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Texas Judge Grants Woman's Request For Abortion; IDF: Son Of Israeli Minister Killed In Gaza; Sources: Gunman Had Applied For Job At UNLV, Didn't Get It. Aired 11:30a-12p ET
Aired December 07, 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]
JONATHAN GREENBLATT, CEO & NATIONAL DIRECTOR, ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: They could adopt the IRA definition of antisemitism. They could review and actually enforce their own codes of conduct and suspend the bad offenders. They could de-charter the student groups like Students for Justice in Palestine, that are the serial offenders. And they could hold the professors accountable. Kate, we should not let the professors off the hook.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Jonathan, we --
GREENBLATT: I understand like there's comfort in -- yes.
BOLDUAN: Thank you so much. We'll continue that discussion. Thank you so much. Let's listen in to Donald Trump speaking now outside of court.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Stern School of Business at NYU, a top professor. He reviewed fully the documents that this horrendous attorney general put forth. And he found absolutely no fraud -- accounting fraud of any kind.
This is a highly respected man. I don't know him, but he's a expert witness. And he found no fraud whatsoever. He found no accounting fraud whatsoever.
And like everyone else who said, what are we doing here? What are we doing here? This is a political, witch hunt. This is meant to influence an election.
This also comes from the White House. This is not just a state matter because the White House is controlling district attorneys. In fact, in the district attorney's office, they put one of their top people, DOJ put one of the top people right under the attorney general, put him into the district attorney's office also put a man into the state.
Attorney General's Office, Letitia James office happened to be the same man. This is coming right from the White House. This is a disgraceful situation.
The country's never seen anything like it. But this expert when he's highly respected by everybody, with a resume that --
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BOLDUAN: All right, we're listening to Donald Trump outside of court, first and foremost applauding the expert witness called by the -- his legal team, and also returning to themes that he has before, of accusing the White House of being involved in trying to prosecute him of installing district attorneys, which are -- is an unfounded accusation. But the president -- former President continued to speak outside the courtroom, and then he will be taking the stand on Monday, John.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. This is a state charge right now. The White House has nothing to do with this.
Just in to CNN. A Texas judge has sided with a woman who sued to get an abortion for her high-risk pregnancy. What this now mean for the state's strict abortion ban?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:37:12]
BERMAN: Just in to CNN. A significant development in the fight over the abortion ban in Texas. In an emergency hearing, a state judge just granted a woman's request to get an abortion for her high-risk pregnancy. Doctors for Kate Cox say her fetus has a condition that makes it unlikely to survive birth or for very long afterwards, and continuing the pregnancy is putting her own health at risk.
CNN's Ed Lavandera is with us now. Ed, what are the judge say here?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, this is the most significant challenge to the near-total abortion ban here in Texas which says no abortions allowed after six weeks unless the life of the mother is in jeopardy. And this is -- as I mentioned, this is the most significant development we've seen here since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year.
In a hearing that ended just a short while ago, 31-year-old Kate Cox was granted permission by a judge to have an abortion. And this comes after she just learned at the end of November that her baby -- and she's 20 weeks along in this pregnancy was diagnosed with what is known as Edwards syndrome, a genetic condition that is fatal in nearly all cases. And her doctor said that at best, if the child were to be born, that would only live a few hours perhaps a couple of days, at best.
Because of that, Cox and her lawyers argued that her future health and her future ability to get pregnant again would be in jeopardy if she would be forced to continue on with this pregnancy. And the judge ruled in her favor just a short while ago saying, "The idea that Mrs. Cox wants desperately to be a parent, and this law might actually cause her to lose that ability is shocking and would be a genuine miscarriage of justice. So, I will be signing this order." So, she has been given a temporary restraining order against the abortion ban -- abortion law here in Texas to carry out that abortion. And really at the heart of all of this, John, is this question of the -- when the life and the mother -- the life of the mother is at jeopardy. Abortion rights activists say here in Texas that law is too vague, that it is very confusing for doctors who face criminal repercussions if they were to carry out an abortion. And the mother also faces civil legal action here in the state because of the abortion law.
Now, attorneys for the Attorney General say that in the filings that Kate Cox and her lawyers filed that they did not provide ample evidence to support that her life would be in jeopardy down the road if this pregnancy were to continue. But the judges, you heard there, just quickly dismissing all of that in this ruling in Kate Cox's favor. A very significant ruling in the abortion battle here in Texas, John.
BERMAN: This has to be such a painful process for that woman. Ed Lavandera, thank you so much for being with us. Appreciate it. Kate?
[11:40:04]
BOLDUAN: Coming up still for us. Three people are dead today. One person's still fighting for their life in a hospital, and another college campus left terrorized. Now, what investigators are saying about a possible motive of the shooter? Will be back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: This just in to CNN. As a war rages on in Gaza, the son of an occurrent Israeli wartime minister has been killed there. Gadi Eisenkot's son, 25-year-old Gal Meir has been killed in action according to the Israeli Defense Forces. I want to bring in CNN political and global affairs analyst Barak Ravid. Barak, what do you know about how this happened and where this happened?
[11:45:10]
BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL & GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, this incident happened this morning in the town of Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on the force of the reserve brigade number 551 operated in the area and search for Hamas tunnels. And while trying to excavate one of the tunnels, it was booby-trapped and an IED exploded and killed Master Sergeant Eisenkot and wounded some of his -- some several other soldiers on the spot. One of the interesting or even you know, tragic details of this incident is that while this was happening, his father, a former IDF Chief of Staff and minister a member of the war cabinet, Gadi Eisenkot, was visiting the headquarters of Division 162, the same division that his son's unit was part of. And while he was at the war room -- in the war room of this division, he got the update that his son was killed.
SIDNER: We're looking at pictures right now, Barak, of Gal, the 25- year-old son, and his father, Gadi Eisenkot. They are hugging there outside and smiling. You say that he learned of this when he was touring an area that is particularly in danger. And then you have his son actually being killed. How unusual is it for someone of that high profile to have their son on the front lines?
RAVID: Well, in Israel, it's not a very unusual thing. And he's not the only one of Eisenkot's sons who's fighting right now in Gaza. Benny Gantz, another -- the leader of his party and another minister of the war cabinet, his sons are also in reserve service right now. And many, many Israeli politicians have their children either in active duty or in reserve service since this war started. In a way, this is a very, very Israeli story.
SIDNER: A very Israeli story. The Hamas health ministry says 17,000 Palestinians have been killed. And the Israeli Defense Forces are saying that they are also taking quite a lot of fire. Can you give us some sense of what is happening on the ground there?
RAVID: I think we have to divide it to two parts. The first part is the northern Gaza Strip, where most of the area is controlled already by the IDF. And most of what's going on right now is just dismantling infrastructure like those tunnels. And this is what led to this incident that killed Gal Eisenkot.
But in the most southern parts, in the city of Khan Younis right now, I think we see the most fierce fighting since this war started. Because this was a city that was almost untouched since the war began. So, for two months, Hamas was preparing for an Israeli grand invasion of the city. And this city hosts right now, according to the IDF all the Hamas leadership, mainly Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, and we see quite significant fighting there at the moment.
SIDNER: Yes. And Israel has said that they have killed several members of leadership in this past fighting. Thank you so much, Barak Ravid, for that update for us.
RAVIDl Thank you.
SIDNER: Also, for you, several developing stories are happening as we speak. We are going to go to a quick break, and we will bring you all of that. Next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:53:19]
BOLDUAN: A possible motive is developing this morning behind the UNLV campus shooting. Now, three people were murdered when a gunman opened fire. Another person was critically injured and is now in the hospital right now. Law enforcement sources tell CNN that one connection that the shooter seemed to have with the school is that he applied for a job at the university and did not get it.
CNN's Lucy Kafanov is in Las Vegas force covering much more on this investigation now. Lucy, what more investigators saying are you learning about kind of this working theory for this motive?
LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kate. I mean, officials aren't giving us much publicly on the record yet. As of late last night, there was still notifying next of kin. But law enforcement sources have told CNN that the suspect is 67-year-old Anthony Polito who may have, as you pointed out, been passed over for a job here at the University of Nevada.
Now, his LinkedIn profile does list him as a "semi-retired professor." And the last full-time job that he has on that profile ended back in 2017. That was at East Carolina University.
Now, he did die at the scene after a confrontation with police yesterday. The violence kicking off just before noon. This was in the Beam Hall building which is home to the university's Business School.
Police say that the shooting began on the fourth floor. It continued through multiple floors. The confrontation moving outside where authorities engaged with his gunman.
They neutralized him, in the language they used. Three people as you point out killed, one recovering from a gunshot wound. The sliver of good news there is their condition has been updated from critical to stable overnight.
[11:55:03]
Terrifying moments though for students who had to hide under lockdown in classrooms. One student hiding in the bathroom. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIANA, HID IN STUDENT UNION BATHROOM: I jumped up on the toilet trying to make sure my feet aren't shown. And I heard the gunman -- the gunman started like coming closer in the direction of the Student Union and they ended up going inside of the building. And I have a clip of where I can hear them shooting. And I was just freaking out crying.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAFANOV: And I just spoke to one faculty member who said that she sheltered for hours. She's worked here for 20 years. Always felt safe. Not any longer. Kate.
BOLDUAN: Lucy, thank you so much for your reporting. Thank you.
SIDNER: It's terrifying. All right. Thank you so much for joining us. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "INSIDE POLITICS" is coming up next.
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