Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Campuses Nationwide on Edge After Protests Turn Violent at UCLA; Florida's Six-Week Abortion Ban Takes Effect; Weinstein in Court Today After Conviction Overturned. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired May 01, 2024 - 07:00   ET

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

KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Being involved in politics is a way to make change, and I think that's an honorable thing to advocate for.

[07:00:05]

DAVID URBAN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Joe Biden isn't out today on television with a strong statement behind, official statement someplace. People don't see him, he's losing today. Today's a very big day. You don't see Biden out forcefully saying, this is bad, I got to condemn this. Country looks out of control, he looks weak. Loser for him today.

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It does underscore the very real challenges the president has inside his own party as he faces re-election. Thank you all for joining us on this Wednesday morning. Thanks to our panel for being here. I'm Kasie Hunt.

Don't go anywhere. CNN News Central starts right now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Violence erupting on UCLA's campus, fights, fireworks, pepper spray, the works, rival protest groups clashing the LAPD now on the scene.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: As of this morning, a near total ban on abortion in Florida after six weeks, it is in effect while one doctor says it feels like a punch to the gut.

And Donald Trump on the campaign trail today, will he break the court- imposed gag order now that a judge told him he faces jail time if he does?

I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan and Sarah Sidner. This is CNN News Central.

BOLDUAN: We do continue to follow breaking news universities across the country right now are on edge as tensions escalating still and multiple campuses right now and also turning violent and at least one. Police confronting protesters at the University of Arizona, also at Tulane in Louisiana, and there were wild scenes at UCLA overnight and still it's playing out this morning, rival protest groups going after each other. We've been watching it all morning and right now the LAPD is on the scene. Rows of officers, you see some video there, lined up to try and calm things down. But earlier, we want to show you a different perspective some different video this is what was happening, fights breaking out after university officials declared a pro-Palestinian encampment there unlawful and counter-protesters then showed up. L.A.'s mayor this morning is calling the violence that erupted, quote, absolutely abhorrent and inexcusable.

Now, let's go to New York at Columbia University, nearly a hundred people were taken into police custody after you see that -- look at these videos -- after police moved in to clear out that academic building that been seized and vandalized by protesters for some 20 hours.

Sara is at Columbia University again this morning. Sara, what do you see and what do you hear in there?

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Look, a crackdown here on Columbia University, the scene much different than yesterday. There is a much larger police presence surrounding the university as well as barricades that weren't here yesterday. Why? Because, overnight, police stormed into the building just to my right, Hamilton Hall, from many different entry points, from windows, doors, breaking into the school to try to get the pro-Palestinian protesters who had broken in and were inside occupying the building out. They did that. Dozens of arrests here as well as at City College, up to 100 people have been arrested between the two campuses.

Now, while this scene is starting to calm down here, in Los Angeles at UCLA campus, police are in riot gear, they are on the scene as we speak, because there, overnight, it appeared Palestinian protesters in the encampment were being attacked by pro-Israeli counter-protesters, and violence ensued. We now know that there are police in right here on the ground and someone.

Who is there watching all of this happen, our Stephanie Elam, there live for us at UCLA. Stephanie, can you give me some sense, if you can hear me, of what you're seeing this morning as the police presence grows?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. What we're seeing now, Sara, is very different than what we were seeing on campus overnight with, some of those visuals of seeing fireworks being thrown and the counter-protesters and protesters going at each other.

I want to show you this over here just because right now we can see this group of people. I believe they were just pushed out of the -- they were pushed out from inside the encampment, law enforcement now making this line here that you can see. And these are law enforcement officers from different agencies locally, CHPS, some Beverly Hills Police, I see LAPD. So, they're all here and they've been making this line. They're holding this line now. And as I can see now, they're also starting to build up this barricade here.

What we saw overnight was very different. I can tell you that we did hear some chanting not so long ago within the last hour but that chanting seems to have stopped now.

[07:05:04]

It does seem that the energy has changed here compared to what it looked like overnight when it was just devolving, and it just seemed like there was just different sides going at each other.

And, again, we're not clear on what caused everything to degrade in the way that it did overnight. I was out here all day yesterday. And you saw some people yelling at each other that it was nothing of anything to the scale that we've seen at other campuses. What happened from then to overnight, not clear, what led to the agitation that we saw overnight here, the breaking down of the barriers.

And one thing I also want to explain to you is just how they've done it here. Where we are standing if you're familiar with UCLA's campus would be closer to the eastern side of the city. This side, it would be the pro-Israeli demonstrators. Once you go beyond that there is a barricade and then there's a walkway that they have barricaded and you see security in there and then another wall of barricade and on that other side is where you would see that encampment of the pro- Palestinian supporters.

So, they tried to keep people apart from both sides. And every now and then you would see a flare up. You see people yelling at each other over those barriers yesterday. But what we saw in the last few hours is a much more aggressive posture.

But I can tell you now on campus police officers, law enforcement officers are all around here and it does seem that there's a forced move to keep people away from the center of this encampment and keep pushing people further and further out here. Sara?

SIDNER: Stephanie, you have been watching this whole thing unfold for days now. Thank you so much to you and your photographer there giving us the scene of what is happening on UCLA, and if anything changes, we will certainly be getting back to you throughout the hour. I appreciate it.

Joining me now is Anna Dai-Liu. She is a reporter for the school newspaper, the Daily Bruin. And can you give me some sense, were you out last night, or what can you tell me about what happened last night and how the violence ended up happening if it was one side being attacked by the other?

ANNA DAI-LIU, SCIENCE AND HEALTH EDITOR, DAILY BRUIN: Yes. So, the counter-protester activity here at UCLA has been a sort of constant throughout the days encampment has existed. There was some activity earlier today, but I would say a little before 11:00 P.M. last night, all of a sudden, many more people appeared.

And so they began pushing into the barricades. I was out there a few minutes after this began. And I would say around 11:00, fireworks were fired, tear gas was sprayed. We have reporters who were gassed and reporters who were assaulted. So, it has been a rather chaotic day of events at UCLA. We're not quite sure either as to how it escalated to this degree. It's not something that we obviously have seen yet on campus, but it is definitely violent in ways that previous demonstrations by the counter-protesters weren't.

Our sense is that we are hearing from sources on the ground that it was largely one-sided. It's a bit difficult for us to ascertain, obviously, among the chaos that is still going on, but that is what sources told us, and we're still not clear as to the exact difference that unfolded over the past few hours.

SIDNER: Okay. So, you said there were fireworks that were fired. You said that there was tear gas. And we should be clear, that wasn't the police. This is between the counter-protesters and the pro-Palestinian protesters and the pro-Israeli protesters on the other side.

Can you give me a sense? You said that your reporters were also gassed and also faced some violence. Which side? Were they inside the encampment or was this on the pro-Israeli side, the counter-protester side?

DAI-LIU: We were all standing on the counter-protesters side. It's currently unclear as to who released the tear gas. There's also been reports of pepper spray and bear spray. As of the moment, it's very difficult for us to confirm which sides these sprays are coming from. Although we're hearing it's more from the counter-protesters side, but we have not been allowed into the encampment since it began. So, we were all reporting from outside.

SIDNER: Okay. Let me also ask you about -- you said that a group of people appeared and it was something a little bit different than what you've been seeing on a daily basis since the encampment began as far as the counter-protest was coming on. Did it appear that these were students that came together? I noticed -- can you tell me sort of what kind of weapons were used? I noticed it looked like there were potentially some pipes or something that were being hit at the counter-protesters. Can you give me a sense of who this group is or if you know who this group is?

DAI-LIU: Yes. It's obviously very difficult for us to confirm whether or not there are students. Students obviously come from a range of ages and backgrounds.

[07:10:00]

So, it's difficult for us to confirm. We do know for sure that there are non-UCLA students, community members who are present, that they have been present at previous counter-protester events as well.

There have been reports of pipes, as I mentioned. I believe people were hit in the head, reports of tasers potentially. I'm not too sure on that yet, but I have seen video footage. And I'm not sure what other weapons have been around. I just know it has been a lot of hitting, physical contact violence.

SIDNER: Anna Dai-Liu, just one more question. Do you expect with the police presence on campus today that this encampment will be cleared out? Is that what you're hearing? DAI-LIU: It's rather difficult for us to decide. We were told that police would not intervene until things, unless things became violent, obviously that happened today. It is very difficult for us to know. And we have not heard anything from the university or the U.C. as of yet.

SIDNER: Okay. Anna Dai-Liu, thank you so much there, reported for the school newspaper, the Daily Bruin. Joining us as well as our Stephanie Elam, who is still on the scene where there is an active police presence on the UCLA campus after violence broke out overnight between counter-protesters and pro-Palestinian protesters.

Here at Columbia, there is still a scene here with the heavy police presence around the school. We will bring you updates as soon as we get them. And I'll toss it back to you, John.

BERMAN: All right. Thanks so much, Sara. Florida's six-week abortion ban goes into effect this morning. We've got new reporting on the impact on women today and what President Biden just said about abortion and Donald Trump.

And Harvey Weinstein back in court today for the first time since his New York rape conviction was overturned. We've got details on what a new trial could look like.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:15:00]

BERMAN: All right. This was moments ago at UCLA in Los Angeles. You can see people still standing around those barriers there. There have been violent clashes between police and protesters, and among some of the protesters overnight. We continue to watch that throughout the morning.

In the meantime, Floridians are waking up to a new reality, a near- total ban on abortion in the state after six weeks. The law goes into effect today. Now, six weeks is before many women even know they're pregnant.

CNN Medical Correspondent Meg Tirrell is in Jacksonville, Florida this morning. What are you seeing so far, Meg?

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, it's a very quiet morning outside an abortion clinic here in Jacksonville, Florida. This clinic was telling us they were scheduling two to four times as many patients over the last couple days as they normally would schedule leading up to this new law taking effect that brings the limit on abortion in Florida down to six weeks from what had been 15 weeks.

Now, when we got here yesterday morning, this parking lot was completely full. Of course, it is before 8:00 A.M., so many people are not in offices yet here, but it is expected to be a much quieter day.

This is going to be a dramatic shift for the state of Florida, where about 7,000 abortions took place per month throughout 2023. That's about one in 12 of abortions nationwide and one in three across the south.

We spoke with a patient yesterday here at this clinic who was in the process of getting a medication abortion. She was comfortable only sharing her first name, Candace, and showing her hands on camera. She's already the mother of two. Here's what she said about the effects of this ban on her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CANDACE, FLORIDA ABORTION CLINIC PATIENT: You know I feel relieved I'm able to get in and I feel lucky that right now I do have a voice and I have a right over my own body. But waking up tomorrow is devastating knowing that my daughter and myself are waking up tomorrow with less rights than we do today. It's devastating.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TIRRELL: Now, this has an impact not just on Florida, but really across the south, because a lot of people from states with stricter laws had traveled to Florida to access abortion and increasing numbers since the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, increasing to more than or approximating 8,000 last year who traveled across state lines to Florida.

Now, the closest states that will have accessible abortion beyond six weeks will be North Carolina, where it's available up to 12 weeks, or Virginia, for accessibility after that. So, really, this change here in Florida affecting the entire region. Guys?

BERMAN: It is a huge change for people that they are facing this morning. And the reality for women there different all of a sudden than it was yesterday.

Meg Terrell, thank you very much for that. Kate?

BOLDUAN: So, Harvey Weinstein is back in court now after his sex crimes conviction in New York was vacated. We've got details on what's about to happen.

And we're continuing to follow what's happening at campuses across the country, especially in California. Police were on the scene after violent clashes between protesters at UCLA overnight. More than 200 protesters now arrested in New York. We're live at Columbia University.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

BOLDUAN: All right. We are showing you can get more live pictures out of UCLA in these early morning hours out west. Violence erupted between rival protest groups overnight that became violent clashes. Now, police, LAPD is on the scene trying to calm things down and to settle things down.

We're going to continue to monitor this as this is definitely going to develop throughout this morning today.

At the very same time, we're watching this, disgraced and convicted former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein is expected in a New York courtroom today. It was just last week. An appeals court vacated his sex crimes conviction, and now the Manhattan district attorney's office says it's going to take him to trial once again.

CNN's Jean Casarez is outside the courthouse. And, Jean, after the shock of the New York conviction being overturned last week, what's expected to happen today in court?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, I think the big question is, are they actually going to retry this case again? Because their actual words were, we are going to do everything in our power to retry this case again.

So, is that a yes? Is that a maybe? Is that a no? They could announce this in the courtroom today their intentions, and if so, the judge could actually start to lay out a discovery schedule to proceed to trial again.

But it was the highest court in New York that determined there was abuse of discretion in this case by the trial judge that a defendant, Harvey Weinstein in this circumstance, had this cloak of innocence as a presumption of innocence. But so much was let into the trial that by the time he got to the jury for the consideration, he didn't have that cloak of innocence anymore.

[07:25:06]

Now, the major conviction here in New York was sexual act in the first degree, and the prosecution witness was Mimi Haley. She was that accuser that said, he sexually assaulted me. She spoke out after the verdict was overturned about coming back to this courthouse and doing it all over again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIMI HALEY, TESTIFIED AGAINST HARVEY WEINSTEIN: people really don't know what I had to go through and what the other women had to go through in preparation for this and all the fears surrounding it and all the different things. It's like insane. Like it's grueling. It's hard. You're living in fear for years. This whole process took years. And then you're getting harassed. I wish it was as easy as going, sure, I'm going to do it again, but it's like, wow, you have no idea.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: Very difficult decision. Harvey Weinstein will be in that courtroom today. He was brought up from Mohawk institutional facilities in upstate New York on Friday. He actually went to Bellevue Hospital for some medical issues, but attorneys for Harvey Weinstein say he is expected in this courtroom at 2:15 this afternoon.

BOLDUAN: Jean, thank you so much for the update. Jean Casarez will be there for us. John? BERMAN: All right. We are watching the UCLA campus. These are live pictures right now. Violent clashes there overnight. We'll get an update on the situation this morning.

And then Donald Trump, in his own words, will not disavow violence if he loses the election again. How will he address the new comments on the campaign trail today?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: All right. We are here continuing with our breaking news this morning, police here surrounding Columbia University in larger numbers than yesterday after they went into Hamilton Hall, the police going in in several different areas to take pro-Palestinian protesters occupying that building out, dozens of arrests here.

But we also have been watching the protests happening as we speak right now on the UCLA campus where overnight violence erupted there. And now there is a huge police presence with multiple different agencies on campus there. The university saying that the encampment is unlawful. We will see what happens in the next few minutes and go live to UCLA as well.

But, first, we are joined by our John Miller. He is our law enforcement and intelligence analyst, a senior analyst for us.

[07:30:02]

John, can you give me some sense, first of all, of how this happens? Because as I understand it, the police cannot just come on to.