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LAPD Arrest, Charge Man Who Tackled Dave Chappelle At Hollywood Bowl; Ukraine Defense Ministry: Russia Carried Out 50 Strikes In Ukraine; Russia Makes Few Advances Despite Heavy Bombardments; Amber Heard Takes The Stand In Johnny Depp Defamation Trial. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired May 04, 2022 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: The man who stormed the stage last night at the Hollywood Bowl and attacked comedian Dave Chappelle is now in custody. Now, according to police he was armed with a knife and a replica of a handgun. Chappelle was not hurt. CNN's Rachel Crane was there close to the stage there. Rachel, what happened?

RACHEL CRANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Victor, I was, you know, front row at this event last night, saw this all unfold. Now, the suspect, he really charged the stage and hit Chappelle quite hard, and frankly, it was terrifying. The gentleman, he was wearing a backpack and being, you know, a cynical journalist, my thought was is there a bomb in there. So, it was really quite a very charged scary moment and it took a few seconds for the security to rush after him. But it really felt like an eternity.

And I want to point out, Victor, that this happened at a point in the evening where Chappelle had already finished his set. So, you know, the audience at the Hollywood Bowl, many people were already in the aisles starting to leave, so you can understand and see how this suspect was able to blend into the crowd and charge the stage at this moment.

Also, I want to point out that there was security at the Hollywood Bowl. I had to go through a metal detector, but for those who don't know, this is a venue where you're allowed to bring your own food. I had two food bags that they never even opened, the security, they never put them through the metal detectors. So, you know, it's not that hard to believe that somebody was able to sneak in a weapon.

And unfortunately, what was, you know, an evening filled with in typical Chappelle fashion, very offensive jokes, and also howling laughter. Pardon me -- you can hear some commotion happening behind us. But it was really a night that was filled with laughter, Victor, and unfortunately ended in a very terrifying moment.

BLACKWELL: Yes, bad timing on the sirens, but Rachel that's an important point you said, you went in with your own bags they did not check. Of course, only a detail that we get from someone who was actually there. So, Chris Rock, Jamie Foxx, John Stewart then were all on stage. What happened then? [15:35:00]

CRANE: That's right, you know, right before this moment, Chappelle had asked his fellow comedians who had opened the show to join him for a photo op. So, they were really waiting in the wings when this moment occurred. And so, his fellow comedians came on stage to help, you know, obviously check on how he was doing but also help get through this moment, and of course Chris Rock went for the jugular, made the joke that everybody was waiting for, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS ROCK, COMEDIAN: Was that Will Smith?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CRANE: So, Victor, as you heard, there was a lot of laughter there. The evening, as I said before, was filled with tons of laughter before this terrifying moment -- Victor.

BLACKWELL: How could Chris Rock not make that joke, right? If the man rushes the stage, you'd imagine Chris Rock's there, he's got to do it. All right. Rachel Crane, hope the night was fun. Thank you very much. Also, I want to say we just learned from Dave Chappelle's spokesperson that he is cooperating with the investigation, so that just came in as we were receiving that report from Rachel.

All right let's turn now to Russia, the shelling, the strikes, heavy bombardments, the Russian attacks have been relentless. Yet according to the Ukrainian military, the Kremlin has only made a few advances on the battlefield. We'll talk more about that next.

[15:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Russian forces are attempting to hit critical Ukrainian infrastructure in the western parts of the country. That's according to Pentagon spokesman John Kirby. Now a spokesperson for the Ukrainian defense ministry said that nearly 50 western strikes were seen across Ukraine yesterday. And we're showing some of the locations here, Avdiivka, Luhansk, Donetsk as well.

But there were also attacks on railway infrastructure, particularly in Lviv here in the west and also in Dnipro. Let's bring in now CNN military analyst and retired Army Lieut. Gen. Mark Hertling. So first, your take on the focus on the railway infrastructure.

LIEUT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, Victor, the explosions you see on that PowerPoint map don't tell the whole story because they look like they're arbitrary attacks on specific locations, specific cities. All of those cities where you see the blast symbol have to do with either road junctions, railroad transfer points or line of communications as they're called in the military.

Russia is pinpointing all of those facilities with precision weapons, which is interesting because they're using non-precision weapons, the so-called artillery and dumb bombs at the cities targeting civilians. So, there is certainly an effort by Russia to interfere with the reinforcement and the supplying of Ukraine's force coming in from NATO country and the West.

BLACKWELL: You think that's more effective, the Russian foreign minister said that NATO weapons coming in will still be targets of Russian forces. Do you think it's more effective to hit the railways, the road crossings than the actual shipments of these weapons, the train cars themselves?

HERTLING: Well, I think that's what Russia is attempting to do, Victor, but so far, they haven't been very successful in doing that. Because if you were again to overlay a map of all the major roads, the minor road, and some of the railroad intersections in the western part of Ukraine, there's certainly a lot more of those than there are in the eastern part of Ukraine. So, once they get through those various transfer point, they can get to the Ukrainian forces.

But the critical point is, yes, Russia is attempting to target them. It's a lot easier to target stationary buildings or railroad lines than it is to target moving convoys of supplies and equipment. They have not been very successful, and in fact, the defense minister of Ukraine recently said that no NATO supply lines, supplies, not supply lines, have been hit yet.

BLACKWELL: Yes, makes sense to go after what is stationary than what is moving. That's simple physics. Let's talk about Ukrainian advances potentially maybe pushing back some Russian forces in a town south of Izyum. I just brought up this map to show in which part of the country we're focusing on. There is newly released video of Ukrainian strikes, military vehicles in that town. We don't know when exactly this attack happened, general, but what does this signal to you? This is one of the videos, let me play the other one here.

HERTLING: Well, Victor, truthfully, I have been watching a lot of these kinds of video being given by Ozian (ph) people and some of the folks from within Ukraine, and this is frequent. The Ukrainian effectiveness in firing artillery and firing javelin missiles and anti-tank systems at these kind of convoys has been ubiquitous since the start of the campaign.

But in the east, where we're seeing the fight now, in critical junctures, the Russians are attempting to conduct reconnaissance and force with some types of large maneuver companies or units, not so much the battalion tactical groups that we've heard so much about, but smaller units than that.

And what we have seen is Ukrainian artillery, and anti-tank strikes have been highly effective, extremely effective in terms of their capability, and their precision. Which reflects the training the Ukrainian forces have gone through. The Russians on the other hand, have been horrible in terms of hitting precision targets with their artillery and their missile. They certainly are covering wide areas but they're not hitting a lot of targets.

[15:45:04]

So, I give the advantage once again to the Ukrainians based on their training and their leadership and their ability to know their home turf which they're fighting on.

BLACKWELL: All right, Lieut. Gen. Mark Hertling, thank you for the insight, sir.

Actress Amber Heard is testifying in the defamation trial against her ex-husband, her emotional testimony, next.

[15:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Breaking news. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has tested positive for COVID-19. Now the secretary is fully vaccinated and boosted. He is said to be experiencing mild symptoms. Blinken attended the White House correspondents dinner and we are getting reports from other news outlets of journalists who have also contracted COVID-19. The secretary has not seen President Biden in person for several days, and the president is not considered a close contact, according to the CDC guidelines.

Well, for the first time, actress Amber Heard is talking about abuse allegations against her ex-husband, Johnny Depp. She's testifying today. Depp is suing her for $50 million, claiming defamation over an op-ed she wrote for "The Washington Post."

A CNN correspondent Alexandra Field is with us now. So, this is the first time we're hearing from her on the stand. What is she saying?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, we listened to him for four days in which he said he has never struck a woman. Amber Heard, for her part, she has been speaking for almost two hours and she paints a very different picture. She describes it as a flirty friendship that quickly escalated into what she describes as a whirlwind romance, marked by velvety sort of sickly sweet romantic gestures, as she describes them, and then she says it turned dark and violent. On the stand, she describes the first time she says Johnny Depp hit her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMBER HEARD, ACTRESS: It's that simple. I just laughed because I thought he was joking. And he slapped me across the face. And I laughed. I laughed because I didn't know what else to do. I thought this must be a joke. This must be a joke. Because I'm -- I didn't know what was going on. I just stared at him. Kind of laughing still. Thinking that he was going to start laughing too, to tell me it was a joke, but he didn't.

He said, you think it's so funny. You think it's funny, bitch. You think you're a funny bitch and he slapped me again. Like, it was clear it wasn't a joke anymore. I didn't want to leave him. I didn't want this to be the reality. I

didn't want to have the man I was in love with. I know you don't come back from that. You know, I'm not dumb. I know you can't hit a woman. You can't hit a man. You can't hit anyone. You can't just hit somebody because they -- I knew there was -- I knew it was wrong. And I knew that I had to leave him. And that's what broke my heart. Because I didn't want to leave him. I thought if I could get out of that room, that would be the best thing that ever happened to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FIELD: Heard said the two did reconcile soon after that but the violent episodes only escalated and continued.

BLACKWELL: Compelling testimony. Is this expected to go on for as long as Depp's testimony?

FIELD: The trial is still expected to last several more weeks. So, she's got a lot more to say. And then of course, we will hear from his attorney's questioning her. We should also point out, Depp has been listening to this for two hours. Hasn't looked up. Has been doodling the whole time. Hasn't made eye contact. Has exchanged a few glances with his attorney.

BLACKWELL: Oh, all right. Alexandra, thank you.

All right let's look at the big board. Stocks climbing after the Federal Reserve announced it will hike interest rates, close to 1,000 points. We're live from New York Stock Exchange for the final minute of trading.

[15:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Final minutes before the closing bell. Stocks are surging, after Fed Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that the central bank was not considering any larger rate hikes. Well, beyond today's half- point increase. CNN's business correspondent Alison Kosik is live from the New York Stock Exchange. Positive reaction from investors.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Victor, clearly investors like what Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell said today and what he and the other member of the Fed did. So, no shocker that the Fed raised interest rates by a half a percent. That was expected. But what's been keeping investors kind of on edge here is what the Fed does from here. Now it did telegraph today that more rate increases, they are going to be on the way.

But the big worry for investors is what the Fed is going to do in the future. Will the rate hikes be more aggressive. Will there be a rate hike of three quarters of a percent or even one percent. Well, today at a press conference, Jay Powell took the more aggressive or higher rate hikes, the idea of that, off the table at least for now, saying it's not something that's actively being considered. And as you can see, away the market went. The Dow is up over 900

points. And keep in mind, with these rate hikes the Fed is trying to really get a handle on fighting inflation. Still, there's a real balancing act going on here. The concern is will the Fed hike until it hurts. Meaning hurt the economy by sending it into a recession because of raising rates too aggressively to fight inflation.

[16:00:00]

And there are lots of opinions on this, but today, Powell said he thinks the Fed can slow the economy without starting a recession -- Victor.

BLACKWELL: The question is can they accomplish that soft landing that we hear so much about. Alison Kosik there, thanks so much.

"THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts now.