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Parents of School Shooter Suspect in Michigan Charged with Involuntary Manslaughter after Evidence Their Son Intended Shooting; Parents of School Shooter Suspect in Michigan Given $500,000 Bail Each after Not Attending Arraignment Hearing; COVID-19 Cases Rising in U.S. Amid Fears of Spread of New Omicron Variant; Biden Administration Issuing Restrictions for Winter to Combat Spread of COVID-19. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired December 04, 2021 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:00]

KAREN MCDONALD, OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN, PROSECUTOR: So, I would ask that you impose the $500,000 cash surety on each of the defendants, your honor.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, in terms of that, the court is required to comply with MCR 6.106. The purpose of that is to ensure that the defendants appear in court for all necessary court appearances as well as to take into consideration any risk to public safety. Obviously, these charges are very, very serious. There's no question about that. The court does have some concern about the flight risk along with the public safety, given the circumstances that occurred yesterday, and the fact that the defendants had to be apprehended in order to appear for purpose of arraignment. The court did indicate yesterday that it would be conducting an arraignment at 4:00 p.m. and nobody appeared for purpose of that arraignment.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your honor --

(CROSS TALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm going to set the bond for Jennifer Crumbley at $500,00, cash surety, no 10 percent. In the event Jennifer Crumbley is able to post bond, the following conditions will be in place. The defendant is not to use or test positive for alcohol, recreational marijuana, or any controlled substances. Miss Crumbley is not to possess or have in possession any firearms or dangerous weapons. She will not have assaultive behavior toward anyone, must provide a release address upon to a pretrial services representative. The defendant must provide a release address if he able to post bond to pretrial services. He will be monitored by pretrial services, must submit and pay for ETG, PBT, and urinalysis within 24 hours of release from the Oakland County jail at a facility that is open seven days a week that automatically lab confirms all positives, provides all levels in writing. That would be at the direction of PTS.

The defendant, Miss Crumbley, at this time is to verify any employment status and verify that in writing upon release from Oakland County jail. In the event that the defendant Miss Crumbley is able to post bond, the court is going to require she have a GPS tether. The GPS tether must be installed upon release from Oakland County jail. She may be -- the GPS with give the allowances that she can go to work, attend court hearings, medical appointments, and attorney meetings. She must provide work schedule, medical appointments, and any meetings to PTS in advance. Again, that must be installed at the jail before she leaves the jail.

As relates to James Robert Crumbley, the court is setting $500,000 cash surety, no 10 percent bond. The defendant is not to use or test positive for alcohol, recreational marijuana or any controlled substances. The defendant is not to possess or have in his possession any firearms, weapons, or ammunition. The defendant is not to have assaultive behavior toward anyone. The defendant must provide a release address if he able to post bond to pretrial services. He will be monitored by pretrial services, must submit and pay for ETG, PBT, and urinalysis within 24 hours of release from the Oakland County jail at a facility that is open seven days a week that automatically lab confirms all positives, provides all levels in writing.

The defendant must verify employment to PTS upon release from Oakland County jail. A GPS tether must be installed prior to release from Oakland County jail in the event the defendant is able to post bond. He also must provide information relative to employment schedule, medical appointments, or any other appointments that are allowed which will include, he could attend court hearings, employment, medical appointments, and attorney meetings. Any violations of any of the terms and conditions of those bond may result in revocation of bond.

Any questions as it relates to bond for James Crumbley?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your honor, we have no questions, but I do need to place one thing on the record. I am not asking the court to change anything. What I want to state on the record is I was not able to watch the entire press release. I had no idea there was a 4:00 arraignment. Miss Layman didn't know idea either. The media had so many reports of random times that quite frankly we didn't believe --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're not going to get into --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just want to apologize to the court because we weren't aware. And also, we faxed over appearances, and no one told us, hey, we're doing this at 4:00. We sent appearances late in the day. And I just apologize to this court, because we don't miss dates. So thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

Finally, as it relates to bond, in the event that the defendants do post bond, I am required that they turn over any and all weapons to the Oakland County Sheriff's Office.

[10:05:03]

That must occur within, realistically, I'm not sure what they have in their possession, or if they're able going to be released if they post bond, but I am going to require that they turn over all weapons upon release from Oakland County jail.

OK. Any other questions?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, your honor.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

Again, PCC is on the 14th at 1:15. Preliminary examination is on the 22nd at 9:45 a.m. It will be in person proceedings. Please make sure that you are prepared with all witnesses and or exhibits.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your honor, I just do want to put on the record that there are hundreds and hundreds of hours of digital evidence and voluminous documents, and we are compiling it, and we'll get it to defense counsel as soon as possible.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, your honor. Have a nice day.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, judge. Your honor.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: You've been watching the arraignment of James and Jennifer Crumbley. They are the parents of the Oxford High School shooting suspect, and they appeared in court on charges of involuntary manslaughter. Moments ago, a judge deciding to hold each of them on $500,000 bond. The couple pled not guilty to all charges. And Christi, their defense lawyers have argued their client's side of the story has not yet been heard either by the court or the public.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: In fact, saying there is far more going on here than what has been reported thus far. There was a manhunt, remember, for this couple. It ended early this morning, overnight in Detroit, after a tip led police to a warehouse where they were arrested. They were arrested without incident, and that's the video you're seeing there. The first CNN exclusive video, the first sighting of them after they had disappeared and were characterized by the police as being fugitives.

SANCHEZ: Let's get right to CNN's Athena Jones, she is live for us in Pontiac, Michigan, this morning. And Athena, the point that Christi raises is important, because their defense attorneys argued that they were not evading prosecution, and yet we heard from law enforcement they had gone missing, and there's nothing to indicate what they were doing last night was taking steps to turn themselves in.

ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Certainly not, Boris. You heard the Oakland County prosecutor, Karen McDonald, argue that exact thing.

One point she made was that this couple, Jennifer and James Crumbley, took out $4,000 from an ATM near where they were supposed to be arraigned yesterday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. And then as you know, they were found overnight in an industrial building, a warehouse. They were in Detroit, which again, is 40 miles away from where they were going to be arraigned. So, it doesn't appear that they were about to turn themselves in. But their lawyers arguing this morning that they were never intending to flee and that there wasn't enough communication between the prosecutors and their attorneys.

Clearly, the court didn't buy that. That's why they set bond for each of them at $500,000, plus they're both going to be having GPS monitors. They've been ordered to turn over any and all weapons. And remember, these two parents are facing, each of them, four counts of involuntary manslaughter. Each of those counts carries penalty up to 15 years in prison, a $7,500 fine, and mandatory provision of DNA.

You heard each, Jennifer Crumbley first, and then James Crumbley, answer each of the charges saying I understand. Jennifer Crumbley's voice sounding shaky there. But they said they understood each of the charges, pled not guilty to each of the charges, and now we know if they make bail, they have to be monitored by GPS.

What is so important here is you hear from the lawyers saying that the prosecution cherrypicked the facts, as you were saying, that the story from the defendants' side is not fully known. Of course, we'll have a chance to hear that.

But here's one statement that the lawyers for Jennifer and James Crumbley point out right before the arraignment, and we heard a little of this during the arraignment. They said this is unfortunately an unimaginable tragedy. And while it is human nature to want to find someone to blame or something to point to or something that gives us answers, the charges in this case are intended to make an example and send a message. The prosecution has very much cherrypicked and slanted specific facts to further the narrative to do that.

So that is really the crux of the argument for Jennifer and James Crumbley's lawyers. But let's remind everyone what evidence the prosecution has presented, and that is that the day before the shooting, a teacher raised concerns about having seen Ethan Crumbley searching for ammunition online, on the phone. They called Jennifer Crumbley. She did not respond. They emailed parents. Neither responded.

[10:10:00]

The next day the parents insisted keeping Ethan Crumbley in school despite the fact that a second teacher had presented them drawings showing a semiautomatic weapon, showing and a body with bullet wounds and blood. So these are some of the facts that led the county prosecutor to say the parents are criminally negligent in deaths of four teens who were killed. That's why they're charged with involuntary manslaughter. Boris, Christi?

SANCHEZ: Athena Jones, a lot to breakdown from Pontiac, Michigan. Thank you so much for walking us through all of that.

PAUL: Athena, thank you. Great job.

So let's go to former Philadelphia police commissioner and CNN senior law enforcement analyst Charles Ramsey, also civil rights attorney and CNN legal analyst Areva Martin. We appreciate both of you being here.

Commissioner, let me start with you. You listened to this. What stood out to you most? And what, might I ask, one of the things I think is important to point out, these attorneys for the parents are adamant that the gun was locked up. They wanted to make that statement. They did so, which is contrary to some of the other reports that we were getting over the last 24 hours. So what stood out to you, Commissioner Ramsey?

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: The defense attorneys are doing their job. Whether the gun was locked up, he had the gun, he used the gun in commission of the crime, so clearly the gun was not secured to a point where he would not have access to it.

This is just the very beginning. More information will come out, that's the whole point of a trial. The prosecution will present additional evidence, search warrants have been executed. I am sure hard drives have been recovered, they've gone through social media posts. There is going to be a lot of evidence.

And on the other side, as far as parents go, I am sure there will be a lot of research into their social media, into their past, into all those kinds of things to determine whether or not at the time that this took place, did they reasonably have any knowledge that this is a potential school shooting scenario. They knew he had a gun. They saw the pictures that were depicted of what looked like it could have been some kind of mass shooting incident, yet they took no action and they didn't bring it to the attention of authorities. So I think they've got a case. It will be interesting to see how it unfolds during trial.

SANCHEZ: Areva, during arraignment, attorneys for the Crumbleys say they were absolutely going to turn themselves in, that they were not evading prosecution, that this is simply a matter of logistics, that they were scared, afraid for their safety, wanted to get their finances in order. The judge today didn't buy that. And I am curious, what do you think they could have been doing that might convince a jury that they weren't simply evading prosecution.

AREVA MARTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Quite frankly, Boris, nothing that they can, I think, say or do or present to this court or to any court to suggest that they were not evading prosecution. The facts are pretty squarely suggestive of the fact that they were evading prosecution. The lawyer's argument at some point was really incomprehensible.

The reality is they were wanted by the police, they needed to turn themselves in, they had every opportunity to do that. Taking money out of an ATM, driving 40 miles away from the courthouse are not things that would suggest that you're trying to submit yourself to law enforcement. They simply could have driven to the court, they could have driven to any police station, any sheriff's station, and turned themselves in. Rather, they decided to get on the road, to take some kind of trip.

And the lawyer's story has changed. Yesterday we were hearing stories that they had left town because they were fearful for their lives and that they were on the way back to the city to turn themselves in. So the story was incomprehensible. The judge made the right call. If you evade arrest, you should have bond set at the highest level that makes sense for charges that have been made against you. And I think clearly these individuals are flight risk. The judge saw that they were flight risk and took the appropriate action.

PAUL: We heard, as Athena had alluded to or pointed out, Jennifer Crumbley when she was answering all her questions, every time, for each of the victims, and said I understand, I plead not guilty, sounded as though she was crying. Commissioner Ramsey, talk to us about, with all of the information that's already out there, and seeing them now the first time, the attorneys obviously say they don't want to try this in the court of public opinion. But you're going to have, if this goes to trial obviously, public people who will be sitting on a jury. Talk to us about logistics of that based on what we know thus far and what we saw today.

RAMSEY: Again, it is going to be interesting. This is a highly publicized case.

[10:15:00]

So selection of a jury is going to certainly take time to make sure that you don't have people that already have a bias against or for the parents one way or the other. And I'm sure that will take place and that will happen, and they'll find a jury that will be able to render a decision based on facts and evidence.

But they're not going to be able to avoid the court of public opinion. That's the world that we live in now. It is going to be highly publicized. A lot of information is going to be put out there. Some will be accurate. Some will not be accurate in terms of evidence and things of that nature. I don't know how you avoid that sort of thing.

But certainly, I could hear it in her voice as well, it sounded as if she's crying. But it is a little late for that. There are people who are crying over the deaths of their children right now, or the children laying in a hospital with gunshot wounds. Those are the kinds of people that, personally, my empathy is with them, not with the parents right now.

SANCHEZ: Impossible to expect a public is going to ignore a school shooting. Obviously, it dominates headlines, and it rips through a community in unimaginable way. And Areva, the thing that strikes me is that this is one of the only cases in which the parents of a school shooter faced charges. Explain to us how rare that is and how difficult it might be to build a case against parents for the role that they played in this tragedy.

MARTIN: You're right, Boris, it is very rare. There are only about four cases that have been reported in the last 15 or 20 years or so where parents have been charged for kids getting access to a gun and then using that gun to shoot someone else. Charges are often very difficult. People believe that parents shouldn't be held responsible for actions of their children. But the prosecutor in this case during her press conference I think

laid out why this case is different, and why to the extent you're every going to charge parents, this is the case to do so. She laid out those chilling text messages between the mother and her son, using the "lol" language and saying don't worry, essentially, about searching your phone for ammunition. Worry about getting caught. There's evidence of the mom posting herself on her own social media pages bragging, seeming to be bragging about having bought the gun as a Christmas present for her son.

The notes, the chilling notes that the teacher found on her son's desk crying out for help. The parents being in the school with their son, knowing that they purchased a gun a week ago, knowing he may have access to that gun, and not revealing that information to the school, insisting the son go back into the classroom when, again, knowing that their son was crying out for help.

So the parents ignored all of the classic red flags that this was a young man in crisis. And when you think about what he is facing, he has been charged as an adult with murder charges, with terrorism charges. So he has the potential of going to jail the rest of his life. And here are the parents, the adults in the room who are charged to be observant of the warning signs and to take action to protect a child. And now we're going to have the loss of this child, the shooter, and the lives of the four individuals that he killed and the kids who were injured. So this is a tragedy all around. But to the extent responsibility needs to be had, it needs to rest with these adults because they knew what was going on with their son, and they failed to take action.

PAUL: Areva Martin, Charles Ramsey, both of you, we are so grateful for the two of you and the intelligence and the knowledge that you bring to this case. Thank you.

RAMSEY: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Thank you, both.

Before we go to break, we want to take a quick moment to remember those that lost their lives and show you their faces. These are the students that were killed at Oxford High School, Tate Myre, 16 years old, Madisyn Baldwin, 17 years old.

PAUL: Hana St. Juliana was 14 years old, and Justin Shilling was 17 years old. And our thoughts are absolutely with their families and that community.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:20:00]

PAUL: Right now, the U.S. is averaging more than 110,000 new coronavirus cases a day. And that is the first time since September. So daily deaths and hospitalizations are also on the rise amid concerns that the Omicron variant could soon become the dominant strain in the U.S.

SANCHEZ: President Biden has laid out new plans to tackle the pandemic this winter, including new travel restrictions and efforts to ramp up testing. CNN's Nadia Romero joins us now live. And Nadia, as Christi pointed out, some of these indicators are not headed the right direction.

NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Definitely not. We're already seeing the Omicron variant in about a dozen or so U.S. states and counting. There was also a Christmas party in Norway that many are calling a super spreader event for the variant. So the travel season during the holidays right now is one of the biggest hurdles in trying to limit the spread.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So there are like millions upon millions of tiny little microscopic wells on here.

ROMERO: About 30,000 COVID-19 positive samples tested per day by North Carolina diagnostic laboratory MAKO Medical, a key step in tracing the spread of the Omicron variant.

MATTHEW TUGWELL, DIRECTOR OF GENOMICS AT MAKO MEDICAL: Every time it transmits from a person to another person, it's another chance for the virus to mutate and to change into something different.

ROMERO: Last week, South Africa became the first to announce it had identified the Omicron variant. But we now know that even then the variant was already present in the United States. The day after Thanksgiving, the Biden administration announced travelers from eight countries in southern Africa wouldn't be allowed into the U.S., sparking international criticism. But a week later, the administration making this announcement.

[10:25:02]

JEFF ZIENTS, WHITE HOUSE COVID-19 RESPONSE COORDINATOR: Already we have shipped for free, with no strings attached, 291 million doses to 110 different countries. That's more vaccines donated and shipped by the United States than all other countries in the world combined.

ROMERO: A welcome move by the World Health Organization.

DR. MARGARET HARRIS, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION SPOKESWOMAN: That is great, because -- I'm sorry that it took Omicron to make people understand how serious this is, because we have been saying and you have been saying that we need to vaccinate the whole world so that we don't give the virus a chance to turn itself into a more effective version.

ROMERO: To fight the variant, the makers of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine say they can modify their current vaccine formula, but it will take time.

UGUR SAHIN, CEO, BIONTECH: If we develop a vaccine, a new vaccine, we will likely not be able to prevent the first wave of infections with the new vaccine, because it would take about 100 days to develop a new and distribute a new vaccine or start to distribute a new vaccine.

ROMERO: While the Omicron variant is already here, the full extent of its potential to wreak havoc is still unknown.

DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: What we know is that early data and even mutation data are telling us that this may well be a more transmissible variant than Delta, and so this is going to take time to sort out.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

ROMERO: So the Biden administration efforts to limit that winter surge includes travel by making international travelers show proof of a negative COVID-19 test the day before they travel when they head into the U.S. And Boris, Christi, if you are wondering about domestic travel within the U.S., no restrictions just yet.

SANCHEZ: Nadia Romero, thank you for following through with all of those details.

Countries in Europe are enforcing additional restrictions as COVID cases surge, and that new COVID variant is being discovered in countries across the continent. In Ireland, nightclubs are fully closed for at least a month, and a 50 percent capacity limit has been placed on indoor events.

PAUL: It comes as data shows more than half of the people with confirmed Omicron cases in the U.K. had received at least two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz is live from London. Salma, good to see you today. What else do we know about these new restrictions that are being implemented there?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: Well, the prime minister of Ireland yesterday addressed the nation, a Friday address. And in it he quite simply said, Boris and Christi, we cannot take the risk of going into the holiday period without social restrictions, even if we don't know the details of the Omicron variant.

And so a lot of new restrictions being rolled out, they're going to be in place through the Christmas period and the New Year period. Now, indoor venues can only have 50 percent capacity. Only four households can meet at a time in a single home. You're also looking at new restrictions around people who can enter and the vaccinations there.

And the unique thing here with Ireland, Boris and Christi, that I want to point out, is it is one of the most vaccinated countries in Europe. During his speech, the prime minister was actually thanking the youth population in that country for the steps and the sacrifices they've made to fight the pandemic.

And that brings me here to the U.K. where the government is pursuing a very different strategy. They have said they will not put any more restrictions in place. Masks are mandatory, but the focus is on boosters, boosters, boosters. The prime minister was out on Thursday getting his booster jab, encouraging that everyone over the age of 18 should get their booster jab before the end of January. It is a really ambitious goal because even if they have the number of boosters, the question is, do they have the staffing and resources to give everyone a booster shot by end of January? And you're going to see that replicated across Europe. You might have the means to get everyone a booster, but do you have the staff and the resources to actually carry out that plan.

And while we wait for scientists to tell us more about the Omicron variant, we're also seeing the change in how governments are handling this. Yes, vaccines and booster shots have been one way we have armed ourselves against this pandemic, but the other key tool is social restrictions. And what we've heard from British scientists here in the U.K. is that if there is any significant diminished ability for Omicron, diminishing the ability of the vaccines, that could cause a further spread of the virus. We've already seen half of the cases here in the U.K. of the Omicron variant had taken both vaccines. Basically, what I am trying to say is there is a chance of a Christmas with rules, Boris and Christi.

PAUL: Salma Abdelaziz, we appreciate it so much. Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Joining us to discuss all things COVID is Dr. Leana Wen. She's a CNN medical analyst. She's also an emergency physician and a former commissioner of the Baltimore City Health Department. Dr. Wen, thank you so much for joining us this morning.

[10:30:03]

I want to ask you about this new study that shows that the Omicron variant of coronavirus carries a stretch of genetic material that looks like it may have come from a distant relative of the common cold. I should point out the data has not yet been peer reviewed, but researchers say that this indication suggests that Omicron may be more transmissible than other variants. What do you make of the data and potentially what it could imply?

DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: There is still so much that we don't know about Omicron. When we look at what's going on in South Africa with the very rapid spread of COVID-19 there driven by Omicron, it is definitely very concerning, because it suggests that Omicron might outpace Delta here in the U.S. and around the world. But we don't know until we see this occurring.

I think the other big question is the degree of immune escape, meaning do the vaccines we have, do the therapies like monoclonal antibodies that we have, will they still respond as well to Omicron as they did to previous variants. We don't know this, but there are some encouraging signs from Israel, from South Africa that people who are vaccinated tend to have mild symptoms thus far.

Now, we still need to see the actual data over time, but I really hope that that holds up, and it should really be another level of encouragement to people, if you're not vaccinated yet, get vaccinated. If you have not received the booster yet, please get the booster. It is urgent. It is essential. SANCHEZ: Dr. Wen, President Biden unveiled a series of actions aimed

at fighting COVID through the winter, including expanded travel restrictions and testing availability. You recently wrote in a "Washington Post" piece, making the case that President Biden is right to fight Omicron with travel restrictions, but you say more must be done. What more should be done? Should a vaccine requirement for domestic travel be something that the White House considers?

WEN: Yes. There's a lot that's already in the Biden winter strategy, but I think the right components are there, but not to the degree they can be. So for example, with international travel, moving the 72 hours of prearrival testing, or predeparture testing, rather, to 24 hours is good, but why not also ask people to self-quarantine and then test once they arrive? And then when it comes to domestic travel, I think it's really important to put into place a testing or vaccination requirement, meaning that everybody is required to be tested but you can opt out of it if you are vaccinated.

And that's because it is not so much the travel itself that's dangerous. Actually, if everybody is masked on planes or trains, it's pretty safe. It's more that if people go between different regions, they could be carrying COVID-19 with them. It they then are at then destination, then they are going to hotels and bars and seeing friends and family, they're carrying COVID between different parts of the country. And so that testing or vaccination requirement will be key to reducing the spread of COVID in different parts of the country.

SANCHEZ: Dr. Wen, for the last six months or so this has really been a pandemic of the unvaccinated, right. A new study shows others waning immunity from vaccines that's led to an increased rate of breakthrough cases. Given that booster shots are now available, is it time to change the definition of fully vaccinated?

WEN: Yes, it is, and I hope that's something that federal health officials will take up sooner rather than later. There's been so much muddled and confused messaging coming out of the CDC in particular about booster shots. And I think many Americans are really confused. Many Americans are thinking boosters are something that's nice to have as opposed to something they really should be getting. It is time for doctors, pharmacies, state and local health departments to call individuals who are vaccinated but not boosted and give a simple message, which is vaccines protect you very well, but that protection wanes over time. You can restore that initial excellent protection if you get the booster.

And we have to have the booster now. It is not just Omicron. Right now, 99.9 percent of all the cases in the U.S. are because of Delta. We now have over 100,000 new daily infections of COVID due to Delta. You have to protect yourself because the winter wave is here. So get that booster dose now if you're six months out from Pfizer or Moderna or two months out from Johnson & Johnson.

SANCHEZ: An important message. Dr. Leana Wen, as always, we appreciate the perspective. Thanks for sharing part of your weekend with us.

PAUL: The explosive testimony in the trial of a woman many say was Jeffrey Epstein's right hand. The case against Ghislaine Maxwell, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:39:15]

SANCHEZ: In some explosive testimony at the Ghislaine Maxwell sex trafficking trial, the longtime house manager of Jeffrey Epstein's Florida estate read aloud from an instruction booklet that Maxwell gave him that directed the staff on how to handle Epstein's homes.

PAUL: Juan Alessi says that he never saw any behavior suggesting distress or fear from women coming to give Epstein a massage, but he revealed a rule that warned him to keep quiet about anything he did see. Here is CNN Kara Scannell.

KARA SCANNELL, CNN REPORTER: The jury for the sex trafficking trial of Ghislaine Maxwell heard from one of the alleged victims and of Jeffrey Epstein's former employees during the first week of testimony. An accuser identified by the pseudonym Jane testified that Epstein and Maxwell recruited her at summer camp when she was 14 years old.

[10:40:03]

She alleged that Maxwell instructed her how to massage Epstein, and went into graphic detail about the alleged sexual abuse that occurred during the massages.

On Friday, prosecutors brought into the courtroom a green collapsible massage table that was recovered during a 2005 search of Jeffrey Epstein's Palm Beach Villa. A police sergeant testified they recovered the table, sex toys, and photos of nude females.

Earlier in the week, prosecutors called a pilot and house manager who both testified that Jane traveled with Epstein and Maxwell. The house manager also described how Epstein and Maxwell kept strict rules, telling staff to see nothing, hear nothing, say nothing, and to never disclose their activities to anyone.

Neither the house manager nor the pilot said they saw any signs of sexual abuse. However, the house manager said when he cleaned up after massages a handful of times, he found a large sex toy in the massage area.

So far, the jury heard from eight government witnesses. Prosecutors say they intend to call three alleged victims to testify in the coming weeks. Maxwell's attorneys have sought to chip away the at credibility of government's witnesses. They have said that Maxwell is a scapegoat and she is being prosecuted for Jeffrey Epstein's crimes because he cannot.

Boris, Christi?

PAUL: John Sweeney is with us now. He is the creator of the podcast "Hunting Ghislaine" and a former BBC investigative reporter, by the way. John so good to have you with us. Let's jump off that point that Kara was just talking about, that some say Ghislaine Maxwell is a scapegoat to be prosecuted because Jeffrey cannot. What is your thought on that?

JOHN SWEENEY, CREATOR, PODCAST, "HUNTING GHISLAINE": My view is that this is a dark fairy story. And there is no way a young 14-year-old girl would get into a car with a man like Jeffrey Epstein. But it is the person enticing her in, talks like Mary Poppins, is nice, pleasant, a woman, a beautiful woman, then you may well get in the car. And that was Ghislaine's place in what I like to call -- I'm afraid to say the Jeffrey Epstein fresh child factory. It was industrial. The number of girls, the evidence is compelling and damning. So the idea that Ghislaine is just some kind of a scapegoat, that seems to be complete nonsense to me.

PAUL: So I want to read something that you have said in the past regarding Ghislaine. You said, "After the monster, her father died, she found a second monster. Robert Maxwell stole hundreds of millions of pounds from people who were dependent upon his good word. Jeffrey Epstein turned out to be a darker figure, a worse human being." So what are you trying to say then about Ghislaine Maxwell in that statement?

SWEENEY: This is a kind of tragedy, Christi, in that the idea that, and Ian Maxwell, her older brother, has said that Jeffrey Epstein has ruined Ghislaine. And I think the evidence is compelling that her life was ruined long before she ever met Epstein. Her life was ruined by her father. There is a mountain of evidence that Robert Maxwell was a horrible, abusive man, abusive to virtually everybody he came into contact with, his staff, newspaper journalists who worked with him, people I know, friends of mine, and his family. And in particular his youngest daughter, the one he loved most, the one he called his after, there is some evidence that there was some kind of sexual relationship between father and daughter.

Now, this is disputed, and the evidence is by no means clear. The source is somebody who has had a history of psychiatric ill health. However, there are people in Britain who believe this woman to be telling the truth. So there is the possibility that the reason Ghislaine couldn't see what she was doing was very, very wrong to these young women, to these 14, 15, 16-year-old girls is because she didn't realize herself that this was wrong because she had been through it herself.

Now, it's not clear, but there is some evidence of that. There's no question whatsoever that Robert Maxwell was a horrible, abusive man. Toward the end of his life, his personal hygiene was disgusting. All these stories, stories of abuse and so forth. So take the sex stuff aside, there's absolutely no question that Ghislaine was horribly psychologically abused by her father. He died the first months in her life died, and then she flew to New York and found a second monster, Jeffrey Epstein.

[10:40:00]

And what happened when her father died, it was a massive disgrace, and he lost -- she lost access to fancy cars and the limousines and the helicopters and the lovely dinner parties with people like Bill Clinton and Donald Trump and Andrew Windsor, also known to some as Prince Andrew, the Duke of York. I just call him Andrew Windsor. And all she had to do for Ghislaine was provide fresh children. And that's what she did.

PAUL: John Sweeney, thank you for the background. Again, those are some of the comments that you're hearing, they're not necessarily coming into the courtroom, so we need to make very clear that from a legal standpoint, we can't confirm that from that legal standpoint. The question is what's going to happen in the courtroom as well. John sweeney, thank you so much, sir. Appreciate it. We'll be right back.

SWEENEY: Thank you.

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[10:50:24]

PAUL: Facebook under fire again after some disturbing new revelations.

SANCHEZ: CNN reporting this week that the company has sold ads comparing the rollout of COVID vaccines in the United States to the holocaust. CNN's Donie O'SullIvan has been following this story. He filed this report.

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN REPORTER: Some disturbing and, frankly, disgusting ads running on Facebook. Take a look at this first one that says, "I am originally from America, but I currently reside in 1941 Germany." Another ad shows a graphic of a syringe vaccine, and says "Slowly and quietly, but it's a holocaust." And then another talking about political violence, "Make hanging traitors great again."

Facebook seemingly missed these ads until they were brought to the company's attention by CNN. The company saying those first two ads, the Nazi holocaust comparisons go against the company's COVID vaccine policies and those ads will no longer be running. But that last ad, "Make hanging traitors great again," Facebook said doesn't seem to have a problem, even though it is just a few months since we saw gallows outside the U.S. Capitol.

But oftentimes, Facebook will like to frame their issues as free speech or that they don't want to censor posts as such. But this is very different. These are paid ads, posts that Facebook is accepting money to run to target at Facebook users in the U.S. On Wednesday, the CEO of Instagram, which is owned by Facebook and its parent company Meta will be testifying before the Senate. I am sure he will be asked about issues like this, but also the harms of social media, Instagram, on children and young people. Boris and Christi?

SANCHEZ: Donie O'Sullivan, thank you so much.

So Russia could begin a military offensive in Ukraine in just a matter of months. That's according to new U.S. intelligence findings.

PAUL: President Biden told reporters yesterday he is preparing a, quote, set of initiatives to make it more difficult for Russian President Vladimir Putin to stage an invasion. And we are learning new information about plans for an upcoming call between the two leaders. SANCHEZ: CNN's Matthew Chance is live in Kiev, Ukraine. Matthew, just

a few nights ago the Ukrainian president saying in a speech that he believe that Russia is looking for any pretext to launch an attack in Ukraine.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. There are very heightened concerns that Russia is poised to yet again invade Ukrainian territory. And that's been heightened by the U.S. intelligence assessments that have been coming out over the course of the past 48 hours or so, saying that there are tens of thousands of Russian troops that have massed near the border of Ukraine already.

And as the preparations continue, as the U.S. intelligence observed it taking place, that figure could rise to 175,000 Russian troops. That's the latest assessment of the potential amount of Russian troops that could be assembled eventually to carry out any kind of Russian invasion into Ukrainian territory.

And it's because of that delicate situation and that tense situation that within the past few minutes, we've had confirmed both from the Kremlin and from others that there will be a virtual summit between President Biden and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, and that summit will take place in a sort of online video call, direct talks kind of way. It will take place Tuesday, the seventh of December, so in a couple of days from now. We don't know the exact timings, but the Kremlin tells me it will be in the evening Moscow time, so about this time of day is our rough guesstimate when this virtual summit will take place.

At that summit, the expectation is that Ukraine will be front and center of those talks. The Russians have made it clear that they want guarantees from the U.S. that it will block any further attempt by NATO, western military alliance, to expand eastward towards its border. That's something that has been, I think, described as perplexing by the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, when he first heard that demand by Russia for a new security pact with the west.

It has also been pushed back hard on by the Ukrainians themselves that, of course, get a lot of military assistance from NATO and ultimately want to join the alliance. Back to you, Boris.

[10:55:05]

SANCHEZ: You have to wonder what Vladimir Putin is thinking he can get away with, as we watched in 2014, Russia invaded Crimea, and he essentially suffered no serious consequences. Matthew Chance live from Kiev. Thank you so much, Matthew.

A programming note. Tomorrow night, be sure to join CNN's Elle Reeve for a new documentary, "White Power on Trial, Return to Charlottesville." You can watch the CNN special report Sunday at 9:00 p.m. eastern right here on CNN.

PAUL: We're always grateful to spend our mornings with you. Thank you for watching, and we hope you can go make some good memories today.

SANCHEZ: Always great to be with you, Christi. There's still much more ahead in the next hour of the CNN Newsroom. Fredricka Whitfield is up next.

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