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Suspect In Idaho Killings Arrested On First Degree Murder Warrant; Jan. 6 Committee Releases New Transcripts, Including From Giuliani, Kushner; Southwest Expecting "Full Schedule" Today After Days Of Chaos. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired December 30, 2022 - 14:00   ET

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

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Good afternoon, I'm Sara Sidner, in for Victor Blackwell. Welcome to CNN NEWSROOM.

Our Breaking News. New and long-awaited arrest in the horrific killings of four University of Idaho students in November. Bryan Christopher Kohberger is now facing first-degree murder charges in the stabbing deaths. That's according to an affidavit just in to CNN.

The killings terrorize the small town of Moscow, Idaho, which hadn't seen a murder in seven years. The fear is so intense. Some students have been too scared to return to school. Investigators will hold a press conference they tell us very soon, and we'll take you there live.

But first, CNN's Jean Casarez is in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, where the arrest was made. Have you been able to glean any more information about the person arrested and the charges he's facing?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, let me tell you what we do know. And right here, Sara, we are at the Monroe County Correctional Facility or the jail here in northeastern Pennsylvania. This is where the suspect has been housed. We (AUDIO GAP) on no bail. Bryan Christopher Kohbeger -- Kohberger is 28 years old. He was arrested at 1:30 this morning (AUDIO GAP) from here, very close. He has a mailing address of Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, which is also very close.

But here's what I want to emphasize. This is a small town, Pennsylvania. This is rural areas. This is not a big city at all.

Now, we did just get a hold of the criminal complaint from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and it does say that the Pennsylvania State Police were assisting the Moscow police department, the Idaho State Police, the FBI, the homicide investigation, that there was an ongoing investigation of homicide, and that's why they were helping them. And he was taken into custody based upon an active arrest warrant out of that other state on charges of first-degree murder. And they are calling him in this complaint, a fugitive of justice, which is extremely significant because what it means is that the charges were filed in the other jurisdiction, which would be Idaho, and then the person left the jurisdiction and they are able to now hold him on those fugitive of justice charges.

One more thing. There is going to be an extradition proceeding. Has it happened yet? We don't have documentation that it has. But it's an important proceeding. He must be represented by an attorney because he can make the choice to be extradited back to that state, which is Idaho, or refuse extradition. And that is an important part of this entire process to get him back to be heard on those charges that are originating out of Idaho.

SIDNER: Jean Casarez, you're always so good in these kinds of cases and giving us all the details. So, the suspect now being held on fugitive of justice charges, as we understand it, and that there is a warrant for -- out for his arrest for first-degree murder. Jean Casarez, thank you so much. She is in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, where the suspect was arrested in this case.

Let's bring in CNN's security correspondent Josh Campbell who broke the story, and CNN's senior law enforcement analyst and former Philadelphia Police Commissioner, Charles Ramsey. Josh, I'm going to start with you. What more have you learned about how this arrest came about? A lot of agencies seem to have been involved in this.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this case is really highlighting national cooperation between law enforcement. You have multiple jurisdictions here. And it really shows for potential criminals out there that with this cooperation with law enforcement, no one is -- you know, was able to get away without these agencies coming to bear with all of their resources here. What we're told is that investigators in Idaho were working with a host of authorities, their state officials, the FBI, out of Salt Lake, they were working to determine who this suspect was. And during this course of the -- of the investigation, were able to determine that he actually traveled some 2500 miles to the other side of the country.

Now, as Jean was just reporting, officials there in Pennsylvania, particularly the state police were able to go obtain a warrant once they knew where the suspect was located. They were able to get that warrant. And in the early morning hours today, the Pennsylvania State Police went and arrested him. The FBI was also there on-scene as part of this investigation as well.

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And so, then the next step as Jean was mentioning is you know, we did -- we expect that the demanding state as it's called in the extradition proceedings, Idaho, will be sending people to Pennsylvania to bring him back if he actually makes it through that -- if he -- if he doesn't object to actually being extradited. But you know, this is obviously an investigation that has gone on now for seven weeks. We have this community there in Idaho that was really gripped by this just brutal, brutal murder of four people.

And you'll remember early on, there was a question about communication. And you know, what was a community to believe initially that they were told that there wasn't an ongoing thread? But then, the police said that they actually didn't know who this person was. And so, from -- since that time, this community has obviously been reeling and wondering if there was a threat in their midst.

We're now learning that the suspect made his way across the country. And, of course, there are a lot of questions that still remain right now, at this hour, Sara, specifically, why he did this, what his connection may have been, if any, to these four college students who were brutally murdered? That will all be part of this investigation. But again, a good day for law enforcement in the U.S. having this suspect in custody. And all of the families of these victims will never be made whole. The community there certainly breathing a sigh of relief that this thread is no longer out there.

SIDNER: I would argue, the community and the country as a whole.

CAMPBELL: Yes.

SIDNER: This is one of those cases that people have been watching and worrying about, never mind the students who are too afraid to return to school. Josh Campbell, thank you so much for your great reporting. Charles Ramsey, investigators have said that they wanted to know more about this white car that was parked outside the house where the students lived. Could that have been the break that investigators needed?

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: It might have been. I mean, we don't know and certainly don't want to speculate but it could be the car, it could be DNA that they recovered from the scene, it could be hit off a cell tower, it could be a variety of things. Now, there'll be some information that will come out, obviously, during the press conference. But don't be surprised if it's not a lot more than what we already have because there's going to be a prosecution in this particular case. And the prosecutor is going to have a lot to say about what information is released.

But it is very important that they have an individual in custody. Hopefully, there was only one individual that was involved in this. We may find out more about that. That people can you know take a sigh of relief that the individual responsible is in fact in custody.

SIDNER: Yes.

RAMSEY: So, it's a good day. It's a good day for closing a case. But there are a lot of families out there with murdered relatives whose cases have not been solved.

SIDNER: Yes.

RAMSEY: And we need to not forget that.

SIDNER: Yes, that's a really good point, Mr. Ramsey. I want to also just ask you about this point because early on the Idaho police had said that they believed the victims were targeted, but they were very thin on putting on any other information to elaborate further on that. What does that statement tell you?

RAMSEY: Well, I mean, they're not going to put a lot of information out because bad guys watch television too. And so, they have to be very careful what they -- what they put out. And you know, what you know at the beginning and what you think you know at the beginning of an investigation, as more and more evidence is uncovered, as the investigation proceeds, things do change. And so those were initial statements, but obviously, they continue to work, they develop a lot of information that eventually led them to the suspect, it'll be interesting to know what exactly led them to the suspect and what relationship if any, this individual had, why was he even in Idaho?

SIDNER: Josh, now to you. I have a question for you. I know that you helped break the story. And you know, the fact that there was an arrest here -- and again, we should mention, the person who was arrested is Bryan Christopher Kohberger. He is now being held on fugitive of justice charges in Pennsylvania because there's a photo of him being held in Pennsylvania. But, of course, authorities in Idaho want to get a hold of him and he will -- they will have to decide whether it's -- his attorney will have to decide whether or not he's going to fight extradition charges -- the request for extradition. But I do want to ask you as to whether or not investigators give you any sense of whether there may be other people that may be arrested in this case.

CAMPBELL: No. At this hour, we're hearing that there's no indication of that. I mean, to be fair, officials haven't ruled anything out as far as they're not being other suspects. But we're not hearing anything as far as our reporting that there may have been someone associated with this. But you know, as we've talked about, in many of these investigations, authorities will be looking, you know, behind every rock to try to determine who did this person knew, you know, who were the people in this person's orbit, was there anyone who may have had any kind of indication? So, they're not just going to take his word for it, they're obviously going to do this due diligence.

But this is one of those kinds of cases, and I don't -- I don't want to get too graphic here, obviously. But we talk a lot about the types of weapons that are used in killings. And when we're talking about a bladed object, which is authority say was using this, you know, behavioral analysts will tell you that that is a very personal type of killing.

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You have to physically be in front of someone, you know, it's not shooting someone from afar. And so, that will go into a lot of trying to determine about what was this connection, did he know any of these victims, was he you know, in communication with any of them trying to build a relationship, perhaps spurned by some of them? We don't know. But in talking with investigators, I've learned that the behavioral analysts were very much a part of this investigation trying to determine the profile of this person.

And then where we go from here, again, once that process actually moves forward, we will wait to see whether the authorities -- or whether the suspect actually admits to investigators what he did, sometimes they do, sometimes they're proud of what they've done, sometimes they lawyer up, and then authorities don't have much to go on. But we know that now they know the name of the suspect. They're certainly looking for any social media, any pass to try to get to that motive, which is so key, not only in this case but also trying to prevent cases like this in the future.

SIDNER: Right.

CAMPBELL: And finally, I just want to say one other point, just very quickly.

SIDNER: Sure.

CAMPBELL: And that is this case, shows -- and Chief Ramsey knows this well, there's this terminology that's used in law enforcement, there's so-called CSI effect. And that is the American people are now so conditioned to watching television, you know, fictional TV shows, and thinking that forensic science is the be-all end-all, and cases have to be solved within, you know, 42 minutes plus commercials.

SIDNER: Right.

CAMPBELL: But sometimes these cases take time. As we see in this one, seven weeks. It took authorities but they finally got their person as a claim.

SIDNER: Yes. And that CSI effect, by the way, is also talked a lot about by prosecutors in cases where people expect to have everything laid out perfectly for them. That's not the way things always happen. Thank you to both of you, Josh Campbell and Chief Charles Ramsey. I do want to quickly before you go just read the names of the victims, their families have to be in hell. They've been there since the day they found out what happened to their loved ones.

We lost Ethan Chapman -- Chapin, 20 years old, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle 20, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21 years old. These are all people that had lives ahead of them, and that were looking forward to becoming you know, the citizens and do things that they wanted to do. And here we are, these young people, their lives cut short. And now police say they have the person they believe that took their lives. So, the family you know, never going to get over it but at least they have a little bit of something to go on now. Thank you to both of you.

CAMPBELL: You bet.

SIDNER: Now to the January 6 committee releasing another trove of transcripts this morning. The new batch includes more key interviews involving Rudy Giuliani, Jared Kushner, and Jason Miller, and Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice, Clarence Thomas. CNN's Sara Murray joins us now. Sara, what are we learning from this new round of transcripts, of which there are many?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there are many. And our team, as they have been every day is diligently reading these. And look, the Ginni Thomas one is interesting because her interview came relatively late in the game. Obviously, some text messages had came out between her and Mark Meadows, and she really sorts of tried to walk some of those back or was more apologetic with them in her interview with the committee. So, she's talking about -- you know, she's asked about these messages she exchanged with Mark Meadows about essentially pressing, you know, election contests. And she said I regret the tone and content of these texts. I really find my language imprudent and my choices of sending the context of these e-mails unfortunate.

You know, at one point, she said in a message that she was disgusted by Vice President Mike Pence. And she again sort of tried to explain why she said that. She said I was frustrated that I thought Vice President Pence might concede earlier than what President Trump was inclined to do. So, according to her interview, I wanted to hear Vice President Pence talk more about the fraud and irregularities in certain states that I thought was still lingering. And she still expresses these concerns about election fraud in her interview with the committee, even though she says she doesn't have any specific evidence of fraud, Sara.

SIDNER: Sara Murray, thank you for all of that and for bringing this stuff to light. It is all very, very interesting.

Let's now discuss this with Margaret Talev, a CNN political analyst and managing editor at Axios, and Michael D'Antonio. He is the author of several Trump biographies. Margaret, I'm going to start with you. What stood out to you from this latest drop?

MARGARET TALEV, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, Sara, as we go through these documents, we continue to see this dichotomy between people who really treated this opportunity to talk to the committee as a minimize, don't recall, take the fifth, and people who saw to answer the questions. Jared Kushner's also release is going to be very interesting because he recalls in very specific detail a lot of things. And then on another question which he says, I don't -- I wasn't the details guy, I don't really remember that.

But I think what Ginni Thomas -- what is really interesting and important is that, of course, there are only nine Supreme Court justices and her husband is one of them.

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It -- people are allowed to have separate lives from their spouses. But in her case, her activism and her engagement really ran up against ultimately, the last of, you know, judicial body to be the decider in every consequential American question, including in very rare cases, including this one, elections. And so, I'm not surprised to see her try to change the narrative of this but I think, again, because of the people whose testimony, the transcripts that are released today, we have a tremendous new amount of information to get through to understand the nuances. But we're still seeing a lot of don't recall, can't recall, not sure, in these answers.

SIDNER: Yes, it tells you a little something. Michael, let me ask you about Ginni Thomas saying, you know, she regretted her text to Mark Meadows, after the election. In the text, she openly encouraged Meadows to challenge the result of the 2020 election. What is your take on all this? Is she trying to be revising her own history, trying to make herself look better? Because it seemed like she meant when she sent those texts.

MICHAEL D'ANTONIO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, if she's trying to make herself look better, she's not doing very well, is she? She comes across as someone typical in the Trump world. And by that, I mean, immoral, heedlessly ignorant, and unpatriotic when it comes to our democracy. These are all people who knew better.

And I would put Melania Trump in that category. She claims -- or those around her claim that in December, she was telling people to tell her husband the truth. Well, she knew what the truth was. Why didn't she tell him the truth? And the idea that the president -- then-president needed someone to inform him of the truth is wholly inaccurate, you know.

Lastly, I would say scanning these documents, looking at people like Rudy Giuliani who makes ridiculous claims, it's astounding to me how frivolous these people were, and that they were in charge of the United States government. It's appalling.

SIDNER: In -- you know, in her testimony, just to look at it a little bit deeper, Ginni Thomas insisted that she never thought the election was stolen. Here is what she texted though back in November 2020. "Help this great president stand firm, Mark. The majority knows Biden, and the left is attempting the greatest Heist of our history."

When you look at that, considering that her husband is a Supreme Court justice with a job that he will have for his entire life, what does this tell you about her, but also about a potential influence of her on him?

D'ANTONIO: Well, I think this tells us that this is a wholly corrupt person. And what Supreme Court justice's spouse indulges in this kind of speculation and tries to push around the highest-level officials in our government, this is also reflective of her long-running campaign of influence in Washington. One could even say that she's always tried to leverage her relationship with her husband, a Supreme Court justice, in a way that is more than unseemly.

So, I've heard people talking about the financial reporting that should be required of public officials. I've heard people talking about these spouses needing to be required to step back from this kind of activity. And we may need laws now because the people around Donald Trump have proven to us that the voluntary guardrails don't work for them. They're going to be indulging in this kind of behavior. And people in the future will do the same because they imagine it's the thing you can do.

SIDNER: I was going to ask you about that. There are a lot of folks looking at whether or not more laws need to be put in place to be able to deal with the ethical part of this and the potentially illegal side to this at the same time. Margaret Talev and Michael D'Antonio, thank you so much for coming on the show. And just ahead. We'll bring you a never-before-seen look at Donald Trump's taxes. House Democrats making six years of the president's -- former president's financials public, capping off a dramatic legal fight. Plus, the colossal meltdown of Southwest Airlines may finally be coming to an end. The airline says it is back on track finally today. How the company's CEO was playing damage control? Next.

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SIDNER: Nearly a week after thousands of travelers were left stranded at airports across the country, Southwest Airlines is operating back on a normal schedule finally. We've been reporting on the story and impact on fliers all week long from a bride who couldn't make it to her wedding in Belize to life-and-death situations including a dialysis patient whose canceled flight left her with just a few days' worth of her medicine, and one passenger who had to drive from Las Vegas to Fort Wayne after her flight was canceled. She was left without her blood pressure medicine because her luggage got lost.

As of this hour, 43 Southwest flights have been canceled today. And that number is great compared to what we've been seeing. This morning, the Airline's CEO double down on his regret saying he can't apologize enough. And I think that his passengers would agree.

CNN's Adrienne Broaddus is live at Chicago's Midway where she has been for days listening to the stories of people suffering through this. Adrienne, how are things looking now?

ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Things are much better here at Chicago Midway, Sara.

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And we've heard from passengers who are relieved following so many days of stress and anxiety, walking into the airport this morning for the first time. They're seeing a flight information board that shows flights are boarding and on time. There are a few delays here and there. For example, Southwest flight 1535 was scheduled to leave at 10 after three local time, it's now delayed and leaving at 3:23. But this right there, departed. That is a welcome sign, especially after more than 15,000 canceled flights over the last week.

Now, that relief was also followed by some hesitation. I met a traveler. Her name is Velvet Calhoun. She told me she's on her way to Memphis to ring in the new year with her family. However, when it came time for her to check in her bags right here, she was terrified.

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BROADDUS: Why don't you want to check your bag?

VELVET CALHOUN, SOUTHWEST PASSENGER: OK. I was -- because of a lot of bags they lost.

BROADDUS: Are you scared?

CALHOUN: Yes, I was scared. You see a lot of bags on it that they've lost. I get to Memphis and I don't have no bag.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There you go.

CALHOUN: I don't think it's right. I've been watching the news. Now, they want to still give them my bags. Is that crazy or what? I'll try to go (INAUDIBLE). I'm not going to let them spoil my day.

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BROADDUS: And, Sara, we know so many travel plans were spoiled. In fact, I reunited today with a woman I met in baggage claim earlier this week. When we first met, she was crying because she couldn't find her luggage and she was unable to travel to New York to be with her family. This morning, she told me she received news from Southwest that her luggage somehow ended up in New York, and that Southwest would ship her luggage to her via FedEx. She lives in Arizona. She's on a plane now heading home, Sara.

SIDNER: You know what? Velvet Calhoun? She spoke for a lot of people. She is not having it. She is planning on having a great New Year's Eve in New Year, and we wish her and all the other passengers the best. Adrienne Broaddus, thank you for your week of excellent coverage out there.

Now, to Donald Trump's federal tax returns officially made public, thanks to the House. What we're learning about his foreign bank accounts and charitable contributions or lack thereof?

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