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Footage Shows Officers Waiting As Gunman Opened Fire; Biden Visits Israel, Marking First Trip To Mideast As President; Delta Earnings Miss Expectations As Airlines Face Travel Surge; Delta CEO: Airline Industry "Pushed Too Hard" After Pandemic. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired July 13, 2022 - 14:30   ET

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

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[14:30:14]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Surveillance video from inside Robb Elementary School. Families now in Uvalde, Texas, are incensed over what it reveals and how it was released.

The video was first published by the "Austin-American Statesman." It shows police officers not intervening for more than 70 minutes as the gunman was in the classroom where he murdered 19 fourth graders and two teachers.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Here is part of the timeline.

At 11:33 a.m. On May 24th, a surveillance camera shows a gunman entering an empty hallway. The first police officers arrive within three minutes.

CNN's Rosa Flores walks us through what happens next.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At 12:04, the video jumps 31 minutes after the gunman enters the school, and law enforcement is still waiting. At least 19 officers are now in the hallway, according to the official timeline.

At 12:21, 45 minutes after police arrive, the gunman fires another four shots and police start to move down the hallway again, remaining outside the classrooms.

At 12:30, one officer uses the hand sanitizer dispenser in the school.

At 12:43 and 12:47, more 911 calls to send police. And the caller says, "Children are aware the police are outside the door."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(GUNFIRE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: Then, at 12:50, 74 minutes after police first arrived, officers breached the classroom door and kill the gunman.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: And Rosa joins us now live.

Rosa, the video is awful to watch. The audio is awful to listen to. Of course, especially for the families of these children.

I know they had planned to screen it at an organized briefing on Sunday with counselors present, but the paper decided to release it early.

What are the families saying today?

FLORES: The families are outraged, Alisyn. They were preparing themselves emotionally to watch this video in full, to be presented with a full report, a fact-finding report.

And they were going to have the opportunity to ask the Texas House committee questions about what was in the report. Questions about the accountability.

They were going to have that opportunity, and they were robbed of that opportunity. That is why they are outraged.

Because we should make one thing very clear. They have been wanting for the video to be released for accountability purposes. They were hoping that the individuals that did not do anything to save their children were held accountable.

But they were hoping this could be done with some compassion. That they were going to be able to view the final moments of their loved ones before the world did. And so they feel blindsided.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGEL GARZA, FATHER OF 10-YEAR-OLD VICTIM AMERIE JO GARZA: Who do you think you are to release footage like that of our children, who can't even speak for themselves, but you want to go ahead and air their final moments to the entire world? What makes you think that's OK?

KIMBERLY RUBIO, MOTHER OF 10-YEAR-OLD LEXI RUBIO: What they were going to show us was sufficient. He didn't have to do this. I don't want to hear my children screaming. I didn't want to hear the gunfire. That wasn't needed. That was unnecessary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: And Alisyn and Victor, the mayor of the city, the mayor of Uvalde is now calling for a criminal investigation into this leak.

BLACKWELL: Rosa, how is the newspaper, how is "The Statesman" responding to the criticism? FLORES: The paper is defending their position. So is reporter. They're

saying this is part of transparency, that this is part of them doing their job. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY PLOHETSKI, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, "AUSTIN-AMERICAN STATESMAN": Authorities consistently, from day one, have failed the people of Uvalde from the -- during the actual shooting event, the families were failed by law enforcement who were there.

And the days after, law enforcement and other officials released conflicting information that then had to be clarified or retracted.

Why should they have to wait one more day for the government to release this information to them?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: And you know, Alisyn and Victor, yesterday, the families made it very clear they were appalled by this reporter. And they called the reporter by name and said, how dare he say that this is for them, because all they were asking for was a little compassion.

CAMEROTA: Rosa Flores, thank you very much for being on the ground for us and all of that reporting.

[14:34:58]

Joining us now to talk about all of it, everything we have seen on that video is CNN senior law enforcement analyst, Charles Ramsey, the former D.C. chief of police, and Andy Bershad, a former NYPD detective and the CEO of Flying Aces Enterprises.

Andy, I want to start with you because we're not at CNN playing the audio of the barrage of gunfire of the gunman entering the classroom and shooting the children. It's so awful, that audio. It's chilling and it's gutting.

But I have heard it, and I'm sure you have online as well, because it was released, as you heard, before the families were prepared.

And when I hear that audio, I just want to know -- I mean, you're somebody who trains police officers.

The gunfire was so constant and rapid, how were police supposed to go into that classroom without being killed? Wouldn't those first three officers have been killed if they had gone into that scenario?

ANDY BERSHAD, CEO, FLYING ACES ENTERPRISES AND CONSULTING & FORMER NEW YORK POLICE DETECTIVE: Well, yes.

Thank you for having me.

Obviously, potentially, there's a risk to what we do. I think from observing the video, you know, we have one job. And from watching the video, we have one job that's needed to be

portrayed out, and there are lives in danger, whether it be children, whether it be adults, perpetrators, victims.

Whatever the case, there's an active shooter scene, that clearly from when I saw in the video, was unfolding on multiple levels that made it obvious that there were lives in danger.

CAMEROTA: But again, are you saying that those first three officers on the scene in that hallway should have breached that classroom even during that barrage of gunfire?

BERSHAD: Yes. What we do is what we train is we never give up real estate.

It appeared to me that one of the officers potentially got injured. It seems unknown injuries what he might have received. But we need to press the fight.

If you're involved in a fist fight, if somebody punched you, you're not going to turn around and run away. You go back and you want to punch them back.

Now we're dealing with, knowing that we're in an elementary school where there's children involved, whether it's young victims potentially involved, even more expected that we need to go in and address the situation.

BLACKWELL: Chief, on that point and the officers who retreat after the initial approach to the classroom, they don't have the shields and the long guns, the head gear.

Listen, everybody on that side of the door had more protection than the students and teachers inside the room with the shooter. But was there something they needed that they didn't have?

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: I don't see any excuse for them doing what they did. I mean, the initial three officers that went down the hallway, they did receive some gunfire. They did retreat. I understand that. But you got to regroup and go back.

There's absolutely no reason for 77 minutes to elapse before someone decides to go into that building. At 19 minutes -- it wasn't show in the clip that you have there -- they actually had officers with shields, with ballistic helmets and so forth in the hallway.

Again, with active shooter training, you're taught -- and this is all post-Columbine. That's where we learned a very valuable lesson. You don't contain and wait for SWAT. You have to go in.

If there's just one of you, if there's two of you, ideally, it's three to four, but you do what you have to do to locate the gunman and to stop the threat.

I mean, he's in an elementary school. You know, you have children at risk. You've heard gunfire taking place. You have to do it. Risk is inherent in the job. And I understand all that, OK?

But when it comes time to do it, you got to step up, period. That's just the only way it is. That's what being a police officer is all about is you have to step up in moments like this.

And there's no excuse for what took place in Uvalde.

And those families have every right to be upset, both with the reporter and, even more importantly, with the police department there. They let them down. They failed in their responsibilities, period.

CAMEROTA: Oh, yes. I mean, Chief, it's so obvious when you see the video. It's sickening, honestly.

But I want to ask you, Chief Ramsey, about that. I'm sure you have wrestled with this very thing, which is the public's right to know but not revictimizing the families.

So do you think there was a legitimate reason to release this video yesterday rather than waiting until Sunday?

Now who knows? The officials in Uvalde have been engaged in so much double speech and stonewalling, who knows if they would have actually made good on their promise?

But do you think the video had to be released yesterday or could it have been held until Sunday?

RAMSEY: It could have been held. He should have been held. I don't think it should have been released without the families at least having an opportunity to see it, period.

Even if the reporter called the families in and showed them the video, the families should have seen the video first.

[14:40:02]

If that was your family member, would you want somebody to send you an email and say, look at this Web site, and now you hear children screaming, you hear gunshots, you hear all of this stuff, and you're not prepared? There's no excuse for it in my opinion.

So if you don't trust the government, talking about the reporter, fine. Then guess what? Everybody knows who the families are now. Reach out to them and say, listen, we've got this video, we need to show it to you.

I don't think that's the right way of doing it because they need the counselors there, too. But that's still better than just blindly putting it out there.

OK, he had information. He's trying to get a scoop, and he put it out. That's the only reason he did it. The other stuff is a lot of, you know what, as far as I'm concerned. But the parents should have known.

BLACKWELL: Yes, the reporter said he did reach out. Still, I listened to that mother who said she didn't want to hear the gunshots, she didn't want to see the hallway.

And it's really not been too long since this tragedy happened. And it may take some time for these families to be in a place to see that.

RAMSEY: That's why you need psychologists there. You need professionals there to help the families through it, to know what it is that they're about to see.

I've worked in homicide. We've had to deal with families of homicide victims. Now in today's date, you've got video often times associated with the homicide. OK?

BLACKWELL: Yes.

RAMSEY: And so you have to be careful about how you deal with this sort of thing because people -- I mean, it's emotional. It's incredibly emotional. And you just don't throw it out there.

BLACKWELL: Chief Ramsey, Andy Bershad, thank you both.

CAMEROTA: Well, President Biden kicked off his first trip to the Middle East as president. He's discussing foreign policy in an interview. And we are live in Israel with more next.

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[14:46:21]

CAMEROTA: President Biden arrived in Israel today on his first trip to the Middle East as president. He met with Holocaust survivors in Jerusalem following a wreath-laying ceremony honoring victims.

BLACKWELL: One major goal for this leg of the trip is strengthening ties with Israel before visiting the West Bank and Saudi Arabia later this week.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is in Jerusalem.

Jeremy, what are we hearing from the president?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, President Biden arrived here in Israel today. And he arrived declaring the U.S./Israeli partnership is bone deep, reaffirming the U.S.'s commitment to Israel's security and to the partnership between the U.S. and Israel that covers so many different areas.

We expect President Biden on this trip to also focus not only on deepening that partnership but also the emerging partnerships that we're seeing between Israel and many Arab countries in this region, including the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

But there are also expected to be some moves towards trying to take small steps to try and normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

There will also be discussion between President Biden and Israeli officials when they meet tomorrow for more substantive discussions on areas in which they disagree as well.

One of those areas is how to approach the threat of a potentially nuclear Iran.

President Biden, in an interview with Israel's Channel 12, explaining his rationale for engaging in negotiations with Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Because the only thing worse than the Iran that exists now is Iran with nuclear weapons. If we can return to the deal and hold them tight.

I think it was a gigantic mistake for the last president to get out of the deal. They're closer to nuclear weapon now than ever before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: And that gigantic mistake that you hear President Biden talking to was President Trump's decision to withdraw from that 2015 nuclear agreement that was negotiated by the Obama administration.

That was a decision, a gigantic mistake that President Biden is talking, a decision that the Israeli government supported.

And so now Israel is opposed to rejoining that agreement under the terms in which it was originally negotiated. Israel has been pushing for a far more muscular response.

So certainly, that will be a central point of discussions between President Biden and the Israeli prime minister tomorrow -- Alisyn and Victor?

CAMEROTA: OK. Jeremy Diamond, thank you.

BLACKWELL: Rising fuel costs and rising cancellations. Delta's CEO admits the last six weeks, yes, have been rough. What the rest of the summer looks like for travelers, that's next.

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BLACKWELL: Well, despite cancelling more than 4,000 flights already this summer, Delta just reported its largest profit of the pandemic, $735 million in the second quarter of 2022. Big number. Falls short, though, of Wall Street's expectations.

BLACKWELL: Delta's CEO blamed rising fuel costs for that and promised to fix the recent wave of operational issues.

CNN's Pete Muntean joins us now.

Pete, what else did the Delta CEO say?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, Delta is really trying to move on from its mistakes after it stranded thousands of passengers and that really hurt the airline. That $735 million in quarter two profit not near as big as the $1 billion that analysts predicted.

Because Delta says they took it on the chin when it comes to cancellations. More than 5,000 flight cancellations, according to Flight Aware, at Delta in May and June. That's 3 percent of Delta's total schedule for those two months.

Now, remember, Delta Airlines has been struggling like many major airlines after getting smaller over the pandemic.

I want you to listen now to Delta CEO Ed Bastian. He says the airline pushed it a little too hard. It scaled back when it came to flights through the rest of the summer, cancelling about 100 flights a day. But he says it's just been too much.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ED BASIAN, CEO, DELTA AIRLINES: We had a rough six weeks. No question about that. We're sorry for our customers. We've issued compensation and the appropriate level of apology.

That said, we're going to get back. We already were there. We were there over the last decade. We're going to get back. We're already back.

And you've got to prove it. I'm not going to stand here and declare victory by any means. We're going to continue to work and make sure the level of quality we deliver coming out of the pandemic is not only at the same level. It's even better than it was.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: Delta has been hiring in a big way. Ed Bastian says the airlines added 18,000 workers since the start of 2021. About 95 percent of the way to where it was before the pandemic back in 2019.

[14:55:02]

You know, airlines are under a lot of pressure, not only from passengers, but also from the federal government. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says they must get their act together -- Victor and Alisyn?

BLACKWELL: All right, Pete Muntean. Thank you, Pete.

CAMEROTA: So rent, food, gas, all the prices went up in June, pushing inflation to a 40-year high. Details on how the Fed may respond next.

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