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Fox News Severs Ties with Tucker Carlson; Warships Deployed to Port Sudan; Major Flooding Along Mississippi; Closing Arguments in Proud Boys Case. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired April 25, 2023 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:31:55]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

Politics is grabbing the headlines this morning with one big announcement, President Biden makes it official, he is running for re- election, putting it out in a video this morning. And in the video, Biden framed this election as a fight for freedom, making clear that he's leaning into the fight - leaning in to fight against what he considers Republican extremism, attacks on abortion rights, voting rights and other moves like banning certain books in schools. This rollout sets the stage for a possible rematch with Donald Trump, of course. President Biden is not expected to face a major challenge, though, in the Democratic primary.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: More on the fallout at Fox News after the network severed ties with host Tucker Carlson. No explanation has been given so far as to why the right-wing channel's highest rated anchor was abruptly fired. The announcement sent stock market shares in Fox Corporation tumbling. The company closed down nearly 3 percent yesterday and lost about $600 million in market value.

CNN's senior media reporter Oliver Darcy joins me now live.

Oliver, have you learned anything more about what precipitated this decision?

OLIVER DARCY, CNN SENIOR MEDIA REPORTER: Well, Sara, we know how this decision was -- went down. We know that Fox Cooperation Chief Executive Lachlan Murdoch, he talked to Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott on Friday evening, and they made the decision to fire Tucker Carlson. Obviously, a decision like that would also have the blessing of Fox News -- or Fox Chief Rupert Murdoch.

What we don't know is why this decision was made. We can obviously connect the dots. This comes a week after Fox News settled that massive lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems for a record $787.5 million. And so something, as a result of that lawsuit, obviously led to Carlson's ouster. But what specifically remains a little murky. It could be the lawsuit filed by his former booker, Abby Grossberg, alleging rampant sexism and anti-Semitism behind the scenes over on Tucker Carlson's show. It could be the disparaging text that came out as a result of the discovery process, many of them still redact, that show Tucker Carlson not speaking kindly about his colleagues, including Fox brass. There are a number different parts of this lawsuit that could have potentially led to Carlson's ouster from the network. We don't know what it was specifically.

But we should also say that outside this being a major media move, this is also huge -- has huge ramifications for the Republican Party. Tucker Carlson was one of the -- one of the most influential forces inside the GOP and he really pushed it to the extreme, to the conspiratorial. And so with him no longer on that Fox News prime time perch, I think it's going to have significant impacts on the GOP.

Sara.

SIDNER: And certainly Fox facing other lawsuits that are coming up, like Smartmatic. So, we'll have to wait and see if this starts to become apparent as to exactly why this happened.

Thank you so much, Oliver Darcy, with all of that.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Sara, new this morning, two U.S. warships, the USS Truxtun and the USS Lewis B. Puller, they are headed toward Port Sudan.

[09:35:08]

This is on the Red Sea coast in Sudan. This as the U.S. is mulling a plan to send troops to that port in order to assist with the evacuation of U.S. citizens from that country.

At this moment, a three-day ceasefire is supposed to be underway there. Humanitarian corridors are supposed to be open, which would allow for the safe movement of civilians. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says that would give Americans the chance to evacuate. Thousands of U.S. nationals do remain in the country.

CNN senior international correspondent Sam Kiley is in Djibouti on the tarmac there, also on the coast where people have been evacuated from.

Sam, do you have a sense if this ceasefire in Sudan is holding?

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, all things are relative, I think, in the case of a civil war in Sudan. There has been reportedly a reduction in the level of violence, but, my goodness, violence still continuing. But the news of a ceasefire that went into effect at midnight Sudanese time last night has meant that the RAF, for example, and the British government have accelerated plans to try to continue airlifting their citizens out of Sudan by means of a road move from Khartoum to a desert air base.

We don't have any information yet as to whether or not that's gotten underway, but they did see it as a, quote, more permissive environment. But if that is their definition of permissive, it's quite a broad one because we also spoke with a Sudanese gentleman, whose name we are keeping back for his own safety, but he sent us an audio message. And if you listen carefully you can actually hear the sounds of explosions of - from this message that he sent exclusively to CNN. This is what it said.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know if you can hear this, but there's now shots fired as I'm speaking with you. As for the food situation and the supplies, food is OK, but shops are running out of food completely. All the factories in Bahari (ph) have been looted by the - by some people. And as for the water supply, still we don't have water for the 11th day continuously. We only get water from a well nearby.

I wish to stay - to see how this is going to be -- going to progress. If it's going to be worsened, definitely I will escape. There is no other way out. There's no -- it is what it is. War, you cannot stay at war situations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KILEY: Now, that is the situation for a Sudanese gentleman. But, of course, the same troubles will be affecting the international people still there. There's estimated possibly some 16,000 Americans, some 4,000 Britain's. An enormous effort is ongoing to try to get people out over land. There is still certainly a lot of movement here. A lot of these missions are going to remain secret. We're on the edge effectively on the other side of this airfield is Camp Lemonnier, which is the big U.S. base. We've agreed not to show that on screen because, of course, it's also a hub now for special forces activity for forces from around the world.

We've just seen a Spanish C-130 take off. That's one of many different national groups here. There's a Japanese base here, too. So, there's an ongoing effort to get people out by air. But, ultimately, escape is going to depend on the ceasefire holding, on it being safe to use those roads, and possibly safe to travel the 800 kilometers, 500 miles to get out to ships waiting offshore. Today there was an Egyptian ship that took a large number of Egyptian nationals out of Port Sudan. So, it is possible. The U.N. also trying to run convoys in that direction. Ugandans trying to get out through Ethiopia. There is still a scramble towards the borders because of the fragility of this ceasefire.

John.

BERMAN: All right, Sam Kiley for us in Djibouti, describing this large effort to help get people out, some of which we can see, some of it which remains secret, but we do appreciate you giving us a window into that. Sam, thank you.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, it's definitely not over yet. That's for sure. Coming up for us, Mississippi rising. The country's second longest

river is hitting new and dangerous heights as melting snow is pushing the Mississippi to levels not seen in more than 20 years.

And, a woman flies from Los Angeles to Australia, a place with some of the world's toughest gun laws, and she flies there with this gold- plated gun. Why? That's ahead.

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[09:44:00]

BERMAN: So, we are learning this morning that an American woman was arrested in Australia after staff at the Sydney airport found a handgun in her luggage. Not just any gun. This is what officials pulled out of her bag. It is a 24 carat gold-plated handgun. Authorities say the woman, who had just flown in from Los Angeles, did not have a permit to bring the firearm into Australia. Not even a gold-plated one. Australia has some of the world's toughest rules on gun ownership. It's illegal there for a person to intentionally import a firearm without prior approval. The maximum penalty is ten years in prison. The woman appeared in court yesterday and could be deported.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: There are all sorts of questionable decisions that happened there.

Moving on, though, in the Midwest this morning this incredible new drone footage that we want to show you, showing how serious the situation is unfolding. You see that. It says it's in Minnesota. This is as river levels continue to rise along the Mississippi.

[09:45:01]

At least 20 river gauges are hitting major flood stage due to snow melt. Iowa's governor just this morning issued a disaster proclamation for at least ten counties near the river. You can see them all lined up all along the river there. These are just some of the areas where the flooding is hitting rural areas and parks along the Mississippi.

CNN's Derek Van Dam is tracking this threat, where -- what it means right now, and he's joining us.

Derek, what are you seeing?

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Kate, this is really a slow- motion disaster. Now, mind you, it happens every year. It's just that this year it's different for many of the communities that line the Mississippi River. We're talking about some of the worst flooding in several decades.

Take, for instance, Wabasha, Minnesota. This is just upstream along the Minnesota -- or the Mississippi River from Lacrosse, Wisconsin, which we'll talk about in just a minute. But these are people's homes. These are people's businesses that are being inundated by this rising flood water, this slow-motion disaster that I'm talking about. And the way that we monitor the progress of the cresting Mississippi River, or similar rivers just like that, or the Red River, are river gauges. And you're looking at all the river gauges that are in flood gauge.

Now, the purple ones you see between Minneapolis and Lacrosse, that -- those are the river gauges that are actually at major flood stage. There's about 20 of them right now, but we anticipate about another ten or so in the coming days as the water continues to pile up and we start to melt out some of the epic record-shattering snowfall that has fallen across the upper Midwest.

So, what you're looking at now is the current snow pack. And this blue line that I'm drawing is actually anywhere south of that is the Mississippi River Valley. So, all of this water needs to melt. It filters through the tributaries, eventually ending up in the Mississippi River Valley, and then we start to see the flooding pile up across that area. That's why we have over 400 miles of the Mississippi River that's under flood warning as we speak, lining the border of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, into Illinois as well.

Take, for example, Lacrosse. You can see, we're expecting that peak later this week. A 16 foot forecast crest for that region, but even higher downstream just south of the Davenport region. Look at Muscatine, Iowa.

Kate, we're anticipating above average snow melt here as this water continues to move down the Mississippi.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. It's a really fascinating view.

Derek, thank you so much for that.

VAN DAM: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Sara.

SIDNER: Federal prosecutors say they thought of themselves as Donald Trump's army. Now closing arguments are underway in the seditious conspiracy trial against five Proud Boys accused of plotting the January 6th attack on the Capitol.

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[09:51:30]

SIDNER: It's been weeks, but closing arguments are finally underway in Washington, D.C., for the five Proud Boys accused of plotting to attack the U.S. Capitol. Prosecutors say the defendants stirred fellow members of the far-right group towards violence in the lead up to January 6th and then directed them that day to attack the building. All five defendants have pleaded not guilty.

CNN's Katelyn Polantz joins us now.

Katelyn, what can we expect today? KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, Sara,

we're at exactly the halfway point of the long, slow finish of this trial for the Proud Boys. Five men accused of seditious conspiracy. Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl, Enrique Tarrio, and Dominic Pezzola, they have been on trial now for 60 days. Jury selection in this started well before Christmas.

But now the jury is listening to those closing arguments. They began yesterday with prosecutors essentially saying that these men were leaders, they were plotters, they were ready for battle and they were excited to see what they were doing on January 6th. They pointed out, through many, many videos and photos of the riot on January 6th how these men broke off from the crowd when the crowd was at a standstill and found a weakness in the police line to get people inside the Capitol and lead the charge to overcome Capitol Police and break into the building. So, that was the large part of the Justice Department argument.

But they also played video showing the jury Donald Trump telling the Proud Boys, stand back and stand by at that debate before the election.

Now, the defense team has tried to distance all of these defendants from President Trump at the time. They've also tried to undermine this idea that there was a plan or an agreement. Some of the defense lawyers yesterday were arguing that these were just guys at the Capitol who ended up being stupid on the scene. They shouldn't have been there, but they weren't the instigators. There was no advanced planning.

Right now Hannah Rabinowitz and Holmes Lybrand, our two producers, are inside of the courthouse and they are watching the defense team for Enrique Tarrio, the long-time figurehead of the Proud Boys. He's giving his closing argument right now. We don't expect these closings to end today, but very soon a jury will be deliberating over whether these men should be found guilty or not guilty of seditious conspiracy.

Sara.

SIDNER: Please thank Hannah and Holmes for me, and thank you, Katelyn Polantz, for all of that.

All right, days after some of the right wing extremist Proud Boys were charged in the Capitol insurrection, I was able to speak with then leader Enrique Tarrio. He was -- it was about February 2022 and Tarrio had not yet been charged in the case. He told me he did not think his fellow Proud Boys should have gone into the Capitol that day, but made clear he felt no sympathy for Congress members who feared for their life that day.

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ENRIQUE TARRIO, PROUD BOYS LEADER: I'm not going to cry about a group of people that don't give a crap about their constituents. I'm not going to -- I'm not going to sympathize with them. SIDNER: They are doing the job that the people put them there to do.

And if they don't like it, they can vote them out. They are still Americans. They are still human beings who felt that their lives were in danger. How can you not feel any sympathy or any empathy towards someone like that?

TARRIO: I'm not going to worry about people that their only worry in life is to be re-elected.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[09:55:00]

SIDNER: Now, Tarrio is the only defendant in this case who was not in Washington, D.C., during the attack on the Capitol. That is because, days before the U.S. Capitol insurrection, he was arrested for burning a church's Black Lives Matter banner and bringing a high capacity rifle magazine to Washington, D.C., which is illegal. A judge ordered him to stay out of D.C. He was later convicted in that case.

Now, he and four others await their fate in a much more serious seditious conspiracy case. That is, as you heard, wrapping up after several weeks of testimony.

Don.

BERMAN: Yes, that interview you did, such an important moment in history right now, Sara.

President Biden officially announced his re-election bid today. We have new reporting on his campaign strategy.

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[10:00:00]

BERMAN: We do have breaking news. We just learned that famous singer, actor and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte has died. A legend in so many ways.