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Interview with Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL): Trump Intel Chief Pick Gabbard Under Scrutiny for Russia, Syria Ties; Trial Underway for Migrant Accused of Killing Georgia Student; Texas Supreme Court Clears Way for Robert Roberson's Execution. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired November 15, 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]

KEILAR: -- posing these questions.

REP. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI (D-IL), HOSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Yes, I think that, look, there's one -- there's one possibility that she's expressing an opinion about various things, and they're kind of crazy opinions. It's another that somehow there is a reason why she's expressing those opinions, and we need to understand what's what. I personally don't think that that is a wise choice for DNI, but on the other hand, with regard to the allegation that she's compromised, we need to know more information underlying the concern about why she's making the statements she does.

In the Gaetz context, that's a totally separate issue, which is that there, we know there's derogatory information about him, and my colleagues are widely talking about it at this point, and not a single person would ever put him on the shortlist to be Attorney General.

KEILAR: Yes, that is the kind of information that makes him vulnerable, but I do just want to be clear, the thing she has said is making Democrats like yourself wonder if she's some kind of like Manchurian candidate.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Well, I think that when you, for instance, praise a dictator like Bashar al-Assad, who's just an absolute butcher in Syria, OK, and you're not willing to own up to his human rights abuses, his torture, his murder, all the other things, why would you do that? That is the question, and some people, as you know, say that, you know, the reason why she's doing that is potentially because there was some financial arrangement. I don't know, but these are the types of questions that need to be answered before, you know, someone like that is put in such a -- well, in my opinion, before they're even nominated, but now that she's nominated, going through the confirmation process.

KEILAR: Yes, it's an incredibly important position. These are incredibly important questions. Congressman, thanks for being with us.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Thank you so much.

KEILAR: And up next, some disturbing new details in the trial of the undocumented migrant accused of murdering Georgia College student Laken Riley, including audio from the desperate 911 call that she made for help. We'll have that next.

[15:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: A day of gruesome and heartbreaking testimony wraps up soon in the trial for the man accused of killing Lakin Riley. The 22-year-old nursing student was brutally attacked while she was jogging at the University of Georgia back in February. And prosecutors say the smartwatch that she was wearing captured her 17-minute struggle for her life against her killer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHEILA ROSS, PROSECUTING ATTORNEY: The evidence will show that Lakin fought. She fought for her life. She fought for her dignity. And in that fight, she caused this defendant to leave forensic evidence behind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN HOST: Now, the suspect here is an undocumented migrant who waived his right to a jury trial, which means it's up to a judge to decide his fate in a case that's really become a lightning rod over crime and illegal immigration.

CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson is here with us now. Joey, I mean, obviously, we're very early on in the trial here, but what stands out to you so far on this day one?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, it all does, Omar and Brianna. And when I say that, I mean, from the beginning of the opening statement, you have two conflicting narratives, as in any case. However, in this case, what the prosecutor is saying is that they have specific evidence, which may be circumstantial. What does it mean? It means sometimes you see what happened. That's direct evidence.

Sometimes it's circumstantial. You don't see it, but the circumstances suggest that it is. And here, the suggestions are compelling.

Like what? Like the fact that you have DNA that happens to be underneath his fingernails, right? So her DNA being there, that is highly problematic.

We look there, the thumbprint on the phone. How did it get there? Now, DNA has limitations with respect to when it got there or how, but how do you explain that?

And then, of course, you have the victim as you're looking at it there, the blood on the defendant's hat, in addition to disposing of evidence suggesting the jacket was disposed, that has evidence in terms of her blood and his blood. And so it's a lot for the defense to overcome.

It's the beginning, Omar, as you noted, but boy has it started out in a way that is highly compelling, including the smartwatch that Brianna alluded to at the outset, which would suggest that she struggled for her life by up to 18 minutes.

And so we'll see. A judge is making a decision as it relates to this case. It's not a jury trial. That's called a bench trial. He'll have his fair trial. But after that, a judge will make a conclusion based on the law, the facts and the evidence.

KEILAR: Yes, the jacket's thrown away, and yet there are Snapchat pictures of him wearing a jacket that looks like the jacket that was thrown away. There's just so much stuff here, Joey. And I wonder, I'm assuming this is a really tough case to defend, right?

And you have the defense in this case saying, look at these gloves, and there's holes in them, to be clear. So I wonder what you thought about this particular argument that the holes, you couldn't have left a thumbprint like what was left, but these are stretchy gloves, right? These are almost like medical grade kind of gloves that if there's a hole, you could see how it would come over a thumb and you could easily leave a thumbprint.

I mean, what kind of argument is that?

[15:40:00]

JACKSON: Yes, Brianna, it's a lot to overcome. And I think we see that in terms of the evidence as to why they went, that is the defense team, to a judge, perhaps feeling it's a bit more -- giving them a little bit more of an ability to make their case, that is the defense, right? Judges generally are non-emotional. They will evaluate the facts and the evidence.

They're not really inclined, judges, to listen to anything about the publicity or anything else. It's about what do the facts suggest. What does the evidence show? What is the law? I'm going to apply the two and ultimately render a conclusion.

And so I think, yes, we've seen that in terms of the defense making this decision of how compelling this evidence is by leaving it outside the hands of a jury. Notwithstanding that, though, it's just a lot to argue.

And again, you know, there's a lot of crimes that happen, Brianna and Omar, where you're not going to have a person who can eyeball it, who can directly and specifically say, this person did it at this time. This was the smoking gun.

And so what you have to do is you have to piece together the evidence. And when you find a jacket in a dumpster by his home, that is the accused, right? When you find other evidence in terms of DNA evidence and that type thing, that sort of matches.

How else are you going to establish that that got there? And by the way, it happens to be yours. Is there an innocent explanation?

If not, it goes to show guilt. Everyone presumed innocent until proven guilty. But in this case, certainly from a defense perspective, it's not a good position to be in at this point. JIMENEZ: And obviously, a lot of people looking at this case we mentioned became a flash point because the suspect here is an undocumented immigrant. People said this was an example of open borders leading to real harm happening. So obviously a lot of political lens looking from the outside in while we have the granular workings of a case, one very tragic where someone has lost their life.

Joey Jackson, really appreciate you being here.

We're also following the Texas Supreme Court, which is clearing the path for a new execution date for a man convicted of murder and the death of his two-year-old daughter in a so-called shaken baby case. We have the very latest after a quick break.

[15:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIMENEZ: New today, the Texas Supreme Court has cleared the way for Robert Robertson's execution to move forward. He's the man who was convicted of murder in his two-year-old daughter's death, a conviction that relied on evidence of shaken baby syndrome, a diagnosis his attorneys say is wrong.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is in Dallas. Ed, I know you've spoken with him in the past, but can you tell us more about this ruling and what happens now?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, if you remember back in October, a day before Robert Robertson was scheduled to be executed, a state house committee issued a subpoena for him to testify in his case and the underlying medical evidence in the testimony that led to his conviction and execution, scheduled execution here in the state. That subpoena and appearance before the state house committee was set for after the execution date.

So that derailed the execution in a dramatic moments before he was scheduled to be executed. All of that was halted. And this has triggered a legal fight between the state legislature and members of this committee and the executive branch here in Texas. But the Supreme Court has essentially ruled that the scheduled execution can continue.

So what does that mean now? The state house committee is still trying to get the testimony for Robert Robertson before their committee, which would be dramatic in and of itself, Omar. But the district attorney there in Palestine, Texas, where Robertson was convicted more than 20 years ago, can now set a new execution date.

That can't happen for at least 90 days. We still don't have word if she's going to proceed. We have reached out to that district attorney and have not heard back.

So we are waiting to see when the request for that new execution date would be set. But members of the state house committee do say that the Supreme Court's ruling today does not block them from continuing the efforts to get Robert Robertson's testimony before their committee, which would be dramatic in and of itself, as I mentioned -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: Yes, Ed Lavandera, really appreciate the reporting.

All right, coming up, Mike Tyson is returning to the ring. Yes, you heard that correctly. The heavyweight icon set to slug it out with YouTube star turn boxer Jake Paul. We'll explain coming up.

[15:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Right now, one of the great heavyweight champs of all time is getting ready to rumble with a fighter who wasn't even born when he ruled the ring. Tonight, 58-year-old Mike Tyson will face against 27- year-old social media star Jake Paul. Tyson was once known, of course, as Iron Mike, but that was then, and everyone is wondering, can the former champ live up to his old nickname one last time?

And there were fireworks at the pre-match weigh-in. Tyson took a swipe at Paul as the cameras were rolling.

CNN's Andy Scholes joining us now on this. There's definitely going to be drama. I wonder what the concern is about the age difference, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Well, yes, I mean, there should be a little bit of concern at least, right? 31-year-old age difference for a fight with this much interest? I'm not sure we've ever seen that, Brianna.

But that slap there at the weigh-in, I mean, that was probably as real as when Tyson punched Allen in the movie Hangover 1, you know? It was just a lot of drama to drum up interest for the fight. But hey, I, for one, want to watch just to see how Mike Tyson looks.

But you have to remember, come into this with low expectations. 20 years ago, the last time Tyson fought in a real boxing match, he didn't look good back then. 20 years ago, and now he's fighting a guy 27 years old.

And this is, like I mentioned, though, a full sanctioned fight, but there's some different rules. It's not going to be a normal heavyweight bout. It's not going to be 10 to 12 rounds.

It's only eight rounds, and the rounds are only going to be two minutes instead of three. They're doing all that to try to, you know, give some grace to Mike Tyson, who's 58 years old. Hopefully, he can last through all of those rounds.

They're also going to have 14-ounce boxing gloves, not 12, which cushion the blow a little bit. But like I said, Brianna, come into this with low expectations.

Jake Paul is the favorite. He's 10-1 in his boxing career. He started as a boxer just in 2020 professionally. You know, hasn't really fought a lot of, you know, pro boxers, but he looks pretty good when he's in the ring. So we'll see. He's a 2-1 favorite for this. The event starts at 8 o'clock on Netflix, but don't expect this match

between these two guys to start anywhere before 11.

KEILAR: All right, I mean, what if Mike makes everyone eat their words, though, Andy? That could happen, right?

[15:55:00]

SCHOLES: It could, but you have to remember, this fight was supposed to be in July, and it had to be moved because he had a serious ulcer where he said he lost 26 pounds. So he's also battling that on top of being 58 years old. I'd be shocked if Tyson won.

KEILAR: More time to get ready. Just different ways to look at it. Andy Scholes, thank you so much.

So when we come back, help wanted to catch one of the world's most dangerous animals. Why an Australian zoo is asking amateurs to help them catch deadly spiders next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIMENEZ: My Spidey senses were tingling in the break. I don't know if this is the Spidey senses motion. I haven't had it.

KEILAR: That makes sense.

JIMENEZ: But it's because we're talking about some spiders, a lot of close-up pictures there, especially Down Under, talking Australia. Rangers at an Australian zoo are requesting people capture the world's deadliest spider, the funnel-web spider, along with their egg sacs.

KEILAR: Yes, the Australian Reptile Park, which is outside Sydney, says they desperately need these and they need the spiders, they need the egg sacs to make that powerful anti-venom for when people get bitten. It saves their lives.

[16:00:00]

The park makes the call for this deadly catch every year when spiders breeding season begins. They even have a video on how to safely capture funnel-web spiders.

If I'm doing that, I'm going for the egg sac. I'm just going to get the web of little, tiny babies that haven't hatched. That seems safe.

JIMENEZ: That's what you're doing this weekend? You're going egg sac hunting?

KEILAR: No, but if I were to do it, yes.

JIMENEZ: OK. Honestly, the egg sacs are better than whatever is up there.

KEILAR: That giant, scary thing. No, thank you. But it could crawl into your boots, and you don't want that. JIMENEZ: I'm good. I'm good.

KEILAR: "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.