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Sweden, Finland Officially Applying To NATO; McDonald's Leaving Russia; Investigation Into Buffalo Massacre Continues. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired May 16, 2022 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Jean-Pierre taking over, of course, for Jen Psaki, who stepped down from the press secretary role last week.

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Thanks for your time today. We will see you back here tomorrow, a big primary day. Remember that.

Erica Hill picks up our coverage right now.

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: Good afternoon. I'm Erica Hill in New York.

Ana Cabrera is off today.

Another violent weekend rattles the nation. Today, there are chilling new details in the wake of the deadliest racist massacre in recent U.S. history. Here's what we know; 13 people were shot, 10 people are dead, after a grocery store massacre in Buffalo, New York. Nearly all of the victims are black.

Police say an 18-year-old white male suspect is now in custody. And that suspect wanted to kill many more to continue his hate-fueled rampage. In a 180-page racist rant posted online moments before the shooting, it shows his meticulous planning before the attack. That suspect now on suicide watch and under constant supervision.

Tomorrow, President Biden set to travel to Buffalo, where he will meet with the victims' families. And it is those lives we want to remember. Ahead this hour, we will have more on those who were murdered.

We are also following a shooting in Southern California today. This happened at a church in Laguna Woods over the weekend, a gunman entering a lunch reception, where the gunman shot five people, killed at least one, but a number of people in attendance were actually able to overpower the suspect, even hog-tying him, before police arrived.

Let's begin this hour in Buffalo, where CNN's Shimon Prokupecz is live on the scene with the latest on the investigation.

So first, Shimon, what more are we learning about this suspect's plans, which apparently were not going to end at that Tops market? SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: No, they were not.

Police say that, based on these writings, these documents that they have now reviewed and they believe belong to the alleged shooter, he talks about wanting to not only do this shooting here behind us, this rampage, attacking people in this community, but that he was -- also wanted to go to another area of this community not far from here, attacking perhaps another supermarket.

He talked about another store, wanting to kill many, many more people. And that's why police have told us that the work that they did, those officers who responded here in just under two minutes, saved many, many lives. They were able to stop the attack.

Remember, they say the gunman turned the weapon under his chin as if he was trying to take his own life, but that the officers had convinced him to surrender. And it is because of that, they feel, because they got here so quickly, that they were able to stop him and prevent us from getting much worse, Erica.

HILL: And, thankfully, they were able to prevent it from getting worse.

This racist rant that was posted before the rampage began, what more are we learning from that?

PROKUPECZ: Well, investigators say that it really paints this picture of this person, of this alleged shooter's mind, this hatred and racist and white supremacy, talking about other mass shootings, really paints a picture of a person who was radicalized at some point, was sitting around consuming a lot of this information, reading up, studying what one official said to me was that this -- that he was studying it.

It was as if he was learning and going through how other shootings took place, and, therefore, was able to try almost kind of a copycat attack. And what they say was it really goes through the thinking here and the hatred and where this person, this alleged shooter, where his kind of state of mind was, very concerning, very dark and troubling.

But then he also, they say, talks about this way -- the way in which he's going to conduct this attack, specifically the timing, and where he was going to do the attack, and who he was going to attack, members of the black community, specifically wanting to attack them.

He also talked about weapons he was going to use, all of this documented in this -- 180-page writings. They say they believe they are linked to him. They have been combing through it. There's nothing to indicate, at least to investigators, that it isn't.

And it's been providing them a lot of information, Erica.

HILL: Yeah, absolutely.

And when we look -- Shimon, when we look at the gun that was reportedly used, purchased legally. We're also learning, though, that the suspect had been on the radar for police. What do we know about that?

PROKUPECZ: Right.

So, this has to do with something that happened last year, while he was in high school, in his area where he lives, some three hours away from here, where the school had gotten some information. They were concerned that he was talking about a murder/suicide kind of plan.

[13:05:16]

And so they alerted the police, the state police, the New York State Police. And the state police say they went to his home. They took him in for a mental health examination. He was at a hospital for about a day, a day-and-a-half. But we don't know what happened after that. We don't know if there was any kind of follow-up or what was done after that.

But they say that is the only information or any kind of interaction that they have had with him previously. He was not on anyone's radar. Other really than that, there was no reason to suspect him in any kind of crime or that anything like this was certainly going to happen. The FBI has said that they did not -- based on their research, on their data search, he was not on their radar.

But it was this one particular incident at the high school. The school became concerned about it. They alerted the police. The police went to his home, took him to the hospital, where they then say they -- he was at this hospital for a day, day-and-a-half. But we don't really know much more about that because of privacy reasons, Erica.

HILL: Absolutely.

Shimon, appreciate it. Thank you.

Also joining us now, Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and national director of the Anti-Defamation League, and Rashad Robinson, president of Color of Change.

It's good to have both of you with us this afternoon.

Rashad, officials say the suspect, as Shimon just laid out for us there, had plans to continue his rampage possibly at another large store. We know that he drove three-and-a-half-hours specifically to this community, which has a majority black population to carry out this hate-filled attack.

Vice President Harris has said that we are in an epidemic of hate. I'm wondering, Rashad, is that how you see it as well?

RASHAD ROBINSON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, COLOR OF CHANGE: We are in an epidemic of hate.

And it is fueled by a whole set of things that we, as a country, can actually deal with. It is fueled by an incentive structure and profit structure inside of social media platforms, which remain immune to consequences for all the ways in which they amplify and profit off of this.

It is fueled by some of what we see on cable news and all the ways in which that is incentivized, in terms of some of the Replacement Theory and the other language we see coming out of FOX News and Tucker Carlson and the ways in which major carrier providers of cable companies pay FOX News more money than they pay other cable companies just to carry it.

It is fueled by a culture of guns in this country and also fueled by this -- some of these -- ongoing disinformation in lies. When we have attacks on even teaching black history in our schools, and then the proliferation of guns into communities, we create this hostile climate.

More needs to be done. And those who profit, those who are part of the incentive structure have to be dealt with, if we're actually going to deal with the root of the problem.

HILL: When we talk about more needing to be done, Jonathan, if you look specifically at social media, we have seen this rise in hate online, right?

Sadly, that is not new. But I think what's interesting, too, as we tie it back here, these companies are really struggling to remove this racist rant that the suspect posted, some of the suspect's videos as well. And it's a bit of a deadly circle when we look at it, because we're learning from that rant that he was inspired by what he found online.

If we look specifically at what is out there online, Jonathan, is there, in your view, a way to effectively curb that cycle at this point?

JONATHAN GREENBLATT, CEO AND NATIONAL DIRECTOR, ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: Well, Erica, a few thoughts.

First of all, I just want to say, our heart breaks. All of us need to be with Buffalo now and the families and the victims, who we all mourn. This was an attack on the black community, for sure, but it's also an attack on all of us. And, really, I just want to extend all that we can for them.

To your question, and as Rashad sort of intimated, these are some of the most innovative, profitable companies in the history of capitalism. You can see how they have tackled copyright infringement. You can see how they tackle other issues.

If they applied some of their energy and some of their innovation to this, Erica, this issue could be resolved, I believe, much more effectively than you see today. If their algorithms didn't promote what just drives clicks, it could be dealt with very quickly.

The fact of the matter is, they may also have to look at some of their policies. Twitch, a company owned by Amazon, streamed the shooting. And although it came down a few minutes after it went up, why does anyone think that's some natural law, Erica, that ordains that anything you post should instantaneously be broadcast to the world? These companies need to really engage in self-reflection.

[13:10:02]

And regulators need to intervene to prevent the spread of extremism and hate on these platforms once and for all.

HILL: As we see what may or may not come of that, right, it's also interesting some of the -- some of the reaction that we're seeing.

Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney tweeting out today: "The House GOP leadership has enabled white nationalism, white supremacy and antisemitism. History has taught us that what begins with words ends in far worse. GOP leaders," she goes on to write, "must renounce and reject these views and those who hold them."

The chances of her pleas reaching those who follow this racist white replacement ideology are slim, I would say, Rashad. So how do you break through?

ROBINSON: You know, I think that this is where we need the public to act and engage.

The reason why we continue to lose battles in the back rooms of holding social media platforms accountable is because we don't have enough people lined up at the front door. And these companies have spent a lot of money trying to confuse the issue, trying to make us believe that they don't need to be regulated, that they can self- regulate, but self-regulated companies are unregulated companies.

The fact of the matter is, is, the reason why our cars are safe and the seat belts work is not because of the benevolence simply of the auto industry. It's because there is infrastructure that holds those companies accountable. The reason why, when we go into the supermarket, our meat and our milk can be safe and we can sort of see the labels is because there is trust and safety and infrastructure behind that.

And we actually need those -- that type of infrastructure to deal with 21st century problems. The technology that can bring us into the future is dragging us into the past. And many people are profiting off of it and would like for -- to play hear no evil, speak no evil, and see no evil.

And that's why we need more in the public to speak out and stand with us as we hold government accountable, not to simply speak out against this, but to act through legislation and policy and accountability.

HILL: I know you are -- you want to see action. There's a lot of focus on what President Biden will say tomorrow when he visits Buffalo and how those words will translate into action. We will be watching for that.

And, Jonathan, I know you as well, at the ADL, along with the National Urban League, the NAACP and others, are calling on President Biden to convene a summit to deal with these issues. We will be watching to see what comes of that. Thank you both for your time this afternoon.

And it is so important, as we, unfortunately, have to say after every mass shooting -- and we have covered far too many of them -- but we need to remember the lives of the people who were killed, senselessly killed; 10 people died in that attack in Buffalo over the weekend.

And we want to tell you about them.

Heyward Patterson was known as the neighborhood taxi. His nephew says he loved helping people, even giving rides to people who had little money. He was waiting outside Tops for passengers when he was killed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MERCEDES PATTERSON, RELATIVE OF SHOOTING VICTIM: An honorable man, a family man, a working man, a community man, an honest man that was at a grocery store in a parking lot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Patterson leaves behind three children. He was 67.

Pearl Young, a longtime substitute teacher in Buffalo, was described as a true pillar in the community, a woman who loved God. Her children say the one comfort they can take from this tragedy is knowing that she is now in heaven with her husband, Ollie. Pearl Young was 77.

Geraldine Talley was at the grocery store shopping with her fiance. Described as the life of the party, the family reunion organizer, Talley was at the front of the store when that shooting started. Her fiance, who had gone to grab some orange juice, survived. Geraldine Talley, 62 years old, leaves behind two children.

Katherine Massey was a civil rights and education advocate. Just last year, she wrote a piece in the local paper calling for more federal regulation of guns. Her sister says she stood outside Tops for hours, calling her phone, hoping she would pick up. She never would.

This is how Massey's friend described her earlier to CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BETTY JEAN GRANT, FRIEND OF SHOOTING VICTIM: She was just a go- getter. She was very firm. Opinionated, yes, she was.

If thought she was right, you couldn't sway her from that, but she was willing to listen to make sure that, even though she knew she was right, that your voice was heard as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Katherine Massey was 72.

Roberta Drury, you see her here, moved to Buffalo eight years ago to help her brother with his leukemia treatments and her family with a restaurant. She was just 32 years old.

Margus Morrison went to Tops to buy snacks for movie night with his wife. Morrison's stepdaughter describes him as a hero who helped take care of his disabled mother. He also worked as a school bus aide in Buffalo, where we're told he was loved by the kids there. Morrison leaves behind his wife, three children and a stepdaughter.

[13:15:03]

Eighty-six-year-old Ruth Whitfield was also at Tops. Her son is the former fire commissioner in Buffalo. When the mayor saw him on the scene, he originally thought that he was there to help.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BYRON BROWN, MAYOR OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK: I went to Commissioner Whitfield and said: "Commissioner, are you here to help?"

He said: "Yes, Mayor, but I'm here because I'm looking for my mother. My mother had just gone to see my father, as she does every day in the nursing home, and stopped at the Tops to buy just a few groceries. And nobody has heard from her."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Ruth Whitfield was 86 years old.

Celestine Chaney was shopping for strawberry shortcake. Her son says he learned his mother had been killed after being sent a screenshot of the shooting from the suspect's livestream. Celestine Chaney was 65.

Retired police Lieutenant Aaron Salter was working as a security guard at Tops. He heroically tried to stop the suspect, firing at him multiple times. The suspect was protected by his tactical gear, however. Salter lost his life. He was 55 years old.

We don't today know much about Andre Mackneil, not just yet. We do know he was from Auburn, New York, roughly a two-hour drive from Buffalo. He was just 53.

May their memories be a blessing.

Vladimir Putin says Finland and Sweden joining NATO isn't a threat, but beefing up the military presence in those countries would be, one that would -- quote -- "certainly cause our response." What that could mean.

Plus, new details on the FDA's scramble, as it helps to -- scrambles to help get baby formula back on store shelves. Just when and how this could happen.

And a remarkable show of bravery during a deadly shooting at a California church over the weekend, the suspect detained and tied up. We have more on that just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [13:21:23]

HILL: Another stalled Russian offensive, a potential war crime cover- up, and Vladimir Putin's worst nightmare coming to life.

First, let's get you caught up on these fast-moving developments out of Ukraine. In the east, intense combat is bogging down Russia. Britain says Russia's advance has lost momentum. Here, what you can see are burned-out Russian vehicles at a key river crossing in the region.

Meantime, in the north, a Ukrainian unit has pushed all the way to the Russian border. You see them with this blue and gold stake that they just planted, sending word back to Kyiv -- quote -- "Mr. President, we made it."

Meantime, in the south, Ukraine says Russia is covering its tracks, clearing debris from bomb sites in Mariupol, including the theater that was hit as hundreds sheltered inside. Tough to forget those images, the word "Children" written in Russian, the hospital as well where the world watched pregnant women being carried out of the rubble.

Meantime, outside Ukraine, Sweden and Finland have both formally begun the process to join NATO, meaning Putin's invasion may result in the very thing he was trying to prevent in many ways, a bigger, stronger NATO.

CNN's Nina dos Santos is live in Stockholm for us this afternoon.

So, Nina, what happens next in this process for Sweden and Finland?

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN EUROPE EDITOR: Hi there, Erica.

Well, the wheels already in motion as of this afternoon. The Swedish government pressed ahead, gave a press conference announcing that this country is turning its back on 200 years' worth of cherished, up until now, military nonalignment, and no longer would it be neutral. It would be pressing ahead with plans to join NATO.

That is a huge U-turn for the ruling party here. And it also comes in tandem, of course, with what's going on in Sweden, these two countries very much choreographing their accession plans to make sure that they have this strength in numbers, if you like.

So, tomorrow, what we're expecting is, now that Sweden has announced the government's going ahead, Finland will have a vote in its Parliament. The Finnish president will be coming here for a two-day state visit. And it will probably be at some point during that state visit that both countries will make a big show of signing on the dotted line those application papers. Those will go to NATO via each country's embassies.

And then NATO members will have a chance to consider them before a summit that's taking place in about a month-and-a-half's time in Madrid. Now, all of these nations recognize that this is a tense and vulnerable time for these two Nordic countries. Russia has promised to retaliate in some form, but we don't know just what retaliation that might be -- Erica.

HILL: Well, in terms of that promise, what more are we hearing?

Because Putin actually speaking out today, I believe, reacting to these latest developments.

DOS SANTOS: Yeah, that's right.

And he said this, which is really interesting, because it hints at something that Sweden has already talked about. He said: "Expansion at the expense of these countries does not pose a direct threat to Russia. But the expansion of military infrastructure into this territory will certainly cause a response. We will see what it'll be based on, the threats that will be created for us."

That was Vladimir Putin speaking earlier on this morning, reiterating what more minor officials in the Russian government and security apparatus have been saying for weeks now, that there could be some form of retaliation, perhaps militarily, perhaps that the Baltic Sea could face an increase of nuclear weapons, perhaps in its Kaliningrad base.

Sweden has said it does not want nuclear infrastructure as part of its NATO membership and will not be harboring NATO bases as a condition of accession -- Erica.

HILL: Likely not the last we have heard of this. That is for sure.

Nina dos Santos, appreciate the updates. Thank you.

[13:25:02]

Also with us, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander General Wesley Clark.

General, always good to have you with us.

When we look at this NATO expansion, it's important to point out too this won't happen overnight. The process could take up to a year.

But, based on what we heard from Putin today, which Nina just walked us through, that this expansion doesn't pose a direct threat, but any terms of military expansion would elicit a response, despite that promise from Putin, is there any way of looking at just that the expansion could actually serve as a deterrent for Russia?

WESLEY CLARK, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, yes, I think the expansion does pose a problem for Russia. It does strengthen NATO politically.

It does pose a potential military problem for Russia. And it does show that Europe as a whole is rejecting Putin's claims that NATO can't expand. Now, what Putin's statement is sort of bowing to recognize what's inevitable. And now he wants to specify the threat is, don't accept military

infrastructure. So, that is a decision that would, of course, be reviewed again and again and again, just as when we brought the states in the Baltics in, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia said there wouldn't be any permanent military bases there by NATO. But then we started rotating forces there.

And now, based on what Putin is done in Ukraine, they're demanding -- our members are demanding that there are permanent stations there. So, this is just part of the larger diplomatic interplay, Erica. And just today, we're reading that the prime ministers of President Macron, Chancellor Scholz of Germany, Italy's president are all talking to Putin, asking him to accept a cease-fire.

HILL: Yes. It...

CLARK: It's a really complex situation, with these Ukrainian forces really, really stressing Russia.

HILL: Well, to that point, when we look at what we know about what's happening on the ground there, we also have this assessment from British Defense Ministry, which says that they believe a third of Russia's forces who were committed to this invasion are no longer there, whether they were killed or whether they're wounded and no longer able to participate.

How accurate do you think the current picture is that we have of what the situation is on the ground in Ukraine?

CLARK: I think the current -- the current (AUDIO GAP) is pretty accurate with respect to where Russia and Ukraine are.

What we don't really see much of in the West are the terrible price that the Ukrainian forces themselves are paying for resisting the Russian aggression. That hasn't been released publicly. Our officials probably know most of it privately. But what they -- we hear is the Russian casualties.

And a third is probably accurate. These force -- these Russian forces are not combat-effective, the way that they should be, if you look at the limited progress they have made in Donbass.

Now, in the south, those Russian forces haven't been attrited the same way. They're not under the same pressure. They are fresher. And, politically, it seems that Putin is sort of organizing this to be able to bring the southern part of Ukraine in as part of Russia.

And that's absolutely impermissible. The Ukrainians won't permit it. And the United States and our NATO allies shouldn't permit it, legally or politically. So there's a -- this battle is being fought at the tactical level, the strategic level, the logistics level, the political level, the diplomatic level.

It is so complicated right now...

HILL: Yes. CLARK: ... as Putin is squirreling around, trying to avoid the

consequences of what was his tragic miscalculations in the invasion of Ukraine.

HILL: General Wesley Clark, always appreciate your insight. Thank you.

Taking a look at the economic front in Russia, a major development today, after more than 30 years, McDonald's announcing it's officially leaving the country. Now ,it's tough to forget the attention the first golden arches received when McDonald's opened in Moscow in 1990.

The move, of course, was a major geopolitical moment, symbolizing post-Cold War Russia aiming to open up to the outside world.

CNN business correspondent Rahel Solomon joins us now.

So, McDonald's temporarily closed its, I believe, 800 restaurants that it has in Russia at the start of the invasion. What prompted this decision to make this permanent and to fully pull out of Russia?

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, to your point, Erica, yes, it was a major announcement today, but not so much stunning.

I just got off the phone with an analyst who covers the company very closely who said, the reason why we're not seeing a ton of stock movement today in McDonald's is because that they had signaled as of March that this was likely coming.