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Alabama Boat Dock Brawl; Pence Makes Debate Stage; Flights Delayed or Canceled After Storms; Cousin of Uvalde Gunman Arrested. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired August 08, 2023 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:31:45]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, later today we expect an update from officials on the brawl at Montgomery, Alabama's, River Front Park. The police have issued at least four warrants and more could be on the way after the fight between a group of white boaters and a black dock worker.

Now, the mayor of Montgomery says justice should be served to the boaters, quote, "for attacking a man who was doing his job."

CNN's Ryan Young has the latest.

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RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): An altercation on a Montgomery, Alabama, boat dock over the weekend between a group of white boaters and a black employee escalated into a massive brawl that resulted in multiple arrest warrants. Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed is calling for justice to be served for attacking a man who was doing his job.

MAYOR STEVEN REED (R), MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA It's an unfortunate incident. And it's something that we're investigating right now. We'll continue to go through that process before we take any additional steps.

YOUNG: It all began when the black employee was trying to clear the dock space where the Riverside Cruise, the Harriet II, normally docks. The cruiser was about to return to shore and needed its space to dock.

LAUREN SPLVEY, WITNESS: You know, just doing his job. And for some reason they didn't like it. They didn't want to move the boat. And he decided to get physical with him.

YOUNG: You can see in the video, the black employee on the dock arguing with one of the men from the pontoon boat. And then another shirtless white man charging at the employee and hitting him in the face. Soon after that you can see several others join in on the attack of the dock employee. In some of the video, which has gone viral, with millions of views,

people on the boat can be heard yelling for someone to go help the employee. Then at one point you can see a young man, who has jumped off the boat, swimming ashore to help the man who was being attacked.

SPLVEY: The boat got closer. The guys and the crew members and everybody got off and that's when it happened. That's the reason why I -- when they got off the boat they came right to that smaller boat.

YOUNG: And that's when more fighting ensues, turning into an all-out brawl that included several people getting hit over the head with a folding chair. Soon after, officers started trying to take control, handcuffing people in the fight.

SPLVEY: You know, they were the antagonist of the whole situation. Arrest them because unfortunately when things happen, people of color are the first to put -- be put in handcuffs.

YOUNG: Many questions remain about the melee that appeared to be very much split across racial lines.

REED: We are fully engaged and we are doing all of our due diligence to find out exactly what took place.

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YOUNG: Yes, talk about a story that's really taken social media by storm. There's a lot of people who have analyzed this video from every angle. Talking to that witness, though, she believes it's pretty clear that the man who was working was the one who was attacked. And police, of course, are investigating, they're asking anyone with video of this incident to come forward. Hopefully today at the 2:00 p.m. news conference we'll learn much, much more about what police have been able to find out and who those people who are charged and what they are facing.

Guys, back to you.

BERMAN: All right, our thanks to Ryan Young for that. And, again, an update on this comes a little bit later today.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Absolutely.

All right, let's turn to this. Former Vice President Mike Pence will be on the debate stage in Milwaukee.

[09:35:01]

An aide to his campaign tells CNN that as of this morning he has passed the final hurdle, if you will, to participate in the first Republican presidential debate, hitting the key donor requirement threshold. A reminder, there are several requirements that have been set by the RNC in order to participate, including the candidates must have 40,000 unique donors and at least 200 individual donors from at least 20 states or territories. That is in addition to polling - a - the polling threshold of at least 1 percent in a handful of polls and a pledge to support the eventual nominee.

That said, welcome to the debate stage, Mike Pence, and welcome to the table, CNN's senior political analyst John Avlon and CNN political commentator, host of "PBS Firing Line," Margaret Hoover.

OK, so, Mike Pence is on the debate stage. How important is this that he made that threshold two weeks out?

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: It's vitally important. Not only, of course, to Mike Pence's campaign, because it would be such an insult to the former vice president, as the courage of his convictions calling out Donald Trump, to not make the debate stage. But it's good for the debate. It's good to have Mike Pence's voice represented. Not because of his unique position in history and credibility when it comes to Donald Trump, but because evangelical voters, if they're actually motivated by faith-based politics, should give the man another look. And so far he can't get arrested. But this is a critical threshold.

BOLDUAN: The -- Margaret, the Pence campaign spokesperson gave this statement to Fox News. "Mike Pence made quick and easy work of the donor threshold and he's looking forward to a substantive debate about the issues important to the American people. Hopefully former President Trump has the courage to show up." How does this work if Trump doesn't show up? Like, who are they -- who are they debating?

MARGARET HOOVER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, they're obviously debating the front-runner.

BOLDUAN: Right.

HOVER: If the front-runner doesn't show up, they're going to still draw contrasts with the front-runner.

And Mike Pence is an important contrast with Donald Trump. When you think about who's going to be on that stage right now, Mike Pence is the next -- probably the second -- only the second person that's on the stage who will draw a stark contrast between himself and Donald Trump, especially around his willingness to support the Constitution, given his direct role in January 6th. Seems pretty important. I mean Chris Christie is the only other person on that stage who's going to be willing to do it. So, the more voices that represent the variety of defenses for the Constitution on the right, the better in my view.

AVLON: Yes.

BOLDUAN: You also -- you sat down with another Republican candidate, Vivek Ramaswamy. He is polling above Mike Pence in the latest "New York Times" poll. He's polling above Mike Pence in Iowa.

HOOVER: In Iowa.

BOLDUAN: Five percent - 5 percent among Republicans versus 3 percent in this "New York Times" poll. He had a lot to say to you, including yet again that he would pardon Donald Trump if he wins, which encapsulate to me something that is fascinating to so many, which is the strangest of tight ropes that these guys are trying to walk.

HOOVER: Yes. You've said it so well. They're each innovating their own strange tight rope that - and in Vivek's situation, he's very clearly decided that he - I mean he has this line, which captures it all. He says, I'm not running against Donald Trump, I'm running next to Donald Trump, right? He's -

BOLDUAN: I've never heard of such a thing.

AVLON: Please.

HOOVER: I mean it's a little too clever by half.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

HOOVER: We're not that dumb. Don't undermine the intelligence of the voters by trying to sound too smart. We all get the joke. But it is, to your point, his own reading of what's going to be acceptable to primary voters.

And, by the way, he was at the Lincoln Dinner in Iowa ten years ago where Will Hurd was booed from the stage by simply saying Donald Trump is running to stay out of jail. OK. So, something that many of us believe to be true. You know, we all certainly understand that - and none of these cases will continue against the president if he is re- elected. So, it's, to your point, another approach to trying to court Trump-based voters while still differentiating ones self subtly.

BOLDUAN: It is - it is a fascinating - I mean I want to see what this looks like on the debate stage. I really do. Is -- Trump there or not what this is going to look like.

Can I ask you about side-related all kind of wrapped up into the same thing. Mo Brooks -

AVLON: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely going off on Donald Trump. If you've followed what happened in '22, how Trump endorsed who he was running against in -

AVLON: The arc of Mo Brooks, yes.

BOLDUAN: Yes, the arc of Mo Brooks. That may not be surprising. But it is still surprising to see he went off on Trump on - on -- it was on Twitter. We can put up one example of it.

AVLON: Yes.

BOLDUAN: This is a former Republican congressman who stood at the Ellipse with Trump on January 6th, spoke at the rally on January 6th and now this. What - what are you - what -- thoughts? I mean -

AVLON: A lot of thoughts because, yes, Mo Brooks was hip deep in the, quote/unquote, ironically name stop the steal movement. He spoke at January 6th. And then Trump turned on him because Brooks had the temerity to show even a little bit of daylight.

And now Brooks endorsing Pence, apparently saying that Trump has no character, right?

[09:40:01]

He has no character. Look, any reading of American history says character is the single most important quality in a president. What's significant is that so many folks who used to be hard core Trump allies, members of his cabinet, are now trying to warn the American people and Republican primary voters that this man is a threat to the republic and unfit to serve office. That's extraordinary. And the question is whether those hard-core Trump supporters will take a note from people who actually know the man, who have worked alongside the man, or whether they will remain totally fixated on their fantasy version of the man.

BOLDUAN: But when - I mean, look, we're constantly watching history happen and breaking with precedent and blah blah blah.

HOOVER: Yes.

BOLDUAN: But if when the - when the -

AVLON: Blah blah blah.

BOLDUAN: Blah blah blah.

AVLON: Technically a term, yes.

BOLDUAN: It's a technical - technical term in my world.

AVLON: It is scientific (ph).

BOLDUAN: With these - with - if one Republican candidate is polling, broadly speaking, 50 points ahead, I mean how do you -- how do they catch up?

HOOVER: Right. And I think it's really important to remember that this is not a national primary. This is 50 individual state primaries. And, frankly, it's not even that many because somebody will have taken winner take all before then.

But you have Iowa. And Iowa - you know, Mo Brooks, by the way, is endorsing Vice President Pence. OK. Bob Vander Plaats, an evangelical leader in Iowa, has decided not to support Donald Trump, to break with Donald Trump, to support other evangelical leaders. He's looking at Tim Scott. He's looking at Mike Pence. There is a possibility, there is a long way to go, that people slowly at first, and then maybe more rapidly later, can fall away from Donald Trump in Iowa.

He is still far and away the leader. But there is a - I just spent ten days in Iowa and there is a very strong sense in Iowa, especially around political elites, that they take their role very seriously in the caucuses as first in the nation and they want to ensure that their role is relevant in nominating who will be the next - next nominee. And then you go New Hampshire where somebody other than Trump could pull away.

BOLDUAN: So fascinating.

Guys, thanks for being here.

AVLON: Always a pleasure.

BOLDUAN: Good to see you.

AVLON: You too.

BOLDUAN: Omar.

JIMENEZ: Well, Kate, these boards are what thousands of travelers have been looking at. Sometimes in fear of what they might hold. Just ahead, hundreds of flights delayed or cancelled this morning after extreme storms. What to expect, coming up.

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[09:46:35]

JIMENEZ: This morning we're getting a look at the damage caused by powerful storms that slammed several states in the east.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my God. Oh my god.

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JIMENEZ: See how fast that can happen. Trees were literally snapped in half, as you just saw. Some of them even landing on homes. The storms produced softball size hail and hurricane-force wind gusts. A tornado touched down in a town in southern Indiana, ripping roofs off homes and buildings. In Westminster, Maryland, close to 50 people were trapped in their cars for hours on a highway after downed power lines fell on to their vehicles. At least two people were killed by the storms. Hundreds of thousands are still without power. And hundreds of flights have been cancelled or delayed this morning and parts of the country -- as parts of the country prepare for another round of severe weather.

So CNN's Pete Muntean has been tracking the delays and joins us from D.C.'s Ronald Reagan Airport.

Pete, the now - the thousands we talked about, or I should say the hundreds we're talking about, is an improvement from the thousands we were talking about. But as I can see behind you, I don't think people are satisfied with even just hundreds.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Still a lot of misery, clearly here, Omar.

JIMENEZ: Yes. MUNTEAN: In fact a lot of people, no doubt, got bumped onto flights today. We're not totally out of the woods just yet. The FAA just implemented a ground stop for flights going to Boston because of thunderstorms there. It's going to be in place for about another 45 minutes, until about 10:30 today.

Just checked Flight Aware. The numbers today are looking a little bit better than yesterday, but it's still pretty early. We've seen about 337 cancellations nationwide. About 1,700 or so delays. Compare that to the numbers we saw yesterday, which were huge. The cancellations put the numbers in the top five we have seen since Memorial Day. We've seen about 1,700 cancellations yesterday.

The delay number, though, is the really big one, 8,800 flights delayed yesterday. That's a third of all flights in the U.S. Arriving on average, according to Flight Aware, about an hour and ten minutes late.

The worst airports -- and this is really key -- Atlanta was the worst for cancellations yesterday, followed by New York's LaGuardia, and then here at Reagan National Airport. Then Newark, in New Jersey, a huge hub for United Airlines. And then Charlotte, which is a huge hub for American Airlines. Though the big headline there is Atlanta, because that is the world's busiest airport. It's also the worldwide headquarters for Delta Airlines, which is now apologizing to its customers, saying it's working to get its schedule back on track after it delayed about 1,300 flights yesterday. A third of all of its flights scheduled.

So, we will see as the day develops here. The FAA warning not only of that ground stop in New England, but also we're going to see it, it says, in Florida, in Miami, in Orlando, Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale and we could see Atlanta once again on the list. So, if you're flying Delta today, maybe pack a little extra patience. It should be a tough one.

JIMENEZ: Wow. Well, Pete, if we're talking misery at the airport, the only consolation is that you're the one on top of it all for us. Pete, thank you so much.

John.

BERMAN: A third of the flights in the country delayed an average of an hour or more. That's crazy.

[09:49:56]

So, a teenage cousin of the Uvalde gunman accused of threatening to, quote, "do the same thing."

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BERMAN: In Texas this morning, court documents obtained by CNN show a teenage cousin of the Uvalde school gunman has been arrested after he allegedly made threats to do the same thing. Now the 17-year-old faces a felony charge of making terroristic threats to a public place and a misdemeanor charge of making a terroristic threat against a family member.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is with us now with the latest on this. Ed, what's going on here?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, extremely disturbing. All of this coming to light after, according to these court documents, it was the suspect's mother and sister who reached out to investigators to alert them to these warnings. And all of this coming from the arrest warrant affidavit for 17-year-old Nathan James Cruz, who was taken into custody yesterday in San Antonio. And according to the arrest warrant affidavit, the mother tells investigators that the cousin of the Uvalde shooter was, quote, "planning to do the same thing" as his cousin had done in Robb Elementary School in Uvalde in May of 2022, where 19 children and two teachers were killed.

[09:55:08]

And according to the arrest warrant affidavit as well, the mother said that she overheard her son having a conversation with an unidentified person on the phone where he was trying to make arrangements for the illegal purchase of an AR-15 firearm. The sister also told investigators that Cruz had threatened her and was talking again about shooting up a school.

In these court documents the school in question is not identified, but the mother was concerned because her son was, quote, intoxicated. They also live near a school. And he's also on probation.

The court documents also reveal that after Cruz was taken into custody, he denied making any of these statements to investigators. But as you mentioned, right now the 17-year-old is being held on that felony charges of making terroristic threats to a public place and the misdemeanor charge of threatening his family. And he's being held on a $160,000 bond.

John.

BERMAN: Truly disturbing.

Ed Lavandera, keep us posted on this. Thank you very much.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

Coming up for us, the important CNN reporting this morning out of Ukraine. A sobering new assessment on Ukraine's counteroffensive. We have the details ahead.

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