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11 Dead as Search Intensifies for 150 Still Missing; Family Remembers Antonio and Gladys Lozano; Ethiopian Army Withdraws from Regional Capital Mekelle; Fresh Evidence of January Massacre in Tigray; Barr: Trump's Election Fraud Claims Were "All Bullsh*t"; Switzerland Stun World Champions France at Euros. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired June 29, 2021 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Sunrise is just about two hours away in south Florida. And rescue crews are working nonstop to find survivors in the rubble of that high-rise collapse. 11 people are confirmed dead, 150 others are still missing. The wait for friends and families is excruciating. As the chances of finding anyone alive fades with each passing day. The nearby city of Miami Beach has canceled its fourth of July festivities out of respect for the collapse victims and their loved ones.
And we're also learning more with those killed in the collapse. Among the dead are Antonio and Gladys Lozano, married for 59 years. The couple had dinner with their son just hours before the building fell and he spoke CNN's with Randi Kaye.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Antonio and Gladys Lozano lived on the ninth floor at the Champlain Towers in Surfside Florida. It had been Antonio's dream to live on the beach. Their son Sergio had dinner with them at their condo just hours before the building collapsed.
SERGIO LOZANO, PARENT'S DIED IN COLLAPSE: After dinner, I had -- I work early in the mornings and hugged my mom good night, kissed my dad. That was it. No more.
KAYE: Never imagining that would be the last time --
LOZANO: No.
KAYE: -- you saw them.
LOZANO: No.
KAYE (voice-over): Sergio returned to his condo in Champlain East, the same complex but two blocks away, only to be awakened around 1:30 in the morning by a terrible noise.
LOZANO: I thought it was a tornado outside my apartment. I opened the door. I told my wife, oh my god. She goes, what do you mean? What do you mean? My parent's apartment is not there.
KAYE (voice-over): Through tears, he said that his parent's apartment wasn't there that the building was gone. Sergio says he used to be able to see into his parent's kitchen from his own apartment.
LOZANO: I could see my mom cooking from my apartment when night would fall. Their kitchen, where my dad would sit and watch TV. It wasn't there. It's just like, don't know.
KAYE: As the search continued, were you -- did you have any hope that they would be found alive?
LOZANO: I did. I was just praying to God that they went quit and that they were together.
KAYE (voice-over): When officials told him his parents had died in the collapse. He says they told him they were found together.
LOZANO: Was told they were in bed together. That's the end of the romantic story.
KAYE (voice-over): The Lozano's had been married 59 years. Antonio was 82, Gladys was 80. They first met in Cuba when they were 12 years old. After Antonio came to the United States, he sent for Gladys and they got married on Miami Beach. Antonio later became a successful banker. Their son says they often joked about who might die first.
LOZANO: My dad would say to my mom, if you die, I don't even know how to fry an egg. I'm going to die. But my mom would say that if my dad would die, I don't know how to pay the bills. That was told my mom, don't worry. I'm going to do it. But they died together. It's not fair being crushed, being destroyed. It's not fair.
KAYE (voice-over): Next month would have been Gladys and Antonio's 59th wedding anniversary. Instead of planning a celebration, their son Sergio is planning a funeral. Now more than ever, he's grateful for happier times. Like when he took his parents to Europe and how his mom cried visiting the Vatican. Sergio's son is also cherishing those final moments. He remembers one of the last things his grandfather told him was that he was proud of him.
[04:35:00]
SERGIO LOZANO JR, GRANDPARENT'S DIED IN CHAMPLAIN TOWERS COLLAPSE: You hear that news that same day. It's just it's unimaginable, unimaginable.
KAYE (voice-over): The Lozano's leave behind two children, seven grandchildren and two great grandchildren. A family that's in pain but at peace, knowing Antonio and Gladys are still together.
LOZANO: They're just two amazing people, two amazing people.
KAYE: Now the couple's son Sergio has said that he has not been back to the building since this all happened. He just can't bring himself to go back to that apartment of his. Every team he opens that sliding glass door, he says that he would have a flashback of what happened that night and that building going down.
Also as far as planning his parents' funeral, he says that not only do they lose their lives but of course they lost out of their belongings. So now he doesn't have a pretty dress as he says, or a nice suit to dress his parents in to bury them. He told me that he will have to go shopping now to dress his dead parents for their funeral. Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Such a horrifying story there.
And the regional government of Tigray says its forces have broken the backbone of the Ethiopian army. That's after the Ethiopian military suddenly withdrew from Tigray's capital and the Ethiopian government has now him declared a unilateral cease fire until September. The Ethiopian army with help from Eritrea, has been fighting the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front in a brutal war that's killed thousands of civilians, forced millions from their homes and has left many in dire need of food.
A CNN investigation in collaboration with Amnesty International expose the horror of a massacre perpetrated by Ethiopian soldiers in the mountains of the Tigray region. Now CNN has obtained and verified new images confirming the identity of the victims and the army unit of the perpetrators. Nima Elbagir joins me now from London with the details. Nima, your report is extraordinary. The images and circumstances are horrifying. With all have you learned? And what might the consequences be of such atrocities?
NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What we have found, Rosemary, is additional proof of just an extraordinary level of impunity by the perpetrators of this massacre. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One by one, they enter the church, carrying in sacks all that's left of loved ones executed by Ethiopian shoulder soldiers. Villagers risking their lives to retrieve these remains. But this is not just about closure. This is fresh evidence of a genuine massacre. Throughout the months-long conflict in its Tigray region, Ethiopia has promised to hold all who break the law accountable, but they haven't.
We must warn you, what you're about to see and hear is horrifying. This is how many saw their loved ones for the first time, some beheaded. Others burned beyond recognition.
For six months, families have been denied access to execution sites by Ethiopian soldiers. The remains tell a grim story, corroborating CNN's original investigation, in collaboration with Amnesty International.
This is the old footage of the massacre first broadcast in April. We can't show you the moment of execution, but in the aftermath, this soldier tosses a jacket. Notice the black and gray color scheme, and the bloodstain -- same jacket, same bloodstain. The man who took this picture confirmed this jacket belong to his brother, which he found at the massacre site.
This video of bullet casings was also found at the site last week by family members and sent to CNN. We asked forensic experts to analyze the casings. They confirmed they were in line with bullets of Ethiopian soldiers would use. The video also reveals the location, the same location as the execution site. Notice the distinctive ridge in this new footage. And now in the footage, shot by soldiers during the execution. We also verified the digital footprint. It's a match.
Crucially locals say that they have collected 36 ID cards from the scene, but that 37 more people remain missing. Indicating the massacre could have been much larger than previously suspected. They believe the desecration of the bodies was a deliberate attempt to destroy evidence in the aftermath of our investigation. And more video has emerged to shed light on the perpetrators.
[04:40:00]
Given to CNN by a pro-Tigray organization based in the U.S., it reveals the nickname of the whistleblower, but more importantly, the rank and division of the unit committing these crimes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (translated text): As you can see, we have killed them and the TPLF bodies are scattered everywhere.
ELBAGIR (voice-over): That's the voice of the Ethiopian soldier turned whistleblower.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (translated text): I am the one who is recording and filming this video for you. My name is Fafi.
ELBAGIR (voice-over): He names himself in the video twice and names his unit and division. Enough evidence for the Ethiopian government to pursue an investigation, but none has been confirmed.
The whistleblower gives his phone to another soldier, so that he can also be filmed carrying out an execution. With this level of detail, now revealed, we ask the Ethiopian government whether they have investigated and punished, the perpetrators. We received no response.
After the ceremony at the church, the families gathered to bury the dead in a mass grave. Their grief they say inflamed by their government's inactions. The identities of the victims are known. The division of the perpetrators is known, hard to imagine how that inaction can be justified.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ELBAGIR (on camera): For the months of this conflict, Rosemary, the U.S. and the international community have said that they support an investigative mechanism that pairs the state appointed Ethiopian Human Rights Commission with the U.N. office for human rights. It's clear from what we have been able to uncover there that that mechanism cannot possibly be seen to be fit for purpose given that a massacre such as that months after it was first committed still there have been no consequences for the perpetrators and no attempt to provide any solace to the victims. What many have been telling us from Tigray and around the world, with loved ones in Tigray, is that they do not trust the Ethiopian government to investigation itself -- Rosemary.
CHURCH: And we thank you so much for shining a spotlight on this horrifying story. Nima Elbagir joining us live from London, many thanks. And we'll be right back.
[04:45:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. Well, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has introduced a resolution to form a select committee to investigate the Capitol insurrection. She plans to pick eight members leaving Republicans to name five. Pelosi is moving forward with the select committee after Republicans blocked plans for an independent bipartisan commission.
Well former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr is breaking his silence on Donald Trump's big lie that the 2020 election was stolen. According to a new book, Barr summed up the big lie as, quote, all B.S. He also details how enraged Trump got when Barr fought his efforts to push election lies. CNN's Jessica Schneider reports from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Former Attorney General William Barr is finally talking about the tumultuous time period following the 2020 election when then President Trump put repeated pressure on the Justice Department to investigate false claims of election fraud.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is total fraud and how the FBI and Department of Justice, I don't know, maybe they're involved but how people are allowed to get away from this stuff -- with this stuff is unbelievable.
SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Barr now telling ABC News journalist Jonathan Karl that Trump lashed out after Barr gave an interview to "The Associated Press" December 1st where Barr flat out said there is no evidence of widespread fraud.
When Barr went to visit the White House later that afternoon, he was summoned to meet with Trump who asked, did you say that? Barr responded yes. Trump shot back, how the F could you do this to me? Why did you say it? Because it's true, Barr responded. Trump then turned to talking about himself in the third person saying, you must hate Trump, you must hate Trump.
Barr recounted how he personally looked into some allegations from ballots being moved around in Detroit to claims that voting machines around the country were rigged to switch Trump votes to Biden votes. We realized from the beginning it was just B.S., Barr said. At one point, even telling Trump his legal team lobbying all of the election challenges was a joke. This would have taken a crackerjack team with a really coherent and disciplined strategy, instead you have a clown show, Barr told Trump inside the president's dining room on December 1st. Barr even said, the former president agreed with this clown show comparison, saying, you may be right about that.
RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER TRUMP PERSONAL LAWYER: We're going to be looking at dead person's ballots which may actually be very, very substantial.
SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Trump was relying largely on Rudy Giuliani to lead his legal fight. Giuliani is now temporarily suspended from practicing law in New York state because of his role in the effort to undermine the election.
But Barr's recounting of the record now doesn't make up for how he echoed the president's unfounded and often outlandish concerns prior to the election.
BILL BARR, FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL: I do think it increases the opportunity for fraud. It does leave up in the possibility of counterfeiting, counterfeiting ballots.
TRUMP: They pick the ballot. They take them out of mailboxes.
BARR: Those things are delivered in for mailboxes. They can be taken out.
SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Barr even drafted a memo, one week after the election, giving federal prosecutors the green light to investigate substantial allegations of vote irregularities. Overturning long- standing DOJ policy to not probe possible voter fraud until after an election is certified.
We're learning, from this new interview, that even then Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, wanted Barr to speak out publicly sooner than he did, telling the attorney general, in mid-November, that Trump's claims were damaging to the country.
McConnell told Barr: You're in a better position to inject some reality into the situation. You're really the only one who can do it.
Trump issued a seething statement Monday, referencing this McConnell revelation, saying, he never fought for the White House and blew it for the country. Too bad I backed him in Kentucky, he would have been primaried and lost. Based on press reports, he convinced his buddy, Bill Barr, to get the corrupt election done, over with, and sealed for Biden, ASAP.
SCHNEIDER: Bill Barr says the former president not only pressed him on the election, but also yelled about the fact that the DOJ had not prosecuted Joe Biden's son Hunter, or the former FBI director James Comey. Barr recounted that Trump told him he was worthless. But nevertheless Barr wrote up a resignation letter where he praised the former president and then stepped down two days before Christmas.
But the pressure lingered when the acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen stepped in. He received a stream of recently released emails from Trump's allies pressing him to investigation the election.
Jessica Schneider, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[04:50:00]
CHURCH: And you're watching CNN NEWSROOM. Just ahead, a thrilling finish in the Euro 2020 tournament as Switzerland goes down to the wire with defending champions France.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: A stunning upset at the Euro 2020 tournament. Plus a stellar performance by Paul George in the NBA Western Conference finals. Patrick Snell has our minute in sports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Hi, Rosemary, yes, we have to start with a truly remarkable Monday of the European football championship. Seeing world champions France now out of the competition, they were beaten by Switzerland after the French superstar Kylian Mbappe seeing his spot kick saved in the penalty shot out after the match had ended 3 all. Mbappe later apologizing there is social media.
Switzerland will play Spain next after they won a 8 goal thriller against Croatia. Alvaro Morata answering his critics in style, 5-3 Spain, the final score.
Today in the last 16, Ukraine/Sweden in Glasgow, while old rivals Germany and England prepare to meet in London.
[04:55:00]
And the Copa America in Brazil, another landmark career moment for Argentine superstar Lionel Messi, who is now become his countries most capped player after his 148 appearance for the (INAUDIBLE) Messi also scoring twice in the 4-1 victory over Bolivia.
And in the U.S. the LA Clippers still in with a shout. Paul George with postseason career-high 41 points as the Clippers beat the Phoenix Suns in game five of the Western Conference finals. Phoenix leading the series 3-2.
And today is day two at Wimbledon after Monday saw a first-round victory for top ranked Novak Djokovic, but surprise defeat for Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas.
And with that, it's back to you.
CHURCH: Thanks so much for that, Patrick.
So pride month is coming to a close and just one week after Carl Nassib of the Las Vegas Raiders came out as first active NFL player to announce he's gay. The league is releasing a new video supporting LGBTQ Americans. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TEXT: Football is gay -- football is lesbian -- football is beautiful -- football is exciting football is culture -- football is power -- football is tough -- football is freedom -- football is American -- football is accepting -- football is everything-- football is for everyone.
LGBTQ-youth with at least on accepting adult have 40 percent lower risk of attempting suicide.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And the ad finishes with a message of support for the Trevor Project. An organization that works to prevent suicide among LGBTQ youth.
Thank you so much for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. Be sure to connect with me on Twitter @rosemaryCNN. "EARLY START" is up next. You're watching CNN. Have yourselves a wonderful day.
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