Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Day 2 of Testimony I Pittsburgh Synagogue Mass Shooting Trial; Court Grants Sackler Family Immunity In Exchange For $6 Billion Payout; NASA Team Hots Public Forum On How To Analyze UFO Sightings. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired May 31, 2023 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: We saw more emotional testimony in Pittsburgh today on the second day of the death penalty trial for accused killer Robert Bowers. This is the man that prosecutors say went on a hate- filled massacre, deliberately gunning down 11 Jewish worshippers inside the Tree of Life Synagogue back in 2018, the deadliest attack ever on the Jewish community in the United States.

CNN's Danny Freeman is live in Pittsburgh for us watching the trial proceedings. Danny, today jurors heard from one witness who survived the incident. What did she share with them?

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, in fact actually today has been an incredible day because we've heard from now three and on the fourth person who actually survived that Tree of Life Synagogue. But that one witness that you're talking about was particularly poignant because not only did Carol Black survive this shooting and live to tell about what happened in that synagogue, her brother also did not survive the shooting, that's Richard Gottfried.

But let me tell you a little bit about her testimony. Basically Carol Black said it was an otherwise normal day in the synagogue on that Saturday morning, October of 2018. But that's when gunfire rang out. She and a few other members of her congregation they fled down to the basement and they hid in a closet just waiting for, hopefully, this gunman to pass over them.

But then what happened is Melvin Wax, one of the men who was hiding with her in the closet, he was standing, as she describes, half in the closet and half out, he couldn't quite fit. And at that point the gunman opened fire and shot Melvin Wax.

And I want to show you this quote of what she said on the stand today because it's just incredibly troubling.

[15:35:00]

She describes watching Melvin Wax immediately go down on the ground on his back and she says he was dying. He didn't say anything, he made a garbling sounding and he also made a kind of grunt and then there was silence. And she describes his head fell just inches from my feet. She said this and she said she heard the steps of the gunman from that

area and she just tried to stay calm and stay silent and hope that it would all again stop and the bloodshed would stop. Then she ultimately was rescued by police along with a few others. And she said to police, where's my brother, did my brother make it out OK? And of course, Richard he did not.

So, that was just one example of just some really challenging testimony that we heard in court today. But one of the things I should mention is, we also got today new exhibits and new images from what was happening inside that synagogue. These new images included crime scene tape around some of the hallways in the synagogue, some blood that could be seen on the floor, a magazine for a rifle can be seen in one photo.

But there's one that I want to highlight that we've been speaking about for the better part of the day because it's so evocative. It was a prayer book that appears to have a bullet hole shot right through it. And Rabbi Jeffery Myers -- he's the rabbi for the Tree of Life congregation.

He spoke about this particular prayer book on the witness stand. He said he took it from the massacre and kept it with him because he says this prayer book was a witness to the horror of that day. One day when I'm not there, this book tells a story that needs to be told.

Of course, Robert Bowers has been in the courtroom this entire time. He has pleaded not guilty to these charges. Back to you.

SANCHEZ: Danny Freeman reporting live from Pittsburgh. Thanks so much, Danny -- Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Out of control wildfires in Canada closing schools and forcing thousands to flee their homes. The impact including smoky and hazy air seen all across the northeastern U.S.

Plus, a major ruling that will shield the billionaire family behind Purdue pharma from future opioid-related lawsuits. Up next, what a new settlement means for victims seeking compensation.

[15:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Now to some of the headlines that we are following this hour. In Florida, jury selection is under way in the trial of a former school resource officer accused of failing to confront the gunman in the 2018 mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School. Officials say Scott Peterson to cover outside the building for at least 45 minutes as the gunman shot and killed 14 students and three staff members. Peterson faces multiple charges, including felony child neglect.

And the Louisville bank where an employee opened fire and killed five people is permanently moving to a different location out of respect for those killed. The CEO of Old National Bank says they are continuing to support and care for the victims.

Among those injured, a young officer who had just graduated from the police academy. The Louisville Police Department says their officer is now out of the hospital and, quote, making remarkable progress in rehab.

And firefighters from New York and New Hampshire are traveling to Canada to help fight those wildfires in Nova Scotia. The smoke and the haze is continuing to impact air quality, even in parts of the U.S., prompting air quality alerts for New Jersey and even southeastern Pennsylvania. That also includes the Philadelphia area -- Jim.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Well, a major ruling in the legal battle over the opioid crisis. An appeals court in New York has granted the Sackler family immunity from any current or future civil lawsuits. This in exchange for a settlement of some $6 billion.

The Sacklers own Purdue Pharma which began selling the opioid oxycontin in the '90s, marketing it heavily as a nonaddictive drug. CNN's Jake Tapper is covering this next hour for "THE LEAD." And Jake, you know, you read books like "Dope Sick," and you see the role that the Sackler family had in this. In it really pushing this in effect and contributing to the crisis. Tell us what is in this $6 billion for victims of the opioid crisis.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR, THE LEAD: So, just big picture here. Between 1999 and 2020, more than 564,000 Americans died from opioid overdoses according to the CDC. Not all of them, of course, from Purdue products.

So, for the victims and the families of those who died, it means $6 billion for however eight states and Washington, D.C. are going to use the money to help with this epidemic. Take a listen to Connecticut Attorney General William Tong.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM TONG, (D) CONNECTICUT ATTORNEY GENERAL: There's no victory here. And at the end of the day, no amount of money, no amount of justice will make this right for Deedee and her family and Christine Gagnon and Liz Fitzgerald in Connecticut and their sons.

But at the end of the day we pushed as hard as we could. This deal, the $6 billion, is 40 percent more than the deal that I opposed and took to court and overturned until the second circuitry instituted the $6 billion deal yesterday with its decision.

And this $6 billion deal will fund treatment and prevention. It gets the Sacklers out of the opioid business. It shuts down Purdue Pharma. It gave Deedee and families like Deedee's the opportunity to address the Sacklers and tell them how they wrecked their lives and gets money to families like Deedee's, fully $750 million or more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:45:00] TAPPER: The Sackler family said in its statement, quote: The Sackler families believes the long-awaited implementation of this resolution is critical to providing substantial resources for people and communities in need. We are pleased with the court's decision to allow the agreement to move forward and look forward to it taking effect as soon as possible.

The settlement means immunity, of course, as you noted, from thousands of lawsuits related to Purdue Pharma's early aggressive marketing of oxycontin saying it's nonaddictive, which of course it was not.

Before Purdue filed for bankruptcy in 2019, the total cost of all the lawsuits facing them was -- according to a second circuit court opinion -- $40 trillion -- 40 trillion. They obviously are not going to have to pay that. In 2021 the Sacklers are collectively worth more than $11 billion -- according to the House oversight committee.

And we should note, this settlement does not grant the Sacklers immunity from any potential criminal charges, though none have ever been brought against the Sacklers as individuals.

SCIUTTO: Just quickly, $6 billion is not a small amount of money. They do get to keep a great deal of their wealth. Are victims' families satisfied with this? Do they think it's a good exchange in effect?

TAPPER: I mean, they're all over the map obviously. I mean, you have literally more than 500,000 people who overdosed from this, not to mention those who developed addiction issues because of it. So, some are happy for something good to come out of this and others are upset.

SCIUTTO: Yes, and as the Connecticut Attorney General there said, as he named some of the victims, nothing is going to bring them back. Jake Tapper, we look forward to seeing you on "THE LEAD" that's coming up right at the top of the hour -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: It is the hearing star watchers and truth seekers have been waiting for. Lawmakers are taking a closer look at unidentified aerial phenomenon, the objects formally known as UFOs. What we're learning, next.

[15:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: On August 1st, a dedicated team at NASA will hand Congress their first report on UFOs today at a public forum, a Pentagon official revealed that the U.S. is tracking more than 800 potential sightings. Scientists now refer to them as unidentified anomalous phenomenon or UAPs. And this NASA team is now working to create a roadmap for how these cases are analyzed moving forward.

CNN's Tom Foreman has been keeping his eyes on the sky for us. Tom, 800 potential sightings. And what I found interesting is that there are some common threads.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are some common threads. Best assignment of the day doing this, by the way. Yes, the common threads of the NASA group, one of the latest groups looking at sightings, but there are certain things that are reported a lot. They seem to be reported as round, atypical orientation, 3-13 feet in size, white, silver and translucent.

And then beyond that, the performance of these is also something that they have collected here based on what people tell them. 10,000 to 30,000 feet in the air. Stationary to Mach 2, twice the speed of sound and no thermal exhaust. But again, really important, this is just what people report.

What they observe with their cell phone cameras in their eyes, which can be very misleading if you don't have instruments actually measuring it.

SANCHEZ: But on that note, it's not just eyewitness accounts and people's cell phones. It's also military equipment, fighter jets that have documented things that can't easily be explained.

FOREMAN: Highly experienced people have seen things like this. But really interesting in the meeting today, astronaut Scott Kelly and pilot Scott Kelly, he said look, this is where I live. This is where I've been my whole life. I get confused. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT KELLY, RETIRED NASSAU ASTRONAUT: I remember one time I was flying in the warning areas off of Virginia Beach, military operating area there. And my REO thought -- the guy who sits in the back of the Tom Cat -- was convinced we flew by a UFO. So, I didn't see it. We turned around. We went to go look at it. It turns out it was Bart Simpson, a balloon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOREMAN: Seems like a joke, but not really a joke. His whole point is to say it's easy to be confused up there. And if you ever fly in an airplane, look out at the ocean when you're flying over, you know, it's hard to make out exactly what you're seeing.

SANCHEZ: 100 percent. Now this was a public forum, so anyone can submit questions. I imagine there were some colorful.

FOREMAN: Yes, and some good ones. And people are really interested in all of this. If you look at some of the questions that came from the audience there, people who are out there just sent them in. Where are these craft mostly being detected? Well, they had a sense, East Coast, West Coast, certain places overseas where they tend to see more of them than others.

Beyond that, there were questions about what type of propulsion seems to be involved with that sort of things. Have you documented any data regarding the speed and maneuverability of such crafts? Yes, we saw that a minute ago. They have some idea, very generally, in a broad sense. And then beyond that, really the key question here, the key question,

where does this come from? Is it possible these can be aliens? Why or why not? Every government agency has said so far, look, we'll acknowledge there are such things, we do not believe it could be aliens.

But a really great moment near the end of this meeting, when some of the scientists stood up and said, hey, you know, we're NASA scientists. We have to have proof but much of our life is dedicated to the idea of maybe finding life out there. And if we find it, we're not going to hide it. We want you to know about it, because it would be the greatest discovery of all time.

SANCHEZ: They're not that a hide it, Tom. While we have you, an important question a lot of people out there are asking. It's been reported on the internet. I read it myself. We have you here on the spot, Tom, will you correct the record, are you or are you not a reptilian creature?

FOREMAN: I landed here so long ago, it's no longer true. I'm a human just like you.

SANCHEZ: There are so many weird things on the Internet. Tom, we appreciate you walking us through all of that -- Jim.

[15:55:00]

SCIUTTO: Happening right now on The Hill, the debt ceiling bill is close to potentially passing its first hurdle before tonight's final vote. They're voting right now on one of the first procedural votes leading up to that final vote. We're going to continue to count those numbers as well and update you as soon as we have one.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: So, we knew this, but Bruce Springsteen really is tougher than the rest. The Boss tripped up and fell Saturday during a concert in Amsterdam. But in true rock star fashion, he jumped right back up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN TRIPS ON STAIRS AND GETS UP)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Oh, look. OK, he gets a little help there. That's good. All right, he may have been born to run, but maybe it's better to walk up stairs.

SCIUTTO: The rising of Bruce Springsteen.

SANCHEZ: Good to know that if I fall behind, the E Street Band is here to pick me up.

"THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" starts right now.