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Trump Lawyer Giuliani to Press Ukraine on Investigations that Could Help Get Trump Re-elected in 2020; Mother Says She Warned of "Another Columbine" at STEM School; Students Speak Out on Facing Gun Violence at School. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired May 10, 2019 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[14:34:02] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Sounds like a bit of deja vu all over again. An upcoming election, and the Trump campaign is talking to a foreign government about a political rival. Ring any bells? This time it is not Paul Manafort or Michael Cohen or Don Jr. It is the president's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani. He says he's heading to Ukraine hoping to dig up dirt on Joe Biden. And he's not hiding anything. He just told the "New York Times," and I quote, "We're not meddling in an election, we're meddling in an investigation, which we have the right to do.
Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, strongly disagrees with that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): It's stunning that the Trump administration is going down the same tragic path they did in 2016. Here you have the president's lawyer seeking help from a foreign government again to influence an American presidential election and it is just appalling. And his defense that he's not seeking a foreign government help in the election, just an investigation, yes, it is an investigation designed to affect one of the candidates they fear the most, Joe Biden. And I think it is reprehensible.
[14:35:15] BALDWIN: Let's go the guy who has connected all of the dots. CNN reporter, Michael Warren, is in Washington.
So, Michael, you talked to Rudy Giuliani this morning. First, set up for me what he's after with regard to Joe Biden and how Biden's son, Hunter, was somehow involved in this Ukrainian gas oil company.
MICHAEL WARREN, CNN REPORTER: Right, Brooke, here are the facts. From 2014 until just a few months ago, Hunter Biden was on the board of a Ukrainian natural gas company that was run by an oligarch that was under investigation by the Ukrainian government. And at same time, when he was vice president, Joe Biden was leading a sort of Western effort to get the Ukrainians to get rid of a lot of their corrupt officials, including the top prosecutor prosecuting this company.
Now the only problem with Giuliani story is there was no evidence there was any interaction or pay for play or anything like that back in 2015. And more recently, Joe Biden has said he had no contact with his son about his business dealings. But Giuliani is using this information to say there has got to be an investigation not only in the United States, but also in Ukraine, which explains this visit he's apparently planning to make.
BALDWIN: In addition to that, we know that Giuliani said he's interested in finding out more about the negative reporting about Paul Manafort during the 2016 campaign. Did you discuss that?
WARREN: Yes. This is the issue that Giuliani said he really cares about. He claims that he stumbled upon the Biden information but what he really wants to know about is the supposed connections, he says, between the -- certain members of the Ukrainian government and Democrats during the 2016 election. He said that somewhere in here there's a connection that explains the beginnings of the FBI probe into the Trump campaign and particularly into Paul Manafort. He said that is something that he thinks the Justice Department should look into. And he is again going to Ukraine to find out what he can. He's already been speaking with a number of former and current Ukrainian officials over Skype. Now he seems to be going to see maybe possibly a few of them face-to-face.
BALDWIN: Michael Warren, great reporting. Thank you.
WARREN: Thanks.
BALDWIN: Were there signs of violence before this week's deadly shooting at a school in Colorado? A CNN investigation, a concerned mom who told officials the school was, to quote her, "a pressure cooker." And she wasn't the only parent who has been afraid. Hear what she told us about her warning in an exclusive CNN interview.
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[14:42:18] BALDWIN: A concerned parent is talking exclusively to CNN about her warnings to a school district before this week's deadly school shooting in Colorado, in which one student was killed and eight others injured. This mother, who would like to remain anonymous, says she saw students acting out aggressively months before the tragedy this week. And she told officials she feared the potential for, as she put it, "another Columbine."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think bullying is such a buzzword and I think people are very resistant to hear that word. And so I want to say that, did kids feel aggressive towards one another and act out aggression that I saw, yes. That my children experienced, yes. That their friends experienced and told me about. That I heard from other parents, absolutely. I also feel that there was a clash of people's ideas and cultures.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: CNN's Scott McLean is outside of the courthouse where the two suspects were supposed to appear today and he spoke with this mother.
And we'll get to that in a second. But first, Scott, catch me up with what is next in the case.
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So, Brooke, the court appearances for both the 16 and the 18-year-old suspects have now been postponed until next week. Though it is not exactly clear why. You'll recall that the prosecution asked for more time in an earlier court appearance to lay actual formal charges so we haven't heard those just yet. We're also expected to find out whether or not the 16-year-old in this case would be charged as an adult or a juvenile.
Now as for this mom, this is the woman who said that she is the one who came forward to the board with those complaints about a pressure cooker environment for students. She said she wants to remain anonymous, as you said, but CNN has confirmed that she does have a child that attends the school. And she also had a lot of details about the allegations. Those allegations being that students had a rigorous academic program, they were getting little sleep, starting to act out with some aggressiveness. She talked about attempted suicide, teachers having to intervene in fights, and she was worried that eventually this would build up to something where someone might get seriously hurt or even killed. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It looked like, to me, that they were a potential for having another Arapaho or Columbine shooting. And I was seriously concerned about it. When you mix not reaching out and when you mix a pressure-cooker environment where students are stressed out and overworked and they don't get enough sleep and they feel suicidal or they feel aggressive towards one another and not being disciplined for it, when you don't listen to parents' concerns or you don't support teachers' concerns, when you don't give teachers the kind of training they need or the support that they need, those are the elements that we need for the perfect storm for something like a Columbine or some kind of imminent threat to our children's safety in this school, whether it be a bomb or an active shooter or a suicide.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[14:45:37] MCLEAN: Now this parent does think that the teachers at the school were well intentioned.
As for the school administration, the executive director responded to CNN through a P.R. firm saying that the school found no evidence to support this parent's claim. The statement read, "Like any school with more than 1800 students, we receive complaints, all of which we take seriously and investigate promptly."
I should also mention that the school, in response to this parent's complaint, filed a defamation lawsuit against her. That statement did not address that lawsuit or why it was filed. We asked the school district about it and they would only say that they were aware of that lawsuit back when it was filed in January but they say they weren't involved -- Brooke? BALDWIN: Scott McLean, appreciate your reporting out of Colorado for
us this week. Thank you.
And before we go to break, I just want to play a clip from this week of an interview that will stay with me for the rest of my life. And 12-year-old Nate Holley and his dad joined me this week from Highlands Ranch. Nate is in the sixth grade. And his words nearly left me, and I know so many of you, speechless.
I've heard from you asking, why has our country failed him and what can we do and when will this stop. I wish I had the answers. This falls on all of us. But as we move forward into this weekend, Mother's Day weekend, where yet another mother has lost a child to gun violence, Kendrick Castillo, who died saving others, let's think of our children and let's think of Nate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NATE HOLLEY, STUDENT: So I have -- I have some -- I have some sensitive ears so they shot out the doors and I heard the gunshots and I kind of froze. And then the siren came on and our teacher -- someone started cracking jokes and she told them to shut up and had us hide behind her desk. And when the shooter got closer she moved us into the closet. I was hiding in the corner and they were right outside of the door. I had my hand on the - on a metal baseball bat just in case. Because I was going to go down fighting if I was going to go down.
BALDWIN: And last question, what do you want everyone watching to know about you?
HOLLEY: Um, I -- that is a hard question.
BALDWIN: I don't mean to stump you.
You can think about it and you can get back to me. I'm going to go ahead and say you are brave and everyone knows it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: I just want to add, he did get back to me right after our interview ended. He told me he was ready to answer my question. And do you want to know what he said? He said, "I want everyone to know I'm a warrior." He is 12.
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[14:53:00] BALDWIN: The police force in Freeport, Texas, has gone "Beyond the Call of Duty" to make a dying girl's wish come true.
CNN's Ed Lavandera introduces us to Honorary Officer Abigail Arias.
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ROMMEL ARIAS, UNCLE OF ABIGAIL ARIAS: The tattoo I'm getting is the Freeport Police Department badge. Get it on straight.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Rommel Arias wants to always carry the shield of his hero, a Freeport, Texas police officer, badge number 758 -- an officer on a mission fighting bad guys.
ROMMEL ARIAS: What's your number?
ARIAL ARIAS, HONORARY POLICE OFFICER: Seven fifty-eight.
ROMMEL ARIAS: Seven fifty-eight?
I wanted to put that 758 as her -- because that's her actual badge number, and it's actually in her handwriting.
Guess who's writing this badge number is?
ABIGAIL ARIAS: Mine.
ROMMEL ARIAS: Yours.
LAVANDERA: The ink honors his niece, Officer Abigail Arias.
ROMMEL ARIAS: It's pretty cool, huh?
ABIGAIL ARIAS: That looks like you.
ROMMELL ARIAS: Better, yes?
(LAUGHTER)
LAVANDERA: The newest 6-year-old boot-strutting, cowboy hat-wearing Freeport police officer.
CHIEF RAYMOND GARIVEY, FREEPORT POLICE DEPARTMENT, FREEPORT, TEXAS: What an honor.
I promise --
ABIGAIL ARIAS: I promise --
GARIVEY: -- to protect --
ABIGAIL ARIAS: -- to protect --
GARIVEY: -- and serve --
LAVANDERA: In February, Abigail was sworn in as a police officer by Chief Raymond Garivey.
(APPLAUSE)
LAVANDERA: It was her dream.
GARIVEY: You couldn't have picked a better role model to put on that uniform and represent law enforcement in general and first responders.
ROMMEL ARIAS: Does the police uniform help you fight the bad guys?
ABIGAIL ARIAS: Yes, sir. It keeps me brave.
GARIVEY: When she wears it, she wears it with pride, she wears it with dignity. She respects it the way we should respect it.
On top of that, she's fighting something that you and I are not fighting.
LAVANDERA: The dream is actually a dying wish. Abigail is battling a rare cancer that has spread through her body.
GARIVEY: I'm just blessed that we were the chosen ones to be able to do her lifelong dream of wanting to be a police officer.
ROMMEL ARIAS: Her cancer right now is terminal. It derived from the kidney and it's a rare cancer but it is common in kids.
GARIVEY: She's fighting for her life.
[14:55:02] ABIGAIL ARIAS: So the bad guys are in my lungs.
ROMMEL ARIAS: Her cancers are called the bad guys, and if you ask her, she'll tell you that the bad guys are still in there.
BRYAN KLEVENS, OWNER, PRISON BREAK TATTOOS: Oh, my goodness. What do you do with those?
ABIGAIL ARIAS: I'm going to arrest people.
LAVANDERA: Bryan Klevens is the owner of Prison Break Tattoos. He calls it a safe haven for first responders. He's seen it all here, but this work of art left him in tears.
KLEVENS: Never in my six years have I had someone come in to memorialize a child that's still here with us. Something's giving her strength.
ROMMEL ARIAS: Now that I've got your badge, I'm always going to be fighting the bad guys with you. We're going to beat them bad guys, baby -- yes? You know I love you, right? You're the strongest, toughest little kid I've ever known.
KLEVENS: We have to pray that she beats this.
GARIVEY: She has work to do here. I know he wants her up there but we're going to be a little selfish today. We need her here.
Lord, here we are in this special place with this special little angel.
ROMMEL ARIAS: It's like a shield for me, too, man, you know -- and it's -- to be able to know that I'm doing this for her and that I have a piece of her for the rest of my life. LAVANDERA: It's a permanent badge of honor.
ABIGAIL ARIAS: Where we going next, Daddy?
LAVANDERA: Ed Lavandera, CNN, Houston, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Oh, look at her face.
Ed, thank you so much for that.
We do have more breaking news this afternoon. Special Counsel Robert Mueller will not be testifying next week, as it turns out.
And a warning for former White House counsel, Don McGahn, obey the subpoena or else.
We're back in a moment.
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