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Two Top U.K. Ministers Quit in a Blow to Boris Johnson; Suspect Charged with Seven Counts of First-Degree Murder; Police: Suspect Bought Weapons Legally in Chicago Area; Death Threats Over January 6 Investigations; Georgia Grand Jury Subpoenas Giuliani, Graham and Eastman. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired July 06, 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]

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and around the world. I'm Max Foster outside 10 Downing Street where we're following Boris Johnson's latest political crisis. That and much more ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Boris Johnson has faced yet another political battering.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fact that they have lost confidence in him will seriously undermine his popularity.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For a second everybody froze. Literally like time stood still and then we looked down the street right over there and we saw the crowd running toward us and screaming and it was like mass hysteria.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Crimo pre-planned this attack for several weeks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This a Fulton County, Georgia grand jury that has been investigating whether Donald Trump or any of his allies committed any crimes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Conspired with bogus claims of fact, bogus legal theories to essentially overturn the democracy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster.

FOSTER: It's Wednesday, July 6, 9:00 a.m. here in London where pressure is mounting on the British Prime Minister as his government finds itself engulfed in yet another scandal and is leadership is again called in to question.

Boris Johnson already fighting for his political future, is now being dealt a huge blow by some of those closest to him. Two senior members of his cabinet announced their resignations on Tuesday, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid. And more resignations followed including from U.K.'s Solicitor General Alex Chalk and the Conservative Party vice chair who made his announcement on TV.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIM AFOLAMI, BRITISH CONSERVATIVE PARTY VICE CHAIR: I just don't think the Prime Minister any longer has not just my support but he doesn't have I think the support of the Party or indeed the country anymore. And I think for that reason he should step down.

I think you have to resign. You have to resign because I can't serve under the Prime Minister.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: These resignations following a series of scandals rocking the government. Boris Johnson himself fined earlier this year over the "Partygate" affair that revealed gatherings here at Downing Street in violation of COVID lockdown rules. Right now, his office is moving quickly to fill the vacant posts. Nadhim Zahawi, previously the secretary of state for education has been appointed chancellor. And comments to Sky News Zahawi said British Prime Minister has -- the British Prime Minister does have integrity and is determined to deliver for the country. But moments ago, you have another minister resign. CNN's Nada Bashir is here with me at 10 Downing Street. Not just a minister another member -- two members of government just today.

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Yes, we are hearing in just the last half an hour, the other two resignations, coming in. Let me just read you their statement from the children's minister who put his resignation just half an hour ago.

Saying: With great sadness and regret, I have this morning tendered my resignation to the Prime Minister after I accepted, and repeated assurances on Monday to the media which has now been found to be inaccurate.

FOSTER: So, he was out doing what they call the media rounds on behalf of the government. And he's given a message which turned out not to be true. And this was in relation to this scandal around --

BASHIR: Yes, exactly. And this scandal around Chris Pincher, who was his deputy chief whip, has really pushed a lot of these ministers to tender their resignations. What essentially happened is it was found that he had been involved in sexual abuse allegations previously. Most recently there was Will Quince who tendered his resignation, but the Prime Minister, and Downing Street have basically denied any knowledge of this. There were questions around why the Prime Minister had even appointed him in the first place given these historic allegations. One of them which was of course upheld. And the Prime Minister denied this. Much as we have seen with the Partygate scandal with repeated denials. And then of course, it was found, the Prime Minister was aware.

FOSTER: A senior civil servant said he'd been briefed, very clearly, previously to any of these recent scandals.

BASHIR: Yes, absolutely.

FOSTER: So, this is a question of trust. People accusing him of being a liar, telling mistruths. And this is the wider issue with his personality as leader.

BASHIR: Yes, absolutely. Boris Johnson's integrity is really being brought into question.

[04:05:00]

Now we've seen scandal, after scandal, repeated crises, within government, the Partygate scandal, allegations of (INAUDIBLE) in the Conservative Party. We saw Boris Johnson lose significant local elections. There were often real questions on whether he is the right leader for the Conservative Party at this stage.

And I think what was critical really about the whole Partygate scandal, is the fact that we did see the Prime Minister issue those repeated denials of any wrongdoing. And yet, time and time again, we are back here at Downing Street with, you know, new news, new photos of the Prime Minister being directly involved in these parties. So really, there are these questions, on whether or not the Prime Minister can be trusted. And we are seeing him taking a hit in the polls.

FOSTER: We were last here talking about, I can remember, talking about the confidence vote, which he won. We were told there couldn't be another confidence vote in his leadership for another year. But lots of commentary this morning that that is about to change and there could be another one -- a rule change that would allow that.

BASHIR: Yes, absolutely. So, the 1922 committee, which is a committee of backbenchers overseas that vote of confidence. Last month Boris Johnson narrowly maintained his position, as a result of the vote of confidence. And at the time, we did hear from the chairman of the committee saying and responding to questions about this, specifically. That if needed, those rules could still be changed.

But typically, the Prime Minister would be immune from another vote for 12 months. But that may not be the case anymore if those rules are changed. And we are expecting, a sort of reshuffle within the committee over the coming days and weeks. And that could lead to new changes in the rules as well. Particularly, now as we are seeing minister stepping down, resigning, senior ministers, like the Chancellor Rishi Sunak in the Health Secretary Sajid Javid. That could mount pressure on the committee to really change those rules and bring about another vote of confidence.

FOSTER: Thank you Nada, we've all watching closely whether or not there are likely contenders to replace Boris Johnson. Because that's the big thing we're missing. People talk about Rishi Sunak. We'll wait to see what he has to say today. Also expecting to hear from Boris Johnson at lunchtime in Parliament. Now a seventh person has now died in the July 4th parade shooting at

Highland Park, Illinois. And an eighth victim is fighting for his life after being taken off life support. Meanwhile, the country sort of -- rather the county coroner's office, has identified six of the seven victims. They include 64 year old Katherine Goldstein of Highland Park. A young couple, Irina McCarthy and Kevin McCarthy, were also killed. There are two year old son Aiden survived. And is being taken care of by family members.

A local synagogue has identified 63 year old Jacki Sundheim, as another one of the victims.

A statement says: She was a former preschool teacher, and events coordinator.

78-year-old Nicolas Toledo was visiting Highland Park from Mexico. He was a father of eight, and a grandfather. One granddaughter said he loved fishing, painting, and going on walks with his family.

Then there's 88 year old Stephen Straus, whose grandsons tell CNN he was very active, he love the music festivals, the outdoors and Sunday dinners with his family.

As to the investigation, the state's attorney says the suspect in custody is facing seven first degree murder charges and more charges are expected.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC RINEHART, LAKE COUNTY STATE'S ATTORNEY: There will be more charges. We anticipate dozens of more charges, centering around each of the victims. Psychological victims, physical victims, attempted murder charges, aggravated discharge charges, aggravated battery charges. There will be dozens of more charges against Mr. Crimo.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Police have revealed additional information about the attack. But the one thing that still is not clear is a possible motive. CNN's Drew Griffin reports on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEPUTY CHIEF CHRISTOPHER COVELLI, LAKE COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: Afternoon everybody.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The Lake County Sheriff's Office reveals two incidents involving the suspect, Bobby Crimo. The first in April of 2019, a suicide attempt that was handled by mental health professionals.

DEPUTY CHIEF CHRISTOPHER COVELLI, LAKE COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: The second occurred in September of 2019. A family member reported that Crimo said he was going to kill everyone and Crimo had a collection of knives. The police responded to his residence. The police removed 16 knives, a dagger and a sword from Crimo's home. At that time, there was no probably cause to arrest. There were no complaints that were signed by any of the victims.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Police say the suspected shooter preplanned his attack and get away for several weeks, leaving his high-powered rifle behind, dressing as a woman and slipping away with the retreating crowds. It was that rifle purchased legally and traced back to him that helped police identify the suspect, track down his mother's car and make this arrest.

COVELLI: At this point, we have not developed a motive from him.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): While police search for a reason, it turns out there were warning signs posted all across social media.

[04:10:00]

Music videos with dark images depicting violence, a school shooting and a cartoon of a stick figure apparently meant to be the suspect, face down in a pool of blood in a shootout with police.

The actual suspect was arrested without shots fired hours after the shooting. Former classmates tell CNN in high school he was withdrawn.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was very quiet. He didn't talk that much. And when he did talk, he seemed very gentle. He didn't seem like aggressive or anything at all. It was very shocking, especially that somebody I know, very heartbreaking. And I never thought that it could happen in my town or especially somebody that I even know at all.

GRIFFIN: Despite the social media posts, an uncle who lived with the suspect told CNN and Chicago TV station WFLD his nephew was not violent.

PAUL CRIMO, SUSPECT'S UNCLE: There were just no warning signs, as I saw. I saw him yesterday evening, and I went home, I said hi to him. And then when I came back downstairs, I said, bye. He said, bye. And that was it. That was normal standards. I mean, I see no nothing that would trigger him doing this.

GRIFFIN: And the weapon? Do you have any idea where he acquired the weapon?

CRIMO: I'm not sure. I don't know.

GRIFFIN: You don't.

CRIMO: No.

GRIFFIN: OK.

GRIFFIN: Despite what this uncle says, we now know of these warning signs, the suicide attempt, the threats on his family, the confiscation of his knife collection by the police and these disturbing social media posts. Despite all of that, he was still able to legally purchase weapons, including the rifle police say he used to slaughter 7 people.

Drew Griffin, CNN, Highland Park, Illinois. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Investigators are combing through the crime scene for evidence. And we're hearing some harrowing stories, survivors, about what they experienced. One man told CNN the training his granddaughter received a school may have saved their lives.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE TILKIN, WITNESS: Our granddaughter had been through active shooter drills. And she heard this, and then she just hit the ground crying. She grabbed her brother, her nine year old brother And shielded him. My wife Lori, who was standing with me, in a state of shock, then dove on her two grandchildren. I was still standing in a state of disbelief. And then I like, two seconds later, I dove on down.

But we were, not any situation, we were behind a barricade. We were totally open to the shooter. Probably the closest potential victims to the shooter. And we were just sort of frozen there, holding on to each other. We waited for the gunfire to subside. And then there was a store, that was adjacent to us, about 15 feet. And I said, let's take a run for it. So, we took a run for it, we run in there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, as we mentioned earlier, police were called into the suspect's home twice in 2019. One for reported suicide attempt and a second time when he threatened to kill family members. State police granted him firearm cards, despite those instances. And the mayor of Highland Park says she wants to know why?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NANCY ROTERING, HIGHLAND PARK ILLINOIS MAYOR: I'm looking forward to an explanation of what's happened. We, in Highland Park, our police department did the right thing. Filed the necessary reports, and I am waiting for that explanation. I expected in the next few days. This should have never happened. And let's be clear, this is a unique circumstance. But it's 1000 percent not. It's been going on all over our nation. And we know that in other countries, people suffer from mental illness, they suffer from anger, maybe they play violent video games, but they can't get their hands on these weapons of war. And they can't bring this kind of carnage to their hometowns. This has to stop.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is calling for Congress to stand up to gunmakers and reinstate a ban on assault weapons. She and her husband visited at the scene of the parade shooting, meeting with the mayor of Highland Park. Harris says there's no reason to have weapons of war on the streets of America.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We'll deal with what we need to deal with in terms also, as we move forward. All agreeing that we got to be smarter as a country in terms of fast who has access to what and in particular assault weapons. And we've got to take this stuff seriously, as seriously as you are because you have been forced to have to take it seriously.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: All, right President Biden has ordered flags lowered to half- staff at the White House and all government buildings until sunset on Saturday.

We now have a date for the next public hearing on the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Meanwhile, the expected focus and who might testify, just ahead.

[04:15:03]

Plus, lawmakers are receiving death threat for investigating the insurrection and the efforts to overturn the election. And they're showing just a glimpse of some of the repugnant messages.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: The U.S. House Select Committee investigating the January 6th insurrection has scheduled its next hearing. And the 7th publican will be held next Tuesday at 10:00 Eastern. They haven't announced any witnesses yet, but the committee member Adam Schiff, says that they plan to focus on efforts to assemble what he called the mob of riders. As well as the connections between the Trump White House and extremist groups known to be the rally that preceded the attack on the Capitol.

Meanwhile, Trump's former deputy press secretary, Sarah, Matthews has been subpoenaed and agreed to testify at an upcoming hearing. Sources tell CNN, it could be as early as next week.

[04:20:00]

And in a set investigation, a grand jury in the state of Georgia has subpoenaed a handful of key Trump allies, including these 3 men, former attorney Rudy Giuliani, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, and former Trump adviser John Eastman, amongst others. The grand jury is investigating Trump's effort to overturn the election results in Georgia. CNN's Sara Murray has the details on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: A special grand jury in the Atlanta area that's investigating whether Donald Trump and his allies committed any crimes in their efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia is escalating its activity, and it's getting closer to Donald Trump's inner circle. Court filings show that the grand jury wants to hear from a number of folks close to Donald Trump's inner circle, including his former attorney, Rudy Giuliani, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, and a handful of other legal advisers who advised the Trump campaign in 2020.

Among the folks they want to talk to are folks who are pushing this fake elector scheme, people like John Eastman, people like Kenneth Chesebro. Chesebro was in touch with Georgia officials who were putting forth this sort of fake elector scheme in December of 2020. Rudy Giuliani went before Georgia state lawmakers, he made a bunch of conspiracy ridden claims. So, all of these folks getting subpoenaed. It's unclear whether or not they're going to comply. We reached out to everyone who received a subpoena, we did not get any responses. An attorney for Giuliani for instance said he has not actually received the subpoena yet. Had no plans to comment further.

Sara Murray, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Donald, Trump facing a number of investigations surrounding his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. CNN legal analyst Shan Wu is a former federal prosecutor. Listen to why he believes that Georgia investigation poses a serious legal threat to the former president.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHAN WU, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: What's really dangerous about this Georgia investigation always thought that it was like the biggest danger to Trump, is that it still tightly focused on that phrase asking for that specific number of votes. And in that sense, it is a very clean case to bring. You don't have to be worrying about separation of power, executive privileges, he's really talking about something he really believes in. It's a very straightforward type of factual case here.

So, the charges that DA is contemplating, such as solicitation of the election fraud, you know, those are serious charges, I think it's one to three years. And of course, the most serious charge that she's mentioned is the Georgia form of racketeering to interfere with the election administration. So, it's dangerous because it's narrow, it's very factual and it's got some findings.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Meanwhile, some U.S. lawmakers are receiving threats of violence as they investigate the January 6th attack on the Capitol. Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger shared a series of voice mails and calls, his office has received in recent weeks. Before we play you some of them though a warning because the messages contained graphic language.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I guess I can't say a whole lot more other than I hope you naturally die as quickly as f***** possible you f***** piece of s***.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your backstabbing son of a b****. You go against Trump y'all know y'all m******** are sitting up there lying like a damn dog. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey you little c********. Going to come protest in

front of your house this weekend. We know where your family is and we're going to get you, you little c******.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Now, threats have also been directed at the Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney, the vice chair of the House Select Committee and the only other Republican of the panel. Her office declined to comment on the security matters though.

Now here in London Boris Johnson is facing fresh political turmoil and what a series of resignations could mean for his future as the British Prime Minister.

Plus, remembering those lost in the Illinois parade shooting, we'll tell you about the couple and their 2-year-old son now left without their parents.

[04:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Max Foster. If you are just joining us, two major resignations rattling the British government and putting further pressure on the Prime Minister already in the fight for his political life. In a huge blow to Boris Johnson, chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, and Health Secretary Sajid Javid, announced Tuesday that they were quitting saying that they can no longer work for a government mired in scandal.

And today another minister has just resigned. U.K. Children and Families Minister Will Quince says that he had no choice and is stepping down with great sadness and regret.

Now last month Mr. Johnson survived the confidence vote, now according to a tweet from channel 4 news, conservative MP Andrew Bridgen is vowing to overhaul the party's rules which currently prevents a second vote of confidence within the same years. He told them, quote, we will change the rules and throw them out.

Join me now Thom Brooks, a professor of law and government at Durham University and an adviser to the opposition Labour Party. Thanks for joining us. Were you as shocked as everyone else when you heard this news last night about those senior cabinet ministers on the way out?

THOM BROOKS, PROF. OF LAW AND GOVERNMENT, DURHAM UNIVERSITY: Hi, I was shocked. Mainly because there's been so many scandals (INAUDIBLE) that's been going on for so long with Boris Johnson, you might have expected that either result in the Partygate scandal where there were notice (INAUDIBLE) is given, that means (INAUDIBLE) address in the U.K. and how (INAUDIBLE) they clung on for other scandals under Boris Johnson is that this latest was the straw that broke the camel's back. (INAUDIBLE) now that they have, the others have followed.

FOSTER: We're just looking, to the newspaper headlines, they are pretty damning and when you look at papers like the "Telegraph" and "The Daily Mail" which have always been very supportive of Boris Johnson, are giving very negative coverage, is become very negative for him, doesn't it, because it reflects on the voters who have always been hugely supportive of Boris Johnson when you look at whenever he's been polling.

I just want to read you something from Sajid Javid's resignation letter, because he speaks to this as well.

He says: We may not have always been popular, but we have been confident in acting in the national interest. Sadly, in the current circumstances, the public are concluding that we are now neither.

Do you think that this is a tipping point for the public vote which is obviously crucial to Boris Johnson and any Prime Minister?

BROOKS: I think you are absolutely right.

[04:30:00]