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Opening Statements in Delphi Murders; Harris Sharpens her Attacks; Taber MacCallum and Sir Richard Branson Talk about a Crewed Space Balloon Flight. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired October 18, 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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[09:33:04]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Opening statements expected to begin today in the trial of the man accused of killing 14-year-old Liberty German and 13-year-old Abby Williams back in 2017 in Delphi, Indiana.

CNN's Jean Casarez is covering this for us this morning.

So, tell us what we expect to see.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, this all happened in 2017. It has been a lot on time. And this trial just went national when it first happened because you've got to remember, Delphi, Indiana, small town America. They don't have crimes. And these two middle school students were dropped off at the Delphi Trails one afternoon in February when they didn't have school for that afternoon. Everybody went there from the community. It was a safe area. And they were never seen again.

And the prosecution, in the opening statements, is going to bring on witnesses to say that they were there also that afternoon and they believe they saw someone, just like the defendant, looked like him, Richard Allen.

But here's the thing. Before these girls went missing, before their bodies were found, there was a cell phone that one of the girls had and she took a picture of a man on the bridge that went viral across this country because there was a bit of audio. And the man said, down the hill. And that was who they were looking at.

Now, on the next day, their bodies were found. It's going to be an important part of the trial and opening statements, John, because their bodies were found down the hill.

And I remember early on I was talking to a detective before there was a gag order, and I was making the assumption there was sexual assault. And I remember he said to me, don't make that assumption. And that really stuck with me.

But everything we've heard in the court filings is that they are not - were not sexually assaulted. That they were actually stabbed. Defense experts said throats were slit. But there was a bullet that was found between the two bodies, unspent. It was not shot. But it was between the two bodies.

[09:35:02]

Richard Allen admitted - in 2017 he was questioned. He said, I was there. I was there. He was the local CVS pharmacy technician that everybody loved in town. Everybody knew him. And he printed all the flyers for the funerals free of charge for the girls.

Now, really big issue, is there his DNA on those bodies? Anywhere on their clothes? Anything? And there was a potential bombshell in jury selection because the defense said there was hair found in the hand of one of the two victims. And it's not Richard Allen's.

So, it leads us to a lot of questions. But there are composite sketches. Big issue today. Prosecution says these two composite sketches that we came out with trying to find who did this, they should not come in the trial. They are investigative tools. Defense saying, no, because they don't look anything like Richard Allen and they need to come in this trial because it's reasonable doubt.

So, the trial is supposed to be four to six weeks long.

BERMAN: Just very quickly, Jean, tell us about the jury.

CASAREZ: Jury is from Fort Bend, Indiana. They went outside. Delphi's too small. Too many people know about this case. They're going to be sequestered are four to six weeks in hotels.

BERMAN: Oh, wow.

CASAREZ: No cell phones. Can't watch news. And it's going to be a long haul for them. But it's going to be a very intensive trial.

BERMAN: All right, Jean Casarez, thank you so much for that report.

CASAREZ: Thanks.

BERMAN: Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Vice President Kamala Harris stepping up her attacks against Donald Trump in these final days. What is behind what really has been the campaign's noticeable shift in messaging and strategy?

And any moment now the release of what could be significant new information. Documents and evidence to be made public about the case that the special counsel had built against Donald Trump in the election interference case. Trump fought the release. Why the judge said it could be election interference if she did not allow it to become public.

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[09:41:18]

BOLDUAN: So, it has been noticeable, Kamala Harris has been really sharpening attacks against Donald Trump in recent days in the last couple weeks, speaking about him in darker tones - the warnings about him in darker tones.

Last night in Wisconsin, she argued that Americans are exhausted with Trump's gaslighting, as she put it, and even started her speech in Wisconsin earlier in the day by calling out Donald Trump basically right out of the gate in his day of love comment about January 6th. She also called out what appeared to be Trump supporters heckling her at one of her rallies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald Trump hand-selected three members of the United States Supreme Court with - with the intention that they would undo the protections of Roe v. Wade. And they did as he intended.

Oh, you guys are at the wrong rally.

No, I think you meant to go to the smaller one down the street.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Three weeks to go. Less than that.

CNN's Harry Enten is here with us.

OK, what - on this question of what could be behind and motivating the shift in messaging and strategy here, what have you found?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Yes, what have we found? Let's talk about Donald Trump in his popularity. You know, I think there are a lot of folks, such as myself, who think that Donald Trump's unpopularity is baked in. But here's the deal, if you believe that Donald Trump has somehow become less popular over time, let me change your mind about that.

In fact, he is more popular at this point in the campaign than he was at this point in the 2020 campaign, or the 2016 campaign. Look, he's still underwater, right, with a negative nine point net favorability rating, but that is higher than he was in 2020 at minus 12 points when he nearly won, and it is way higher than the minus 27 net favorability back in 2016 when he did win.

So, I think there's this real question in Kamala Harris' mind, in the campaign's mind, why is Trump more popular now than he was at this point in 2020 and 2016? And I think that is why you're seeing the sharpening attacks because they want to put him back down to here -

BOLDUAN: Yes.

ENTEN: Or even there's no way that they're necessarily going to back down to here. But they want to make Trump more unpopular than he is right now because he's more popular now than either point in 2020 or 2016. BOLDUAN: So, this could be what they're seeing with regard to move -

Donald Trump. What is - could it have something also to do with what they're seeing with their candidate - with Kamala Harris or something?

ENTEN: Yes, look, Kamala Harris is more popular than Donald Trump. But Kamala Harris had her popularity rising once, of course, she became the presumptive Democratic nominee. Look, she was at minus 15 points back on July 17th, then minus four points on August 17th, then one point on September - plus one point, she was actually in positive territory a month ago, but she has fallen back down to minus one. The momentum of Kamala Harris has stalled. And I think they feel like they have to change something that's going on in their campaign because they were seeing a rise and now it has stalled out.

Look, she's still more popular than Trump. But look, Joe Biden was more popular than Trump, much more and barely won. And Hillary Clinton was more popular than Donald Trump and lost. Being more popular than Trump isn't enough. She wants to continue to see her favorabilities rise but, in fact, they're going in the wrong direction at this point.

BOLDUAN: One of the lines of attack that we've seen her focusing in on is questioning his fitness to serve, his ability to serve, and also questioning his health. Do you see the - like the numbers that would show that's a good line of attack?

ENTEN: I think it's a great line of attack because better mental, physical health to be president. You know, back when Joe Biden was the presumptive Democratic nominee in July, look, 50 percent said that Trump had the better physical and mental health. Biden was way down at 21 percent. You jump ahead to September. Kamala Harris, away ahead on this metric at 54 percent to Donald Trump's 34 percent. I expect to see a lot more attacks on Trump's mental and physical health because the bottom line is, voters believe it and you're just telling voters what they know and bringing it to the forefront in their minds.

[09:45:06]

BOLDUAN: Yes, if you see it, you know, yes, see it and believe it.

ENTEN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: It's good to see you. Thank you, my darling.

ENTEN: See you.

BOLDUAN: All right, so you could soon book a ticket to the edge of space on a giant space balloon. Look at that. The inaugural mission is also being copilot by none other than Sir Richard Branson himself. And he is our guest.

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BERMAN: All right, this morning, what some are calling the first space balloon. Just announced, the first crewed flight by Space Perspective.

[09:50:03] And it will be co-helmed by Sir Richard Branson, who knows a thing or two about balloons.

So, with us now, Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, and further co-pilot for Space Perspective, Taber MacCallum, the company's co-founder and co-CEO.

Taber, let me just start with you first very quickly. What exactly is the stratosphere and why go there in a balloon?

TABER MACCALLUM, CO-FOUNDER AND CO-CEO, SPACE PERSPECTIVE: So, we're going to above 99 percent of the earth's atmosphere. So, we're sort of floating on top of the earth's atmosphere like an ice cube floats on water. And that's what's defined where we are is the stratosphere. At that altitude you can see the curvature of the earth, the black sky, the thin blue line in the atmosphere. So, it's an amazing, majestic experience. It's really unique to ballooning, which is such an honor to have a legend in ballooning, Sir Richard, to be the copilot. We're really excited.

BERMAN: A legend in ballooning.

You know, Richard, you crossed the Atlantic, you crossed the Pacific in balloons, and then you actually kind of, you know, flew to space in a plane. Why was this attracted to you?

SIR RICHARD BRANSON, FOUNDER, VIRGIN GROUP: They're two very different experiences. With Virgin Galactic it was maybe the best day of my life. We went from note (ph) to 2.5 thousand miles an hour in eight seconds. We experienced zero gravity, and we were in space and had the most spectacular view of the earth.

With this project, we'll rise very gently at ten miles an hour off a boat. It'll be like a five to six hour round trip going up to 100,000 feet. So, three times higher than an airplane. And it's going to be the most magnificent, beautiful experience. And so both experiences are unbelievably wonderful. And I just love - love challenging myself. I love challenging -- being able to challenge others. And I think this is the birth of a wonderful company that will work, I believe, very closely with people who then want to go onto space who - with Virgin Galactic.

BERMAN: You say you like to challenge yourself, Sir Richard. And I'm not trying to jinx anything, but just so people understand what the risks are here. What - what are the most dangerous things about taking a balloon to the heights?

BRANSON: Well, when we did balloon flights, you know, like across the Himalayas or, you know, trying to get around the world, or across the Atlantic or Pacific, it was very risky because we were the test pilots and we couldn't test the equipment before we went up.

With the - with this flight, we can actually send up unmanned flights. We've already sent up one unmanned flight to 100,000 feet. And we'll be sending up a number of other unmanned flights before we actually get in and go up ourselves. Obviously, you know, the early - the people who have, you know, book

early, we - we are going to be all test pilots. And we'll be awning - awning out the flights for the future. But I think in the future balloons are fundamentally very safe - very safe things. And I think a lot the people are going to have incredible experiences in years to come.

BERMAN: So, Taber, I'm a sucker for a flight upgrade, right? And it caught my attention that on the balloon you've got drink service, you've got wi-fi, even - even bathrooms. I mean this is different than some of the capsules that are going up and down.

MACCALLUM: I think that experienced differentiation is really part of what sets us and ballooning apart and why we're so excited to move through a series of these test flights without crews so we really get the safety aspect of this down. We'll be corner testing, you know, all the different aspects what might happen during the flight. And why we're so excited also to have somebody who is inspired a generation of entrepreneurs investing in Space Perspective and helping us move through the flight tests to get to human flight. It's a - it's super exciting.

BERMAN: So, I think you said, Richard, two hours up, two hours down, and a couple hours, you know, sort of coasting in the stratosphere. What do you - what do you think you'll do during that time up there?

BRANSON: I - look I - we live on the most beautiful - maybe the only place in the - in the universe that has - you know, has a, you know, a planet that is this beautiful. And I think most of us are going to be looking out of these big windows down at the beautiful earth below. We are one of the - at least one of the flights, early flights, will be from the British Virgin Islands, where - where I live. And the seas are spectacular and clear.

[09:55:04]

And I don't think any - you know, apart from maybe Virgin Galactic, you're not going to be able to get, you know, as great views via as - and pretty anywhere else in the world. And out of an airplane you get wonderful views from 30,000 feet. Here you're going to get wonderful views from 100,000 feet.

BERMAN: Well, I was going to say, make sure your phone is charged.

BRANSON: But also - I hope that - I hope - I hope Taber - Taber includes some caviar on board and maybe we'll find some time to sit and have a little bit of a caviar as well.

BERMAN: I mean, I would assume. I would assume that there's going to be caviar. I mean - yes, all right.

Sir Richard Branson, Taber MacCallum, thank you both very much and happy flying.

BOLDUAN: I mean it's Sir Richard Branson and the three of us have such similar flight experiences, because I'm always (INAUDIBLE). BERMAN: I'm sorry, (INAUDIBLE) swear. If there's any -

BOLDUAN: You nearly almost did.

BERMAN: If there's a middle seat in the balloon, that's the one I get put on right there.

BOLDUAN: If you ever - if you ever tried to, the high-low, caviar on a potato chip is just phenomenal.

BERMAN: It's the best.

Thank you all.

BOLDUAN: Enjoy your weekend.

BERMAN: Thank you all so much for joining us.

BOLDUAN: Yes, we're going to leave now.

"CNN NEWSROOM" is up next.

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