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Sports Journalist Grant Wahl Died Of Aortic Aneurysm Rupture; Today Marks 10 Years Since The Deadly Sandy Hook School Massacre; Man Accused Of Attacking Speaker Pelosi's Husband Back In Court; Twitter Suspends Account That Tracked Musk's Private Jet; France Beats Morocco 2-0 In Semifinal Match. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired December 14, 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]

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST: Ellen DeGeneres says that she is heartbroken about the death of Stephen "Twitch" Boss. The co-executive producer and deejay of her former talk show.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: On Instagram Ellen posted this photo and described him as pure love and light. Now there's no further information about the possible cause of death. He rose to fame as a dancer on "So You Think You Can Dance." It's also where he met his wife, fellow dancer Allison Holker Boss.

In a statement today, she wrote: To say he left a legacy would be an understatement, and his positive impact will continue to be felt.

Boss leaves behind his wife and three children. He was 40 years old.

GOLODRYGA: Such a beautiful family.

Also, this news. Grant Wahl, the sports journalist who died suddenly in Qatar while covering the World Cup suffered a ruptured aortic aneurysm.

GOLODRYGA: This morning his widow, Dr. Celine Gounder addressed his death.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. CELINE GOUNDER, GRANT WAHL'S WIDOW: Grant had collapsed, that they had tried to do CPR for some 20 minutes and then took him off the to the hospital.

And two of his other colleagues were following in a car behind the ambulance, and that's what I knew at that point.

And so, then I started to try to track down somebody at the hospital to tell me what had happened. I kept on asking, did he have a pulse?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You were asking doctor questions.

GOUNDER: Well, I knew that was a sign. If he had a pulse when he left the stadium, that would have been a good sign, but no one would answer the question.

And so, to me, that was -- I was scared.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CNN's Omar Jimenez is with us now with more. What else are we learning about this? For her to answer the medical questions and deal with the emotions, now a widow.

GOLODRYGA: Unimaginable.

BLACKWELL: Indeed unimaginable. What are you learning?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I mean, it's awful all around. And we heard a little bit of what she was saying that there was a bulge in the aorta that basically burst over this past week. Now she also said that this was something that was growing undetected really until this past week, of course, and that's citing an autopsy from the New York City medical examiner's office.

And even on a recent podcast episode, Grant Wahl had talked about chest tightness he was having, but like many people, he thought it might have been bronchitis or something much more common. It wasn't, and what we're left with now are tributes from those that knew him best and for his now widow, Dr. Celine Gounder. She has said it's at least brought some comfort.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOUNDER: To know that he was so loved by so many people, it makes me feel a little bit less alone. It feels like, you know, that's -- it's like a warm hug when you really need it.

I want people to remember him as this kind, generous person who was really dedicated to social justice. You know, I think that's another aspect of soccer that was really important to him. That, you know, promoting the women's game, you know, the recent statements he made about LGBT rights. That was -- that was Grant.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: And she also posted to his sub stack which is a newsletter platform and she said in more detail: The chest pressure he experienced shortly before his death may have presented the initial symptoms. No amount of CPR or shocks would have saved him. His death was unrelated to Covid, unrelated to vaccination status and there was nothing nefarious about his death.

That latter portion of course, meant for some of the theories that circulated on line that this may have been some sort of government retaliation for his coverage of migrant worker deaths in the construction of these stadiums or his being detained for wearing a rainbow flag into the stadium. So, this was meant to throw a little bit of cold water on that.

But what is clear is he was a mountain of a journalist, much more to the people that knew him, and will be sorely missed of course, as we head into this World Cup final this weekend.

BLACKWELL: Yes, certainly will. All right, Omar, thank you.

[15:35:00]

Today marks ten years since a man entered Sandy Hook Elementary School, killed 20 first graders and six adults. Now for those who lost loved ones and those who survived, their lives they were never the same. CNN's Alisyn Camerota is with us now. Alisyn, good to see you.

CAMEROTA: You too.

BLACKWELL: You spoke with the families who lost loved ones and those who survived the shooting. Tell us about those conversations.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Well, they were raw. They were very sad, of course. The grief never leaves them. As I've said, we were all crying during portions of the interview. The parents, me, our camera crew, and yet we all left our time with these parents feeling incredibly energized.

Because what they've done as grief-stricken as they were that day and still are, they've harnessed that grief. And they have managed to turn it into action to try to save other families from having to go through the devastation that they have gone through, or to try to stop school shootings. So, here's a clip of the some of the stuff they've done in the past ten years.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA (voice-over): Immediately after the tragedy, Barden and Hockley started Sandy Hook Promise.

NICOLE HOCKLEY, MOTHER OF SHOOTING VICTIM: It's been one month since I lost my son, Dylan. I still find myself reaching for Dylan's hand to walk through a parking lot. I do not want there to be a next time.

MARK BARDEN, FATHER OF SHOOTING VICTIM: The goal is to prevent other families from having to endure a life of pain due to preventable violence, and that is what we are doing.

CAMEROTA: And how are you doing that?

BARDEN: It took a lot of research to understand that 100 percent of school shooters give off warning signs. 100 percent. Every single one.

HOCKLEY: Say something teaches you how to recognize warning signs, especially on social media.

CAMEROTA (voice-over): Barden and Hockley's program teaches kids and adults what those warning signs are.

HOCKLEY: There are some that are very overt, you know, really noticeable such as bragging about access to weapons. Such as telling people, don't come to school because, you know, I'm going to shoot it up. It's the subtle threats that we really want to teach kids more about. Changes in behavior or appearance, like we're talking drastic changes. Being bullied or being a bully, really pulling away, thinking that the whole world is against them, and that they need to retaliate.

BARDEN: Students, you know, are the eyes and the ears in these social media platforms. So, the parents aren't seeing the same things and teacher aren't seeing the same things that the students are. And we train them how to look for subtle signs in the social media platforms or on the school bus or in the cafeteria.

CAMEROTA (voice-over): In another program called "Say Something," they teach kids when they see a warning sign to tell a trusted adult.

HOCKLEY: This is where a tipster can put in what they know, what they're afraid of.

CAMEROTA (voice-over): They can anonymously report a tip through an app, linked to a crisis center operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

BARDEN: When the crisis center gets a tip from anywhere in the country, they already know the administrators, the school principals, whatever support systems are available in that area, the first responders, if that's what's necessary.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we teach to you do these three steps --

CAMEROTA (voice-over): Their work has trained more than 18 million students and educators, and they say they prevented 11 planned school shootings in the U.S. to date.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA (on camera): And Victor and Bianna, I just want to emphasize what we ended with there. According police in school administrators, because of the work these parents have done, 11 planned school shootings were prevented. So, these are school shootings that we'll never report on, that the rest of the country will never know about, and that other families won't have to grieve because of all that work of awareness they've done.

And so, tonight you're going to hear about that more, and you'll also just going to hear about their other victories, and there have been many.

So, though it is hard to go back to that day and remember the intense grief that we all felt that day, ultimately this is a hopeful documentary because a lot has changed in the past ten years.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, Alisyn, we all remember where we were ten years ago today, and that tragedy was such a gut punch to the country I think as a whole. And to hear those families, no one can imagine what they went through, but to hear and see them contribute selflessly to give back, to make sure that other parents don't have to endure what they did is just remarkable.

I was struck by what President Biden said today in a statement. He said, we should all have societal guilt for taking too long to deal with this problem.

Alisyn, thank you so much. And be sure to tune in for Alisyn's important special report. "SANDY HOOK: FOREVER REMEMBERED." That starts tonight at 10 p.m. right here on CNN.

BLACKWELL: The man accused of attacking the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was in court today. We have details for you. That's ahead.

[15:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: The man accused of attacking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband Paul Pelosi is back in court today. Prosecutors used 911 audio, police body cam footage and sworn testimony to piece together what happened that night.

GOLODRYGA: CNN's Josh Campbell has been following today's hearing. So, Josh, what more do we know now?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, guys, this hearing is still under way. They're at a break right now for recess. This is a preliminary hearing on the state charges for the attacker of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband, Paul Pelosi.

[15:45:00]

The suspect who we obviously have been reporting on, 42-year-old David DePape faces attempted murder charges as well as charges of assault and elder abuse. There is a separate federal prosecution going on as well, but right now in this state hearing we're learning new details about how that attack transpired.

Now according to our affiliate KPEX up in the San Francisco area, prosecutors actually played some of the 911 audio as well as the police body camera footage from the day of that attack, and they just -- it indicates that the suspect told police his ultimate target was Nancy Pelosi.

They were able to go to the hospital where the suspect had been taken and conduct an interview of him. And he allegedly had indicated that he went there on that day, confronted Paul Pelosi. Obviously engaged in this brutal attack that left Mr. Pelosi with a skull fracture, very serious injuries, but the suspect allegedly confessing.

We'll continue to monitor this hearing as it continues. Again, the prosecutors are laying out initial evidence there in court. We expect that the defense will also be trying to go after the validity of some of the information that is presented. But again, we're learning more details about the brutal attack that night, on October 28th when the suspect has allegedly to have gone to the Pelosi residence in the early morning hours, confronting Mr. Pelosi. Again, engaging in this very, very brutal attack.

BLACKWELL: Josh Campbell watching that hearing for us. Thank you, Josh.,

CAMPBELL: You bet.

GOLODRYGA: Well, Moroccan fans are hoping to pull off another upset in its semifinal match against France. Unfortunately, I don't think that's going to happen for them, given the score right now, but we will have the latest. We're going to tell you --

BLACKWELL: Here she goes.

GOLODRYGA: Debbie downer.

BLACKWELL: Debbie downer.

GOLODRYGA: You never know what could happen. We'll have details just ahead.

[15:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Well, so much for that commitment to free speech. Just one month after Elon Musk said that he would never do it, Twitter now has suspended the account that tracked the location of his private jet.

GOLODRYGA: Now the master mind behind the page is 20-year-old Florida student Jack Sweeney. CNN senior media reporter Oliver Darcy is here. So, Oliver, I guess this isn't that big of a surprise given the behavior that we've seen from Elon Musk over the past few weeks. So, what happened here?

OLIVER DARCY, CNN SENIOR MEDIA REPORTER: Well, it's somewhat of a surprise because Elon Musk had gone out on Twitter and said that his commitment to free speech was so great, he was not going to take action on this account that was basically posting where his private jet was flying off to in real time.

This account had gotten under his skin over the years. He even at one point apparently tried to pay the kid, Jack Sweeney, to just take this account offline, he refused. And so, it's something that has really bothered Elon Musk. But he had said he was not going to take action on this account.

He said it was because he has such a great commitment to free speech. And now we're finding out today that not only has he banned this account tracking his jet but the account of his kid -- his personal account. And it's unclear exactly, of course, why this is happening.

BLACKWELL: No explanation from Twitter?

DARCY: No explanation from Twitter. And again, we should note they basically laid off their entire communication staff.

BLACKWELL: It's hard to explain.

DARCY: There's not much transparency coming from Twitter these days outside of what Elon Musk himself is just casually tweeting.

BLACKWELL: So, let's talk about how this Twitter mess is impacting the other brand -- the one we knew Elon Musk for, the Tesla brand. What are we seeing there?

DARCY: Yes, and this is really where a lot of Elon Musk's wealth come from, right, the Tesla shares. And we're seeing that it has dipped 28 percent since Elon Musk took over Twitter. That's a pretty significant amount of money that has basically vanished into thin air. And this is for a few reasons, probably.

I mean, the market has not done so well lately. But also, Tesla shareholders are very worried about Elon Musk spending all his time working on Twitter and not Tesla. He is sleeping at Twitter headquarters. That's where his efforts are. And so, I think to some extent you're seeing this perhaps in the share price.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, and unfortunately, he's not the richest man in the world. He's now second richest.

BLACKWELL: Darn.

GOLODRYGA: So, is a few billion lost there.

BLACKWELL: Once you get over a billion, does your rife really change? I mean.

GOLODRYGA: It must be tough. Oliver Darcy, thank you.

DARCY: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Thank you.

All right, the Federal Reserve just hiked interest rates for the seventh time this year. How the White House is responding, that's ahead.

[15:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GOLODRYGA: I guess I'm Debbie downer officially now again. Just moments ago, France beat Morocco 2-0 in the last semifinal match at the World Cup. So, that means on Sunday, France will face Lionel Messi and Argentina in the final.

BLACKWELL: Let's go to CNN's Patrick Snell for the latest now. It's the end of this really Cinderella story for Morocco. Tell us what happened?

PATRICK SNELL, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Victor, Bianna, yes, the heartbreak for Morocco's national team who have so much to be proud of, 2-0. The wrong end of that score line against the French national team, the defending champion Allez les bleus! That would be the cry right across those fans who Didier Deschamps. They got a dream start early on in this one, after four minutes Theo

Hernandez putting them ahead. But I will say, Morocco gave it absolutely everything. The Atlas Lions do not know the meaning of the word defeat, it was relentless as seen seconds attack, especially in the second half, but they just could not get the leveler but I absolutely feel that they deserve.

But then they get hit very late on by Randal Kolo Muani coming on as a sub, scoring after just 44 seconds, 11 minutes from time. What a moment for the 24-year-old who plays in Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany. He was born in the year 1998. That was when France hosted the last men's World Cup in that country.

And of course, they won on that occasion. They want again four years ago in Russia in 2018. And Victor and Bianna, they are now looking to become only the third country in World Cup history to win back-to-back titles after Italy and Brazil.

[16:00:00]

The scenes there in the French capital city of Paris, along Champ- Elysees in the heart of the French capital. They know all too well the meaning of the word la victoire. Back to you.

GOLODRYGA: Listen, Morocco, that team can go home proud. They accomplished so much at this World Cup.

All right, Patrick Snell, thank you.

BLACKWELL: And "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.