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Chesapeake, Virginia Walmart Shooting; Colorado Springs LGBTQ Club Shooting Suspect Scheduled for First Hearing; Colorado Springs Shooting Suspect Faces Five Murder Charges; Twin Blasts at Jerusalem Bus Stops Leave At Least One Person Dead; U.S. Holiday Travel; U.S. Weather Ahead of Thanksgiving; Possible Rail Strike After Rail Unions Fail to Reach a Deal; FIFA World Cup 2022; Saudi Arabia Defeats Argentina, 2-1; Team Morale is "Dead," According to Lionel Messi of Argentina; Student Debt Crisis; Biden Extends Moratorium on Student Loan Payments; Idaho College Student Murders; Sandy Hook Defamation Trial; Texas Judge Upholds Alex Jones' $45M+ Judgment. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired November 23, 2022 - 04:00   ET

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

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[04:00:00]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm Bianca Nobilo.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: I'm Max Foster joining in live from London.

It is Wednesday, November 23rd, 9:00 a.m. here in London, 4:00 a.m. in Chesapeake, Virginia, where multiple people have been killed in a shooting at a Walmart. A law enforcement source tells CNN the gunman is believed to be an employee or former employee who walked into a break room and opened fire.

NOBILO: We don't have confirmation on the number of fatalities. But a police spokesperson says that it's believed to be less than 10. The source tells CNN, the shooter is thought to have turned the gun on himself and police confirmed he is dead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEO KOSINSKI, CHEAPEAKE, VIRGINIA POLICE SPOKESPERSON: Several officer -- many other officers also responded. Parts and members of our fire department responded. We did a -- basically like a tactical entrance and movement in the building. Located multiple fatalities and multiple injured persons. Little while later through the course of providing treatment we were able to establish, we believe it's only a -- we believe it's a single shooter. And that single shooter is deceased at this time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: Walmart has released a statement saying, we are shocked at this tragic event at our Chesapeake, Virginia, store. We're praying for those impacted, the community and our associates. We're working closely with law enforcement and we're focused on supporting our associates.

We just got our first video from a reunification center set up in Chesapeake where family members are gathering to meet their loved ones.

FOSTER: Our affiliate station, WTKR, spoke with a relative of one of the shooting victims who's being treated at a nearby hospital in Norfolk, Virginia.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We went in at 10:00 p.m. tonight and we received a phone call -- well, his wife received a phone call. We -- about 10:18 saying that he had been shot. At the time that's all that we knew, that he had been shot. We didn't know how -- you know. And what was really strange to us is he clocks in at 10:00 so he hadn't even been there 10 minutes. He was shot in the side. He is up talking, breathing. They don't have a lot of details right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: One Walmart customer texted her daughter during the shooting who shared a screenshot of the exchange. The mother says, I'm at Walmart, there's an active shooter. And the daughter pleads with the mother to go and hide.

FOSTER: The mother says somebody is dead on the floor, that the police are here now. The daughter tells CNN, she had just spoken with her mother about buying turkeys for Thanksgiving. She says her mother is still in shock but they've been reunited.

CNN spoke the last hour to Security Correspondent Josh Campbell. We asked him what he's been able to glean from the details that we have so far.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): There's the customer area, which most of us are used to being in. You go, you buy your items, you check out and you leave. But there's a separate segregated area for employees, the break room, where they have their down time. We're told from a law enforcement source that this shooting took place primarily inside that area.

So, that's key for investigators because that tells you that the person appears to have at least some access or familiarity to that particular area. And, secondly, looking at the timing of the shooting, we're told that this took place just around the 10:00 p.m. local hour. This store itself close just an hour later. And so, you know -- you know, I've covered so many of these shootings. And you know, this is a -- not to get too morbid but, obviously, if you're a shooter whose intent on causing widespread carnage, that would not be the time of day that you would try to shoot as the store is getting ready to close.

And so, that tells me as a former investigator, this appears to be very personal. The person, perhaps, is one of so-called injustice collectors that we talked about, you know, so often than this shooting or someone who had some kind of personal grievance. Of course, that will all come to light as investigators continue to conduct their investigation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: Reactions to the shooting are pouring in. Virginia Senator and former state Governor Mark Warner tweeted he's, "Sickened by reports of yet another mass shooting."

FOSTER: Virginia State Senator L. Louise Lucas vowed she will not rest until a solution is found to end the gun violence epidemic in the U.S. She spoke with CNN saying, the issue has spiraled out of control.

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Senator L. Louise Lucas (D-VA) (voiceover): It's just absolutely horrible. And the thing that makes this so sad is that this gun control -- this gun violence is out of control and unfortunately, we have the power to do something about it.

[04:05:00]

There's just -- this is not the will and heart of many of our legislators and members to do it. The -- all I can say to you is that this is a sad night for us here in Virginia. It's a sad night in Chesapeake. And it's going to be a really, really sad time tomorrow morning when people wake up and hear this sad news.

But we can do something about gun control. There's too much easy access to firearms and we have got to do something to bring it under control. Many of us have been fighting in the legislature for decades to try to get gun for violence -- gun control measures passed, but unfortunately there's always push back, push back, push back. But we've got to bring it under control. How many be people will have to die before legislatures, not only in Virginia, but all across this nation come to reality there's just too much access to firearms?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: We'll have much more on the story throughout this hour.

FOSTER: Turning now though to Colorado where the suspect in the mass shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub is due for an initial court appearance in the coming hours.

NOBILO: 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich was released from hospital and moved to a jail on Tuesday. Colorado's attorney general says, Aldrich will face multiple murder charges.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHIL WEISER, COLORADO ATTORNEY GENERAL: Any single person who was there could be charged with. Obviously, five murders and the question will be, are others going to be charged with attempted murder. Obviously, clearly people have been assaulted with a deadly weapon.

So, there are going to be a lot of charges here. And the prosecutor's office I know will be working really hard to be thorough. The police department working with the FBI are getting all the facts. It's really important that we're able to honor the victims and to be able to call out this crime for what it really appears to be, which is a hate crime motivated by who people were.

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NOBILO: We've also learned from new court filings that Aldrich identifies as nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns.

FOSTER: And we're also getting breaking news out of Jerusalem this morning. Israeli police say, two explosions that hit different parts of the city today are suspected of being a combined terror attack. At least one person is dead and several others injured. Authorities say they're looking for the suspects.

NOBILO: For more, let's go to CNN's Hadas Gold who's at the scene of one of the blasts in Jerusalem.

Hadas, what are you learning?

HADAS GOLD, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Bianca, this is the scene of the first blast that took place just after 7:00 a.m. You can see behind me, police are still gathering evidence. We've seen emergency services wiping up blood. We've seen them gathering shrapnel. I've seen myself, actually, what appears to a rather large nail that may have been placed inside what were potentially parcels or bags in an explosion that went off just after 7:00 a.m.

And then 30 minutes later, there was another explosion at another bus stop just down the hill this way from us, not far from where we're standing now. In both explosions, in both attacks, police say that more than 14 people have been injured and we just learned that a 16- year-old is the one who died from his injuries. He was here at this bus stop when the attack took place. He was a 16-year-old religious Yeshiva student.

But this is a deadly escalation. What's already been the most violent year for both Israelis and Palestinians in years. But bombs like these, parcel bombs that are placed at bus stations and the potentially detonated remotely, well, Israel hasn't seen attacks like these in years. This is bringing back memories to the Second Intifada, to the early 2000s. when there were regular bombings at bus stations, on buses, restaurant, at shops and things like that.

But this is something that Israelis have grown rather used to not seeing. Despite this being a very violent year for Israelis and Palestinians, most of the attacks targeting Israelis have been knife attacks, shootings, rammings. On the Israeli side, the West Bank is an incredibly volatile situation. The Israeli military is doing regular incursions there. More Palestinians have been killed in any year since 2015. And we've seen the rise of new militant groups.

Now, no group has yet claimed responsibility for this attack. But this type of attack is showing a level of sophistication, of coordination that other attacks that have happened recently have not seen in recent years. Now, the Israeli Prime Minister, Yair Lapid, is the outgoing prime minister, said he's going to be holding a situation assessment and will also be in talks with the incoming prime minister, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, again.

This is currently a quickly developing situation. Coordinated double attacks. The likes of which Jerusalem and Israel have not seen in a very long time. And now the biggest concern is whether there will be more such attacks, more such coordinated attacks, because already, Max and Bianca, the ground has felt very dry. The (INAUDIBLE) is very dry for something very big, potentially even a third Intifada. So, the question is whether this the moment that it starts. Bianca, Max.

NOBILO: Hadas Gold, live from Jerusalem. Thank you so much.

GENOVESE: Now, it's going to be a busy travel day across the United States. AAA estimates that nearly 55 million Americans will be traveling for the Thanksgiving holiday, that's the highest number in three years.

[04:10:00]

NOBILO: U.S. aviation officials say today will be the busiest day of the long holiday weekend with more than 48,000 flights scheduled. The TSA predicts more than two million people will pass through airport checkpoints today which will be a new high since the start of the pandemic.

FOSTER: The one thing that could get in the way, of course, is the weather. Our meteorologist Karen Maginnis is tracking all the flights and the weather for the holiday from Atlanta. And you've got good news, Karen.

KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, it looks like most of the country is going to escape really terrible winter-like weather conditions. We do have a storm system moving into the Northern Rockies, that may produce some snowfall. But it looks like the delays for Salt Lake City and Denver will be some minor delays.

And developing system across South Texas, I'll talk more about that in just one second. And we think it will primarily be volume delays across the northeast and into New England. So, that's where you have problems where the flights kind of get backed up, and stall a little bit but it's not going to be weather related.

However, as we go into Friday, different story. Weather system develops across the South Central U.S., moves towards the east and as a result, I think, Boston, New York, Newark, Washington D.C., those areas will be impacted by weather. So, you might anticipate those minor delays becoming, perhaps, more moderate delays.

And then for Dallas and Houston, it's rain. But if you were to travel towards Midland and Amarillo, it looks like this is going to be maybe an icy mix or perhaps some snow. Either way, we have got some cold air on the back side of this. Out ahead of it, along that I-10 corridor, look for some wet weather, could be heavy at times as well.

Thanksgiving Day forecast, Mild in Washington, D.C., even Chicago will see about 52 degrees. And what about New York City for the big parade? Well, it looks fairly, it's cold but it's going to be relatively mild. It doesn't look like wind is going to be a problem there. Temperatures 30s and into the 40s.

All right. What about for Sunday? Everybody trying to get back home so work can start on Monday. Chicago, it looks like that may be a little problematic as that storm system moves across the region. Delays could be a little more significant across the I-95 corridor from Boston, New York, Newark, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C. look for delays there. Atlanta, lots of people crowding into the world's busiest airport. Millions will move through the thresholds here trying to get into or out of the city. And we could see the development of some Santa Ana winds across Southern California for the most part.

All right. What about that rainfall I was telling you about. Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, Jackson, Mississippi, South of Atlanta, that's where the congregation of the heaviest precipitation will be noted. A couple of inches for the most part in most of those areas. But this is a developing storm system across the South Central United States, back side of it, as I mentioned, that's where the snow or that icy mixture will be located.

And we'll start to see by Saturday, area of low pressure move off the eastern seaboard. But then right back into some of that messy weather all the way from the Great Lakes to the mid-Atlantic and down towards Florida. Hope everyone has a great holiday. Back to you guys.

FOSTER: Absolutely. Karen, thank you.

NOBILO: Good news, Christmas is not canceled. We've got some --

FOSTER: You have the authority to say that?

NOBILO: I do. I do. I certainly do. On behalf of Santa Claus.

FOSTER: I knew you were Santa.

NOBILO: Yes.

This, according to Brian Dodge, the president of the Retail Industry Leaders Association. He tells CNN there's enough stock in stores for the holiday season. That's, in spite, of a possible rail strike after rail unions fail to reach a deal that would have averted it.

FOSTER: A prolonged rail strike could cause product shortages and price hikes as nearly one-third of all freight in the U.S. is made by rail. The Retail Industry Leaders Association has been in touch with Santa -- no, Biden. The Biden administration and Congress about it, trying to avoid a strike. We're ruining everyone -- I hope there are no kids watching this.

NOBILO: I hope not.

FOSTER: They clearly know that presents are delivered by sleigh.

NOBILO: Yes. I mean, obviously. We should remind them of that. But in the U.K., it's a different story. We've had an announcement this morning that there will be rail strikes that will affect Christmas.

FOSTER: Yes.

NOBILO: So, you win some, you lose some.

FOSTER: We just hope people get together. Anyway, coming up, we'll have more on the deadly shooting at a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia. Including what we're hearing about the alleged shooter.

NOBILO: And a big announcement on U.S. college loans as President Biden tries to cancel debt for millions of Americans.

FOSTER: And it was arguably the biggest upset in World Cup history. Heartbreak and humiliation for Argentina. But for Saudi Arabia in the Middle East, an explosion of pride. We are live for you in Doha.

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN WORLD SPORT: The party went on long into the night here at Souq Waqif. Join me live from Doha in a couple of minutes. The day after Saudi Arabia sent shock waves around the world. What is day four going to have in store? Stay with us.

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[04:15:00]

FOSTER: Well, we are less than an hour away from the next showdown in the World Cup with Morocco taking on the 2018 runner-up Croatia. That will be first of four matches from Groups E and F today that star some European heavyweights.

NOBILO: But the football world is still reeling from this.

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NOBILO: Argentina's shocking fall to extreme underdog Saudi Arabia, led by the mighty Lionel Messi, Argentina were favored to win the whole tournament. But two second half goals from the Saudis brought the world number 3 to their knees.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were unbeaten, 36 game. But guess who beat them? Saudi Arabia.

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FOSTER: Saudi Arabia is so thrilled, in fact, about the result. They've issued, I think, today is a public holiday. It was extraordinary. CNN's Amanda Davies following all of this live from Doha. And it was a well-deserved win as well. It wasn't a fluke.

[04:20:00]

DAVIES: Yes, very much so, Max. And day four is really going to have to go some, isn't it? If it's going to compete with what we saw yesterday. But talking about public holiday, if the party that went on long, long into the night here in Doha was anything to go by, you suspect there might be a few people needing that public holiday back at home in Saudi Arabia.

It was two goals in the space of six minutes that really turned the game and the day yesterday on its head. Little Saudi Arabia in footballing terms, the second lowest ranked team in this tournament beating the might Lionel Messi's Argentina. It was a result that their French coach, Herve Renard, described as totally crazy. And you can see just what it meant by the reactions from the players and the fans.

I mean, Saudi are one of the -- well, the closest competing country to Qatar here on a thousands of fans have traveled just a short distance by road to be here. And it means so much, not just to Saudi Arabia as a footballing nation, as a country but to this region as a whole. We saw Qatar's Emir waiving the Saudi flag. Sending his congratulations.

Fascinating from Renard. He said his team only going to be allowed to celebrate for 20 minutes and then they've got to get back to their focus, focus on the job in hand which is their next match against Poland on Saturday. Argentina, for their part, well, Messi just said there were no excuses for that performance from his side. He said, though morale was dead after the match. But did urge fans to stick with them, as you mentioned, many people's pre-tournament favorites.

And if you look back to 1990, they lost their opening game then to Cameroon and still went on to make the final. It was Germany or West Germany, as they were known then, in 1990 who took the victory in Italy. They kick off their campaign today. A very much looking make amends for what was a really embarrassing, disappointing tournament in 2018. They went out in the group stage. But it's a really tough group E.

Also, in there with the 2010 world champion, Spain, they kick off their campaign against Costa Rica. But as you said, we're now just, what, 40 minutes away from the opening game on day four, 2018 runner's up, Croatia looking to make an impact against Morocco.

FOSTER: Amanda in Doha, thank you. I mean, we're all talking about football again now, aren't we?

NOBILO: We are. FOSTER: But the big questions is, who's Bianca going to support, which have several --

NOBILO: I'm going to -- I'm going for Croatia.

FOSTER: Croatia?

NOBILO: Yes. (INAUDIBLE).

FOSTER: OK.

NOBILO: Because I'm mostly Croatia. And I feel like they've got good shot.

FOSTER: They came after Americas performance put in there.

NOBILO: Uh-huh.

FOSTER: Amanda, back with you later.

Now, U.S. President Joe Biden has extended the pause on federal student loan payments which was scheduled to resume early next year.

NOBILO: Yes, this comes as his student loan forgiveness plan is tied up in court battles. CNN's Arlette Saenz has more from Nantucket.

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ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Biden has decided to extend the freeze on federal student loan payments for another six months as his own student loan relief program remains tied up in courts. These payments were set to resume in January. But the Department of Education announced they would now extend that pause on those repayments until June 30th or until the Supreme Court makes a decision about the president's loan forgiveness program. President Biden offered this explanation for why he called for the extension.

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: It isn't fair to ask tens of millions of borrowers, eligible for relief to resume their student debt payments while the courts consider the lawsuit. For that reason, the secretary of education is extending the pause on student loan payments while we seek relief from the courts.

SAENZ: The president's student loan forgiveness program, which could offer up to $20,000 of relief for eligible borrowers has been on hold for several weeks due to some legal challenges. The Biden administration has gone to the Supreme Court asking them to allow for the implementation of the program while these legal challenges play out.

Now, about 26 million people have applied for the student loan relief. And 60 million of those applications have been accepted and approved. But the Department of Education has notified people that they can't discharge that debt with this program currently tied up in the courts. But so many people have been facing questions about whether the student loan repayments would begin come January as this relief program is tied up. And now the president is saying that they will offer them a bit more relief extending that pause until the summer. Arlette Saenz, CNN, traveling with the president in Nantucket, Massachusetts.

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FOSTER: Still to come, Idaho police continue the search for the killer in the case of four murdered college students. But despite help from the community, there are so many unanswered questions.

NOBILO: Plus, we'll have an update on our breaking news from Chesapeake, Virginia. Multiple people shot and killed at Walmart just days before Thanksgiving.

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[04:25:00]

FOSTER: Welcome back to "CNN Newsroom." I'm Max Foster. Let's bring you up to date with the breaking story this hour. A gunman has killed multiple people at a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia just two days before Thanksgiving in the U.S. A law enforcement source tells CNN the shooter was believed to be a current or former employee who took his own life. Walmart has issued a statement saying, it is shocked to the tragic event and praying for all those who've been impacted. CNN's Brian Todd reports.

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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): It could be a few hours, at least, until they can give us some information on the dead and wounded. You can get a pretty good picture that this is going to take maybe a few hours. I mean, it is overnight and they've got, of course, as many resources as they can. Police units, and many of them responding to the scene, tactical units and others. So, they're, you know, very well versed at going through scenes like this.

Chesapeake in the Tidewater area of Virginia is not a small area. They're between the towns like Chesapeake, Norfolk, and Virginia Beach, they're all fairly close together. It is a very heavily populated general area. Chesapeake, itself, not all that big but it's part of a fairly large, what you would call, maybe a metropolitan area in that Tidewater area of Virginia with several mid-sized cities. It's very close together.

So, you know, the police units in these cities are not -- you know, they've -- they have a lot of resources. But they've got to comb through a very large building with potentially a lot of people still in it.

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FOSTER: Please stay with CNN. We'll bring you more information on this story as it develops through the morning.

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