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Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin Takes Classified Document Leaks Very Seriously; Russia's War on Ukraine; U.S. to Start Training Ukrainian Forces on Abrams Tank; Russia Accidentally Dropped Bomb Over the City of Belgorod; New Death Penalty Law in Florida; Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Abolishes Unanimous Jury Verdicts for Death Penalty; Charges Against Alec Baldwin in "Rust" Shooting Case Have Been Dropped; Coalition of Attorneys Generals Requesting Hyundai and Kia Recall Millions of Vehicles Due to Sharp Rise in Theft; Major shootings this week resulted in over 40 injuries. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired April 21, 2023 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

LLOYD AUSTIN, DEFENSE SECRETARY: As I discussed this issue with our allies and partners, I've been struck by your solidarity and your commitment to reject efforts to divide us. And we will not let anything fracture our unity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And CNN's Oren Liebermann with me now. So, Oren, there's also new word this morning on the U.S. training Ukrainians on those Abrams tanks. What more can you tell us here?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: This is going far faster than we originally expected. in terms of the timeline to train Ukrainians on M1 Abrams tanks and then get them into a fight. A U.S. official tells reporters in the pool traveling with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that they'll get those 31 Abrams tanks to Germany next month to begin a 10-week training course for some 250 Ukrainian forces.

Now, remember you -- Abrams tanks were only announced back in January and we expected it would be the more advanced M1-A2, a process that would have taken months but a necessary, essentially concession to other NATO allies were waiting for the U.S. to move on tanks before they moved in their own.

In the end, the U.S. shifted courses that have taken a long time to send in the more advanced ones. They said they would send an older version of the Abrams tank, dramatically accelerating the timeline here, and that's what we're seeing play out. Those 31 M1A1 Abrams tanks, again, will begin training next month for Ukraine to get those on the battlefield as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, with Ukraine defense contact group going on, we're seeing other countries make their own announcements. Leopard 2 tanks from Germany arriving into the fight, Challenger tanks from the U.K. and an announcement from Ukraine and Germany that Poland will host a facility for repairing Leopard 2 tanks. So, you see this combined effort, and that's very often what we've seen at these sort of Ukraine meetings, to get Ukraine the capabilities it needs as the fight drags on after them -- after the year mark. Rahel --

SOLOMON: Yes, Oren, it's fascinating. I know you and I have spoken. I think it was back in January about how quickly these would actually be deployed how quickly people would be able to actually use them and train them. So, fascinating to see this development. Oren Liebermann, live for us there at the Pentagon. Thank you.

John --

JOHN BERMAN, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: All right, Rahel. We are getting new information in this morning about how the Russians apparently bombed their own city. Russia's state news agency says one of Russia's own jets accidentally dropped the bomb during a midair emergency over the City of Belgorod. There's a loop video of it happening right there.

Now, the City of Belgorod is just over the border from the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, the second most populous city in Ukraine. The blast created a huge crater. We have pictures of the crater right there, you can see how big that crater is. Also said to have damaged several apartment buildings.

CNN's Ben Wedeman is in Kyiv for us this morning with the latest. The Russians call it a midair emergency, an accident, Ben.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, perhaps it was, John, but it certainly is an embarrassing one. It happened at 15 minutes after 10:00 p.m. last night when an Su-34 twin engine fighter bomber dropped some sort of bomb, we don't know what kind, on the street, a very busy street in the middle of Belgorod. It's a city of 400,000 people.

You see the bomb go off on the sidewalk. The strength of the blast caused a car to fly up and land on an adjacent roof. According to the mayor of that city, two women were injured. And now, the Ukrainians and reacting, one official put out a statement that we shouldn't take pleasure in the misfortune of the Russians. But there is a certain sense here that perhaps as far as incidents like this go, some thing's what goes around comes around, John.

BERMAN: All right. Ben Wedeman for us in Kyiv this morning. Thank you, Ben.

Sara --

SARA SIDNER, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: Sure.

BERMAN: Hi, Sara.

SIDNER: Well, hi. How you doing? All right.

BERMAN: I'm doing very well. SIDNER: We are now to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. He just made it easier to implement the death penalty in his state. We'll tell you the next threshold coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:35:00]

BERMAN: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis just made it much easier to sentence people to death in his state. DeSantis signed a bill allowing jury to recommend capital punishment without a unanimous vote. Previously, all 12 jurors had to be in agreement to recommend the death penalty. But this new law lowers the threshold to just eight jurors, which is the lowest in the nation.

CNN's Steve Contorno joins us now. Steve, what's going on with this?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: John, this became a priority of the governor and Republican lawmakers in Florida after a South Florida jury declined to issue a death sentence to the shooter in the Parkland High School massacre. Earlier this year, there were three jurors who did not want to issue the death penalty and that really left the families of the victims of that heinous act devastated. They're -- in left Republicans and Governors DeSantis vowing to take steps so that would not happen again.

So, they pushed through this bill pretty quickly that lowers the threshold to execute someone from 12 unanimous jurors to eight. And that is -- it makes Florida quite an outlier. In fact, all 27 states that have capital punishment require a unanimous jury except Alabama, they require 10. Florida would go even less than that with eight.

[10:40:00]

And this is not without controversy. This is a very contentious issue, partially because Florida has a pretty sordid history on the death penalty. According to one organization that tracks wrongful convictions, Florida actually leads the country and the number of people who have been exonerated on death row. In fact, of the 30 people that have been exonerated, 29 were from non-unanimous juries.

So, this is an issue that people who want to see death penalty reform are very concerned about and there are already groups that are saying they are going to fight this in the courts. But Governor DeSantis, yesterday, standing by this decision. His office tweeted out a picture of them signing this bill into law and the governor saying, "He was ensuring the victims of the most heinous crimes get justice." John --

BERMAN: All right. Steve Contorno in Florida for us with this report. Thanks so much, Steve. Nice to see you.

Sara --

SIDNER: All right. Was the gun altered? Today, prosecutors in New Mexico expected to officially drop involuntary manslaughter charges against actor Alec Baldwin. Sources tell CNN that may be due to modifications to the firing mechanism in the gun that he was holding. This year, is that gun matching the description of the one that was used in the incident? Baldwin, as we know, was charged earlier this year in the deadly shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

CNN Entertainment Reporter Chloe Melas is here with more on this. Chloe, what can you tell us about how Baldwin is responding to this long litany of things that happened? First, they charged him with a higher crime, and then it dropped and now dropping them all together?

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Sara, and I have to point out that the legal team having done this swiftly in just about 2.5 months since the original charges first came forward against Alec Baldwin and Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the films armorer at the end of January 1st getting the charges downgraded.

So, just like John Berman was saying earlier from a potential of five years in prison, then he was facing a maximum of 18 months with the firearm enhancement charge being dropped. Then they were able to get the Special Prosecutor Andrea Reeb to step aside, right? Then the D.A. recused herself. You know, Luke Nikas, the attorney for Alec Baldwin, who was criticized by Andrea Reeb, she called him a big shot, big city attorney. Well, you know, he's thrilled that this has happened, releasing a statement to CNN.

Although there are still, you know, there's still an investigation, a petting investigation by the New Mexico D.A. So, we are just a few hours away, Sara, from the status hearing. We are going to be hearing. It's also going to be streamed on YouTube. It's open to the public. We are going to be able to hear what is being said. Alec Baldwin is not expected to be attending. He's currently in Montana filming "Rust".

Ironically, the news came out yesterday, the same day that everyone was back filming, minus Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the movie because that's part of a wrongful death lawsuit. Many people asking me why would they go back and film? And that is so that Halyna Hutchins; widower can get that settlement.

But this is a really big move, Sara, but I still want to point out there is a criminal trial, right. Hannah Gutierrez Reed she still faces to manslaughter charges. Her attorneys telling CNN that they believe she'll be exonerated. But we have that trial. Could the fact that Alec Baldwin's charges are being dismissed help her? And I want to point out, now that Alec Baldwin, his charges are being dismissed, could we see other people being charged if the gun was modified? Why? By who? What was for -- what was the purpose? And are we one step closer to finding out how those live bullets got to the set, Sara.

SIDNER: Yes, those are a lot of questions that I'm sure there are being looked into. Thank you so much, Chloe, appreciate it.

Rahel --

SOLOMON: And, Sara, attorneys general from across the country pushing for millions of hand days and Hyundais and Kias to be taken off the streets after a dangerous TikTok trend. Yes TikTok. We'll explain coming up next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:45:00]

SOLOMON: Welcome back. A coalition of attorneys general are asking Hyundai and Kia to recall millions of cars due to a major increase in theft. From 2011 to 2022, the company chose not to include anti-theft devices in their vehicles. Well now, TikTok trend is shining a light on just how easy it is to steal these cars using apparently just the USB cord. In Los Angeles alone, thefts of Hyundai and Kia cars have surged by about 85 percent and represented 20 percent of all the stolen cars in L.A. in 2022.

CNN Business Correspondent Vanessa Yurkevich joins us again. So, Vanessa, this is an alarming trend that's even become dangerous. But before we get to that, I just want to make sure I understand at risk of being blatantly obvious. We're talking about something as simple as a USB cord?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Using this, you can steal certain models during certain years of Hyundai and Kia cars. And this is so alarming and so dangerous that these 18 attorney generals from 17 states in Washington, D.C. have sent a letter to the National Highway Safety Transportation Association saying, hey, we need to talk about recalling millions of vehicles.

What they found was that there are eight deaths that are because of these stolen vehicles. Numerous injuries, damage to property, as well as basically taking emergency vehicle services off of other priorities to address this issue. And the attorney generals are saying that Hyundai and Kia have not done enough to fix this problem. The two companies have offered free software upgrades to fix this security issue, but the attorney generals are saying it takes months to do it and it's not available on certain models.

Also, as you mentioned, in 2021 this blew up on TikTok. People were doing Kia challenges. It was essentially people showing on TikTok just how easy it was to steal these vehicles.

[10:50:00]

And then the next year in 2022, we saw thefts for these two makers and models spike across the country. Minneapolis and St. Paul alone, these numbers are wild. The theft, the increase in theft, 836 percent in Minneapolis.

SOLOMON: Wow. That would almost seem like a typo if you didn't just say it.

YURKEVICH: No, I checked it three times, that is the number. And in St. Paul, 611 percent increase in theft for Kia and Hyundai. Obviously, this is a major headache. A nightmare for the car owner. Either you don't have your vehicle anymore, if you do get it back the repairs are costly.

We did reach out to Hyundai and Kia to see what they thought about this letter that was sent by these attorney generals, no comment yet. But a major headache and we're talking about millions of vehicles that could be impacted by this.

SOLOMON: Here's hoping they do comment or even do something. Because I'll tell you what, if I was the owner of one of these cars, I would want at the very least a comment from some of these car companies. Vanessa Yurkevich, thank you.

Sara --

SIDNER: All right. Nothing illustrator, uniquely American problem like the events of this past week, seven days, six shootings, over 40 people injured. And those are just the shootings, making headlines getting attention because some involvement dame (ph) mistakes that we all make in our lives.

Overnight, in Connecticut, a 12-year-old girl was simply sitting in a parked car and was shot in the head in a drive-by shooting, four others were injured. We expect to learn more from Hartford Police this morning. Then in North Carolina, a six-year-old girl and her father were just enjoying the day outside. They were both shot after a basketball they were playing with rolled into a neighborhood -- neighbor's yard. Witnesses say the neighbor came out of his home and opened fire on them, hitting the father in the back and also hitting that sweet six-year-old girl, Kinsley White.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KINSLEY WHITE, SHOOTING VICTIM IN CONNECTICUT: We don't even know the man. Why did he shoot my daddy and me?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: The suspect, 24-year-old, Robert Louis Singletary has turned himself in.

On Tuesday, two cheerleaders were shot in Texas. Their transgression, accidentally opening the door of the wrong car. Heather Roth said she mistook the vehicle for her own at a supermarket parking lot and noticed a stranger in the passenger seat, then this happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HEATHER ROTH, SHOOTING VICTIM IN TEXAS: I was trying to apologize. And then he -- I just -- halfway my window is down, he just throws his hands up and then he holds up a gun. And then he just started shooting at all of us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Roth was shot but her teammate, Payton Washington, got the worst of it. Washington was shot in the leg and back, damaging her pancreas and diaphragm. And she needed surgery to remove her ruptured spleen. The suspect was arrested on suspicion of deadly conduct with a firearm. In Kansas City, Missouri, 16-year-old, Ralph Yarl went to pick up his siblings. He accidentally went to the wrong address and was shot in the head and arm. When Yarl's siblings didn't come out of the house, he rang the doorbell and waited. Then police say, 84-year-old, Andrew Lester opened the door and just started shooting. No words were exchanged. Ralph is at home recovering with his family and faces a long road ahead, according to them. Lester is facing two felony charges.

On Saturday, in Upstate New York, 20-year-old, Kaylin Gillis and her boyfriend pulled into the wrong driveway, that wrong turn prompted a shooting that took her life. Police say Gillis was a passenger in the car when 65-year-old Kevin Monahan fire two shots from his front porch. Kaylin's boyfriend was driving the car and was pulling away when those shots were fired. This is Kaylin's father.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDY GILLIS, DAUGHTER KILLED IN SHOOTING: For this man to sit on his porch and fire at a car with no threat, it's just -- angers me so badly. And I just hope to God that he dies in jail.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Monahan has been charged with second degree murder.

And we are still unaware of why, last Saturday, a room full of people dancing at a sweet 16 birthday party in Alabama were interrupted by an eruption of gunfire there. More than 30 people were injured and four young people are dead, two of whom were local high school seniors on the brink of graduation. 23-year-old Corbin Holston, 19-year-old Marsiah Collins, 18-year-old Philstavious Dowdell, and 17-year-old Shaunkivia "Kiki" (ph) Smith were all killed. Six people have been arrested now and are facing reckless murder charges.

All of that was just this week. That is just a bit of perspective. We are updating the numbers as we speak. Today is the 111th day of 2023 and there have been 167 mass shootings so far this year. 77 children have been killed by guns. 456 teenagers have been killed. There are still 254 days left in this year. This is America in 2023, John.

[10:55:00]

BERMAN: Some perspective. Six years after white supremacist marched through Charlottesville, three of those torch carriers are about to stand in front of a judge.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Two of three men charged in connection with a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville will soon be standing before a judge. CNN just got new photos of the men. We are live outside the court with the latest.

[11:00:00]