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Supreme Court Temporarily Freezes Controversial Texas Immigration Law; Millions Head To Polls Across U.S. For Super Tuesday Races; Air Force Employee Accused Of Sharing Classified Info On Foreign Data Site. Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired March 05, 2024 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[07:33:50]
SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: On our radar for you this morning, the FAA is investigating this deadly plane crash in Tennessee. Five people were killed when the small plane exploded into flames on the shoulder of Interstate 40 in Nashville. Investigators say the pilot reported engine and power failure and was approved for emergency landing at a nearby airport, but the pilot later told air traffic control they would not make it to the tarmac.
All right. Right now, a massive industrial fire is still burning outside of Detroit. It is creating major concerns about air quality and safety. Officials are urging the public to stay away from the area as they don't know what exactly is burning or the effects of the smoke and air.
Take a look at this video caught by bystanders overnight as the fire created explosions, sending debris flying as far away as a mile.
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Warehouse fire explosions.
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SIDNER: At least three ladder trucks have been on site overnight fighting that blaze.
[07:35:00]
And three NASA astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut have officially boarded the International Space Station this morning. The crew can be seen hugging their fellow space travelers. Wow, that's some hug. That's some entanglement there.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: (Laughing).
SIDNER: Kate, don't start with me.
BOLDUAN: I'm sorry. I just turned and that is a special type of hug. SIDNER: It's a lot.
BOLDUAN: I mean, I guess that's how you hug at the International Space Station. But I turned and that was not what I was expecting to see, Sara.
SIDNER: That might be a bit much at 7:00 in the morning, but whatever.
BOLDUAN: No, never. I mean, that's what we call a koala hug in my house, but --
SIDNER: And by the way, that looks like happiness but there are now 11 people aboard the ISS and that's a lot. The crew member you --
BOLDUAN: We've got to remember that video. That's what we needed.
SIDNER: That's a -- that's a lot of folks.
The members of Crew-8 are expected to remain on the Space Station until the fall and conduct over 200 -- this is important, Kate -- scientific experiments during their stay. But it is going to be crowded and there's going to be a lot of love.
BOLDUAN: I mean, you know one of those experiments is going to get knocked over with an elbow. You just know it's going to go down. They're going to be like here we go. That was billions of dollars. I'm just kidding.
We're going to need to run that later in the show just because that's what we need on a Tuesday morning. Bear hugs, koala hugs. International Space Station hugs.
OK, let's move on.
The Supreme Court has put a pause on a controversial Texas immigration law that was set to take effect just days from now. This is the latest push, really, by the Texas governor and top state officials to crack down on illegal immigration. Essentially, what they're -- basically, what they're trying to do is take matters into their own hands. The law would allow state law enforcement to arrest and detain people that they suspect of entering the country illegally.
CNN's Rosa Flores is tracking all of this from Houston. The Supreme Court saying for the moment, hold on there. So, Rosa, what's happening now?
ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, for now, we wait. But allow me to detour for just a second, Kate, because there is similar news coming out of Arizona. And really, when you look at Arizona and the state of Texas it's night and day when it comes to migration issues. When it comes to what the governor there is doing.
In the state of Arizona, the legislature passed a very similar law to the one here in the state of Texas, but the governor there vetoed it. And, of course, the governor is a Democrat and the governor of the state of Texas is a Republican. So while that measure in Arizona is not moving forward, here in the state of Texas it's still a quagmire when it comes to this fight between the state of Texas and the federal government.
And this is just the latest battle. And let me get you up to speed as to what is happening with this because, over the weekend, the 5th Circuit granted the state of Texas a stay and ordered that this law -- this controversial law go into effect if the Supreme Court didn't act. Well, the Supreme Court acted. It froze this case for now, but if the Supreme Court doesn't move further, then this law would actually go into effect on March 13.
Now, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton taking this as a victory, issuing a statement saying, quote, "SB4 was adopted to address the ongoing crisis at the southern border, which hurts Texans more than anyone else."
Now, the arguments made by the state of Texas in the lower court gives us a sense of what the justices are going to consider. And the main argument by the state of Texas is that the state of Texas is under a, quote, "invasion" by migrants.
Now, the lower court -- the judge there rejected the argument by the state of Texas, saying that migrants crossing the border illegally is not technically a, quote, "invasion." In fact, the lower court upheld precedent, which is that immigration is a federal function.
Now, I want to read you a few excerpts from the lower court judge because it just gives you an idea of his thinking.
First of all, he said, quote, "Surges in immigration do not constitute an 'invasion' within the meaning of the Constitution, nor is Texas engaging in war by enforcing SB4." He goes on to say, "If allowed to proceed, SB4 could open the door to each state passing its own version of immigration laws. SB4 threatens the fundamental notion that the United States must regulate immigration with one voice."
Governor Greg Abbott, of course, disagrees with all of this and he maintains that the -- that the state of Texas has constitutional authority to do all of this.
Now, I can't -- I can't emphasize enough the concern by the Latino community in the state of Texas, which constitutes about 40 percent of the population of the state, because of the consideration that many people believe that this could lead to racial profiling.
And, Kate, that is a very serious issue taken very seriously here in the state of Texas. We're just going to have to see what happens as this goes through the courts -- Kate.
BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Rosa, thank you so much for the reporting.
Let's go back out to Colorado now on this Super Tuesday. John Berman is there.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: It is a Super Tuesday. We've now seen six cars -- six voters drive up and put their ballots in that drop box right behind me -- one of 400 drop boxes that operate 24 hours a day here.
[07:40:05]
So as we said, the polls are open. In-person voting here in Colorado begins in about 90 minutes.
In Virginia, the Commonwealth of Virginia, polls have been open for more than an hour now -- one of the other Super Tuesday states we are, of course, watching very closely.
And joining us now is the Democratic senator from the Commonwealth of Virginia, Sen. Tim Kaine. Senator, thank you so much for being with us this morning. I imagine you're a little warmer than I am standing here outside in Colorado.
When Donald Trump went to visit your state and campaign in your state you put out a tweet that noted that you think Donald Trump threatens the core of democracy. How?
SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA): By threatening an independent judiciary. By threatening free press. By attacking his opponents, both Democrats and Republicans. By threatening professional civil service and stating his plan to turn the civil service into a bunch of loyalists -- political loyalists rather than people who will focus on serving constituents.
And he is the man who fomented the attack on the Capitol on January 6 because he couldn't admit that he lost and he was willing to help encourage violence to try to block the peaceful transfer of power.
Donald Trump has shown America who he is. He's going to be every bit the same individual and probably worse, and that's why it's so important that we rally around Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and make sure that Donald Trump loses.
BERMAN: In his new profile in The New Yorker, Evan Osnos interviewed President Biden. And Evan thinks that President Biden agrees with you that a central issue, if not the central issue to this campaign is democracy and are the threats to democracy.
My question, though, is to what extent do you think people sitting around their kitchen table having breakfast this morning are talking about threats to democracy as opposed to the economy or the border? How important do you think that issue is?
KAINE: Um, John, what we saw in 2022 was a lot of people predicted it was going to be a horrible midterm for Democrats. It wasn't. And in 2023, we, in Virginia, had elections in our state legislature and Democrats won both houses of the legislature even though we have a Republican governor.
And my belief is Democrats' performance in 2022 and 2023 was because of people's worry about democracy, people's worry about their rights being taken away in the aftermath of the Dobbs decision, and those led Democrats to do very well. I do also think the economy is very, very important. I spent all day
yesterday in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia talking to small businesses and hearing their stories of survival through COVID and what's happening since.
But you see unemployment down, jobs up -- manufacturing jobs up. Inflation coming down. GDP and the stock market up. And the U.S. economy recovering out of COVID better than any other industrialized nation. We're not where we need to be yet. People still have concerns about inflation and prices. But I think the economic news has been positive for a long time and in Virginia, people are starting to see that.
So these are all issues that are very important, but I think they are issues that will give us a tailwind as Democrats going into the 2024 election cycle.
BERMAN: In that New Yorker profile, President Biden noted -- he goes, "I am the only one who has beat" -- those were his words -- "I am the only one who has beat Donald Trump." And I don't think he was saying that as any kind of criticism to you or Hillary Clinton who were on the ticket in 2016. He was just noting he is the one who beat Donald Trump. And he thinks -- because he says this to people -- that he is the only one who can beat him now.
Do you think that President Biden is the only one who could defeat Donald Trump in 2024?
KAINE: You know, John, I actually recall Joe Biden saying something different. He says he thinks there are many people who can beat Donald Trump but he is the only one who has beaten Donald Trump and he'll do it again.
I think there are a number of fantastic public servants -- governors, senators, mayors, House members -- who could beat Donald Trump. But Joe Biden and Kamala Harris did and they have racked up significant achievements in the 2 1/2, three years that they've been in office.
You see NATO expanding. I'm in Norfolk today, which is one of where three -- one of the three NATO headquarters in the world. We see NATO expanding with Sweden and Finland joining, demonstrating the importance of democratic alliances.
And obviously, there's a clear choice between a president who knows how to link arms with allies and one who has threatened to leave NATO and let it collapse. One who has threatened -- not threatened, cozied up to Vladimir Putin and suggested that authoritarians like him and Viktor Orban are fine with Donald Trump.
[07:45:00]
And so, no. I think -- I think Joe Biden has demonstrated that he'll beat Donald Trump and he's going to beat him again.
BERMAN: Obviously, age is a concern for a lot of voters here. Paul Begala, on our show yesterday, noted one of the things President Biden -- it's not an issue of pivoting to the left or the center; he can't pivot to being 45 years old again.
So at the State of the Union address, which is Thursday night, what do you think the president needs to prove to the American people?
KAINE: Um, I think that the State of the Union is a great opportunity to show a president that is in command of the very complex issues facing our country domestically and the very complicated and tough issues around the world.
Remember, the president did that last year. He was giving the State of the Union and he started to talk about Social Security and the Republicans' efforts to undermine programs like Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare. And the Republicans interrupted his speech and kind of booed at the suggestion that they would jeopardize these programs. And then he freelanced and said, oh great, so you're with these programs? And let's join together in saving them.
I think you might see some moments like that Thursday night where the president --
BERMAN: Um-hum.
KAINE: -- will get peppered a little bit from some of the Republicans in the audience and he'll respond in a -- in a sharp, humorous, and together way that'll show the American people that he's in command of the situation.
BERMAN: Finally, Senator, if you'll allow me, there's been all these new studies out about people with long COVID and how people are still struggling with some of the symptoms --
KAINE: Yeah.
BERMAN: -- and after effects of when they had it more than a year ago -- two years ago. I know you've been dealing with long COVID. I'm just wondering how you're feeling and what it's like every day for you.
KAINE: John, thank you for asking me. I got COVID four years ago in March of 2020 -- almost exactly four years ago. And I had a mild case and it was over pretty quickly. But I had one symptom that flicked on like a light switch and has never flicked off, which is every nerve ending feels like it's dipped in an Alka-Seltzer. And this is all over my body 24/7. It's never gone away.
It hasn't gotten worse. I can work. I can exercise. I can focus. But it's annoying. And particularly, when I want to go to sleep at the end of the day, as you imagine, you're trying to clear your mind and get some rest.
This nerve-tingling phenomenon is bizarre but thank God it's something I can manage. An awful lot of people who have long COVID have much more serious symptoms. And I'm trying to use my role on the health committee in the Senate to do research and focus on the development of treatments.
BERMAN: Well, every time I speak to you I like to ask you about that, and you're still dealing with that. That is something. Thank you for being willing to talk about it.
Thank you for talking to us this morning, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia -- Kate, Sara.
KAINE: All right, John. Good luck today. Thanks so much.
SIDNER: Thank you, John. And just like the senator said, good luck out there, John.
All right. He once served as a lieutenant colonel in the Army. He is now accused of sharing classified information on a foreign dating website. We'll have details on this new case.
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[07:52:32]
BOLDUAN: An Air Force employee now charged with sharing classified secrets on a foreign dating site. The man, also a retired Army lieutenant colonel, is accused of passing along information about the war in Ukraine to someone claiming to be a woman in Ukraine.
CNN's Katie Bo Lillis has the details on this. Katie Bo, I had to read just the headline to this a few times to really grasp what really is going on here. Please tell us.
KATIE BO LILLIS, CNN REPORTER: Yeah, Kate. So, according to the Justice Department, this man, David Franklin Slater, a 63-year-old civilian employee of the military command in Nebraska that is actually in charge of America's nuclear arsenal, was in the early days of 2022 engaged in an online relationship on a foreign data website with a person who was claiming to be a woman inside Ukraine.
Now, as this was going on -- this is sort of the early days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Slater was receiving classified briefings about the Russian invasion. At the same time, this online relationship of his -- this person claiming to be a Ukrainian woman was trying to kind of wheedle information out of him not just about what the United States knew about Russia's plans for the invasion of Ukraine, but also what NATO and U.S. plans were to try to counter the invasion.
And she's sort of flattering him and she's doing this -- she's calling him my secret love, my secret agent, my secret informant love. And she's sort of pushing him to try to provide her information -- classified information that he was learning from his briefings and from his access to classified materials at work. Now, these are -- which he was -- according to the Justice Department, which he was actually doing. He was actually passing this information to her, the Justice Department alleges in these charges.
So these are some pretty serious allegations. He now faces up to three decades in prison as well as potential fines of $750,000.
And it comes at a moment where the U.S. government is increasingly aware of and concerned about the number of classified -- people with access to classified information also on different social media accounts.
BOLDUAN: Yeah. I mean, just a completely different case. Just big developments with Jack Teixeira just yesterday and now this coming out.
It's great to see you, Katie Bo. Thank you so much for the reporting -- Sara.
SIDNER: All right.
Right now, officials are warning gangs control most of Haiti's capital. The U.S. Embassy remains open this morning but with limited operations despite surging gang violence and mass prison breaks. Protesters have been in the streets demanding the ouster of the country's Prime Minister Ariel Henry. His whereabouts are currently unclear.
[07:55:14]
CNN's David Culver traveled to Port-au-Prince to see how gangs have put a stranglehold on the entire capital city.
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DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So we're like a block away?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, about a block.
CULVER (voice-over): It's as close as we can get driving, so we layer up and walk.
CULVER: Oh, yeah. You can already smell it. Wow, look at people just still making their commute as tires are burning right in the middle of the street here.
CULVER: No police barricade. No firefighters. Most seemingly unphased. These flames have been burning for several hours. Haiti has been engulfed in turmoil for years.
PROTESTERS: (Speaking foreign language).
CULVER: "We don't have a home to live in. We don't have food to eat." That's what they're shouting.
CULVER (voice-over): Many here now fear their country is on the brink of exploding.
CULVER: Does it feel safe right now?
JUNOT SAMEDI, PROTESTER: No, no, no.
CULVER: It doesn't?
SAMEDI: No, it doesn't. My country is broken right now. CULVER (voice-over): These folks blame the current government and
Prime Minister Ariel Henry, appointed following the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in 2021. They want Henry to go but he says he's not yet ready to step down.
This, as panicked street shoutouts like this one have become a near- daily occurrence. It's often a clash between police and the gangs, which have essentially taken Haiti hostage. They flaunt their weapons and wealth on TikTok threatening police and basking in lawlessness --
Many residents now living behind barricades.
CULVER: This is not the gangs doing this; this is the folks that live in these neighborhoods who are putting these up to prevent gangs from coming in and kidnapping.
CULVER (voice-over): -- using whatever might stop or slow the kidnappers. Efforts to protect families and preserve innocence. That innocence shattered for others.
This 14-year-old says he was recruited by a gang at 11. He tells me he's often forced to burn the bodies of those killed by other gang members.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
CULVER (voice-over): "I want to change my way of life," he says with a heavy look of shame.
At an early morning food distribution we meet dozens of women who have felt the wrath of gang violence. At times, we notice a lost stare in their eyes.
CULVER: All of them have been there so there's nobody here who has not been a victim.
CULVER (voice-over): This woman's sister shot and killed. This one's husband burned alive inside their home. This woman tells us that she was raped. She shows us the marks left behind.
In recent months, gangs have seized more and more control over this country, including the roads leading to Port-au-Prince. Officials estimate that gangs now control as much as 80 percent of the capital. Even the U.S. Embassy and international airport are mostly surrounded by rival gang territories.
It's led the Haitian National Police to create an undercover unit. We go with them to the front lines.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This unit actually goes into gang areas and looks for gang members and fights them.
CULVER (voice-over): The officers ask us not to reveal our exact location, and they tell us to work quickly given we're standing exposed on a windy hillside. CULVER: As police have described it to me, basically everything behind me is occupied by the gangs. It's under their control. There are homes all around us. We're standing on the foundation of one home that had been abandoned.
CULVER (voice-over): They offer to drive us closer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And you can see they're getting ready.
CULVER: Yes. Our driver is all geared up now ready for potential gunfire to come our way.
Stay away from the windows as we come in here. They describe this as the last defensive point. And beyond here is what they consider to be their front lines.
CULVER (voice-over): From here he can see the battlefield. No signs of any suspected gang members for now.
Police are not the only ones trying to gain the upper hand here. In a fractured state, alternatives to the gangs and government surface.
We're headed to meet a commander of BSAP, Haiti's armed environmental protection agency that has splintered from the Henry government, challenging its legitimacy. We pull up to a gated compound. The man in the purple shirt leads us in. He then changes into his BSAP uniform. It's the commander. He's in hiding from police. His message echoes the anti-government protesters.
ODRIC OCTINA, INSPECTOR, BRIGADE FOR THE SECURITY OF PROTECTED AREAS (BSAP): (Speaking foreign language).
CULVER (voice-over): He flexes BSAP's strength in numbers and its potential to help bring stability. But when it comes to his own family --
CULVER: You mentioned you have four kids. What do you think their future is in this country?
CULVER (voice-over): He fears their future is best served leaving Haiti.
The desperation is felt beyond Port-au-Prince in places like Jeremie. The U.N. chopper is the safest way to get there. It's about an hour ride.
