that you know well, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Right.

GUPTA: Phillip Adams and Aaron Hernandez. These were two football players who both had -- they had diagnosed CTE upon the time of their death. Phillip Adams had killed six people before he killed himself. Aaron Hernandez killed somebody and then kill himself. When their brains were examined, they were found to have CTE. Phillip Adams, bad stage two CTE, and Aaron Hernandez stage three.

So, again, drawing the connection between this is challenging.

BOLDUAN: Right.

GUPTA: But the idea that CTE is real, that it can lead to symptoms, including violence, we know that to be true now over the last 20 years.

BOLDUAN: It's good to see you, Sanjay. Thank you so much.

GUPTA: You too, Kate.

BOLDUAN: John --

BERMAN: A mother whose six-year-old shot his first-grade teacher has turned herself in. Why she may not be the only one to face charges for this shooting.

And after three weeks of protests and violent clashes with police, today is the day that workers in France have their moment in court.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:47:38]

BERMAN: All right, new information just in to CNN. Jack Teixeira, the 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guardsman, arrested for leaking classified documents allegedly, we just learned he will have his first court appearance at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time at the federal courthouse in Boston. We're about 14 minutes away, again, from the alleged Pentagon leaker at the Joe Moakley Federal Courthouse in Boston, where he could face these charges for espionage, leaking classified documents online in this Discord online chat group. Again, we are following these developments. We will bring you word of his court appearance the minute it happens.

Sara --

SIDNER: Thanks, John.

North Korea says the rocket it launched on Thursday was a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile.

(VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: That launch sparked momentary panic on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido after an emergency alert system warned residents to take cover.

(VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: A really ominous sound there. The warning was soon lifted. State media reports that leader Kim Jong-un guided the weapons test. It was reportedly a solid fueled ICBM, which can move more easily and launch more quickly than a liquid fueled missile.

I want to bring in CNN's Senior International Correspondent Ivan Watson.

You're joining us from Hong Kong now. Ivan, what more are you learning about North Korea's nuclear capabilities after seeing this new technology they have.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. Well, it's clear that they continue to be committed to developing their missile systems. And if we take them at their word, then they have made another step forward. Instead of having to do liquid fueled missiles, which is the technology they had in the past, which can require the missiles to have to sit at the launch point and be filled up with fuel for hours, this is solid fuel and thus it can kind of get deployed very quickly and launched.

[09:50:03] It makes it much harder to detect on the ground and potentially to intercept.

And North Korea's been on this missile launching binge for more than a year now. Last year more than 90 cruise and ballistic missile tests and launches counted. This was the 12th launch of this year. It gets condemned every time by the U.S. government, by allies, South Korea and Japan. You mentioned that it spooked residents and the authorities on that northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. And it just underscores that even though we're continuing to hear reports of food insecurity in North Korea, of poverty there, of problems that the government, that the regime there is committed absolutely to continuing to develop these costly nuclear weapons and missile launching systems almost at all costs, Pyongyang claims this is to improve and increase its war deterrence capability.

Sara --

SIDNER: On the other end of that, people are feeling like they are under potential attack. You heard those sirens going off. How is the region responding to this?

WATSON: Right. Well, you know, South Korea, and its government, has kind of played this down, saying that they don't really think that the North Koreans have really mastered this yet. There's another important factor here. The U.S. has been conducting these huge joint military exercises this past month with the South Korean allies. And that really angers Pyongyang and helps drive up some of the tension in the region.

And we've just gotten an announcement from the South Korean government that there were joint air force exercises today involving a U.S. B-52 bomber. That is the kind of activity that the North Koreans do not like.

SIDNER: Ivan Watson, thank you so much, live there for us from Hong Kong.

Kate --

BOLDUAN: All right, and this just in to CNN. The drug maker of Mifepristone, the abortion pill that's been at the center of this fight over abortion access, the drug maker has just asked the Supreme Court to intervene in this fight. That's just into CNN NEWS CENTRAL. We'll have details after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:56:19]

BERMAN: All right, this just in to CNN, the manufacturer of an abortion pill is now asking the Supreme Court to intervene in emergency dispute.

CNN's Joan Biskupic joins us now with the details.

It really does now seem as if all this discussion about the abortion pill is headed straight for the Supreme Court, Joan.

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SENIOR SUPREME COURT ANALYST: It's right there on the doorsteps right now, John. This is the first of two important filings we're going to see this morning from challengers to the lower court decisions.

This one comes from the drug manufacturer, Danco, that primarily handles the Mifepristone drug that is the first pill in the two drug abortion medication protocol that is used most dominantly by women who want to end a pregnancy throughout the country in states that still have it legal. This is what they said about what we have right now are competing lower court decisions in one direction saying the FDA must curtail access to this drug. Another one saying, no, the FDA must not curtail.

And what Danco said this morning, in it's filing, that just went in, John, is, the result is an untenable limbo for Danco, for providers, for women and for the health care system, all trying to navigate these uncharted waters. So, it just shows that there's so much confusion out there and what the drug manufacturer has had is, Supreme Court, please, step in before a midnight deadline tonight where there will be even more confusion about women's access. We expect, John, the Department of Justice to file its brief. It's requested just within a matter of minutes or within the hour, similarly, asking the court to intervene in this emergency matter that will affect abortion access nationwide.

John --

BERMAN: By midnight tonight we will know, I think, which way the Supreme Court whether they're going to get in here.

BISKUPIC: Yes. Yes. That's right.

BERMAN: Joan Biskupic, thank you very much. I suspect we'll be talking to you again very shortly.

Sara --

SIDNER: In just a few minutes, a suspect accused of leaking a trove of classified Pentagon documents online is supposed to appear before a judge in Boston. We're live outside the courthouse.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)