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Soon: Torch Carriers In 2017 White Supremacist March In Court; Sources: Biden Plans To Announce Re-Election Bid Next Week; Sources: Gunman Who Killed 5 Co-Workers Left Notes Revealing Motive. Aired 11- 11:30a ET

Aired April 21, 2023 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: -- will soon be standing before a judge. CNN just got new photos of the man. We are live outside the court with the latest.

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: Also new deeply disturbing details about the Kentucky bank shooter who killed five coworkers notes that he wrote that police found now helping investigators piece together why he did it.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: And more than $15 million in gold has gone missing from our Toronto Airport. How and what a police know so far. We're following these developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BERMAN: Happening soon in Charlottesville, two of these three men who carry tiki torches and marched nearly six years ago at a white nationalist rally are scheduled to appear in court today. Each has been indicted on a single felony charge of burning an object with the intent to intimidate, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

The 2017 rally ultimately led to violent clashes with counter protesters and 32-year-old Heather Heyer lost her life. CNN's Brian Todd is in Charlottesville. Brian, I understand there's some new developments. What's going on there?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, the hearing is slightly delayed because there's another unrelated hearing going on in this court behind me. But in a few minutes, we do expect this hearing to take place where two of the three defendants in this case are expected to appear. To set the scene for our viewers we have to kind of differentiate.

This --these defendants are charged in a case that's related to that Friday evening rally on August 11th, 2017. That is when a group of white nationalists and white supremacists marched on the campus of the University of Virginia wielding torches. They menaced several people on the campus that evening, and they are charged and we're going to go over the charges in a second. But that of course is different from what happened the day after that. That was the Unite the Right rally on that Saturday of August 12th, 2017 when there was so much violence in the streets here in Charlottesville. Now the two events are related of course, but they are separate. And this case has only to do with the events on that Friday evening we should point out.

Now the charges involved, two of the three men charged are going to appear at this hearing. They are Will Zachary Smith from Texas and Tyler Bradley Dykes from South Carolina for Smith. This is a bond hearing for Tyler Bradley Dykes. This is an initial court appearance. A third defendant named Dallas Medina is we believe not going to appear in court, at least for this hearing.

But the three men are charged with burning an object with the intent to intimidate. Also Will Zachary Smith is charged with violating a statute which makes it illegal to maliciously release a chemical irritant such as tear gas that also relates to that torch march on that Friday evening. And again, these people were again marching through the campus of the University of Virginia that night, wielding torches, chanting horrible racist slogans like, quote, Jews will not replace us, and blood and soil which is a Nazi reference.

That was kind of a prelude to what happened the next day when there was so much pitched violence in the streets of Charlottesville, actually, right near where I'm standing right now. And it was only about two blocks away from here when 32-year-old Heather Heyer was struck by a vehicle that rammed into a crowd and killed several people hurt that day.

And also, we can tell you that this is kind of a continuation of a years' long effort to bring some of these people to justice, because just about a year and a half ago, several of the organizers of the Unite the Right march were successfully sued by some victims of the violence of that march for damages totaling about $26 million. John?

BERMAN: These are important moments in U.S. history. Brian Todd, thank you for being there. Sara?

SIDNER: All right, President Joe Biden is gearing up for reelection run and planning to make an official next week. Sources telling CNN that Biden could launch his campaign on Tuesday with a video announcement. And it's not just a random date that was picked. April 25th marks the four year anniversary of Biden entering the 2020 White House race. CNN's Arlette Saenz is joining us now from the White House. Will they'll be something different? This is a video that is going to come out. How will this be different from 2020?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, the will he, won't he speculation certainly hasn't been different this time around. But it does appear that the waiting game may soon be over. President Biden for months has said that he intends to run for reelection. And it appears that the plans to actually roll that out are beginning to take shape.

His team is eyeing next week as a possible launch date specifically looking at that Tuesday, April 25th anniversary as a day that they could roll out a campaign style video. Of course, his advisors caution as often is with Biden worlds that things and the timing could slide but that April 25th date holds personal significance for President Biden as it's the day he launched his campaign four years ago in 2019 when he was waging what he described a battle for the soul of the nation.

[11:05:04]

Advisors behind the scene have been working for quite some time trying to sketch out what the campaign apparatus may look like, and that all may be coming to fruition just next week. But they're certainly going to be a long road ahead for President Biden as he seeks reelection. His approval rating overall is hovering in the low to mid 40s. He also is -- has some skepticism within the Democratic Party about whether he should even be running.

There was a new, a recent poll from "The Associated Press" that found only 47 percent of Democrats think he should run for reelection. Now that number is a little bit higher than it was in January. But it does speak to some of the issues and concerns that people within his own party have, including surrounding the issue of his age. He is 80 years old. He would be 82 at inauguration if he is reelected.

Now that same poll also showed that 81 percent of Democrats say they would probably support him if he would run. Those Democrats would be critical to his reelection bid as he would need to energize them heading into 2024. But of course, the President would also need to win over some moderate Republicans and independents especially as he could potentially face a rematch with his former rival, former President Donald Trump.

So next week, all eyes will be on when exactly and if that announcement will in fact be made. Of course, aides have cautioned that this timing could always slide.

SIDNER: All right, Arlette Saenz thank you so much for all of that. Rahel --

SOLOMON: And Sara, we are learning new details about the two lengthy notes left behind by the Louisville bank shooter that seems to reveal why he went to his job earlier this month. And offer a fire on his coworkers. Law enforcement sources said that 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 before being killed by police. CNN's Omar Jimenez is following the story and joins me now. So Omar, what more do we know about these notes? And how much more do they tell us about perhaps his thinking at the time?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Rahel, so two law enforcement sources are telling CNN that the shooter that multiple notes were found one of them was found on the body of the shooter, after he was killed in this shootout with police. And the notes show that at least part of his motivation was to show how easy it is in the United States for someone dealing with a serious mental illness to go and get an assault weapon.

And this AR-15 that was used was purchased legally about a week before the shooting seven days or so. And it didn't take much. He needed to sign an ATF form, basically go through an FBI records check to show he wasn't a convicted felon, then he was able to get this weapon. And we know from the family that he had been dealing with some mental health issues, though they even say they never thought that things would get to where we have seen things get to.

SOLOMON: Has this changed what officials are saying about an official motive. I mean, we're now learning perhaps that he was as chilling as it is trying to make a point. But have officials said anything about an official motive yet?

JIMENEZ: These are all pieces that are zeroing in on that. So police haven't come out and said all right, this is the reason. However, all right, we have some clues from these notes. The family is also trying to test his body for CTE, which we know can sometimes have symptoms of loss of control, aggression, even though it's not just limited to CTE. So they're looking at clues there. And again, also trying to piece together from some of the mental health issues that we know from his family that he was dealing with prior to this.

SOLOMON: So fair to say more details here but still a lot of questions.

JIMENEZ: Of course.

SOLOMON: Yes. Omar Jimenez, thank you. John?

BERMAN: With us now is criminologist James Densley. He is the author of the Violence Project: How to Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic. Thanks so much for being with us. You've done so much work on this subject. What is your research show about the correlation between mental health and mass shootings?

JAMES DENSLEY, CRIMINOLOGIST: Yes, thanks for having me on the show to talk about this. We definitely see in the life histories of mass shooters, and we've studied them going all the way back to 1966 to the present day, that people who perpetrate mass shootings are not mentally well, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they are mentally ill.

And that's an important distinction, which is to say that there is often a lot going on in the lives of a mass shooter that overwhelms their usual coping mechanism. These individuals who are in crisis, it can often be a suicidal crisis. And it's often observable because there is a change in behavior from baseline where people around that person recognize something's not quite right.

But it doesn't necessarily mean they have a diagnosed mental illness. And also, we have to avoid the stigma attached to the idea that mental illness is the primary driver of mass shooters. It's a much more complicated and messy picture than that.

BERMAN: And just so people know up on the screen right now, we have a graphic from your research, which shows nearly 70 percent of psychosis has no role and then you see my role, 11 percent, 8 percent moderate role. So that is the research you found. I'm curious, James, about what the next mass shooter thinks about the notes being made public from the mass shooter in this bank killing. What do they see when these notes go public like this?

[11:10:14]

DENSLEY: You know, in our research, we see a common through line, which is that mass shooters often study other mass shooters, because they're asking these questions about their lives, when you get to that point where a mass shooting is intended to be a final act. So if you get to that point where you no longer care if you live or die, you're asking that question of why do I feel that way?

You Google it and you find out that there are other people who felt the same way you have. And you kind of go tumbling down the rabbit hole and get radicalized into this type of violence by being inspired by others that have done it too. So what we often see is when mass shooters leave behind this trail of breadcrumbs. For some people, it becomes inspirational, and that they can draw sort of copycat from this and follow suit in the footsteps of those other mass shooters too.

BERMAN: That is chilling, when you think about one mass shooting inspiring the next. And I think it does, perhaps guide all of us in how we address them and what we do when we talk about them. Suicide, I mean, clearly, so many of these mass shooters go in not just expecting to die, but maybe hoping to die. So how does that shape your research here?

DENSLEY: This was a huge aha moment for us when we were doing the research, looking at these life histories of the mass shooters. We even interviewed perpetrators of mass shooters who were incarcerated. We interviewed their families, friends, and others. This is all documented in the book.

And we found this overlap between suicide and homicide, a mass shooter intends for their shooting to be a final act. And it can at times be driven by despair and suicidal ideation. The difference being that there's also a grievance there that you're trying to share with the world. So there's a lot of learning we can use from suicide prevention, to be thinking about how do we look for the warning signs when someone's on that pathway to violence? And how do we divert them off of it?

It's really on all of us to look out for the people in our lives who are struggling, and to get them the help that they need, not because they might be a mass shooter, but because that's just the right thing to do. And doing it this way enables us to become part of the solution because the frustration is we're all waiting for Congress to act and it never comes. But we also can have some skin in the game here or be part of that solution by just taking care of one in each other and being nice.

BERMAN: And sometimes with suicide, the smallest intervention can make the biggest difference. And if you apply that to the potential mass shooters, maybe, maybe it can make a difference there too. As I said, James Densley, your research on this is wonderful. Thank you for the work you do and thank you for being with us today. Rahel --

SOLOMON: And John, still to come, growing calls for recalls. More than a dozen state attorneys general plead for a federal recall of Hyundai and Kia vehicles. The security concern that is prompting the request, coming up next.

Plus, prosecutors in New Mexico expected to officially dropped in voluntary manslaughter charges against actor Alec Baldwin. What new details on the new facts that factored into the decision.

[11:13:25]

Also a monumental deadline day for the Supreme Court, the justices could drop a major decision on an abortion pill at any moment. We'll be right back.

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SOLOMON: Welcome back and On Our Radar today, Washington Governor Jay Inslee just signed a bill formally eliminating the death penalty from state law. It's been on hold there since 2018, after the state Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional.

A Texas man who faces misdemeanor charges for his alleged role in the capitol riot is now in more trouble after a police standoff. Court documents show that Ethan Pelham (ph) is now facing new charges after he opened fire on law enforcement officers who went to his home last week for a welfare check. Nobody was hurt, and Pelham (ph) was later arrested.

And a coalition of 18 Attorneys General are calling for a federal recall of millions of Hyundai and Kia vehicles because they lack anti- theft devices. They say that the cars are too unsafe and too easy to steal. The car models were manufactured from 2011 and 2022 and have seen an alarming increase in theft. So part of the problem is a viral TikTok challenge where people steal the vehicles using just a USB cord. The car companies say that they have updated the technology on their newest vehicles. Sara?

SIDNER: Today, prosecutors in New Mexico are 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 he was holding. This is what the gun look like. It sort of matched the description of the one that was used. Baldwin, as we know was charged earlier this year in the deadly shooting and cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

Joining me now, lovely to have you defense and trial attorney, Misty Marris. I remember the whole conversation where Mr. Baldwin kept saying, I didn't fire the gun. I didn't fire the gun. The FBI report comes forward saying actually it had to be fired and now we're hearing that there's something different, what is going on here?

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MISTY MARRIS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes. Sara, I'm so curious about when this modification was discovered and what investigation was done to get to this conclusion because the prior District Attorney, now we have a Special Prosecutor Hertz (ph) assigned, so look fresh eyes on the case, really in the speed lane to get to the preliminary hearing, which was scheduled for May 5th.

So in the course of that preparation, the special prosecutors have said, they discovered this modification of the gun, which would make it almost impossible to move forward with these charges against Baldwin. But when was that discovered, because the DA who was handling it before was adamant. There was no way the gun could have gone off without the trigger being pulled. So very starkly different narrative here, and has a true impact on the case, as we can see from this surprising withdraw of charges by prosecutors.

SIDNER: What is interesting, and I know that you have seen this as a person in this realm, that oftentimes the charge starts here and then it does fall, but to have it completely go away, for lack of better terms, in the pun, did the DA jumped the gun on this one?

MARRIS: Good pun. But yes, I think that in this particular case, it's surprising that the special prosecutors didn't say let's go to the preliminary hearing, and let the judge make the determination about whether or not there was probable cause. That means whatever they have was so conclusive that they couldn't move forward with the charges.

Remember, prosecutors do have an ethical obligation. They're not out to get somebody or to win. They have to assess a case based on whether or not they believe the case can be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. So in this case, if there was a modification, and Alec Baldwin was not aware of it, there really is not a case against him. And now to your point, Sara, whether or not the trigger was pulled, that's an issue because this modification could mean that it was a malfunction, the gun was less safe, right from the jump without his knowledge.

So I think that they made the right choice by dropping the charges under the circumstances. But keep in mind, it's without prejudice. So an evolving investigation could lead to more.

SIDNER: Change. And we just want to make clear, they haven't done it quite yet. But we are hearing that that it's going to happen. And you know how this all works, where there are investigations, I think a lot of people don't realize that the prosecuting offices have their own investigators also looking at this. And in this case, is this sort of embarrassing to the DA what's happened here?

MARRIS: The DA has had a really rocky road. Keep in mind, there was a gun enhancement charge that was part of the initial charges. That law was not on the books at the time of the incident. So that was a really big faux pas there because that just shows you're not doing your due diligence as a district attorney.

Now we have these two special prosecutors coming in taking a look at this case and finding a different conclusion in the investigation. So I do think it's a mar on that prosecutor. But I'm also open to what does the investigation reveal? And I'm wondering if prosecutors asked for more time to continue the investigation with respect to Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who the charges have not, there's no indication that they're being dropped, they are moving forward. Yes.

SIDNER: Right, right. They're still there. And you said without prejudice, which means more people could be charged, they could go back, they've got to look to see what has happened here, especially with all this new information that's come out. You are so great to have Misty Marris, thank you so much for coming on.

MARRIS: Thank you, Sara. John --

[11:23:25]

BERMAN: Deadline day at the Supreme Court set to rule at possibly any moment on what will happen with an abortion pill. An American has died in Sudan in the middle of clashes that have claimed the lives of hundreds. We have the latest on an attempt at a ceasefire.

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SIDNER: Any moment now, a major Supreme Court decision on the fate of a widely used abortion pill could drop the justices setting a deadline of midnight tonight to reveal whether or not the High Court will uphold an appeals court ruling that would severely restrict access to mifepristone. CNN senior Supreme Court analyst Joan Biskupic joins us now. Joan, what does this mean for the availability of the drug potentially?

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SENIOR SUPREME COURT ANALYST: Sure. Good morning, Sara. You know, right now, the justices are just wrapping up a morning meeting on the weeks business, including this topic, certainly. And it is indeed, you know, the restrictions on the drug that would be at issue depending on how they rule. The drug is not going to disappear from the market immediately. This is a very preliminary stage.

And what the justices are being asked to do by the Biden administration and the drug manufacturer, Danko, is suspend or postpone the effect of lower court rulings that essentially put new restrictions on the availability of the drug, for example, when women could access it at 10 weeks of pregnancy, which is the situation today, if it would that would be rolled back to only up to seven weeks of pregnancy.

Would they have to -- could they obtain it after consulting with a physician by mail? Or would they have to go in to pick it up? So there are a variety of restrictions that are actually kind of in this moment at stake. But let me just remind everyone where the court is, this is a court that just 10 months ago, rolled back all of constitutional abortion rights nationwide in its ruling, reversing Roe v. Wade, nearly half century of reproductive rights.

[11:30:01]

But as the justices did that they took pains to say that states, individual states could still make abortion legal. Now the main --