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Idaho Police: This is A Very Active Case; Serial Murderer Admits 5 More Cold Case Killings; 5 Women Sue Bill Cosby For Sexual Assault And Abuse Under New NY Law; Biden Tours Semiconductor Facility In Phoenix; Trump Organization Entities Convicted On All Counts. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired December 06, 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]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: More than three weeks after four university of Idaho students were stabbed to death in their house, police insist the case is still very active and not anywhere close to going cold.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: CNN's Veronica Miracle is in Moscow, Idaho. What's the latest on the investigation then?

VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor and Alisyn, I spoke with police this morning and they understand the overwhelming frustration with the lack of information that they're able to put out. But they reiterated to me today that they have strong leads that they have been working around the clock and they have information, they just cannot reveal it to the public right now, so that they don't ruin the integrity of the investigation.

They know they sound like a broken record. I feel like I sound like a broken record at this point repeating that same information. But this is what they're telling me and they also understand the sensitivity around this because family are desperate for answers. Kaylee Goncalves's father said over the weekend in an interview that he wants to create some kind of reward system so that, you know, they can get more information, more tips. Police actually have advised against that and here's why.

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AARON SNELL, IDAHO STATE POLICE PIO: We have a lot of quality leads and so what we do know is that at times when there is a reward or, you know, money offered, that the quantity and quality of tips actually degrade a little bit. And so, people are trying to provide information that may not even be or be a reasonable tip just to see if there's some money available to them.

We have, you know, almost 50 investigators here on the ground plus all the other investigators throughout the country and so we are making progress. It's difficult for the public to hear that, I understand. It's difficult for the families to hear that. But this is a criminal investigation and as we make progress, you know, we can't always provide that information.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MIRACLE: When Steve Goncalves has spoken out, he's referred to the suspect as a man. So, I asked police do they know if, in fact, this person was a man? Do they have any information they can share about the suspect?

[15:35:00]

Police tell me any information out about the suspect right now is purely speculation. They haven't released any of that information so none of that is coming from the department. But, Victor, Alisyn, I did get a sense of confidence from police today that they are getting information and have strong leads and they are confident they will be able to make an arrest in this case, but of course here, more than three weeks this community is on edge, people want answers -- Victor, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Veronica Miracle, thank you.

BLACKWELL: Now to a shocking admission in decades old cold cases. A man known as the "Times Square killer" has now admitted to five unsolved killings.

CAMEROTA: Richard Cottingham who is already serving life in prison pleaded guilty to a 1968 murder and told the court he caused the deaths of four other women.

BLACKWELL: CNN's Jean Casarez is with us now. Jean is it clear why he is confessing now.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It looks like that this was heavily negotiated because they charged him in June. They had done some DNA testing of 2021. But it's curious because he was convicted of one murder in court. This just happened. And he admitted to four others and so they did not take that to trial. And that sort of is a sign right there that they negotiated something for closure for the families.

Now, this is a man that is a convicted serial killer. He has committed multiple murders in New York and New Jersey, but this is brand-new because he now has been convicted of another young woman that was in 1968. Her name was Diane Cusick, she was a dance instructor. And she told her parents that she was going to the mall in February of 1968 to buy some new dance shoes. And so, she didn't come back home. They didn't know what had happened to her.

So, they got in their car that night and they went to the mall. They found her car and then they found her in the backseat. She was deceased. She had tape over her mouth and her hands were tied. So, at that point it was unsolved. It's been unsolved since 1968. It was manual asphyxiation. They also determined that, in fact, they were able to take these samples but DNA had not progressed to the ability to test them. And so, they got the lead, 2021 they did the DNA testing. Last year it was confirmed to a known sample of Richard Cottingham. Now there were others that as I said he admitted in court that he

murdered. We want to show you some of their pictures because these victims are important too. Very important. First of all, in 1973, Sheila Heiman was bludgeoned to death in her home. Her husband had gone to the department store for a minute. Then Mary Beth Heinze in 1972. She was only 21 years old. She was found face down in a stream.

Now, the same modus operandi, the method of operation, 1972, Laverne Moye, same area. And then Rosado Nieves was 18 when she was strangled to death.

Now, there was a press conference yesterday after the courtroom procedure and, of course, there were victim impact statements. I want you to listen to one of the relatives of Laverne Moye.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN MOYE, SON OF MURDER VICTIM LAVERNE MOYE: There's been some dark days behind us. But today the sun shines brightly because justice has been served. My mother was a person. 23 years old taken too early. Left my sister behind and my grandchildren and my grandmother and my grandfather left holding -- picking up the pieces.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: Well, for 50 years and more these people's families have had to live with this and he told prosecutors he's committed more and they don't know if he's bragging or if it's true.

CAMEROTA: Wow, what an awful, awful case but thank goodness after all of this time the victims are getting some measure of closure or justice.

CASAREZ: Absolutely.

CAMEROTA: So, you and I have spent a lot of time obviously interviewing and talking to the women who accused Bill Cosby of sexual assault or rape. Now, there's a development. What's happening?

CASAREZ: Brand-new case, New York, it was filed. It's a civil suit. But it's from age old accusations, right, of the same modus operandi of drugging, sexually assaulting. But comes under New York's brand-new victim survivor's law. In other words, if you're an adult now and you were sexually assaulted by someone, the traumatic nature of this can take years to develop and to fruition so you're being given one year to file suit. And two of these are actresses, Lili Bernard, we have known, she was a part of things we have done here at CNN. But they are accusing Bill Cosby of assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and also false imprisonment.

We do want to say he is pushing back very hard saying that this is all false, none of this happened. It's all about the money and they're ready for it because they are going to show that he did not do this.

[15:40:03]

It's just too easy to jump on the bandwagon at this point. But this case just filed and we'll see where it goes in New York state courts.

BLACKWELL: Yes, we talked about the new law in the context of E. Jean Carroll's allegations against Donald Trump and her lawsuit against the former president. Jean Casarez, thank you.

CASAREZ: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: OK, President Biden is in Arizona right now. In moments he will tour a semiconductor plant and later he'll tout his economic plan. So, we have a live report from Phoenix.

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BLACKWELL: Right now, President Biden is touring a semiconductor factory being built in Phoenix. He's there to promote his economic agenda.

CAMEROTA: CNN's Jeremy Diamond is with him in Phoenix. And Jeremy, what do we expect from the president?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, President Biden is here to tout the latest installment of billions of dollars in investments in U.S. semiconductor manufacturing. This time it's from a Taiwanese company, TSMC, which is announcing another $28 billion of investments bringing its total investments here in Arizona to $40 billion. And it's just one of several companies that is looking to get a piece of the pie as it were of these $52 billion in subsidies for chips manufacturing that are part of this CHIPS and Science Act that was passed this summer.

You can see there's TSMC, you have Intel investments, IBM, Micron, all of these are investments that President Biden has been traveling across the country to highlight over these last several months. Now the president will also be highlighting some of the ripple effects of these investments that go beyond those dollar figures.

A cleaning company, for example, that is contracted by TSMC. Talking about the fact that these kinds of investments create opportunities beyond the industry in which they are based. And of course, this isn't just about economic benefits. It's also about national security, those supply chain concerns that we saw over the COVID pandemic. We all learned how essential these semiconductor manufacturing chips actually are to the U.S. economy and on the national security front, so many of these chips are made in Taiwan and, of course, with China ramping up its threats of potential invasion against the island, that is certainly weighing heavily.

And that's why you see some of the companies that buy the chips from TSMC represented here today including Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple. He's here talking about the importance of bringing semiconductor manufacturing production here to the United States.

And just finally on the political front of all this. This is President Biden's first visit to the state since he became president. He won this state, of course, in 2020, Democrats carried the races for the Senate and the governorship here and President Biden as he mulls a potential 2024 run, there's no question that these investments, his presence in the state will be crucial to those ambitions -- Alisyn, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Jeremy Diamond for us there in Phoenix, thank you.

CAMEROTA: Now to this, your diet linked to brain health. A new study finds ultra-processed foods could be raising your risk of dementia.

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CAMEROTA: A new study may have you thinking twice before eat processed foods.

BLACKWELL: The study finds if more than 20 percent of what you eat is ultra-processed you may be raise the risk for dementia. And these kind of foods make up about more than half of the calories consumed in the U.S.

Let's bring in now CNN medical correspondent Dr. Tara Narula. What's the difference between processed and ultra-processed foods?

DR. TARA NARULA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well let's talk about unprocessed is, so that's the healthiest. That's things like vegetables, fruits, legumes, beans, meat that's not been processed, milk and eggs.

Ultra-processed, we're talking about all the things that we love, that our kids love, things that are high in saturated fat, sugar, additives and salt. So, Pizza, ice cream, candy, processed meats like sausage or baloney, all of the savory and sweet snacks. So, as you mentioned, a large proportion of the American diet is ultra-processed foods. And we know there is a link there to cardiovascular disease, obesity and cancer. But what hasn't really been looked at before extensively is the link to cognitive decline. And that's what this study tried to assess.

CAMEROTA: And so, what did they find about cognitive decline?

NARULA: So, they took 10,000 individuals in Brazil. They gave them a food questionnaire. They followed them for about a median of eight years and then they gave them some cognitive testing and they found exactly what you said in the intro. Which is, if their diet had greater than 20 percent of daily consumption of these ultra-processed foods that they were at risk of faster decline in terms of their cognitive function, both global cognitive function and what we call executive function. Which is your ability to process information and make decisions. And it doesn't take a lot to reach the 20 percent mark. If you think about a 2,000 calories a day diet, that's about 400 calories, cheeseburger and fries, soda and a bag of chips. So, it's really important to be mindful about how were eating.

BLACKWELL: All right, Dr. Tara Narula, thank you. NARULA: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: The breaking news, a jury reached a verdict in the Trump Organization tax fraud trial in New York. CNN's Kara Scannell has the breaking details. What do you know?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Victor, that's right. The jury just returned a verdict, guilty on all counts against both Trump Corporation entities. That means that the jury after two days of deliberations and four notes today came back with this decisive verdict, unanimous, guilty on all counts.

Now remember, the two Trump Organization entities were accused of being involved in a 15-year tax fraud scheme where they gave their executives, certain executives off the books, compensation. That was corporate apartments that were rent free, that was company cars, that was private school tuition for Allen Weisselberg the chief financial officer's grandchildren. The jury finding the companies were guilty and then.

Now Donald Trump, the former president was not charged in this case. But his name did come out at the trial including on closing statements. One of the prosecutor saying that he believed that Donald Trump had sanctions some of this tax fraud. So now the judge will sentence the company at some point down the road.

While there's no mechanism under New York law to dissolve the company. It will face fines that could face fines as much as $1.6 million. That will come at a future date. But you know, the former president himself has no personal legal liability in this case.

[15:55:00]

But it certainly is a black mark for him, for the company that he built from the ground up. And comes as the Manhattan District Attorney's Office which can claim this as a victory today, is continuing its investigation into the Trump organization. That investigation which has been ongoing for several years is still continuing. But today a decisive victory by the jury. The Trump Organization entities found guilty a scheme to defraud, conspiracy, three counts of tax fraud, and multiple counts of falsifying business records -- Victor, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Yes, Kara, just explain to us why isn't any human being, being held accountable? Why is just an organization? Why not Donald Trump since he made all of the decisions for Trump Org.?

SCANNELL: So, this is -- sorry, Alisyn, this is the way that the prosecutor's office decided to charge this case. They charged these two Trump Corporation entities and Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer.

Remember, this was in the scope of this long investigation. They were hoping to get Allen Weisselberg to flip, to cooperate and help them on their broader investigation into the accuracy of the Trump Organization's financial statements. So, they charged Allen Weisselberg on this. He pled guilty earlier this year in August to 15 felonies. He agreed to part of the plea deal to testify in this case as a state witness in exchange for a lenient prison sentence.

Now when Allen Weisselberg was on the stand, he walked this tight rope both giving the prosecutors what they want, telling the truth that he had engaged in this fraudulent scheme, but he walked a very fine line saying -- telling the jury that he did not conspire or scheme with any members of the Trump family. You know, that was a prosecutorial decision. Why they decided just to charge Weisselberg and not other people.

But a number of other individuals who were implicated in this, testified before the state grand jury. And in New York state if you testify before the grand jury, you get immunity. So, they needed to get some of these insiders of the Trump Organization, a place where people worked for decades. That's one thing that became quite apparent during this trial. How many people have worked there for more than 20 years. So, they had some insiders cooperating under an immunity deal. Weisselberg was obviously the big fish as the chief financial officer. And he personally benefited from this. His tax returns were fraudulent and he received these falsified documents that enabled him to pull off this scheme -- Alisyn, Victor.

All right let's bring in now CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig. Elie, your reaction to this verdict.

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Victor, obviously this is a setback for the Trump Org, a major setback for the Trump Org. They've now been found guilty of criminal conduct, criminal tax fraud. It's also a victory of sorts for the Manhattan District Attorney. Their theory now that part of the income for employees including Allen Weisselberg, was paid through fringe benefits in order to avoid tax liability. That theory has been vindicated. A jury found that that conduct was proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

But I think, Alisyn, is that asking the exact right questions here. Which is, why did we end up with this sort of half measure where the corporation has now been found guilty? Which will result in financial penalties but no individual was ever charge beyond Allen Weisselberg. And no individual will be going to prison beyond Allen Weisselberg. And I think there's a fair criticism there of the district attorney for the way they've sort of charged this case in half measure and they've not gone all the way.

CAMEROTA: So, Elie, is what Kara is saying, is it because Allen Weisselberg basically fell on his sword and said that he sort of unilaterally made these decisions to get these perks? Is that how this works?

HONIG: So, what's so strange about the situation, Alisyn, is they were trying to flip Allen Weisselberg. That is clear. It didn't work. Instead, they gave Allen Weisselberg this sort of halfway cooperation deal with a said, you can testify about what you did. How you committed tax fraud and then we're going to have you testify against the Trump Organization but not against any individual. And Weisselberg's testimony at trial was sort of cut both ways. Both

prosecution and defense saw Weisselberg as a good witness for them in some respects and a bad witness for them in some respects. Weisselberg said, yes, there was a tax fraud. Yes, I benefited. That's good for the prosecution but then Weisselberg tried to say, but it was really something that I did without the knowledge or the acquiesce of the people who ran the Trump Organization, including Donald Trump himself -- which was good for the defense.

Now the jury obviously found that Weisselberg conduct was attributable to the company as a whole which is why we ended up with this guilty verdict. But again, the really frankly unsatisfying result where the only human being who's going to go to prison at all for this is going to be Allen Weisselberg and nobody else.

BLACKWELL: Again, max fines $1.6 million. Kara Scannell they are outside the courthouse. The judge will decide the amount. Do we know when that decision will be made?

Scannell: So, the judge hasn't set a date for sentencing yet. This just came down. So, we expect that something that might be unfolding in court right now -- my colleague inside. So, when we figure out exactly when the sentencing date is we'll let you know. But it's usually a few weeks, months down the road -- Victor.

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CAMEROTA: OK, a guilty verdict against the Trump Organization for a 15-year scheme of tax fraud. That is the breaking news at this hour. Kara, Elie, thank you very much for bringing us that.

And CNN's special coverage of the Georgia Senate runoff election is going to begin right now.