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Top U.S. Diplomat: China On A Faster Timeline To Take Taiwan; Gallup: 70 Percent Of Ukrainians Say To Keep Fighting Until War Is Won; Person Of Interest In Oklahoma Killings Arrested In Florida; Youngest Witness To George Floyd's Murder Writes Book To Help Children Cope With Trauma. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired October 18, 2022 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: Secretary of State Antony Blinken says China is speeding up its plan on Taiwan to ultimately annex the island was possibly using coercion or even force if necessary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE: There has been a change in the approach from Beijing toward Taiwan in recent years and instead of sticking with the status quo that was established in a positive way a fundamental decision that the status quo was no longer acceptable and that Beijing was determined to pursue reunification on a much faster timeline.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: CNN global affairs analyst Kimberly Dozier joins us now. She is an international affairs fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Kim, good to see you this afternoon. So, when it comes to this faster timeline, what does that say to you and I wonder, too, how the reaction to Russia's invasion by Ukraine by the U.S., by the West, could be figuring in.

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, the fact that the Secretary of State decided to go public with this is a message to Xi and China writ large. We see what you're doing. We are watching the moves of your military, your naval assets on the potential battlefield and we're not going to let this aggression go unchecked.

This means that they've got intelligence intercepts and they've got Xi's own speech at the party conference when he made his declaration that he is against the independence of Taiwan. And you combine this together with President Biden's comments to 60 Minutes a while back where he said if Taiwan was invaded U.S. troops would be called on to defend the country. It's a combination that leads to confrontation but it also puts Beijing on notice that it's not going to go without the U.S. trying to rally its allies against any such action.

HILL: So, it'll be interesting to see how that all plays out. What if needed that defense would actually look like especially based on the cleanup that some officials within the administration seem to have done each time President Biden has expressed that support. I was also fascinating by these reports today, Kim, that China is recruiting former British military pilots to train the Chinese military. And the U.K. says, OK look, so this doesn't violate current laws. But it's concerning and especially when we're hearing these other comments. Is that -- is that something we could more of.

DOZIER: Now the U.K. ministry of defense is basically asking the government there to pass laws to make this illegal in the future. Because the feeling in Britain is that what China is trying to do is learn British techniques, procedures and learn how to fight against them by offering these former pilots salaries of up to 500,000 U.S. So, they want to stop it from happening again.

And it's all part of a piece of China preparing for confrontations not just in cyberworld or in the market space but preparing to take what it sees as its role as eventually the last remaining superpower with the military that will eventually outstrip the U.S. That is what China has been saying it's aiming for in many of its public statements, especially if you look at some of its military statements. It is aiming for domination.

HILL: Yes, I'm going to put China aside for just a minute now. Not that I couldn't keep talking about it. But I do want to get your take on Ukraine, because we've seen so many developments there over the last week and two from Russia. Not just in terms of using these drones.

[15:35:00]

I was fascinated by a poll, a new Gallup poll of Ukrainians, which found they are basically saying we are here for the long haul. They believe the country should keep fighting until it wins. The will is there. I wonder, what's your sense of the broader support though diplomatically, financially, even in terms of weaponry globally is that same support there?

DOZIER: Look, the will is there right now in Europe, in the United States and on the ground in Ukraine. But this is becoming a test of who can put up with the most pain for the longest. And Putin seems to believe that his people, that Russia can. At this point he still has enough control, enough popular support and enough authoritarian support within the security apparatus that he can keep prosecuting this war even as his country suffers through what's likely to be a brutal winter.

Meanwhile, Europe is going to be dealing with some shortages that it's never faced before, same thing in Britain. And look at what's happening in the United States, high prices here because of the knock on effect of higher gas prices et cetera because of the war in Ukraine are making people question the support of the overall conflict, not all Americans, but a sizable portion.

Inside Ukraine, as more and more of the electricity grid keeps getting knocked offline by these cheap drones when it gets 30 degrees and you've got no heat in your house you could start thinking about leaving the country again, maybe not whole families but we could see another exodus of women and children.

HILL: And there's also a really important question about knocking off the significant portion of electricity does to communications not just only for military but also for civilians. Something we'll be watching as well. Kimberly Dozier, always appreciate your insight, thank you.

DOZIER: Thank you.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: In Oklahoma, a deepening mystery after the bodies of four man were found dismembered in a river. Police now say they appeared to be on their way to commit a crime, details next.

[15:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: A man police say is a person of interest in the killings of four men in northeastern Oklahoma has just been arrested in Florida.

BLACKWELL: Authorities say the dismembered bodies of four men on bikes were found in a river about 35 miles south of Tulsa, all four had been shot. But police say before they were killed it appears they were planning some type of criminal act.

CNN senior national correspondent Ed Lavandera is with us. So, a man police had been looking for turned up in the Daytona Beach area, tell us about that.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this was a man that police so far have only been describing as a person of interest, Joe Kennedy owns two salvage yards and this is significant because police have said that the four men who went missing and then whose bodies have been found dismembered in a river there about 40 miles south of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Their cell phones were tracked to these two properties, salvage yards, there were owned by Joe Kennedy.

Police say that they spoke with him, interviewed him on Friday the day that the bodies were discovered that he was cooperative with them. But then went missing and then just a few hours ago we have learned that Joe Kennedy was found, picked up on an unrelated charge for driving a stolen vehicle, a pickup track with Oklahoma license plates. So, so he's been taken into custody in the Daytona Beach area. But investigators back in Oklahoma say they are still trying to unravel why these four men were murdered in such a gruesome and heinous way. But they say so far right now they have evidence that suggests that these four men were plotting some sort of criminal act.

CHIEF JOE PRENTICE, OKLAHOMA POLICE: Based on information obtained during the course of the investigation we believe the men planned to commit some type of criminal act when they left the residence on W. 6th St. That belief is based on information supplied by a witness who reports they were to go with the men, to quote, unquote, hit a lick big enough for all of them.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LAVANDERA: Victor and Erica, we spoke with an uncle of two of the victims a short while ago who says the families are distraught over the gruesome nature of these murders and they are still trying to figure out what exactly was going on here as well.

BLACKWELL: Yes, lots of questions still. Ed Lavandera, thank you.

HILL: She was just 9 years old when she witnessed George Floyd's murder. Judeah Reynolds has written a book about that day with tips for other kids on how to process trauma. She and her co-author are with us live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Our next guest Judeah Reynolds was just 9 years old when she took a walk to Cup Foods in Minneapolis to get candy. This was back on Memorial Day 2020. You remember that day, she watched George Floyd's murder under the knee of then-police officer Derek Chauvin. You see her here, second from the right here and that shirt saying "love."

Her cousin recorded the video that we've all watched by now. Judeah was the youngest person in that crowd. And now, she's written a book with activist Sheletta Brundidge to help other kids who have experienced trauma, it's called "A Walk To The Store." Judeah Reynolds and Sheletta Brundidge are with me now.

I've been looking forward to this conversation all day. Thank you for your time. And Judeah let me start with you. It's been 2 1/2 years since that tragedy, how are you feeling about it now?

JUDEAH REYNOLDS, WITNESSED GEORGE FLOYD'S DEATH: Pretty good.

BLACKWELL: Yes, yes. So, you wrote this book, how did you get the idea to write a book about your experience?

REYNOLDS: I learned it from Cameron who goes to school and I learned I want to write a book too.

[15:50:00]

BLACKWELL: Now, Cameron Brundidge -- and I'm going to carry that over to you, Sheletta, you've written books. Cameron goes to school as one of yours. Talk about the process because this is obviously a trauma, you're dealing with a child, the sessions to write this book.

SHELETTA BRUNDIDGE, CO-AUTHOR, "A WALK TO THE STORE": It was a labor of love I have to tell you. You know, and this is why representation is so important in children's literature. Judeah had an amazing story to tell. Here this little girl is on the right block at the wrong time and she witnesses something as tragic and historic as George Floyd's death. And she's with her mother and she's wondering, how can I tell my story? And she remembers that he has a copy of my children's book with my little daughter on the cover. Not a historical like Rosa Parks or Martin Luther King, but just a little black girl telling her story about having autism and being nonverbal. And she looks like Judeah -- curly little hair, brown skin. And Judeah thinks, if she can tell her story, so can I.

BLACKWELL: Yes, certainly. I read the book. Again, it's a children's book, so, it's not a long read, but the center of this is a man's murder. So, Sheletta, I imagine you have to be careful here, but not talk around it.

BRUNDIDGE: You know, it was so important for us not to show the violence. Not to show Mr. Floyd in that final moment, not to give any credence to Mr. Chauvin. But also, to tell Judeah's authentic story. And listen, I've got four kids. Three of them have autism, so, you know, they were nonverbal for a very long time and I've experienced play therapy with my children to get them to communicate in ways that they wouldn't typically otherwise, like normal developing kids.

So, Judeah and I did a lot of play therapy. We did a lot of talking back and forth through dolls and interaction with games. And, you know, her family trusts me. Her mother and father trust me. And so, she trusts me to be able to tell her story in a way that would resonate with other children. This is about kids coping with trauma.

And as you know, you work in news, there's so much going on right now with school shootings and everything else, we cannot not talk to our children about it. And so, one of the things I'm most proud of is at the end of "A Walk To The Store" is a resource page that was put together by AMISA Keys with emotional help and it's ten tips for parents and their children to talk about traumatic events.

BLACKWELL: Judeah, what do you want people to -- or kids especially, to learn from this book?

REYNOLDS: I want them to be brave in life and don't be shy and scared. Don't be scared of anything.

BLACKWELL: Yes, it starts with you being too little to walk to the store by yourself, but at the end, you realize how much event at a young age, how much impact you can have. And let me shoutout the illustrator, too, because this depiction of you on the front looks just the way you did that day, a fantastic depiction there. Judeah Reynolds and Sheletta Brundidge, thank you so much. The book is "A Walk To The Store," the youngest witness there writes a book about her experience in dealing with childhood trauma after the killing of George Floyd. Thank you both.

Brundidge: Thank you so much. And that illustrator Darcy Bell-Myers.

BLACKWELL: All right, thank you.

HILL: So great. So glad you had them on.

A pilot and a passenger died after a small plane crash into a Ohio car dealership this morning. It happened in the town of Marietta near the West Virginia border.

BLACKWELL: Bystander video shows huge plumes of smoke after the 48- year-old small occupancy plane crash into the dealership parking lot. Miraculously, no injuries reported there on the ground. And there is reported damage of multiple vehicles and buildings, as you'd expect. The NTSB is investigating.

HILL: In today's edition of "It's Not Easy Being Tom Brady" --

BLACKWELL: Because it happens every day.

HILL: It's not easy, listen, it does happen every day. The seven-time Super Bowl champion is now comparing football season to a military deployment.

BLACKWELL: Yes, this was during Brady's "Let's Go" podcast, where the Tampa Bay star talked about finding a balance between his job and his personal life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM BRADY, LETS GO PODCAST: I almost look at like a football season like you're going away on deployment for the military.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, yes.

BRADY: And it's like, man, here I go again. And there's only one way to do it and I think, Jim, we've talked from time to time just about, how do you enjoy the certain moments of it?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: I think I know what he was trying to say there --

BLACKWELL: Yes, you hear what he's trying to get to.

HILL: Didn't probably land the way he intended it to.

BLACKWELL: No, it didn't reach there. Yes, all right. We'll update you on Tom Brady again tomorrow.

Let's go to Newark now. A real life version of snakes on a plane.

HILL: Oh, god.

[15:55:00]

BLACKWELL: A passenger -- I really want to do the Sam Jackson line, but I want to keep this job. Flight from Tampa told our CNN affiliate that business class passenger started shrieking and pulling their feet up as the flight was taxiing.

HILL: I would have been screaming bloody murder in a lot of profanities. So, there you go. The reason, the garden snake slithering around the plane -- oh, it's my worst nightmare. Police and operation employees successfully removed the snake. Thankfully no one was injured. Plane operations were not impacted.

BLACKWELL: Really!

BLACKWELL: I'm not a snake person. No.

BLACKWELL: All right.

HILL: No, no.

BLACKWELL: All right, they can be cute.

"THE LEAD" starts --

HILL: No, they cannot.

BLACKWELL: -- after a quick break.