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DeSantis' Opinions of Trump Revealed in a 2018 Recording; Cartels Discovered by DEA Using Social Media to Distribute Drugs; Interview with DEA Administrator Anne Milgram; DEA Director Being Looked Into for No-Bid Contracts; Russia's War on Ukraine; Assaults on Bakhmut by Moscow Intensifies; Payments to Qualified Black Californians Authorized by California Reparations Task Force. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired May 08, 2023 - 10:30   ET

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

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[10:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Police say that the mass shooter who killed eight people at a Texas shopping mall may be linked to far right white supremacist ideology. According to investigators, he was wearing a patch with the insignia RWDS which is known to stand for Right Wing Death Squad and is popular with neo-Nazi and paramilitary groups. The shooter was killed by an officer who was at the mall responding to another call at the time.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis may soon be facing off against Former President Donald Trump in the race for 2024. But just a few years back, DeSantis was worried about angering Trump and its base, that's according to videos obtained by "ABC News". They appear to show then-Congressman DeSantis prepping for a debate during his 2018 campaign for Florida governor and trying to frame his answers in a way that would not, "Piss off Trump voters."

CNN's Steve Contorno is live for us with more on this. What more do you know, Steve?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Sara, this -- ABC says this footage, which is about two hours, was obtained and it shows DeSantis' debate prep for the 2018 race. Now, this is a time period after DeSantis had secured the nomination to -- for governor for -- in the GOP primary, that is a primary where he ran almost exclusively as a Trump-endorsed candidate. And now, he at this time, he is trying to pivot from a primary to the general election when he has to win over a lot of voters who are, frankly, not enamored with Trump. And this clip shows how he is, sort of, struggling to balance that. Take a listen to how he described, how he had to navigate trump in this general election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there any issue of how much you disagree with President Trump? REP. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): Obviously, there is because, I've voted contrary to him. I have to frame it in a way because I'm not going to piss off all of his voters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONTORNO: Now, this -- another part of this footage, DeSantis is being told by an aide to write likable at the top of his notes -- note cards. And this is another, sort of, problem that he has had as he positions himself for a presidential run. He has had this issue of whether or not he has the personality for this. We've heard from members of Congress, potential donors who say that DeSantis is not necessarily likable.

Now, we did hear from DeSantis' campaign last night. In a statement to us, they said, "The footage proves that Ron DeSantis is unwilling to be anyone but his authentic self no matter the politics." Sara.

SIDNER: Attentively (ph) though, he would need some Trump voters in order to surpass him. So, we will see what happens. Thank you so much. Steve Contorno there for us.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: It is the most deadly and addictive drug, widely available in the United States right now. And the DEA is announcing what they call major progress in taking on the flood of fentanyl that has hit every community in America. The DEA calls this year-long mission Operation Last Mile. And now, they're reporting the results of it. Resulting in more than 1,400 investigations, more than 3,300 arrests.

And as part of this operation, DEA agents seized nearly more 44 million fentanyl pills, and more than 65,000 pounds of fentanyl powder. The agency says that is equivalent to nearly 193 million deadly fentanyl doses. And all of that doesn't even include the more than 91,000 pounds of methamphetamine seized that's part of this investigation. And also, the 8,500 firearms and some $100 million taken off the streets as part of this year-long effort.

[10:35:00]

Joining us now for more on this is the head of the DEA, Administrator Anne Milgram. Administrator, thank you so much for coming in. Let's focus in on fentanyl as many of our conversations have in the past couple of years. Beyond the numbers that we just laid out, how do you describe the impact of this operation -- the real impact of this operation and these seizures?

ANNE MILGRAM, ADMINISTRATOR, DEA: Thank you so much, Kate. This is critical work for us to be doing because these are the people who are responsible for the deadly fake fentanyl pills that are being sold in our communities, on social media, to our kids. These are the people who are responsible for flooding communities from coast-to-coast and everywhere in between with the deadly fentanyl and methamphetamine. They're working for the two main cartels, Sinaloa and Jalisco that are responsible for almost -- virtually all of the fentanyl and meth across the United States today.

And so, what we're doing is we are targeting every single part of what those two cartels are doing. And very critically, as you see from the work we've done over the last year, we are targeting and taking off the street, not only the equivalent of 193 potentially deadly doses, but also more than 3,000 individuals that are that Last Mile. They're the people that are putting these fake pills and the fentanyl powder into Americans' hands. And we are seeing hundreds of thousands of American lives lost over the last couple of years. So, this is the kind of work we believe we have to do.

BOLDUAN: I think in understanding who these people are, kind of, in the supply chain is an important thing. When you -- these arrests, and where -- how -- this kind of -- this critical piece of how the fentanyl gets into the hands, unfortunately, of so many Americans, what gives you confidence that these people that you have taken off the street, they are just not going to be replaced by another batch of people, another wave of people coming in?

MILGRAM: So, one of the things we've done, we've been transforming DEA because we have to, to meet the greatest drug threat we've ever seen in the United States. And this is the greatest threat right now to our communities, our kids, and our families.

So, we are mapping the cartels across more than 47 countries around the world. We recently announced in April work around the Sinaloa cartels, the Chapitos network. Arresting -- sorry, prosecuting 28 individuals, not just the leadership but also the precursor chemical suppliers coming from China, the people manufacturing the fentanyl in Mexico.

And now what you us doing in the U.S. is following that Last Mile. The cartels need to get that fake -- those fake fentanyl pills and the fentanyl powder into the hands of Americans, that's how they make billions of dollars. So, we're going to keep doing this mapping and targeting, and we're going to keep doing it to take all the fentanyl off the street and also arrest the people who are responsible.

BOLDUAN: Another aspect of this crisis, as you and I have discussed in the past and it continues still today, is social media and the role that these dealers and cartels even use in order to reach out to people, connect with people, feed them fake poisonous pills, whatever it may be. Are you getting anywhere with the social media companies? Are you working together?

MILGRAM: So, first of all, you make such an important point, 586 of these investigations have Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat. And what we see the cartels doing, they're doing two things on social media. First, they're working together, we have suppliers and dealers, violent drug gangs who are all working for the cartels who communicate using the social media apps and encrypted apps.

And second, they're targeting people on social media. More than 100 million Americans are -- have social media accounts, and this is one way that the cartels are selling their fake fentanyl pills across the United States. So, it is vitally important that we shut down this Last Mile because this is how the cartels are getting fentanyl to our children and to our communities. Now --

BOLDUAN: But where is your conversation with the social media companies?

MILGRAM: Yes. So, the deputy attorney general convened in early April the social media companies. All the folks we're talking about here. And she brought them together with us and with the president's national security advisor to say, this is a national emergency. And what she asked the social media companies to do, social media companies to do, is to take a zero-tolerance policy on narcotics, transactions, and to start reporting more of that to law enforcement.

Now, those conversations are ongoing and they're critically important. You and I could walk by our faces of fentanyl wall at our headquarters in Washington, D.C., and I could show you the Americans who've died on Snapchat, from Facebook, buying fake pills on Snapchat, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok. So, this is something we have to do and we have to do it successfully to save American lives.

BOLDUAN: Administrator, before you go, it was said reported last month that the Justice Department inspector general is now investigating whether you improperly awarded no-bid government contracts to people that you worked with in the past. You faced some tough questions, specifically from Republicans on Capitol Hill about this just a couple of weeks ago.

I wanted to give you an opportunity to speak -- to speak to this and to respond to those allegations, especially in the face of the questions that you have gotten from members of Congress.

[10:40:00]

MILGRAM: Thanks, Kate. I appreciate that. And I've spent the last two years -- I move to Washington, D.C. to serve my country, and I spent the last two years transforming DEA to meet the greatest drug crisis and threat we've ever seen in our country. So, we are moving urgently. And we have promoted or hired more than 900 people at DEA since I started. We've transformed our leadership team.

And everything I do I aim to do it with integrity and urgency and to build an incredible team to meet this moment. And we've built that team with people from the inside. We've had some folks come in from the outside. The inspector general is doing an administrative review of our contracts, I welcome that.

I am also relentlessly focused on our mission, which is to save American lives and to do it with urgency. Because, Kate, I know, you know, that what happens in one year is 107,735 Americans are dying, and that is not acceptable. So, I'm going to do everything I possibly can with every authority of my office following our existing processes to get this done and to save American lives.

BOLDUAN: Well, the urgency of that mission is no question, and the urgency of the responsibility that you carry as well. Administrator, thank you for coming in.

MILGRAM: Thank you for having me.

BOLDUAN: John.

BERMAN: A new drone video showing the utter destruction in the Ukrainian City of Bakhmut. Shells of buildings, that's all you can see. Smoke bellowing into the sky.

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[10:45:00]

BERMAN: All right. New this morning from Ukraine, a Russian- controlled area in the Zaporizhzhia region is under fire by Ukrainian forces, that is according to a pro-Moscow official. The Russian appointed head of that region says more than 1,600 residents have been evacuated. Video shows a huge line of buses lining up to leave right there.

Meanwhile, Russian attacks across Ukraine are intensifying, at least one person was killed in a missile strike on the port side of the Odessa this morning. In Kyiv, five people were wounded by falling debris after Ukraine intercepted nearly three dozen drones overnight.

Our Nic Robertson is in eastern Ukraine this morning. And on top of all this, Nic, and we received new drone footage from Bakhmut, there are new concerns, I would say, about what is happening there especially on the eve of Russia's big Victory Day where they celebrate the defeat of the Nazis. Perhaps the Russians are looking for some kind of victory now in Ukraine.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN'S INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: John, we've heard for long about the fight of over Bakhmut. The Ukrainians slowly, slowly, slowly losing ground there. But what they say they won't do is be defeated and pushed out of that city before Victory Day in Moscow. Why? Because they don't want President Putin to have the satisfaction of being able to claim one significant Ukrainian town that he's gained in this war, and they're going to hold on.

But their fear and their concern is that Russia will throw everything into the fight tonight. Now, of course, there's been confusion created about the fight in Bakhmut because Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner mercenary boss, has said he'll pull his troops out. Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen leader has said, he'll put his troops in. The Kremlin has taken heat from Prigozhin for not giving enough ammunition. Apparently, that ammunition, according to Ukrainians, has come through because they're getting a lot more shells falling on their troops.

And this is what we're seeing in those images that you have there. And we've seen other images, overnight images, that match those, parts of Bakhmut on fire. The Ukrainians, though, however, are holding it. But we get a lot of conversations around here with different commanders in the region. And there is utter determination that this city -- this town, rather, won't wall before the 10th of May. But what we understand is it's going to be a very fierce fight and both sides are ready for it. BERMAN: That poised for a renewed round of fierce fighting there. These pictures that we're seeing from Bakhmut, this drone footage, it's just extraordinary. Just smoke everywhere, burned out shells on buildings. Nic Robertson, to you and your team, please stay safe. Keep us posted.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: California is one step closer to paying reparations to black families in that state, stemming from slavery. The plan and the billions of dollars at stake, that's ahead.

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[10:50:00]

SIDNER: California is one step closer to approving reparations for some Black Americans in the state. A panel created to consider reparations voted to approve payments for injustices and discrimination stemming from slavery to those who qualify. If approved, the payments could cost the state billions of dollars.

CNN's Stephanie Elam is joining us now from Los Angeles. Stephanie, would these proposed reparations apply to every Black American in the State of California?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there are some limitations there, Sara. Based on how long people have lived in the state and looking at life expectancy in some places as well. Overall, this is the 15th time that this task force has come together to look at these ideas for who should be getting reparations, financial reparation as well as some other things that they would like see too.

It's like saying (ph), some updating of some of the language in the state legislature. Also, looking at historical sites and restoring them as well. And also looking into supporting education, even providing free legal services for people who would qualify under this.

But what they've been trying to do here is study and develop, basically, the parameters around these proposals that would help somewhat make better for black Californians, the things that have been injustices for them. And so, I just want you to read along with me because the United States representative Barbara Lee, who represents California, specifically, she represents a district that includes Oakland.

[10:55:00]

She did speak on Saturday at this meeting. And I want to just read a little bit of what she said in there. She says, "The atrocities committed against Black Americans are undeniable and reparations for -- are a tangible route to acknowledging and making amends to the glaring economic and social impacts, generational impacts of slavery and systemic racism. And me -- we must repair this damage."

She talks about how it has affected generational wealth and how it is continuing to last. This next meeting, they will then send these recommendations to the state legislature before the July 1st deadline. So, it's not a done deal just yet.

SIDNER: All right. Stephanie Elam, always great to see you. Thank you so much for that report.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: A Texas gunman and his possible connections to the extreme right-wing extremism. Why that is now a focus in the police investigation into the horrible tragedy at the outlet mall over the weekend.

And we are also standing by for an update from police on another tragedy in Texas. This time in Brownsville where new CNN exclusive video shows bystanders taking the matter into their own hands after a driver plows through a group of migrants standing by the side of the road. We will be right back.

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