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Adam Martinez is Interviewed about Arredondo's Firing; Airlines Pressured to Ease Cancelations; California Regulators Vote on Ban of Gas Cars; Trigger Laws Banning Abortions; Dangerous Flooding in Mississippi. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired August 25, 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]

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Transparency and they want more accountability.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Shimon, thank you for being there. I mean you are, you know, really - remember -- our viewers will remember, held Chief Arredondo accountable, trying to get answers for everyone in the days after the mass shooting.

Thank you for all your reporting.

Joining us now is Adam Martinez, a parent who was born and raised in Uvalde, who attended Robb Elementary himself. His eight-year-old son Zayon was in a Robb Elementary School classroom the day of this mass shooting. He, fortunately, made it out with no physical injuries, but is certainly bearing the emotional trauma.

SCIUTTO: You can listen to how Zayon reacted to Chief Arredondo's firing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADAM MARTINEZ: Zayon, how do you feel about them firing Pete?

ZAYON MARTINEZ, FORMER ROB ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENT: I feel great.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: I feel great, he says.

Adam Martinez also has a 12-year-old daughter named Anna Leah, who attended another school in Uvalde.

Adam, it's good to have you on.

Listen, my heart goes out to you. And I wonder, as you watch this step here, the firing of Arredondo, do you believe this was solely or largely his failure, or do you see a broader failure here among law enforcement agencies involved, and are you looking for more steps? ADAM MARTINEZ, UVALDE RESIDENT AND PARENT OF CHILD WHO ATTENDED ROBB

ELEMENTARY: You know, when you look at that house committee report, you know, it shows failures from the top to the bottom. Administrative-wise, you know, every police from state government to city, I think there's failures all around and it's black and white.

HARLOW: I know this is probably going to be very hard for you to hear, if you haven't already read it, but I do think it's important to get your reaction to this 17-page statement that Arredondo's lawyers put out about why he didn't face you guys last night, why he didn't come to the meeting. The statement describes him believing that last night was a, quote, public lynching, and it goes on to say, retribution will not bring anyone back. It is a hollow reward and it will only spread more hurt and pain in an unjust and biased manner. That's from the lawyer for Pete Arredondo.

How do you respond to that?

MARTINEZ: Well, I think he's made it very clear that he has no character, no dignity. From the beginning, just with the response from the family and the children, you would think that any normal human being would just say, you know what, I need to resign. Every day that nothing happens, every day that you see no action, you see the pain from the parents that lost children or that have traumatized children. You see that pain. And you think that he would just say, you know what, I'm going to go ahead and resign. What does he expect? Does he expect to be in a small community and hold his head up high and say that he's going to protect and serve? That's simply just ridiculous.

SCIUTTO: You've said that the school board has made some progress in terms of school safety, safety upgrades. Your children, they're going back to school now. And you've said they're scared.

I wonder, as a parent whose child experienced this, do you see the solutions here as a school safety issue alone or do you think that there are also issues, questions about gun regulations?

MARTINEZ: Both. You know, 18-year-old can go and buy an assault rifle, but they have to be 21 to buy beer or cigarettes. I mean the system is broken. And I think everybody is seeing it across the aisle. It's not a partisan issue. You hear everyone saying, you know what, we need to do something about it. And I really feel confident that something is going to be done.

HARLOW: So, you have four children, two of them are, you know, school age, eight and 12. And when you talk to them about going back to school, as I understand it, they're doing online school, at least to start the year. You've made real efforts to say, look, there are more police there. There's a, you know, tall fence at Robb Elementary. This is safer. I just wonder, especially, what your son Zayon says to you, why he doesn't - he doesn't want to go back.

MARTINEZ: No, it's very hard. And when you play these videos, it -- you can't help but get emotional. And, you know, it's one thing when - when you're fighting for. But when you see your child say it, you have to protect them. SCIUTTO: Yes.

MARTINEZ: That's our job. We have to protect our children. And there's nothing that's going to make me take him back until he tells me that he feels safe. And I think that this is a step in the right direction, but there's - there's a lot more things that need to happen.

HARLOW: Adam, we're -

SCIUTTO: Listen -

HARLOW: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

Poppy and I have talked about this a million times. We watch you. We invariably think of our own children.

[09:35:02]

I can only imagine the pain and stress you're going through. And I just want to tell you, we're thinking about you, and we do send you our best.

MARTINEZ: Appreciate that.

HARLOW: Thank you, Adam, very, very much. Sending our strength to your little ones as well. Thanks very much.

MARTINEZ: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Those poor little kids.

Well, another story we're following this morning, cancellations, they're causing delays at airports across the country this summer. Coming up next, CNN sat down with the head of United Airlines for an exclusive look at how the airline is attempting to address the problems.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:40:16]

HARLOW: We are just a few days away from the Labor Day travel rush. It appears the summer travel pain, though, not over yet. Monday marked one of the worst days for flight cancellations in months.

SCIUTTO: Yes, and if you've been through them, as many of us have, it's no fun. Those cancellations often caused by staffing shortages. They've made flying just a nightmare for some this summer.

CNN's Pete Muntean sat down with the CEO of United Airlines for an exclusive look at how it is trying to attack the issue.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Another week of air travel pain across the country is turning up the pressure on airlines to perform, with the Labor Day rush fast approaching. This past Monday alone, more than 1,400 flights were canceled nationwide, the fourth highest of the summer. Both Southwest and American Airlines delayed more than 40 percent of all their flights.

SYLVIA IBARRA, PASSENGER: Our flight was canceled.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yesterday.

IBARRA: Yesterday. Now we're back again today. It was canceled this morning. And now we're back again.

MUNTEAN: United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby says hiring here at its training center in Denver has made its pandemic recovery quicker than others. Since the start of this year, United has hired 1,500 new pilots in hopes of alleviating staffing shortages and canceled flights. In total, U.S. airlines have canceled more than 44,000 flights since June.

SCOTT KIRBY, CEO, UNITED AIRLINES: All airlines are not created equal.

MUNTEAN: In an exclusive interview, Kirby put some of the blame back on the federal government. Last week the Federal Aviation Administration said a shortage of air traffic controllers delayed flights into Newark, JFK and LaGuardia by up to two hours.

KIRBY: Frankly, the bigger challenges are not the airlines themselves, they're all the support, infrastructure around aviation that hasn't caught up as quickly.

MUNTEAN (on camera): Let me push back on that just a tiny bit because United has had 5,000 cancellation this summer. What do you say to somebody who does see this as an airline issue rather than some other cause.

KIRBY: Well, first, I would say, we're doing everything we can to get the airline running reliably. We know that's the most important thing for our customers. It's our number one priority. We had ground stops for the entire day. And when the FAA says you can't land airplanes at the airport, you're going to have delays and cancelations.

MUNTEAN (voice over): Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg insists air traffic control issues do not account for many cancellations this summer. In a letter to airline executives, Buttigieg says, the level of disruption Americans have experience this summer is unacceptable and is telling airlines to review their customer service commitments to passengers.

PETE BUTTIGIEG, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: I'm calling on the airlines to step up their game before we have to do even more.

MUNTEAN: For United, that starts with training that focuses on quality, something I got to try in a Boeing 737 simulator.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nice.

MUNTEAN (on camera): I feel like that was a little hard.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, that was good.

CAPT. MIKE BONNER, UNITED AIRLINES PILOT: Our growth plan, the most aggressive growth plan of any airline in the history of aviation, is really the driver behind the need for our pilots.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MUNTEAN: With the Labor Day rush right around the corner, United Airlines is expecting big numbers, 2.6 million passengers on United alone. Two big tips, Jim and Poppy, if you are traveling over the long holiday weekend. One, ditch that checked bag and carry on. That leaves you more flexibility. And, two, ditch the connections and fly nonstop. More connects means more opportunity for cancellations and delays.

Jim and Poppy.

SCIUTTO: I try to do both things all the time. Sometimes it works.

Pete Muntean, thanks very much.

Later today, California air regulators are expected to vote on new rules that would effectively ban the sale of new gas-powered cars by the year 2035.

HARLOW: It's a really significant, bold move. If passed it would be the first such ban not only in the U.S., in the world.

Joining us now is CNN correspondent Chris Nguyen joins us from Los Angeles.

This is huge. I mean it was interesting hear Pete Buttigieg respond to it this morning on CNN, saying, you know, if the federal government's the floor, California is taking it way above that.

CHRIS NGUYEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A very big deal, Jim and Poppy. The California Air Resources Board expected to make it official later this afternoon. Simply put, given the size of California's economy, this could have major implications for the U.S. car market. We know that today's vote has been years in the making and this could encourage more people to consider buying an electric vehicle.

Here's what a transportation expert had to say about the significance of this looming decision.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHA WEINSTEIN AGRAWAL, MINETA TRANSPORTATION INSTITUTE OF San JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY: This is an historic moment. And by having a clear fixed target when we stop selling gas and diesel vehicles, we are going to be making a really important dent in our need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[09:45:14]

NGUYEN: But, keep in mind, this isn't going to happen overnight. Officials with the board have set up a series of benchmarks for the state to meet. And, remember, this applies only to new vehicle sales in California. So, by 2026, the goal is for 35 percent of new vehicles to be zero emissions. That target number then goes up each year until 2035.

Now, an official with the board told CNN earlier that they've actually received a little pushback from car manufacturers, signaling that these car companies are embracing the potential change.

However, we did speak to the California New Car Dealers Association. The president says that he has some concerns about affordability and he hopes that the board will implement a mandatory midterm review sometime in 2028. But for now, these cars, these gas-powered vehicles aren't going anywhere anytime soon. The ban only applies to new vehicles.

Jim and Poppy.

HARLOW: Chris, thanks very much for the reporting. It's fascinating to watch what happens here.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HARLOW: And if, as, Jim, as you were saying earlier, if California becomes sort of this national standard. We'll see.

SCIUTTO: Exactly. Can he influence the national standard and big picture?

Nice to have you aboard.

HARLOW: Yes, welcome. Good to have you.

All right, switching gears here.

Coming up after the break, abortion will now be out of reach for millions of women. This is as new restrictive laws kick in. These so- called trigger laws in three states today. A look at the post Roe landscape right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:51:13]

SCIUTTO: A slate of restrictive state abortion laws are taking effect today. This is the latest in the wake of the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Those trigger laws, as they're known, begin in three states, Idaho, Tennessee and Texas. And they effectively ban abortions with very few exceptions.

HARLOW: So, North Dakota will follow suit with the trigger laws kicking in there tomorrow. And, on Saturday, a law enacting higher criminal penalties for anyone providing an illegal abortion begins in Oklahoma on Saturday.

Our correspondent Tom Foreman is following all of this.

Tom, let's talk specifically about Idaho, because there was a lot of court action, if you will, overnight on that. A judge blocking part of this state's total ban. What's the latest?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, all of these states -- the overall trend here is that many states that already have some abortion restrictions are becoming more restrictive. And if you look at what happened in Idaho, the real issue there is that a judge looked at this and said, look, I'm not making a big judgment about abortion rights in general. What I am saying is that your state law, which is extremely restrictive in terms of letting a physician in an emergency situation take care of a mother, is in conflict with a federal law that says this physician must take care of somebody who is in distress.

So, what they're saying in these medical emergencies, the physician is in an impossible situation. They're going to violate one law or the other very likely in any given situation.

Now, does this go forward much further than this? Don't know. There will be potentially another challenge to that.

It's different that the Texas law. Think about the Idaho law. In that state, they had this very narrow window where the argument is not only is it hard to balance the two laws, but it's a difficult decision that a physician in the moment must make an exactly perfect decision that the life of this mother was in great danger, and then is put in the defense -- the defensive position in court of trying to say, I have to prove that I was right about that, in a momentary decision, when other people may have months and months to say, no, we've determined that you were wrong about that.

SCIUTTO: Wow.

FOREMAN: Texas had a different outcome there. It is now a punishable felony in Texas, which could be life in prison, if somebody performs an abortion to save the life of a pregnant person. The argument there is that this is just not a decision that they're going to accept in the court.

Now, there are concerns there because life in prison, plus a $100,000 civil fine, potentially, even some of the county attorneys general, those groups, have started to say, we're not sure that this really will work, or this can really be done this way. Bottom line is, it's stepping up in all the states that are stopping abortions.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HARLOW: Absolutely. And so posing what I think will become an epic battle between the federal government and these states over who has the power, right, in this.

FOREMAN: It's on the way.

HARLOW: Tom, thanks very much.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

FOREMAN: You're welcome.

HARLOW: Next hour, we'll be joined by the head of a women's health clinic in Tennessee about how today's trigger law and what happens now impacts the community that they serve.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:58:40]

SCIUTTO: Well, the rain isn't stopping yet. Even more expected across the southeast today in areas already reeling from days of rain and flooding in some areas. Emergency crews in Rankin County, Mississippi, spent all day rescuing people from floodwaters, including more than 100 children, 15 staff members from a day-care center in Florence, Mississippi.

HARLOW: Wow. And also the mayor of Brandon tells CNN, 31 seniors had to be evacuated from that assisted living facility. A one point it had three feet of water inside. I mean look at them trying to rescue these elderly residents. There were school buses called in to help and get everyone out safely. And, thank goodness, looks like they did.

Our meteorologist Jennifer Gray is there in Brandon, Mississippi, this morning.

What is - what's ahead? Look at all that behind you. And then what's ahead?

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, yes, it's crazy. You know, people have lived here that I talked to yesterday, 30, 40 years. They said they've never seen rain like this, never seen the Pearl River rise as quickly as it did.

And so basically what we are in front of is a spillway. There's a reservoir just on the other side of those bridges and the Pearl River is draining into that reservoir. It got so full that now they're having to release some of that water. But they have to be careful because this now flows into the southern end of the Pearl River, south of Jackson, and so they don't want to flood all the neighborhoods south of here, downstream. And so it's a very tricky situation that they're dealing with, but they're doing their best to try to keep everyone dry and stop them from flooding.

[10:00:05]

So, more rain is expected. I want to show you the weather maps because you can see where all