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Russia Accidentally Bomb Own City, Leaves 65-Foot Crater; Gunman Left Notes Claiming He Wanted to Show How Easy It Was to Buy Gun with Mental Illness; NFL Suspends Five Players, 3 Indefinitely, For Gambling; Montana House Speaker Silences Transgender Lawmaker; CEO Questions Whether Parents Are Being Fair to Employers, Kids. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired April 21, 2023 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN NEWS CENTRAL HOST: Here is a look at this hour's top stories. The clock is ticking. At any moment now the Supreme Court could hand down a major ruling on a widely used abortion pill. The justices have a self-imposed midnight deadline to decide if they will uphold an appeals court ruling that would severely restrict access to mifepristone.

And Russia mistakenly bombs its own city, leaving a massive crater 65 feet wide -- look at that explosion there. Threw a car up into the air. Russia says the blast injured two people, damaged several nearby apartment buildings. The Kremlin acknowledging one of its own warplanes accidentally dropped that bomb. Landed right in the center of the Russian city of Belgorod, home to more than 400,000 people. Remarkable events there, Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN NEWS CENTRAL HOST: Certainly, those pictures.

Law enforcement sources say the gunman behind a mass shooting at a Louisville bank earlier this month left behind extensive notes explaining his alleged motivations. And part of his reasoning, as he put it, the gunman claims he wanted to show just how easy it is for someone with a serious mental illness to purchase firearms in the U.S. He killed five people in the course of what he did.

CNN's Adrienne Broaddus is joining us now on this, Adrienne, what more can you tell us about this alleged motive?

ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know too extensive letters were found, Brianna. That's according to our law enforcement sources. One letter was found at the home where the shooter lived, the other investigators found after they killed that shooter at the bank.

[15:35:00]

And according to our law enforcement source, part of this motive was to show, as you mentioned, how easy it is for someone living with mental illness to purchase a firearm.

We know the shooter purchase the gun that was used at the bank shooting on Tuesday, April 4th that was less than a week before the shooting. And in Kentucky, the laws are a bit different. For example, he was only required to fill out an ATF form and he had to pass an FBI records check. So, what's in that record? Check one, the FBI wanted to ensure this person buying a gun was not a felon, and they wanted to make sure he was not the subject of court imposed restraining orders -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, I just -- this motive, this alleged motive -- and I call it that because I think we know -- we already know how easy it is for really so many people to purchase a weapon, and I just think of the families here. I can't imagine they're feeling any solace when it comes to this.

BROADDUS: You know, Brianna, there's pain on all sides of this. You have the shooter's family, who said they knew their son lived with depression, but they had no idea he was planning or even capable of such violence. And then you have other families who were either injured or their loved ones were killed. Like A'lia Chambers. She is getting ready to bury her mother tomorrow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

A'LIA CHAMBERS, DAUGHTER OF WOMAN KILLED IN SHOOTING: This monster took away my mother. And that I'm hurt. Because my mother moved here to help me, a single mom with four kids. And I only got two weeks with her here in Louisville. We are not from here. And to have two weeks with your mom in a city she knows nothing about breaks my heart.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROADDUS: And A'lia says that job at the bank was a symbol of hope for her mom. She picked up, moved to Louisville -- to Louisville to help her and her family. Those were her two brothers standing behind her. But instead of starting this new life with their four grandchildren and another granddaughter that she found out her son was having a day before she was killed, it's not going to happen for that family. But something unique about A'lia, she told me she's going to ask the bank managers if she can have her mother's old job because she wants to continue her legacy -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Oh, that is something. Adrianne, thank you for that report -- Boris.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN NEWS CENTRAL HOST: Still to come on CNN NEWS CENTRAL. The NFL announcing its suspended three players indefinitely. We're going to tell you why.

Plus, we're following a massive fire on an interstate bridge in Connecticut. At least one person is dead. What we're learning after a quick break.

[15:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: The National Football League has dropped the hammer in its investigation of gambling. These three players are now suspended indefinitely for allegedly betting on NFL games. Two other players are facing lesser punishment, and one of them is actually a rising star in the league.

CNN's Don Riddell joins us now. Don, I have to say I mean, the NFL injected betting into stadiums, advertise -- advertisements, apps. It's everywhere. Is anybody surprised by this?

DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: It's hard not to be, right, Jim. I mean, yes, everybody's being invited to the gambling party except the players themselves. And as you say, they have really dropped the hammer. It's not the first time the players have been suspended for gambling. I mean, Calvin Ridley of the Jaguars is just returning from a year suspension. Back in the sixties, the NFL suspended two very high-profile players that some of our viewers might remember, Paul Hornung and Alex Karras.

The situation here is quite remarkable for players from the same team. Those two Detroit players have already been suspended. The other two are facing suspensions of six games and one of them as you say, a rising star in Jamison Williams. And he is basically saying that they kind of got him on a technicality because he wasn't gambling on football, but he did breach the gambling rules. In other words, the locations where he was placing the bets, not on football, got him in trouble.

Now the NFL, of course, is very concerned with what this says about the integrity of the sport. So, it's important to bring you, their quote.

Which said: A league review uncovered no evidence indicating any inside information was used or that any game was compromised in any way.

But -- concerning for the game, for sure, Jim.

SCIUTTO: No question. Ask Pete Rose about how long these things can hang over you. Don Riddell thanks so much -- Brianna

KEILAR: Yes, forever. So, in Minnesota, the state Senate just approved a ban on conversion therapy, which attempts to convert LGBTQ people into straight or cisgender people. Republicans who opposed the bill say it could be challenged in court.

And in Montana, a group of Republican lawmakers are demanding their transgender colleague be centered for comments that she made on the house floor. Zooey Zephyr was speaking during a floor debate about amendments to a bill that would ban medical care for transgender minors. Here is the comment that House Republicans calling for her censure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZOOEY ZEPHYR (D) MINNESOTA STATE HOUSE: If you are forcing a trans child who go through puberty when they are trans, that is tantamount to torture. [15:45:00]

This body should be ashamed. The only thing I will say is, if I if you vote yes on this bill and yes on these amendments, I hope the next time there's an invocation when you bow your heads in prayer, you see the blood on your hands.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: And Jake Tapper is joining us now on this. You're going to be taking a closer look at this story on "THE LEAD." Can you tell us what you have in store?

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR, THE LEAD: Sure, we're going to have state representative Zooey Zephyr on the show to talk about what she was trying to argue there and about the response of her colleagues. Her colleagues taking not dissimilar take on this all, as we saw in Tennessee. Which is a Democrat tries to make a very impassioned remarks, maybe crossing a line or two, and instead of trying to hear what the person is saying the body responds, offended by the lack of decorum, of course.

So, you know, we'll discuss that. We see a lot of this in bodies where there is a supermajority or substantial majority of one party over the other. Just not even trying to hear the other person. They're literally not even trying to hear her. They're not allowing her to speak right now.

KEILAR: This is really becoming the flashpoint I think in the culture wars that we're seeing playing out right now.

TAPPER: Trans issues?

KEILAR: Yes, certainly.

TAPPER: Yes, I mean, and I think -- look, I mean to be completely candid. There's a lot about the trans community that that five years ago I didn't understand at all. And I think probably for a lot of us, it's just been an experience of trying to understand -- understand, try to listen, and not necessarily agreeing with everything. But I do think in this country would be better if people listened to each other, regardless of what issue we're talking about, or whether it's liberals or conservatives or whatever. And so, we'll be getting into that too.

KEILAR: It's a great discussion that you're having. Jake, thank you so much -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Next up, a CEO is going viral for praising his employees, praising them for selling their dogs so they can return to the office. Wait until you hear what he said about working moms.

[15:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SANCHEZ: A Utah CEO is demanding his remote employees return to the office and a video of him telling workers that they have to make sacrifices has gone viral. Not in a good way. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES CLARKE, CLEARLINK CEO: We just need you to show up and give an honest day's hard work, blood, sweat and tears. You go home to your families after that. I learned from one of our leaders that in the midst of hearing this -- this message, went out and sold their family dog which breaks my heart as someone who's been, you know, at the head of the humanization of pets movement in other businesses that we've built. But truly, that -- those are the sacrifices that are being made, and I honor you for those sacrifices.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: CNN business and politics correspondent Vanessa Yurkevich is here with more on all of this. And Vanessa, this CEO also targeted not single parents, but specifically single moms.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this was a rough town hall. This is a CEO who's clearly frustrated that his employees are not coming back into the office full time for work. We're in a different era, though, Boris. This is a time when people are very used to working hybrid. They're used to working fully remote.

But in this town hall that was on Zoom. He basically went on to accuse some of his employees of quiet quitting. Also accused some of them of working for second companies, in addition to Clearlink. And said that a lot of them were using our artificial intelligence to do their jobs instead of the humans -- the employees doing the jobs themselves.

And then he did go on and talk about the fact that he felt like it was very rare that women, particularly single mothers, could be good full- time caretakers or parents and do full time work. Listen to more of what he had to say on that particular issue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLARKE: Many of you have tried to tend to your own children and in doing so also manage demanding work schedules and responsibilities. And while I know you're doing your best. Some would say they have even mastered this art. But one could also argue that generally this path is neither fair to your employer, nor fair to those children. That is not a criticism of the noble nature of motherhood nor the ability to do both well. It's not. But there are only so many waking hours in each day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YURKEVICH: Now we reached out to Clearlink because we wanted to see if they wanted to clarify any of these comments. They did not clarify these comments in particular, but they did send us a statement which will put up but I will paraphrase. They said that they are welcoming people back into the office four

days a week, which includes those who work in the office and those who will continue to work remotely.

But this statement is a very different tone than what we heard from James Clarke in that Zoom town hall.

And Boris, I do just want to point out that we are in a very tight labor market right now. So, there are about two open jobs for every job seeker. People have options. The question is, is this the tone of a company that you want to go work for from this CEO? Some would argue, maybe not, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Hard to imagine why anyone wouldn't want to return to that office. Vanessa Yurkevich, thank you so much -- Brianna, Jim.

[15:55:00]

KEILAR: That's where you have a take your dog to work policy that could be very popular. I think. No?

SCIUTTO: Listen, I mean, it's a big adjustment for the country, right?

KEILAR: Sure.

SCIUTTO: For two years, folks were working from home which was necessary during the pandemic and has a lot of advantages. And now a lot of companies are asking people to come back. It's a big adjustment.

SANCHEZ: There is one way to address your workers coming back. I don't think anybody thinks that is the way to do it, though.

KEILAR: No, they might end up in pity city, right?

SANCHEZ: As the other CEO. There's so many CEOs out there now, saying things that they probably shouldn't be saying, right?

KEILAR: Yes, I think it's really tricky. I think it's really tricky for CEOs and clearly, they're frustrated, but sometimes I think empathy goes a long way.

SCIUTTO: I think so too. Just an acknowledgment this is hard and we're all in this together. Right?

KEILAR: That's right. We're on like this together. What a great week it was.

SCIUTTO: It has been a great week.

KEILAR: Thank you so much and that does it for us. "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right after this.