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Attorney General Garland Comments on Second Trump Assassination Attempt; Missouri Inmate Set to Die Today Despite Prosecutor's Belief in His Innocence; Woman Accuses Sean Combs of Drugging and Raping Her in New Suit; Women Facing Increasing Risk of Criminal Prosecutions for Allegedly Endangering Their Pregnancies. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired September 24, 2024 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: This just in to CNN. Merrick Garland, Attorney General, speaking at the Department of Justice just moments ago, asked specifically about the second assassination attempt on Donald Trump. Have a listen to his answer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's your reaction to that?

MERRICK GARLAND, ATTORNEY GENERAL: The attempted assassination on the former president was a heinous act. I'm grateful that he's safe. And, as I said, immediately after the event, the Justice Department would spare no resource to ensure accountability in this matter.

Since then, our prosecutors and agents, only 10 days ago, our prosecutors and agents have been working around the clock to discover the necessary evidence to ensure accountability.

[15:35:00]

In just the last few days, new information was developed, and it was put in the evidence in the court for the detention hearing, which was necessary to ensure in the short term that the defendant in the matter would not be released while the investigation continues. As we said -- as the United States said in that detention hearing, further additional charges will soon be filed.

All of our top priority should be ensuring that accountability occurs in this case and that those who run for office and their families are safe and protected.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will you cooperate with Florida officials that want to do their own investigation?

GARLAND: Our job --

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: That was the Attorney General there speaking in response to questions about the second assassination attempt on Donald Trump, which the Attorney General, Merrick Garland, there called a heinous act.

Well, another story we're following today. A Missouri inmate is set to die in just a matter of hours, even though the office that prosecuted him has asked for his murder conviction to be overturned, citing new evidence which could show he's innocent.

Despite a flurry of appeals, Missouri's Supreme Court and the governor have refused to grant 55-year-old Marcellus Williams a stay of execution.

CNN's Whitney Wild joins us now. Whitney, can you describe this new evidence and why, even with the prosecutor's office asking that this be overturned, this conviction, this execution seems to be proceeding?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: If the U.S. Supreme Court doesn't intervene in the next few hours, Jim, that is what we expect will happen in Missouri tonight, that Marcellus Williams will be killed by lethal injection. And let me just walk you through the case here.

So this case goes back to 2001. This is a more than two-decade fight to try to save Marcellus Williams from the death penalty. He was convicted in 1998 of the stabbing death of a woman named Felicia Gayle. He and his supporters and his family have been fighting, again, for two decades because he has adamantly maintained his innocence.

And, in fact, Jim, the former Missouri governor, Eric Greitens, actually launched a commission to try to explore whether he is improperly on death row, improperly tried. That commission that was launched under Eric Greitens was disbanded under the current governor of Missouri, Michael Parson. Again, there have been a flurry of appeals in this case.

And, in fact, over the weekend, in a pretty rare move, the St. Louis prosecutor, Wesley Bell, and Marcellus Williams' attorney, Jonathan Potts, filed this joint motion saying, look, there are two major issues here. And the first is that Marcellus Williams was denied his right to a fair trial when a former prosecutor on his first case struck a juror because that juror was Black and he believed looked like Marcellus Williams. That is a point that attorneys representing Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey disagree with. They say there was no racial bias there.

And then further, Jim, the other piece of evidence that those supporting Marcellus Williams think exonerate him is this DNA evidence. And what they argue is that there would have been DNA evidence that would have exonerated Williams from this case.

However, recent DNA testing showed that that murder weapon, the DNA was contaminated when law enforcement, a prosecutor and one of the investigators working on that case, handled that murder weapon with their hands and not with gloves. Again, this was more than two decades ago. The state attorney general's office arguing that that was an unintentional effect, that they didn't know enough about DNA at the time to maintain what we now would consider the integrity of that DNA. Either way, these were not arguments that the Missouri Supreme Court agreed with. Now, Marcellus Williams, as we know, very likely set to die at six o'clock central, his family, though, saying that they will be by his side.

SCIUTTO: Last word was U.S. Supreme Court. Whitney Wild, thanks so much --Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Let's talk more now about this case. We have Mercedes Colwin, who is a legal analyst and a trial attorney, to take us through some of it. I wonder, Mercedes, what you think about what the Missouri Supreme Court said here, considering you have St. Louis prosecutors, right?

This is not defense. Prosecutors who had argued that DNA testing could exclude Williams as the killer. But then you did have that argument fall apart last month when it turned out that the murder weapon had been contaminated with a former prosecutor, a former investigator's DNA. What do you think about what the court said here?

MERCEDES COLWIN, LEGAL ANALYST AND TRIAL ATTORNEY: These are extraordinary circumstances surrounding Marcellus Williams. We're talking. It's exactly what you're saying, Brianna.

We have not just the passionate defense attorneys arguing for his innocence. You also have the prosecutor's office, a prosecuting attorney, Bell, arguing the same thing to the court, that this has to be set aside. There is irreparable harm will happen.

[15:40:00]

An innocent man could frankly be -- if you look at the time, a few hours away from his execution. And that's why the prosecutor, Bell, has said, set it aside. Let us have a fair hearing.

Not only is there DNA contamination that could really have deprived him of due process. The second part is that these informants, quote unquote informants, may have been unreliable because there was a $10,000 reward and they had legal trouble surrounding their testimony nonetheless. So these are very significant pieces of evidence that need to be explored.

If it's not explored, if the stay doesn't happen, it could lead to the execution of an innocent man.

KEILAR: That incentivized testimony, one of the people as well had this shortened sentence, right? So these were highly incentivized witnesses, which often plays a role in exonerations. When you look at the records that are kept of exonerations, there's also the question of whether a Black juror was wrongly excluded from the jury.

Do you think that the Supreme Court looks at these things and intervenes or not?

COLWIN: The U.S. Supreme Court can step in and they do. And they have obviously they have full discretion as to whether they can stay the execution. So there still is that plea to the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the execution and remand it for further -- not further investigation, but a further hearing. That's what's being asked.

Even in what was really extraordinary is that once even Attorney Bell had an agreement on the record where Williams had agreed to plea and have that plea then have a life sentence and stop the execution, that was stricken as well. So these are extraordinary circumstances -- Brianna.

There's really no reason why this execution shouldn't be stayed, that these matters and the evidence that's being raised looked into. There really isn't anything that could validate the stay of this -- that could validate proceeding with the execution. When you have such extraordinary circumstances and such extraordinary evidence and the fact that you have both the prosecution and the defense are aligned and wanting to stay the execution. It is completely befuddling why this wasn't done.

KEILAR: If the Supreme Court does not intervene and Marcellus Williams is executed despite these glaring issues, what does that do to the legitimacy of capital punishment broadly and particularly in Missouri, where a number of death row inmates found guilty since the 70s have been exonerated?

COLWIN: Great question, Brianna. It certainly calls into question the legitimacy. Think about it.

Since the capital punishment has been on the books since 1973, there have been 200 individuals that were convicted and placed on death row that were later then exonerated. That's 200 lives that were spared because through the appellate process, they were able to actually establish that they were innocent of the crimes that they were convicted of. But how many others are we talking about that have been gone through this process and were absolutely innocent?

And it goes back to the DNA evidence. The DNA evidence has so much evolved since the conviction of Marcellus Williams. And that's one of the issues that Prosecuting Attorney Bill raised, that at the time, the DNA evidence that was at that time was not as sophisticated as it is currently.

And that alone should allow be the compelling reason why this execution be stayed, further investigation be done.

But at the end of the day, really have to question the legitimacy of capital punishment when you have circumstances like this, where you can't even stop it when there are such compelling arguments to stop the execution.

KEILAR: Yes, it is, as you said, befuddling here and the clock is ticking. We're looking at it here, 3:43 Eastern. He has till 6 p.m. Central. That is 7 p.m. Eastern. So he has a few hours and 17 minutes. The clock truly ticking here for Marcellus Williams.

Mercedes Colwin, thank you so much.

COLWIN: Thank you.

KEILAR: Coming up, a new lawsuit against rap mogul Sean Diddy Combs accusing the star of sexual assault. The victim just spoke publicly. The details, they are explicit in the accusations among the most disturbing yet.

[15:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Indicted music mogul Sean Diddy Combs is facing new sex assault allegations. A woman named Talia Graves just filed a lawsuit accusing him of drugging and then raping her. This is more than two decades ago.

She claimed she was given a glass of wine, lost consciousness, woke up naked with her hands tied behind her back. CNN entertainment correspondent, Elizabeth Wagmeister. She's here with more.

Elizabeth, this accuser just spoke publicly. Tell us what she said.

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim. So I am outside of the law offices of attorney Gloria Allred, who is representing this new accuser, Talia Graves. They just held a press conference.

And I want to go through some more of these details from this lawsuit, which was just filed this morning. Now, as you said, Jim, incredibly graphic details. Some of the most graphic that we have seen from all of these civil suits.

By the way, this is the 11th suit against Combs. Talia Graves says that back in 2001 that she was with Diddy. She was dating actually one of his associates, but he convinced her to have what she thought was, you know, an innocent meeting.

And that is when she claims that she was given a drink that she assumes was laced with drugs. She lost consciousness. And when she woke up, she was bound and then was raped by Diddy and his bodyguard at the time.

Now, she goes on to say in this lawsuit that it was over 20 years after this alleged attack that she learned that the incident was actually taped. And she found out about that video in November 2023. Now, let's take a look at what Talia Graves said just moments ago in this press conference.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THALIA GRAVES, SEAN COMBS' ACCUSER: Flash backs, nightmares and intrusive thoughts make me feel like it's a constant struggle. I also suffer with physical problems. Such as chronic pain, sexual discomfort. I'm glad that he is locked up, but that's a temporary feeling of relief.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WAGMEISTER: Of course, very emotional. She was crying and wiping her tears throughout the press conference. She didn't take questions after that statement.

But as you heard, Jim, she said there briefly that she is glad that he's behind bars.

[15:50:00]

Of course, this is the first lawsuit, civil suit to come after Combs was arrested and indicted last week, and he is now in in jail in Manhattan -- or in Brooklyn, rather. Now Talia said that she was threatened over the years about this video, but she didn't elaborate more on that.

SCIUTTO: Good Lord, the details are just alarming. Elizabeth Wagmeister, thanks so much.

Coming up, a newly released report shows that hundreds of pregnant women have faced prosecution since Roe v. Wade was overturned. We're going to have details coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: A new report today shows that since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, hundreds of pregnant women have faced criminal charges for allegedly endangering their own pregnancies.

For more on this, let's bring in CNN health reporter Jacqueline Howard. Jacqueline, not all of these women were seeking abortions?

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Well, Brianna, these are charges that are related to just in general, pregnancy, pregnancy loss or giving birth. So these include many different scenarios like that. And what we are seeing is that within a single year, from June 2022 to June 2023, here in the United States, there were more than 200 cases where a pregnant woman faced criminal charges related to her pregnancy, pregnancy loss or giving birth.

In some cases, like you said, Brianna, some may have been related to abortion. Some of them may have not even been related to abortion. And many of these cases include the concept of what's called fetal personhood.

So legal rights were extended to a fetus. And in many of these cases, there was perceived harm or perceived risk to the fetus. And these data come from the nonprofit called Pregnancy Justice.

And according to the nonprofit, the majority of these cases, more than half were reported in Alabama. Another third were in Oklahoma and nearly a dozen, 10 total were in South Carolina. All of those states have strict abortion laws. Most of these cases were in states where either abortion was banned or highly restricted -- Brianna.

[15:55:04]

KEILAR: Is that an uptick from before the Dobbs decision when Roe was overturned?

HOWARD: Absolutely. Yes, you know, a case like this is not new here in the United States, but we are seeing more and more cases like this post Roe. And that's what these new numbers tell us, Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Jacqueline Howard, thank you so much for that.

Just ahead, the Buffalo Bills. Damar Hamlin returning to Monday night football 20 months after nearly dying during a game and doing something he's never done before. The special moment just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: We end today with a special Buffalo Bills Triumph that not only Bills fans, but every fan, everyone, I think can celebrate. The first career interception for Safety Damar Hamlin, who you may remember had that scary moment when he went into cardiac arrest on the field in January of last year. Long time since then, here was Hamlin last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lawrence on the move, launching down the middle, intercepted over for the man in Damar Hamlin.

A huge roar, one of the most popular inspiring Bills.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[16:00:00]

KEILAR: Now also this was Hamlin's first appearance in Monday Night Football since his collapse, which just fed the fan frenzy over that interception.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)\

DAMAR HAMLIN, BUFFALO BILLS SAFETY: It was, man, it was special. You know, we all know my last start on Monday Night Football and how that game went. So to be able to, you know, come all the way back from that and to have a special moment like that, you know, it's all God right there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: On top of that, the Bills remain undefeated after that huge victory over the Jaguars. Final score, 47 Bills, Jaguars 10. Very exciting stuff.

SCIUTTO: So good to see that.

KEILAR: It certainly is. "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts now.

END