Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Uvalde School Police Chief Defends Shooting Response; Retired U.S. Marine's Video on Gun Reform Goes Viral; FOX Wouldn't Air 1/6 Hearing Live, Host Called it "Propaganda"; Fired FOX Political Editor to Testify at Next Jan. 6 Hearing; Testing Requirements End Sunday for U.S.-Bound Air Travelers; Biden Speaks on 1/6 Hearings, Actions to Fight Inflation, Supply Chain Issues. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired June 10, 2022 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And they were outraged, upset not only about this portion that came out in the past day or so but about the entire law enforcement response. To summarize their words, they said they failed in their duties.

Now in regard to this "Texas Tribute" interview that Arradondo gave, through a series of phone calls, written responses and statements through their attorneys, it shed some light on what has been the central question at the heart of what's multiple overlapping investigations: What took so long?

Well, Arradondo told the "Tribune" that this shooter at times had wall-piercing bullets, that it was hitting adjacent walls, injured officers. They then started breaking windows, the police, in separate parts of the school to help evacuate other students and teachers.

But also that lockdown measures worked against them. It was hard to pinpoint the exact location of the shooter because the lights were off as they're on lockdowns.

And because this was a steal reinforced door to keep outside attackers from getting in, But in this case, prevented the law enforcement from breaking down the door initially, Arradondo says.

He told the "Tribune," as you mentioned, he never considered himself incident commander, which is significant because that goes directly in contrast to what we've heard from state officials.

And then there come the questions of his radios. He says he did not have his radios on him. In fact, he believed they would slow him down. He said his experience told him that radios don't work in all schools.

He told the "Tribune," and his attorney even said, if he had them, he would have turned them down for noise. And that these officers were communicating with each other through whispers in the hallway.

But because of all of that, Arradondo told the "Tribune" he was not aware of any 911 calls that were coming in. And even told them none of that information was even being relayed to him. Now, we've reached out to his attorney, who told us they're not giving

anymore interviews. We reached out to the Texas Department of Public Safety and haven't gotten the answers on any of these new details -- Ana?

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: We know the Department of Justice is looking into the response of doing an after-action review.

Thank you so much, Omar Jimenez.

Uvalde and the recent mass shooting explosion, it seems, has given new momentum to gun reform efforts. The Senate's top Republican negotiator and his Democratic counterpart are both optimistic that a bipartisan deal can be struck soon.

As the group meets virtually today, here's where things stand. On the table, and being discussed, incentives for Red Flag laws at the state level. Looking at juvenile criminal records and background checks. And funding for mental health programs.

Likely off the table, federally mandated Red Flag laws. A ban on assault-style weapons. Even raising the age to buy an assault style weapon to 21. And restricting the capacity of buying magazines.

A retired U.S. Marine -- seen on the right of your screen -- has gone viral on TikTok with his impassioned argument for tighter gun laws. He served as a weapons instructor in the corps. And here's part of his reasoning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW GORDON, RETIRED U.S. MARINE CORPS WEAPONS INSTRUCTOR: Why is it the United States Marine Corps, the finest fighting force on the planet, is more restrictive in who and where firearms can be stored and possessed than the average 18-year-old in the state of Texas? Why?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: That's Matthew Gordon. He joins us now.

Matthew, first of all, thank you for your service.

We hear from some Republicans that restricting a weapon that 18-year- olds in the military have access to doesn't make any sense.

I know you have some thoughts on that. Explain why that logic doesn't add up in your mind.

GORDON: Absolutely. Thank you for having me.

So, as a Marine, there are regulations on where your personally owned firearms are allowed to be stored when you are living in the barracks on base.

So the point of my video was why are we putting these restrictions on servicemembers that make up the finest fighting force on the planet and we're not putting the same restrictions on every other average 18- year-old that is just walking into a gun store and buying an A.R.-15.

It didn't make any sense to me.

CABRERA: So tell us your solution. What do you think should be done?

GORDON: So I spent a little bit of time because I got that question a lot. You're talking a lot of platitudes but you're not really providing any steps forward. What could you do?

And so I went and actually looked at the way that other countries have instituted some of these commonsense gun reform laws to prevent these types of issues from happening.

And I really kind of fell -- felt that the way that Japan has been doing it, and not entirely, but they were leaning in some directions that I felt would be acceptable here.

So having a few permits you would have to get. One showing that you are safe and proficient with the weapon by going to a range and showing a trained professional that you know how to handle it. Having to redo that every single year.

[13:35:03]

Sitting through an eight-hour gun safety course every single year to make sure that you understand what you are in possession of.

And then a document that states that you will safely and securely keep that weapon locked and stored so that, in the event that your weapon shows up in a crime, you are also held liable for that crime.

CABRERA: Do you believe everyday Americans should have access to assault-style weapons like those used in the military?

GORDON: No. I don't. I don't think -- and I get that question asked a lot. What's the difference between an A.R.-15 and M.-16? And really the only difference is that an M.-16 has a selection that lets you shoot off three rounds for every trigger pull.

But nobody uses that because it's -- in the military, nobody is using that three-round burst because it's an unreliable method of fire. So everybody is using that single round burst. One squeeze of the trigger, one round goes off.

And I don't understand how servicemembers have to go through months and months of training to be able to be responsible enough to handle those weapons.

And then an 18-year-old that hasn't even graduated high school yet can just go buy as many of the exact same weapon as he wants and walk out and do whatever he wants with it.

CABRERA: What about the argument, throw age out. Say a 50-year-old, you know, wants to use an A.R.-15 to shoot prairie dogs or keep raccoons away from their chickens? GORDON: I would say that if you need a weapon that has a 30-round

magazine and capable of firing off 60 rounds a minute, if you need that to keep prairie dogs and raccoons out of your garbage, then maybe you need to move.

CABRERA: That's what some Republicans, Republican leaders are saying is their reasoning for why A.R.-15s should still be allowed for people to purchase.

Thank you, Matthew Gordon --

(CROSSTALK)

CABRERA: -- for your time.

I really value your thoughts --

GORDON: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.

CABRERA: -- and your perspective. Thank you again. And we appreciate your service.

FOX News didn't air the January 6th hearing. But one of its former employees will testify at the next hearing. What could Chris Stirewalt, the fired political editor, know?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:42:15]

CABRERA: The message from FOX was loud and clear last night. Unlike all of the other major networks, FOX did not take the January 6th committee hearing live.

Instead, its anchors tried to discredit the panel in real time and even skipped the commercial breaks to do it.

And now we've just learned FOX's former political editor, who was fired shortly after the network called Arizona correctly for Joe Biden, will testify during Monday's hearing.

CNN chief media correspondent and anchor of "RELIABLE SOURCES," Brian Stelter, is with me now.

Brian, why didn't FOX take the hearing last night?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT & CNN HOST, "RELIABLE SOURCES": The phrase "you can't handle the truth" comes to mind when it comes to this, Ana. The idea that FOX viewers don't want to hear what really happened that day. Don't want to reckon with the gruesome reality about Donald Trump's plot.

Of course, that's a hypothesis. FOX officially says they were just covering the news as warranted. They saved the coverage until later in the evening. That's because their primetime stars, like Tucker Carlson, are far

higher rated than any newscast on FOX. So there's a business rationale there.

But then there's also an editorial rationale, which is to say, our viewers, this is the -- I'm going to pretend to be them. Our viewers don't want to hear this. They don't believe anything horrible happened that day. They believe other crimes are worse.

I think that's the general thesis.

CABRERA: Why don't they believe something horrible happened that day? Because of what they've been told by people on FOX News.

(LAUGHTER)

CABRERA: It's an echo chamber, right? We've talked about that.

STELTER: Yes.

CABRERA: But the thing is, Brian, we know that some of these FOX personalities knew the election wasn't stolen. We see it in evidence through text messages that the committee has revealed and that they were telling that to the White House, the election wasn't stolen, stop with this nonsense.

And that they also were trying to communicate with the White House in real time to get the president to call off the insurrection, to tell the rioters to go home.

So I mean, what is in it for FOX? What does this network have to gain by not showing the hearing, not exposing their viewers to that information?

STELTER: Right. Those basic facts. Perhaps it generates even more loyalty for the network, between the network and the viewers.

Perhaps as Tucker Carlson is on the air saying this is propaganda, I'm not going to show you the lies, he was portraying himself as someone protecting viewers from lies.

Now I went through the transcript of the hearing, I didn't see a lie. But Carlson is out there telling an opposite story. I think he generates even more loyalty from his audience.

I think we have to recognize that, for some Republicans, downplaying 1/6 and believing that the rioting during the summer of 2020 was worse. Believing that is core to their political identity.

And FOX rejecting the hearings I think is, in some ways, core to its political identity. So it's reinforcing that message and maybe just making their biggest fans even bigger fans of FOX.

(CROSSTALK)

CABRERA: -- Monday because I want to get to the former FOX News political editor fired after the election, set to testify. What do we know about that?

[13:45:04]

STELTER: Yes. Chris Stirewalt, who was helping run and oversee the decision desk on election night, he was then basically booted from FOX. It's been a little bit of a mystery why. I think it does have something to do with election night.

He has talked about this a bit over the years. He's described FOX as an arm of the political party of the GOP.

I'll be curious to see how far he goes on Monday though. Because Liz Cheney said yesterday, there's going to be a seven-part plan explaining Trump's alleged seven-part plan for overturning the election.

Part one was to engage in a massive effort to lie and sow disinformation. FOX was part of that. Some of the hosts were on the air promoting election lies.

So I think that's what Stirewalt's going to be testifying on Monday. Because he can talk about the broken information environment that existed in the weeks and months leading up to 1/6.

And by the way, that broken information environment still exists today.

I hope people are not out this weekend at BBQs talking about the hearings. But if they are, it's going to be a situation where you can't even agree with your neighbors about what they saw last night.

CABRERA: It's discouraging.

STELTER: It is.

CABRERA: And it has a real impact.

Thank you very much, Brian Stelter.

STELTER: Thanks.

CABRERA: Don't forget to catch Brian's show at 11:00 a.m. Eastern on Sunday.

Still ahead, a baby was missing for 40 years after her parents were murdered, and today, at least part of that mystery is solved.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:50:41]

CABRERA: Summer travel just got a lot easier if you're taking any big trips. Starting Sunday, international travelers will not need to test negative for COVID before boarding flights to the U.S.

CNN senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen is with us. Elizabeth, airlines have been lobbying for this. Does the science

support this decision?

DR. ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Ana, the CDC says that it does. They say, look, things have changed, times are different, we don't need to be doing this anymore.

Let's go over what some of the details are. So this will go into effect at midnight Sunday. This CDC will reassess in 90 days. If there's a new variant that emerges, they could possibly reinstate the testing requirement.

Now, the CDC told us why they did this. They said high rates of immunity because of vaccination and infection, and availability of therapeutics, have basically changed the game.

They've made it less risky to travel, less risky for people to come back to the United States. And they say that's why they changed it.

Some people would say those two things were true months ago and they should have changed it months ago, but they're changing it now -- Ana?

CABRERA: Elizabeth Cohen, thank you so much.

Now I want to go live to the president. He's at the port of L.A., addressing inflation. Let's listen.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I hope you'll excuse the point of personal privilege. I think that Sal musting be related closely to my good friend from Holy Rosary High School in Claymont, Mike Degastanza (ph).

(LAUGHTER)

BIDEN: You think I'm kidding. I'm not. I'll tell you what.

Anyway, thank you, Sal.

Look, everybody, before I begin, I want to say a few words, very briefly, about the January 6th hearings that were highlighted last night.

The insurrection on January 6th is one of the darkest chapters in our nation's history. A brutal assault on our democracy, a brutal attack on law enforcement, some losing their lives. And we heard about it last night again.

It's important that the American people understand what truly happened and to understand that the same forces that led January 6th remain at work today.

It's about our democracy itself. We have to protect our democracy. I know it sounds corny to say it. We're all raised in school, democracy, every generation has to protect it.

I have to admit to you, I never thought that it was going to be this straightforward a challenge before.

The rule of law matters in democracies. And we're seeing how the battle for the soul of America has been far from won.

But I know, together, and I mean this, we can unite and defend this nation, Democrat and Republican. Allow no one to place a dagger at the throat of our democracy.

That's what those hearings are all about. You're going to hear a lot more.

I didn't get to watch them last night because I was doing other business. But I'll tell you what, there's a lot going on.

Look, to the reason I'm here -- thank you, Sal, and thanks to Jean and the port of Los Angeles as well.

Mario, thank you from the port of Long Beach.

And thank Mayor Garcetti from Los Angeles and the mayor of Long Beach, who I expect will soon be the Congressman of Long Beach, the way it looks like.

(APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: You guys did a heck of a job when I came out here a couple years ago to try to get things moving. Everybody did, management, Labor, the elected leaders, as well as, at the time, we also had Governor Newsom pushing hard as well.

Look, we have two excellent Senators, Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla.

I tell you what, Alex, you don't look any worse for the wear, man.

(APPLAUSE)

(LAUGHTER)

BIDEN: You're looking awful good. You're looking awful good.

And, Nanette, I think you've always looked good, particularly compared to these guys, you know what I mean? And me.

(LAUGHTER)

BIDEN: But seriously, thank you, Nanette, for the fire you bring. You bring some fire to this. I really mean it. It's in your heart.

And Alan has been working on this a long time. And Alan and I just had a little meeting together.

We've got to change it, Alan. We can't give up. We've got to turn this corner.

And, John, I can't thank you -- you're the real deal. Anybody -- I won't get into it, I'll get you in trouble. But thanks for sticking up for me.

[13:55:05]

And we have a labor secretary that -- I'm his translator, Marty Walsh from Boston.

(LAUGHTER)

BIDEN: And -- but the only thing you've got to know, he always has your back. He always has your back.

I had an uncle who used to say, Joey, you'll labor from belt buckle to shoe sole. Well, he's labor from the forehead to the tip of his toes. Used to run a labor union.

Look, folks, today, I would like to speak about my top economic priority, fighting inflation. I understand Americans are anxious and anxious for good reason.

I was raised in a household, when the price of gasoline rose precipitously, it was the discussion at the table. It made a difference when food prices went up. We've never seen anything like Putin's tax on both food and gas.

America should also understand our economy has unique strengths that we can build on. The job market is as strong as it's been since World War II, notwithstanding the inflation.

We added another 390,000 jobs last month, 8,700,000 new jobs since I took office. An all-time record. Never that many jobs in that period of time.

(APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: Unemployment rate is near historic lows. Millions of Americans are moving up to better jobs and better pay.

Since I took office, families are carrying less debt on average in America. They have more savings than they've had.

And we're doing it all while cutting the federal deficit by $1.7 trillion this year and $320 billion last.

(APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: If I hear one of my MAGA friends once again talk about debt and deficits -- I'm going to be good.

(LAUGHTER)

BIDEN: They increased the deficit by $2 trillion. But anyway, that's another story. But, look, this is the largest decline in American history.

Because of the progress, America can tackle inflation from a position of strength unlike any other country in the world because every country in the world is getting a big bite and piece of this inflation, worse than we are in the vast majority of countries around the world.

But make no mistake about it, I understand inflation is a real challenge to American families.

Today's inflation report confirmed what Americans already know, Putin's price hike is hitting America hard. Gas prices at the pump, energy and food prices account for half of the monthly price increases since May.

Inflation outside of energy and food, what the economists call core inflation, moderated the last two months. Not enough, but it moderated, it's come down. We need it to come down much more quickly.

My administration is going to continue everything. We intend to lower the prices to American people. And the Congress has to act, and they have been.

One of the key ways to fight inflation is by lowering the cost of moving goods through the supply chain.

When I first started talking about the supply chain when I came here well over a year ago, the American people wondered, supply chain, that's not a usual part of their jargon every day. But they understand it fully now. They understand it.

If you can't get the material needed to build a product you're building, whether it's an automobile or whatever it is, it makes it difficult to be able to move, and that's called the supply chain.

That's why I've been focused on ports. Last fall, ports around the world were congested due to disruption caused by the pandemic. So we brought together port operators, shipping companies, and labor and to ease the bottlenecks.

And as a result, over the holidays last, 97 percent of all the packages were delivered on time and on shelves when you went Christmas shopping. Remember, we weren't going to have anything on those shelves. You all did it.

(APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: No, no. Not a joke. You did it.

On time with minimal delay. Delivery times were actually quicker than they were before the pandemic. And today, there's about 40 percent fewer containers clogging the docks for long periods of time than there were last November.

This May was the strongest month in the port of Los Angeles' history, the strongest month in its history.

(APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: And we're helping fund improvements. (APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: Because of what my friends in the Congress have done. We passed the infrastructure bill. And we're funding major new initiatives on the docks, on dock rail systems. The port of Long beach has moved goods more quickly.

A port of electrification, so communities can breathe cleaner air because they're using electric machines that are not generating using gas, coal, et cetera.

And we're continuing to expand capacity of our ports thanks to the bipartisan infrastructure law.

[13:59:59]

Look, this is a time we took a different approach also to trucking. Remember, last December, we brought together industry and labor to tackle problems facing truck drivers.