Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Russia Bombs Its Own City; Louisville Bank Shooter Left Notes; Torch Carriers at Rally Face Judge; Supreme Court Decision on Abortion Pill Today; Smartmatic Lawsuit Against Fox; Biden Re-election Announcement. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired April 21, 2023 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:36]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: They bombed their own city. Overnight, a Russian warplane targets the wrong side of the border, damaging buildings and leaving a 130 foot crater in its wake. What the Russian defense ministry is now saying.

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: And in court today, three men charged in connection with a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville will appear before a judge, and CNN is live outside the court.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, deeply disturbing details about the Kentucky bank shooter from notes he himself wrote. Police now piecing together his motive for the massacre.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BERMAN: New overnight, a large blast rocked a Russian city near the Ukrainian border, and they did it to themselves. You can see it right here as one of Russia's own planes targets its own city, firing into that city. A Russia state news agency says a Russian jet dropped the bomb during a mid-air emergency over the city of Belgorod. You can see that city is over the border from Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine. Two people were injured in the explosion. The blast created a crater nearly 130 feet wide and damaged several apartment buildings.

CNN's Ben Wedeman is in Kyiv this morning.

Ben, what are we learning about this Russian-on-Russian strike?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, what we're learning, John, is that at 15 minutes past 10:00 p.m., and SU-34 twin engine fighter jet of the Russian air force flew over Belgorod, which is a city of 400,000 people, just 25 miles from the Ukrainian border, and dropped a bomb. We don't know how big the bomb was. The Russian authorities say -- are calling it an emergency reliefs of an air ordinance.

It hit the sidewalk next to a very busy street. We see on CCTV the footage of it. A car just goes flying up into the air. Two people were injured in this incident, shall we say. This is a town that frequently has come under some attacks by Ukrainian forces. But this was definitely a self -- an own goal as they call it.

John --

BERMAN: Yes, damaging own goal.

And, Ben, I talked about this 130 foot crater. I just want to show people what I'm talking about. It's right here on this big screen behind me. That is a giant crater in the middle of the street. You can imagine what that must have been like for the people in the apartment buildings nearby. So, again, this is the type of thing that does happen in war.

In addition to that, Ben, in Kyiv, where you are, I understand it was a busy night. The Russians targeting that city again.

WEDEMAN: Yes, according to the Ukrainian authorities, John, 12 drones were fired in the direction of Kyiv. In fact, from where I am right now, we were here. We heard some explosions in the distance. No reports of damage or casualties, but it comes just a few hours after Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary general of NATO, was here, stressing that Ukraine is eventually going to become a part of that organization. Perhaps this was Russia's response to that first official visit by a senior NATO official to Kyiv.

John --

BERMAN: Yes, Russia trying to make a statement in the face of NATO showing its support for Ukraine.

Ben Wedeman, in Kyiv. Thanks, Ben, so much.

Sara --

SIDNER: Too lengthy notes left behind by the Louisville bank shooter seemed to reveal why he went to his job earlier this month and opened fire on his coworkers. Law enforcement sources said one note was found in the gunman's home and another was found on him at the scene. On April 10th, the shooter killed five people and injured several others, including a rookie police officer who was shot in the head and remains in the hospital. Police then killed the shooter.

CNN's Omar Jimenez is following this story.

Omar, what more do we know about these notes and what they say?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Sara, so two law enforcement sources are telling CNN that these were extensive notes that were left, one of which, as you mentioned, was found on the body of the shooter after he was killed in that shootout with police.

[09:05:08]

And they say -- they say that part of his motivation for the shooting was to show how easy it was in the United States for someone going through a mental health crisis to get an assault weapon. And we know this AR-15 was purchased legally about a week before this shooting. And he didn't have to show much to actually do it. He would have had to fill out some ATF forms, go through an FBI records check to prove that he wasn't a convicted felon. I mean Kentucky is known as -- to have some of the least restrictive gun laws in the entire country when it comes to that front.

And we've reached out to the family attorney on some of this latest reporting in regards to the notes, and we haven't heard back. But the family has said that they are testing or want to test the shooter's body for CTE, which, as we know, can have symptoms of loss of control of aggression, things of that nature, Sara.

SIDNER: Yes, and we had learned that he had a concussion at some point.

I do want to ask you about the laws in Kentucky because one of those laws mandates that the rifle used by the shooter to kill all those people has to be sold at a public auction. So that gun would be out there in someone else's hands. Is the shooter's family doing anything about this?

JIMENEZ: Well, for starters, that law was something that public officials on the ground there were making a point to highlight because it was something that they thought was ridiculous. Now, this law essentially, yes, as you mentioned, a weapon confiscated by law enforcement would then be sent to auction with the proceeds then going back to law enforcement. But people would have the opportunity to auction on this gun. So, the shooter's family has said that they are working with law enforcement to have this gun legally destroyed so that it is not back out on the streets, which is one of the fears that Mayor Craig Greenberg in Louisville had mentioned in the immediate aftermath of this, that he feared that that would be the cycle that we would see here.

The ATF has confirmed that they are in possession of the weapon as evidence and will await the next steps. But, obviously, the shooter's family does not want this to go through the process that is typically seen in a place like Louisville.

SIDNER: Wow, thank you for all that. Omar Jimenez, live for us on that story.

Rahel --

SOLOMON: And, Sara, just under two hours from now three men who carried tiki torches and marched nearly six years ago at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville will appear in court. Each has been indicted on a single felony charge of burning an object with the intent to intimidate. The 2017 rally ultimately led to violent clashes with counter protesters and a 32-year-old woman, Heather Heyer, lost her life.

CNN's Brian Todd is in Charlottesville outside court.

So, Brian, what's next here and also why did it take more than five years to get here? BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rahel, to answer your first

question first, what's coming next. In just a couple of hours is a hearing where two of these defendants will be making court appearances. Will Zachary Smith from Texas and Tyler Bradley Dykes from South Carolina will be making court appearances. This is going to be a bond hearing for Will Smith and an initial court appearance for Tyler Bradley Dykes. There's a third defendant named Dallas Medina, who has been charged in this case as well. He's from Ohio. It's been unclear as to whether he was going to make a court appearance, but at this moment we believe he is not going to be appearing in court this morning.

These three people are charged with burning an object with the intent to intimidate. Also, Will Smith is charged with violating a statute that makes it illegal to maliciously release a chemical irritant, like tear gas. Now, that charge for Will Smith relates to what he allegedly did at the Unite the Right Rally, which was on that Saturday, August 12th of 2017 when all the violence broke out.

But the burning of an object charge for all three of these men pertains to that torch rally that took place in Charlottesville the night before the Unite the Right Rally. That was on that Friday evening, August 11, 2017, when a group of white supremacists and white nationalists marched through the streets of Charlottesville. They marched onto the campus of the University of Virginia chanting things like "Jews will not replace us," and, "blood and soil" was a phrase they used. That's a Nazi reference. These are charges being brought on this.

Now, Rahel, to get to your second question, why did it take so long to charge these individuals. Well, the previous commonwealth attorney for Albemarle County, his name is Robert Tracci, he declined to press charges. But the current commonwealth's attorney, James Hingeley, he ran on a platform of bringing justice to these people. So, he has brought these charges.

A key question is, are there going to be other charges against other possible defendants going all the way back to this really monumental event, this horrible event in Charlottesville in 2017?

SOLOMON: Indeed.

Brian Todd, live for us there in Charlottesville. Brian, thank you.

John --

BERMAN: Thanks, Rahel.

[09:10:00]

Any moment now the man accused of shooting a 6-year-old girl and her parents after their basketball rolled into his yard is set to appear in a Florida courtroom. 24-year-old Robert Singletary turned himself into police yesterday, more than 500 miles from the North Carolina neighborhood where the shooting took place. It happened after a basketball rolled into Singletary's yard. After an altercation with one of the parents, Singletary opened fire, wounding 6-year-old Kinsley White and both of her parents. Kinsley's mother tells CNN that doctors removed bullet fragments from her daughter's cheek. Police say the child's father was seriously hurt and is still in the hospital.

Sara --

SIDNER: All right, John.

All eyes are on the Supreme Court. At any moment, the justices could drop a major decision on an abortion pill.

Fox News made a $787 million deal with Dominion over election lies, but another voting technology company says it wants more money than that in damages. Plus, they want to full retraction from Fox.

Also ahead, how did more than $15 million in gold go missing from a Toronto airport? The clues police have found so far.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:15:22]

SOLOMON: Welcome back.

Three more arrests have been made in that mass shooting at a sweet 16 birthday party in Dadeville, Alabama. A total of six people are now in custody. All are charged with reckless murder for the attack Saturday night that killed four people and injured 32 others. The district attorney says that the charges are just the tip of the iceberg, but they still haven't released a motive.

Washington Governor Jay Inslee just signed a bill formally eliminating the death penalty from state law. It's been banned there since 2018 after the state Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional.

And in Florida, you no longer need a unanimous jury decision to sentence someone to death. Governor Ron DeSantis just signed the law that allows for a capital sentence when just eight of 12 jurors agree. That is the lowest threshold in the country. A total of 27 states still have the death penalty, but Alabama is the only other state that does not require a unanimous jury. There it has to be 10 of 12 jurors.

A Texas man who faces misdemeanor charges for his alleged role in the Capitol riot is in more trouble now after a police standoff. Court documents show that when law enforcement arrived at Nathan Pelham's home last week for a welfare check, he opened fire on them. Nobody was hurt, and Pelham was later arrested.

Sara --

SIDNER: Any moment a major Supreme Court decision on the fate of widely used abortion pill could drop. The justices setting a deadline of midnight tonight to reveal whether or not the high court will uphold and appeals court ruling that would severely restrict access to Mifepristone.

CNN's Supreme Court analyst Joan Biskupic is joining us now.

Joan, how quickly could a ruling have an impact on the availability of this drug?

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SENIOR SUPREME COURT ANALYST: Good morning, Sara.

It would be -- it could be almost immediate. I just want to make sure everyone knows that whatever happens today at the Supreme Court, it's not going to remove the drug from the market outright. It would -- it could change the availability of it in terms of when women could access the drug, for example, at 10 weeks of pregnancy, as they can now, or back to seven weeks of pregnancy, and whether they would be able to get it by mail, for example, or have to pick it up in person. So, those are the kinds of restrictions at this point of the game that are at stake.

As we speak, Sara, the justices, right now, are about to gather in their private conference room to handle a lot of the week's business that they have to decide relative to cases. And this no doubt will be part of what they're looking at, trying to finalize what their orders should be.

This is a court that just 10 months ago rolled back all constitutional protection for abortion rights, but said it was leaving the matter to the states. It decidedly was not outlawing abortion nationwide. And a key part of abortion nationwide is access to medication abortion, which is the way most women end pregnancies, if they need to end them, at early stages. So, you know, this is -- medication abortion, Sara, is the new chapter of the abortion wars in America.

What could they do today? All right, basically there are two clear cut options. One is to grant the Biden administrations request for a pause in the lower court orders that actually restricted access to the drug. So, I think, you know, if they did it in a clean way at this point, very early stage of this controversy, the merits of the case have not been heard about FDA authorization for the drug. If they were to just put everything on hold, let the litigation play out, nothing would change for women and physicians for access to the drug. But if they denied the Biden administration's request, immediately certain restrictions would go into place, and that would be in terms of the timing of when a woman could obtain it in a pregnancy and other rules for availability, but it would remain on the shelves, Sara, and the case would continue to play out. The next stage will be a hearing in a lower court in May.

But this first, crucial step by the nine justices, who last waded in on abortion, to cut back abortion rights, is quite anticipated, Sara.

SIDNER: Yes, and I think you hit the nail on the head when you said, look, this is one of the drugs used by more than 50 percent of people who go and get abortion. So, it will have a huge impact no matter what they do.

BISKUPIC: That's right.

SIDNER: Joan Biskupic, I know you're on top of it. You'll be watching it all for us. We appreciate it.

BISKUPIC: Thank you.

SIDNER: John --

BERMAN: Sara, we have new reporting this morning on what Fox is facing next. Lawyers for the Smartmatic technology company or demanding a full retraction. The company filed a $2.7 billion defamation case against Fox claiming it lied about them more than 100 times.

[09:20:04]

This lawsuit comes a week after, of course, Dominion Voting Systems -- actually it comes just days after Dominion Voting Systems settled its case against fox for $787 million. This is what Smartmatic's lawyer told CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC CONNOLLY, SMARTMATIC ATTORNEY: Our company was worth over $3 billion before this disinformation campaign came along, and now we are obviously worth significantly less. So, the recovery we are looking for is to be reflective of the value of our company that we - we lost as a result of this disinformation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, here now, CNN's senior media reporter Oliver Darcy.

So, Smartmatic wants, what, like more than twice the money that Dominion settled for and a full apology. How much of this is posturing pre-trial?

OLIVER DARCY, CNN SENIOR MEDIA REPORTER: That's right, John, Fox's legal - their legal troubles are far from over. And that's because of this Smartmatic lawsuit, which I -- as you pointed out, is even bigger than the Dominion lawsuit that they just settled.

The question I think becomes, will Fox move to try to settle this out of court before that excruciating process we saw play out in the Dominion case where they go to discovery and depositions comes into play here. This case is going through the New York courts, so it's going a lot slower than the Dominion case, which was in Delaware. And so this won't theoretically occur until next year where they would start taking those depositions. So Fox has some time, but will they move to settle this and make sure that this doesn't end up being a further embarrassment to the company going forward?

I should also note, John, that Fox, in the past two weeks, has been settling or ending a lot of these defamation cases against it. A couple weeks ago they settled a -- with the Venezuelan businessman who had sued over election lies that he was basically swept up in. They, of course, settled that Dominion lawsuit just days ago. And last night, Lachlan Murdoch, who had filed a lawsuit against a small Australian publisher, he dropped his defamation lawsuit against that company. And so you're seeing the Murdochs really try to end a lot of these legal entanglements that they're in. Will this mean that they also move to settle in the next few weeks with Smartmatic? We don't know. But as you pointed out, they're seeking more money than Dominion, and they also want that full retraction, which we know was a big sticking point when it came to settling that Dominion lawsuit.

BERMAN: Oliver, I know you'll be watching it very closely.

Oliver Darcy, thanks so much.

Sara --

SIDNER: Here's what we've all been hearing for months, but next week we expect to hear President Joe Biden make it official. Sources telling CNN Biden plans to launch his reelection campaign on Tuesday with a campaign style video announcement. That date is significant for the president. April 25th marks the fourth-year anniversary of him entering the 2020 White House race.

CNN's Arlette Saenz is joining us now from the White House.

How will this play out, Arlette?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, the waiting game might soon be over. President Biden, for months, has said he intends to run for re-election. And it appears the plans to do so are finally taking shape. His team is working towards announcing that re-election bid as soon as next week, with an eye on Tuesday as a possibility for releasing a campaign-style video. Of course, Tuesday has very personal significance to President Biden as it was the day four years ago when he launched his first -- or his last bid for the White House, which he had billed as a battle for the soul of the nation.

Advisors behind the scenes have been working for quite some time trying to sketch out what a campaign apparatus would look like. And so we will see how exactly that will come to fruition when the president eventually announcing.

But it is -- there still is going to be a very long road ahead for President Biden as he seeks a second term in office. His approval ratings are hovering in the low forties and the overall American public, there's a recent poll that shows only 26 percent of the overall American public want him to seek re-election. If you take a look at those numbers from the Democrats, there are also some skepticism within the Democratic Party. That poll showing that only 47 percent of Democrats think he should run again, slightly up from January. But it speaks to some of the concerns that we've heard Democrats voice about the president, including questions about his age.

Now, if you take a look at some of the other polling, Democrats have said -- about 81 percent say that they would at least -- they would at least support him if he were to run. But you do see some hesitation in those numbers when it comes for Democrats, about the fact that he would even seek re-election. So, certainly there are - are a few challenges facing the president as he heads towards a re-election bid, which could also be a possible rematch against his former rival, former President Donald Trump.

SIDNER: All right, Arlette Saenz, thank you so much for that.

Rahel --

SOLOMON: A lot to watch there, Sara, thank you.

Also, there's new information about why the charges against Alec Baldwin were dismissed in that fatal "Rust" shooting. We'll bring you that up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:29:30]

BERMAN: We are learning this morning that Russia accidentally bombed one of its own cities. Overnight, a large blast rocked the Russian city of Belgorod, which is just over the border from Kharkiv. You can see it right there. It's extraordinary. Russian officials say a fighter jet dropped its munitions during what they call a mid-air emergency. The blast damaged several buildings and left a huge crater in its wake. At least two people were injured.

Rahel --

SOLOMON: And, John, at this hour, we are also keeping a close eye on the markets, opening just moments from now. You can see futures are mixed, but we'll keep an eye as the markets are set to open in about 20 seconds, 40 seconds from now.

[09:30:07]

A number of signs pointing to a cooling economy. And this morning