Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
The Judge Overseeing Derek Chauvin's Federal Trial Just Accepted The Terms Of Chauvin's Guilty Plea; Day Six In The Manhunt For The Alabama Inmate And The Corrections Officer; CDC Forecast Shows That Covid Deaths And Hospitalizations Are Likely Going To Increase Over The Next Four Weeks. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired May 04, 2022 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:30:00]
MARGARET HOOVER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: The flip side is the Trump adjacent GOP gubernatorial candidates did not win. Trump is going to do best when he endorses in multi-candidate scramble primaries. That's where his candidate can stand out and emerge to get the guy up to 30 percent, 32 percent. But winning a majority like in Georgia for example where Brian Kemp is running comfortably ahead of David Purdue, the Trump-endorsed candidate.
VICTOR BLACKWELL: Yes.
HOOVER: Trump isn't going to fly. So it's -- it's a state by state and really multi-primary versus incumbent primary issue at play.
JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: So -- break down the wonk and -- and put out -- out a little bit -- some wonk. Very little (inaudible) effect to this. So Margaret's making the point that J.D. Vance did, he was propelled from third place, 11 percent in March, up to a third of the vote.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
AVLON: That's great, but he won around 350,000 votes. There were nearly 6 million voters in Ohio in the last general election.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
AVLON: So it speaks to the fact that even with Trump's endorsement he just get a third, and you're talking about a very small percentage of the total electorate. Trump is incredibly powerful in close partisan primaries.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
AVLON: A quarter of those voters by the way, voted for the never-Trump guy.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
AVLON: But that is the distorting effect of Trump and hyper- partisanship on our politics. It doesn't represent the voters of Ohio writ-large at all. That's going to be a real problem.
BLACKWELL: I was going to bring up. You talked about the never-Trump candidate who was in third place.
AVLON: Yes.
BLACKWELL: But Josh Mandel who you mentioned half of his name out of any endorsement flow. He's also someone who buys into the big lie just like J.D. Vance. So there appears to be no consequence for these voters, especially in a primary, you think there will be one in November.
HOOVER: Well --
AVLON: Yes.
HOOVER: Republican primary voters, many of them do believe the big lie.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
HOOVER: Right? They still believe that if there weren't election regularities, the whole thing was stolen and very few of them are willing to say, Donald Trump won fair and square. And we'll see what happens, I mean Donald Trump lost fair and square, Joe Biden won fair and square. So what happens in November is entirely a separate question. Republican closed partisan primaries --
BLACKWELL: Yes.
HOOVER: -- the big lie is big at play.
BLACKWELL: Margaret let me stay with you on the leaked opinion on Roe. Where is the Republican jubilance? I mean, this for decades, has been what Republicans have been selling as the goal for their base and when we have them -- them on, we're seeing the statements. It's, kind of like, oh well, we'll let the states decide. Where's the celebration?
HOOVER: Hey look, I want to be clear. You -- you know I'm a center- right person and also pro-choice.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
HOOVER: I like you am sort in awe on how muted the jubilance is and I -- I suspect, talking to my Republican colleagues and friends and operatives that A, this was a draft. So this is not a done deal. Nobody knows if -- if that can change, and B, I think I don't want to jinx it. I think they don't want to jinx it. Right? Like -- and so, it would -- it would just be -- it would be too soon.
AVLON: I -- I think they also -- this is a case of careful what you wish for. Right? They're trying to make the issue the leak, not this achievement that they've been working for in part because it's incredibly unpopular from a national standpoint. This is a case of special interest, seeding the judiciary to try to achieve an outcome which well may now be achieved, that's opposed by 7 percent of the American people.
And so you hear when you talk to Republicans right now is wow, could this mess up the midterm elections? They thought they were cruising for victory and now all of a sudden you're going to see a much more potentially motivated Democratic base and Independent voters because something's being taken away for the first time.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
AVLON: So you've got a double problem and that's what they're confronting. That's the reality they're confronting. This is a problem of their own creation. They can -- treat it as a moral victory for some folks and good people can disagree on abortion, but when you take the precedent upon precedent that all these judicial nominees said that was the base --
BLACKWELL: And (inaudible).
AVLON: Yes, and you say they weren't telling the truth that's another --
HOOVER: I just have to tell you though, I mean, what Republicans are telling themselves is that this is not going to be an election issue. It is -- it is inflation. It is economic issues. It is Ukraine. It is gas. It's -- it's all the other things.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
HOOVER: And, so by the way, Joe Manchin's saying the same thing.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
HOOVER: All of them are -- are believing. I think they're -- everybody's reading into the fact that there's really been silence in the room on -- on this -- on this question about what's going to happen to the court.
BLACKWELL: The head of the Democratic Campaign Committee and the House says that this is the central issue of 2022 above inflation. You buy that?
AVLON: It very well could be. If this -- if this draft opinion holds and there's -- and there's an overturning of Roe. That -- (inaudible) that, that draft opinion. It's about taking away a right that's been established in the U.S. Constitution for 50 years. This is about state laws that will go in effect that some which have passed which do not include exceptions for rape or incest.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
AVLON: That is not common sense. That is not compassionate. That is not pursuit of common ground.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
AVLON: And that's just the reality. BLACKWELL: Let me get your reaction what we heard from President Biden
today in this deficit reduction event. He mentioned, what he called, the matic, the MAGA. I guess he mispronounced it MAGA is what he said (inaudible). Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is about a lot more than abortion.
[14:35:10]
BIDEN: -- what happens when you have states changing the law saying that -- that -- that children who are LGBTQ can't be in classroom's with other children. Is that -- is that legit under the way the decision's written? What are the next things that are going to be attacked? Because this MAGA crowd is really the most extreme political organization that's existed in American history, at least in American history.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Margaret, he's sharpening attacks heading into the -- the midterms. Are they going to work?
HOOVER: Look, I just -- I -- I, kind of, have to do a head fake, because this was the president who said unity 20 plus times in his inaugural address and so to cow -- to point out the MAGA crowd and say everybody who, sort of, associates loosely with MAGA is divisive and partisan and part of the problem and incredibly extreme. Look, John Avlon, you wrote a whole book about political extremes in American history including on the right.
AVLON: Yes I did.
HOOVER: The MAGA crowd, you know, can count from everyone -- you could count the (inaudible) as MAGA crowd but you also have just regular Republican voters who like MAGA. So this is not unifying language. And -- and I expect better of the president of the United States, can I say just one more quick thing? This idea -- this is a one ticket ride for the -- for a social issue. I -- Alito was very clear. This is not transferable to other social issues, and I have spoken to folks that (inaudible).
BLACKWELL: Last -- last word on this sir.
AVLON: He -- he -- he is really -- the danger is that -- where's the role of privacy? If -- if -- if and what are the implications of that? For -- for law -- for rights that aren't enumerated in the original Constitution, that's -- that's the stake. And look, you want to blame Joe Biden for not being able to unite the country, he's talking about the authoritarian wing of the Republican party that is refusing to accept or continue to back
(CROSSTALK) BLACKWELL: All right. We've got -- we've got to wrap it there. Clearly we could do this for another 40 minutes but we've got to wrap it. Margaret Hoover, John Avlon always good.
HOOVER: Thank you Victor.
AVLON: Good to see you man.
BLACKWELL: Let's go to Alabama where the manhunt intensifies. We've got new video that shows the moment the corrections officer escorted the inmate out of jail and now the sheriff has an urgent message for that officer. We have that for you next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:40:10]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: We're just getting this into CNN. The judge overseeing Derek Chauvin's Federal trial just accepted the terms of Chauvin's guilty plea and will sentence the ex-officer to 20 to 25 years in prison for violating George Floyd's civil rights. Now, this would be served concurrently with the 22 and a half year criminal sentence tied to the murder conviction at the state level, though Chauvin has appealed that conviction.
It's day six in the manhunt for the Alabama inmate and the correction's officer accused of helping him escape from jail. New security footage shows the very moment that Vicki White escorted Casey White from the detention center last Friday. According to the sheriff there in Lauderdale County, the two had a special relationship that may date back to 2020 and one of Casey White victims has an urgent message for the officer.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If she is still alive, get the hell out. Run. Run. Run as far as you can and turn yourself in and contact somebody like do the right thing before you lose your life or before somebody else does.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: CNN National Correspondent Ryan Young has been following this search. Ryan, investigators, they are painting a -- a clear picture of how much planning went into this. What have they found?
RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes they are. Victor when you think about that, first of all, that audio from that victim is chilling. She moved out of the state to get away from that and you could understand why her and her family are, sort of, scared about this guy being on the loose but when you talk about the updates I talked to the sheriff today and he says, look, they're getting phone calls in, a lot of tips. And the U.S. Marshall Service is tracking all these tips down. Nothing
significant for them to report to us right now, but there's bits and pieces that are coming out slowly. But when you think about this, you're talking about a very tall individual who's still on the run. Just this afternoon they released some new video from a gas station that you can see that patrol car moving away.
And one of the reasons why I'm standing in this parking lot, is because that patrol car was headed to this parking lot and down behind me on the last parking space was a car that was parked there so they could exchange the cars. Once they got in that car, they took off and they haven't been seen since. This afternoon I actually talked to a city council member who said she -- who said he saw Vicki drive by and they waved at each other. He thought nothing of it until later. In fact, take a listen to what he told us today about someone he trusted, throwing away their life.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL GRIFFIN, FLORENCE CITY COUNCILMAN: Most criminals at his capacity are just great conmen. That's how you make a living, and I think he conned her and she sold her soul to the devil. I just hope she's safe and I just -- I'm -- I'm sorry that she traded 25 years of protecting for probably 25 years of serving.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YOUNG: Yes, Victor when you think about this and -- and talking to the sheriff as well. When he's talking about the fact that she sold her house, she retired. Her last day was supposed to be last Friday. They believe there's extra weapons in the car. They consider Casey armed and dangerous. They are concerned about Vicki's safety --
[14:45:09]
YOUNG: -- as well. You can understand when you put all this together, this entire area's talking about this situation. We're only about an eight minute away from that jail and the fact that they met in 2020 and then kept in contact even when he was transferred to another jail. There are so many questions surrounding this right now. There are a lot of jokes around this community about this, but at the -- at the same time people are wondering and waiting to see where these two ended up especially after the six days they've been on the run. Victor.
BLACKWELL: Yes. The sheriff says they could be anywhere, potentially even out of the country. That search continues. Ryan Young for us, thank you so much. It may be a matter of weeks before children under five in the U.S. can get the COVID vaccine but there are new surveys that signal that the majority of parents may not be excited to get in line.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:50:09]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: The CDC forecast shows that COVID deaths and hospitalizations are likely going to increase over the next four weeks, and a new survey says that most parents with kids under five are not planning on vaccinating against COVID-19 when the vaccine becomes available, at least not right away. CNN Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us now. So Elizabeth, hello to you. What are parents saying?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: So Victor, parents seem a little bit hesitant about getting the vaccine overall. Some parents want it, like, right now and others like, oh no, not so much. Let's take a look at what the Keyser Family Foundation survey found, what they found as soon as available that was 18 percent.
Wait and see, 40 percent, 11 percent said only if I have to, like for example, to send them to school and 21 percent said they definitely won't. And it's that 21 percent that you -- 27 percent rather that you really worry about, but Victor I will tell you let's keep in mind. Not all the data's out there, so maybe it's wise for parents to say yes I'm not quite sure yet. The data's not all out, we should be seeing it in the coming weeks.
Now to take a look at what's happening with COVID, there's been some interesting work by the -- by the -- looking at whether or not we are in a new wave of COVID. Keyser, the same folks, they asked are we in a new COVID wave? And the answer depended to a large degree on what political party you are aligned with. So for Democrats, 53 percent of them said yes.
We are in a new COVID wave and for Republicans 15 percent said yes, we are in a new COVID wave. So just to let you know, cases and hospitalizations are ticking up slightly. We don't know if that means that we are officially in a new wave now. What we do know is that the CDC is forecasting that we will see more deaths in the coming weeks than we have seen in the past. So if you look at this forecast for May 4th through 28th, 432 deaths per day. Currently there's about 391 deaths per day, so the forecast is for a, you know, not a hugely, not many more but still even one death is too many. Victor.
BLACKWELL: Yes. Small up tick but in the wrong direction there.
COHEN: Right.
BLACKWELL: Elizabeth Cohen, thank you.
COHEN: Thanks.
BLACKWELL: Family members of Americans who are being held illegally overseas protested outside the White House today. Next, hear what they want from President Biden.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:55:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: This morning, dozens of people with family members being detained overseas protested outside the White House. They want a meeting with President Biden to talk about bringing their loved ones home. The protest organizers say the recent release of American Trevor Reed was the lighter fluid that families needed to act. CNN National Security Correspondent Kylie Atwood has more on the message from these families. Kylie, Trevor Reed's family, Paul Whelan's family, they were also there. Their first public appearance together what did they say?
KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they were there. There were also family members of dozens of Americans who are also wrongfully detained abroad and their message today was very clear. First and foremost it was that they want the Biden Administration to do everything in their power to bring home their loved ones. No matter where they are detained abroad, Syria, Iran, Venezuela, Russia, just to name a few of those countries.
And then the other thing that they were very explicit about is the fact that these families want to meet with President Biden. They saw how a meeting between Trevor Reed's family and President Biden was one of the things that appeared to speed up the release of Trevor Reed who was detained in Russia and was returned here to the United States last week.
So they made it very clear that they too want to meet with President Biden and they think that he would understand the plight, the challenge, the pain that they are facing if they sit down and speak with him face to face. And Elizabeth Whelan, she is the sister of another American, Paul Whelan who is wrongfully detained in Russia, listen to what she had to say about navigating this challenging labyrinth of trying to get her brother home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELIZABETH WHELAN, SISTER OF PAUL WHELAN: It's like entering a labyrinth where you have no idea how to get out. You don't know where your loved one is. You don't know who is going to help you or hurt you along the way. Everyone of us is waiting, stuck in the labyrinth still for that same moment, for that one door to open and our loved one to walk through. I call on the administration to meet with us all, to use every tool at their disposal and reunite our families.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ATWOOD: Now we should note that earlier this week, Austin Tice's parents, he's an American who's attained in Syria in 2012. They did meet with President Biden. They told CNN yesterday that that meeting itself demonstrated some progress. They said that President Biden demonstrated a willingness for sustained engagement on this issue.
[15:00:10]
