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Arkansas State Police Open Investigation; Bomb Kills Putin Ally's Daughter; Flash Flooding Hits Dallas; Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) is Interviewed about Violent Threats on Social Media. Aired 9-9:30a ET
Aired August 22, 2022 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:40]
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Good Monday morning, everyone. So glad you're with us. I'm Poppy Harlow.
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Jim Sciutto.
We are following several major stories this Monday morning. In Russia, officials there are launching what they call a murder investigation after 29-year-old Daria Dugina, a Russian television commentator, was killed in an apparent car bombing. Her father, an influential Russian figure, has been described as one of Putin's most vocal supporters. We will have the latest from Moscow in just a moment.
HARLOW: New developments on that this morning.
Also, back here in the United States, Justice Department officials are facing a Thursday deadline as they decide which portions of the Mar-a- Lago search affidavit should be reacted (ph). The Department of Justice says releasing any of it is a mistake and could cause significant damage to their criminal investigation. But the federal magistrate judge who gets to make the decision, who's considering the issue, did put out an order just a few moments ago saying that he agrees that DOJ has a substantial reason to protect details of this ongoing investigation. So, we'll get into that ahead.
Also, very disturbing images from a violent arrest in Arkansas. This is so hard to even watch. This video shows two deputies and an officer appearing to punch and knee a suspect during an arrest yesterday. All three of those officers have been taken off duty. They are under investigation.
SCIUTTO: Yes, multiple kicks to the head there, you can see.
Let's begin there. CNN correspondent Omar Jimenez has more on that arrest in Arkansas. We do want to warn you once again, a lot of these images are disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Three Arkansas law enforcement officers have been removed from duty after this video showing them hitting a man outside a store in Mulberry, Arkansas, was posted to social media. The officers are seen punching and kneeing the suspect repeatedly and later arresting him.
In the video, a woman not seen can be heard screaming to stop beating him. Telling the officers, he needs his medicine. An officer points and yells at her to back up.
The person who posted the video says her sister witnessed the altercation.
The two Crawford County deputies were suspended and the Mulberry Police officer placed on administrative leave while the incident is investigated.
Police say the man in the video is 27-year-old Randal Worcester of Goose Creek, South Carolina. They accuse him of threatening and spitting on a gas station attendant in a nearby town. The clerk then called the police. Worcester then rode a bike to the County Express Convenience Store in mulberry where he was arrested outside the store.
One witness tells CNN affiliate KHBS, it looked like the man got up to run away to avoid arrest, but the sheriff claims he got up to attack an officer.
Worcester is being held at the county jail on multiple charges, including first degree assault and second degree battery. It's unclear whether he has an attorney.
The Crawford County Sheriff's Office released a statement writing, I hold all my employees accountable for their actions and will take appropriate measures in this matter.
Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson tweeted, the local arrest incident in Crawford County will be investigated pursuant to the video evidence and the request of the prosecuting attorney.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JIMENEZ: Now, the local sheriff's office says a state investigation has been open into this, but one that will be limited to the use of physical force seen here.
But there are still a lot of unanswered questions, including what exactly led up to that. Maybe even other video that could be out there, potential body camera video. These are all things that are being looked at, at this point.
But the major question at the center of all of it is, was this amount of force really necessary? It's, of course, the question at the center of this investigation and no doubt at the tops of anyone's minds who watches what unfolded on that video.
HARLOW: Yes.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
HARLOW: It was almost impossible to watch and how it escalated.
Omar, thank you for the reporting. Keep us posted as you get more answers.
Let's bring in to talk about all of this, former Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis.
Commissioner, thank you very much for being here. I mean that's the question, right, what's necessary? And there's a lot we don't know. We don't know really what we -- we can't see what happened before that video begins. However, is there any scenario in which a response like that would be proportional and necessary?
[09:05:02]
ED DAVIS, FORMER BOSTON POLICE COMMISSIONER: Well, good morning, Poppy.
It's clear from the video there was excessive force used. No matter what happened beforehand, the aggressive punching and pushing the defendant's head into the ground is just inexplainable -- unexplainable. It's -- it's frustrating to see something like that happen after all that's gone on. You know, with someone who's been in the profession, you just wonder to yourself, when is this going to stop?
But it's also a really important lesson about body cameras. There was a study done that body cameras on police officers not only improved the officer's conduct but improved the conduct of the individual that they're interacting with. So, I wonder, you know, where those cameras are, why they weren't on the officers and if the presence of those cameras might have made a difference in this situation.
SCIUTTO: There is, as you know, Ed Davis, training for officers to subdue someone that they're trying to arrest if that person is resisting arrest. And what caught my attention in particular was the repeated punching to the head and even it appears banging his head on the pavement. And I just wondered, in any training that you've experienced, has that ever been part of the training? Is it ever part of the training to do that, to subdue the suspect?
DAVIS: Not in a situation like that. There can be no explanation for the vicious punching and the slamming of the defendant's head into the ground. That particular officer has clearly acted outside the bounds of what's right.
But the -- what -- you know, what I'd like to stress is that, when you have situations like this where you have anger and you have adrenaline that is playing a role in this, the officers will do things sometimes that are -- that are outside their training. It's not acceptable. It has to be trained out. But it's very difficult to do that among young men who are engaged in that kind of combat situation.
And, you know, the punching can happen. An officer can punch people, but only if they're being attacked at that particular time in a means in a way to defend themselves.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
DAVIS: What I saw there on the ground just was not appropriate.
SCIUTTO: Well, Ed Davis, you've commanded police in Boston. Thanks for sharing your experience with us this morning.
DAVIS: Thank you, Jim.
SCIUTTO: Also new this morning, another major story. Russian law enforcement is claiming that the brazen car bombing near Moscow over the weekend which killed the daughter of an influence ultra nationalist philosopher and key Putin ally was, police say, detonated remotely.
HARLOW: So this comes as organizers of a festival that Daria Dugina attended shortly before she was killed say that surveillance cameras at the event didn't work. This is very quickly developing.
Our CNN senior international correspondent Frederik Pleitgen joins us from Moscow.
I mean, Fred, literally changing within the last hour. What can you tell us?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you're absolutely right, Poppy, definitely changing within the last hour. And the Russian intelligence service, the FSB, now claiming that they have solved all of this. They are blaming Ukraine for the murder of Daria Dugina, saying that it was an improvised explosive device that was remotely detonated. And they say that it was set off by a Ukrainian woman who was working for Ukrainian intelligence service.
I just want to read you a little bit of the comment that they gave. They said, the murder of journalist Daria Dugina has been solved. It was prepared by the Ukrainian special services by a citizen of Ukraine. And, essentially, they say that this Ukrainian woman came to Russia, together with her very young daughter, 12-year-old daughter, and moved into an apartment in the same housing complex that Daria Dugina was in, to collect information. Then went to that same festival that Daria Dugina was at, together with her father, Aleksandr Dugin, who is, of course, that idealogue, who's said to be very close to Vladimir Putin in his thinking, and then set that device off and has since fled to Estonia.
Now, the Ukrainians, for their part, denied having anything to do with this. But since all of this came out with the Russians now claiming it was the Ukrainian special services, we've asked the Ukrainians again and they say they don't have any comment at this time. So we're waiting for that to happen.
The other new development that we have is that Vladimir Putin has commented for the first time on this, literally as we were going to air right now. He has just sent his condolences to the family of Daria Dugina and, of course, Aleksandr Dugin as well.
Again, a very fast-developing story. And this could have major repercussions. There's already people high within Kremlin controlled media calling for tougher action against Ukraine and even strikes on Kyiv, guys.
SCIUTTO: Fred Pleitgen, thanks so much.
Joining me now to discuss this, former CIA operative Bob Baer.
Bob, there are a number of assassinations that have taken place in Russia in recent years that years later are not solved. This one, the Russian police claimed solved within 48 hours and pointing the finger at Ukraine a couple of days before its victory day celebrations there.
[09:10:09]
Does that speed and does the past track record of Russian authorities raise questions for you?
BOB BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY ANALYST: Oh, absolutely, Jim. They haven't had the time to collect the shrapnel and everything else from this, the detonators. It happened too fast. The Russians can't do this. There's absolutely no reason to believe they have the evidence against Ukraine. It's way too fast. These things take months.
So, I think they made a political decision to blame Ukraine to justify whatever they're going to do next.
SCIUTTO: There is a long history, including in this war, we're about six months into the Russian investigation of Ukraine, of Russia attempting what are known as false flag operations. That is an operation, for folks at home, that you carry out and blame the other side in effect. And, by the way, U.S. and western intelligence exposed a number of Russian false flag plans early in the war.
Does this potentially have the markings of something like that based on your experience?
BAER: Oh, I think absolutely. I mean Russian intelligence could have done this very easily. It's a very sophisticated attack. Command initiated IED. With military explosives. Getting that stuff in place, getting it into Russia. The Russians could very easily have done it.
And this could be a justification for Putin to say, all right, now it's time for a call up, more troops. We really need to go in and finish this war or the war is coming to us. I could definitely see -- I mean, remember, 1999, Putin blew up four apartment buildings to justify attacking Chechnya.
SCIUTTO: You have seen in recent weeks and months Ukrainian operations behind Russian lines. We've seen attacks, for instance, in Crimea, appear to be potentially missile attacks, but also other attacks on ammunition depots and elsewhere where it's still questionable as to who carried them out, but some signs, and even some comments from Ukrainian officials where they're not quite denying it, that showed that Ukraine at least has the capability of conducting operations on Russian soil.
Do you see anything that Ukraine would have to gain out of carrying out an operation such as this? BAER: Well, the Ukrainian resistance, parts of it, keep on claiming
that they can attack in Moscow. I frankly don't believe them, that they had the networks there, they can do assassinations and car bombs and the rest of it. They could do it. Yes, these borders are very porous. It's very easy for a Russian-speaking Ukrainian to travel with false documents. But right now I just have seen no evidence, public evidence, that they have serious networks in Moscow. Hitting Crimea with a drone or a missile is very easy, predictable. But Moscow, this is a new game.
SCIUTTO: Yes. And the claim that the assailant fled to Estonia, also notable because Estonia has often been, just ask the Estonians, in Russian crosshairs.
Bob Baer, thanks so much for sharing your experience.
BAER: Thank you.
HARLOW: Well, coming up, House lawmakers are calling on big social media companies to take action over threats of violence against law enforcement in the wake of the FBI search at Mar-a-Lago. Congressman Ro Khanna will join us to talk about details on what responses they may be getting.
SCIUTTO: Plus, just harrowing images out of Dallas as that city got seven inches of rain in one day. Look at this rescue here. See how first responders rescued people after flood waters cover an interstate.
And CNN gets a first-hand look at the Biden administration's efforts to roll out monkeypox vaccines at large LGBTQ events. We're going to take you live to Charlotte, North Carolina.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:18:05]
HARLOW: Well, in downtown Dallas overnight rescue crews pulled people from, look at that, flooded cars. Other drivers swam to safety. This is after heavy rain flooded the interstate. Rushing water shut down lane after lane of traffic as Dallas received a summer's worth of rain in less than 24 hours.
SCIUTTO: Lord, it seems like this has become an almost regular event in this country.
HARLOW: Yes.
SCIUTTO: CNN meteorologist Chad Myers, he is standing by.
Let's begin with Ed Lavandera, who is in Dallas.
I wonder what you're seeing today. I mean some of those people lucky to escape with their lives.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, it's been a brutal overnight hours. We're standing over Interstate 30. You can see, these are the eastbound lanes where the traffic in places has been really a congested issue because of the high water in places really slowing things down. You can see the westbound lanes, it's much thinner traffic because that's -- there's water problems just down the road that way. But this is what the city is dealing with.
As you mentioned, a summer's worth of rain has fallen in this area since 3:00 yesterday afternoon. It's absolutely been devastating. The entire state has been battling drought conditions for some time and this has been much-needed rain, but this is really next level stuff, if you will.
There have been high water issues in many places across the city. Flood warnings that are extending in -- later into this evening. More rain expected. It has been a devastating overnight experience with this torrential amount of rainfall really causing problems across the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
Jim and Poppy.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
HARLOW: Ed, thank you for being there and for that.
And, Chad, I mean Ed just mentioned these flash flood warnings being extended in Dallas.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Right.
HARLOW: What does that mean and how unprecedented -- as Jim said, we seem to be seeing these things every week or few weeks in this country now.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
MYERS: We are - we're within the I would say one inch now of being between a one in 50 year rain event and a one in 100 year rain event.
[09:20:06]
And that's just from yesterday.
SCIUTTO: Wow.
MYERS: You have to remember how dry this place was. The ground was like an adobe brick. Not much is going to soak into an adobe brick for a while. It's going to have to get saturated a little bit and then it will continue to absorb. But the original rain did not really absorb. And it is still raining right now over the area. Some spots, over 10 inches of rain on the ground since 3:00 yesterday.
Cleburne, 10.10 inches. And, again, it is still raining.
To start the weekend, we were in the fifth driest summer of all time. And now, all of a sudden, here we go with all of this rainfall that came down all at one time. The flash flood watch has been pushed to the east a little bit, including Arkansas, including Shreveport, into Louisiana, because that's where the rain is going.
Now, it's not done yet for Dallas. You can still see there's still some there to the west of Dallas. Still heading that way. But the bulk of the rainfall today will follow to the south and to the southeast and even to the northeast of where we had all the rainfall overnight.
It was a matter of -- in Dallas and Fort Worth, they picked up three inches of rain in just one hour. There's no place in the world that can handle that kind of rainfall rate and not run off. And that's what we've seen so far today.
More rain to come. It isn't over.
And, Jim, I vividly remember being on your show on Friday saying, someone is going to flood, we just don't know who.
SCIUTTO: Yes. Yes.
MYERS: Now we do.
HARLOW: Wow.
SCIUTTO: You -- and you used that image. You said, it's like a brick, right?
MYERS: Yes.
SCIUTTO: And that brick cannot absorb water. It's a great -- well, you saw it coming.
MYERS: Yes, sir.
HARLOW: Thank you both, Chad, very much, and, Ed, to you and your team. It's not easy to report in conditions like that. We know that all too well. Thanks very, very much.
Still ahead, online threats against the FBI are intensifying after the search of former President Trump's Mar-a-Lago home and now Congress is stepping in making some significant asks of social media giants. One of those lawmakers will join us ahead.
SCIUTTO: And we are moments away from the opening bell on Wall Street. Stock futures are in the red right now after the Dow dropped 300 points on Friday. Investigators watching a big speech coming Friday from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, where he is expected to take a hawkish stance on inflation.
On the earnings front, Zoom Video, you may have heard of it, is set to report its quarterly results today.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:27:33]
SCIUTTO: The Department of Justice now has until Thursday to give a federal judge its suggested redactions for the Mar-a-Lago search warrant affidavit and explain why the public should not see those particular portions. That affidavit was used to justify the search of former President Donald Trump's Florida home. Last week the judge indicated a willingness to unseal at least part of that document with redactions. The DOJ warned that releasing too much would provide a road map to the investigation, even indicate possible next steps in the probe.
HARLOW: Meantime, on Capitol Hill, lawmakers are calling for immediate action from social media companies to address this flood of violent, online threats against law enforcement in the wake of that Mar-a-Lago search. And this is just one example of those alarming threats.
According to "The Washington Post," a Pennsylvania man charged with making threats of violence against the FBI posted this on Gab, quote, every single piece of expletive who works for the FBI in any capacity from the director down to the janitor who cleans the expletive toilets deserves to die. You've declared war on us and now it's open season on you.
In response to this letter from Congress, Gab posted in response on their website in part, we're considering the response of the House Oversight Committee. And went on to say, we don't scream about how seriously we take public safety. We don't publicize it. We don't make - we don't use it to make political statements. We do the work, try to be as responsible a corporate citizen as we can.
Twitter also responded to our request for comment, saying in part, our enforcement teams remain vigilant for violations of the Twitter rules, including threats and calls for violence. Our rules are enforced utilizing our range of enforcement options.
We've reached out to the six other companies. We haven't heard back yet.
So, let me bring in one of the authors of this letter, California Congressman Ro Khanna, who currently serves on House Oversight. You're the committee that sent the letters.
Thanks very much for being here.
And I just wonder, a, have you heard back, right? You sent it Friday. Have these companies responded? And, more specifically, what do you want them to change?
REP. RO KHANNA (D-CA): We have not heard back, Poppy, but we - they should have a few days to respond.
But here's the thing, it is illegal, even under our First Amendment, under Brandenburg (ph), for someone to have speech that incites violence and that has an imminent threat of violence. You can't just say you're going to try to assassinate or kill law enforcement online.
The problem is that some of these companies aren't monitoring that, they aren't taking it down. Frankly, Section 230 gives them too much leeway. They don't have a legal consequence.
[09:30:01]
We want to make sure that they're actually taking down posts that are inciting violence.
