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NYT Says Judges Fear For Their Safety Amid Online Threats; Canadian Transportation Agency Says Landing Gear Support Broke On Delta Plane That Flipped Over & Burned At Toronto Airport; New Bipartisan Support To Give Combat-Injured Veterans Full Benefits. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired March 20, 2025 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:31:38]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: As President Trump lashes out at federal judges, some in the judicial system say they fear for their safety.

The "New York Times" reporting, quote, "Federal judges are worried that online threats against those who oversee high-profile cases challenging Trump administration policies may lead to real-world violence."

Joining us now is U.S. District Judge Esther Salas. Her son was murdered by a self-described anti-feminist lawyer.

Judge, thank you so much for being with us.

I wonder what you make of administration officials, folks like Stephen Miller, who have these massive social media followings. Some of the stuff they've posted that's been critical of district judges.

Miller himself has described recent decisions as "judicial tyranny, as the gravest assault on democracy." Do you see that kind of rhetoric as dangerous?

JUDGE ESTHER SALAS, SON SHOT & KILLED IN HER HOME: Good afternoon, Mr. Sanchez, and thank you for having me on.

You know, I have seen what I've been describing as a bonfire that's been burning for many years now, post my son's murder in 2020.

There have been various instances in which judicial officers or the Supreme Court has rendered decisions that have caused people to react in ways that are unhealthy and dangerous.

We saw that with Justice Kavanaugh in 2022. And now we are again seeing a rise in judicial -- in threats to judicial officers. And, of course, threats of articles of impeachment against judicial officers for doing one thing, and that's their job.

And so I do think that when we use inflammatory rhetoric, when our political leaders and people in positions of power choose to engage in misinformation, they are putting judges lives in danger.

And they are also, in my opinion, eroding the public's trust in our judicial system. These are -- these are things that are dangerous for all of us.

And -- and I obviously felt the need to come forward and talk about our case and our tragedy, because there are unintended consequences that can follow when we choose to be reckless and irresponsible with our words. Words matter, Mr. Sanchez. The way we treat each other, that matters.

SANCHEZ: Well, Judge, I wanted to ask you about that because there are folks out there who will inevitably argue that what we've seen so far from these specific claims about the judge that blocked -- attempted to block the Trump administration and those deportation flights, it's largely hoaxes and threats, implied threats.

What do you say to those who argue that the risk of actual violence is overstated, that this -- these words, these claims, these criticisms should not amount to violence.

SALAS: Well, I would say Daniel Andale (ph), July 19th, 2020. I would say that I am without my son, my only child, and my husband. And I deal every day with the reality that we no longer have our son on this earth.

And so I say that this -- these are real issues that need to be respected. The value of human life needs to be respected.

[13:35:09]

And -- and when we talk about the type of pressure judicial officers have, when you call our chambers and you leave us menacing messages and you wish us dead, or you even say, as I've experienced it and heard recently in -- in one of the recordings, "we're coming to get the particular judicial officer," that is more than just speaking your mind.

That is, indeed, a lodging a clear and present danger and concern when it comes to that judicial officer. So words matter, what you say to us, it matters, how you react to our rulings, that matters.

And -- and I just -- I have no problem, and I think any judicial officer who takes an oath realizes that our rulings will be criticized. There will -- there will be disagreement.

And that's part of a healthy democracy, to be able to criticize a judicial officer, to be able to appeal a judicial officer's decisions to a higher court. That's all part of a healthy democracy.

What's not healthy is when you lodge violence, intimidation, you threaten articles of impeachment against judges for doing their jobs. You come to our homes and you gun us down or gun our family members down. That's not fair game.

And so I think we really do need to sort of dial back the temperature a bit. I would beg our -- our leaders and those in positions of power to -- to recognize that the American public is looking at them to see how they react to our judicial rulings.

And will, in large part, guide themselves based on the leaders that, you know, they -- they are following and that they love and respect.

And that's -- that's why I think to lead and to lead responsibly is -- is all that we're asking for. It is -- it is -- it -- I can't ever turn back the hands of time. I will never see my son get married. I will never see him graduate college. I will never see -- I will never be a grandmother, you know?

And so we can't -- we can't turn back the hands of time. And if something were to happen to any judicial officer or his or her family members, there is no going back from there.

And so I just -- I just like us to all remember that, you know, there are constitutional frameworks that have been working for 235 years. And, and I'd ask us to -- to continue to trust the system and to continue to play within the constitutional framework that's been established by our founding fathers.

There's -- there's -- this is the greatest justice system in the world. I believe that wholeheartedly.

And I just wish that we could go back to criticizing opinion, judicial opinions in an informed way, in a measured way, rather than using inflammatory rhetoric, Mr. Sanchez.

SANCHEZ: Judge Esther Salas, always appreciate you sharing your story and you sharing your perspective. Thanks for being with us.

SALAS: Thank you for having me, sir.

[13:38:37]

SANCHEZ: We'll be right back.

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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: New details on that upside down Delta crash at Toronto's airport last month. Canadian authorities say a landing gear support broke as the plane was landing. And then that crash ended up ripping off a wing, ending with the plane rolling upside down, spraying jet fuel all over.

Incredibly, all 80 passengers and crew on board made it out alive, although 21 were injured.

CNN transportation analyst, Mary Schiavo, is with us now.

OK, Mary, so I guess the question is, why did the landing gear support break? MARY SCHIAVO, CNN TRANSPORTATION ANALYST: Well, the Safety Bureau of

Canada, the Canada transport safety investigation group, provided a lot of detail in this preliminary report.

I mean, it's a lot of detail. Often you don't see this much detail. But they have given us three big clues.

First of all, they said they defined what a hard landing is. And they said, for this aircraft, a hard landing is anything other than a descent of 600 feet per minute. How fast are you headed down?

And the air -- they had mentioned that this -- this particular operation for this aircraft said, yes, you shouldn't exceed 720 feet per minute.

But then they added that this plane, as it was landing, was descending, had a feet per minute of 1,100. So that exceeds the hard landing and exceeds the guidelines for this aircraft.

So we already know they're headed that way in their investigation, that it just was coming down too steeply. It made too rapid of a descent.

The other thing they said is they looked at -- and that's why they got what's called a sink rate warning. An alarm went off in the cockpit saying sink rate was too great.

The second thing they focused on was the pitch of the aircraft that was as it was flaring to land. Now, what that means is, when you come down and you're just about to touch on the runway, the pilot, you know, puts the nose up and that plane literally settles, breaks the airflow over the wings and settles onto the runway.

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Now, they mentioned in this report that your pitch should be somewhere between three degrees nose up and eight degrees nose up. But they mentioned that this plane was only at one degree.

Now they don't draw any conclusions. That's not their job in a preliminary report. But those are two big clues as to where they're headed in this investigation.

The third thing they mentioned extensively is they went through a lot of different components in the aircraft and said there was no indication of preexisting damage.

There was no indication of preexisting problems. There we're no problems with the engine. There was no prior problems with the landing gear or the wings.

Now, that doesn't mean there couldn't be some hidden problems. And they're going to take care of that through metallurgical examination. In other words, they're going to put all these parts under careful microscopic examination to see if maybe there was a hidden metal flaw or whatever. But they've given us a lot of clues in this preliminary report. And as

preliminary reports go, it's pretty extensive.

SANCHEZ: Yes, really interesting stuff.

Mary, thank you so much for taking us through that. We really appreciate it.

And today, on "HOME FRONT," our digital and television column where we try to bridge the civilian military divide, a bipartisan group of lawmakers is trying to pass a bill to provide combat-injured veteran retirees their full benefits. I should say trying again because they've actually tried before.

It's called the Major Richard Starr Act. And if it were to pass, it would provide around 50,000 veterans full retirement pay and disability benefits.

Why don't they already have that, you might ask? Well, for veterans who are medically retired due to combat related injuries and who served fewer than 20 years, their retirement benefits go down by $1 for every dollar they receive in disability benefits from the V.A. if they have a less than 50 percent disability rating.

It's hard to follow, but trust me, these veterans are following it. These are benefits that would be paid out from the military retirement fund, which accrues billions of dollars in interest every year and is funded through the annual appropriations process.

And this bill is named after Army Reserve Major Richard Starr, who developed lung cancer as a result of exposure to burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He medically retired after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer and quickly learned that he could not receive his full military retirement pay because he was receiving V.A. disability pay.

Starr advocated for a change, but he died in 2021 before legislation to address the issue was seriously considered. Nearly four dozen veteran service organizations are supporting the bill.

We'll be right back.

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KEILAR: Newly released court documents in that Idaho quadruple murder case show the surviving roommates and what they were doing on their phones before they called 911.

Text messages, phone calls, social media usage are all creating a clearer timeline in the hours after the murders.

SANCHEZ: And court documents also show what the suspect was doing on his phone after the brutal stabbings, including allegedly taking this selfie.

CNN's Jean Casarez is here.

Jean, let's look first at what the defense is saying. Walk us through those details.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right. First of all, let's look at the electronic activity of the two surviving roommates.

Now to set the scene here, law enforcement believes that the murders happened between 4:00 a.m. and 4:25 a.m. And during that time, the two surviving roommates were texting back and forth.

"I'm scared. I saw somebody in a ski mask." "Oh, you know. Come to my room. You shouldn't be alone in your room."

Which she did. But I can tell you, even before this, 7:30, between 4:27 a.m., two minutes after they believe the murders culminated, to 4:37 a.m., they were on Snapchat. They were on Instagram. And they did try to contact Maddie Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves.

Now, 7:30, they started calling their family members. Called mom, called dad, called home, called somebody else. It looks like dad called back. We don't know if they spoke, but conceivably, quite possibly.

And then after that, 8:05, they're on Instagram for approximately two hours, meaning Instagram was up.

And we cannot decipher exactly what this all means. We're just stating the facts of what's in the document.

At 8:41, BFF takes photos. We don't know of what. 10:23 a.m., the other roommate texted Maddie Mogen. They're trying to find them, right? And by the way, they're one floor up, OK? Because this is the house they all live in.

At 11:29 a.m., D.M. texted Kaylee Goncalves, also one floor up. At 11:56, on Instagram again. And then finally, at 11:56, after they've called two friends over -- so there's four of them there now -- they call 911.

KEILAR: And now to the prosecution. What are the newly released court filings reveal about what Kohberger was allegedly doing, Jean?

CASAREZ: Well, they include a picture. And during midmorning, as these roommates are doing these communications, Bryan Kohberger has an electronics of his own, his phone, and he is taking a picture of himself right there mid-morning, according to prosecutors. Thumbs up.

[13:55:07]

And why is this relevant? Because one of the roommates said that around 4:18 or so, she opened her bedroom door and she saw someone all in black with a mask on, something over the forehead, only exposed the eyes and what she said, bushy eyebrows. And she had five interviews. This is D.M. After this all happened,

five interviews with law enforcement and there were inconsistencies.

At one point, she said, "I really don't know. I don't remember." But she kept saying she saw bushy eyebrows or a bushy eyebrow.

And the prosecution wants this picture to give her credibility right there. And also because this is their suspect, this is the person on trial.

But the defense is going to push back because there are many inconsistencies here. And if she can't get a lot of things right, then the defense is going to try to say that she didn't get that part right either.

One more thing. There is a filing that came out about Amazon clicks that Bryan Kohberger did on his Amazon account.

Well, buried in that motion, they just happened to say that between March 20th, 2022, and March 30th, 2022, he bought a Ka-bar knife, a ka-bar sheath and a sharpener.

A Ka-bar sheath, knife sheath was found right to the body of Maddie Mogan right next to it. And so that obviously is significant for the prosecution.

But in a -- in a footnote, they also say that after the murders that he continued to search Ka-bar knives once again after the murders, and they even put in there to get a replacement.

And the defense is pushing back on that, saying that can be algorithms. That can be A.I. You cannot say for certain that he did this.

And we know the defense is going to be that he wasn't in that house. And they even said, in a recent filing, the prosecution said it on behalf of the defense, that they're going to say the knife sheath was planted.

We'll see if the defense actually does go that route.

KEILAR: Yes, that'll be certainly interesting.

Jean Casarez, thank you for the latest there.

Coming up, the Department of Homeland Security detaining a Georgetown University researcher as the Trump administration continues its immigration crackdown. We'll tell you why the government says he's being detained and how the school is responding.

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