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Senators Set for Bipartisan Talks on Gun Reform Today; U.S. Justice Department to Review Police Response in Uvalde; Visitations Held in Uvalde for Two of the 21 Victims; 2,100+ Flights Canceled Over Memorial Day Weekend; EU Agrees on Partial Ban on Russian Oil Imports; Hurricane Agatha Now Tropical Storm After Hitting Mexico. Aired 4- 4:30a ET
Aired May 31, 2022 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:00]
ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a very warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm Isa Soares coming to you live from London.
And it is Tuesday, March 31 and today marks one week since a gunman opened fire inside an elementary school in Texas, shattering the lives as well as the hearts of so many in the small town of Uvalde. 21 innocent lives were lost that day, 19 students and two teachers.
In the hours ahead a bipartisan group of Senators is set to meet virtually to discuss gun reform in the United States. The talks continue this week in the wake of the tragic shooting. Republican Senator John Cornyn says that the group will try to see if they can agree on a basic framework on how to move forward.
This, as the first funeral is set to take place in the devastated community. More visitations and funerals are planned in the week ahead. For a number of families, it will be another gut-wrenching week as they bury their loved ones. The unimaginable heart heartbreak, as well as grief for some is now mixed with growing anger other the police response as new details emerge.
Well, CNN has obtained new video of an apparent radio call recorded on Facebook live outside the elementary school during a shooting. Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me see. Let me see. Are you injured?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I got shot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: Although the voice sounds like a child, it was not clear who is speaking. The man who recorded the video says the audio came from the radio and a customs and border protection vehicle outside the school. It's unclear at what point during the shooting the video was taken. And there's more audio emerging from that tragic day in Uvalde. CNN's Adrienne Broaddus has the details for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): We're now getting our first glimpse at some of the information relayed to officers outside Robb Elementary School, as a massacre was unfolding on the inside. ABC News obtained a portion of video that appears to be audio from one 911 operator, relaying information from a child inside the classroom.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have a child on the line. Child is advising he is in the room full of victims.
BROADDUS (voice-over): CNN has not been able to independently confirm the audio or at what point in the incident it was heard. On Friday, the Texas public safety director said there were at least eight 911 calls from two callers in the school pleading for help.
Investigators now say 19 officers waited outside the classroom where the gunman was for about 50 minutes until a Customs and Border Patrol team decided to go in without direct orders. That's according to Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez.
ROLAND GUTIERREZ (D) TEXAS STATE SENATOR: What's been made clear to me is that, at that point, the CBP team that went in, in frustration said, we're going in.
BROADDUS (voice-over): The Justice Department now says it will review the law enforcement response, which Texas officials say deviated from active shooter protocols.
ALFRED GARZA, FATHER OF AMERIE JO GARZA: Had they gotten there sooner and somebody would have taken immediate action, we might have more of those children here today, including my daughter.
BROADDUS (voice-over): Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez said President Biden told him that Robb Elementary School would possibly be razed and rebuilt. Gutierrez says there is a federal grant process for schools where there have been mass shootings.
GUTIERREZ: What kind of world are we living in that legislation was created for razing these schools?
BROADDUS (voice-over): For too many Uvalde parents, those questions coming too late.
GARZA: No matter who is held responsible, it's not going to bring my daughter back.
BROADDUS (voice-over): This is how those who loved ten-year-old Amerie Jo Garza will remember her. A decade of photos showing a happy girl with a sweet smile described by family as sassy, funny and a little diva who hated wearing dresses. Memories of happier times as her family, friends, and community say goodbye during visitation and a rosary service. GARZA: It brings me joy to know that I got an opportunity to have such a great daughter and, you know, I tried to be the best father that I could be.
BROADDUS (voice-over): Just down the road, another grieving family says goodbye to Maite Rodriguez, also ten years old.
DESTINY ESQUIVEL, MAITE'S COUSIN: I love her, that I miss her, that I'm proud of her. She wanted to be a marine biologist before she could even say the word. She loved animals.
[04:05:00]
BROADDUS: So much potential. Maite's cousin told us her classmates called her a hero. They said that she was brave showing the other students in the room where to hide moments before that 18-year-old gunman entered their classroom. And Maite's mother also said her daughter was her heartbeat. But it's the rhythm of this community that's helping her family and others move forward as they face their new reality, life without the children and adults they loved.
Adrienne Broaddus, CNN, Uvalde, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOARES: Well, CNN law enforcement analyst Jonathan Wackrow says those children were left waiting for help inside the school during this shooting because of a stunning failure he says of police leadership.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: They were on the phone calling 911. They were defenseless. The people that were there to rescue them waited outside. They had the tools, they had the techniques, they had the experience to go in and breach that room. Why was that call to wait? Why were they held back?
Basically, this comes down to a complete breakdown of the incident command structure in responding to this critical incident. The wrong person was in charge, and that person is going to be reviewed. But they made the wrong call about not breaching that room. Level of frustration, when you have federal agents, you know, show up at the site who were trained, who had all of the equipment that was necessary to breach and take out that active threat, that when they were told to stand down, that is astronomical to hear that actually occurred.
Killing was active at that time. That was an active shooting situation. And the first priority of all officers is to stop that attack, to go in and draw that gunfire away from defenseless children. It's stunning the information that we're hearing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOARES: Well, U.S. President Biden is optimistic that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle will reach an agreement on new gun restrictions. His comments come one day after he traveled to Uvalde with the first lady and spent more than three hours meeting with the grieving families. Mr. Biden says he is limited in the steps that he can take alone but is hopeful Congress will finally take action.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Second Amendment was never absolute. You couldn't buy a cannon when the Second Amendment was passed. I think things have gotten so bad that everybody's getting more rational about it. At least that's my hope and prayer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: Well, the two rational Republicans he mentioned were Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Republican Senator John Cornyn, who says bipartisan talks on gun reform will continue this week.
Well, in the coming hours, U.S. President Joe Biden plans to discuss soaring inflation with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. The meeting comes as the U.S. battles its highest rates of rising prices in decades. The Federal Reserve is under pressure to combat inflation and cool down the economy without of course pushing the country into a recession. In an op-ed for the "Wall Street Journal," President Biden promises not to meddle with the Fed but he calls fighting inflation his number one economic priority and issued a three point strategy.
Well first, he says, the federal reserve has a primary responsibility to control inflation, in his op-ed. And that we need to take every practical step to make things more affordable for families during this moment of economic uncertainty. And to boost the productive capacity of our economy, he writes, over time. And finally, the president says that we need to keep reducing the federal deficit which will help ease price pressures.
So, in the U.S. more than 2,000 flights were canceled over the Memorial Day weekend causing tremendous frustration for travelers and airlines alike. CNN's Pete Muntean explains why there are so many issues.
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PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Travelers and the airlines are facing a huge test right now, not only is this the first major travel rush since the end of the transportation mask mandate, but airlines are being forced to cancel flights because they do not have enough workers. Flight Aware says that airlines in the U.S. canceled hundreds more flights on Monday, more than 2,000 flights in total canceled in the U.S. since Friday, as so many people are coming back to traveling.
The TSA screened 2.1 million people at airports across the country on Sunday. It anticipates when it is all said and done screening more than 2.2 million people on Monday. These numbers are about 90 percent of where we were back in 2019 before the pandemic and the TSA says as summer travel ramps up, we could see those numbers actually exceed pre-pandemic levels. I want you to listen now to an interview I did with transportation
secretary Pete Buttigieg where I asked him whether the airlines are up for this big challenge.
[04:10:02]
PETE BUTTIGIEG, U.S. SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION: We saw a lot of the airlines during the pandemic thinning out their schedules and thinning out their workforce not knowing when demand was going to return. Now faster than expected the demand has could roaring back and they are struggling to keep up. That's true whether we're talking about flight attendant crews, whether we're talking about pilots. And so, we've got to make sure that we have short term and long term approaches.
MUNTEAN: One of those short term solutions, airlines proactively canceling flights. Delta Airlines is one of the latest to make such an announcement, saying that it will shed about 100 flights a day from its schedule during the month of July. Memorial Day is so much about driving and AAA anticipated 34.9 million people would drive 50 miles or more over the five days surrounding Memorial Day when gas prices are so sky high. When you adjust for inflation, the last time we saw gas prices this high was during Memorial Day 2012, a ten year high.
Pete Muntean, CNN, Reagan National Airport.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOARES: Well, let's take a closer look now at rising U.S. gas prices. The national average for regular gasoline rose to a new record of $4.62 a gallon on Monday according to the American Automobile Association. Even worse though, gas prices are above $4.90 in at least nine states and the price to fuel up in California is above $6 a gallon. Food prices are on the rise too. CNN's Matt Egan has more on that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: You look at the prices going up for food, sticker shock all across the board. Look at these prices. Double digit percentage gains for everything from mustard, buns, ketchup, barbecue staples like ground beef and hot dogs, of 15 percent year-over-year. Frozen sausages, 24 percent more expensive. And food inflation has really been driven by a whole lot of factors, demand, supply has been hurt by extreme weather that's lowered crop yields, labor costs are up, the war in Ukraine has disrupted supply. So, all of these different factors adding to the cost of living.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOARES: Yes, a lot to contend with. CNN's Matt Egan reporting there.
Now, EU leaders are meeting for a second day of talks after agreeing to an almost total ban on Russian oil imports on Monday. It's a response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. The move comes after weeks of negotiations as part of the EU's sixth package of sanctions on Russia. Which would cut off about 90 percent of oil imports by the end of the year. So far, all EU leaders seem to agree on its principle, this according to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
URSULA VON DER LEYEN, EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT: Thanks to this council should not be able to finalize a ban on almost 90 percent of all Russian oil imports by the end of the year. This is an important step forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: Clare Sebastian joins me now with more. And Clare, when I was talking yesterday, I think with Anna, and taking new reports yesterday, she was saying there was some sort of sentiment that perhaps this may not happen because we've been here before. It's been a month or so coming. So, talk us through the details here.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they talked late into the night. They achieved more than we had been told to expect frankly from this meeting. Less than they had proposed originally in the sixth package of sanctions. They wanted a full ban on all Russian crude and crude oil products by the end of the year. In the end they say that they have managed to get to 90 percent. They've done that by putting the ban only on sea born oil, that's about two-thirds of what the EU imports from Russia. And then they get to the 90 percent by taking some of the pipeline oil.
So, right now they have the pipeline that was built in the 1960s. It has a northern branch that goes through Germany and Poland and the EU says that they have a verbal agreement from Germany and Poland that they will wind that down by the end of the year. The southern branch going to Slovakia, serving the likes of Hungary, that is going to be exempted. They say they will return to that topic soon.
But now of course the reason why it was so critical to get this package through, is because until you get the sixth package through, you can't do more. So now attention shifts to what comes next. And this is something that the Estonian Prime Minister was asked about as she entered the second day of talks. Today in particular the issue of gas. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAJA KALLAS, ESTONIAN PRIME MINISTER: We discussed it briefly already yesterday, but gas is of course much more difficult than oil already was. All the next sanctions will be more difficult because so far, they have only hurt Russians but now they are also having effects on Europeans. And that's why it is much more politically difficult to decide those things. So, we will not discuss gas today. We will discuss repower and energy issues. We will discuss defense and of course the food security as well which is very much connected to the war in Ukraine.
(END VIDEO CLIP) SEBASTIAN: And I think the question now as you look at this oil ban, is it going to do what it was intended to do and inflict more harm on the Russian economy, that it has will on the European community.
SOARES: And what is that?
[04:15:00]
SEBASTIAN: Well, you know, it's a big question that we don't know the answer to it yet. I think part of it will depend on how quickly Russia can shift its customers, can move the supplies of oil that now won't be going to Europe. To the likes of China, perhaps India, which has been ramping up how quickly they can do that. And the phase-in does potentially give them some time to shift even though the infrastructure might not be there.
SOARES: And you were talking about oil pipelines. If we can show -- if you can bring up the graphic to give us a better idea of really the pipelines that you were talking about. What does it mean there in terms of -- picking up with the Estonian Prime Minister said -- in terms of gas, how far away are we -- here you go this is the gas pipeline. How far away are we realistic from reaching some sort of deal on trying to really reduce consumption of gas.
SEBASTIAN: Yes, they've already said that they want to do it by two- thirds by the end of year. I think that they are some way away from actually physically discussing embargo on gas. It's just very difficult to find alternative supplies for gas. But the urgency has increased because Russia could act first. They've already banned or cut off the gas from Poland, Bulgaria and Finland. Just now we see that they've cut off the Netherlands, Denmark could be next.
SOARES: And asking people still to pay in rubles which everyone is saying no to. Clare Sebastian thank you very much.
Well, Moscow has said that it will not prevent grain exports from Ukraine imports. The promise came in a phone call between the Russian as well as Turkish Presidents on Monday. The Kremlin says Russia emphasized the importance of safe navigation in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. Well, on Friday Ukraine's president accused Russia was accused of blocking nearly half of its grain supply set for export. Satellite images show Russian ships -- you're seeing there -- allegedly offloading stolen grains in Latakia in Syria.
You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. The company that makes one of the guns used in the Texas school shooting is facing new scrutiny over its advertising as well as marketing. We'll have the details for you just ahead.
And the first hurricane of the season making landfall Monday on Mexico's Pacific Coast. We'll have the latest on storm Agatha, that is coming up. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM.
[04:20:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SOARES: And we are tracking severe weather in the U.S. Midwest. You are looking at the aftermath of a possible tornado in Douglas County, Minnesota. It hit near a small town of less than 200 people. But the storm took down power lines and damaged as many as 100 homes.
And in Mexico, hurricane Agatha remains a threat despite being downgraded to a tropical storm. Agatha made landfall Monday on the Pacific Coast but there's still more rain and heavy wind to come. Let's go to meteorologist Karen Maginnis now for the latest. Good morning to you, Karen. It looks like those images that Agatha really has unleashed pretty heavy rain as well as wind in Mexico.
KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, and that's a big problem. There's going to be storm damage, we know that. We see in this video how these palm trees are being blown around. It looks like a bit of a storm surge there as well. But this is going to ring out across that southern Pacific coastline of Mexico. It made landfall during the early afternoon as a category 2 hurricane. It had sporting winds of 105 miles per hour, about 170 kilometers per hour for international viewers.
But you can see most of the convective activity is along that eastern edge of the hurricane. So, it's a little bit displaced. You can tell it's weakening, very typical for systems to do that when they move over rugged territory. But between Puerto Escondido and here over the Bay of Campeche, it's about a five or eight hour drive. So, it's got a long way to go before it enters the Bay of Campeche, but across the Yucatan Peninsula, there may still be enough energy here. The National Hurricane Center says now a 60 percent chance we could see further development.
I looked at some of the computer models and as it goes through time, it looks like there is that plume of moisture coming in off of the Gulf of Mexico across the Florida Peninsula. Does it get stronger? It's just too early to tell.
All right, this is drone video from WCCO, a CNN affiliate in Minneapolis/St. Paul. This as you can see numerous homes in the Forada area that is in west central portion of the state of the upper Midwest. And we're looking at the storm system now beginning to edge its way toward the Great Lakes in towards the panhandle of Oklahoma and Texas. So, it begins to pull away from Minnesota, so there will be cooler air instead, but still the flood risk persists there.
There were five tornadoes across the Midwest in the last 48 hours. All of those were in Minnesota. We don't have any reports of any fatalities, but lots of damage, lots of wind. Not just Minnesota, but also into Iowa, also for South Dakota and into Nebraska as well.
So, we'll stay on top of the severe weather. It shifts further toward the east for the Great Lakes and into Texas again by Wednesday. So, Isa, we're not finished with that severe weather risk again at least in the middle of the workweek.
SOARES: And I know you'll stay on top of it for us. Karen Maginnis there at the CNN Weather Center. Thanks very much, Karen. Well, the death toll keeps rising from severe weather in northeastern
Brazil. At least 91 people are confirmed dead after heavy rain triggered landslides as well as floods and dozens of people are still missing. Emergency crews have been working around the clock. Nearly 4,000 people have lost their homes since the downpours began last week. And people in the region are bracing for more rain in the coming days.
Now the company that makes one of the guns used in the Texas elementary school shooting is promising to cooperate with investigators. But it's already facing scrutiny over its history of controversial ads. CNN's Tom Foreman reports for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Look at the contrast. The raw panic caused by a young man with an assault rifle and the slick promotional video from the company that made it.
MARTY DANIEL, CEO & FOUNDER OF DANIEL DEFENSE: We love to build great guns.
[04:25:00]
FOREMAN (voice-over): That's Marty Daniel, founder of Daniel Defense, which authorities say made one of the weapons used by the Uvalde shooter around his 18th birthday and which posted this provocative image of a toddler a week before the slaughter.
DAVID CULLEN, AUTHOR, "PARKLAND: BIRTH OF A MOVEMENT" AND "COLUMBINE": It's morally unconscionable, I'm shocked but not surprised, you know, that somebody is doing this. Like of course they are because they can and they can make money doing it. But they really -- they need to stop. And they need to either like -- we either shame them into stopping or legislate or regulate them into stopping.
FOREMAN (voice-over): The company took that image down, and yet Georgia-based Daniel Defense is a small firearms company with a big knack for headlines.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My family's safety is my highest priority.
FOREMAN (voice-over): For example, when the NFL refused this Daniel's ad for the Super Bowl because it promoted guns, Marty turned the rejection into avalanche of attention.
DANIEL: The majority of the Super Bowl fans have the same values that we have at Daniel Defense, and that is we believe in protecting our families.
PROTESTERS: Shame on you! Shame on you!
FOREMAN (voice-over): Gun control activists say the company is clearly going after young customers with nods to pop culture icons and video games. While Marty keeps railing about gun control for the older set, as he did in this outdoor hub interview some years ago. DANIEL: The anti-Second Amendment crowd just looks for any excuse to ban guns in any way they can.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Amid the anger after Uvalde, the company pulled out of this year's NRA convention. Its display replaced with a popcorn stand.
The company website says: We are deeply saddened by the tragic events. We will cooperate with all federal state and local law enforcement authorities in their investigations.
That pledge may be tested. Congress is asking Daniel for details about how he operates. Noting: Your company continues to manufacture large quantities of assault weapons and aggressively market them to the public. The deadly impact of your products is by design.
While the company keeps leaning on its message of freedom, shooting sports, and growth.
DANIEL: It's the way that we do business. It's the way that we pay attention to every detail. It's the quality that we put into every product.
FOREMAN: We reached out to Daniel Defense for any further comment. Nothing yet. And that is notable in itself for a company that's so often is in the spotlight.
Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOARES: Well, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is now pushing to strengthen gun control. In a news conference on Monday, he introduced legislation that would place a national freeze on handgun ownership across Canada. Meaning the bill would cap sales, transfer, as well as imports. Mr. Trudeau said the fewer guns in the community the safer everyone will be. The new legislation would also require that long gun magazines be limited to five rounds.
Simmering tensions over Taiwan, Beijing's show of force to the island as a U.S. lawmaker visits Taipei. We'll have the details just ahead. Plus, this --
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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Well, we were told the Russians have tried already to get into town and it looks like we might be witnessing another attempt over there. That smoke near one of the remaining bridges into the city.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: CNN is near the frontlines in Ukraine's Donbas region. We'll see how the people who haven't fled the safety are preparing for what's next.
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[04:30:00]
