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Search for Man Accused of Shooting, Killing Five Neighbors; JPMorgan Chase Buying First Republic's Assets in Rescue Deal; Clashes Break Out in Paris as Thousands Protest. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired May 01, 2023 - 10:00   ET

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

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KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: JPMorgan Chase swoops in to buy failed First Republic Bank, likely preventing a wider banking crisis in doing so, after the second largest bank failure in U.S. history. What all this now means for your money is next.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Police and protesters are clashing on the streets of Paris, tear gas filling the air during what could be the largest mayday protest France has ever seen. CNN is live in Paris.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: And a manhunt Texas, hundreds of officers are searching for this man accused of killing five people, including a nine-year-old boy, the latest on that search. We are following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN News Central.

Right now, a man accused of shooting and killing five of his neighbors in Texas, including a child, is on the run. Investigators say this all happened simply because those neighbors asked him to stop firing his gun late at night near their home while their baby was sleeping.

This is the suspect, Francisco Oropeza. Law enforcement, including the FBI, says it has zero leads on his whereabouts at this hour. They have warned the public he is armed and dangerous. More than 250 officers are on the case and an $80,000 reward is being offered.

CNN's Josh Campbell is joining us now live with more on this. No leads, zero, not a good look this morning.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is painstaking work, Sara. We are told by the authorities that they were tracking the suspect's cell phone after this incident Friday night, but on Saturday, that phone was discarded. And so the authorities weren't able to continue to try to monitor and locate where this individual was. They also found a collection of the clothing that was discarded.

They were able to use the canines that can track people based on scent. But those dogs eventually lost the scent. And so what the authorities are doing, they're going door-to-door, asking witnesses if they have seen this person, asking if they have any type of doorbell camera footage to try to again identify where he is. This suspect, 38-year-old Francisco Oropeza, as you mentioned, is accused of this truly, truly heinous crime. Authorities say that this happened on Friday night. The witness says that neighbors went over to Oropeza's home after hearing the sound of gunfire.

They asked him, hey, can you shoot you rifle on the other side of your home. There's a baby here. And that gunfire is disturbing the baby. Rather than doing that, the suspect allegedly then soon after charged into the neighbor's home, opening fire, killing a woman in the doorway, killing three other people as well as a nine-year-old boy.

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And I don't want to get too graphic, but authorities essentially described this as an execution-style shooting.

One person who did survive, who was in the home, Wilson Garcia, in truly emotional comments, spoke about what happened during that truly horrific incident. Have a listen.

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WILSON GARCIA, FATHER AND HUSBAND OF SHOOTING VICTIMS: I miraculously managed to escape. There were ten of us that survived. 15 of us were there. And of the 15, we lost my nine-year-old son, my wife as well. And two people who died were protecting my 2.5-year-old daughter and my 1-month-old son. They protected him with a bunch of clothing so the murderer would not kill him, too.

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CAMPBELL: Now, Sara, at this hour, authorities are offering an $80,000 reward for information leading to the suspect's arrest. They are warning the public that he should be considered armed and extremely dangerous. Sara?

SIDNER: Josh Campbell, so hard to hear. Thank you so much for reporting that story for us. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Now to the fallout this morning after the second largest bank failure in U.S. history. Overnight, the government took control of First Republic Bank and its $233 billion worth of assets. And then, shortly after that, JPMorgan Chase is now stepping in as the buyer.

First Republic is based in San Francisco. It has offices all over the country, largely on the coast, including branches in affluent areas, like Beverly Hills, Silicon Valley, Palm Beach, New York, Greenwich, Connecticut. Now, all of these branches reopening today as JPMorgan Chase.

CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich is outside one of these locations in New York City. Vanessa, what more are learning about how all of this came together?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you mentioned, Kate, branches around the country, including the one behind me, opening under new ownership, JPMorgan inking deal to buy First Republic Bank last night, announced by the FDIC very early this morning.

And we are learning now details about how this deal came together after a media call with JPMorgan's CEO Jamie Dimon. He said that they were not looking for this deal but it made sense financially. The FDIC held an auction with this by 4:00 P.M. Eastern Time, JPMorgan clearly the winning bid. It took 800 JPMorgan employees to make this deal come to fruition as well as other employees at FDIC and the Treasury Department.

But the key thing for customers to know is that, as a part of this deal, JPMorgan has assumed $92 billion in deposits. That means that if you are going to the bank today to First Republic, your deposits are safe. Also they are taking about $173 billion in loans as well as paying the FDIC $10.6 billion to close this deal.

And I think a lot of the questions that we are starting to hear is what does mean for the potential bank failures in the future. Well, Jamie Dimon spoke about that very issue on the media call just moments ago.

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JAMIE DIMON, CEO, JPMORGAN CHASE (voice over): This is getting near the end of it. And, hopefully, this stabilizes everything. The American banking system is extraordinarily sound. And, obviously, going forward, you have recessions and rates going up and stuff like that, you will see other cracks in the system, but that has to be expected. The system is very, very sound.

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YURKEVICH: And Jamie Dimon also went on the say that he does not believe this deal will factor into a recession, nor was a recession the reason why he ended up closing this deal. But big news around the country as people are now going to the First Republic Bank they once knew now owned and operated by JPMorgan. Kate?

BOLDUAN: It's good to see you, Vanessa. Thank you so much for that update. John?

BERMAN: Thanks, Kate.

So, today at the White House, President Biden is set to blast the debt limit bill passed by the Republican-led House at a small business event. Officials previewing the event call the bill a reckless attempt to extract a concessions as a condition for the U.S. simply paying the bills it has already incurred.

Senate Majority Whip and Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin joins us now.

Welcome to CNN News Central, Senator.

SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL): Good to be here. BERMAN: So, Speaker McCarthy is in Israel right now, and a little bit earlier today made a quip about the fact that President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu haven't really communicated much over the last several months. And Speaker McCarthy said, quote, "President Biden hasn't talked to me about the debt ceiling for the last 80-some days. So, I think he, the prime minister, might be in good company if he treats me the same way."

On the debt ceiling, if no one is talking, how does this get solved?

DURBIN: John, Speaker McCarthy is playing a dangerous game. Look at this First Republic Bank.

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We put $13 billion in taxpayers' money there to make sure that this bank did not fail and cause some recession in this economy. There is a lot at stake with a small -- literally small bank in comparison to the national economy, $23 trillion, and the debt ceiling debate that McCarthy is trying to use for political purposes.

This is totally irresponsible. If he defaults, if he even gets close to default, if there's a serious threat of default, it's going to have an impact on this economy, on business, on growth, as well as the number of jobs across America. We shouldn't play this dangerous game. The president is right.

BERMAN: Is it dangerous game just to talk?

DURBIN: Certainly should be (ph) a discussion. But it should be clear that this discussion is of the budget and appropriations bills. We do that every year. To start the process of the appropriations spending bills, you have to establish the standard of how much money is involved, and that is what the debate is all about, should be about.

BERMAN: So, it's not like there haven't been discussions in the past over the debt ceiling. In 2017, we found this in Politico this morning, when President Trump was in office, there was a discussion about whether Democrats should try to get something from a vote to raise the debt ceiling. Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut said, quote, "Everything is negotiable, why would we make it easier for them to pass unpaid for tax cuts by giving away a vote on raising the debt ceiling," then Politico says, Senate Minority Whip at the time Dick Durbin agreed, adding, "Put me in that camp of the Democrats looking for leverage."

So, why was it OK to talk then but not now?

DURBIN: It is OK to talk about the leverage. But when you are talking about the speaker and the president and the majority leader, you are really getting down to serious business. We know make speeches, we posture, we do these things, but we know in our heart of hearts what has to be done, what the responsible thing is.

What Speaker McCarthy did was wait until literally the last moment, and without any committee hearings, moved this bill forward, got just barely enough votes to pass it in the House, and now is saying, let's wait and we see how close we can get to the debt. I hope that doesn't happen. We cannot, we must avoid default.

BERMAN: In your heart of hearts, though, you do suspect that they will talk at some point?

DURBIN: History says that finally people come to their common senses, but I don't want it to be at the expense of working families and business across America. A recession is not in the best interest of our future.

BERMAN: I want to talk to you about your committee work, which is substantial. You have hearings tomorrow at the Judiciary Committee about Supreme Court Ethics Reform. You asked the chief justice to come and testify. He wrote you a letter and then all nine justices basically signed on saying, no, thanks, we don't want your ethics reform.

So, what do you say to not just Justice Roberts, but all nine justices?

DURBIN: We cannot excuse what has been reported already about Justice Clarence Thomas, the yacht trips into Indonesia sponsored by a billionaire in Texas. The Gorsuch real estate transaction have raised serious questions about whether things went unreported. How does Justice Thomas explain that this billionaire decided to buy his mother's home as a gift to him, $100,000-plus that he put into his home and never reported it? Never reported it.

This sort of thing is unacceptable at every branch of our government, at every level of the courts, save the nine men and women serving on the Supreme Court.

BERMAN: So, if they won't do it willingly, what will you do?

DURBIN: We have the authority. We can enact a law which is established as a code of ethics and says that they will be treated like every other entity.

As a member of Congress, I have to pay by rules, a $50 gift rule. And I have seen my colleagues go to the Ethics Committee and plead the case for something that's a little bit more than that. I haven't done that, I don't plan on doing it, but that's the kind of thing that we live with.

Why wouldn't the Supreme Court justices report $100,000 gift or trips on a yacht to Indonesia?

BERMAN: You are sometimes criticized by the people on the left for your role as chairman of the Judiciary Committee because of what's known as the blue slip process, and people who don't know what that means, it means that the senators can actually object or block the nomination to the federal bench for judges within their states. There are people in the left -- if I described that correctly -- there are people in the left who say you've just got to do away with that. You can't let, they say, Republicans block nominees that President Biden wants.

Why would you tell them this process is so important?

DURBIN: Well, I can tell you this. It has been in place for over 100 years as a tradition of this committee. It basically says, if you're going to appoint a federal district court judge, you need the approval of the senators from that state. So we kind of had the last word.

Some senators, even in the same party as the president, like to have that opportunity. It really brings the White House into the conversations before the choice is made.

I want to preserve that. Most Republicans do, too. I think that we can do it and still continue our record-breaking pace of filling the judicial vacancies.

BERMAN: So, not going away under your watch?

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DURBIN: At this point, it's not necessary.

BERMAN: All right. Senator Dick Durbin, Chairman, great to see you. Thanks for coming in to CNN News Central.

DURBIN: Thanks, John.

BERMAN: Sara?

SIDNER: Ahead on CNN News Central, a CNN exclusive, new images of a 100-foot long military blimp flying over the desert in Northwest China. Experts it could be used as a kind of submarine in the skies.

And protests erupting on the streets of Paris yet again on this mayday, French citizens still upset over government reform plans, including raising the retirement age.

And a bit later, cleanup underway in Virginia Beach after a massive tornado moved through the area on Sunday. Officials say up to 100 homes have been damaged there. We'll be right back.

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BOLDUAN: This morning, we are seeing the clashes of police and protesters in Paris. We started seeing this last hour, it's continuing today. Thousands are taking to the streets. It's shaping up to be the largest mayday protest France has seen in years.

Now, today's demonstrations over labor rights, they come after months of protests against President Macron's controversial overhaul to the pension system, which includes raising the retirement age there by two years. This is from this morning, police are flooding the streets.

Let's check back in with Melissa Bell. Melissa, last hour when we saw you, you were in a cloud of tear gas. What are you seeing now?

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it has gone little bit quieter. Certainly, the tear gas has dispersed a little bit, Kate, and I can breathe speak too once again. But as you can see, the march continues, really, still at the very front of it. These, again, the black bloc protesters that precede the trade union march, which will be happening a lot more peacefully, no doubt, behind us.

Ahead of us, what's been happening is that two groups of those black bloc protesters have now been cordoned off by the police as they are try and limit the amount of chaos out on the streets of Paris today. And I have to say that compared to the last few weeks, Kate, when we had seen some scuffles with the police, we had seen a lot of incidents of trash that had lined the streets of Paris being burned in these protests, a lot of confrontation with the police. Really, what we've seen in the course of this mayday protest does feel like it exceeds.

A lot more black bloc on the streets today, a lot more direct confrontation early on and some fairly chaotic scenes. What we have also seen, Kate, as a result of that chaos is some pretty indiscriminant police attempts to draw fairly random people off of the street. There was a lot of chaos back there. And all along this march, basically, what happens is, as we head away from Republique and on towards the march's destination, all of these streets are lined with riot police that regularly face off with the protesters. And that's what you're likely to see continue over the course today.

This is an important barometer, of course, for the protesters here to show the popular anger that there is about this pension reform. It's also important on the part of the authorities, I should point out, Kate, that this, in a sense, draw a line under these protests. This reform is going through. The government hopes that will be one last venting, and then after that, life will go back as it was.

The point about the protest today is they want to show, by their anger, by their numbers, by their determination, that beyond this particular reform, that so much of their anger, focused as it is on the French president, they indent to make the rest of his term as difficult and as ungovernable as they can. And I think that's behind a lot of this great show of support for the movement today, backed up as it is by 62 percent of the French who are opposed to this particular raising of the retirement age, Kate, from 62 to 64.

BOLDUAN: Yes, just a juxtaposition we've seen these scenes in Paris. I mean, you are amongst largely peaceful protesters, now even seeing a man walking down the street with a cane, but then those black bloc that you've talked about at other points of this protest clashing in a really violent way today already with police. We will stick close to you. Thank you, Melissa. John?

BERMAN: All right. Thanks, Kate.

Exclusive new reporting this morning about China's airship program, we have never before seen photos obtained by CNN of a Chinese military blimp that was caught on satellite in a remote desert base in Northwestern China. You can see it right there. These pictures are from November 2022, which was three months before a Chinese spy balloon was shot down off the coast of South Carolina.

CNN's Alex Marquardt joins us now. Alex, you are part of the reporting team that broke this story about this balloon. What are we looking at? Why is this important?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John. My colleague, Paul Murphy, and I have obtained these images from a satellite imagery company called BlackSky. And what they show is what we believe to be some part of the Chinese military arsenal that has never been seen before.

These images taken at a base in an area called Korla in Northwestern China. It is a remote desert base that is associated with the Chinese military, the PLA. This is an area that has been studied for years. We've seen other satellite imagery of that base. But what we have never seen is a blimp that is associated with the Chinese military. It is on that long runway that is about 3,300 feet long. The blimp itself is about 100 feet or 30 meters long. It's just outside a huge hangar.

And what this indicates, John, what experts tell us is an advancement in the Chinese airship military program, that it's getting more sophisticated. Of course, we've known for quite some time that they do have an airship program.

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Americans know all too well that they have been using Chinese spy balloons. We saw back in January and February that spy balloon crossed the country. But a blimp is a lot more sophisticated. It's more maneuverable, it's more navigable, as one expert -- the one expert we spoke with likened it to a submarine in the skies, which has its own, we believe, a propulsion and navigation system.

And what this blimp would do is carry out what's called IRS, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. So, it really does represent, according to a number of experts we spoke with, a real progress in their airship program, that they are doing a lot more to advance it.

Now, blimps would be a lot more advantageous on a number of levels. They are a lot cheaper than planes and satellites that would carry out ISR. They can stay in the air a lot longer than planes, of course.

And, John, what is really interesting is also what's around this blimp. There's that huge hangar, that very long runway, and people we speak to say that that could be an indication that they are actually building a much bigger and more sophisticated airship. There's a lot of construction going on around there, so experts certainly keeping a close eye on this.

I did reach out the Biden administration. The CIA declined to comment. The National Security Council did comment. But I did speak to a senior defense official who said that if it's visible from the sky, you can be sure that we are tracking it. John?

BERMAN: Yes. These pictures very revealing, very interesting, one defense expert I spoke with the last few weeks basically said the Chinese had found a way to exploit western defenses with the use of these airships. Alex Marquardt, terrific reporting, thank you.

SIDNER: Coming up, it's deadline day for Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis. She must respond to a motion by former President Donald Trump's attorneys. What it could mean for his legal troubles.

Plus, President Biden's son, Hunter Biden, expected to appear before a judge in Arkansas today, this over a year's old dispute, those details ahead.

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