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NYPD Officers Arrest NYC Subway Shooting Suspect; Biden Unveils $800 Million Security Package In Call To Zelenskyy. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired April 13, 2022 - 15:00   ET

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

SHIMON PROKOUPECZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're seeing what that wound up doing.

[15:00:07]

They've been able to gather all this evidence against him and they list all of that in the documents that they filed, from a debit card they found, to his cell phone that was left on scene, the U-Haul truck. So, they have a lot of information.

And now, he's in custody and the big question is, is he cooperating with law enforcement? Is he giving them any kind of statements? We'll learn about that perhaps at some point, and that's going to play a key role.

But, of course, you know, I was in touch with some of the folks at the NYPD surrounding this arrest and it is remarkable how all of this transpired, when they receive this call to Crime Stopper staying that this male who fits this description was a McDonald's. He left the McDonald's.

And then the patrol sergeant and other units are out looking and they found him, and almost immediately based on some of the information that I've been receiving, they realized it was him and they put that over the radio saying that we have him in custody. This is the man who was wanted in connection to the subway attacks and he was taken without incident and now he's being held and we'll see.

He's going to be in court at some point, so we are likely to learn a lot more in formation. I think there's a lot more here that we don't know and we will be learning certainly in the days to come.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Yeah, of course, our team is digging through those documents from the U.S. attorney's office. This count held on one count of violating, prohibiting terrorism and other violent acts against mass transit.

So, we'll see if there's some terror nexus they believe is involved or other violent acts on mass transit covers what we saw yesterday.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Right. We do have the complaint here and it sounds like that's the statute, commissioner. That's it's not -- when we hear the word terrorism, obviously --

BLACKWELL: Yes. CAMEROTA: -- our antenna goes up, but that's the statute and they have a lot of investigating as you say to do.

But I was also thought that it was interesting, one of the YouTube videos -- in one of the YouTube videos he put out the day before the shooting, he described he was heading back from where he was living in Milwaukee, heading back east to Philadelphia which he said is very triggering for him because he had PTSD from all that had gone on there. Now we know that for years, decades, on the east coast, he had been in trouble with law enforcement. I mean, so who knows what he was referring to.

But, I mean, to your point, Commissioner, the amount of information that they now have to sift through, all of these detectives. They have probably been up for 30 years trying to catch him. Now the real work begins.

ANTHONY BARKSDALE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Alisyn, you're right. There are some there are some cases and this is one of them, the detectives sleep in their cars if they need a break. They sleep in the office on the floor but they keep going. Get a couple of hours and they got to get back to it. This is one of those cases.

I mean, from the detectives to the patrol officers, who even with the tip, if he wasn't at the McDonald's, what did they do? They kept looking for him. They weren't lazy. They've been just, you know, get on the air code to call and say, hey, we don't see him. They kept canvassing.

This is police work. This is great police work that we're seeing. And it's needed in New York and many other cities.

So, they're doing the work. Even though he is in custody, I just go to stress, like you're saying, Alisyn, there's still a lot of work that they have to sift through because that federal prosecutor needs to go into court and hit a grand slam.

BLACKWELL: Well, listen, Commissioner, we certainly can hear and feel your passion and the pride you feel for those detectives have done in this short of period of time.

And as we speak about the work that still must be done, Shimon, let me come to you and I acknowledge that this question maybe premature, but you're reporting has been fantastic. Do you know if they are looking for potentially anyone else involved, who supported, who helped over the last 30 hours?

PROKUPECZ: No. There's no one else they are looking for. They don't think he had any kind of help. They think he is solely responsible for this.

But what they want to do and what they have been doing is talking to anyone who knows him, family members, other people, friends perhaps, you know, kind of going through his life, to try and see if anything was missed. The YouTube video was posted three weeks ago. Some of that information

certainly is something as we have been reporting they are going through but they also want to know if he talked to anyone about how he was feeling. Was he seeking any kind of help anywhere? Was there anything going on in his life that could have indicated that this was going to happen and perhaps could have prevented it?

We don't know when he started planning this but clearly there was some planning that went into this, when you think about he purchased the gas mask, we're told, on eBay.

[15:05:10]

He had the fireworks, fireworks that he purchased ten months ago. Did he start planning this then when he purchased fireworks or was this something more recent like in the last few weeks? We don't know. But that is something that investigators want -- are going to want to know.

And part of it is because the subways are a sensitive location for New York City. And, you know, as we've been talking about, it's the lifeline of this city. So many people, every one that lives in here in some way relies on the subways. To have an attack like this on the subway scares the heck out of people.

That is something that is very concerning to the city. So, they need to figure out what happened here. Was anything missed? Was there anything they could have done better to try to prevent this from happening? The issue with cameras.

Was there anything else that could have been done to prevent this? Do they need to put more police officers, you know, talk of metal detectors at subways? So, the mayor has a lot to figure out.

New York, this is kind of a punch to this city. New Yorkers are resilient. We have seen them back on the subways this morning, last night.

People have to go to work. People have to go to school. And so, they rely on this subway. And so, this is something that the city needs to figure out. They need to make the subways safe. They need to make people feel comfortable that they can ride the subways.

And that is something they're going to have to do. That will be all part of the investigation, of course.

CAMEROTA: I'm so glad you're bringing that up. I've been debating do I go on the subway and show a strength that we're not going to let this kind of crime and terror stop us or am I afraid of copy cat crimes which sometimes happen after horrific atrocities. People get other ideas and do things.

And so, Shimon, I'm sure you heard, I think it was the MTA chief today say something like we need more visibility of cops on the platforms and in subway cars like we used in decades gone by. It's true that when I ride the subway, which I do every week, I don't

see cops in the subway cars. I don't know if that's by design or lack of manpower but is there talk of some of that shift, the visibility of uniform cops being a more show of force now?

PROKUPECZ: So, there is some. There is some there is some talk of that.

The subway system is just too big, right? Let's be honest. You can't put cops in every subway station. You can't put officers on every subway car. Something has to be figured out. What do they do? This is something the NYPD is going to need to figure out.

The mayor campaigned on this, making the city safer. Crime is a problem right now in the city -- violent crime certainly. Crime in the subway is a problem. Everyone talks about it.

We have co-workers who are afraid to ride subway, friends, family members who don't want to go on the subway even before this. So, the city needs to figure this out. They have brought in state police to assist in some cases. Do they move some of the officers that are out on patrol in the streets and move them into the subway system? That is something they may consider. But they're going to have to come up with some kind of planning.

You can't just do this in the days after something like this happens to make people safe. This has to be a long term plan and they have to figure out what they can do to make people feel they're going to be okay if they get on the subway, are they going to make it home? Are they going to make it to school?

It's really something concerning to a lot of people living in the city, but also tourists. You know, this is a big city. People come here from all over the world.

This is national news, international news. This is resonating everywhere across the world. That is something the mayor and city officials consider because we need tourists to come here and so, they want them to come here, but they don't want them to be afraid because they're seeing stories about horrific attacks on the subway and they're going to say, you know what, I'm not going to come there. I'm afraid for my life.

BLACKWELL: Yeah. I can tell you, I took the train home yesterday from Brooklyn to Harlem and the car was packed as like the normal rush hour, you know?

CAMEROTA: Did you see more police around?

BLACKWELL: I did see a couple of officers. We know the CEO of the MTA said he asked during the De Blasio administration for those officers that you mentioned that Mayor Adams says he wants them. This is what he says, Janno Lieber says that the system needs. We'll see if that happens.

Shimon Prokupecz and Commissioner Barksdale, thank you both. The last hour, where the White House released new details about $800

million of additional aid to Ukraine. President Biden unveiled the news to Ukraine's President Zelenskyy in a call today.

Now, this new package against the Russians includes military helicopters, artillery systems, armored Humvees.

[15:10:06]

The Pentagon said a few minutes ago the new package means the U.S. has given Ukraine more than $3 billion in security assistance.

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JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: Some of them are re-enforcing capabilities that we have already been providing Ukraine and some of them are new capabilities that we have not provided to Ukraine. All of them are designed to help Ukraine as we talked about, help Ukraine in fight they are in right now and the fight they will be in in coming days and weeks in the eastern part of the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: As to what the Russians are using, video appears to show Vladimir Putin's forces launching a cluster bomb, which is banned under international law. An apparent cluster ammunition is seen going off in Kharkiv. That's the largest city in Ukraine's east. One explosion is immediately followed by a series of blasts.

And CNN's team has observed stepped up shelling in the residential part of Kharkiv. We're also learning that the city of Mariupol, the mayor there believes as many as 180,000 people may be trapped and unable to escape the Russian bombardments.

CNN's Jake Tapper joins us now again from Lviv. That's in Western Ukraine.

Jake, it's great to have you on the ground there.

So, President Biden said that Russia's atrocities in Ukraine constitute a genocide. That's the first that we heard him use that word. And so, does that lead to any U.S. policy change?

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Not apparently. It does seem that when President Biden used the word "genocide", he was offering it as his opinion, with no necessarily following policy ramification, just as a few weeks ago when he said he thought that the Russians were committing war crimes. Again, his opinion but no apparent legal ramification.

The reaction, obviously, here in Ukraine as you might imagine has been very positive. President Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, issuing a statement extolling President Biden for speaking truth.

In Europe, it's been different. The president of France, Emmanuel Macron, suggested that language was perhaps not helpful to any sort of peace process. If you look at the definition of the word genocide, it does describe what Russia seems to be doing in Ukraine. So, this is one of those where probably Joe Biden speaking off the cuff as he does decided that he was going to say what he thought regardless of what any international lawyers or the State Department had come to that conclusion.

BLACKWELL: Jake, President Zelenskyy proposed another prisoner swap with captured pro-Kremlin oligarch. What do we know about that?

TAPPER: So far, it does seem like the prisoner swaps are really the only good thing to come out of the diplomatic negotiations between the Russians and the Ukrainians. There have been three prisoner swaps so far, including most recently on Saturday. This oligarch, Viktor Medvedchuk, is a pro-Putin politician here in Ukraine.

Before the war he had been put under house arrest because of suspicions and allegations of treason. He then escaped house arrest. He was then captured the day ago or maybe before.

So, now, they are talking about maybe some sort of prisoner swap but we haven't heard yet from the Russians as to whether or not they will take him up on the offer. There you see Mr. Medvedchuk having seen better days.

CAMEROTA: Jake, tell us about a conversation that you had with a man in Kramatorsk, who ran into the transition to help the victims of that attack last week.

TAPPER: So, two things about this interview. One, it is remarkable to see how many Ukrainians are in the resistance whether it's fighting or volunteering. This is an individual, he is a construction engineer and he now spends his days trying to arrange transport of wounded Ukrainians to hospitals that are farther away from the action. We talked to him because he provided a lot of the videos we saw last week after the bombing of the Kramatorsk train station and we wanted to hear from him -- from his own eyes what he saw.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was a lot of blood, poodles of blood. It was easier to track how people move by the traces of blood on the ground. I saw a lot of elderly people, mostly women and children and very young people that are very simple people that do not have their own vehicles. It was basically the last wave of evacuation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So, he was in the middle of going from hospital to hospital there. We caught up with him and did that interview as he was driving around Ukraine.

[15:15:03]

And just another note, we were at a train station not far from where I am right now where about nine kids that were severely wounded in that attack were taken from Kramatorsk to here in Lviv for treatment. So, while that attack may have fallen into, you know, in the history for the rest of the world, here in Ukraine, people are still very much dealing with what happened on that horrible, horrible day.

BLACKWELL: Yeah, we heard from the first lady of Ukraine. She said do not get used to our grief. She told that to our Christiane Amanpour.

Jake Tapper, thank you for that. And, of course, tune in to "THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" for more of his report start at the top of the hour.

And more from that interview with the first lady. She warned no one in her country is safe from Russian forces. She spoke exclusively to CNN's Christiane Amanpour over email and she said she's not seen her husband since the war broke out and that helping others keep her strong for her fellow Ukrainians.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OLENA ZELENSKA, FIRST LADY OF UKRAINE: It's like waking a tight rope. If you start thinking how do you do it, you lose time and balance. So, to hold on, you just must go ahead and do what you do, in the same ways as far as I know, all Ukrainians are holding on. Many of those who escaped from the battlefields alone who saw the death say that the main cure after the experience is to act to do something, to be helpful to somebody. I am personally supported by the fact that I try to protect and support others. Responsibility disciplines.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Joining us now from western Ukraine is parliament member Maryan Zablotskyi.

Sir, thank you for being with me. I want to get back to that interview if we have time but I want to start with this new characterization from President Biden that the Russian offenses in your country are genocide.

What we heard from the French president is he's careful, too careful to use that word. He says that Russians and Ukrainians are brothers. He rejects that term.

What's your reaction to what you hear from President Macron?

MARYAN ZABLOTSKYI, MEMBER OF UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT: I think that President Biden also reacted not only to the massacres but two articles that we noticed in the Russian media. One from the former president of Russia and another one was from close political adviser to Kremlin. They both openly advocated genocide. They used terms such as reeducation -- they actually in the article, the Kremlin used the term mass murder.

So, it was a clear message from Kremlin that the massacres that that they did in Bucha and other places, they were deliberate. And, of course, we characterize them as genocide because of the intent and nature of the crime. I do not think there is a threshold after which it starts as genocide. So, the motive for that was the destruction of Ukrainians and they said that their motive is the destruction of Ukrainian identity

BLACKWELL: So, what we heard from President Biden was a personal opinion to him, that it looks like genocide. That has not changed the view of the U.S. government. Is it enough for the president to classify this personally as genocide and no change from the U.S. government?

ZABLOTSKYI: Well, I don't think it matters much what classifies what. Here on the ground, I've been traveling two days ago through the most impacted town Bucha where we have seen mass graves. I can tell you as a witness, this is definitely genocide. They have clearly stated their intentions to really reeducate and to kill the most of the resistance fighters in Ukraine.

This is clearly an intentional genocide and they have already started this policy. They are not hiding it. They are stating it point-blank.

BLACKWELL: Do you support this proposed prisoner swap to get some Ukrainians who are held back that Ukraine would give Russia this politician and oligarch, Viktor Medvedchuk? Do you support that?

ZABLOTSKYI: Well, of course, we do not care about any Russians we hold in our captivity. For them, they are nothing. I would be willing to exchange any Russians we have for any Ukrainians that Russians, unfortunately, have captured. For us, our lives of our people matter the most. Unlike the Russians who do not only not recognize that we have prisoners, they do not care about taking care of the bodies of their fallen in Ukraine.

BLACKWELL: We know that Finland and Sweden are getting closer to applying to membership to NATO. An aspiration for NATO membership is part of the Ukrainian Constitution but we heard from President Zelenskyy start this week and he said the alliance is weak and no longer interested in their diplomacy.

[15:20:05]

Is the Ukrainian dissatisfaction with the support or protection from NATO so strong that you think the country should abandon its aspiration to join NATO?

ZABLOTSKYI: I think Ukraine has been a motive for different countries to make different decisions and policy changes. Of course, after what happened to Ukraine, I believe that Sweden and Finland will change and they have right to do so. But also, Ukraine has applied for EU membership and follow in that suit, Moldova and Georgia also apply for EU membership.

This will change -- Russian attack on Ukraine will change the world in a more positive sense, in the sense that NATO will become more unified. More countries will join. But unfortunately, it is Ukraine who is bearing the pain of this horrific attack that changes probably the lives of other countries for the better, but we suffer all the consequences currently.

BLACKWELL: Do you think that Ukraine should continue to try to join that alliance?

ZABLOTSKYI: Of course. After we gave up nuclear weapons, we had an explicit promise from Russia, from nuclear states that we'll not be invaded. So, it's clear to us we now have to get other securities. I think the world owes us that much.

BLACKWELL: All right. Maryan Zablotskyi, member of Ukraine's parliament -- thank you, sir.

CAMEROTA: So, new report found clear patterns of human rights violations by Russian forces in Ukraine. It details credible evidence that could constitute war crimes. The report highlights the scope of atrocities, including targeted killings, torture and rape.

Joining us now is the under secretary of state for political affairs, Victoria Nuland. She was the U.S. ambassador to NATO under President George W. Bush.

Under Secretary Nuland, thank you so much for being here.

As you know, President Biden is now calling what Russia is doing "genocide". And let me just read for everyone the U.N.'s definition of genocide. It's acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.

So, does that classification change the U.S. policy now?

VICTORIA NULAND, U.S. UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS: Well, thank you, Alisyn, for the chance to be with you. As you know, President Biden spoke from his heart when he called what we are seeing in Ukraine genocide by the Russian federation and its forces. In order to make a formal U.S. government policy decision with regard to genocide, we have a process of collecting evidence over time and we are continuing to do that. I am going to predict that what President Biden called it is what we will ultimately likely find when we are able to gather all of this evidence because what is happening on the ground is not an accident.

It is an intentional decision by Russia, by its forces, to destroy Ukraine and its civilian population.

CAMEROTA: As you say, it sure looks like it from everything that we can see in our correspondence report as well. And so, will that change the U.S. policy and approach in that case?

NULAND: Again, there's certain legal obligations that come with a formal determination of genocide. But I would say that we and our allies are already doing a huge amount to put pressure on Russia, to isolate the country, to pile on the sanctions, to ensure that they are enormous financial, political reputational costs to what they are doing. But we need to continue to do that because Ukraine is the front line of freedom for all of us.

CAMEROTA: And why do you think those sanctions have not deterred Vladimir Putin's violence yet? NULAND: Because he doesn't care about his people or his country. He

only cares about his own imperial ambition. And he doesn't see that what he is doing is not only turning Ukraine into rubble, it's also turning Russia into prison and that he is -- you know, he is ensuring his own people don't have the future that they deserve. He is sacrificing their future for his imperial ambition and Russia will pay the cost. Not as much as Ukraine but they will and they are.

CAMEROTA: And so, what will get his attention? What could change the course, this violent course that he's on?

NULAND: Well, first of all, week on week, the sanctions are having more and more effect. They are having effect on the elites around him who are increasingly coming out against the war. They are having an effect on his ability to resupply and get the weapons that needs.

There are already systems that the Russian military makes that depend on the kinds of Western technology that we are denying them. He is also having trouble getting resources to his people, not only his soldiers on the ground but folks around the world.

[15:25:05]

He is spending a huge amount of Russia's wealth propping up the ruble artificially. So, this is hurting Russia week on week. But what's most important is Ukrainians' ability to resist and defend, which is why we and our allies are supporting them so strongly with security support, including a new announcement today of an additional $800 million in security support for the United States.

CAMEROTA: I want to ask you about what's going on with the German president, Steinmeier. He said that he offered to visit Kyiv, what was apparently rebuffed by President Zelenskyy of Ukraine and I guess that because Steinmeier had previously a friendly relationship with President Putin. Hasn't all that changed. Why wouldn't President Zelenskyy embrace the German president's overture?

NULAND: Well, I can't speak for President Zelenskyy's decision as to who he wants to have to come to Kyiv and who he doesn't want to have come to Kyiv. I'd simply say that German Chancellor Schulz has had regular contact with President Zelenskyy and the Germans are providing unprecedented support to Ukraine, including exporting weapons for the first time in their post-World War II history, which has been very, very important for the support of Ukraine.

CAMEROTA: Under Secretary Victoria Nuland, thank you very much for all of the information. Great to have you on.

NULAND: Thank you, Alisyn.

BLACKWELL: Ahead, more on our breaking news out of New York. Police have arrested a suspect in the subway shooting. We have new details.

Stay with us.

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