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Police: Church Shooter Upset Over Taiwan-China Tensions; Dallas Police Announce Arrest In Korean-Owned Salon Shooting; McCarthy Makes First On-Camera Comments About January 6 Committee Subpoena; Congress Holds First Public Hearing On UFOs Since The '60s; Musk: Twitter Deal Can't Happen Until Bot Account Dispute Resolved. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired May 17, 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 suspect in a shooting at a California church meeting is expected in court sometime today. Now, he allegedly started shooting this weekend at a Taiwanese religious gathering in Southern California. One person killed, five injured there. Investigators say the suspect, who is an American citizen, was likely upset about political tensions between China and Taiwan. Now, one witness describes the moment that parishioners jumped into action and then detained the attacker.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As soon as shooting start, I saw Pastor Tim coming form that side, so I just run up to put him down together.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you use to tie him up, and how did you tie him up?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The other member tie him with a belt. And then Mrs. Chen bring the cable.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mrs. Chen as in the pastor's wife?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JACKSON: CNN's Stephanie Elam is in Santa Ana, California. Stephanie, what more do we know about this alleged shooter?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've learned what charges he's going to face, Victor, as the Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer announced what these ten charges will be. And I can tell you the first one will be first-degree murder, and that will have an enhancement of lying in wait.

The district attorney actually explaining that is because they've learned that they believe that the suspect was sitting there inside of this area where the luncheon was being held, telling people that he had been there before. But it's such a small congregation, they knew that wasn't true, but they still welcomed him in, even though he had been there in advance.

There will also be five counts of attempted murder with premeditation and deliberation. And four counts of possession of destructive devices with intent to kill or harm.

Remember, we know that he had Molotov cocktails that were around the church area. We know he had an abundance of ammunition as well. He had also super glued some of the locks trying to disable them and chained some of the doors and hammered nails into some of the doors to stop anyone from being able to leave. But investigators saying that they do believe that his gun jammed and that is why this wasn't a worse situation.

But as for motive, listen to the district attorney who was this morning on CNN's "NEW DAY" explain what they believe is the motive behind why this shooter did what they did.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD SPITZER, ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: This family was from mainland China. He grew up in Taiwan. There was a lot of anti-mainland China sentiment in those years when he grew up, and he was not treated well. And apparently, he's carried that resentment his entire both childhood and adult life. And he took this church opportunity to come after those congregants basically to come back and say I'm going to get even with the way I was treated when I was raised in Taiwan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM: When you see inside the church -- and we now have a couple of images that were taken when these parishioners came together, surprised by this attack, but managed to come together and subdue this shooter, it's remarkable. You can see that the pastor who the luncheon was in honor of who was returning back to this congregation which he had held for a couple of years or more than that. You can see him there on the ground, he told one of our affiliates KCAL-KCBS that he used the chair to hit him because he knew someone needed to take action and bring him down and then they hog tied him.

And you can see in the picture, the people there all kneeling down on the attacker to hold him there. Just thinking about the efforts that they put in as a team, when they didn't even know, this was going to happen, it truly is remarkable.

BLACKWELL: Yes, those pictures are remarkable, too. Stephanie, thank you.

Let's go to Dallas now where police say that they have made an arrest in connection with the shooting at a Korean-owned hair salon last week where three people were shot. The Dallas County criminal district attorney says that he will be prosecuting the incident as a hate crime. CNN's Alexandra Field is following this story. Alex, what more have you learned from police there?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor, police say they have now taken into custody a 36-year-old man Jeremy Smith who has been charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

[15:35:03]

All in connection with the shooting at a hair salon that happened nearly a week ago. They now say the suspect walked into that salon, fired 13 shots. There were 7 people inside. Three people were injured. Then they say he fled the salon in a red minivan. That minivan was seen in surveillance video. Investigators worked through the course of the week to find that minivan that they had seen on the video. They also had the images of the suspect. They arrested the suspect. They say they executed a search warrant and recovered a handgun, a gun magazine, and ammunition.

They also say that in the course of the investigation, they determined that Smith had been involved two years ago in a motor vehicle accident with an Asian man and that he has had panic attacks and delusions since then.

Dallas police not mincing words when talking about the arrest. They say this is an attack that was motivated by hate. Federal authorities are now investigating this as a hate crime. Local authorities are also still looking into whether there is a connection to this suspect, and two other attacks on Asian run businesses that happened back in May and also in April in the same Korean enclave in Dallas. In both of those attacks, witnesses reported seeing a similar van to the one that Smith appeared to have been driving. No charges yet related to those cases, though, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Alexandra Field with the latest for us there. Thank you so much.

Erica, back to you, you can hear the music maybe through my microphone here playing here. Now a fourth day, the gospel music here as there is a giveaway not too far away from here at Tops after the president came here to try to soothe this community. They're still trying to comfort one another.

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: Which is so important. Victor, I appreciate it. Thank you.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is now speaking out on camera for the first time about being subpoenaed by the January 6th Committee. What he had to say, just ahead.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: House Minority Leader Kelvin McCarthy is making his first on camera comments about his subpoena from the house committee investigating the January 6th insurrection. He is one of five house Republicans ordered to testify about that day and about any conversations they had with former President Trump. CNN chief Congressional correspondent, Manu Raju joining us now live from Capitol Hill. So, he spoke about it. Just how much did he say -- Manu? MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, he's not

saying whether or not he will comply with the subpoena. As well as those four other Republicans, none of them saying whether they will in fact go forward and come before the committee, talk to them about the conversations with Donald Trump -- McCarthy included.

And also, McCarthy will not discuss or at least did not reveal much about some of the recently revealed things he was saying to Republicans in the immediate days after January 6th. There was audio tape released by "The New York Times" in which he said Donald Trump admitted to him such responsibility for January 6th. Now, Trump has since denied that. So, today when I had a chance to ask about both of those issues, he dodged them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Do you plan to comply with that subpoena? And also, since we saw you last, there was tape that was released that said that you -- had you talking to Republicans saying that Trump told you he bore some responsibility for January 6th. Trump has denied that. Which is true?

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): You know, I haven't put any real thought to the subpoena. You know as well as I do not one Republican was allowed to go to this committee. You know as well as I do, this committee is only being used to go after political opponents. There's nothing that you just said that I didn't say on the floor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU (on camera): So, he's referring to comments he made on the floor in the immediate aftermath of January 6th -- actually during the impeachment debate. He of course, opposed impeachment. But at the time he said that Trump bore some responsibility. But he never said on the house floor that Trump admitted to him that he bore some responsibility for January 6th.

But he was quoted in that audio that was released saying that I asked him personally today does he hold responsibility for what happened, and he told me he does have some responsibility for what happened and he needed to acknowledge that. So, as can see there, Erica, asking there to clarify, whether in fact Donald Trump said that to him, he did not want to ask that question. I tried to ask again, and he ignored that question -- Erica.

HILL: Yes, I have a feeling if you asked a third time you might get the same answer. But it's always worth a shot, right, Manu. Appreciated as always, my friend, thank you.

Well, for the first time in 50 years, Congress is holding a public hearing on UFOs. Key lawmakers calling them a potential national security threat. We'll have more on what we learned next.

Today for the first time in more than 50 years, Congress is holding a public hearing on a possible presence of UFOs. Last year, you may recall, intel officials released a report about strange flying objects seen passing through restricted military air space. Kristen Fisher joining us now. There were real concerns about possible threats to national security. What did we learn at these hearings today?

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: Today, for the first time in more than 50 years Congress is holding a public hearing on the possible presence of UFOs. Now last year, you may recall, intel officials released a report about strange flying objects seen passing through restricted military air space.

CNN's space and defense correspondent Kristin Fisher joining us now. So, Kristin, there were real concerns about possible threats to national security. What did we learn at these hearings today?

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, we didn't get any of the big existential questions answered at this public hearing today. There was a closed classified hearing, maybe they got some of the answers there, but at least none of the questions answered in the public hearing.

However, with that said, the Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence Scott Bray did confirm the authenticity of two videos that have been around on the internet for quite some time, and these are two videos that were taken by Navy pilots. Here's one of them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCOTT BRAY, DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE: What you see here is aircraft that is operating in a U.S. Navy training range that has observed spherical object in that area.

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And as they fly by it, they take a video.

REP ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): And is this one of the phenomena that we can't explain?

BRAY: I do not have an explanation for what this specific object is.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FISHER: So that's the Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence saying he doesn't know what this object is. And you saw, Erica, just how close that object flew by a Navy pilot. And you may remember that report that was released last summer by the Director of National Intelligence. It found that there were 11 instances of military pilots having a very close encounter with a UAP, or an Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon -- and as the Pentagon likes to call them.

And so, there's really two things happening here. The members of Congress are really trying to say that, you know, hey, not only is this a safety concern for a lot of these pilots, but it's also potentially a national security concern. And so, Erica, one of the big focuses of today's hearing was really just to try to destigmatize UFOs and UAPs and try to say that, you know, hey, this is a legitimate topic. There are things in the air that we don't know what they are. We're not saying it's ET or extraterrestrial. But they're in our air space. They're near military bases and it is a national security imperative to try to at least figure out what they are -- Erica.

HILL: Yes, absolutely, and to be able to talk about it publicly, right, is important, as much as we can, to destigmatize them, as you point out. Kristin Fisher, great to see you. Thank you.

Elon Musk is accusing the Twitter board of being misleading. Putting the brakes on that deal for now. So, what does it mean? What's next? Stay with us.

[15:55:34]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: Elon Musk said his acquisition of Twitter cannot move forward until he sees more information about the prevalence of spam accounts on the platform. In a tweet --important to note here -- without citing a source, the billionaire claimed the company has been misleading on to so many bots are actually part of the platform.

CNN business reporter Matt Egan is with me. I mean, there's a little discrepancy here. I also feel like every day, I don't know, Elon Musk is throwing out things to either get in trouble with the S.E.C. to kill the deal or kill the deal on his own. There's a lot of huh.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: There is. I don't know about you, but I've always wanted to be in the room for a mega deal as it's getting hammered out. And with Elon Musk, you don't even have to be in the deal. Because he blurts it all out on Twitter. It's just pretty amazing.

Here's the situation with this particular back and forth here. Elon Musk, his beef -- his stated beef at least -- is that Twitter is understating how many fake accounts that they have. Here's what he said in the tweet.

He Said: My offer was based on Twitter's SEC filings be accurate. Yesterday, the CEO publicly refused to show proof of less than 5 percent. This deal cannot move forward until he does.

So, in a nutshell he's saying if Twitter can't prove that fake accounts are less than 5 percent, I'm out. But it's really important to remember this fake account issue is not new. It's not like Elon just woke up and realized this was a problem. And so, that has fueled the speculation. He's either, A, trying to lower the price, or B, he's looking for a way to just sort of walk away. Consider that the deal was at $54.20. Twitter shares trading at $38.50 right now. Nowhere near that.

HILL: Big drop.

EGAN: That suggests real skepticism that this deal will get done.

HILL: OK, as the non-business person here, put me in the skeptical category. Separately, I do also want to ask you about JPMorgan put out this forecast for gas prices by the end of the summer. It's probably a good thing we're both sitting down right now.

EGAN: It is a good thing we're sitting down. Top oil strategist at JPMorgan told me there's a, quote, real risk that by the end of August, we could see the national average at $6 a gallon or more. JPMorgan is worried that low inventories are going to collide with strong demand. As you can see, the national average of $4.52 a gallon nationally, up significantly. That is a record high. In California, they're at $6 a gallon nationally.

I do want to stress though, this is just one forecast. Other analysts that I'm talking to, they're skeptical that it could ever reach $6 a gallon. Mostly because a lot of people would sort of balk at the price can decide not to drive or at least to drive less.

HILL: If they have the luxury not to drive.

EGAN: Yes.

HILL: Even when we say $4.52, right, that's not adjusted for inflation. So still, we're not at those highs, right?

EGAN: Right.

HILL: That we had seen in 2008.

EGAN: Yes, not at the inflation adjusted high, but if $6 happened, that would be.

HILL: That would be a real kick in the pants to everybody. OK, let's end on something a little bit more fun. The Social Security Administration is out with its annual list of the most popular baby names. This is very important for people, who are -- I don't know -- are maybe expecting a second baby, Matt Egan. Your name is not on the list of the most popular baby names, I noticed for boys. Liam taking the top spot there. Those are a lot of good names, I have to say.

EGAN: There are and for the boys, there's a lot of kind of classic names too, right. James, Henry, William.

HILL: Oliver, Benjamin. All classic, you're right, Henry. I feel like a few years ago we used to talk about the -- what do they call them? The grandparent names that were coming back -- the Ruby and Felix.

EGAN: Throwback names.

HILL: Yes, throwback names. A look at the girls, too. Olivia, Emma. I feel like they have been very popular for a while. But again, neither one of us made the cut. That's OK.

[16:00:00]

You and I were saying we both kind of like even for our kids they're not in the top ten. EGAN: Yes, I agree with that. And I can't confirm or deny whether or

not any names that we're looking at are on the list. My wife has sworn me to secrecy.

HILL: OK, well, I am not going to get you in trouble. I'm not press you. Because I didn't want to tell anybody before my kids were born. But I'm excited to learn once your kid arrives. Thanks for joining us today.