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Third Day of Read Murder Trial Deliberations; Historic Presidential Debate Tonight; New Protests in Kenya; Pandas Head to San Diego Zoo. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired June 27, 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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[09:30:11]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, happening now, verdict watch in Dedham, Massachusetts. Very shortly the jury will be in a third day of deliberations in the murder trial of Karen Read. Read's boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe, was found dead in January of 2022 outside the home of a fellow officer. The prosecution claims Read killed him in a drunken rage. That defense says she is being framed by the police department.

With us now, CNN's Jean Casarez, outside the courtroom here.

There is a lot of interest in this, Jean.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is overwhelming social media, John. I mean it has gone viral. And people are so passionate about this case. There are many, many people that believe that Karen Read has been framed, that she is innocent, that she did not commit any crime at all. But then you have the victim, John O'Keefe, a Boston police officer, and many people say, yes, she did. She was the last one that saw him that night, and she ran over him with her car.

Now, there are people that come here to the courthouse every day that are in support. But let's look at the facts, because this is a serious murder case. The top charge being second-degree murder.

Here are the facts that we know. In January of 2022 Karen Read, who was an adjunct professor of finance at a local college here in Canton, Massachusetts, and her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe, they'd been a couple for a couple years. They were very close. People said they were very volatile also. That she and he got in a lot of arguments. But they were at a bar that night, a couple of them, with a lot of people. They - friends they knew. Police officers.

There was an after party at one of the family's homes. The Albert home. Everybody was going there.

Well, Karen Read and John O'Keefe, it is a fact, that they drove to that house. It is a fact that John O'Keefe got out of Karen Read's car. But here's where it diverges because the prosecution is alleging that Karen Read got into a terrible argument with him on the drive over to that house and she shoved that car into reverse and she backed up and she plowed into him and she left him and she sped off down the road in the middle of the night.

Now, the blizzard was just beginning at that time when all of this was happening. The defense is saying, no, John O'Keefe went into that house. It was all filled with police officers. They started to argue. There were issues. And they are the ones that killed John O'Keefe. And a dog, a 70 pound German shepherd in there, bit him repeatedly, and they threw him out in the cold.

But there are minutia - there are things here - the devil's in the detail. One of Karen Read's good friends, in the middle of the night, wrote, how long does it take for somebody to die in the cold?

Also, when first responders came to the scene, Karen Read, according to their testimony, said, I hit him. I hit him. I hit him. And there was all of that tail light that was found later in this snow. But the defense is saying, all the police officers, they planted that.

But, John, here's the thing. If you believe there was a conspiracy from the beginning against Karen Read, you've got to believe that the Massachusetts State Police, the Canton Police, local authorities, and all the police officers in that house that night, they all conspired together against Karen Read.

The jury will start deliberations very soon.

BERMAN: Wow, quite a thing there.

All right, Jean Casarez, great to have you on location. Thanks so much.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, let us show you the room. A live look at the debate stage where President Biden and Donald Trump will meet tonight for the first time since 2020. New reporting from the campaigns on what they want to do, and also they - what they want to avoid when the two men get ready to face off.

And we're also keeping a close eye on Kenya's capital right now. Our team on the ground is seeing and hearing police launch more tear gas. Protests that have already turned deadly. At least 23 people killed in classes with the police. And it's starting back up today again. We'll take you there.

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[09:39:08]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: I am standing on the debate stage where history will be made in America tonight. This is a matchup that we actually, in the history of the United States, have never seen before because there is a president and a vice (ph) president going up against one another.

Now, to give you some idea just how intense this is going to be, they are merely eight feet part. Remember that these two men, former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden, have not even been in the same room together since 2020. That was the last debate between the two men. Now they'll be closer than ever to one another as they battle for the American voters.

They also have some new rules they will have to deal with. There is no audience here. There are mics that will be muted if they are not the person who is asked the question. They also are going to be looking at some of the lights on the cameras because they only have a certain amount of time to answer the questions.

[09:40:06]

They will have two minutes to answer the moderator's question. Then they will have a minute for rebuttal and a minute for response. And then if the moderators deem they need to clarify something, they will be given another minute.

So, not a lot of time to get their message out. It needs to be sharp and poignant.

We will also be seeing President Biden coming from the right side of your screen. Donald Trump walking in from the left getting situated here. They are not allowed to talk to their campaign folks, to get some notes and ideas. They are allowed, though, to write down notes. There is a sheet of paper here that I will grab that is for the candidates and they'll have a pen to be jotting down notes for their responses to the other candidates answers.

But this is such a dramatic moment, in part because, yes, America has seen these two men debate before, but they have never seen them after living through their administrations. And this is the time for that.

And what is most interesting here, in some ways, they are in a dead heat when it comes to the polling.

John. Kate.

BOLDUAN: A new CNN poll of polls shows that the race between Biden and Trump now remains quite tight with no clear leader heading into tonight's historic presidential debate right here on CNN, as we were laying out.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny has much more on this.

Jeff, how are the polls? This poll of polls, and polls just in general, how are they setting the stage for tonight?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kate.

What's so extraordinary about this poll of polls is not that it's a close race. We know that. But the fact that everything that has happened in the campaign so far has not really changed the trajectory of this race. Even after the convictions, the guilty verdicts, 34 of them last month for Donald Trump, that has largely not moved the conversation. So, our poll of polls, as you said, what that is, is an average of

polls that are conducted nationally shows the Joe Biden at 47 percent, Donald Trump at 49 percent, that is within the margin of error. We are seeing a little bit of different movements.

The Fox News poll actually showed some movement toward Biden after the convictions. "The New York Times" poll did not.

So, what we know, that this is a tight race. So, that's why the debate tonight is the biggest single moment of this campaign. It could change the fact that this has been so, so close, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Talk also about just the element of dissatisfaction amongst voters. And how does that - how that plays into this evening.

ZELENY: Look, I mean, I think that is underlying all of this. As we talk to voters across the country, there is a sense of exhaustion at their choices. But look at these numbers here. There are 55 percent of voters say that they would prefer someone else as the Republican nominee, but 64 percent say the same about Joe Biden. So that shows sort of their strength with their respective bases. There are many Democrats, some even independents, who would have preferred someone else other than President Biden. There are a smaller majority of some Republicans who's say the same thing. But the reality is, these candidates are facing one another. That's why this debate is so early. It's why the campaigns agreed to the early debate, to show voters that this is the choice.

So, both sides are trying to use this as a chance to show those contrasts. But, boy, there is a sense that a lot of voters out there in America simply do not like there options, but that's what they are.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Jeff, great to see you. Thank you.

BERMAN: All right, new this morning, Boeing has released an explanation for that door plug tearing off an Alaska Airlines flight in midair.

And happening now, two pandas on route from China to the United (INAUDIBLE) marks between the two countries. We have new reporting on the leg room onboard, as well as their in-flight snack options.

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[09:48:41]

BOLDUAN: Police are firing tear gas at protesters again this morning during confrontations in Kenya's capital. The protesters there are - they're still taking to the streets, even after Kenya's president pulled back on the government measures that originally sparked these protests. The protests have also turned deadly. At least 23 people have been killed amid the demonstrations and clashes with police.

CNN's Larry Madowo is in Nairobi, Kenya, in the middle of it all. Larry, what's happening now?

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are following police here who are still trying to clear the streets of the protest. They've managed to push them back and they're kind of coming back here.

But as you can see, the road is blocked with the - all sorts of material. That's been their modus operandi all day. They try and block the roads.

This was declared a million march today by the protesters and police are determined to make sure that that does not happen. But the young people protesting on the streets say they will try and protest anyway.

President William Ruto, yesterday, was forced to withdraw what is known as the finance bill after how unpopular it became. That's why there were street protests for two weeks in a row. He was supposed to withdraw that, but people are not pleased. They said this is about his legitimacy to rule. It's about high cost of living. It's about corruption.

I want to just show you what's happening over here as one indication.

[09:50:02]

As these policemen try and push the protesters back further away from the middle of the city. And they are doing everything to come back.

So, they are complementing what the military has been deployed on the streets here to make sure that there's no protests in any part of the city. But the protesters, like I said, still determined to make sure. So, this is usually one of the busiest streets in the middle of Nairobi. One of Africa's most vibrant cities, reduced to this ghost zone with stones blocking the road and protesters battling police constantly to - we're just about to see, that's - that's a common sight here. People constantly throwing tear gas. And that's been raining (ph) in the air. The air is full of the smell of tear gas because police have been doing that all day to try and clear these protesters who are not getting pushed away from the city. That's what you hear in the air.

BOLDUAN: Larry Madowo has been caught - caught in the middle. We saw that yesterday. And he's back in the middle of it.

Larry, thank you so much. This is far from over. Thank you for being there.

BERMAN: Yes, remarkable. Larry really is right there.

A big moment in the NBA and for the local favorites, the Atlanta Hawks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Atlanta Hawks select Zaccharie Risacher.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The 19-year-old Frenchman was the top pick in this year's NBA draft. The six-foot nine forward averaged 11.3 points in 23 games while playing in a French league. He called it a, quote, blessing to be now playing for the Hawk. We'll see how he feels about it after actually playing for the Hawks.

Revealing testimony on Capitol Hill from Paris Hilton. She says she was taken across state lines and sexually abused at 16-years-old while at a youth treatment facility. Hilton is sharing her experience in front of Congress to advocate for children who are currently in similar treatment programs.

New this morning, Boeing has a new explanation for why a door plug blew off mid-flight on Alaska Airlines - on an Alaska Airlines flight. They say that the tech crew removed critical bolts on the plane, then sent it off to a second work team without paperwork. Boeing says the second team performance the temporary fix, likely thinking someone else would replace the bolts. Again, the paperwork they're blaming there. The plane flew nearly two months in that condition before the plug blew out mid-flight.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, as we speak, two giant pandas on their way to the U.S. as part of that panda diplomacy program with China. It is not just, of course, about these lovable, lazy, playful pandas. The loan of the giant pandas finalized in February is the first time China granted new panda loans to the U.S. in two decades. The San Diego Zoo hasn't had pandas since 2019 when it last returned to enormous lovers of food to China.

CNN correspondent Veronica Miracle joins us live with more.

This is about diplomacy, but, boy, they are so cute.

VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They are so cute, Sara. And it could be a few weeks before the public gets to see these beautiful, gentle giant creatures. But it is going to be spectacular when they do arrive. They're making a more than 7,000 mile journey right now.

And once they get to San Diego, they're going to have to get used to and acclimated to their new environment. They'll be with people who speak a different language. They'll be eating a different kind of food. The specialists in San Diego, they had been preparing for months and they're trying to make their habitat very similar to the one that they had in China. So, all of this is in preparation for these beautiful creatures that are going to be arriving.

But as you said, there - it is multilayered. Not only is this incredible for conservation efforts, as there are more than - just around 2,000 giant wild pandas left in the wild. So, conservationist will be able to study these creatures once they arrive in San Diego. But this is also about U.S.-Chinese relations. This is going to be a significant step and also it's an important step in U.S.-Chinese relations. So, very excited for these pandas to get back here to San Diego.

Back to you, Sara.

SIDNER: Veronica Miracle, thank you so much for that. If I could come back as anything, I think a panda would be my choice. They lie around, they enjoy their life. They're not too stressed.

BERMAN: No, it's a good life. And they have to acclimate to San Diego. It's got the best weather on earth.

SIDNER: (INAUDIBLE).

BERMAN: Oh, it's really hard. It's hard. It's going to be hard for them to get used to San Diego.

SIDNER: Seventy degrees every day.

BERMAN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: A segue. That's like how I would like - the panda with the bamboo, how I'd like to be watching the debate tonight, like in my hotel with my little -

SIDNER: Yes, chewing on bamboo.

BOLDUAN: Anyway, there is a debate tonight and thank you so much for joining us this morning. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. But we're all not going anywhere, folks.

"CNN NEWSROOM" with Jim Acosta, up next.

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[09:59:29]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Atlanta.

We're following two huge stories happening right now. You're looking live at the U.S. Supreme Court. At any moment, justices will begin handing down another round of key rulings. Another major decision on abortion is expected. And we're waiting for the ruling on Donald Trump's claim of presidential immunity that we've been waiting on for some time now. Those issues likely to stoke tonight's fiery and historic presidential debate. President Biden will face his predecessor in a primetime showdown here at CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta.

And America will be watching.