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PA Parents Facing Felonies After Seven Kids Found Living In Squalor; Texas Lawmakers Vote To Impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton; President Biden Gives Memorial Day Address. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired May 29, 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]

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JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, two Pennsylvania parents are facing multiple felony charges after their seven children were found living in what police describe as unsanitary and unsafe living conditions. Authorities say the children were clinically underweight and malnourished.

The refrigerator of their homes, padlocked. And according to a police affidavit, the mother said she had to lock it because the children were "stealing everything." She also referred to them as garbage disposals with legs.

CNN's Brynn Gingras is following this for us. This is just an awful story.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, here's some good news. So, those kids are now in the custody of the state of Pennsylvania.

They are actually getting food. There's reports that one of the children -- one of the children actually gained a couple of pounds. So, listen, there is an upside to these kids.

BERMAN: Wow.

GINGRAS: But what a terrible story that police stumbled upon. Let me explain how they got there. So, they went to this house that was in a trailer, sort of mobile home community where they were -- the kids were actually going through an abandoned trailer trying to find some food.

And police went to them and basically said, where do you live? They happen to live next door. They brought them back to their home. Talk to the parents.

That's when they came upon this refrigerator with a padlock. The mother made that comment to police allegedly.

They saw that the kids couldn't really communicate well. They were disheveled. They were wearing clothes that didn't fit them.

Police left. Came back with a state and that's when they found four more kids in the back bedroom who were hidden. So, seven kids in total ages four to 16, malnourished, didn't know their own birthdays, had no education.

There was also just a disgusting situation that they were living in. We have a list I think of all the animals that were found inside this house, two dozen caged rats, dogs, rabbits, snakes, I mean, just incredibly horrible situation for these kids.

But they are in the custody of the state. Those two parents were arrested. Charged with seven felony counts of endangering the children. They did get out on bail.

Those kids are not going to be back with them. Hopefully in good care. But yes, just a horrific story.

BERMAN: Awful. Those children are going to need a lot of love.

GINGRAS: Absolutely.

BERMAN: All right, Brynn, thank you so much for that.

GINGRAS: All right.

BERMAN: Kate?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's turn to Texas right now where an overwhelming number of Republicans in the State House joined the Democrats to impeach the State's Republican attorney general. Just minutes after that vote that happened this weekend, the now-suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton, he called the impeachment a "politically motivated Sham."

But one of the key Republicans in this investigation that went into this, he said this. He said the evidence is substantial. And he also called it alarming and unnerving.

CNN's Ed Lavandera. He's following this. He joins us now. Ed, what happens now with Ken Paxton?

[11:35:03]

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, now we're waiting to find out when the lieutenant governor here in Texas, also a Republican, is going to schedule this trial on the Senate side. We have no clear indication as to when exactly that's going to happen. So, many people waiting to see how the calendar here is going to unfold in the coming months.

But the math on the Senate side for Ken Paxton is interesting. There are 31 state senators, 12 of those senators are Democrats, and then his wife is a sitting state senator here. So, depending on what she does, there are calls for her to recuse herself.

And that could affect how many votes will be needed to convict Ken Paxton. This so it could be they need nine Republicans or eight Republicans, depending on how this works out in the-- in the coming weeks or months to determine Ken Paxton's fate.

But all of this really kind of laying bare the very tense politics in Republican circles here in the state of Texas as many people trying to like figure out exactly the best way how to handle this politically. But there are 20 Articles of Impeachment that Ken Paxton is facing. And, Kate, as you mentioned, there was overwhelming support for this impeachment on Saturday in the Texas House.

About an equal number of Republicans and Democrats voting for this impeachment. So, a rather stunning number I checked, which I think surprised a lot of people. That vote was 121 to 23.

But as I said, you know, we're all eyes now on the State Senate and figuring out exactly how this case will continue to play out in the months ahead. And what the senators on the Senate side are going to do.

BOLDUAN: He's set -- he's set to face a slew of allegations, including bribery as we -- well, let's see what happens next. It's good to see you, Ed. Thank you. John?

LAVANDERA: Thanks, Kate.

BERMAN: So, they are already rock royalty. But Queen could set a new music record, a potential billion-dollar deal.

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[11:41:35]

BERMAN: You're looking at live pictures of Arlington National Cemetery. President Joe Biden is speaking at the Memorial Day service there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Please.

155 years ago, retired Union General James Garfield spoke here at Arlington, marking our nation's first Memorial Day. Standing amid rows and rows of marble stones, many of his own fallen soldiers among them, he asked what brought these men here. What high modal led them to welcome death? And he answered his own question, should our nation's life?

My fellow Americans, Jill, Vice President Harris, Second Gentleman Emhoff, security Austin, Secretary McDonough, Secretary Mayorkas, General Milley, and most importantly, veterans, servicemen and women, and their survivors.

Today, we once again gathered in this sacred place at this solemn hour to honor fallen heroes to once again stand amid the rows and rows of marble stones and bear witness to the brave women and men who served and sacrificed for our freedom and for our future. Those who died so our nation might live. Every year as a nation, we undertake this rite of remembrance for we must never forget the price that was paid to protect our democracy. We must never forget the lives, these flags, flowers, and marble markers represent a mother, a father, a son and daughter, a sister, a spouse, a friend, and an American. Every year, we remember and every year it never gets easier.

To all those here and across the nation who are grieving the loss of a loved one who wore the uniform are Goldstar families. To those with loved ones still missing and unaccounted for, I know how painful it can be, how it can we rip open that -- rip open that black hole in the center of your chest you feel like you're just sinking into. Bringing you back to that exact moment you heard that knock on the door or the telephone rang.

The exact moment you had to tell your children, mom or dad would not be coming home. The hurt is still real. It's still raw.

[11:45:00]

Tomorrow marks eight years since we lost our son Beau. Our loss, though are not the same. He didn't perish on the battlefield. It was cancer that stole him from us a year after being deployed as a major of the United States Army National Guard in Iraq.

As it is for so many of you, the pain of loss is with us every day but particularly sharp on Memorial Day. Still clear, tomorrow is the anniversary. But so, as the pride Jill and I, feeling his service is if I can still hear him saying Dad, it's my duty, Dad. It's my duty. Duty.

That was the code my son lived by and all those who lost lived by. His decree. And millions of service members have followed from the fields of Yorktown to the shores of Normandy to the rice paddies of Hudson, through the valleys of Kandahar to the mountains of Sinjar and beyond. Many of whom never returned home.

Throughout history, these women and men lay down their lives, not for a place or a person or president, but for an idea. Unlike any other idea in all of human history, the idea -- the idea of the United States of America. This sanctuary honors that sacrifice and tells their stories.

And in turn, it tells our story. The American story. A story of the patriot who died to deliver a nation where everyone is entitled to certain inalienable rights, among them, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The story of hundreds of thousands of soldiers who shed their blood to make these words real. A story of brave Americans who fought the forces of fascism and die for the preservation of democracy.

As we're reminded by the hundreds of graves here in Section 60 of Arlington, and across our nation, the story of the women and men who sacrificed everything to keep democracy safe and secure during the last two decades. Each of them -- each of them, a link in a chain of honor that

stretches back to our founding fathers in those days, unbreaking, unbending, not just in their duty and devotion, but something even deeper, in their faith in us -- their faith in us that we will be worthy of your sacrifice.

Our service members have always embodied the highest expectations of our democracy. They've always held faith in our country, and all that we could be a citadel of liberty, a beacon of freedom. For our democracy is our strength. The wellspring of possibilities and the source of endless. Endless we know.

It's how we've been able to constantly change and adapt through the centuries. It's why we've always emerged from every challenge we face stronger than we entered it. It's how we come together as one nation, united, and why there's nothing we can't do in America when we do it together.

It's a truth. We celebrate this year was remark -- it marks 75 years of a disaggregated military. 75 years of women's full integration. 50 years of an all-volunteer force.

Throughout the annals of history, our troops have fought for our democracy and if necessary, died for it. Today, their service and sacrifice, and that for their families that goes far beyond those silent stones out there. We see in the strength of our NATO Alliance, built from the bonds that we forever forged in the fires of two world wars.

[11:50:05]

We see it in the troops still standing Sentinel on the Korean peninsula preserving peace side by side with our allies. We see it in every base, every barrack, and every vessel around the globe where our military proudly serves and stands as a force for good in the world. And just as they've kept the ultimate faith to our country -- to our democracy, we must keep the ultimate faith to them.

As a nation -- and people have heard me say this for a long time as a nation, we have many obligations. But I believe in every fiber of my being, we have only one truly sacred obligation, to prepare those we send into harm's way and care for them and their families when they come home and when they don't. It's a sacred obligation, not based on part of your politics, but on a promise -- a promise to unite all of us.

There is nothing more important. Nothing more sacred. Nothing more American. But together, over the last two and a half years, we've worked to make good on that promise, passing more than 25 bipartisan laws to support our service members, their families, caregivers, and survivors.

That includes the PACT Act, the most significant law in our nation's history, to help millions of veterans who were exposed to toxic substances and burn pits during their military service, pesticides, and football fields that incinerated the wastes of war, such as tires, chemicals, jet fuel, and so much more.

Too many of our nation's warriors that have selflessly served only to return home and suffer from the permanent effects of this poison of smoke. Too many have died. Excuse the personal reference, like my son Beau, like Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson, for whom the act is named.

Last year, after I signed the PACT Act, I handed the pen to his daughter, Brielle. She and her grandmother were with us today. After I handed her the pen -- this beautiful little girl who's sitting over there. Thank you for waving, baby. Who were lost half of her world -- her whole world, held the pen in her hand and looked at me, and said thank you for my daddy. Thank you, for my daddy. God loves you, honey.

But I don't think she was just thanking me. She's thanking all of us. Everyone who fought so hard and came together to keep our promise to our veterans, to keep the faith with our heroes.

On this day, we come together again to reflect, to remember, but above all, to recommit to the future our fallen heroes fought for. That generation of service members who died for a future grounded in freedom, democracy, equality, tolerance, opportunity, and yes, justice. We use those words all the time but seen of late here and around the world that they have to continue to be fought for.

Not just for some but for all. This is more important than just our system of government. It's the very soul of America. A soul that was forged by our nation's first patriots.

A soul that triumphs over trials and testing less than a century later. A soul that endured because of the sacrifice of generations and generations of service members ever since. Together, we're not just the fortunate inheritors of their legacy, we must be the keeper of their mission.

[11:55:01]

The bearers of the flame of freedom that kept burning bright for nearly 247 years. That, that's the truest memorial to their lives. Our actions every day to ensure that our democracy endures, our Constitution endures, and the soul of our nation, our decency endures.

Ladies and gentlemen, 155 years ago, our ancestors stood here and asked themselves what brought our heroes to this hallowed ground. What high motive led these brave souls, as General Garfield said, to welcome death?

Today, we must ask ourselves, what can we do? What must we do to pull the vision for which they lived and which they died? Today, it's an all of us -- all of us, to ensure that sacrifice was not in vain, to keep working toward a more perfect union. One, where all women and all men are created equal.

We're the only nation in the world built on an idea. Every other nation is formed by based on things like geography, ethnicity, and religion. We're the only nation in the world built on an idea that we're all created equal.

We haven't always lived up to it but we've never walked away from it. And today, standing together to honor those Americans who dared all and gave off for our nation, we can say clearly, we never will.

God bless who gave -- all of those who gave their lives so our nation might live. God bless to their families, and may God protect our troops today and always. Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: We on this -- we are -- we've been watching President Biden giving his Memorial Day address at the amphitheater there at Arlington National Cemetery in a you know very passionate speech that he's giving. You and I both had the same reaction. Also talking about tomorrow marks the -- he said eight years since they had lost their son Beau. So, Memorial Day is a lot personally and professionally obviously, for the commander-in-chief.

BERMAN: President Biden hit on some of the themes that he does at ceremonies like this. Number one, that those who have died in service to this nation did so to defend an idea. He likes to point out that if you're an American service member, you are not fighting for land or to conquer. It is for an idea. The idea of freedom, which is a theme he set before.

And as you said, he did note that he, of course, is mourning the loss of his son Beau. Tomorrow is the anniversary. His son served in the military.

The president talks about burn pits. and I think he partially blames burn pits in Iraq for the death of Beau, so that's something very important to him as well.

BOLDUAN: It has. As he said, gathering in a sacred place in a solemn hour, and talking about an honoring service and sacrifice today. Thank you all so much for joining us. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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