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Scheffler Arrested and Charged with Felony; Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) is Interviewed about Fighting in Congress; Looking at Alzheimer's. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired May 17, 2024 - 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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[09:31:11]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, the breaking news, the world's number one golfer, Scottie Scheffler, is out of custody after he was detained early this morning and charged with four crimes, including felony assault of a police officer. This is all happening in Kentucky where Scheffler is playing in the PGA championship, one of golf's majors. This is one of golf's biggest moments of the year. An ESPN reporter was there when Scheffler was being placed in handcuffs. ESPN reports Scheffler was driving on the median around police vehicles when he was stopped.

CNN's Carolyn Manno back with us with new details.

Carolyn, what are you learning now?

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, he's been released on his own recognizance and he's arrived back to the clubhouse. All signs at the moment would point to him playing today just after 10:00. Normally, players would start to warm up on the range about an hour before their tee time. Right now, I just spoke with our producer on-site who says that at the moment Scheffler is still in the clubhouse.

But these charges, most notably the felony for second-degree assault on an officer, runs so counter to everything that we know about the world's number one golfer. I mean Scheffler is clean cut, not easily rattled, a stand-up guy. His attorney called this a miscommunication just a short time ago. These are the first public comments that we've heard from his side. He said that Scheffler had the right credentials. He was proceeding as he had been instructed to do to enter the premises.

You mentioned ESPN's Jeff Darlington, who reported all of this. He says that Scheffler attempted to drive past police officers this morning into Valhalla Golf Club and that one of the police officers attached himself to the vehicle at one point in an effort to get Scheffler to stop, and that Scheffler proceeded about another ten yards when he did finally stopped. Darlington said that Scheffler exited the vehicle. The police officer shoved him against the car, immediately placed him in handcuffs. And you saw that video showing him walking slowly, cooperating with officers when he was handcuffed to be detained.

And just for context, I know you guys have gone over this already. There was that serious and separate incident at 5:00 a.m. this morning that caused PGA championship organizers to delay the start of the second round. A man was killed in the early morning hours near the course. He was struck by a shuttle bus. So that incident impacted traffic. It increased police presence. And then this incident involving Scheffler occurred about an hour after that. That happened at five. Scheffler was arrested at six. So, it does stand to reason that that disturbance ultimately affected his ability to get where he was going.

But the public shuttles through the course have resumed play. Play has also resumed. There is significant rain in the area. That could impact things. But, like you mentioned, Scheffler's original tee times scheduled for 8:48. It was moved to just after 10:00 a.m. So now, in total, he's facing these four charges following his arrest. You have the felony, which is the big one, and then these lesser charges of third degree criminal mischief, reckless driving, disregarding signals from officers directing traffic.

Now we wait, John, to see whether or not he's going to tee off within the next 45 minutes or so. And remember, this does seemingly standard to reason that this was something of a physical altercation here with him being detained and placed in cuffs. So, we'll see how he's feeling mentally and also physically.

BERMAN: Yes, we're just getting word, Carolyn, he's actually walking to the range, I think the practice range, with his clubs right now. So clearly he does intend to play. Still a lot of unanswered questions here.

Carolyn Manno, thank you for the update there.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, as you see here, bless this mess is one way to put it. You could also just ask the question today, can it reach any lower. A House committee hearing loses control in a whole new way. One of the members of that committee will be joining us about this from last night.

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REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): Can you please calm down?

REP. JASMINE CROCKETT (D-TX): Don't tell me to calm down.

GREENE: Calm down.

CROCKETT: Because y'all talk noise -

GREENE: Please, calm down.

CROCKETT: And then you can't take it.

GREENE: You're out of control.

CROCKETT: Because if I comment -

GREENE: Let's - chairman, can we (INAUDIBLE) take a break for five minutes.

CROCKETT: If I comment (EXPLETIVE DELETED) about her, y'all going to have a problem.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Chairman -

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[09:39:24]

BOLDUAN: So, likely one of the wildest committee hearings in a long time, and that is, of course, saying a lot for this Congress. House members attacking each other over fake eyelashes, bleach, blonde hair, and more.

It happened last night in the House Oversight Committee as they met to vote on whether to advance contempt proceedings against Attorney General Merrick Garland. A note on that, the hearing was pushed back to allow the committee's Republican members to attend Donald Trump's criminal trial in New York earlier in the day.

Back to the hearing. The mess ensued when Congressman Marjorie Taylor Greene went on a riff about the judge in Trump's hush money case. The topic having nothing to do with why the committee was meeting.

[09:40:02]

Democratic Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett called her out. And then this happened.

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REP. JAMINE CROCKETT (R-TX): Do you know what we're here for? You know we're here about AG Garland (INAUDIBLE) the president.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just to -

REP. MARJORIE TALYOR GREENE (R-GA): I don't think you know what you're here for.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A point of - point of order.

CROCKETT: Well, you the one talking about - (INAUDIBLE).

GREENE: I think your fake eyelashes are messing up what you're reading.

CROCKETT: No, ain't nothing -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold on. Hold on.

CROCKETT: Listen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Order.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Chairman, would you please regain order of your committee.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's beneath even you, Ms. Greene. That's beneath even you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Order. Order.

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): I do have a point of order and I would like to move to - to take down Ms. Greens' words.

That is absolutely unacceptable. How dare you attack the physical appearance of another person.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Meeting will suspend. Meeting will suspend.

GREENE: Are your feelings hurt?

OCASIO-CORTEZ: Move her words down.

GREENE: Awe.

OCASIO-CORTEZ: Oh - oh, girl. Baby girl.

GREENE: Oh, really.

OCASIO-CORTEZ: Don't even play.

GREENE: Baby girl? I don't think so.

OCASIO-CORTEZ: We're going to - we are going to move and we're going to take your words down. (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I second that motion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: So the committee then took a short break. Maybe to, you know, calm things down, or not, and then returned to this.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That Ms. Greene agrees to strike her words.

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): I believe she should apologize.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The char recognizes -

OCASIO-CORTEZ: No, no, no, she should apologize.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The chair - OK, hold on. Then, after Mr. Perry (ph) is going to be recognized, and then Ms. Greene still has four minutes and 21 seconds.

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): I'm not apologizing.

OCASIO-CORTEZ: Well, then, you're not striking your words.

GREENE: I am not apologizing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, reserve the right to object.

(INAUDIBLE), Mr. Perry.

Now, let's (INAUDIBLE). Come on, guys.

GREENE: Why don't you debate me?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Chairman, the - the minority -

OCASIO-CORTEZ: I think it's going to be self-evident.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, the chair - you're not - you're out of order.

GREENE: Yes, you're not - you don't have enough intelligence.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're out of order.

The chair recognizes Mr. Perry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, move to strike the - I move to strike the lady's words.

OCASIO-CORTEZ: I'd like to strike those words as well.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I move to strike those words.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Order.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I move to strike the lady's words again.

OCASIO-CORTEZ: That's two requests to strike. That's two requests to strike.

GREENE: Oh, they cannot take the words.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If there's another -

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: And then the fight continued over what kind of insults were allowed in committee or not. And that is when Congresswoman Crockett said this.

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REP. JASMINE CROCKETT (D-TX): I'm just curious, just to better understand your ruling, if someone on this committee then starts talking about somebody's bleach-blonde, bad built butch body, that would not be engaging in personalities, correct?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A what now?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Chairman, I make a - I make a motion to strike those words.

CROCKETT: I'm trying to (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't - I don't think that's a part of the -

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hold on.

CROCKETT: I'm trying to find clarification on what qualifies -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't - I have no idea what you just said.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Chairman, motion to strike those words.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're not going to - we're not going to do this. Look, you guys, earlier, literally just -

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You just - you just voted to do it. You just voted to do it.

CROCKETT: (INAUDIBLE) I'm trying to get clarification.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Order. Order. OK.

CROCKETT: Margorie, I'm trying to get clarification.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look at - calm down. Calm down.

CROCKETT: No. No, no, no, because this is what y'all do.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would like (INAUDIBLE) proceeding (ph).

CROCKETT: So, I'm trying to get clarification -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, Ms. Crockett, you're not recognized.

CROCKETT: Because y'all want to play games with me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ms. Crockett.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't hear you with your yelling.

CROCKETT: And you don't want me to be -

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Calm down.

CROCKETT: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you please calm down?

CROCKETT: No, don't tell me to calm down.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Calm down.

CROCKETT: Because y'all talk noise -

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you calm down?

CROCKETT: And then you can't take it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're out of control.

CROCKETT: Because if I comment -

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE), Chairman, can we (INAUDIBLE) take a break for five minutes.

CROCKETT: If I comment some (EXPLETIVE DELETED) about her, y'all going to have a problem.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Chairman.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: And joining us right now is a member of that committee, Democratic Congressman Jared Moskowitz of Florida.

Congressman, I mean, I've played a - I m going to call it a summation, but you were there. What happened last night?

REP. JARED MOSKOWITZ (D-FL): Well, I mean, it was like - it was, you know, Oversight after dark, Oversight unplugged. We - we're a little bit better at 11 in the morning. But, you know, at 8:00 p.m. I guess just we can't - all hell breaks loose.

I mean, listen, you know why the hearing was moved. They moved the hearing so members could go to New York and snuggle with Donald Trump in the courtroom to keep him warm, because he's very chilly in the courtroom. They're keeping it cold and purpose.

And so they literally moved this hearing to hold Merrick Garland in contempt for what? They turned over the transcript, which is what they asked for. They turned over all the corresponding documents for what they asked for. Robert Hur, the special prosecutor, came here, testified. He said there was no interference from DOJ or Merrick Garland. And now they want an audio tape, which they know, by the way, is against DOJ policy. We're still waiting for the audio tape from Dick Cheney in the Valerie Plame case because the DOJ doesn't release audio tapes, OK?

And this is just a distraction from their failed impeachment of Joe Biden, which isn't going to happen.

But look, you know, you know, Marjorie Taylor Greene, you know, miss motion to vacate. How's that going, Marj, if you're watching? I mean she's just here, obviously, to do this stuff. She raises money off of it. This is why gerrymandering is bad. If you want to know why gerrymandering is bad, just watch last night. She's the most unproductive member of Congress. We wouldn't let her name a post office. She has no friends here. And to go and attack Jasmine Crockett like that is totally out of order, was uncalled for. But she does it on purpose.

BOLDUAN: Speaking of fundraising. You actually were reading off a fundraising email that the chairman had put out at one point in the hearing. Comer looked confused for at least part of this insanity. I mean we played part of it. There were - I mean there was a lot of people talking. Did he - did he get what was going on? Why couldn't he, the chairman, control this?

MOSKOWITZ: Well, yes, I mean, I did a reading of the email he sent out before we took the vote.

[09:45:03]

And the email specifically talked about this audio tape. This email talked about getting this audio tape. And this email talked about why Comer needs to raise money to defend himself in order to get the audio tape. And so I felt like entering that into the record because, again, that, I think, showed the American people why we're really here, why we were really doing this hearing. It's about campaign mailers and text messages and campaign messaging. It's not about anything to do with Joe Biden. It's not about anything to do to help the American people.

You know, look, Oversight has been liked this for the last 16 months. You know, look, in his defense, I think the chairman, in that instance, was trying to get control of everything. But, again, Marjorie listens to no one. She knows - she - she's a one person wrecking crew. She single-handedly has ruined the 118th Congress. You know, again, she would - she would love to help Putin and Russia. You know, that's what she wants to do. And at the end of the day, that's why that hearing devolved.

BOLDUAN: Let me ask you - so you voted along with - along party lines last night. You voted with Democrats along party lines with regard to moving the contempt against Congress charge forward. But something you joined with Republicans on yesterday is passing a bill that would rebuke President Biden for pausing the arms shipment to Israel and basically they tried to force him to quickly deliver those weapons now.

You know with - when the White House issued a veto threat, they called this bill and attempt to constrain the president's ability to deploy U.S. security assistance, which is consistent with U.S. foreign policy and national security objectives. And you were one of the 16 Democrats to vote with Republicans on this. Why did you vote for it?

MOSKOWITZ: Sure. We spent a lot of time here on bills that are dead, right, and we get all wrapped up. This bill is dead. Chuck Schumer has already said he's not taking the bill. So, we don't have to worry about this thing -

BOLDUAN: But does that make it - but did that affect your vote knowing that it was going to be dead? MOSKOWITZ: Of course. OK, the bill's dead. So, I don't have to worry

about the issues that I had in there, because there are multiple issues in there that I have with the resolution. I stated that earlier in the week. But my - my main purpose for voting for the bill is what I said earlier when the president decided to hold back that particular weapon, which is, I want to get to a ceasefire. I want to get more humanitarian aid in there and I want to get the hostages back. And the only way we're going to do that is to get Hamas to agree to a ceasefire. Right now the reason we don't have a ceasefire, Israel agreed to the ceasefires proposed by the Egyptians. And then Hamas added additional terms. And that, unfortunately, blew up the ceasefire deal.

So, we don't have a ceasefire because Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, who's buried in a tunnel, will not release the hostages and will not agree to a ceasefire, which puts these innocent Palestinians in peril. And so without that pressure, right, it's not going to happen. So, that's why I disagreed with the president last week because I looked at that as removing pressure from Hamas.

BOLDUAN: Congressman, thanks for coming on. Appreciate it.

MOSKOWITZ: Thank you so much.

BOLDUAN: Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, ahead, would you want to know if you are likely to get Alzheimer's? There are new tests for that. Our Sanjay Gupta takes the test as he delves into all the new advancements to deal with the debilitating disease.

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[09:52:35]

SIDNER: For decades researchers have tried and failed to come up with a way to effectively treat Alzheimer's disease, leaving patients with few options. But now there are new signs of hope. CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta spent five years investigating the breakthroughs in a documentary called "The Last Alzheimer's Patient." That is premiering this Sunday. Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In the five years of making this documentary -

GUPTA: The 20-year-old newlyweds.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's right.

GUPTA (voice over): I've met with patients all around the country who were diagnosed or at high risk for this devastating disease.

GUPTA: Do you remember this time in your life, Mike?

GUPTA (voice over): It made me really start to think about my own brain.

I have a family history of Alzheimer's as well. Sometimes I feel a little rusty. Sometimes I worry that I make mistakes that maybe my friends and family are too polite to tell me about.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to look at your body composition.

GUPTA (voice over): So, that's why I decided to do something quite personal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your muscle mass, your body fat.

GUPTA (voice over): Quite revealing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That wasn't quite right.

GUPTA (voice over): I went through a battery of tests to assess my own risk.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just like we get a cholesterol test every year and check your blood pressure. We've got to do the same thing for the brain.

GUPTA (voice over): And what did I find?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll just say it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Sanjay with the tease there.

CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is joining me now.

I want to know the answer to that, Sanjay, but you are a brilliant doctor and correspondent. So, I suspect you did well. But a lot of us would be really afraid to potentially know this.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right.

SIDNER: I mean should people be tested for their risk?

GUPTA: Yes, this is a really interesting question because if you get tested, you really want to know, depending on the answer, what can I do about it? And I think for a lot of people, for a long time, when it came to things like Alzheimer's, there wasn't necessarily anything that you could really constructively do about it, so why know in the first place.

But, Sara, I think that's - that's changing pretty - pretty significantly. I don't think it's ready for the masses yet. But, you know, it wasn't until the 1980s that they started widespread - widespread screening with mammography, for example, something we know about well. Cardiac disease. I used to think that you're either going to get it or not. But now you check cholesterol and blood pressure and things like that. I think we're starting to get to that point with brain health. Routine tests that you can do to sort of assess your own brain health.

[09:55:03]

Not quite there yet, but it's going to happen pretty soon, Sara, I think.

SIDNER: I know you spent a lot of time with people that we saw there who's Alzheimer's symptoms, though, were reversed. So, how did that happen?

GUPTA: Yes, I mean, look, we walked in very open-eyed, clear-eyed about this and do not want to offer false hope. But, you know, there were families where they had generations of people with Alzheimer's and now the - somebody new had been diagnosed with the disease, mild cognitive impairment, but clearly due to Alzheimer's. And the typical track for them was - was pretty known. They were going to just gradually decline. But over five years we saw, in fact, they did not decline and that they improved.

And what it was, was, again, these lifestyle changes. And, you know, I talk a lot about that. But I think the sort of key thing is that inflammation in the body is probably a precursor for all sorts of different diseases, including Alzheimer's.

SIDNER: All right, his special "The Last Alzheimer's Patient" premieres this Sunday, 8:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, right here on CNN.

BERMAN: Cannot wait to see that.

SIDNER: And thrilling. Just - yes.

BERMAN: Quite a quick change there from Sara Sidner as well.

Thank you all for joining us. This has been CNN NEWS CENTRAL. Have a fantastic weekend. A very special "CNN NEWSROOM" with Jim Acosta is up next.

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