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DOJ Report Slams Uvalde School Shooting Response; Trump Targets Nikki Haley Ahead Of New Hampshire Primary; Texas Border Battle Intensifies With Migrant Arrests; Biden Pushes $82 Million Investment For High-Speed Internet; Senate Races Against Time To Avoid Government Shutdown. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired January 18, 2024 - 14:00   ET

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

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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Failure in Uvalde. A scathing report blasting the response to the shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers detailing how 77 crucial minutes past with nothing done to stop the killer. Plus looking for a New Hampshire knockout. Donal Trump stepping up his attacks on Nikki Haley knowing that she needs a strong showing in the granite state with its primary only days away.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: And a border battle in Texas with migrants caught int the middle. The latest on the fight between the feds and the state with control of the border at stake. We are following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SANCHEZ: Thanks so much for joining us this afternoon. I'm Boris Sanchez alongside Brianna Keilar in Washington. And today, the Justice Department released a damning report on wide-scale law enforcement failures that played out during the response to the 2022 Uvalde school shooting. Some family members of the 19 kids and two teachers, who were killed that day, are frustrated and they're demanding accountability for those failures. Here's some of what they shared with the press earlier.

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BRETT CROSS, SON UZIYAH KILLED IN UVALDE SCHOOL SHOOTING: It's hard enough waking up every day and continuing to walk out on these streets and walk to an HEB or drive to an HEB and see a cop that you know was standing there while our babies were murdered and bleeding out. It's hard enough that. But this community doesn't care and I hope that this, I hope this makes you all. I also hope that this lights a fire up under the district attorneys asked because we know that she has not done a damn thing and we refuse to accept that.

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KEILAR: So much pain from those families and understandably demands for accountability after this critical incident review by the DOJ that was some 20 months in the making and throughout its 575 pages it ticks through failures in leadership, tactics, training, all of which contributed to that fateful 75-minute gap from the moment when police arrived on scene at Robb Elementary to when police finally took out the shooter. We have CNN's Shimon Prokupecz on the scene there in Uvalde as he has been since the shooting. Shimon, you and your team uncovered some of these critical failures well before this report arrived. The family welcomed the comprehensive nature the families did of this report. What stands out to you in this first full official accounting?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENCE: Well, it's just the chaos of that day and just how there was simply no leadership on any level, on any level. We knew a lot of this. But to see this in the way the Department of Justice laid it out from the moment officers first arrived up to today, just how these families have been treated by law enforcement, by city officials. It's just very painful. And I think the Department of Justice made a point in this report to make this about the victims, about their suffering, about their need for accountability and answers.

And because really, if they had not done this, no one would have done this. And so it was an important moment for the families to hear this from the attorney general, the United States attorney general. The top law enforcement official stood before these families and said, there was failure here today. And something also that he said that is very, very important in this investigation, that lives could have potentially been saved if law enforcement acted properly.

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That's very significant because we've never really heard anyone here say that before. And that brings us to a whole other level and whether or not this district attorney here is going to be able to file criminal charges against the people who failed the families here. And that's the big question. And, you know, it's the division in this community that is so hard to comprehend and so hard to explain because you would think that when so many families have been suffering in this community, kids were killed. Kids have been injured for life, both psychologically and physically, that the community would get behind them, that people would support them.

But that's not what's happened here. And that's been a level of frustration for these victims. And that's why you hear a guy like Brett Cross stand here and say thank you to the Department of Justice for this because you are justifying our feelings. You are agreeing with us. Finally, someone in a position of power is saying you're right. You have been mistreated. Officers didn't act right. And so that's what this day is for many of these families.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, Cross specifically saying that he wants those who waited outside, those classrooms as children and teachers were suffering, to be called out by name. We should know we're actually going to speak to Brett Cross one-on-one in the next hour on CNN NEWS CENTRAL. Shimon, please stand by. We want to go to CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller. We also have with us former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe. Andy, I want to start with you because the report did name some specific officers, but it didn't make any recommendations for punitive steps. And the attorney general was asked whether the federal government could somehow intervene toward that process. And he effectively said that the shooter's dead and there's no real move toward any kind of federal charges at this point. Is there anything the DOJ can do?

ANDREW MCCABE, FORMER FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR: Well, unfortunately, Boris, there's very little. I think the attorney general handled that well during the press conference. So, the Justice Department gets involved in the aftermath of mass shootings, typically when the shooter is still alive and they can pursue criminal charges against that shooter for violations of civil rights and that sort of thing. That's obviously not the case here. The attorney general also pointed out that it is DOJ policy to only specifically name higher-ranking people in these sort of after-action reports and not name lower-ranking people.

I think it's important to remember that that reflects the purpose of the critical incident review. And the purpose of the review is not to hold people accountable. It's not the responsibility of the Department of Justice to impose, you know, personnel violation offenses on members of other law enforcement agencies or things like that. They are simply coming in and making an absolutely complete statement of facts for the families, for the victims to understand what happened.

And then also for law enforcement to learn from the disasters, the cascades of failures, as the report refers to them, that took place at Uvalde in an effort to make law enforcement better across the country. So that's really the purpose of the report. Holding officers accountable is absolutely the responsibility of their individual law enforcement agencies and the government in Texas and, let's hope, the DA. But we haven't heard much about that yet.

KEILAR: Yeah, I mean, John, these cascading failures that you had family members saying it was good to see all of this. They're taking up a mantle to try to make sure this doesn't happen at other schools. To that end, what do you think this report will do?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENR AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, I think the report is a useful document, useful to the families emotionally because it's the first report that doesn't come from somewhere in Texas where many agencies and bodies have a stake in the outcome. This is an independent report from the Department of Justice that they took their time and a great deal of care to write. And I think that police agencies, police chiefs all over the country are downloading this report today and saying, are we ready for a similar situation?

In big cities, we know the answer. The answer is yes. But I think in a lot of smaller towns like Uvalde, police chiefs have to be questioning themselves saying, what's in this report that are lessons I can put to work today to make sure I don't become that person who they're looking at because a situation was bad to handle like this.

SANCHEZ: John, there were nearly 300 recommendations from the DOJ. How hard would it be to implement some of those lessons? I imagine that there would be law enforcement agencies that may hesitate to let the DOJ in to try to remake some of their policies, no?

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MILLER: You know, I think when you look at a 600-page report with 273 recommendations and you go through those recommendations, they're recommending stuff that we already knew, which is have an active shooter protocol, have active shooter training, have cross-agency training, have an incident command system where there's an identified, clear incident commander, and then a unified command system because you know other agencies are going to show up.

And, you know, if you look at, I was involved in building the active shooter program in the LAPD. This was after attacks like Mumbai and active shooters in the United States. The first live drill we did was at Los Angeles International Airport. Why? Because we knew the LAPD would show up, the airport police would show up, and the sheriff would show up. And what we wanted to see is, after all the training, would they form contact teams? Two deputies, two airport cops, two LAPD people move towards the shooter. The next group form another contact team and ultimately we saw the training worked. In the NYPD, we didn't have much other agency crossover because it's a giant police department in a big city.

But we did the training in live situations where we put hundreds and hundreds of cops. Then they got a card that they kept with them that said, this is what you have to remember in the active shooter situation. We broadcast it over the radio. This stuff is inculcated over and over again. But when you have a town like Uvalde, what you see here, Boris, what you see here, Brianna, is an incident that was just too big in a place that was just too small. You had the small school police department, you had the small town department, you had the sheriff, and you had the Department of Public Safety, which is a big experienced agency, but they weren't going to take over the incident unless the incident commander said, I'm overwhelmed here, I need you to take over. And this is a real problem about clarity that day.

SANCHEZ: Yeah. Andy, I'm curious to get your perspective on what John just went through, the fact that the guidelines put out by the Department of Justice are things that are already known to law enforcement and his perspective that part of it had to do with Uvalde -- as the law enforcement presence in Uvalde, perhaps not having had the experience with such a high profile incident.

MCCABE: That is undoubtedly part -- one of the factors that contributed to this disaster. But let's not forget, Boris, the protocols, the response protocols for active shooter situations are well known in Texas. They are part of the law in Texas. Every law enforcement officer in Texas is required to be trained on those protocols before they're certified as a law enforcement officer. So the foundation was there, the follow up and the training and the sort of coordinated training opportunities that you have to engage in when you're a small department. You know, small departments rely on agreements with other departments in the area. We call them mutual aid agreements to come in and help when there is a bigger incident that overwhelms a tiny school police department or a small town police department.

You have got to bring those officers together, train under those circumstances, like John alluded to in the in their training at the L.A. airport. And you've got to do it on a regular basis. Clearly, none of that was done here. And that is just one of the many failures of leadership. Those police officers on the scene that day, who did not distinguish themselves, but they were also hampered by an absolute and total failure of leadership. No one was stepping forward and telling them where to go, what to say, what to do and how to attack that gunman. And it just went from there. You know, the report details failures of the medical response after the shooter was killed.

You had the regional director of the Texas Department of Public Safety walking into the crime scene for no apparent purpose. And contaminating the crime scene. So, you know, it's just a multi-level failure that now has to be sorted through.

SANCHEZ: Yeah. The mistakes sort of cascaded on to each other. Andrew McCabe and John Miller appreciate the perspective. Thanks, Brianna.

KEILAR: These are live pictures that we are watching here. President Biden speaking in North Carolina, trying to sell his vision for the American economy. The president hoping to win over North Carolinians with a new 82-million-dollar investment that will connect thousands of homes and business to high-speed internet.

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This is the president's first visit to a state other than Pennsylvania this year. Senior White House officials telling CNN they think the president could actually flip the Tar Heel state for the first time in 16 years, positioning it as a top priority for Democrats in 2024. We are monitoring his comments, and we're going to bring you any headlines from his speech. In the meantime, on the GOP side of the race, Nikki Haley all in on New Hampshire. I'm sure her campaign and its allies have spent roughly twice as much on advertising in the Granite State as former President Trump.

And for the first time, the campaign is targeting Trump directly by name now in its advertising. CNN's Jeff Zeleny is on the ground for us in Manchester, New Hampshire, with the latest here. Jeff, the battle over New Hampshire's airwaves really heating up, and Haley's direct attacks on the former president really seem to mark a major turning point for her.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: There's no question, Brianna, it is striking the degree to which, Nikki, Haley is returning fire to the former president. Of course, he's been taking attacks at her for the last several days here, accusing her of trying to infiltrate the New Hampshire primary by bringing in moderates and independents. Of course, that is allowed here. Undeclared voters are the biggest swath of the electorate. But this morning at an event in Hollis, New Hampshire, she returned fire and pointed out the distinctive differences between their candidacies.

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NIKKI HALEY, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Trump says things. Americans aren't stupid to just believe what he says. The reality is, who lost the House for us? Who lost the Senate? Who lost the White House? Donald Trump, Donald Trump, Donald Trump. Nikki Haley will win every single one of those back for us. The second he says he's going to get on the stage, I'm ready. He hasn't done anything. He threw a temper tantrum last night.

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ZELENY: So, you can certainly just hear the intensity as this race is now five days from the New Hampshire primary. I mean, this primary is really an opportunity for her to continue her momentum beyond this. And it's a question of if it's going to slow the former president march to the nomination. But she was returning fire on some specific issues on social security, on the border, on immigration. Those are some essential issues that he is running attack ads against her on.

Of course, she'll be able to answer many questions from New Hampshire voters this evening when she appears at a CNN town hall in Henniker, New Hampshire. But Brianna, there is no doubt about it. I talked to many Republicans at her event this morning, as well as undeclared voters. They are listening and paying close attention. Of course, he's been campaigning here aggressively as well. But today, he's not in New Hampshire. She has the campaign trail all to herself. Brianna.

KEILAR: we'll be watching to see what she says tonight. Jeff, thank you so much. Jeff Zeleny live for us from Manchester. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton defying the federal government in a standoff at the border. State law enforcement taking the extraordinary step of arresting migrants in one town. Plus CNN sitting down with U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland after the Justice Department releases this scathing 575 page report on the failures surrounding the deadly school shooting in Uvalde.

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SANCHEZ: The state of Texas has just dialled the border battle with the Biden administration up a notch, or several notches. Not only did the state defy a federal order to fully restore border access to U.S. officials, but Texas authorities have begun arresting migrants in Eagle Pass. They posted this video of armed officers handcuffing men and women. The detentions began late last night at Shelby Park, which is at the centre of this border dispute. Hours before those arrests, CNN's Rosa Flores witnessed military officers installing multiple layers of razor wire barriers inside the park. We want to go now live to Eagle Pass and Rosa Flores. So, Rosa, tell us more about these arrests. How many were taken into custody and what exactly were the charges?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, so they're charged with criminal trespassing and I'm waiting on those numbers from Texas DPS to get a better sense of how many migrants were arrested. But I'm waiting on those numbers from Texas DPS to get a better sense of how many migrants were arrested. I want to show you around because Shelby Park is just behind me and I want to show you how migrants actually get into the United States while they're still razor wire deployed. This razor wire was deployed by state authorities and you can see that there are either garments, jackets, and shirts and sometimes blankets that are used by migrants and placed in between this razor wire and to try to protect themselves.

This is how they actually get into the United States. And you can see that there are several layers of razor wire that have been deployed by the state of Texas. But back to those arrests. The state of Texas took over Shelby Park last week. So, it's been a week that they have been deploying extra border barriers at Shelby Park. But it was last night that they started arresting migrants. And according to Texas DPS, they are arresting single adult males and single adult females and charging them with criminal trespassing into Shelby Park. Now, if a migrant family or an unaccompanied migrant child cross into the United States, they are handed over to Border Patrol.

And that shows you just how this relationship between the Biden administration and the state of Texas is so heated and in disarray. Normally, if U.S. Border Patrol had access to that area to enforce federal immigration law, it would be Border Patrol who would be apprehending those individuals and enforcing federal immigration law. But that is not happening right now. And so, Boris, what we're waiting for is for DHS. Now, DHS issued a cease-and-desist order to the state of Texas saying that the state of Texas needed to give U.S. Border Patrol access to Shelby Park and to that area. We're waiting to hear to see what DHS is going to do because the deadline of yesterday that they gave the state of Texas came and went. That deadline has expired.

Texas said it was going to continue holding down the fort here, not going to surrender. And you can see that all this razor, the razor wire is still here. We'll see what DHS at the end of the day does. So, we're waiting for that. Boris, back to you.

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SANCHEZ: Yeah, a showdown likely headed for the Supreme Court. Rosa Flores from Eagle Pass, Texas. Thank you so much. Brianna.

KEILAR: Meantime, we are keeping our eye on the Senate, these live pictures here, because border security is a key part of discussions on Capitol Hill, but there is no room for error as Congress races to avert a partial shutdown by tomorrow. The Senate now voting on that stopgap bill. Let's get straight to CNN's Manu Raju, who is on the Hill. What's the latest here on this spending battle, Manu.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR: Yeah, there's two different tracks. One is to try to keep the government open before Friday at 11.59 p.m., after Congress has punted time and again, kicked the can down the road in trying to fund the federal government. That plan to keep the government open really only until early March is on this track to passage in the Senate at the moment. Right now, 71 votes they've gotten on the floor. They have not officially closed the vote. They only need 60 to advance this plan. So, it has got enough votes. Then it will go over to the House.

We'll get final passage, kicking the can down the road until March. Then there's a separate issue, which is this issue involving emergency aid for Ukraine and to Israel. That is tied up in a part of a negotiation over border security and new immigration policies. Republicans have said there must be tighter restrictions on the border with Mexico before they agree to green light Ukraine aid and Israel aid. And there are signs that senators who have been negotiating for weeks are closing in on an immigration deal. In fact, Senate leaders want to vote on that package as soon as next week, which is adding a lot of urgency to that issue.

Now, there's a new wild card. Donald Trump, the former president, just coming out on social media, railing against anything that is not what he considers a, quote, perfect deal. A sign that he's throwing cold water on these Senate talks. They're trying to reach a compromise on this issue. And I've spent the day talking to many senators, Republicans in particular, about the impact of the former president's comics. And many of them who want an immigration deal are saying it's going to make it harder.

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SEN MIKE BRAUN, (R-IN): I think it's going to weigh in heavily.

RAJU: Will it be harder to get behind a deal if President Trump opposes it?

BRAUN: I think so. I think that you can see the increasing number of senators that have been endorsing President Trump. And it's got the whole, that's not that far away now. The discussion six, eight months ago would be different. So that's going to weigh more heavily as well.

SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): There are some folks without question that don't want to get any solution to a problem because they think that might help the other side. You think Donald Trump has influence on Republicans? Yeah.

REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): I'm encouraging President Trump to oppose the contours of the Senate deal such that I've seen it. As you've pointed out, there isn't legislative text. But what I've seen is, the contours of the deal would constitute titrated amnesty. And I've encouraged President Trump to vocally oppose that.

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RAJU: And then that's exactly what Donald Trump did on social media on Wednesday night. But I should caution, there is still no deal yet. There's also still no legislative text. A lot of the Republicans who are criticizing this have seen pieces of it and they've characterized it in a way that they say that they simply could not support. One of those Republicans, Speaker Mike Johnson, who's thrown cold water on the Senate talks as well. But this would put him in a very difficult position. If the Senate cuts a deal, Senate Republicans vote for it. What will the Speaker do in that situation as they've raised concerns

about doing something on the border? They could potentially do something on the border. But as you heard from Donald Trump, he doesn't want to do something unless he believes it's perfect, raising questions about whether anything can get done.

KEILAR: Yeah, a real wrench in the works there. Manu, thank you for that report. Still ahead, a CNN exclusive with Attorney General Merrick Garland. What he's telling us after a new DOJ report found the police response to the school, shooting in Uvalde, Texas, was a cascading failure.

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