Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Father Survives Mass Shooting That Left Wife & Son Dead; JPMorgan Chase Buys First Republic's Assets In Rescue Deal; Trump's Attorney Continues Cross-Examination Of E. Jean Carroll; U.S. Braces For Migrant Surge As Title 42 Set To End Next Week. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired May 01, 2023 - 15:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:00:42]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Grief and despair for one Texas community after five people were shot and include - and killed including a nine-year- old boy. The accused killer is still on the run. Hundreds of officers are searching now for this man who had just been, we learned, deported four times after entering the U.S. illegally. What more we're learning about the manhunt.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And a federal judge denies Donald Trump's motion in a civil battery and defamation trial, E. Jean Carroll who is suing the former president is back on the stand for cross-examination. We are live outside the courthouse.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Plus, a CNN exclusive never before seen images of a 100-foot-long blimp captured in northwest China. Experts describing it as a submarine of the skies. We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SCIUTTO: A source tells CNN that the target of a massive manhunt this hour was deported at least four times from the United States. Francisco Oropeza wanted for allegedly gunning down five of his neighbors this Friday night after complaints he was making too much noise, firing his rifle outside in his yard.

First time Oropeza was deported was in 2009. His current immigration status not clear. What is clear, the suffering he's allegedly left behind in Cleveland, Texas. A survivor of the mass killing lost both his wife and his nine-year-old son. A local sheriff called the scene inside their home horrific, saying small children were found covered in blood, though somehow not wounded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILSON GARCIA, WIFE & SON KILLED IN SHOOTING (through interpreter): I miraculously managed to escape. There were 10 of us that survived. Fifteen 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 two-and-a-half-year-old daughter and my one-month-old son. They protected him with a bunch of clothing, so the murderer wouldn't kill him too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Another family losing someone to gun violence.

CNN's Ed Lavandera, he's joining us. He's joining us from Cleveland, Texas.

Ed, the FBI said openly no leads. They were basically blind. You noted there has been a potential sighting of Oropeza. Do we know if that's been substantiated at all?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've been able to update that and that has turned out to be nothing. That was a potential possible sighting about a 15-minute drive from where we are here. But Montgomery County Sheriff's officials, that is the neighboring county from where we are, says that that sighting did not pan out.

So the manhunt continues and it's been more than 60 hours now since Francisco Oropeza is alleged to have shot and killed five people in the home that you see behind me in this rural neighborhood just outside of Cleveland, Texas, about an hour's drive north of Houston.

And family members simply distraught by the tragedy that they witnessed unfold in front of them. As you detailed, all of this stemming from what should have been a very simple request and conversation that clearly turned into a violent situation here in this neighborhood.

We've heard from one of the mothers of the victims, who really detailed and explained her pain that she's enduring right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANCIA GUZMAN, DAUGTHER KILLED IN TEXAS RAMPAGE (through interpreter): She never left me alone. It's very difficult to know that I won't hear her voice anymore. She left full of excitement and now I'm just hoping she will come back, even if it is in a coffin, so that I can say goodbye.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: And Jim, you played the sound there of Wilson Garcia. He's one of the survivors. He's the one who lost his wife and nine-year-old son in this attack.

[15:05:02]

He also told us that in the moments leading up to that deadly rampage and they were having the conversation with their neighbor, Francisco Oropeza, that they had called 911 five times asking for help, because this situation was escalating.

The sheriff here in San Jacinto County was asked yesterday about the response time. He said they have a limited number of deputies. It is a large county. They got here as fast as they could. Wilson Garcia says that by the time law enforcement here was able to get to this scene in this area, the rampage was over and five people were dead. Jim?

SCIUTTO: Well, and also the suspect gone, right? So that response time could be key as we go ahead.

Ed Lavandera there in Cleveland, Texas. Brianna?

KEILAR: Jim, in an effort to boost confidence in the U.S. banking system and to end months of chaos, federal regulators stepped in overnight to seize control of First Republic Bank and its $229 billion worth of assets. Regulators then immediately sold it to the nation's largest bank, JPMorgan Chase. President Biden saying this morning's moves should calm fears.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: These actions are going to make sure that the banking system is safe and sound. And that includes protecting small businesses across the country who need to make payroll for workers and their small businesses.

And so let me be very clear, all depositors are being protected, shareholders are losing their investments. And critically, taxpayers are not the ones that are on the hook.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: First Republic's collapse is nothing short of historic. It is the second largest bank failure in U.S. history. It's the largest since the 2008 financial crisis. And it is the third U.S. bank to fail since March.

We have CNN Business and Politics Correspondent, Vanessa Yurkevich, who is joining us now to talk all about this. So explain to us how things unfolded overnight and why this happened now.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, here in New York City, this First Republic Bank behind me, it's business as usual, just with a new name. And that is what CEO Jamie Dimon expects going forward.

We are learning new details about how this unfolded. Yesterday, the FDIC held an auction where banks could bid on First Republic. The deadline was 4 pm. Clearly, JPMorgan was the winner. And then, overnight, about 800 JPMorgan employees worked on this deal, along with employees from the FDIC and the Treasury.

But what does this mean for customers of First Republic Bank?

Well, the first thing to know is your deposits are safe here at First Republic. Also, all 84 branches that have opened across the country today are now JPMorgan. And finally, key here, the FDIC will continue to secure deposits.

But the big question now is where do we go from here? Are we looking at other bank failures or is this the end of the line?

CEO Jamie Dimon spoke about it this morning on the media call. Listen here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMIE DIMON, JPMORGAN CEO: So this is getting near the end of it. And, hopefully, this helps stabilize everything. The American banking system is extraordinarily sound. And, obviously, if going forward, you have recessions and rates going up and stuff like that, you will see other cracks in the system, but that's to be expected. The system is very, very sound.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YURKEVICH: And remember, JPMorgan-led just six weeks ago a big cash infusion into First Republic Bank, along with other banks. CEO, Jamie Dimon, saying that he hoped that would have taken First Republic a little bit farther. But ultimately, it was a stopgap before the CEO and JPMorgan coming in and saying we are willing to close this deal. Now First Republic Banks, including the one behind me, JPMorgan banks. Brianna?

KEILAR: All right. Vanessa Yurkevich in New York for us, thank you. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Developing right now, an attorney for Donald Trump is cross- examining, E. Jean Carroll, the woman accusing the former president of assaulting her in a department store dressing room back in the 1990s.

Today, Trump's team tried to suggest Carroll wasn't scarred by the alleged incident that Trump says never happened. The testimony comes after the judge denied a request by Trump's lawyer for a mistrial.

CNN's Kara Scannell is live for us outside the courthouse in New York. Kara, walk us through what happened today in the courtroom.

KARA SCANNELL, CNN REPORTER: Well, Boris, Trump's attorney, Joe Tacopina, has been the one doing the cross-examination of Carroll. And he indicated to the judge after lunch that he is wrapping this up, so we think that the cross-examination will end shortly.

But in this morning's session, he was really focusing on trying to undermine Carroll's credibility and saying, if you were so traumatized by this, why did you continue to shop at Bergdorf Goodman? Why did you watch The Apprentice, the reality television show that starred the former president?

[15:10:00]

And this afternoon after the lunch break, his questioning turned to two other different topics. He pointed out that there was a Law & Order episode in 2012 that featured in it a woman being raped in the dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman. That's the same place that Carroll alleges that Trump raped her.

Now, this was seven years before Carroll went public with her story. So he asked her about that. She said that was amazing. He said to her, "Coincidence?" She said, "Astonishing." Now, she also said she never saw the episode and she didn't watch Law & Order's Special Victims Unit because she thought it was too violent. Then he turned to the second part of this claim, which is her lawsuit, which is the defamation claim.

And there he was asking her about the fallout from when she went public with her story and she alleges that Trump defamed her by denying it.

Now, one of the issues here is she has said that she believes she was fired from Elle magazine after two decades of being an advice columnist for them. Now, he pulled up an email that she sent to her agent in which she said that Elle was very angry at her and the reason she indicated in this email was because she gave an excerpt of her book to New York Magazine, not to Elle.

Now, he pushed her on this. She said that she did write that and that she didn't indicate it was because Trump had called her a liar, because she said she had that conversation on the phone with her agent and this was a follow-up email.

But we are expecting the cross-examination to end in the near term. And from there, it will give her lawyers a chance on redirect to ask for some questions. So it's possible that this continues through the end of the court day today. Boris?

SANCHEZ: And Kara, please keep us updated on what happens in that courtroom.

Kara Scannell, thank you so much. Brianna?

KEILAR: We are seeing some images out of Florida and Virginia where tornadoes have left a path of destruction and many residents to pick up the pieces. Plus, the city of El Paso is under a state of emergency. The mayor making the declaration in anticipation of a potential surge at the border. We'll be speaking with the lawmaker from that city about their concerns in the weeks and months ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:16:08]

KEILAR: Virginia Beach is now under a state of emergency with cleanup there getting underway after the massive EF3 tornado tore through the city on Sunday. Emergency crews dealing with this. They have their hands full, up to 100 homes damaged in this storm. And the video from firefighters actually shows holes were ripped through roofs. This thing toppled trees, several schools closed today as cleanup efforts were getting underway.

CNN Meteorologist Chad Myers is here with more.

I mean, Chad, this was very powerful and just not something that you see in this area.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: There have been four tornadoes in Virginia Beach since 1900. So that gives you some idea how rare this is in that area. The biggest one was an F2. We'll get to all these details.

But we just got this about 10 minutes ago, we just got the details from the National Weather Service. So 145-mile per hour winds at its max. It was 350 yards wide and it went on the ground for four and a half miles.

There was weather in Florida on Saturday as well from pretty much the same storm rolled on by here and then on up the coast, so the tornadoes in Florida were Saturday here in Virginia Beach yesterday in the afternoon. And this is what it really did, 145 miles per hour is a pretty significant event taking the roofs and the Weather Service saying moving homes off of foundations - sturdy, sturdy structures.

So there's a fourth tornadoes now in 123 years, the biggest an F2.

Now when you said EF3, they switched the Fujita Scale to the Enhanced Fujita Scale many years ago and F2 tornado is very close to what would be considered an EF3, so probably very, very close there. But we don't - 145 squarely in the middle of EF3 for this tornado here.

We are now in the middle of the season. It is tornado season, May, 268 on average. So that's 10 a day, almost, right? So eight a day, whatever that number might be. But - so we're not going to see eight every day, but you're going to see - sometimes you're going to see 40 and sometimes you're going to see zero, zero, zero.

And for the next few days, we're not going to see any tornadoes because the air is just too cold. Believe it or not, we're going to see snow in the mountains of West Virginia. Yes, West Virginia, not Michigan. You're going to get some, too, but way down here. Way down into the Appalachian Trail.

KEILAR: I'm missing the memo that it is May. It is May, Chad Myers, what the heck?

MYERS: I know.

KEILAR: All right. Chad, thank you so much for that. We appreciate it. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Right now, more than 36,000 migrants are sleeping in shelters on the streets and in makeshift encampments across four northern Mexico cities. That's what city officials and advocates tell CNN. That number is expected to grow as Title 42, the Trump-era border policy, is set to end next week.

Ahead of that expected surge of migrants, El Paso's mayor is declaring a state of emergency. We want to have a conversation now with another local leader.

Joining us is Cassandra Hernandez. She's a representative for the city of El Paso.

Cassandra, thanks so much for joining us this afternoon. What does the end of Title 42 mean for your city?

CASSANDRA HERNANDEZ, EL PASO, TEXAS CITY REPRESENTATIVE: Well, unfortunately, border communities like El Paso, Texas, are facing the challenges of lifting Title 42. But I don't agree that Title 42 should be in implementation, expiring would have some consequences to border communities like El Paso, Texas. And we need state support and we're getting support from the federal government. Sometimes it just feels like it's not enough.

SANCHEZ: Well, Cassandra, let me ask you about that, because you noted that you don't agree with Title 42 nor does President Biden at least publicly he said he doesn't like it. He thinks it makes the problem worse. Yet his administration kept it in place. They expanded it and they defended it in court.

[15:20:00]

So what do you think the federal government should do in response to what is an apparent crisis?

HERNANDEZ: Well, most importantly, municipalities like the city of El Paso, we face the challenges of influx of migrants coming to our community with little to no support with staffing. And so the city of El Paso, we've had to mobilize utilizing schools that are no longer being utilized to use those for essentially shelters of migrants, whether they'd be adults or families.

And I mentioned I'm not supportive of Title 42, because it essentially stopped all legal asylum seekers wanting to come to our country from having that opportunity to seek asylum. And so in the absence of anything, Title 42 was supportive. But now that it's being lifted, there are some concerns from residents who live directly on the border, who are concerned and fear that that many migrants could continue to go into harm's way, crossing dangerous roadways, and going into the infill of the community.

SANCHEZ: Yes. Seeing the images of people, hundreds of them sleeping in your streets, that's not good for the migrants, that's not good for your residents, either. And you noted a difficulty in accessing resources. So I want to ask you about that, because the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, he says that this is a hemispheric problem that requires hemispheric solutions.

The United States has sent billions of dollars to Central America to try to stop this problem, but the numbers keep going up. Do you think those resources would be better allocated if they were given to communities like yours?

HERNANDEZ: Well, I think it's - I think there has to be a balance. Typically, all of the policy was just exclusively addressing migration at the borders. We know that that is a failed vision, that is a failed policy and it really requires thinking outside of just communities like El Paso and border communities in the U.S.-Mexico border.

And I do agree that you need to have those stations along other countries where they're migrating. And I'm really appreciative of the Biden administration and our congresswoman, Escobar, who's advocated for that. But we do get funding from FEMA and so I would be remiss if I didn't say that the federal government and the Biden administration, including Secretary Mayorkas have been a wonderful community asset.

But the reality is that we have 15,000 migrants who are in Ciudad Juarez, which is our sister city in Mexico, who are waiting to come to the United States. And a lot of misinformation with social media, the internet is causing a lot more frustration and confusion for migrants. They think it's an open border, but we recognize it's not and residents need more reassurances that the Congress and Senate really need to come up with immigration reform that's going to benefit migrants, asylum seekers, including residents that live along the border.

SANCHEZ: And tragically, again, for migrants and residents, there does not appear to be major momentum on Capitol Hill to make lasting immigration reform. I do want to get specific about some of the resources that you need. I know that you have several middle schools that have been vacated that you're using, that potentially your convention center is going to be used to house migrants. What do you need most right now?

HERNANDEZ: Well, we've made three requests to the state of Texas. We certainly are in desperate need of staffing. I don't want to take resources from our office of emergency management, our police and fire departments. That's typically who we go to in the lack of any support for staffing. We need staffing to support with policies, processes, with making sure we're sheltering and getting meals.

The other request is transportation services. The city of El Paso in the past last year with the changes to Title 42, we actually utilized emergency contracts to transport folks who are not - don't want to stay in El Paso. They want to go into the interior of the United States, into major transportation hubs. We don't have enough transportation to get migrants out fast enough, which is leading to the mass congregation on streets and in shelters, because we know those asylum seekers don't want to stay in El Paso, Texas.

And then finally, we are experiencing, unfortunately, crimes against asylum seekers who are sleeping in the streets, we've received reports. And residents are quite frankly who live on the border are living in a little bit of fear, not knowing if someone is a good actor or a bad actor or someone just looking for opportunity. But most importantly, that mass sheltering from the federal government is critical, especially with the lifting of Title 42, but we're hoping with more steps and support from Secretary Mayorkas, that congresswoman and Biden administration will get there.

SANCHEZ: And sadly, it is too often those that are the most vulnerable that get preyed on by evil people.

[15:25:00]

Cassandra Hernandez, thank you so much for the time. We hope you'll come back to update us on the situation there as Title 42 ends in about 10 days. HERNANDEZ: Thanks. Thanks for covering.

SANCHEZ: Of course. Jim?

SCIUTTO: Well, just months after a Chinese spy balloon was shot down off the U.S. Coast, CNN has obtained never before seen photos of a massive Chinese military blimp, what this could signal about the country's airship program and what's it intended for.

Plus, man versus mouse continues in Florida. Yet another lawsuit is filed in the ongoing feud between Governor Ron DeSantis and Disney. We'll bring you the latest developments.

And just in to CNN, former President Donald Trump will participate in a CNN presidential town hall next week. The former president will take questions from New Hampshire Republicans and undeclared voters who do plan to vote in the 2024 GOP presidential primary.

"CNN THIS MORNING" anchor, Kaitlan Collins, will moderate the May 10th Town Hall at Saint Anselm College at 9 pm Eastern Time. Stay with CNN NEWS CENTRAL.