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Two Texas Cheerleaders Shot After Getting into Wrong Car in Parking Lot; Judge Grants Delay for Accused Leaker's Detention Hearing; Fox News to Pay $787 Million to Dominion in Last-Minute Defamation Deal. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired April 19, 2023 - 10:00   ET

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

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JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Shot for getting in the wrong car, two Texas cheerleader shot after police say a man opened fire when one of the girls mistook his car for hers. New information about the victim's condition and the suspect now in custody.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: A hearing today canceled for that Air National Guardsman accused of leaking classified documents to his friends online. Now, we're hearing more about a review of the leak and how it's affected an entire intelligence wing.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Could the shortage of airline pilots getting worse, not better? The new warning from an industry leader, get ready for a tsunami of retirements. We're following these major stories and many more coming in right here to CNN News Central.

BERMAN: New developments out of Texas, where police say a 25-year-old man is now in custody after he allegedly opened fire on a car full of elite cheerleaders after one of them mistakenly tried to get into his car after a team practice.

Two girls were shot. One of them, Payton Washington, is in critical condition. The owner of her team is now speaking out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LYNNE SHEARER, OWNER, WOODLANDS CHEER: She is really huge face in the all-star cheerleading world. She's a mentor and a role model to so many kids in this industry. She's an amazing athlete, amazing kid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right. CNN's Ed Lavandera joins us now from Texas. Ed, walk us through what happened, their condition, and who the suspect is.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, trying to make sense of this senseless act is very difficult, especially for those close to these four cheerleaders. So, early Tuesday morning, these four cheerleaders from the Woodland Elite Cheer Company were meeting at a grocery store in the town of Elgin, Texas, just outside of Austin, when one of the cheerleaders got out of the car to get into her own car. But when she got in, noticed that there was another man in the passenger seat, she had gotten into the wrong car. She got back into the car with her friends.

That man then walked around, and from what we are told, fired several shots into that car, wounding two of the cheerleaders. One of them is in critical condition. The woman that you heard they're talking in the intro was referencing Payton Washington. She is in critical condition. She is in elite cheer performer and the other victim, Heather Roth, was treated at the scene in Elgin. Police say she was released. So, those injuries did not seem extreme.

But the emotional toll of all of this clear on these young ladies. Heather Roth spoke to a group of individual last night, and you can just hear the emotion as she recounted what the experience was like for her.

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: I mean, that is painful to listen to. Elgin Police say they have arrested 25-year-old Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr. and he has been charged with deadly conduct, which is a third-degree felony. Police have said, however, that more charges or enhanced charges could be filed as well. And we've been told by Elgin Police that they will have some sort of update later today on this case, but that man still remains in jail this morning. John?

BERMAN: Ed Lavandera, as you say, how can you make sense of this? Keep us posted. Thank you for the reporting. Sara?

SIDNER: A federal judge has granted a delay for the Air National Guardsman accused of leaking classified documents. The hearing for Jack Teixeira was set to get underway and just under an hour, but both prosecutors and defense attorneys asked for a delay.

CNN's Jason Carroll is outside the federal courthouse for us in Boston.

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Jason, can you tell us what this delay is all about and what it means?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, just a recent development, Sara, literally just a few moments ago, just as we were just about to go on camera, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office came to camera and she said, Jason, here's what's going on. Basically, the judge in this case says that this hearing, will in fact, now take place at 11:00.

But what's going to happen is the judge wants to verbally hear the defendant in this case, Jack Teixeira. He wants to hear from him that it's okay to postpone this detention hearing. He wants to hear him say it, wants to explain to him what's going on. Again, he's 21-years-old, the defendant, wants to explain that both sides want a delay in this detention hearing. Teixeira's attorney saying they need more time to prepare. He wants to make sure the judge in this case, David Hennessy, wants to make sure that the client -- that the defendant in this case understands that they want a delay.

So, 11:00, we are still expected to have a detention hearing. We'll see what happens and just about an hour from now. Sara?

SIDNER: Can you give us a sense? Has there been any fallout with Jack Teixeira's Air Force unit after all of this?

CARROLL: Right, and indeed there has been a great deal of fallout. The unit that he operated was one that operated 24/7, and it's the Air Force, as you know, as a result of all this, has all but stripped his unit that they're in Cape Cod of all of their intelligence duties pending the outcome of an investigation.

The Air Force spokesman saying, quote, in part, the mission temporarily has been reassigned to another organization within the Air Force. The Air Force secretary also weighing in on this, saying that this is going to be a full court press going forward dealing with this, we're all disturbed about it, and we're working very, very hard to get to the bottom of this.

So, the security fallout from this all but clear, now what we're seeing once again that this Air Force unit that Teixeira was assigned to in Cape Cod, again, has been stripped of its intelligence responsibilities pending the outcome of this investigation. Sara?

SIDNER: And also the news that you just gave us, Jason Carroll, that Jack Teixeira will appear in court today while both sides asked for a delay in the case. I appreciate your live shot there from Boston. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Also next hour, we'll set to get an update on the mass shooting that left four people dead and dozens injured in Alabama. The shooting happened during a sweet 16 celebration in the small city of Dadeville.

These are the four victims who were killed in this mass shooting, Philstavious Dowdell, 18 years old. He was celebrating his sister's birthday. He was -- Shaunkivia Smith was 17 years old, a senior in high school. Marsiah Collins was 19. He was set to attend LSU in the fall. And Corbin Holston was 23 years old.

CNN's Ryan Young is in Alabama this morning where officials are just about to -- are going to be speaking very soon. Are getting any word, Ryan, on what we expect to hear from authorities when they take to the microphone?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, what we do know there are so many questions that we haven't been able to ask officials and no one's filled this in over the last few days, just about a motive, a suspect they may be looking for, how many guns were involved in this.

When you think about those four young people who lost their lives at a sweet 16 party, obviously, this in a ripple effect to this entire community when you have 32 people injured in one shooting in a small town like this with the courthouse is pretty much the center of the city. And that shooting scene, you can see from the steps of the courthouse. You can actually see the growing memorial that sort of pouring out towards the street.

Officials will come to the mics that are being set up right now behind us, and we'll finally be able to ask him the questions that we need to know, the details about the motive, the timing and whether or not police have any suspects either in custody or someone they're looking for.

Those are all questions, of course, the entire community wants to ask, but when you think about just what has happened in this community, with how it's been shattered by the shooting and the effects of this entire downtown area, you know, Kate, there will be a lot of pressing questions that law enforcement will have to answer.

We do believe there will be some federal authorities here as well. So, the only news that we've been told so far, as we know, that mostly handguns were used in the shooting. It wasn't a high-powered rifle. But we don't know who was shooting at each other or what may have started this beef that created the shooting. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Ryan, all right, we've got much more to come in the next hour. John, we've got four for young lives lost and still no suspects, at least at this hour at this hour.

BERMAN: At this hour. That could change, though, very shortly.

So, what happens after the historic settlement? Fox News has agreed to pay $787 million for telling lies about the 2020 election.

A dire warning expected from the airline industry today about a tsunami pilot retirements that could cripple air service nationwide.

And production resumes this week for the film Rust after the fatal shooting of Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

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Will Alec Baldwin be on set?

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SIDNER: Let's catch you up with some stories on our radar. The homeowner accused of shooting a black teenager is set to be arraigned in just a few hours. 84-year-old Andrew Lester is out on bail after turning himself in for allegedly shooting Ralph Yarl, a 16-year-old who was shot in the head and the arm. Yarl accidentally went to the wrong address, rang Lester's bell looking for his siblings he was supposed to pick up. Local advocates say they believe that the shooting was racially motivated.

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In Manhattan, one person is dead and five others injured after a parking garage collapsed. Crews had to use robotic dogs and drones to search the damage because it was simply too dangerous to access on foot. CNN has learned that, according to New York City records, the parking garage had six open violations, three of which were classified as hazardous.

Also, six years after a white nationalist protest in Charlottesville, three people have been indicted on felony charges for allegedly burning an object with the intent to intimidate on the night of the marches when scores of protesters swarmed the University of Virginia wielding tiki torches and chanting various white nationalist slogans. Kate?

BOLDUAN: A tsunami of retirements, that's the warning from an airline trade association about what could be coming. The president and CEO of the Regional Airline Association set to testify before a House hearing getting underway right now.

CNN's Pete Muntean is watching this one for us and he joins us now. Pete, they were already dealing with a shortage. So, what does this mean?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, the alarm bells here are getting louder, Kate, about the pilot shortage, and this is coming from regional airlines, which operate those small flights from major hubs to smaller cities. And the warning here is that service could go down, delays and cancelations could go up and some cities could lose service entirely because of the shortage of pilots.

Here are the figures from Faye Malarkey Black, the head of the Regional Airline Pilots Association. She says that in the next 15 years, 50 percent of all commercial pilots will be forced to retire. There is a mandatory retirement age of 65 years old.

This is also coming at the intersection of just not many young people in the business because of the expense to become a commercial pilot, the training required, the typical pipelines from the military have been severed a bit. The under 30 corps of pilots is now only at 8 percent, according to Black.

So, this really creates this perfect storm, and she lays out the impacts that are taking place right now. 42 airports have less service than before the pandemic. 11 airports across the U.S. have lost service entirely. 500 commercial planes sitting idle because of the lack of pilots.

The bottom line here, Kate, it's a great time to learn to fly, although really serious problems for the industry, and it could mean really serious problems for passengers too.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. All right, let's see what else we hear, what Congress can do about it, what the airlines can do about it. There's a lot of people involved that need to fix the shortage before it starts hitting us like a tsunami, as she's warning. It's good to see you, Pete. Thank you. John?

BERMAN: All right, Kate. 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, Fox will now cut this historic check but will not have to apologize on air. They did release a statement. Dominion's CEO is also speaking out.

Joining me now is CNN's Marshall Cohen from Wilmington, Delaware, where this trial was going to happen. Marshall, what are both sides saying this morning?

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER: Well, John, good morning here from Wilmington, Delaware. The Dominion side, they feel great. They have clinched the biggest settlement in American defamation history. Fox News has agreed to turn over to Dominion nearly $800 million. It's the biggest ever. And, you know, it all ties back to what they did in 2020. Those were some pretty big lies in 2020 and now a big payday for the victims of those lies.

Chiefly, the CEO of that company, John Polous, taking a victory lap. Listen to what he had to say earlier this morning.

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JOHN POLOUS, CEO, DOMINION VOTING SYSTEMS: The fact is that they published falsehoods about us. And it wasn't just once or twice, it wasn't just on one day or two days, it was 20 statements made over 2.5 months. And this was not the case of a media company pursuing the truth and making a mistake, they knew.

And at the end of the day, the court system really is about accountability. We feel we got it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: Accountability, justice and truth. That's how they've been messaging this victory. They said it's all about democracy and upholding democracy.

Now, John, on the other side of this battle, as you mentioned, Fox News, they are not going to need to offer any on air clarifications or corrections, but they did put out a statement yesterday, and I want to read it to you very carefully here because every word really matters.

They said, 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.

[10:20:00] John, we all saw the emails and texts that came out over the last few months, and they showed quite the opposite of the highest journalistic standards. They showed that a lot of people inside Fox News, producers, correspondents, executives, they simply did not believe what they were putting on the air. That's how we got here in the first place.

BERMAN: Marshall, the legal story isn't over for either Dominion nor Fox. So, what's in the future?

COHEN: Yes, John, this is not the end. In some ways, Fox News is just at halftime. They are facing another billion dollar defamation lawsuit from another voting technology company. That company is called Smartmatic. Although that case is still a long ways away from trial, however, they were watching very closely here, and they were thrilled about this big payoff.

And then Dominion, a company that very few people actually heard of before the 2020 election, they're now world famous for clinching this massive settlement, they have additional lawsuits. They are pursuing right-wing news outlets like OAN and Newsmax. Those channels went even further than Fox News to promote these unhinged conspiracies in 2020. And Dominion is also going after some of Donald Trump's closest allies, the people who championed these lies, Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani and the MyPillow CEO, Mike Lindell.

So, John, we're done here in Delaware, but there is still plenty to come.

BERMAN: Marshall Cohen for us in Wilmington, Marshall, thank you very much.

Joining us now is Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who, of course stood up to Donald Trump's lies about the election in Georgia in 2020. Mr. Secretary, thank you so much for being with us.

What do you think the main lesson is this morning from the Fox settlement?

BRAD RAFFENSPERGER (R-GA), SECRETARY OF STATE: That truth matters, integrity counts. That's really what came through. It took a couple of years, 2.5 years, to be vindicated, but we said since day one that we had a fair and honest election in Georgia. We have a verifiable paper about it with the new Dominion Voting System that we've stood up in record time for the 2020 election. We did a 100 percent hand recount. We got virtually the same results.

We knew what the results were, and that's why we went out. And I've been talking to my fellow Georgians for the last 2.5 years to help them understand what happened the election in Georgia, that we had a fair and honest election. So, yesterday, we were vindicated as well as Dominion Voting Systems.

BERMAN: What do you think was exposed about the lies that were told about the 2020 election? RAFFENSPERGER: Well, it's now in the court record that the people that went on Fox News, their people, Fox employees, knew that none of those allegations were supported by the facts, and yet they were repeating them. And what that really did is just really -- it's not just about Dominion. It's really about our social fabric. It really ripped apart America and it really ripped apart my Republican Party. And some are really distressed about that.

But now we can perhaps begin that process of rebuilding based on a foundation of truth, based on a foundation of integrity so we can move forward, so we can fill candidates of the highest character because that's what Americans are looking for because at the end of the day, the voters are going to hold us accountable. And if we're not truthful with them and when they find that out and figure that out, and that's what they're figuring out now, they're going to hold those people accountable.

BERMAN: So, you just said that Fox and people who went on Fox, to paraphrase here, were spreading lies. The statement that Fox put out, which is the only words we have from Fox because they did not apologize on air said, quote, we acknowledge the court's rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false. Can you translate that for me? Does that go as far as you'd like?

RAFFENSPERGER: The settlement is the settlement but the record and everything that came out is part of the court record. There were findings of facts. And so the statements that people were making on Fox News just were not supported by the facts. And the court of law the court record shows that Dominion System, you know, we had accurate, fair election, the machines accurately counted everything.

So, you move on from that. You can't beat a dead horse, but I'm going to continue to be out there and talking to people, helping people understand that in Georgia and in America, we have fair and honest elections.

We now have -- our 95 percent of all ballots in America have a verifiable paper ballots. So, you can audit any race, do 100 percent recount. And that's what we actually did in 2020. Many people aren't aware of that.

And so we'll just continue to knock down lives, continue to stand on the truth, and we'll just continue to walk that line of integrity. I wish more people did, but at the end of the day, the voters going to hold people accountable. And that's why I built a broad based coalition and I won with very strong support, people -- that really just showed you that people -- you know, Georgia leaned into the good, they don't lean into the lies.

BERMAN: You said you don't want to beat a dead horse, but I think there are a lot of people who think the truth is a living horse, a horse that will live and should live forever. Do you think that Fox owes its viewers and the country an apology?

RAFFENSPERGER: Well, they made their legal decisions and they're going to decide their business decisions going forward. All I can really do is control, you know, what we do in our office and what I do as secretary of state. We walked the line of integrity and been truthful to the people.

I wrote a book called, Integrity Counts, a point-by-point rebuttal of everything that was said, giving people the facts and information. Because I believe that most people are good, but a lot of people have been misled. And I think when they figure out that they've been misled by who they've been led misled by, they're going to hold them accountable.

So, I think that it's time for politicians to wake up, you know, have a strong backbone, but, you know, talk to people and get out there and don't be afraid. Because when you have the facts -- some people may not like the facts, I get that, but if you don't have the courage to stand up and really share the facts, then you're just taking up space.

BERMAN: Mr. Secretary, Brad Raffensperger, we appreciate your time today. Thanks for joining us.

Sara.

SIDNER: Alec Baldwin and the cast of the movie Rust or set to resume production tomorrow, nearly 18 months after the fatal shooting on the set claimed the life of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Why the backdrop will look really different this time around.

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