Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

At Least Three People Dead After Tornadoes Tore Across Louisiana; House Passes Stopgap Bill to Avert Government Shutdown; Biden Administration Warns of Potential Influx of Migrants After Title 42 Ends; Parents of UVA Football Player Killed in Shooting Speak Out. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired December 15, 2022 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:01:02]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Very good Thursday morning to you. I'm Jim Sciutto.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Erica Hill.

We are following several major stories at this hour starting with the devastating storms across the south. This morning we know at least three people are dead after a wave of tornadoes tore through Louisiana and the southeast. Thousands more dealing with the damage and also that loss of electricity understandably. Over the past two days nearly 50 tornadoes have been reported across the region. Those span from Texas all the way east to Florida. Hear how one Louisiana resident describes what just one of those storms was like.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got inside and like five minutes later all hell broke loose. It sounded like a bomb went off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Also this morning, CNN will give you a firsthand look at Mexico's side of the southern border. This as a growing number of migrants flowing into the U.S. is boosting concerns about what will happen next week when what is known as Title 42 expires. It could have big effects.

Plus new CNN polling sheds light on what voters want in 2024. Majorities in both parties say they are hoping for a leader not named Biden or Trump.

We begin, though, in Louisiana where CNN correspondent Nick Valencia has been talking to folks there, assessing the damage.

Nick, tell us how bad it is, what you're seeing, and I'm curious how folks are responding to it all.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, we want to introduce you to one of the residents here. Denise Kennedy, who actually lived through this. She was home at the time of these deadly tornadoes striking through.

Denise, how are you this morning.

DENISE KENNEDY, HOME DAMAGED DURING STORM: Well as can be expected. Could be worse. Feeling blessed.

VALENCIA: You're lucky to be alive. I mean, this tornado killed three people in the state. One in nearby Jefferson Parish. Did you think about that?

KENNEDY: Yes. I had heard of one death right before all the lights went out so I was very concerned. But we kept up with the weather all day because our local Channel 6 and Margaret Orr, who's my hero.

VALENCIA: Meteorologists are often heroes in this event. Tell what it was like to live through this.

KENNEDY: It was frightening but she kept everybody abreast so well. Like gave them time to get out of way, and we followed the instructions on Channel 4, I mean Channel 6. Morgan Orr, 40-some-year meteorologist.

VALENCIA: Shout out to all the meteorologists here. When I saw you, and I mentioned this morning, you said you had seen the damage but you were just now this morning really seeing it. So what are seeing here when we look behind me?

KENNEDY: I'm seeing the close call this house went through and we are blessed. We -- everything with this house is external. Nothing happened inside.

VALENCIA: And I know you said inside, you know, you were with your autistic son. How did you keep him calm throughout all of this?

KENNEDY: Keeping up with the weather and listening, and, you know, just following instructions, you know, that they kept us abreast of everything.

VALENCIA: We really appreciate it. We know you're still without power and you want that back on even though the power company says that it is. So we're hopeful that you get that addressed. Thank you so much for your time this morning, Denise.

We want to show you a little bit -- you know, we got a few more seconds here but, you know, look at this house. It's entirely off its foundation and we showed you the house right next door last hour. We actually spoke to some city surveyors here who tell me that they had just finished rebuilding after Hurricane Ida.

This home right here, they were actually, Jim, about to start moving in their furniture, only for them to suffer this extensive damage here. Those surveyors from city of Gretna are going door-to-door, you know, to try to put a monetary value on this. They don't have one just yet, but they're -- you know, at this time. Like I said going through this neighborhood to see what's left of it -- Jim.

HILL: Yes. Absolutely. And Nick, appreciate the reporting. And thank Denise for her time with us as well.

For a closer look now on what's happening across the region, we're joined by Jefferson Parish sheriff, Joe Lopinto.

[10:05:01]

Sheriff, good to have you with us this morning. Update us if you could on where things stand this morning and specifically if there's anyone you're concerned about who's unaccounted for.

SHERIFF JOE LOPINTO, JEFFERSON PARISH, LOUISIANA: Well, not at this time. We did secondary searches with the fire department last night, everybody is accounted for from that standpoint. We're having to follow locations for everybody that lost their house, we got several properties that were completely destroyed including our ranch and property in Evans Bureau (PH), we got, you know, several million dollars of damage that we're dealing with that this morning. So that's property damage that can be replaced but we didn't have a loss of life here in the immediate area, although we got numerous homes that are completely destroyed.

So we're just dealing with that and making sure that they are taken care of. Again, you know, roadways are completely shut down in the area with the power poles down, and everything else, and we probably got about 10,000 people without power in this area and so we'll get to a better place by the end of the day. Right now, of course, normally with these storms we got blue skies, but the last report with Denise getting shout out to Margaret Orr put a smile on my face this morning. She's a local icon around here. So just to hear somebody mention that name it's a good smile this morning because it's been a long time.

SCIUTTO: We spoke to another local official last hour who said similar, that despite -- and we're showing more of these images of destruction now, that despite the strength of the storm --

LOPINTO: That's my property.

SCIUTTO: Well, there you go. You know it better than anyone. But that folks who didn't --

LOPINTO: Those pictures, that's my range right there.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Gosh, I hear you.

LOPINTO: That's the roof of my range in (INAUDIBLE) bureau.

HILL: Wow.

SCIUTTO: When you see that, when we said I'm sure when people watching see that, they're amazed that people came away safe from this. And I wonder what you attribute that to? Is it warnings that went out in advance?

LOPINTO: Well, luckily for us we do know how to protect from the storm. Our schools closed early yesterday at noon which prompted the elected officials in this area to close the government buildings so I closed the administrative offices yesterday at noon. Of course our police were still out in the street. But that building where that roof came off, I would have had 16 people in our academy in that building, but we let them go home at 2:00 yesterday, which all you know about hours later the entire roof has fallen off.

So, you know, luckily we made that call and so many times you make that call and you don't heed it, yesterday was one of those ones that we're really glad we made it at that period of time and we had all of our employees leaving around at that time. Let them go home early, get their kids be in the safety of their house, certainly saved some lives here yesterday.

SCIUTTO: Well, listen, it looks like you got some work to do on your office, but we are glad that everybody so far is safe and accounted for.

Sheriff Joe Lopinto, we wish you the best of luck.

LOPINTO: Thank you very much. You have a good day.

HILL: Overnight nine House Republicans breaking from their party to back a stopgap funding bill to avoid a government shutdown. That bill now heading to the Senate, and if passed it gives congressional negotiators a little more time and now have until December 23rd. That's when they would need to finalize a broader full year government funding deal.

SCIUTTO: You look a lot at those Republicans actually many of them are folks leaving office. CNN chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju is on Capitol Hill with more.

All right, so tell us what this particular bill does and then what we should expect next before the holidays.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this would fund the government until the entire year but I should caution nobody has seen any of the details of this because the details are still being drafted. There is only an agreement among the top appropriators in the House and the Senate that they will come -- they have reached a general agreement on the top line numbers. But even there is still some questions about how much it will cost.

There is an expectation it will cost about $1.7 trillion but there is also some significant pushback within the Republican Party and that's what the GOP will have to navigate and the Democrats in the days ahead. Richard Shelby, who's one of the members who drafted this measure, he is a retiring member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He has come under sharp criticism from the House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy who said that Shelby should not have cut this deal. Instead they should have punted it into the new Congress when Republicans will take control of the House. And just moments ago, I asked Shelby about that criticism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RICHARD SHELBY (R-AL): The majority leader in the House, everybody has got their own opinion. He's running for speaker and we understand that. And he's got to put a coalition of Republicans together. But we all know it is the best thing to do is fund the government when you're here. Whether you're retiring or whether you got five more years, the problem remains the same.

So I think it's irrational to shut down the government always. It's the wrong message. The American people don't want that. A few people say, well, we will go to the edge of the earth and we'll make people do so, and so I think it's best to try to work it out. You have to give and take. A lot of things are in the bill or will be that I don't like and I wouldn't vote for.

[10:10:04]

But military, veterans, safety nets for people and everything, let's do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: But there is just a lot of frustrations among Republicans that they were going to be jammed on this measure. They're not going to really get much time to review it. It will probably be unveiled sometime next week and only a couple of days to pass it before what's expected to be the new deadline, next Friday, to fund the government or risk a shutdown -- guys.

SCIUTTO: Manu Raju, we know you'll be watching. Thanks so much.

HILL: Also new this morning, Jill Biden, now fully on board with plans for her husband to run for re-election in 2024. CNN has learned she is, quote, "all in," which is a major shift from her position just three months earlier.

SCIUTTO: We're also learning that Biden's chief of staff, Ron Klain, said the president is expected to make a decision on his 2024 bid shortly after the holidays. That's coming soon.

CNN senior political analyst David Gergen joining us now to discuss.

David, good to have you on this morning.

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good to talk to you, Jim. Take care.

SCIUTTO: So, as you know, the D.C. conventional wisdom before the midterms was that Biden either would not run or he would face significant opposition from within the Democratic Party and perhaps within his own White House, including Dr. Jill Biden. That's now been flipped on its head. Is the reality now that this is Biden's nomination for the Democratic Party to lose?

GERGEN: Yes. I think the midterm elections turned out to be, you know, a real game-changer on both the Democratic side and the Republican side. There is no question that having Jill Biden swing behind the continuation of a Biden administration, a Biden presidency, is major within the White House because, you know, she has been reluctant, it's been hard in many ways, it's been hard on her, but I think with the midterms they realized, you know, we've got a real shot at winning this, the presidency.

And she is regarded as sort of the best judge of his health and how he can handle things, and if she's this far over this reporting would suggest that she's in part being as enthusiastic as she is because she thinks he's in pretty good shape and she's got a ringside seat.

HILL: She certainly does. I mean, some of the reporting was that they sort of felt the wind was at his back at this point. She has a ringside seat. She's also a major player in any reelection campaign. This is really the first lady being out there in many ways running as well. What's fascinating is there's a shift, right. There is definitely more support among Democrats for President Biden to seek a second term as the nominee.

But according to a new poll, it is still, you know, we are still looking at large numbers, nearly 60 percent who when asked if Biden should be the nominee, say no. I mean, earlier this year, you even said to us here on CNN, you didn't think he should be citing at that time his age. So what do they do with all these numbers?

GERGEN: I think they wait and see how things evolve. If we could get some things done as president when everybody comes back in January, February, you know, then we'll have a better shot at it. But right now, you've got in both parties, as you all reported just a moment ago, and both parties, there are growing numbers now who want somebody other than Biden or Trump. It is a lot easier, however, to take down Trump.

You know, that fever seems to have broken. And there are dissent coming up the inside track on that. So it's a lot easier to displace Trump than it is to displace Biden. There are people on the Democratic side who would prefer and they think they've got a better chance of winning with a younger candidate. But as long as the Bidens want to run it's very, very hard with the dynamics to displace them.

SCIUTTO: It is hard for -- exactly, for any incumbent, right, if they want. It's hard to try to push back against them. So, you know, for folks watching at home, is -- and by the way, this could all change. I mean, the conventional wisdom eight weeks ago was different from where we are today. But with your wisdom having advised four presidents and seen a lot of campaigns in your time, is the most likely outcome a repeat of the 2020 election, Trump versus Biden?

GERGEN: No. I think the most likely outcome at the moment is for Biden versus DeSantis, you know, or Biden versus some other third party. I think Donald Trump is bleeding badly and could be displaced.

Now, let's say if you got an eight-person, 10-person field on the Republican side and Trump can hold 30 percent, 35 percent, he could conceivably, you know, win the nomination with that because the rest of the voting will all be split up among so many other players. That's the best outcome for him. But I'll tell you, this is still swinging. The momentum is against Trump right now. It's favoring some outside candidate, DeSantis or somebody else. [10:15:06]

HILL: David Gergen, always good to see you. Thank you.

GERGEN: Good to see you all. Take care.

SCIUTTO: Coming up next, a CNN team just crossed to the Mexican side of the southern border this morning as the Biden administration is warning of another spike in the number of migrants crossing into the U.S. We're going to take you right there, next.

HILL: Plus the parents of one of the University of Virginia football players who was shot and killed during a class trip is now speaking out for the first time. We're also hearing from one of the players who survived that shooting.

SCIUTTO: Goodness. Such a shame to see such a young life snuffed out.

Also ahead, the White House releasing its plan to control COVID this winter as hospitals are struggling to deal not just with COVID but a trio of respiratory viruses.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:20:14]

HILL: The Biden administration is warning of a likely influx of migrants at the southern border next when that Trump era border policy known as Title 42 is set to expire. The rule was put in place of course during pandemic. It allowed officials to turn away migrants at the southern border under a public health authority.

SCIUTTO: Thousands of migrants have been staying just across the border in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, raising concerns that many would try to cross exactly when Title 42 ends next week. Thousands more.

CNN's Ed Lavandera, he is right there on the border this morning. And I wonder, I mean, do you see groups of people kind of piling up there in preparation for this?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we can give you a great vantage point here this morning, Jim and Erica. We are in Juarez, Mexico, and just looking across the Rio Grande here, that is El Paso, you see the border wall there, and this is the scene that is playing out here and has been playing out here in the El Paso area for almost a week now. We are seeing thousands of people, some estimates have been about 2500 migrants a day crossing in here to the El Paso area.

And significantly as we've been reporting, this is coming just days before the possible expiration of Title 42 which is this public health rule that has -- was used during the Trump administration and into the Biden administration to keep out a lot of migrants. Perhaps 2.5 million or so. But this is the scene here. And what might strike people is just how orderly it is. People are literally just able to walk across this river, it's very narrow at this point, about 30 feet or so, and they have had been standing in this line all night under frigid temperatures, Jim and Erica.

Thirty degrees, they're covered in blankets. They've been spending much of the morning as we've been watching them here this morning, cleaning up blankets and debris that have been left by other migrants who have been here over the course of the last week. And then when they get here to the edge, you could see the edge of the border wall with the barbed wire fence there are a number of Border Patrol agents there on the U.S. side, and they're called up in some groups at a time, two or three people at a time, and then they are taken to a Border Patrol processing facility which is just several hundred yards away, and that's where they begin the process of determining whether or not they will be able to stay in the U.S. to go through the immigration process or if they would be immediately expelled and this scene has been --

SCIUTTO: Oops. Looks like our signal from just south of the border there. But you did hear Ed finishing up a thought there on the numbers of folks piling up there, waiting for that policy to expire. We'll stay on top of the story.

HILL: Absolutely. We are also hearing this morning from one of the UVA football players who survived that horrific shooting that killed three of his teammates. Michael Hollins says he actually locked eyes with the shooter.

SCIUTTO: He's lucky to be alive. A bullet missed his spine by a fraction of an inch. Others not so lucky. The loss of D'Sean Perry, Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis, Jr. After their losses, Holland says he's dealing with both physical and emotional pain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL HOLLINS, JR., SURVIVED UVA SHOOTING: I mean, I lost a brother that day. I loved Lavel, with all of my heart, loved Devin with all of my heart, but, D'Sean, it was different with him. It was -- man, that was my brother.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Well D'Sean Perry's parents they spoke this morning about just the devastating loss of their son. Here is CNN's Leyla Santiago.

LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Erica and Jim, the parents of D'Sean Perry are calling for an end to gun violence, gun violence that claimed the life of their son last month. Their son was one of the three football players who died after a gunman shot them and also injured two others while returning from a class trip back to UVA's campus. Perry has been described as the friend who always lifted you, the friend that had that amazing smile, the teammate who was hard- working. Here is how his mom described him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HAPPY PERRY, MOTHER OF D'SEAN PERRY: That's who he was. That's who he is. Everywhere he went, he wanted to leave a little bit of his life. SEAN PERRY, FATHER OF D'SEAN PERRY: Everything just stopped. For me.

And just to hear her cry, it was just another cry, it wasn't the same cry, as losing a child.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANTIAGO: And that's how his father described getting the phone call that confirmed he had lost his son speaking to NBC News for the first time in a month since Perry's death. Now they still have a lot of questions and quite frankly the investigation continues. So there are still a lot of questions out there. You know, motive has yet to be established. There is an investigation from the Virginia state police looking into the incident, as well as the attorney general of the state that has now called on an independent council to review what led up to this.

[10:25:09]

How this university handled it, to find out if this could have been prevented, all answers that the family is calling for as they also call for the football community, and the younger generation to take action to end this gun violence -- Erica, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HILL: Just so awful. And understandably that family needs some of those answers. Leyla Santiago, thank you for that.

Still to come here, another look at how the pandemic has changed the way we work. This trend of men leaving their jobs to be stay-at-home dads.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD V. REEVES, SENIOR FELLOW, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: What were we doing, who is raising the kids, how do we want our family to work. That's a question that a lot of families have been asking themselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)