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Sources Say, Gunman Who Killed Five Co-Workers Left Notes Revealing Motive; Sources Say, Biden Plans to Announce Re-Election Bid Next Week; New York Bans Use of Indigenous Team Names, Mascots in Public Schools. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired April 21, 2023 - 10:00   ET

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

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Notes he wrote himself that police found are now helping investigators piece together why he did it.

[10:00:06]

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: And ready to run, President Joe Biden expected to formally announce his bid for a second term as soon as next week. What we're learning about his plans and how his son Hunter Biden's legal issues factor may into his next campaign.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: They bombed their own city. Overnight, a Russian warplane targets the wrong side of the border damaging buildings and leaving this huge 130-foot crater in its wake. What the Russian Defense Ministry is now saying. These stories and more on CNN News Central.

SIDNER: All right. We've learned that Louisville bank shooter left behind two lengthy notes, and they seem to reveal why he opened fire on his co-workers earlier this month. Law enforcement sources said one note was found in the gunman's home, the other 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. He still remains in the hospital. Police then killed the shooter.

The notes revealed that part of his goal was to show how easy it is in America for someone with mental illness to get a hold of an assault weapon. After the shooting, the gunman's family acknowledged he struggled with depression, but he was able to legally purchase an AR- 15-style rifle just seven days before the attack.

Kentucky is known to have some of the least restrictive gun laws in the country. Prospective gun buyers only need to fill out an ATF form and pass an FBI background check to make the purchase.

Let's discuss more on this with Criminologists and Behavioral Analyst Casey Jordan. First of all, I just would like to understand and get your reaction to these notes that have come out, one that was found on him, one that was found in his home.

CASEY JORDAN, CRIMINOLOGIST AND BEHAVIORAL ANALYST: Right, Sara. It was -- we've been waiting since this event to find out more about the motive. And it was a 13-page missive, if you will, a manifesto, that highlighted exactly three objectives, very logical, very straightforward. He did want to kill himself, which, of course, he succeeded in. He wanted to prove how easy it was to get a gun in the state of Kentucky, and, of course, he wanted to highlight the mental health crisis within the United States in general.

But from a behavioral perspective, we really see that he was on a mission. His goal was mission-oriented. He was sending a political message mostly about gun laws, which he found to be entirely illogical. And this coincides with a message that was attributed to him on Instagram that said they just won't listen to protests. Let's see if they hear this.

And I don't think, Sara, that it was an accident that he killed two very good friends, best friends of Kentucky's governor. I think he was making it personal and trying to hurt this particular governor to send a message to politicians everywhere, things have to change.

SIDNER: But what do you think of his mindset? I mean, he could have just gone and purchased a gun and said, look, I've got one and I'm not well. He ends up killing five people and injuring others. It just seems like there's something that is really wrong and disconnected with the way he end up going about this. What does it tell you about him?

JORDAN: It's not disconnected in his mind. And I don't want to make light of his logic, but to him, it was extremely logical. And we know from his family that he was on medication. He was struggling with depression. But there is a certain amount of logic in the point he was trying to make. If he just told his therapist, I bought a gun and I'm thinking of hurting myself, he would have been institutionalized, probably put somewhere based on a civil commitment order.

But that's not the law he's trying to address. What he is trying to point out is that in Kentucky, there's a situation which to him is not tenable. He wanted to regain control over his own life while sending this message. Because in Kentucky there is absolutely no law prohibiting buying a gun if you have a mental health disorder, and he proved that by buying one, if you have a violent misdemeanor conviction, if you've been convicted of domestic violence, or if you have a substance abuse problem. He was sending a message in the only way he felt he could make us listen. And to a certain point, he has succeeded.

SIDNER: And I know we haven't gotten any sort of autopsy, yet the family has asked for one because they think he might have suffered from CTE. Can that play a role in how somebody responds to things and how their mind works?

JORDAN: We absolutely know that brain injuries can affect people's cognitive abilities. Until there's proof of that, though, I think it's a bit of a red herring because thousands, millions of people do suffer from concussions and don't become violent. And I think it's a little bit -- it's irresponsible to go around thinking of concussion can cause someone to become violent.

[10:05:01]

We have had some brain injuries in the past. You know, Charles Whitman, the Texas clock tower shooter from the '60s, was known to have a brain tumor in his head, which they think could have caused his violent outburst. But until there's proof of that, I think we really do need to focus on the exact message.

Connor Sturgeon wanted it to be his legacy that we need to pay attention to mental health while at the same time, if not before that, paying attention to how illogical the gun laws are. For someone like him to be able to purchase a gun, and I do believe it's inspired by the national shooting just ten days before from another mentally ill person, he's trying to say you've got address this and address it now.

SIDNER: All right. Casey Jordan, always so interesting talking to you on these issues, thank you so much. Rahel?

SOLOMON: Sara. Now to President Biden, who is reportedly just days away from making his 2024 re-election plans official. Sources tell CNN that Biden's advisers are preparing for a video announcement Tuesday that would coincide with the anniversary of his 2019 campaign announcement.

Biden's plans to run for re election has been an open, if not, officially announced reality for months, but it does kind of make new developments in the potential probe into the president's son, Hunter Biden.

CNN's Arlette Saenz is live at the White House and Paula Reid is live for us in Washington. Arlette, we want to start with you. Tell us more about what we know about this expected announcement from the campaign on Tuesday.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rahel, the waiting game might soon be over. President Biden, for months, has said that he intends to run for re-election, and it appears that the plans to actually do that are about to be set into motion. His team is working towards announcing a possible launch as soon as next week with his team eyeing April 25th, that is Tuesday, as a date to possibly roll out a campaign-style video.

Of course, April 25th is a very personal day of importance for President Biden, and it was four years ago that day that he launched his bid for the White House in 2019.

Now, advisers behind the scene have been working for quite some time trying to sketch out what exactly this campaign apparatus will look like. They've invited top Democratic donors from Biden's 2020 campaign to Washington next Friday as they're trying to keep an eye on the need to raise money in what is expected to be a very expensive race.

But this is expected to be a very long road ahead for President Biden. He will need to shore up support from Democrats within its own party. The president's approval rating is hovering in the low 40 percent and only 26 percent of overall American voters, according to a recent poll, think he should run for re-election. There's even some skepticism within the Democratic Party, if you take a look at that poll, which found that 47 percent of Democrats want the president to run again in 2024.

Now, that number is slightly up from January, but it speaks to some of the concerns that Democrats have had with within the their own party about issues regarding the president, including his age. So, all of this will be items to watch as he is gearing up towards that re- election bid, which he has long said would be coming. It was just a matter of when exactly that decision would be made. And, ultimately, aides have cautioned that the timing could slip.

SOLOMON: And, Arlette, perhaps another thing to watch is the Hunter Biden investigation. Paula, I want to bring you into the conversation, which seems to have really come back into the spotlight this week, taking a new steam this week. What's happening here?

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And it took on the spotlight after an IRS agent came forward, saying that he wants whistleblower protections to share what he knows about the Hunter Biden investigation.

Now, this is someone who has been involved with that probe, and we've learned from our sources that this individual claims to have evidence of political interference in that probe and even possibly evidence that would contradict public statements made by the attorney general who has publicly testified that there would be no political interference in the investigation into the president's son.

Now, I have to caution, though. This person at this time they do not have whistleblower status. They have not presented any evidence of these claims. And there have been other promises of whistleblowers related to the Biden family that have not really yielded anything of significance.

But this letter, this suggestion of a possible whistleblower does raise questions about the status of the ongoing federal investigation into Hunter Biden. We know that's been going on since about 2018. And as CNN reported last summer, it was beginning to heat up. They had whittled down the possible charges to some tax crimes and maybe one potential false statement related to his addiction when he purchased a gun.

But that was nearly a year ago, and nothing has happened since. And it's unclear exactly what the status of the federal criminal probe is, but it's clearer that, politically, Republicans are continuing to pursue this in the court of public opinion. Today, we heard that they believe that they have evidence that Antony Blinken was involved in other national security officials coming out to try to attack the Hunter Biden laptop story.

[10:10:03]

That's a narrative that Republicans want to put forward, that it's not just the president and his allies but the entire national security apparatus that is trying to help the president's son. But right now we are focusing on anything that is truly consequential, like what this whistleblower could have, and what potential charges the president's son could face or could not.

SOLOMON: A lot more to watch here. Paula Reid live for us in Washington, thank you. Arlette Saenz at the White House, thank you.

So, John, the waiting game may soon be over. But for now, it continues.

BERMAN: Days away. Thanks, Rahel.

So, with us now, CNN Political Commentator Errol Louis, he is also the political anchor of Spectrum News. So, Errol, next week, what do you make of the timing?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, the timing is just about right. He showed in 2020 that a start right at the end of April, he could put together the money, get the momentum together, build out a national organization and win the race. It'll be even easier as an incumbent to do that. And so he's giving himself a lot of lead time.

I think the unspoken backdrop to that, of course, John is that there were questions that were raised that would never have been raised about any other incumbent president, about whether they're going to run for re-election. The questions that were raised were frankly sort of a subtle commentary about his age and ability. And that's going to be one of those questions that's hanging over this campaign, at least initially, that Joe Biden is going to have to put the bed.

BERMAN: Yes, and sometimes not so subtle. The other aspect of this is Donald Trump, who is rising in Republican primary polling, and there was an interesting number that jumped out to me in a Wall Street Journal poll out just today, Errol. There are plenty of people who actually disapprove of the jobs that both Donald Trump and Joe Biden have done in the White House. But of those people who disapprove of both, Biden leads Trump 54 to 15 percent. Explain why that's important.

LOUIS: Yes, it is important. Because if we have a race similar to 2016, in which you had really two unpopular candidates running against each other, where Hillary Clinton, very unpopular, Donald Trump, very unpopular, you run a different kind of a race, and the fight for independents takes on a very different cast.

So, you know, if what voters are telling pollsters, at least at this stage, is that we're not thrilled about either of these candidates but we can live with about the president that we have now, that's good news for Team Biden. You know, it's very hard, I guess to talk to a candidate and tell them that you're very unpopular but the other guy is worse off.

On the other hand, Joe Biden has been in this game for a long, long, long time, and I think he understands the reality of the situation, which is that he's not going to please a lot of people, it's a very divided country, but that if the other guy happens to be Donald Trump, he's already proved that he's got the formula to beat him.

BERMAN: So, in the realm of not going to please everybody, he does have to keep Democrats corralled behind him for support. There is this huge debt limit crisis that the United States faces. Up until now, President Biden and the White House says it won't negotiate with Kevin McCarthy and the Republicans. They say the debt limit should just be raised like it has been in the past. But there are some Democratic voices now starting to say, hey, wait a minute, maybe you should have some discussions with Republicans on this. Where do you see that going?

LOUIS: Yes. Well, I mean, it's from the likes of Joe Manchin, and there's really have allegiance to some window dressing of bipartisan cooperation, even though that's not really what is going on in Congress these days. Whether or not the president takes that advice, the reality is he cannot give to McCarthy the things that he is asking for. 1 percent increase in federal spending year-over-year, that's, in effect, very, very deep cut at a time when we have inflation running into 6 percent range. You know, the Democratic base will not stand for it nor would the White House.

So, it's tough even as the as a question of political etiquette or window dressing to say we're going to sit down and talk seriously about putting these kind of deep wounds in core programs of the federal government. You know, it could be a negotiating strategy, but sitting down quickly with that kind of the proposal would be a huge mistake for the White House.

BERMAN: Errol Louis, great to see you have a great weekend. Rahel?

SOLOMON: And, John, New York just became the latest state to ban schools from using indigenous names as mascots or logos. We will explain the new rules and what's at stake for schools who don't comply.

Plus, a blast in the Russian city caused by one of their own warplanes accidentally dropping a bomb, what Russia is now saying about the situation.

And back here at home, dozens of state officials are calling for Kia and Hyundai to recall thousands of cars. We'll tell you why, just ahead.

[10:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOLOMON: And welcome back in. And here are a few stories that are on our radar this morning, a Texas man facing 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 problems home last week for welfare check, he opened fire on them. Nobody was hurt, and Pelham was later arrested.

Three more arrests have been made in that mass shooting at a sweet 16 birthday party and Dadeville, Alabama. A total of six people 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, quote, just the tip of the iceberg, but they still have not released a motive.

[10:20:00]

And today, check this out, and never before new scene photograph of the late Queen Elizabeth II on what would have been her 97th birthday. The photo showing the tender scene of the queen and grandmother surrounded by her grandchildren and great grandchildren. Kensington Palace saying in the release that the photographer of this photo was Princess Kate, Princess of Wales, Katherine, Sara, great photographer she is. Sara?

SIDNER: Soon, dozens of New York public school teams will be required to change their names and mascots. It's a long awaited vote. State education officials decided that schools must now agree to eliminate indigenous related imagery by the end of the school year or risk losing state aid.

CNN's Polo Sandoval is joining us now in-person, so good to see you. How did this vote come about?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, this has actually been decades in the making, if you hear from some of the native American groups, long before we saw developments with the NFL, like Major League Baseball, we all remember how that worked out there and how that panned out. But, basically, what you have now is the state's Board of Regions that made that unanimous vote earlier this week banning any sort of indigenous names, logos, mascots, and that's supposed to kick in the beginning of the fall of 2024.

Now, when you actually hear from some of these community members, there is some division in some of these communities. But when you hear from the National Congress of American Indians, they're reminding us of the numbers right now. They closely track throughout New York State, some of those schools.

And when you just look at the numbers, it gives you kind of an idea of just how much change we're likely to see. At least 100 schools throughout the states representing 50 districts, these are our education institutions that are using some form of indigenous logo or icon or, you know, what have you on their under -- in some of the material.

And when you hear from Bryan Polite, who's actually the chairman of the Shinnecock Nation, he's echoing many of these concerns and the decision that we saw earlier this week actually welcomes it, saying it's a long time in the making. Let's listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRYAN POLITE, CHAIRMAN, SHINNECOCK NATION: A lot of these mascots and logos or Hollywood depictions on what they think Native Americans should look like. In other times, it's sensitive items and cultural references that we don't want paraded around on the football field.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SANDOVAL: So, we mentioned out of this conversation is really dividing some communities. Yesterday, I had an opportunity to travel over Long Island and spent some time in Massapequa, and the public school system there, Sara, issuing a letter sending it out to parents basically defending their so-called chief character, saying that, if anything, it actually tells a story, a lot of their rich history in the community.

And because of that, not only they defend the character, but also addressing this vote that we saw directly from the state and they're calling this -- I'll actually read you a portion of the letter that they sent out to parents earlier this week. They said that they believe that the Board of Regions is, quote, overextending its reach and removing their local control.

They also said that they have heard from many community members, I listened to the board meeting that took place yesterday, saying that there are some members of the community, they are upset about all this, and they are consulting right now their legal representatives to see what will be the next course of action.

But it really is a reminder of how this conversation just continues and how it continues to divide many of the communities throughout New York State. Again, this is kicking in most of these schools that we just talked about. They should begin implementing, at least by the fall 2024.

SIDNER: All right, we'll be watching that. Thank you so much, Polo Sandoval, for sharing. All right, John?

BERMAN: All right. Thanks, Sara.

A critical meeting happening now, western allies discussing additional support for Ukraine. And Russia accidentally drops a bomb on its own city, what they are saying about the blast that left behind a huge crater.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:25:00]

SIDNER: Welcome back to CNN news central. Here's a look at our top stories for you this hour in Kentucky, two lengthy notes left behind by the Louisville bank shooter appeared to show why he opened fire on his co-workers. Law enforcement sources say they found one note on the gunman's house and one note on the gunman himself. Sources say they reveal that part of his goal was to show how easily a mentally ill person can buy a gun in the United States.

Also, President Joe Biden is set to announce his 2024 re-election bid next week. Sources tell CNN that Biden's advisers are preparing for a video announcement on Tuesday that would coincide with the anniversary of Biden's 2019 campaign announcement. This comes amid new developments in the potential probe into his son, Hunter. Rahel?

SOLOMON: And, Sara, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin trying to reassure allies after that leak of classified U.S. documents, many of which revealed crucial details about military operations in Ukraine, also met with defense leaders from around the globe at Ramstein Air Base in Germany this morning to coordinate sending more aid to Ukraine. Austin used part of his opening remarks also mark the severity of the document leak. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LLOYD AUSTIN, DEFENSE SECRETARY: I take this issue very seriously. And we will continue to work closely and respectfully with our deeply valued allies and partners.

[10:30:01]

As I discussed this issue with our allies and partners, I've been struck.