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High School Cancels Football Season After "Slave Auction" Prank; Kim Kardashian Agrees To $1.3 Fine For Failing To Disclose She Was Paid For Promoting Crypto Asset; U.K. Government Ditches Plan To Eliminate Top Income Tax Rate; CNN Identifies Woman Who Allegedly Helped Arrange Migrant Flights; Fishermen Disqualified After Weights Found In Their Catch; Several NFL Players Benched Sunday Under Concussion Protocol. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired October 03, 2022 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Obviously, this came to light Thursday. And since then, over the weekend, people have been really talking about it, and there has been a response.

To that point, they have canceled the rest of the varsity football season. They say there are enough players involved they couldn't safely have a varsity football team after those players were removed from playing anymore.

They also said, and in listening to the superintendent of the Yuma City Unified School District, Doreen Osumi, she called it "unfortunate" and "extremely distressing."

She went on to say in her statement that "re-enacting a slave sale as a prank tells us that we have a great deal of work to do with our students so they can distinguish between intent and impact."

She went on to say, "They may have thought this skit was funny, but it is not. It is unacceptable and requires us to look honestly and deeply at issues of systemic racism."

She went on in her statement to say that when students find something funny that's so deeply offensive, it tells her they have an opportunity to teach them in this moment. But obviously, many people upset about it.

But still so many questions remain about how many players were involved. That's not clear. We're trying to get more information on this.

Obviously, deeply upsetting this is happening in northern California in 2022.

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: In the year 2022, that this would happen anywhere is deeply upsetting. Deeply upsetting. Almost leaves you with a loss for words. And we'll definitely get more on that.

Stephanie, appreciate it.

We're often warned that you should shred your sensitive mail, right? But what if somebody tampers with it before it reaches your mailbox? Turns out, officials say this is exactly what happened in New York and New Jersey.

Three postal workers have been arrested now in a $1.3 million fraud and identity theft scheme. The prosecutor says the trio and others stole credit cards from the mail, used them at high-end stores and sold them some of the goods at luxurysnob.com.

The DOJ says at least five other suspects are still at large.

Kim Kardashian is shelling out nearly $1.3 million to settle charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission over an Instagram post.

CNN Business editor-at-large, Richard Quest, joining us now from London.

Richard, what happened here?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR-AT-LARGE: Well, Kim Kardashian did a paid Instagram message where she said, "Are you guys into crypto? This is not financial advice but sharing what my friends told me about the Ethereum Max token."

She then added all of the other things that were all basically touting and advertising in the eyes of the S.E.C., the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is the regulator.

They found fault with that. They said it was touting stock, that she did not disclose the fact that she was paid $250,000 for the post.

So they fined her. She has to basically hand that over and another million dollars on top of that.

Kim Kardashian's lawyers say she fully cooperated from the beginning and remains willing to do whatever she can with the S.E.C.

The important thing, Erica, also is, besides the fact that she violated the securities law, which is one thing in itself, but let's not forget Ms. Kardashian is now a qualified lawyer.

She may not be practicing but she's passed the baby bar and is well on her way to being a full-scale lawyer.

So for lawyers to be involved in an illegal business, to behave like this has an element to it which might be one of the reasons why the fine was so severe.

HILL: Wow. That's something for an initial payment of $250,000 and now she's paying back $1.3 million.

I want to get your take. This is a really big story out of the U.K.

QUEST: Yes. HILL: Prime Minister Liz Truss scrapping the planned tax cut for the wealthy. This is a major backtrack. Why now and what happens now?

QUEST: This is the extraordinary, the classic political U-turn on the top rate of income tax, which the ruling Tory Party wanted to cut from 45 percent to 40 percent.

The only problem was their own M.P.s didn't know about it. They hadn't been costed. There was no funding on how it was going to be paid for.

And the country is about to into a recession and deep financial crisis where there will be spending cuts.

Not surprisingly there was an uproar. The prime minister wouldn't have got her policy through parliament, which is different than Congress, in a sense.

It's highly, highly unusual for the ruling party not to get what they want through parliament. And therefore, she did the only thing she could, having said for days she was not going to U-turn.

Her chancellor finance minister did exactly that, U-turn.

HILL: There we are.

Richard Quest, always appreciate it. Thank you.

Right now, President Biden is on his way to Puerto Rico. When he gets there, it's for a briefing about hurricane recovery efforts. More on the plans to help the island rebuild after Fiona just ahead.

[13:35:07]

Plus, the battle playing out again in D.C. A bus brought dozens of migrants from Texas to the vice president's home.

And we're learning the identity of a woman who allegedly helped arrange those migrant flights to Martha's Vinyard.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:40:12]

HILL: This morning, a bus carrying 46 migrants arrived outside Vice President Kamala Harris' resident in Washington. It's the latest group sent north from Texas as part of Governor Greg Abbott's campaign to relocate migrants.

Today, we're also learning about how a different group of migrants wound up in Massachusetts, in Martha's Vineyard. Somebody said someone named "Perla" had facilitated their travel. Now CNN has identified that woman.

CNN's Ed Lavandera joining us from Dallas.

Ed, who is Perla, and what exactly is her role here? ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We learned her full

name is Perla Huerta. She was instrumental if you remember a few weeks ago into luring and getting migrants to board several flights, which ended up carrying about 50 Venezuelan migrants from San Antonio, Texas, to Martha's Vineyard.

All of this was done without really the knowledge of Texas officials. So it was quite controversial at the time.

But all of the migrants involved, when they landed on Martha's Vinyard and they really had no idea where they were going to be ending up, they all talked about a woman named Perla.

We have been able to figure out that this is -- Perla Huerta.

What we've been able to gather so far, she has been discharged from the U.S. Army back in August, where she had a more than 20-year career working in a counterintelligence unit and also served several tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

We spoke with another migrant, who apparently worked closely with Perla Huerta to attract other migrants to board those flights.

The one migrant we talked with, whose identity we've chose to conceal for his own safety, says Perla Huerta was attracted to do this job with a promise of clothing, food, and shelter in exchange for talking and convincing migrants to board these flights to Martha's Vineyard.

So all of this happening -- many of the migrants said, in the end, they felt deceived by what happened. They were promised jobs and help with the immigration process. None of that materialized once they landed in Massachusetts.

But remember, the sheriff's department in San Antonio has launched a criminal investigation. This is one of the people they've been trying to get ahold of and trying to figure out who it is to continue carrying out that criminal investigation -- Erica?

HILL: It's really something.

Also that trip from Texas to Massachusetts was bank rolled by the state of Florida. Is it clear whether she was hired directly by Florida officials? Was there someone else?

LAVANDERA: That's why it remain as mysterious situation as to what exactly -- who exactly she is and what exactly her role was in all of this.

We don't have any direct information that draws a direct connection between her and Governor DeSantis in Florida.

We have tried multiple times over the last few weeks to reach Perla Huerta. We've been unsuccessful. We've left messages and knocked on her door. None of that has come to -- provided any insight from her as to what's going on with this case.

But that's an angle of the story we're continuing dig into.

HILL: Absolutely. Great reporting. Wow. Every day, some sort of new revelation.

I appreciate it. Thank you.

LAVANDERA: Thank you.

HILL: Right now, President Biden and the first lady are on their way to Puerto Rico where more U.S. citizens are reeling from a recent hurricane. The Bidens set to meet with the victims of Hurricane Fiona. The president will also detail new infrastructure funding for the island.

CNN chief White House correspondent, Kaitlan Collins, joining us with more.

Kaitlan, tell us what's on President Biden's agenda for today.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Erica, unfortunately, this is an area all too familiar with the damage a hurricane can cause. And not just that, really how long it takes to come back from that.

So that will all be a factor in President Biden's visit to Puerto Rico today. They're going to go to the southeastern coast.

And they're going to be meeting the families who have lost so much because, not just because of recent storms, but also Hurricane Maria, still coming back from the damage that caused five years ago.

They'll be assembling some care packages. He's going to make remarks. Also meeting with emergency officials while on the ground there.

This is just one of several stops he's making to areas hit by hurricane this week. He's going to Florida in the next few days.

Puerto Rico is such a noble factor here. What President Biden said when he left, he said he's going to see the damage to get a sense of what it looks like on the ground.

He says they haven't been taken care of. That seems to make a clear reference to the long-running feud former President Trump had with the officials in Puerto Rico.

Remember, they had policies that cut off sending them extra funding. That's something the Biden administration has been highlighting, the policy that they reversed.

And they really believe that Puerto Rico gets the sense that the Biden administration wants to come in and help more so in a way than the Trump administration did.

[13:45:58]

That's what the FEMA administrator, who's going with President Biden and first lady, Jill Biden, told reporters.

So you will see President Biden announce $60 million in funding for Puerto Rico. That's coming from the infrastructure bill recently passed. That's going to help with flood infrastructure on the ground and really helping Puerto Rico overall.

HILL: Kaitlan, appreciate it. We'll be looking to hear more about that once they get there, obviously.

Did the NFL's concussion protocol fail once again? Another weekend of games has now been the spotlight on player safety. But are they really safe enough at this point?

And never cheats. We know we know that, right, cheaters never win, winners never cheat themselves.

But enter a fishing competition this weekend with the shame, the smell. This story has it all. Don't go away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got weights -- (EXPLETIVE DELETED) -- and here we go.

(SHOUTING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVES DELETED).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:50:21]

HILL: Scandal in the competitive fishing world. Two tournament regulars now on the hook for cheating. This is the moment that the would-be winners' fish would be cut open in front of a crowd. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got weights -- (EXPLETIVE DELETED) -- and here we go.

(SHOUTING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVES DELETED).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: OK, so if you're wondering what happened there because you don't follow competitive fishing, don't worry, we're going to get you up to speed here. We've got weights in fish is what he was yelling.

Let's reel in Martin Savidge on this.

Unfortunately, Martin, there's no shortage of puns here on this story.

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

HILL: I don't doubt it because I know how good a writer you are, too.

I don't follow competitive fishing. I'm totally into it with this story.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, having grown up on the shore of Lake Erie, believe me, I know how important walleye fishing is.

The thing about it, these two accused anglers are almost legendary in the world of walleye. And they've won a number of tournaments. The thing now, they've opened up a whole new can of worms, as they say.

Because, you know, the way it works in the sport is they have teams. So it's two fisher people would get together, you go out and go fishing for walleye, you bring back your best five fish, and you weigh them, the one who has the heaviest weights, they weigh them.

And this particular contest, it was like $29,000 up for prize money.

So, when they weighed their team's fish, normally walleye, five of them would come in 20, 25 pounds. Their fish came in over 30 pounds, 33 pounds.

That's when organizers began to smell something fishy. When they cut them open, what did they find? Fishing weights inside. Other things that made the catch seem heavier.

Fishermen are famous for embellishing themselves or other people, but you don't cheat other fisher people.

The crowd got extremely angry. If you saw, the two were able to get away. One of the men had to actually lock himself in his own pickup truck.

But it doesn't end there. The Ohio Department of National Resources is now investigating. The evidence they collect, they say they will turn over to the Cuyahoga County prosecutor's office.

Which means these two men could get caught up in a net of their own building and they could face criminal charges. We'll have to see.

One thing is definitely clear, their fishing reputations are sunk.

HILL: I was waiting for the last line, which was worth waiting for, my friend.

You know what's incredible, if the fish are weighing in at 25 pounds why would you stuff had in so many weights that jacks it up to 33? Seems to be that would be a red flag. But what do I know.

SAVIDGE: Yes. I mean, they had a reputation to uphold apparently when they --

(CROSSTALK)

HILL: Yes. Martin Savidge, appreciate it. Thank you.

SAVIDGE: You bet.

HILL: Several NFL players were benched under NFL concussion protocol on Sunday, including two quarterbacks.

Now all of this coming after the players union terminated a doctor who evaluated Tua Tagovailoa after his series of hits a week ago. The Dolphins quarterback was allowed back in the game only to suffer a concussion in another game just days later.

And the outrage on the heels of those incidents has only been growing.

CNN's Coy Water -- Coy Water. I'm stuck on the fishing story, Coy. I'm sorry. Coy Wire is here with me.

Your insight into this being a former NFL player. Multiple players benched. Do you think we would have seen the same action, if it weren't for everything that happened over the last week or so?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes, look, Erica, at least a dozen players were reported leaving the game this past week due to concussions. It may seem like a lot when, you know, really, these concussions happen all the time.

Even heading into the games, before they started, there were seven players on official injury reports listed as either out or injured due to concussion.

Technically, the NFL and the NFL Players Association's jointly created concussion protocol is working but it's not working well enough.

Hall of Fame Coach Tony Dungy called the system broken.

I just got off the phone with a high-ranking league official who said there needs to be a hard reset of the protocol.

It was after this terrifying scene of Tagovailoa seizing up, concussed on the field Thursday.

The league and the Players Association released a statement saying modifications were necessary to the protocol, aimed at further protecting the players.

One particular way in which the protocol is not working, Erica, the concussed players are able to find themselves back into a game, right?

[13:55:00]

Last night, the Buccaneers' tight end took a hard hit, was slow to get up. Left the game but later found a way to return to the field before eventually leaving the game officially with a concussion. Now Tua Tagovailoa was seen stumbling off the field with his hit to the head on the turf there.

But if he was able to answer all the questions during screening, Erica, could pass the assessments, and he also tells the team doc, oh, it was my back that caused me to stumble, then the protocol, I guess you could justify that he could be clear to return to play.

From firsthand experience, Erica, I can say, that players need to be protected from themselves.

I got a concussion during my rookie year. Huge collision on the field. Continued to play the entire series.

Had no recollection of it whatsoever, I didn't recognize until I saw film the next day. Thankfully, a teammate told the trainers to get me out and keep me safe.

So hopefully, these protocol changes are soon to come and helpful.

HILL: The calls are certainly growing, that's for sure. It's important to hear the real-world examples just like yours.

Coy, I appreciate it. Thank you.

Thanks to all of you for joining me this hour. Ana Cabrera is back tomorrow.

Stay tuned. The news continues next with Victor and Alisyn.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)