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Soon: Hearing On Whether Accused Leaker Stays In Jail Until Trial; Fox News To Pay $787M To Dominion In Last-Minute Defamation Deal; Protests In Antioch, CA After Racist Texts By Police Revealed; Two Texas Cheerleaders Shot After Getting Into Wrong Car In Parking Lot; NYC Parking Garage Had Three Open Violations Classified As Hazardous; Today: Man Accused In Wrong-Door Shooting Could Appear In Court. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired April 19, 2023 - 9:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Baby was a success.

LEMON: Operation baby was indeed a success. Did he do it like a Russian accent there?

HARLOW: God, you know what it was.

LEMON: A toddler crawled through a White House fence yesterday, setting off security alerts. And you can see two Secret Service police officers carrying the tiny trespasser who was quickly reunited with his parents.

HARLOW: Thank goodness for that.

LEMON: Can you imagine if you were the parents though?

HARLOW: We're glad you are with us today. We'll see you right back here tomorrow morning. CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: The alleged leaker and the judge, Jack Teixeira, is back in court this morning facing a judge to see if he'll get out on bail or stay behind bars as he awaits trial. Just as the Defense Secretary puts a deadline on figuring out exactly how will the Pentagon leak happen and how to stop it from happening again.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: Is $787 million just the beginning? Fox forced to pay in a store at some for lies about the 2020 election. New reporting on what could be an even bigger lawsuit just around the corner.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Disturbing and offensive newly released racist messages from officers in a northern California city have sparked protests outside the police station. We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BOLDUAN: Just hours from now, the 21-year-old Air National Guard has been accused of leaking a trove of classified documents. He's going to be back in a federal court. Today's hearing will determine whether Jack Teixeira will stay behind bars until trial.

Also today, prosecutors may disclose more information about the leak itself in an effort to convince the judge. The suspect is a flight risk. There are also new moves on the government's review into how this leak happened.

An Air Force Inspector General is currently investigating Teixeira's unit, the 102nd intelligence wing. And we've learned that unit has been temporarily reassigned within the Air Force.

CNN's Jason Carroll is outside the federal courthouse in Boston. Jason, first, what are you expecting or hearing could be happening in court today?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, a couple of things, Kate. This detention hearing, once it gets underway at about 11 o'clock, first, the prosecution side of things, expecting to hear the prosecution explain and argue more as to why Jack Teixeira, 21 years old, should not be released on bail, namely that if he is released, given that all that he's accused of, there is a likelihood that he might try to do it again.

The judge is going to have a lot to consider here. Is he a risk to the community at large? Is he a risk to himself? Is he a flight risk? Some of the things that will be under consideration here.

The defense, for its part, could go, Kate, one of two ways perhaps given that this is really going to be an uphill battle here in terms of getting bail. This is what legal experts are telling us, uphill battle. So perhaps the defense will decide not to contest this at all in which case it's going to be a very short hearing.

Or what they could do is argue that there can't -- that they're -- that this -- that this defendant is a candidate for bail, given certain conditions such as perhaps no access to a computer, no access to the internet, things of this nature.

So once again, once this detention hearing gets underway at 11 o'clock here, much for the judge here to consider. Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right. Much to happen in the just a couple hours ahead. Jason Carroll is outside the courthouse in Boston for us. Jason, thank you so much. John?

BERMAN: Busy day in Boston.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

BERMAN: All right. This morning, what happens after agreeing to pay $787 million for broadcasting lies? Fox forced into one of the biggest defamation payouts ever for lies about Dominion Voting Systems in the 2020 election.

The media company will now cut this historic check but will not have to apologize on air. Dominion CEO says the settlement proves, "Fox has admitted to telling lies." He added, "The evidence brought to light through this case underscores the consequences of spreading and endorsing lies."

Now, the only actual words Fox itself use to this effect were in its statement, quote, "We acknowledge the court's rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false. This settlement reflects Fox's continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards."

Really? It might reflect their continued commitment to payouts and there might have to be more. They face another, even bigger lawsuit. Smartmatic is seeking $2.7 billion in damages from Fox and other defendants for the same type of lies at the heart the Dominion case.

[09:05:01]

With me now is former federal prosecutor and CNN legal analyst, Elliot Williams. Sir, thank you. $787 million is a lot of money, but what changes? What does that change inside Fox and what they have to do?

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It doesn't change what happens inside Fox in terms of what they have to do other than providing them a disincentive to continue to put information on that isn't vetted or checked, John, given the likelihood that they could be sued by another party in the future.

You know, I think a number of people or a number of commentators have sort of cast doubt on the settlement that on account of the fact that they haven't apologized, it hasn't hurt them. But $787 million is a lot of money, both for Dominion. And even if it doesn't ruin Fox, as a corporation, it's a huge disincentive to engage in the same conduct again in the future.

BERMAN: You mentioned the apology, they don't have to apologize, apparently, on air for this or admit on air to telling lies. Legally speaking, is there a reason why Fox would have wanted to avoid that?

WILLIAMS: Legally, not so much. It's a reputational point, and that they would have to eat crow sort of on public. But, you know, we really should -- in public, pardon me, you know, step back and think of what is the point of litigation, and really, it is to make parties whole. And this was a lawsuit by Dominion for lost profits, lost revenues, and the hurting of its brand.

Now, certainly, an apology from Fox would have been, I guess, nice, certainly on the part of the public, but also in the part of Dominion as well. But what this really comes down, and that's what all litigation comes down to, John, really, is about money making a party whole. And I think that certainly happened here.

BERMAN: All right. I want to talk about what's next because there is another, even bigger lawsuit out there from Smartmatic, which is a competitor to Dominion. In its lawsuit, which was filed here in New York. Smartmatic said that Fox was in the business of trying to create this story where Smartmatic was the villain. I want to quote from Smartmatic's following. In their story, Smartmatic was a Venezuelan company under the control of corrupt dictators, some socialist countries. In their story Smartmatic's election technology and software were used in many of the states with close outcomes. In their story, Smartmatic was responsible for stealing the 2020 election by switching and altering votes to rig the election for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris."

Defendant's story was a lie, all of it, and they knew it, but it was a story that sold. That was an illegal filing from Smartmatic. What happens there, given the settlement we just saw with dominion?

WILLIAMS: Well, remember, even before we got to the settlement, John, there were months of discovery where we were seeing e-mails and depositions from Fox personnel. That hasn't happened yet in this Smartmatic case, and you're going to see that again -- assuming this goes to trial, proceeds for several more months.

And so you will see more depositions from Fox leadership, probably more e-mails, and frankly, some of the same evidence that would have come out in the Dominion case. Because, again, the public has seen it, but it's not evidence yet in the Smartmatic case. So we're going to, in many regards, relitigate or relive that last couple of years for Fox in the public eye.

BERMAN: What's different, if anything, about these two cases, one was filed in Delaware, Dominion; Smartmatic is here in New York?

WILLIAMS: Yes. I think the big one is that there are more parties named here and a jury is going to have to decide who actually pays that. To some extent, the simple thing about the Dominion suit was that it was $1.6 billion against Fox.

Well, here you have $2.7 billion, but the other people named as are Sidney Powell, former attorney to the former president. Rudy Giuliani an advisor to the former president, any number of other individuals, including the Fox Corporation.

And perhaps Fox could say, well, we can't control what comes out of Sidney Powell's mouth. She's the individual that ought to pay, not us. And so it's a little more complex.

But at the -- but at the end of the day, the underlying question is the same, did Fox -- were they reckless, or knowing in putting false information on air are some of the same issues that were at the heart of the other trial?

BERMAN: So Dominion could just be a preview of coming attractions. Elliot Williams, great to see you. Thank you so much. Sara?

SIDNER: Outrage in a northern California city after a new report revealed some officers were sharing racist text messages with each other that included the N word and references to black people as gorillas. It happened in the East Bay city of Antioch, that's outside of Oakland. The district attorney's report found 17 officers in the department sent or received those racist messages between 2020 and 2021.

The text also contained frequent discussions about hurting people while on patrol. CNN's Veronica Miracle is live for us in San Francisco with the latest.

I wanted to ask you how this report even came about.

VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, the Contra Costa district attorney's office, they released this report. There were two reports actually totaling 35 pages and those came out at the end of March.

[09:10:05]

The FBI and the district attorney's office were investigating regarding crimes of moral turpitude and criminal offenses among current and former police officers. But what exactly spurred this and brought all of this to light is still not clear.

But many text messages were revealed between some of these 17 officers. We're going to read some of them to you, they are offensive, including one from February of 2020 where an officer reference to black people as a bunch of gorillas surrounding us and taunting a fight since we were hooking, a redacted word. They were all redacted and didn't do shit. I wish they did.

And then two, days after the murder of George Floyd, another officer texted saying, see all the riots in LA for the gorilla that died?

Of course, the community in Antioch and the surrounding area outrage. There was a protest yesterday between five community groups coming together in front of the police department. A lot of people are incredibly upset by this, Sara.

SIDNER: Yes, you can understand why those words are just awful. Has the police chief said he's going to do anything about this?

MIRACLE: Well, several steps are being taken by the police chief and the police department, rather. We reached out to them. We got a statement from the police chief that reads in part, "I've taken immediate action to ensure a thorough investigation by an external independent entity. I promise to hold accountable the officers expressing racist or bigoted beliefs, biased insensitivity, and those boasting about harming members of the community."

The police department also started a community feedback hotline. And apparently that feedback is going to be shared with the police chief and others. They're also going to be holding listening sessions, the police chief is, and they're going to announce those dates, but they have not been revealed at this time.

Now, this is a small department, our affiliate, KGO, is reporting that the DA's office suggests up to 40 percent of the force, either received or sent some of those text messages. And right now, 20 percent of the force is on leave. Sara.

SIDNER: Wow. That is a large number. Thank you so much Veronica Miracle there in San Francisco for us. Kate.

BOLDUAN: Still ahead for us, two Texas cheerleaders shot after simply opening the door of the wrong car. One girl is still in the hospital, and police have just made an arrest.

Plus, there's new information coming in about the tragic parking garage collapse in New York City. According to city records, the garage had multiple open hazardous violations.

And the film "Rust" resumes filming this week after the fatal shooting of cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins. Will Alec Baldwin return to set? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:15:57]

SIDNER: On our radar this morning, actor and producer, Alec Baldwin, set to resume production of the movie "Rust" at a new location. Filming is expected to start tomorrow at a ranch in Montana rather than the New Mexico set where cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, was shot and killed when a prop gun, held by Baldwin, fired a live round of ammunition killing her. Baldwin has pleaded not guilty after being charged with involuntary manslaughter.

Also, this afternoon, the family of police brutality victim, Tyre Nichols, will announce a lawsuit against the city of Memphis. The 29- year-old father was beaten to death by police in January. Several officers were fired and charged with his murder. They're expected to be named in a lawsuit as well.

The Biden administration is rolling out a billion dollar program to provide free COVID vaccines and treatments to the uninsured. They're free to everyone right now. But once the Federal Supply is exhausted, this program will work with local health departments and pharmacies to continue that. The program is expected to launch this fall and go through next year. John.

BERMAN: Sara, an awful story out of Texas, two elite cheerleaders, just outside Austin, are recovering this morning, one in critical condition, after police say they mistakenly tried to get into the wrong car, and a man then opened fire on them. A suspect is now in custody

Ed Lavandera is following this case for us now. Ed, why don't you bring us up to speed on the latest?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, early Tuesday morning, four cheerleaders from a group called the Woodland Elite Cheer Company was at a grocery store in the Austin suburb of Elgin, Texas.

The four girls were in one car. One of the girls got out of that car to get into another car by mistake. When she got in there, she realized there was someone else in the car, she got out, returned to her car and that man came around and then open fire on the four girls in their car.

The critically wounded cheerleader is Payton Washington. She is in critical but stable condition. And these are girls who have practiced and working in cheerleading very intensely. If you watch the videos of them performing really spectacular videos.

Elgin police say that they have already arrested the suspect who is 25-year-old Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr. He has been charged with a deadly conduct, which is a third degree felony. Police say that those charges could be upgraded or enhanced or additional charges could be added.

The second cheerleader, Heather Roth, spoke at a vigil last night and described in a very emotional way what the experience was like.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HEATHER ROTH, WOUNDED CHEERLEADER: Backing up, I see the guy get out of the passenger door and I rolled my window down and I was trying to apologize to him. And then he -- I just halfway my window was down, he just threw his hands up and then he pulled up a gun and then just starts shooting at all of us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[09:20:04]

LAVANDERA: So painful to watch these teenagers have to deal and explain such a tragic situation.

As far as motive or what the thinking was here, we don't have any clear information on any of that. But we do know that the suspect, this morning, John, remains in jail. John.

BERMAN: It's the third case, in what, three days where we've seen something like this, people shot for what seems like just being in the wrong place, whether it be Kansas City, Upstate in New York, and now, outside Austin.

Ed Lavandera, please keep us posted. Thank you. Kate.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Also at this hour, new details are coming in on what may have caused the deadly parking garage collapse in New York City yesterday. One person was killed in that collapse, five other people were injured.

In this video behind me, you can see just like the mangled wreckage of cars and concrete from what happened.

Here's some interesting information though that has been revealed. Records from the city now show that the garage has six open violations against the three classified as hazardous violations.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino is live near the scene for us. Gloria, first and foremost, what does it look like? There this morning? GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, we have been pushed back from the scene a few times now because we have been trying to get closer to get a look at the work that's happening behind us. But emergency responders have been here all morning trying to start the cleanup process.

I just want to show you, beyond these barricades and beyond this fire truck is the location of that parking lot. That yellow sign that you see in the background there is where the building is located. That is a building that is more than 100 years old and had been functioning as a parking garage for over 50 years.

Now, the structure collapsed yesterday. You can see from that really shocking video that the cars were just swallowed up by the building as each floor collapsed on top of each other.

I do have one important update regarding that one a fatal victim, the fire department has just confirmed to me that, unfortunately, they have not been able to get to that fatal victim to remove the body of this person because the entire structure is completely unstable and it is unsafe for first responders to go in there and retrieve the body.

I've been told that the building is going to have to be deconstructed around this victim so that they can safely remove them from inside. So that is the latest update there.

And you mentioned the violation says so far we've learned that the building has been cited for concrete that was crack, defective, failure to maintain the building.

What we don't know yet is whether any of those violations played any role in this collapse. That is currently under investigation by the Department of Buildings which has been here on the site all morning looking at the structure, trying to stabilize it specifically around the removal of that victim, but also to ensure that the other properties in the area here are safe.

Right next to the building is Paced University, which moved all of its classes held at this building here, behind me 161 William Street, to remote learning today because these structures are not safe to go into right now. Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right. Gloria, thank you for that update. Really appreciate it. I mean, as Gloria points out, it's not just about that building than just the question of the entire block essentially.

SIDNER: That video is terrifying to watch.

BOLDUAN: It is.

SIDNER: The 84-year-old who admitted to shooting a black teenager will be arraigned today. Attorneys for 16-year-old Ralph Yarl says, it's miraculous that he survived being shot in the head. What we know about today's court hearing, that's coming up.

Plus, a dangerous fire threat across much of the Southwest, more than three million people are under critical risk levels right now. We're watching that story as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:25:34]

BERMAN: All right. This just into CNN, a federal judge in Boston just delayed a hearing for 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, he is the Air National Guardsman accused of leaking a trove of classified documents. This comes as both prosecutors and defense attorneys asked for more time to prepare. That hearing which is now expected to take place in two weeks will determine whether to share or remain behind bars while he awaits trial. Sara.

SIDNER: The 84-year-old man who shot 16-year-old, Ralph Yarl, when he went to the wrong house to pick up his little brother's, could be back in court today to be arraigned on two felony charges. This is his new booking photo, if convicted, Andrew Lester could spend the rest of his life in prison. Lester turned himself in yesterday and was quickly released on bail.

CNN's Lucy Kafanov is joining us now live from Kansas City, Missouri. Lucy, what can you tell us? What more can you tell us about this case?

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, Lester, as you point out, did finally turn himself in. This was five days after that alleged shooting of Ralph Yarl, the 16-year-old teenager. He was released on a $200,000 bond. The conditions of that bond, he is not permitted to have any type of weapon. He's also not allowed to have any indirect or direct contact with Ralph Yarl or his family. His cell phone is also likely to be monitored.

Now, we are at anticipating a possible arraignment this afternoon, that would typically involve entering a guilty or not guilty plea as well as any other conditions set by the judge. We don't know if Lester.