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Ex-Officer Who Defended Capitol Releases Tape of GOP's Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) Meeting; NTSB Recommending System to Curb Speeding in New Vehicles; Tonight, Uvalde School Board Holds Meeting Amid Suspension of District's Police Force. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired October 10, 2022 - 10:30   ET

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

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[10:30:00]

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, former D.C. Police Officer Michael Fanone, who was severely beaten, suffered heart attack and a traumatic brain injury during the U.S. Capitol attack reviewed tapes that he secretly recorded while meeting with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy after the insurrection.

CNN Law Enforcement Correspondent Whitney Wild joins me now with the new audio. So, what is the significance here in these tapes, Whitney?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bianna, it is really giving an inside look at what actually happened behind closed doors. As we know, Fanone suffered and sacrificed a lot that day. He suffered a heart attack and a concussion during the insurrection and is now dealing with a traumatic brain injury as well and posttraumatic stress disorder.

Now, he is releasing audio he captured that brings greater clarity to what lawmakers were really saying behind the scenes in the months after the attack. During a private meeting last summer between House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, he told Fanone, as well as Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, as well as and Gladys Sicknick, the mother of another officer who died after the riot, information that seems to conflict with other comments that McCarthy had made. For example, McCarthy told all three that the former president, Donald Trump, had no idea that it was his supporters who were carrying out attack. Later in the meeting, Fanone confronted McCarthy about his defense of Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL FANONE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: The president's statements that day were B.S. Saying, you know, you were on the phone him. While you were on the phone with him, I was getting the (BLEEP) kicked out of me, almost losing my life.

The way that, you know, this is what happens when you steal an election, go home. I love you. What the (BLEEP) is that? That came from the president of the United States?

(END VIDEO CLIP) WILD: And, clearly, he was just incredulous.

We have reached out to McCarthy's office for comment. Bianna?

GOLODRYGA: Whitney Wild, thank you, really something to just hear him say that. We appreciate it.

Well, as the January 6 committee gets set to hold its next and possibly final public hearing on Thursday, Committee Member Zoe Lofgren tells CNN that the hearing will focus on alleged connections between members of former President Donald Trump's inner circle and violent extremists. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ZOE LOFGREN (D-CA): The plan, which actually began prior to the election, for the election to be seized even if it had been lost, you know, honestly, this was a plot that began and was carried out with great intention by Trump world, including the president himself, utilizing violent extremists.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[10:35:12]

GOLODRYGA: Joining me now to discuss is former federal prosecutor and CNN Legal Analyst Jennifer Rodgers. Jennifer, great to see you.

So, what would you like to see and what do you expect to see from the committee as they present what could be their final public presentation of what has been months of investigation on their part, this time really focusing on any connection directly to the former president's inner circle?

JENNIFER RODGERS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, expectations are high, Bianna, because every single time the committee has brought new and blockbuster information about this plot. So, I think and I hope that they will show us that there are significant ties between the president and his inner circle, one person being Roger Stone that jumps out, and these violent groups, Oath Keepers and Proud Boys and so on.

And some of that evidence, I think, we're starting to see in the Oath Keepers trial that's going on right now. But we'll see what the committee has been able to dig up. That would go a long way to proving that the president himself and certainly those around him knew about the likelihood of violence on that day.

GOLODRYGA: We also know that the committee says they received some 800,000 pages of materials from the Secret Service in response to a subpoena. Do you expect any light to be shed on what came out of these hundreds of thousands of papers this week?

RODGERS: I hope so. That had been one of these big gaps in a really outrageous thing on the part of a government agency to not have maintained these records. So, I hope that fact that they've been able to obtain some of what they were seeking will show us what commentary was going on at the time.

These Secret Service officers, actually, they're on the ground, they are closer than anyone to the former president and other high-ranking officials. They see a lot, they hear a lot and what they were saying about what was going on, I think, would shed a lot of light.

So, if those records that have now been obtained have that kind of information in them, I do hope that we will see it and that we will learn from it.

GOLODRYGA: And that is an important point to make, because this is all for posterity's sake, all of this months' worth of investigations and research into what went on and what led to the insurrection is for Americans in the future, down the road, to learn from.

That having been said, I'm curious if you're worried at all about the timing here and the attention span among the American public given everything that is taking place, whether it is the war in Ukraine, obviously, the midterm elections, rising gas prices, the economy, et cetera.

RODGERS: Well, that is always an issue. And I think, certainly, the way that the committee has put together the prior hearings has been very, very smart, to try to keep them tight, keep them interesting, get people to watch. It has been enough of a gap between the last one and this one that I think people will tune in because they will expect to see something interesting.

But they'll have to produce it in the same way that they did the previous ones, right? Give us the new information, make it all come together in a compelling way in order to get people to pay attention. Because when they drop that huge report that is coming, we all know it will be fascinating reading and chockfull of information. But most people in the country aren't actually going to pick it up. So, this is the time to get the eyeballs on it. And so I think they'll be able to do it given what they've done in the past hearings.

GOLODRYGA: And in terms of what the consequences could be for the former president in any sort of legal jeopardy that he could be in, obviously, a lot of focus now been on this dispute with the National Archives, given that the focus now is on his inner circle and its connection potentially to January 6, what kind of legal question does he face, legal jeopardy as he is perhaps now considering another run for the presidency?

RODGERS: Well, Bianna, he faces potential criminal charges, seditious conspiracy, all of these things, obstructing an act of Congress, things that have been charged in terms of other January 6th defendants. The problem with the committee's work is they haven't been able to get to the people who were around him. So, they haven't been able to obtain testimony from the people who were actually in the room with the former president, by and large.

But DOJ doesn't have the same constraints that the committee does. They are able to issue grand jury subpoenas, which can't be ignored. So, I do expect that they will get to the heart of what the former president actually knew and actually intended. And if that evidence is enough to bring a criminal charge, then they'll be in a position to do so.

GOLODRYGA: Jennifer Rodgers, thanks, as always. We'll have to leave it there.

RODGERS: Thanks.

GOLODRYGA: And coming up, intelligent speed assistance. We will take a look at the new technology the federal government is recommending to prevent new vehicles from driving above the speed limit.

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[10:40:00]

GOLODRYGA: A new push this morning to enforce speed limits across the country. The country's top safety agency, the National Transportation Safety Board, has a new recommendation for automakers that could force new cars to slow down, an effort predicted to save tens of thousands of lives each year.

CNN's Pete Muntean shows us how it works.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETE MUNTEAN, CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Here we go.

In this electric car, a lead foot could only get you so far. It is equipped with intelligent speed assistance. That means the car knows the speed limit here is 20 miles per hour and with won't let you go above it.

[10:45:02]

MEERA JOSHI, DEPUTY MAYOR FOR OPERATIONS, NEW YORK CITY: I can't do anything. So, I'm pressing the pedal but you see actually the number is going down.

MUNTEAN: Driving me is New York City Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi. The city is the first in the U.S. to try speed limiter technology in 50 of its fleet vehicles.

JOSHI: We need to be at forefront. There is no reason today with so much technology and so much awareness that anybody should die at the hands of an automobile.

MUNTEAN: Federal data shows more than 20,000 deaths on our roads in the first half of this year. It is one reason why in its latest safety recommendation the National Transportation Safety Board is calling on the federal government to start incentivizing carmakers to put speed limiter systems in new cars.

JENNIFER HOMENDY, NTSB CHAIR: We have to remember these aren't just numbers. These are people who have lost their lives. MUNTEAN: New York's speed limiter program works through something called telematics. Stored data on local speed limits is cross- referenced with the car's GPS position. Software in New York's cars gives the driver an alarm or simply just cuts off the accelerator when you reach the speed limit.

JOSHI: It is called a dead pedal.

MUNTEAN: This system does have an override. If you press this button, you can accelerate beyond the speed limit for 15 seconds in case you need to merge or speed up to meet the flow of traffic.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, if somebody is in the fast lane driving too slow, then, to me, that cause more accidents than driving faster.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It feels kind of intrusive and invasive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think from a regulatory standpoint, I think it might be overstepping some bounds.

KARL BRAUER, EXECUTIVE ANALYST, ISEECARS.COM: I think the average consumer is going to see this as an overreach by the government.

MUNTEAN: History expert Karl Brauer says it will be up to carmakers to accelerate safety without putting the brakes on sales.

BRAUER: I think a move like this is certainly a sign of the future. It is a preview of coming attractions and probably an unavoidable one.

MUNTEAN: A change can't come soon enough for Juan Pulido.

KJUAN PULIDO, FAMILY DIED IN CAR ACCIDENT: I'm really hopeful they take it serious and actually do make the changes.

MUNTEAN: His wife and kids were killed by an oncoming speeding drunk driver, a crash that served as inspiration for the NTSB calling for speed limiter systems.

PULIDO: It is going to save lives. It's going to prevent more accidents from happening and less families having to go through what I'm going through.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MUNTEAN: Clearly, a lot of opinions about this and a lot of action will need to take place in order for this system to become commonplace in new cars. New York City wants more federal government, more federal help, money from them to expand its trial. And the NTSB wants help from the federal government to make it so that this is standard in your next new car.

Remember, though, this is only a recommendation right now. There is a requirement for this technology going into place in Europe, Bianna. That begins next summer, July 2023.

GOLODRYGA: Well, that's something that is introduced globally, not just here in the United States. Really interesting to see what technology can do to help improve and save lives.

Pete Muntean, thank you.

Well, still ahead, the Uvalde School District Board holding a meeting days after it suspended the entire police force following a CNN report. That is straight ahead.

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[10:50:00]

GOLODRYGA: Families in Uvalde, Texas, are preparing to face school officials in a school board meeting scheduled for tonight, this just days after Uvalde consolidated independent school district suspended its entire school police force. That decision more than four months after an attack that left 19 children and 2 teachers dead.

CNN's Shimon Prokupecz has been following this story from the very beginning and breaking some of this reporting for us.

Shimon, what response do we expect from the families tonight?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: I certainly think you're going to see a sense of relief, a sense that there is some change that is happening in the community. Many of these family members had a difficult decision to make in the beginning of the school year whether or not to send their kids back to these schools where the same very police officers were going to be patrolling. As you said that police department, the school police department which is a small police department, has been suspended.

I think also tonight, what we're going to learn is what the next steps are with the school district. As we've been reporting, they've suspended the police department, what are the next steps there, but also significant, the administration is changing. The superintendent says that he's going to be retired. He's been with the school district for over 30 years, a big part of this community. So, he's going it be retiring.

That transition is going to be on the agenda tonight at the school board meeting and we're certainly going to hear from parents who are demanding more answers, specifically how that officer, Officer Crimson Elizondo, who reported on, was somehow hired by the school district even though she was under investigation for her response while she was at the state Department of Public Safety, her response to the school shooting back on May 24th.

GOLODRYGA: So, major developments, but they've been happening incrementally and it is appears over the course of these past four months, they've come after reporting, like that of yours. What is the status of the overall investigation and how are parents and families handling all of it?

[10:55:00]

PROKUPECZ: well, certainly, the way in which information is coming out is really concerning. It is sort of just keeps -- it is just this punch to them. The consistent information, the lack of information that doesn't come out and then we have to do reporting in order to get some of this information for these families, for this community, the fact that officials have not been open and transparent about what they've learned about the failed police response.

The big thing that is happening in the community is that the local district attorney is running this investigation. And she basically has forbidden the authorities from releasing any information from even sharing a lot of the information with family members. So, you have that investigation that is ongoing with the district attorney but there is also a DOJ, Department of Justice investigation, that is ongoing.

So, we're going to hear about that in the coming months, but everyone is waiting on the D.A. so that they can start releasing information to these families.

GOLODRYGA: And you'll be following that school board meeting for us today. Shimon Prokupecz, thank you, as always, for all of your reporting throughout these four months.

And thank you so much for joining us today. I'm Bianna Golodryga.

At This Hour with Kate Bolduan starts after a quick break.

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