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Four Proud Boys Found Guilty Of Seditious Conspiracy; Suspect Waives Right To First Court Appearance; Homeland Security Secretary Traveling To Border Ahead Of Title 42 Expiration. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired May 04, 2023 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: One was the charge on seditious conspiracy, as we know. There are -- I've seen 10 counts also and other charges that have been -- that have -- that have been brought against some or all of these men that I want to -- if you can just kind of run through what that -- what the -- what they mean. But also, as you've been following this so long and so closely, what this day means for the Justice Department?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, I'll start there. I mean, for the Justice Department, obviously, they -- these are major, major wins of getting convictions of at least four of these men. Again, the jury is still going to be deliberating on Dominic Pezzola, especially on those two major counts. Count one and two, which is the seditious conspiracy count, which is count one. And the second one conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, which is count two. There was no verdict on Pezzola -- on Dominic Pezzola.

And, you know, we can maybe -- you know again, we'll get to learn more maybe in the coming days and weeks as to what may have been effective for the defense there. You know, Pezzola, obviously, as Katelyn just described, is the one seen who's breaking that Senate window. It paved the way for a lot of the crowd to go in there. It -- frankly, it coincided with the evacuation of Mike Pence.

Again, what prosecutors say was the key moment for impeding this proceeding, which is a key part of the transition of power. According to the jury, at least, they seem to not be able to reach a verdict on that.

On the rest of the counts, they found all five men guilty on a number of other -- of the other counts, including one of the other counts of obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to prevent an officer from discharging his duties. Again, that's another charge at all -- five of them have been found guilty on obstruction of law enforcement and disorder, aiding and abetting. Again, five guilty verdicts here.

There's a couple of counts, which is having to do with the destruction of government property. Again, Dominic Pezzola, it's obvious from the video that the jury found that compelling. There's a couple of counts where they seem to not be able to reach a verdict at all on any of them. And so, those are the ones -- one of them is assaulting resisting, and impeding certain officers. Those are the counts that now the jury will go back and do some more deliberations. Perhaps, they can go over some of the testimony that they received.

Pezzola testified in court himself. And he said that he was not in control of his own actions. And, of course, as Sara has pointed out, that you know, some of these -- some of these defense attorneys blamed all of this on Donald Trump and said that these men necessary -- essentially were foot soldiers, and were being directed to carry out these actions by the former president, guys.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: John Miller, you know, as we sit here, just reflect on the historic nature of this. The Proud Boys, many people learn -- first learn to the Proud Boys when the then-president of the United States in a televised debate, the tens of millions of people are watching said stand back and standby. Then, you know, a month and a half -- two months later, the whole country was watching as the pictures are all around us.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

BERMAN: The Capitol was being stormed by now some people that we know were there. And now, they had been convicted -- some, on one of the highest charges, a very rare chart, you can imagine seditious conspiracy.

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT & INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, let's break that down. When the president of the United States on live national television sends a message to your group by name in response to a question, my message to the Proud Boys is, you know, stand back and stand by. Standby for what? That would be taken by the Proud Boys as an incredible piece of validation. The president is naming us. We are working for him.

Interestingly, it was part of the defense they used in court. We were -- we believe we were working for the country, not against the country, same defense that failed the Oath Keepers in their trial on the same charges. But you know, if you peel back the layers, it's interesting.

You know Enrique Tarrio, who is a convicted criminal on December 12, went to visit the White House, the Trump White House, and was immediately flagged by the Secret Service. This individual has a criminal record. He's the leader of the Proud Boys.

Interesting on a week when a mayor from New Jersey couldn't get in because he was on a watch list. And that went to the Deputy Chief of Staff Tony Ornato, a former secret service agent himself.

SIDNER: He allowed.

MILLER: And he was allowed to come on the grounds, take the White House tour, you know be photographed there, the same day he was later arrested for setting fire to a Black Lives Matter Memorial in Washington and arrested on other charges. So, there was this feeling of connection there, which, you know, has now been invalidated by a jury which is you know you do not go against the democratic process of the United States. That's what sedition is called.

[11:35:15]

SIDNER: The jury heard a lot of evidence. I have seen some of it. It is you know, a huge amount of evidence, which is why this trial lasted so long. But there were five people, four of them, all of the people convicted of seditious conspiracy have led the group in some way, which is why that charge the jury decided worked and was proper for them.

All right. Thank you so much, John Miller. Evan Perez, Elliot Williams, thank you all for being here on this really momentous and historic day.

BOLDUAN: And moments ago, we did learn that the suspected gunman behind a mass shooting in Atlanta will not be appearing in court today. He is accused, as we've discussed, of killing one woman, injuring four other people when he opened fire in an Atlanta area Medical Center then leading police on a nearly eight-hour-long manhunt before he was taken into custody.

What the latest details on that? Why he's not going to appear? That's next.

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[11:40:56]

BERMAN: Came moments ago, the man accused of opening fire at an Atlanta Medical Center yesterday waived his right to his first court appearance. Police say he killed one person and injured four others, then evaded police for nearly eight hours before he was caught. It started about 12:08 p.m. at the Northside Hospital Medical building in Atlanta, police say Patterson started shooting in a waiting room.

About 10 miles north of the city around 12:30 p.m., the suspect was spotted at the battery that is near where the Atlanta Braves play. And then after that, there was a long manhunt and he was spotted again this time by an undercover police officer at a condo complex. Police say he was finally arrested at about 7:45 p.m. last night.

CNN's Nick Valencia is in Atlanta. So, he waived his right to a first court appearance, Nick. What now?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): That's right, John. We were expecting to see Deion Patterson appear in court to -- for his first court appearance but just late last hour, he waived that right so he's no longer expected to appear. He is charged those still with four counts of aggravated assault, as well as one count of murder. With the dicey -- deceased being identified as Amy St. Pierre.

St. Pierre was a friend to so many here in town in the city of Atlanta, a dedicated public health professional, served -- you know, was the -- with a connection to Emory University. She was employed by the CDC. And a personal connection to our family.

She was close friends with some of my wife's best friends. And I spoke to some of those friends earlier this morning and they are heartbroken. Grieving her loss this morning saying that she was just a mother that look forward to raising her small children. She'd like taking them to the trampoline park. She was energetic, magnetic, and easy smile. Just a great laugh. And this morning all of those who knew her are grieving her loss.

There are still those in the hospital. We're waiting to get an update on their conditions. Three of them, last we checked, were in critical condition. One of them in stable condition.

This investigation is still ongoing as well. We're told that the mother is cooperating with authorities as is the Coast Guard. Patterson was a member of the Coast Guard between 2018 and January 2023 when he was discharged from active service.

And that's when yesterday he went for a medical evaluation at the Midtown location of Northside Hospital and it was sometime during that medical evaluation that he was denied access to the anti-anxiety medication, Ativan. And it was after that, according to his mom, who told WSB, he grew agitated and opened fire. Police had still not released a motive but the mother released a statement to our affiliate WANF in which he seemed to point towards mental health as a cause here in what happened yesterday, John.

BERMAN: Nick, such a senseless and tragic loss. We're so sorry, who your family and that entire community has gone through. Thanks so much, Nick. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, John. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is visiting the border today, just one week before Title 42 expires. What the U.S. is doing to prepare for a potential surge in migrants at the border? That's next.

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[11:48:20]

BOLDUAN: With one week to go until Title 42 expires, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is at the border today. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez joins us now for much more on this. So, Priscilla, the -- we have seen and we've people -- we've reported on the lines of migrants we've seen in the city of El Paso sleeping on the streets. That's what? Hundreds of miles from where Mayorkas is expected to be visiting. So, what is he going to see during his visit?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): That's right, Kate. Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas will be visiting the south of Texas which is some 800 miles away from those scenes of people on the streets in El Paso. And what he's going to see is the challenge that he himself has acknowledged as the number of migrants crossing the border begins to creep up ahead of the expiration of that COVID-era border restriction. So, let me just tick through some numbers for you as to what's happening in the area he's visiting. So right now, in the Rio Grande Valley sector where he will be, a Homeland Security official tells me there's around 5000 migrants in custody. They are also dealing with over 2000 daily encounters of migrants.

So, what do these numbers mean? It shows that the numbers are already creeping up and that the facilities and the resources in this area of the border are already under immense strain. And we're still days away from that COVID-era border restriction lifting. So, the administration has been saying that they're preparing. And the White House has been keenly aware of the difficulty in the logistics of this, but also the political challenges.

Now, I asked the White House press secretary just yesterday, what their plans are and what they're projecting, she declined to give any specifics as to what it may look like on the ground after Title 42 lift. But here's what she said about what they're doing now.

[11:50:09]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We have tools that are in front of us that the president's going to use to deal with what we are seeing at the border. And this is something that the president has taken initiative on since the beginning of this administration. And we want to do this in a safe, orderly, and humane way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: And that safe, orderly, and humane way encompasses the short term and the long term. So, the administration laying out preparations just operationally by building up capacity, bolstering transportation on the ground, but also setting new policies in motion to try to expedite the asylum process since we do see a lot of asylum seekers.

And all of these things have come under some criticism but it's not until next week that we actually start to see the toll that they have on the numbers. Now, Mayorkas today and tomorrow will be reviewing the CBP and Ice planning and meeting with the workforce on the ground.

BOLDUAN: And you see -- we've seen the video of the lines of migrants, we've seen the reporting on the numbers that could be are waiting to come in once Title 42 lifts, what is the scene going to be once this -- once this policy expires?

ALVAREZ: The administration is trying to avoid scenes like we saw in September of 2021. That was when we saw migrants, primarily Haitians, under a bridge in Del Rio because they just couldn't process them fast enough. So, that's the scene they're trying to avoid.

And what does that mean? That means that they have to focus on what they call decompression, which is making sure that they're able to process the migrants who are crossing. And then if they are deemed to not have, for example, an asylum claim, remove them quickly. So, for example, increasing removal flights to their origin countries or what they're going to do after striking an agreement with Mexico, returning some non-Mexican nationals back to Mexico. So, really, the focus here is to process migrants and do that quickly, Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right. Great reporting, as always. Priscilla, thank you so much. Sara?

SIDNER: There could be some important new testimony today in the Mar- a-Lago classified documents probe. Sources tell CNN prosecutors want to know about how surveillance video at Mar-a-Lago was handled after Donald Trump and his team received subpoenas last summer to turn the material over.

Matthew Calamari Jr., he's on the left there is the director of security for the Trump Organization. His father, Matthew Calamari Sr. is on the right, is the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Both will go before a grand jury today.

CNN's Paul Reid is following all of this for us. Paula, what can you tell us about why this special counsel is so interested in this particular security footage?

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, originally, they were interested in getting this footage because it would help them potentially understand exactly what happened to classified materials once they were sent down to Florida. Now, among the things they've seen on this footage, for example, is a young Trump aide Walt Nauta, and another employee moving boxes that contain documents out of a storage closet.

Now, we know, we've previously reported that Walt has been asked about what exactly was going on there. Remember, they're not just investigating the possible mishandling of classified documents. They're also looking at whether anyone has tried to obstruct this investigation. That's why this is significant that now they're asking what exactly happened after they sent a subpoena asking for this footage.

We know that this interest has spurred a new round of subpoenas, particularly to lower-level Trump Organization employees who have gone in. And they've been asked about what exactly transpired within the Trump Organization after that subpoena was received. Did anyone potentially try to tamper with that footage? Now, we expect several new witnesses to go before the grand jury today.

SIDNER: All right. So, I guess the question begs, you know, why the Calamaris now? I'm assuming, since they were over security, they had access potentially to these videos.

REID: Sara, I was quite surprised when we learned from our reporting yesterday that Matthew Calamari Sr., someone who has been with the Trump Organization for decades, one of Trump's longest-serving and closest most trusted advisors was coming before the grand jury. But in our reporting our colleague, Katelyn Polantz, and I, we learned that what sparked their interest in Matthew Calamari Sr. is a text message that he received from Walt Nauta asking him to talk. And so, they want to ask him about that text message, any subsequent conversations about the surveillance footage that happened thereafter.

But as you noted, these are two top security officials at the Trump Organization. And, Sara, it's really just striking to me as a special counsel Jack Smith is going this far in to Trump's inner circle, but it's clear also from this new reporting that this investigation into what happened with the classified documents at Mar-a-Lago is far from over.

SIDNER: He is known for being very thorough. Thank you so much, Paula Reid, there live for us in Washington.

REID: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Thank you so much, everyone, for joining us today. It has been quite a day.

[11:55:00]

BERMAN: A lot of breaking news.

BOLDUAN: And it's Dana continues as we speak. Thank you all. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "INSIDE POLITICS" is up next. Thanks for being here.

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