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Interview With Senior Presidential Adviser Mitch Landrieu; Verdict Reached in Amber Heard-Johnny Depp Trial; Interview With State Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins (R-NY); Baby Formula Imports Ramping Up; Uvalde School Police Chief Speaks Out. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired June 01, 2022 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Alisyn Camerota. Welcome to CNN NEWSROOM.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to be with you.

For the first time since the day of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, the chief of the school district police is commenting publicly, exclusively to CNN.

Chief Pete Arredondo was called out as the commander responsible for the delayed response at Robb Elementary last Tuesday. Tactical teams took more than 45 minutes to enter the classroom where a gunman had locked himself in that room with children he had just shot and students who were calling 911 pleading for help.

CAMEROTA: So the Texas Department of Public Safety says Arredondo has not responded to its request for a follow-up interview with the Texas Rangers, who are investigating this shooting.

But just last night, away from public view, from any media coverage, Arredondo was privately sworn in and onto the Uvalde City Council as a councilman.

BLACKWELL: CNN's Shimon Prokupecz is in Uvalde with this exclusive.

So, Shimon, what did the chief tell you?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, he insists, Victor and Alisyn, that he's cooperating, that he's calling the DPS the, state investigators.

They obviously say he hasn't been returning their calls. But the key question here, the key question over what his decision-making was, what his thought process was, and when he decided, as the on-scene commander, to not allow officers to break through that door to stop the gunman, he dodged, he wouldn't answer, despite repeated efforts, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PETE ARREDONDO, UVALDE, TEXAS, CONSOLIDATED INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT POLICE CHIEF: We have people in our community being buried. So we're going to be respectful.

PROKUPECZ: I just want your reaction to Director McCraw saying that you were responsible for the decision to go into that room. How do you explain yourself to the parents?

ARREDONDO: We're going to be respectful to the family.

PROKUPECZ: I understand that. But you have an opportunity to explain yourself to parents.

(CROSSTALK)

ARREDONDO: Oh, and sure. and we're going to -- and just you know, we're going to that eventually, obviously.

PROKUPECZ: When?

ARREDONDO: And whenever this is done and let the families quit grieving, then we will do that, obviously.

And just so everybody...

(CROSSTALK)

PROKUPECZ: You understand how the families feel.

ARREDONDO: And just so everybody knows, we have been in contact with DPS every day, just so you all know, every day.

PROKUPECZ: They say you're not. They say that you're not cooperating.

ARREDONDO: I have been on the phone with them every day.

PROKUPECZ: But they say you're not cooperating. So, take just two seconds.

(CROSSTALK)

ARREDONDO: Just so you know, we have been talking to them every day.

(CROSSTALK)

PROKUPECZ: But what is your reaction to...

ARREDONDO: I appreciate you. You all have a good day.

PROKUPECZ: What is your reaction, sir?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PROKUPECZ: And there you see it.

There is -- or there has been issues here with information. As you both know, we have been getting a lot of incorrect information from officials. So it is important for us to confront these officials, to hear their side of the story.

And, as you can see there, he really did not want to talk about his decision-making, saying that when the families quit grieving. But, quite honestly, that kind of response has really concerned a lot of people, people here saying that no one is ever going to keep -- no one is ever going to quit grieving here.

So the fact that they're waiting for that, that simply isn't going to happen. But, nonetheless, of course, family members, the community here still demanding answers. And we may get them at some point.

On Friday, we're told there's a possibility that state investigators may release a report.

CAMEROTA: Shimon, something else, OK? And it's what happened last night.

So Chief Arredondo is still the chief of the school district police. And then last night there was all of this seeming secrecy surrounding him being sworn into the City Council. Why didn't they hold that publicly? Why didn't they alert the media, after they told the media, no, that won't be happening?

PROKUPECZ: Right.

Clearly, they did not want us confronting him in any way, talking to him in any way. And it would seem that the city -- this was all of the mayor's doing -- that the mayor wanted to protect him, because we had been asking the city about this, the mayor about this, and they giving indications that this was not going to happen.

The process was to be that this was supposed to be a public event, that they were going to swear him in 6:00 p.m. local time last night with other City Council members in a public area of the City Hall. We were told that was not going to happen. And then last night we get word that it did happen, but they kind of did it in a slick way here, in that they brought each councilmember in on their own, therefore not requiring them to do it publicly, if they have a forum where they're all present.

[14:05:03]

So what they did was, to avoid the media and the public presence, was they told them all to come in separately. And that's how they got sworn in. Again, of course, this all raising so many questions here from local officials to city government, to the state investigators.

BLACKWELL: Yes, some local officials are wondering if that violates some public meeting laws there in the city.

Shimon Prokupecz, thank you so much.

Well, police officials are, they call it, clarifying another key detail, now saying that a teacher did close the door the killer used to get inside the school, but it didn't lock. Now, that contradicts an earlier claim by police that the shooter entered through the door that had been left propped open.

CAMEROTA: Joining us now is CNN law enforcement analyst Jonathan Wackrow, a former Secret Service agent.

Jonathan, great to have you here. What are your thoughts as you listen to all of this confusion?

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Every single day, there's more confusion, right? There's confusion coming from multiple different sources.

And we haven't reached a point where we fully know what happened inside. There's questions about the precipitating events prior to the shooter going into the building, how the shooter got into the building, and then what happened inside both from the shooter's standpoint, but also from the law enforcement response.

All of this confusion and the trickle of information, then walking back of that information, is only revictimizing those who have been impacted. This community needs closure to start to heal. And they're not getting that. What we see is the incident commander being coy, saying the information will come out later.

But the people need this, and this is part of the grieving process. And I'm just stunned that law enforcement is acting this way.

BLACKWELL: He says that he will give those answers when the families, in his words, quit grieving. That's not helping not to give these answers.

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: And it will never happen, as Shimon said.

BLACKWELL: It's not going to happen.

CAMEROTA: That will never -- that day will never come.

WACKROW: Listen, I'm a parent. I have three small children. I will never stop grieving if I had lost one of them.

These parents are never going to stop grieving. This is part of the healing process. They need this closure to be able to just try to make some sense of, why did they lose this of theirs?

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: Oh, sorry.

How was Pete Arredondo still the chief of police there?

BLACKWELL: Yes, that was my question.

WACKROW: Bonkers. BLACKWELL: Yes.

WACKROW: I have no idea. I have no idea, one, why he was the incident commander for so long on the scene. There obviously was a complete breakdown of incident command.

Listen, law enforcement around the country, public safety around the company -- around the country has put in into place a structure to respond to multijurisdictional, multiagency responses to these types of incidents. It's the incident command structure.

It's a framework that people train on. And every single aspect of that was broken down during -- it failed during this. And that's a failure of leadership. And I think what's going to happen with the DOJ, as they look into this matter during their critical incident review, they're going to look at the training, the tactics and the experience of the leadership.

Why were there so many failures made on that day that we now know cost children their lives?

BLACKWELL: So we heard from DPS that he's not responded to this request for a follow-up interview. Chief Arredondo says that he is speaking with DPS every day.

There's now an FBI investigation review. Is he obligated to speak to the FBI as part of that investigation?

WACKROW: Well, it's not a criminal investigation that they're launching right now.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

WACKROW: This is a scoping by the DOJ in terms of their critical incident review.

So it's a little bit of a gray zone there. He should be personally obligated, right? He should want to be...

BLACKWELL: Morally obligated.

WACKROW: Morally obligated to come out and give his point of view, and own up. If mistakes were made, own up to it and take the consequences that may come.

I mean, you chose this job in law enforcement for a reason. You're supposed to protect and serve a community. And you failed that community on that day, with repercussions that will be felt for years by these families.

BLACKWELL: Still so many questions, and the chief could answer a lot of them.

Jonathan Wackrow, thank you.

WACKROW: Thank you. BLACKWELL: Well, the volunteer superintendent put out a statement

announcing that students and staff will not be returning to Robb Elementary.

The district is now working on plans to move them to other campuses.

CNN's Nick Valencia is in Uvalde.

So, the community is still dealing with, understandably, so much trauma. How are people reacting now to more changing accounts from police about what happened?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Victor, they're sick to their stomachs.

They come here to this memorial site with grief and anguish. We have seen grown men brought to tears. In some cases, we have seen some of those school shooting survivors who come here not just as survivors, but also mourning the loss and grieving the loss of some of their best friends.

Some have turned their anger and outrage towards Pete Arredondo, the very controversial figure here, while others, like the great grandfather we're have Alexandria Rubio, who was killed in last week's massacre, he's instead choosing to focus on healing, though he did say that, three days ago, if you would have asked him, he would have given anything to, at the very least, just cuss out Arredondo.

[14:10:13]

Now, instead, he tells me that he's focusing on the healing. And an interesting point he made, before we toss to his sound bite, he did say that he didn't believe that Arredondo was the only one that failed. He thinks that the community at large here in Uvalde failed, because this shooter didn't come from somewhere else. The shooter was born and raised right here in Uvalde.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: If you could say something to Pete Arredondo right now, what would you tell them?

RUBEN MATA MONTEMAYOR, GREAT-GRANDFATHER OF SHOOTING VICTIM: Why didn't he do more? That's all. Why didn't he do more?

But, again, why didn't the grandmother do more? Why didn't the teachers do more while he was going to school?

You see, I say everybody in the community had a bad problem, that we didn't do enough for that kid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: We're getting these reactions from local residents, Victor and Alisyn, while the grief is still front and center. Funerals will continue today, including a funeral for 48-year-old Irma Garcia, who died while protecting her students. There's also the funeral of 10-year-old Jose Flores Jr., the oldest of four siblings, whose father told CNN that he had held out hope in those initial hours that Jose was just injured in the shooting.

But when he showed up at the hospital, and he was taken into a room with a chaplain, he knew that his son had been killed that day. Those tiny bodies will be buried in special caskets that were paid for and provided by SoulShine Industries, who customized these caskets with the things that these kids cared about most.

But these are passions that they will never be able to fulfill again -- Victor, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: I mean, seeing this caskets is so touching, and yet devastating, just devastating to see them now, their hobbies on their caskets.

Nick Valencia, thank you very much for that reporting.

BLACKWELL: Well, New York's Governor Kathy Hochul announced a package of 10 new bills designed to tighten gun laws across the state.

Now, lawmakers say they could close loopholes that may have contributed to that mass shooting at Tops market in Buffalo last month. If passed, the legislation would raise the age for buying semiautomatic rifles to 21, tighten existing red flag laws, and ban civilians from buying body armor.

CAMEROTA: The bills are expected to pass because of the state's Democrat-controlled legislature and be signed into law later this month.

Joining us now is New York state's Senate majority leader, Democrat Andrea Stewart-Cousins.

Senator, thank you so much for being here.

What of these laws would have changed what happened, the tragedy, in Buffalo?

STATE SEN. ANDREA STEWART-COUSINS (D-NY): Well, again, thank you for having me.

But I think, when we look at Buffalo, we look at what New York has done, we wish everything could have changed. But what we do know is that we have red flag laws. And we're looking into why they weren't utilized, for example.

People spoke to this young man who had threatened to, I guess, commit suicide and do a shooting. And yet he was let go. So one of the laws that we will be passing tomorrow will say that there is a responsibility for the police, for the district attorney. And also there will be an opportunity for health care providers to be able to apply for these extreme risk protection orders. I think people want to know that we have laws that could really

prevent some of this, and people should be using them properly. So I think that would be helpful.

The other thing that we want to make sure is that you have to be 21 or older to get a semiautomatic rifle. I mean, there is no reason why we're just having anyone wait until their 18th birthday and run in and get something that's a weapon of mass destruction.

So we will be changing that law as well. There will be a licensing process that you cannot really enter into unless you're 21. We're looking at social media. I mean, here's a guy again -- apparently, in Buffalo, he was on social media, he was actually telling people that he was planning to do this mass shooting.

And so we have established a department -- we will be establishing through this legislation a department in the district attorney's -- or -- I'm sorry -- in our attorney general's office that will be able to look at social media, violent extremism, hate speech and really try and have some accountability with these social media platforms so that these things are not are not ignored and absolutely followed up on.

So there are a number of things. We're also doing micro-stamping. And, oh, by the way, the security guard, the retired police officer, Mr. Salter, who shot at the perpetrator of the Tops mass shooting, didn't wound him because he was wearing a vest, body armor.

[14:15:06]

So, what we have done now is, we will be outlawing the sale of body armor, because, unless you're law enforcement, military, or there's some other reason, emergency services sector, that you should be wearing body armor, we don't necessarily think that it's important for people to just go in and buy vests.

So there are a number of things that we are doing. Hopefully, we will lead, but, I mean, even more, hopefully, we will stop this culture of guns and violence and just not be in a position where we're burying our seniors, we're burying our children. We can do much, much better.

BLACKWELL: Yes, and it's a suite of 10 bills. And I want to zero in on one specifically, because I think a lot of people don't know that most states do not require a license to purchase one of these semiautomatic rifles or a long guns, even states that require licensing for handguns.

And that point alone, requiring a license to get one of these guns, could go a long way to keep them out of the hands who do not who or should not have them. Speak to that, if you would.

STEWART-COUSINS: that is exactly right.

I mean, again, these are weapons of mass destruction. They're weapons of war. What is the need? But if you do need this, then you go through a licensing process. The licensing process will -- I mean, if necessary, it will be a cooling-off period or whatever it is. But, again, the permanent processing will only be applicable if you're

21 and older. So I hope that then people will think twice about what it is they are doing. And, certainly, if they're not thinking twice, we already have background checks. We have got now this permitting process that is going to have to happen.

We will force them, through the process, to have the time to think about what exactly they're planning to do with a weapon of mass destruction.

CAMEROTA: New York state Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins, thank you very much for all the information.

STEWART-COUSINS Thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: All right, breaking news now, there's a verdict in the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation trial, and we expect it to be read at the top of the next hour.

Depp sued his ex-wife for $50 million over an op-ed that she penned in "The Washington Post" and she countersued for $100 million.

CNN's Jean Casarez joins us now.

So, Jean, what does the timing mean here that now there's a murder?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's interesting, because this was a six-week trial. There were over 100 hours of testimony. It's a very complex case.

It is born from that opinion piece that Amber Heard published in 2018 in "The Washington Post," where she says that she was a victim of domestic abuse. And the online headline is saying, "I survived sexual violence."

Well, Johnny Depp filed a defamation suit because of that op-ed alleging that he was defamed, that he did not get Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean 6" role because of that op-ed. Amber Heard tried to have the case dismissed. It wasn't dismissed, though she counterclaimed, saying that statements that made it to "The Daily Mail" didn't have Johnny's name attached, but you, Johnny Depp, put those statements in, and you actually defamed me.

So this has been a complex defamation case. The verdict will be read at 3:00. And both sides are asking for money. But Johnny Depp's side says, we don't care about the money. We care about his reputation. That's what needs to get back because these statements were false that were put in "The Washington Post."

She is alleging that she's asking for damages of up to $100 million, as well as punitive -- punishment damages of $350,000. We will see what happens. But here's the interesting part. Johnny Depp is not expected to be in court when the verdict is read.

And I think we have a statement because his team issued a statement moments ago that he actually is on tour in London due to previously scheduled work commitments made before the trial. "Mr. Depp will not be physically present for today's 3:00 p.m. Verdict, and will be watching from the United Kingdom."

They don't have to be in the courtroom. We believe Amber Heard will be. But let me give you the backstory to that. The judge told the jury initially that this case would be over by Memorial Day, closing arguments were Friday before Memorial Day weekend.

The case actually went longer, because there were additional witnesses, the judge had to take a week off. And so whether this was scheduled or not in accordance with what the judge said, we don't know. But we will be watching.

CAMEROTA: OK. Jean Casarez, thank you very much for all that information, and we will bring you that verdict live as soon as it happens.

BLACKWELL: All right, also, a few minutes from now, President Biden will meet with manufacturers to talk about the baby formula shortage, as a major airline offers to help ease that crisis.

CAMEROTA: And Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen makes a candid mission about inflation.

[14:20:01]

We discuss the impact of the White House messaging strategy and the economy next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Minutes from now, President Biden will meet with major infant formula manufacturers. They will review the progress in ramping up formula production and imports, as many grocery store shelves are still empty.

CAMEROTA: We're also learning that United Airlines will become the first major carrier to donate flights to ship baby formula from overseas for the administration's Operation Fly Formula.

CNN's chief White House correspondent, Kaitlan Collins, joins us now.

So, Kaitlan, is the White House saying when more supply will be on the shelves?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think the big question is when those shelves are actually going to start to look back to normal, because, so far, they have still been pretty bare.

[14:25:03]

When you have checked in with retailers, it's not always equivalent across the United States. But it is still been a struggle for parents across the nation to find formula for their children, especially those parents who need that specially designed formula for certain children, some of them who have even been sent to the hospital because they haven't been able to get their hands on the formula that they need.

And that is why you are going to see President Biden sitting down with five of the top manufacturers of baby formula in the United States here in the next few minutes to discuss this shortage that his administration has been dealing with, that has become this acute crisis over the last several weeks, ever since the FDA shut down that plant back in February.

It was a voluntary recall, but, of course, done at the urging of the FDA. And that is what has led the president and this administration to start this endeavor called Operation Fly Formula, where they are distributing formula, announcing these new flights today to try to speed up imports into the United States to try to restore those shelves.

And the latest is from United Airlines. They're going to be bringing in formula from London over the next three weeks. The other is from Australia. That's expected to go to California and Pennsylvania next week, though there are still big questions of when those shelves will be back to normal.

BLACKWELL: So the economic rollout, the P.R. push from the White House, inflation now at 40-year highs, new remarks from the Treasury secretary may complicate their messaging. What do you know?

COLLINS: Yes, this new rollout from the administration to show voters they are paying attention to these higher prices came with a pretty surprising admission yesterday from the Treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, who did say that she did not anticipate inflation being as high as it is.

That is not something that you have heard other administration officials say when asked if it was a mistake to refer to inflation as temporary and transitory for as long as they did. But Secretary Yellen, of course, who runs the Treasury Department, did say that last night to Wolf Blitzer, that she didn't anticipate it.

And she said that's because of shocks that happen not just because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and what it's done to energy prices, as we are seeing just how high gas prices are today alone, but also she said unexpected shocks when it came to the supply chain that have disrupted food prices as well.

But it is a notable admission from the administration. It is one that comes as they are trying to show voters they're working to bring down prices, but, of course, really relying on the Federal Reserve to do a lot of that.

CAMEROTA: OK, Kaitlan Collins, thank you.

BLACKWELL: All right, let's discuss now with Mitch Landrieu, senior adviser to the president and infrastructure coordinator for the White House.

Good to see you again. Thank you for taking a few minutes.

MITCH LANDRIEU, SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT BIDEN: Hey.

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: Let's start here -- with I'm doing well, thank you.

Let's start here with what we heard from Larry Summers, former Treasury secretary, in reaction to what we heard from Janet Yellen, in which he says that this could be the outlook for the future of the U.S. economy.

Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAWRENCE SUMMERS, FORMER DIRECTOR, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: Here's the unfortunate painful fact. And it's true of the U.S. experience. And it's true of the experience of other rich countries like us.

When inflation is above 4 and unemployment below 4, you are almost certain to have a recession within the next two years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: He was right about inflation when White House officials were wrong. What do you think about this calculation?

LANDRIEU: Well, I'm not an economist. Larry Summers is a smart guy. But so is Janet Yellen and a bunch of other economists.

And they will argue about whether things are transitory or whether they last a long time. Here's the one thing that they all agree on, is that we are in a global economic challenge. Larry said it right there. There have been some unforeseen shocks, if not the thing itself, but the length and the breadth of it, the first of which was the resurgence of Omicron.

And the second was Putin's war in the Ukraine. And both of those things have really shocked the global economic scene. One of the things that's also -- they all agree on is that President Biden's plans have put us in a really good position to respond to what Larry Summers said were the very difficult challenges coming our way, the most important one of which is inflation and, of course, lowering prices.

So the president and his team have been working hard on this. And there's a lot of evidence that there's a lot of success in making sure that we have a really good foundation upon which to try to dig ourselves out of this very circumstance that Omicron...

BLACKWELL: What is the evidence of that?

LANDRIEU: Well, first of all, the president and his team have produced 8.3 million jobs in the first year that they have been in office, which is the largest number that has been created in the first year of any presidency. Unemployment is as low as it's been in a long time. Applications for

unemployment insurance have been reduced by 90 percent. Jobs are up. Wages are up. Debt at the household level is down and credit card debt is down.

That puts us in a strong position to recover. But it does not alleviate the pain. The president understands the pain that parents have, whether it's relating to baby formula or whether...

BLACKWELL: Yes.

LANDRIEU: ... it's related to the prices of gas.