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Buffalo's Tops Supermarket Reopens Two Months After Mass Shooting; U.S. Inflation Reaches 40-Year Record High; Alex Murdaugh Indicted for Murder in Deaths of Wife and Son. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired July 15, 2022 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: What are people saying?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Poppy and Jim, we've talked to folks yesterday during the preopening ceremony with local dignitaries, state dignitaries, clergy and the like, and there's a mix of emotions. That worker you just played, Fragrance Harris Stanfield, she's very happy Tops is reopening. However, she's not ready to come back. She said she had a hard time just entering the store yesterday when they were showing employees and the press all of these renovations.

There are also people on the street saying, you know, two months is too short, it's too soon to be reopening these wounds. But this store is essential to this community. I've been told over and over again by pastors and employees, community members, it's a hub not just for food but it's a meeting place.

And this is also the only supermarket in a four-mile radius and one that it took the community a lot of years of fighting to bring to this location. But of course in the wake of this horrific mass killing that left 10 black people dead from a shooter who authorities say planned this attack for years and came specifically to this Tops Supermarket in this heavily black neighborhood in order to try to kill as many black people as possible, there is a lot of emotion but there's also a need here. Here's more from one of the store workers, Rose Marie Wysocki.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROSE MARIE WYSOCKI, PRODUCE MANAGER, TOPS SUPERMARKET: I had a difficult time the first time I walked in the door, I really did. But that once I came in and I saw the changes, it was like, wow, what'd they do, build a new store?

JONES: And they did, it sounds like.

WYSOCKI: They did, they gutted the whole thing, and everything is brand-new and beautiful. And I'm so proud of my new produce department, I can't wait for everybody to see it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: And so we've seen a steady flow of cars coming in here. You can see the parking lot is nearly full. And I'm told by the store that the first two customers who came in after the employees and the prayer this morning asked for a job application. As for that shooting suspect, he faces now 27 federal charges in addition to state charges and will be arraigned in federal court on Monday -- Jim, Poppy.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Athena Jones, good to have you there.

So here with me now to discuss further is Buffalo City Common Council president Darius Pridgen. He is also the senior pastor of the True Bethel Baptist Church.

Good to have you on, sir. Thanks for taking the time this morning.

DARIUS PRIDGEN, SENIOR PASTOR, TRUE BETHEL BAPTIST CHURCH: Thank you for having me.

SCIUTTO: So it's been two months. Goodness, the trauma from this is going to last years and beyond. I wonder, what have you heard from residents about reopening Tops. Do they welcome it?

PRIDGEN: You know, the residents, many of the residents who live near Tops do welcome it. I happen to only live two blocks away from it. And then you have people who feel that it should not ever be open. So there is a divide in opinion. I have worked very hard to say just because our opinions may be different, it should not divide our community.

SCIUTTO: It's a store that's important now, but it's the scene of something so horrible, but also economically for the neighborhood, as Athena Jones, our reporter, was saying. Folks fought for years to get a supermarket like this. It's the only one within four miles. Tell us about its importance beyond the events of that day.

PRIDGEN: Well, you know, this supermarket employs a lot of people from the immediate neighborhood, many who do not have cars, who walk there. When I did my first tour of the store before it opened, I was apprehensive. I really didn't want to. I was asked to do several prayers yesterday with the employees and then with the elected officials. And I tell a story how it was the employees who really encouraged me because of how close they are.

I mean, it was like a pep rally yesterday with the employees. It wasn't -- you know, although they're still grieving, I want to be clear, they love each other and they love that store and they love working there. So it's beyond just a building. It is really about the community.

SCIUTTO: How is the community doing? As you say, they're still grieving, and God knows they're going to be grieving for a long time.

PRIDGEN: Yes, you know, I mean, I think that, you know, the shock has worn off, but now kind of like -- at times the community now is still looking for something to hold on to, looking for an issue because I think people are still hurting and many have not processed that hurt yet. But I'll say that this community has done a yeoman's job in providing counseling, not just for those who were in the store, not just for the families, but for the entire community.

There was a community center set up where you could just go, walk in the door, didn't have to pay. But there were some who have still not taken advantage of that. And I think they're still grieving.

[09:35:03]

SCIUTTO: Yes. There have been some laws New York state passed in the wake of this, new legislation, including one bill increasing the minimum age to purchase a semi-automatic rifle from 18 to 21. At the same time you had the Supreme Court overturned more than 100-year-old New York laws that expands in effect the definition of the Second Amendment here.

I mean, are you hopeful that your community, that the state can pass laws to help prevent something like this from happening again or are you worried they may not be able to?

PRIDGEN: Well, I mean, you know, any law, and of course being a lawmaker, it can be challenged. I've always fought for sensible gun laws, I'm going to say that again, sensible gun laws. People may be surprised I totally believe in our right to carry. But I do think that there needs to be some sensible gun laws on the books. And we've got a long way to go. We don't know what will happen with the Supreme Court.

We don't know what will happen. But doing nothing is worse than doing something. So I do believe we have to do something. There are certain weapons that just don't need to be on the streets, period.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Well, Darius Pridgen, I hope you can send our thoughts to the folks in the community, yourself included there because I know you've still got a long path to follow.

PRIDGEN: You got it. Thank you both.

SCIUTTO: OK.

HARLOW: All right. So retail sales numbers just came out and they beat expectations. But there is a nuance here that's important as it pertains to inflation. How does that factor in? We'll talk to economists about it next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:41:19]

HARLOW: All right. Just released new data shows retail sales did increase 1 percent in June. That's the best month-to-month jump since March. Consumer spending obviously is a sign of some really important things but there is a nuance to this reporting. Consumers spent more on items. They didn't buy more actual items. We've got inflation at 9.1 percent.

Joining me now to discuss all of this is Mohamed El-Erian, the chief economic adviser at Allianz, also president of Queens College at Cambridge University. Mohammed, it's good to have you. I wanted to invite you back on the

program because it was, you know, a month or so ago with us that you predicted 9 percent inflation, now we're above that. So my question to you this morning is, for how long, right? I think the last time we saw inflation like this, early '70s, it lasted for eight years.

MOHAMED E-ERIAN, CHIEF ECONOMIC ADVISER, ALLIANZ: Yes, and the last time we saw 9.1 was back in 1981. So over 40 years ago. Look, inflation is going to come down over the next few months. That's the good news. Less good is what happens thereafter. And there is a sticky element to inflation that's starting to develop. You see this from the details. And then there's always a question about the Federal Reserve. What does it do?

It is trying to catch up. And the worst thing that can happen is that we end up with high inflation and a recession. And that's the worst outlook because it would hit people in two ways. They are able to buy less things and they have less income. So the next few months are going to be very telling in terms of what happens thereafter.

HARLOW: But are you -- I mean, you've been very, justifiably so, critical of the Fed being behind the ball. I mean, they've essentially said as much. But now is there actually an assurance that the Fed can correct this and that even a recession that we may likely fall into -- Bank of America says we're going to be in a recession this year -- that even a recession contain this inflation? Do we really know that at this juncture?

EL-ERIAN: So what we do know from history is that if the Fed slams on the brakes very hard, it can bring down inflation, but at a very high cost to economic wellbeing. And that's the risk of being late. And this Fed is very late. It's a year late. So it has a dilemma in front of it. I do think inflation will come down. But I'm worried that it's not going to come down as fast as we need it to. And we may get a recession on top.

So that's the concern. And there's nothing the Fed can do. You know, they always say it's about time, skill, and luck. The Fed is in negative time. So it needs a lot more skill and a lot more luck. And there's a real question mark as to whether they can produce that.

HARLOW: Larry Summers this week, to our Wolf Blitzer, talked about, in his words, significant dislocation in order to get inflation under control. And by the way, a thing we don't mention often enough, that this inflation really hurts the most vulnerable the most. I mean, it does not affect everyone equally at all. It affects everyone, but not nearly in the same way.

Do you agree with him about that significant dislocation? And if you do, what will that feel like for the most vulnerable?

EL-ERIAN: So it is the most vulnerable that are at risk. And they are at considerable risk. Their resilience has been run down. Already we're seeing lines lengthen at food banks. This is really serious. And there's a social element to it, in addition to an economic element to it. Then we must always remember that. The most vulnerable segments of our population are suffering a great deal.

[09:45:03]

I'm afraid that Larry is right. And I say I'm afraid because the dislocation he's talking about is in the real economy, it's about economic activity. It's about bringing down the economic activity very hard by the Fed to make up for the time it has lost. So this is not a good outlook. There's a very tiny, very tiny chance of what they call a soft landing, where you can lower inflation without undue damage to the economy. But I wouldn't bet very much on that.

HARLOW: Mohamed El-Erian, thank you. Unfortunately your prediction was right and now we need to see how we're going to get out of this. Thanks for the time.

EL-ERIAN: Thank you, Poppy.

SCIUTTO: Very small chance of a small landing, he said. Notable.

Coming up next, disbarred and disgraced. South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh is now charged with killing his wife and his son. He's already behind bars for stealing millions of dollars from clients. We'll get reaction from an attorney who helped uncover some of Murdaugh's many financial schemes. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:50:30]

SCIUTTO: Next week a bond hearing will be held for Alex Murdaugh after the prominent South Carolina lawyer was indicted for the murders of his wife and son. They were found shot to death on their family's hunting property in June of 2021. Alex was the person who actually called 911. Murdaugh already behind bars on a $7 million bond facing nearly two dozen charges related to financial wrongdoing. Those charges are tied in part to allegations that he sold millions from a death settlement awarded to his late housekeeper Gloria Satterfield.

Now Satterfield who has spent more than two decades with the family died in 2018 in what described at the time as a trip and fall accident. Her death, though, is now also under investigation by South Carolina authorities.

Joining me now is Eric Bland, he is the Satterfield's family attorney.

Eric, thanks for taking the time this morning.

ERIC BLAND, ATTORNEY FOR FAMILY OF GLORIA SATTERFIELD: Good morning, Jim. How you doing?

SCIUTTO: Good. Well, first your reaction and the Satterfield's family reaction to Murdaugh's latest murder charges here.

BLAND: It was expected but obviously we're shocked. It's kind of similar to when somebody is sick and they are dying, you know they're going to die, but when they die, there is still that cold shock. The fact that this, you know, potentially could have killed his wife and child in addition doing all the other unspeakable crimes that he's now been charged of it's just a lot to consume for lawyers and our South Carolina citizens.

SCIUTTO: I'm sure. Well, there is now a parallel investigation into the death of Satterfield here. And I know the family has agreed to allow law enforcement to exhume their mother's body, a step that shows the seriousness with which they are taking that investigation. First of all, do you have any updates on that, and do you, does the family have suspicion that her death was questionable, not as described at the time?

BLAND: Well, let me answer that in two parts. One is, there are no updates other than that they are going to give us advance notice and let us be participants in this, you know, highly emotional process. Excuse me. When you, you know, take somebody and disturb their grave and then have to, you know, reintern them after you do the investigation, and to determine whether there was foul play in her death.

As to whether the family suspects that there was foul play, the answer is at this point, no. What we do know is that Alex used this as an opportunity to enrich himself like he did every time there was a client matter, but we don't think that he or anybody in the family would intentionally want to kill Gloria Satterfield for no reason or for at least monetary purposes. It's just the man though that takes advantage of every situation, where most lawyers would say what would benefit our clients, he is a person who says what can I do to benefit myself.

SCIUTTO: Listen, and for folks at home who don't know the details, what happened here is in her death, he promised I suppose to sue himself to get a settlement in her death, but then pocketed the $4 million, more than $4 million, for himself. But then that revealed that that wasn't the only time he did this kind of thing, that he was using court settlements to steal all kinds of money. I just wonder how a prominent lawyer here, how in your view that was able to continue for so long.

BLAND: Well, it can't do it alone. So the answer is, you know, the only currency that Alex has at this time is information. And is he willing to try to salvage some family reputation going forward for his son and his brothers and sisters by eliciting information, telling information, whether judges, whether lawyers, whether colleagues, who helped him do this for so long and in such great amounts.

We're talking about over 12 years, Jim, in multiple matters, totaling almost $14 million so far that we've uncovered. So is he willing to go to the grave or sit in a jail cell for the rest of his life and hold this information to himself or is he willing to finally do what's right and say look, take responsibility but also clean up the system.

[09:55:00]

SCIUTTO: We should note that Murdaugh's attorneys released a statement saying that Alex wanted everyone to know that, quote, "He did not have anything to do with the murders of Maggie and Paul," and that, quote, "He loved them more than anything in the world."

HARLOW: About an hour from now, President Biden will land in Saudi Arabia for face-to-face meeting with among other people the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Big question this morning, will he bring up directly the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi? We're live on the ground in Jeddah next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Top of the hour this Friday, I'm Jim Sciutto.

HARLOW: And I'm Poppy Harlow. We're glad you're with us.

This hour President Biden will arrive in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia where he will sit down in a high stakes meeting with Saudi King Salman and controversially his son, the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The president hopes oil flow and try to reset that relationship with the kingdom less than two years after vowing to make Saudi Arabia a pariah.