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Texas Investigative Committee Releases 77-Page Preliminary Report; Dramatic Video Shows Close-Up View of Events at Uvalde; 3 Killed, 2 Injured During Indiana Mall Shooting; Zelenskyy Fires Top Security Chief, Prosecutor General; Russian Strikes Hit Towns and Cities Beyond Front Lines; Eighth Hearing Will Focus on Trump's Actions During Riot. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired July 18, 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]
CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm Christina Macfarlane in here for Max Foster in London. Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There were multiple systemic failures.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They Were Supposed to Project the innocents who now lie in their graves.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is been the worst professionally run investigation. I mean, I've never seen anything of this magnitude.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 187 minutes where they say Donald Trump did nothing to quell the violence of his supporters on Capitol Hill on January 6.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president didn't do very much but gleefully watched television during this timeframe.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From France, south of Bordeaux where there are two major fires that have scorched thousands of acres and caused thousands of evacuations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is an incredible heat wave that's really going to culminate here over the next couple of days into record territory.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLAND: It's Monday July 18th. 9:00 a.m. here in London, 3 a.m. in you Uvalde, Texas. Where lawmakers have released a 77-page report outlining a series of missteps by multiple law enforcement agencies who responded to that school shooting at Robb Elementary School in May. Including failures to adhere to their active shooter training and prioritizing the lives of the victims. The scathing report says authorities who responded to the scene displayed, quote, an overall lackadaisical approach. And while investigators say they didn't find evidence of malice, they did find, quote, systemic failures and egregious poor decision making. According to the report nearly 400 officers responded to the scene in Uvalde that terrible day and the majority were from the U.S. Border Patrol and from the Texas Department of Public Safety. One Texas state representative says the report contains difficult truths.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE MOODY (D) TEXAS STATE HOUSE: It's hard to hear that there were multiple systemic failures because we want to tell ourselves that systems work. We want to tell ourselves there's one person we can point our fingers at. We want to tell ourselves that this won't happen again. That's just not true. What happened here is complicated. But there's also a call to action in this report because systems are something that we can and must improve.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLAND: Well, the report said that Uvalde's School District Police Chief Pete Arradondo did not believe he was in command, even though he wrote in the schools active sheet of police and listed himself as incident commander. The report found that a major problem with the response was a lack of leadership among law enforcement. Investigators also found that the school itself was inadequately prepared for this kind of situation. The report also found similar problems that other schools within the district and committee members had harsh words for the police responders.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DUSTIN BORROWS (R) TEXAS STATE HOUSE: The officer who's knew or should've known that they was an active shooter situation by their training experience should have done more. We are very clear on that.
EVA GUZMAN, FORMER TEXAS SUPREME COURT JUSTICE: The report says if you're not willing to put the lives of the people you serve of those children before your own, in my view, you should find another job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLAND: The families of the victims at Robb Elementary got copies of the damning report before was made public. And they were able to ask questions of the investigators. But Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin was furious at the findings.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DON MCLAUGHLIN, UVALDE, TEXAS MAYOR: This investigation has been little bitty leaks here and there. Little bitty snippets here and there. And we've spent our time trying to -- just like when they said the officer had a chance to shoot the shooter. That was not true and finally admitted that. Is was not true. But that's the kind of stuff that has gone on constantly. And the only people that are being blindsided by that is these families. Let me put it this way. This has been the worst professionally run
investigation that -- I mean, I've never seen anything of this magnitude.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLAND: Well, the parents of the children killed in the massacre are reacting to the painful details of the preliminary report. But the approach and changing timeline of what happened have left families with more questions than answers and many wonder if they'll ever find out exactly what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[04:05:00]
VINCENT SALAZAR, FAMILY MEMBER OF LAYLA SALAZAR: We are not going to get the truth because there is coverup. Everybody is throwing everybody under the bus. The only ones that ain't under the bus is because there are six feet in the ground now. And that's our children and the two teachers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLAND: And now we have a troubling look at the official response. CNN was granted early access to the body cam footage at the scene. Shimon Prokupecz has more on that. But first, we must warn you, what you're about to see is disturbing and contains strong language.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SGT. DANIEL CORONADO, UVALDE, TEXAS POLICE: Oh shit, shots fired!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 701 --
CORONADO: Get inside! Go, go, go!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- was shot in the head.
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New body cam video review leased by the Uvalde mayor shows the frantic first moments police arrived on scene at Robb Elementary. This video taken by Uvalde Police Sgt. Daniel Coronado as he made his way inside the building. But within moments more gunshots.
CORONADO: Shots fired inside the building in Uvalde.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Which building?
CORONADO: Careful guys, shots fired!
CORONADO: Take cover, guys.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): After taking cover outside Sergeant Coronado gives his first update on the situation to responding officers. CORONADO: OK, guys. He's on inside this building. We haven't been
contained. He's going to be on the building on the west side of the property. Careful with the windows facing east. Right there.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Minutes later Coronado tells dispatch what he believes is happening, that the gunman is in one of the schools command is in one of the school's offices not a classroom.
CORONADO: Now the subject is in the school on the west side of the building. He's contained. We've got multiple officers inside the building at this time. We believe he's barricaded in one of the offices, he's still shooting.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): But as minutes continued to tick by, the urgency first seen by the initial response fades away. Instead, Uvalde police officers are seen hunkering down, waiting for more back up critical moments pass by at a time children were still alive in the classroom. At one point you can hear Sergeant Coronado asking for permission to open a door into the hallway. Were armed officers are already inside.
CORONADO: Officers inside the building. Am I clear to open the door here on the south side of the building?
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): It's after this moment that we learned that Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Chief, Pete Arredondo, is inside the building as other officers crowd around looking for guidance.
Arredondo has been a central figure in the states investigation of the shooting. DPS Director Steve McCraw calling his actions on the day of the massacre a, quote, abject failure. As more officers arrive and more in action you can hear police begin to seek direction.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are we doing here?
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): We have video from Officer Justin Mendoza who also arrived on the scene. At 11:58 local time police helped the first students and teachers from a nearby classroom escape the building. At the same time Sgt. Coronado can be seen helping children escape from a window outside. At this point it had been nearly 25 minutes since police first entered the building.
More than 12 minutes later we get our first glimpse of Chief Arredondo in the hallway at Robb Elementary. You can hear him pleading with the gunmen to give up, but seemingly unaware that children may still be inside the classroom.
PETE ARREDONDO, UVALDE CONSOLIDATED INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT POLICE CHIEF: Let me know if there's any children there or anything!
ARREDONDO: This could be peaceful.
If you cover you hand, is there anything I should know, please.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Moments later a critical piece of the puzzle in the camera of Officer Mendoza. 911 dispatch gives a chilling account from a student still in the classroom.
911 DISPATCH: We do have a child on the line.
OFFICER: Wait, what was that?
[04:10:00]
911 DISPATCH: It's going to be room 12 (INAUDIBLE) he is in the room full of victims, full of victims at this moment.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): And yet, even with that information six minutes go by without any sort of response. Then we see Arredondo with a set of keys trying and failing to make entry into a classroom near where the gun man is barricaded. Eventually, hitting the keys off to another officer who does make entry. More heavily armored officers arrive, but no one gives the order to go in. Then suddenly, a new round of gunfire. But after those gunshots Arredondo again, tries to talk with the shooter.
ARREDONDO: Can you hear me, sir?
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): And again, minutes later --
ARREDONDO: Sir if you can hear me, please put your firearm down, sir. We don't want anybody else hurt.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know, I know.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's what we're doing. We're trying to get them out.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): After no response police still stand around without much urgency. Over the course of the next nearly 30 minutes we see more officers arrive. The video obtained by CNN cuts out moments before police breached the classroom and killed the shooter at 12:51 local time. By then many young, innocent children and their two teachers were dead.
Shimon Prokupecz, CNN, Uvalde, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MACFARLAND: That's hard to watch. OK, three people were killed and two others injured during a shooting at a shopping mall in a suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. A local police chief revealed some details about the suspect, the gunman.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF JAMES ISON, GREENWOOD POLICE DEPARTMENT: We have what appears to be one shooter. It looks to be an adult male. We have not identified him yet. We do not have a motive yet. It appears that he had a rifle with several magazines of ammunition. Entered the food court and began shooting.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MACFARLAND: The police chief praised the training his agency had had
on mass shootings, but added the suspected gunman was killed by a 22- year-old described as a good Samaritan with a handgun who was inside the mall. The victim are believed to be in their 20s and 30s. This is how one witness described what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OLIVIA HARDING, INDIANA MALL SHOOTING WITNESS: We heard four gunshots and I looked up and saw the carousel that's across from Old Navy was breaking down. And next thing you know you just hear about six more shots and you see everybody running. It was very scary but very traumatic. Lots of crying, lots of not knowing where the shooting was coming from.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLAND: Well, police are still investigating what led up to the shooting.
Now a major shakeup in Kyiv. On Sunday Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired two top government officials, citing accusations of treason within their organizations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Today I made a decision to remove the prosecutor general from office and to dismiss the head of security of Ukraine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLAND: Mr. Zelenskyy says he lost faith in their leadership after many of their subordinates were accused of treason and collaborating with Russia. He did not disclose whether the fired officials themselves are under investigation. Mr. Zelenskyy also announced the former regional head of Ukraine's security service in Crimea who was fired at the start of the war has now been detained on suspicion of treason.
The shakeup comes as more Russian missiles hammered eastern Ukraine over the weekend. This was a scene in one town Donetsk where Ukraine said strikes left at least one person dead and 14 wounded.
Well, Russian forces has been focusing much of their firepower in the east, part of a push to seize control of the entire Donbas region. And yet, there is little sign Russia is gaining ground. Earlier Ukraine's military said it had thwarted several attempts to advance into the Donetsk region. But even far away from the frontlines safety is never a guarantee, as CNN's Ivan Watson reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Russia is raining rockets and missiles down on Ukrainian cities. A campaign of long-distance violence carried out daily. In just the last week the Russian military hurled deadly weapons at Dnipro, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Vinnytsia and many cities and towns in between.
The July 14th strike on the central city of Vinnytsia took place midmorning on a Thursday. The attack killed at least 24 people, including children and wounded many more. But the Russian military is also firing near daily salvos at places like the frontline city of Mykolaiv.
WATSON: Scenes like this are becoming commonplace across Ukraine. And the reality is, any time, any place a deadly Russian missile could come crashing into your building.
[04:15:00]
WATSON (voice-over): The governor here accuses the Russian military of firing repurposed S-300 surface-to-air missiles at his city.
VITALII KIM, MYKOLAIV REGION, UKRAINE GOVERNOR: Because this is like a strategy of Russia to scare civilian people, to make panic.
WATSON (voice-over): In recent days missiles hit a hotel, a hospital, two universities, and this elementary school.
WATSON: The challenge the deputy principal here, she says that this part of the school was actually built more than a century ago. Look what's left of it.
WATSON (voice-over): The missile war is different from the furious artillery duels being fought along frontlines. Because the missile strikes hit far from zones of active combat in committees like the southern port city of Odessa that can otherwise, sometimes, feel relatively safe. There was no obvious sign of a Ukrainian military presence at the National University of Shipbuilding in Mykolaiv targeted by at least four missiles on Friday.
If they want to scare us with terrorism it won't work, this residence says. Some people will leave for their safety, he adds, but those who are ready to sacrifice everything for the defense of our country will stay.
Ukraine is carrying out its own devastating long-distance strikes with the help of long- range weapons systems provided by the U.S. and other Western allies. Repeatedly pounding what Kyiv claims was a Russian ammunition depot in the Russian occupied town of Nova Kakhovka this month. An attack that Moscow claimed killed at least six and wounded many more.
Those lucky to survive left to pick up the pieces. Victims of a vicious war with no end in sight.
Ivan Watson, CNN, Mykolaiv, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MACFARLAND: Let's bring in our CNN's Clare Sebastian who is joining me now live here in the studio. And Clare, as we saw from Ivan's report there, the Russians are still continuing it seems to target Mykolaiv in their attempt to push west. But we are also hearing reports now of Russia preparing for the next stage of their offensive after this operational pause. What can you tell us about that?
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so what we are hearing -- what we're seeing is really is that Russia has to problems at the moment. It's struggling to move forward in the Donbas ever since it retook Lysychansk, which is the biggest sort of remaining stronghold in Luhansk. At the beginning of July, the frontline hasn't moved much. We're hearing even today that the Ukrainian military says that is thwarted several Russian attempts to move forward in the Donbas. So, it's fighting really hard to take that remaining territory in the Donetsk region, struggling to do so.
In meanwhile in the south, what we've got is Ukraine is really pushing to try to retake some of those occupied territories. Again today, Ukraine says it claims to have hit more ammunition sites in occupied Kherson, which is sort of to the west of Mariupol, a key area that Russia occupied in the early days of the war. And Russia is trying to fight back against that. We're seeing evidence, Ukrainian officials are saying that sort of Russia is bolstering its troop presence in the south, which clearly will take some of the attention off the east as well. So, it's sort of fighting quite hard into areas where sometimes you see it's sitting areas across the country.
MACFARLAND: And areas not on the frontline either. Areas targeting civilians as well, as we saw in the last week.
And just to the firing of those government officials, now this is the biggest shakeup of Zelenskyy's government since the war began. How problematic has what's emerged here for the Ukraine's war effort?
SEBASTIAN: You know, I think what you're seeing here is serious concerns. As I was saying, as they're trying to retake areas that are being held by Russia, that they might be seeing elements of collaboration among the ranks of the Ukrainians. What we have there is that two key officials, as you say, really high ranking, high-profile officials.
Iryna Venediktova, you know, been a ubiquitous figure on Western media. Is that she is spearheading, you know, the war crimes investigations. Dozens, if not hundreds of them that are going on in Ukraine. She has now been dismissed.
Ivan Bakanov, a longtime associate of Zelenskyy, a childhood friend, a key player in his election campaign. There was a picture that Zelenskyy posted on his Facebook page in 2019 calling him part of the dream team. Clearly, not anymore.
And another really sort of significant case, the former head of the main director of the security service in Crimea now detained. Him himself on suspicion of treason. The other two officials, by the way, not suspected of treason themselves, it was because of officials within their agencies that are suspected of this. But the former head of security director in Crimea is accused of this. This is what Zelenskyy had to say about him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENSKYY (through translator): Everyone who together with them was part of a criminal group that worked in the interest of the Russian Federation will also be held accountable. It is about the transfer of secret information to the enemy and other facts of cooperation with the Russian special services.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[04:20:00]
SEBASTIAN: That official was dismissed in the early days of the conflict. Zelenskyy saying in a statement that he believes now it's clear that he made the right decision. But clearly, this is something that they are not only cracking down on but trying to send a warning shot on, as I said, as they try to retake those Russian held territories.
MACFARLAND: Yes, not the best timing for this to have come out. But important that these figures were rooted out. Clare, think you very much for the latest there.
OK, still ahead, a preview of what could be the final public hearing by the January 6 Committee investigating the U.S. Capitol riot.
Plus, millions in the U.S. are under heat alerts. We'll go to the CNN Weather Center with details on what to expect in the coming week.
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MACFARLAND: Welcome back. It's going to be another busy week for the January 6th Committee. Their eighth and potentially final public hearing is scheduled for Thursday. They're expected to give a minute by minute account of what then-President Donald Trump did and did not do for 3 hours while the Capitol riot took place. CNN's Katelyn Polantz has the preview.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[04:25:00]
KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME INJUSTICE REPORTER: 187 minutes, that's the story the House Select Committee plans to tell in their prime-time hearing on Thursday. 187 minutes where they say Donald Trump did nothing to quell the violence of his supporters on Capitol Hill on January 6.
So, one of the committee members, Adam Kinzinger on CBS Face the Nation, Sunday, said Trump was gleefully watching television in the West Wing, seeing the Capitol fall. And Representative Elaine Luria on CNN described the focus of the upcoming hearing this way.
REP ELAINE LURIA (D-VA): We'll go through pretty much minute by minute during that timeframe from the time he left the stage at the Ellipse, came back to the White House and really sat in the White House, in the dining room, you know, with his advisers urging him continuously to take action, to take more action. And not only was it a situation of not doing anything, a one point the infamous tweet, we know, at 1:24, he actually egged people on by saying Vice President Pence didn't have the courage to, quote, unquote, do the right thing.
POLANTZ: Now this hearing feels like the culmination of eight televised Congressional sessions we've seen so far about January 6 and about how Donald Trump and those around him schemed to block the election's results. But this is not the end of the committee's investigation. Kinzinger said Thursday this is just the end of the first tranche of hearings. More could come when the House Committee releases a report of their findings later. But when that will be it's still not known. That's because this is an ongoing investigation and committee members are saying they're getting new information and hearing from the witnesses every single day.
Even this week we understand the Secret Service, that agency that had personnel up close next to Trump as the day folded, they plan to turnover subpoenaed text messages from agent's phones on January 5th and 6th after House members grew concerned last week about whether Secret Service phone data have been lost. We'll see what happens there.
Katelyn Polantz, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MACFARLAND: Two committee members say they expect the panel will receive those Secret Service text messages by Tuesday. There are a hot topic for the Sunday morning talk shows. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LURIA: An agency that was such a key part of critical event in our history, one would assume they had done everything possible to preserve those records, to analyze them, to determine, you know, what kind of things went right or went wrong that day in their practices and procedures. And you know, we are looking into this. That's why we are subpoenaing them. You know, as far as digital records and text messages, but not being an IT expert, but I do understand there's a lot of things that could be done. A lot of forensic analysis and recouping of data. So, we want to make sure that we understand the bottom line. Like where are those text messages? Can they be recovered? And we subpoenaed them because their legal records that we need to see for the committee.
REP. ZOE LOFGREN (D-CA): If you have them. We need them. And we expect to get them by this Tuesday. So, we'll see.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And just all the text messages.
LOFGREN: We need all the texts from the fifth and the sixth of January.
REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL): They claim it was this technological change. We moved everything, we lost these text. And then they also put out a statement though that said we've only lost some of the texts and everything relevant to this investigation has been turned over. So, those are very conflicting statements.
So, we decided as a committee, let's request these by Tuesday and we can make a decision. I will say this, in the very least, it is quite crazy that the Secret Service would actually end up deleting anything related to one of the more infamous days in American history, particularly when it comes to the role of the Secret Service.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MACFARLAND: Jury selection begins in the coming hours in the trial of former Trump adviser Steve Bannon. He's accused of failing to testify and turn over documents to the January 6th Committee and has pleaded not guilty. The judge rejected Bannon's second request to delay the start dates. The judge also said he will decide whether the jury can hear about Bannon's recent offer to cooperate with the committee. Bannon's lawyers have said he might be called to testify in his own defense.
The dangerous heat wave sweeping through Western Europe could soon bring record highs to the U.K. and it's also fueling wildfires in several countries. The latest forecast after the break.
Plus, Sri Lanka's acting president has declared a state of emergency amid the ongoing political turmoil in the country. A live report later this hour from the capital city of Colombo.
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