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Slain Student's Dad: Suspect Is "Innocent Until Proven Guilty"; Biden Renews Focus On Bipartisanship As GOP Set To Control House; McCarthy Scrambles To Win Support Ahead Of House Vote Tomorrow. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired January 02, 2023 - 15:00   ET

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

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PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: This is how you get your money back from Southwest Airlines, you go to southwest.com/traveldisruption. Put your - in your confirmation number and then your name. You can also go on that site and find a way to submit receipts if you incurred any additional expenses after Southwest cancel your flight. So far today the cancellations from Southwest are pretty low, it's in about 160 so far today, that makes up only a fraction of the 500 we have seen in total so far today.

But look at this, the piles of bags have not gone away just everywhere just yet and Southwest tells us it's still working on reuniting passengers with some of their unclaimed bags. We've seen piles like this not just here at Reagan National Airport but also Oakland, also at El Paso. Bianna.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: All right. Pete Muntean, we hope those bags get to their owner soon. Thank you so much.

It is the top of the hour on CNN NEWSROOM. Happy New Year, everyone. I'm Bianna Golodryga.

Well, the father of one of the murdered college students in Idaho is responding to the arrest of his daughter's accused killer. You will be hearing from Steve Goncalves in just moments.

But the suspect, Bryan Kohberger, is expected to waive extradition at a hearing tomorrow in Pennsylvania, his home state. He was arrested there Friday. Kohberger, a graduate student in criminology attends Washington State University in Pullman, which is a 15-minute drive from Moscow, Idaho. That's where on November 13th police found the bloody bodies of 20-year-old Ethan Chapin, his girlfriend, Zanna Kernodle, 21-year-old Madison Mogen and her best friend, Kaylee Goncalves.

Investigators have not given any motive for the stabbings which terrified the university town. Many students were living in fear ever since.

CNN Correspondent Veronica Miracle is in Moscow, Idaho. Veronica, so Kohberger's two sisters and parents say they will attend his extradition hearing tomorrow. What more are we learning about him?

VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bianna, as you mentioned, he's a Washington State University graduate student. And over the weekend, his apartment and his office because he's a teaching assistant as well, was searched by police. We went to that apartment and we spoke with a woman and her family who live right below Kohberger and they said it was very difficult living underneath him for the last four months because he would be up all hours of the night one, two, three in the morning, vacuuming, making a lot of noise. They said it was very disruptive.

They said when they did see him, he was cordial, but definitely exhibited some strange behavior. They also noted that he had a white Hyundai Elantra, but they at the time did not put two and two together that he could possibly be the suspect. I also mentioned that he's a teaching assistant and one of his students telling CNN that his behavior was off as of late. Take a listen.

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HAYDEN STINCHFIELD STUDENT IN CLASS WHERE SUSPECT WAS TEACHING ASSISTANT: When he would grade your papers, he would be grading you on what - he ended up calling like a higher standard, but it really felt like to us was he was grading us like he would have graded himself as a PhD student, so that was just kind of like - we were all annoyed by him.

It would have been about a month before winter break when like the murders happened and we didn't obviously build our framework for this around that, because we had no reason to connect him to that at the time, but definitely around then. He started grading everybody just hundreds.

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MIRACLE: Bianna, his extradition hearing is tomorrow in Pennsylvania. His public defender has insinuated that he is going to waive extra extradition, which means he could be back in the State of Idaho as early as tomorrow. It could take a couple of days. We asked the Police Chief exactly how long that process will take and he said for security reasons, they will not be revealing that.

He also said the Police Chief that there's going to be a lot of information revealed in the probable cause affidavit, but because of state law, they are not allowed to unseal that until he returns to the state of Idaho. So we should know more in the coming days once he returns back here to Moscow, Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: All right. Veronica Miracle, thank you.

And joining me now is Steve Goncalves, the father of Kaylee Goncalves, who was just 21 years old when she was murdered, a senior in General Studies. Shanon Gray is his attorney and is joining us as well. Thank you both for joining us.

Steve, I can't even begin to imagine what these past seven weeks have been like for you, a true living hell. I'm just curious to get your reaction when you first heard that a suspect had been apprehended.

STEVE GONCALVES, FATHER OF IDAHO MURDER VICTIM KAYLEE GONCALVES: I was very relieved knowing that all this work, this time, this struggle that we had gone through was all building on this case and it felt good to know that we are moving in the right direction.

GOLODRYGA: Tell us about the moment you found out from law enforcement that there had been an arrest.

GONCALVES: We were actually asleep. We got a call. That was from our lawyer.

[15:05:00]

He had told us, hey they made an arrest. He didn't have a bunch of details at that time. I woke up the next day to go to work and then the details started crawling in. And my phone started ringing as more and more as the details came out. And I was very excited, because it was the celebration of life, the same day that we were doing that event, my wife had came out multiple times saying that she wanted to have this put behind us, ideally, before this event started so she could just focus on our girls and that's what happened.

GOLODRYGA: I know when you first saw Bryan Kohberger's photo, you said that he was a "broken soul, a pitiful human being." And you also went on to say that you believe that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. Now that a few days have passed and we've learned more about his past, his area of expertise, what he had been studying, what he had been teaching, has your view on him just from that photo changed?

GONCALVES: It was more than just that photo. They - that's how they framed it, but I had quite a bit of detail by that time of what that individual had done. And I have to be careful what I say. We're working with multiple different forces to make sure that we don't disclose anything that shouldn't be said.

GOLODRYGA: Shanon, let me ask you, what do you expect to see once this affidavit is unsealed when he returns to Idaho as soon as tomorrow or later this week?

SHANON GRAY, ATTORNEY FOR GONCALVES FAMILY: Oh, we're obviously looking for a strong case, the affidavit that would support the arrest and any details that might help support the conviction as well. The probable cause affidavit is probable cause to arrest, but obviously a conviction is beyond a reasonable doubt.

But a lot of times you can have a lot of good information or probable cause affidavit that will support the evidence that's forthcoming. So looking for a strong affidavit that support says a lot of different information in it.

GOLODRYGA: And so far, we know there's DNA linking him to the car, right, to that white car and also to the crime scene itself, no?

GRAY: We don't have any of that information. I mean, I think there's a lot of stuff that swirls around the Internet. But until that affidavit is released, we won't have any specific confirmed information regarding what the basis for the arrest was, so.

GOLODRYGA: Steve, I know that you initially said that no one in your family recognized Kohberger or but in the hour since, you had said that you could see a connection between him and Kaylee that you weren't ready to discuss. Can you give us any more insight into what you mean by that?

GONCALVES: I can't. I'm relying on my attorney - family attorney - for us to know that we're going to say something that doesn't hurt the case. That's the most important thing at this point in time, if we can release that information and - we'd only be doing that as - if the community could build upon that.

But at this point in time, we can't give that out and we're trying to work with the channels to make sure that we're saying the right things that are not going to hurt anybody.

GOLODRYGA: And, of course, we want to be respectful of the process and not impede in any way on the investigation. But was it his name, perhaps when you saw his picture that's ...

GRAY: I can clarify that.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, go ahead.

GRAY: If you'd like me to, yes.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, please.

GRAY: I was just going to say once we got a name, obviously, the Goncalves family and I think law enforcement as well, everyone is going to go back and look and see if there's any connections between any of the victims, and this defendant in this case. And we're going to be providing a list of any connections, we think are important to the Moscow Police right now. And then we'll allow the Moscow Police Department to control whether or not they want to release any of that information.

But right now, the family is just looking to see if - building any kind of list they can that might have any connection with any of the victims, and I'm sure the other families are doing this as well just to help out the investigation.

GOLODRYGA: And I'm sorry, the Internet connection keeps cutting out, so I'm just going to ask you again, Shanon, just to confirm that the Moscow Police there and investigators are looking and asking the public for any help, and any more information, further information that they do have on the suspect, correct?

GRAY: Yes. I believe in the news conference when they released that they had a suspect in the case that they were still asking for additional information regarding that, so I think they're still asking for community help, and we would encourage the community to send any leads or information to the Moscow Police Department regarding any contacts or any information they might have about the defendant and any of the victims in the case. GOLODRYGA: Steve, have you spoken since the identification of the

suspect with the families of the other victims?

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GONCALVES: Yes, I have spoken to some of the family members. Yes, we're all working together. I mean, not every single family, but yes, I have reached out to some of the other family members.

GOLODRYGA: And how are they doing right now?

GONCALVES: As good as you can be, it's a little bit of hope, things are moving in the right direction. There's a lot of time of not knowing, because they had to do everything to monitor this individual. So we're just glad that things are going in the right direction and it's still relevant, the car still relevant.

All the people out there that if you've seen that car, I heard before this segment started that people didn't realize that his car was relevant, just because he was in Washington. Well, now you know. If that's - if you've seen this car in Washington, we would - we'd like to know about it. We want to know places of business, things that he's done, where he's traveled. We want to put together that for all the officers if we can.

GOLODRYGA: Steve, Have you spoken to the surviving two other roommates since his name - since he's been identified and he's been arrested?

GONCALVES: Yes. They were at the celebration of life, at least one of them. I don't know if both were.

GOLODRYGA: So once he is extradited to Idaho, you will have the opportunity if you choose to take it to see him face-to-face in court. Will you be there?

GONCALVES: Yes, we will - I don't know if we'll be there every single time or I will - I still work full time. My wife is a teacher, so we'll probably rotate different people there. But yes, we're going to definitely look this guy and look him in his eyes. He's going to have to deal with this in - he has been dealing with this for seven weeks. It's not about to end.

GOLODRYGA: And if he is ultimately found guilty, would you like to see the death penalty?

GONCALVES: I would - I'd have to talk with the other families. I mean, it's not really about what I want. It's kind of - we got to do this all together.

GOLODRYGA: If you could respond to Kohberger's family's statement that they issued, which reads: "First and foremost, we care deeply for the for families who have lost their precious children. There are no words that can adequately express the sadness we feel, and we pray each day for them. We will continue to let the legal process unfold and as a family we will love and support our son and brother. We have fully cooperated with law enforcement agencies in an attempt to seek the truth and promote his presumption of innocence rather than judge unknown facts and making erroneous assumptions."

Do you have anything you'd like to respond to that with?

GONCALVES: I agree with - that was a good - that was a well-spoken statement. I have four other children, so I understand that this is not easy for anyone. I have no ill will towards them. Whatever's going on, we still have a lot of investigation to do or I agree with them, he's innocent until proven guilty and we have some work to do.

GOLODRYGA: I know earlier in this investigation and, look, it's been seven horrific weeks, like as I mentioned like - as a parent, I don't even know what this must have been like for you and the other families. I know that along the way, you have been a bit critical of the Moscow Police Department and how they've handled it.

Now that there is a suspect, there's a lot more work to be done, obviously, has your view on how they've handled this investigation changed at all?

GONCALVES: I think constructive criticism is always needed. I have it against my own family and myself. I haven't done everything correctly. And when I have a misstep, I expect somebody to reach over and tap me on the shoulder and say, hey, we can do this better.

So I don't think I was really - we were doing anything other than that. If we came across a little bit aggressive, it's because we're talking about life and death. And, yes, we were a little aggressive. But they did a good job. I've always thought and I've always been on their side. And some things have gotten skewed here and there, but that's to be expected in an ongoing investigation and that was the first chapter. Now we're on the second chapter, I'll be cleaner, I'll try to make sure that I deliver my message in such a way that I don't allow people to misquote me.

GOLODRYGA: What is the first question that you really want answered as we start to learn more, perhaps, when this affidavit is unsealed, and as this investigation continues?

GONCALVES: So it's going to be about the evidence, I mean, the more the better. And then once you know the evidence, then I'm going to go to my legal counsel, and we're going to make sure that if there's anything that needs a little bit more coloring, a little bit more details, then all my questions and answers on these type of reports are going to be to try to fill in those gaps to make sure that we have the biggest brightest picture and we fill in all those details.

GOLODRYGA: Well, Steve, I hope you can start to focus on the life and legacy of your beautiful young daughter now instead of trying to find the person who brutally took her away from you.

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Thank you so much for taking the time to join us today. We really appreciate it. Steve Goncalves and Shanon Gray. GONCALVES: Thank you, too.

GOLODRYGA: Thank you both.

GRAY: Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: Well, it is coming down to the wire for Kevin McCarthy to convince the holdouts to vote for him to become the next House speaker, the latest from Capitol Hill up next.

And President Biden is on his way back to Washington after the holiday and the political environment he's returning to is very different from when he left. How he plans to push for bipartisanship as Republicans take control of the House, that's next.

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GOLODRYGA: It is a new year and a new Congress, as Republicans take over the House of Representatives this week and the reality of divided government sets in. President Biden returns to Washington later today with a renewed focus on bipartisanship.

Meantime, Republican Kevin McCarthy remains optimistic as he makes his final push for Speaker of the House.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have the votes for speaker tomorrow?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And take away all the excitement?

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): I think we'll have a good day tomorrow.

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GOLODRYGA: Now, despite the obstacles making it difficult for the lawmaker to secure 218 votes he needs, he thinks tomorrow will be a good day. He has already made several concessions but nine Republican hardliners say that is not enough and five more say they will not vote for McCarthy.

CNN's Manu Raju joins us from Capitol Hill. So Manu, McCarthy is scrambling to get these votes. Can he get them in these final hours?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is really an open question here and Republicans, including many allies of Kevin McCarthy are frustrated that a handful of members could hold the speakership hostage and essentially undercut their ability to govern just as they come into power tomorrow, something that we have not seen in a hundred years, the prospect of a speaker's race going to multiple ballots.

And behind the scenes, Kevin McCarthy is on the phone. I'm told that he is speaking with some of those hardliners, some of those detractors at this moment making phone calls and in negotiations. I'm told that all sides are currently talking whether they get there remains to be seen.

What additional concessions McCarthy makes also a major question as they decide to move forward. But I'm told that Kevin McCarthy has no plans of dropping out. He says if he doesn't get 218 votes, he will stay in this race and it will go on to multiple ballots.

Now, he has already, Bianna, made a number of concessions, including on one key issue, giving Republican members more power to seek the ouster of a sitting speaker. That is known on Capitol Hill as a "motion to vacate." Now, he would allow under this package that McCarthy has proposed five members to essentially call for that vote to seek the ouster of a speaker. Right now, about half of his conference would be able to call for that vote.

So that is a significant concession, but that is still not far enough for a number of members who wanted to have one individual member call for that vote and also to seek for other provisions that McCarthy has yet to agree to. And those members are signaling that they are not budging, there are five members of those hard no, the so called "never Kevin movement."

And that is enough to deny him the speakership. He can only afford to lose four votes in the House floor tomorrow. There are an additional nine members who have other concerns, who are still not yet sold on supporting McCarthy or willing to talk to him further. But right now, it is very clear he has a math problem and he needs to figure out how to resolve that. Otherwise, the House can see something we have not seen since 1923 when the speaker was elected after nine ballots, something that took multiple days.

Can that happen again tomorrow? A major questions Republicans are trying to figure out how to come to power and who is going to lead them. Bianna?

GOLODRYGA: A major crisis for the Republican Party starting the new year off. Manu Raju, thank you.

Well, right now President Biden is flying back to the White House after his holiday vacation in the U.S. Virgin Islands. He returned to a changed Washington and new era of divided government. The power shift will present new hurdles for the president who plans to start the new year off with a focus on bipartisanship.

For more on this, let's bring in CNN's Phil Mattingly at the White House. So Phil, is this wishful thinking getting - given what we just heard from Manu and the fact that Republicans are taking over or is this going to be a situation where the President can say I proved you wrong again?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think it is something that reflects on the last two years. There's no question about that. The President's securing a number of significant bipartisan laws that were put into place here and laws that he plans to tout in the weeks and months ahead. Well, that means there's going to be any major bipartisan legislation

in the course of the next two years. Obviously, it's still very much an open question, but as everybody tries to figure out how the White House and the President are going to kind of - what posture they're going to take with this new House Republican majority. This Wednesday will actually give a pretty good window into things.

The President will appear with Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell. Obviously, Democrats often look at him as their kind of prime nemesis to some degree as well as Republican governor - or Democratic governor of Kentucky, Andy Beshear, Republican governor of Ohio, Mike DeWine and Democratic senator from Ohio, Sherrod Brown to tout one of those bipartisan wins of his first two years.

The infrastructure law, the two governors of Kentucky and Ohio were able to secure $1.8 billion in new funding for the Brent Spence Bridge. It has long been kind of the symbol of America's crumbling infrastructure now on the pathway to changing that to some degree and the President will be appearing with this bipartisan group to really tout clear results from something that he was able to put into place.

And I think when you listen to what Manu was laying out, the kind of circus atmosphere there is to some degree with this new House Republican majority as it tries to get its bearings and then you think about what the President is going to be doing, the very next day, that is a split screen, that is a contrast that White House officials will take every day of the week from here until the 2024 election.

[15:25:07]

And I think that's not unintentional nor is it subtle. It is very intentional in trying to lay the groundwork for what they want to focus on in the weeks and months ahead, Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: All right. Phil Mattingly, thank you.

Let's discuss all of this with CNN Senior Political Commentator, Scott Jennings and CNN Senior Political Analyst, Ron Brownstein. Happy New Year, good to see you both.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Happy New Year.

GOLODRYGA: So Scott, let me start with you. So Kevin McCarthy has agreed to something that people, I think, just a few weeks ago would have said is unheard of. And that is a threshold as low as five people to trigger a motion to vacate and even that is not good enough for these hardliners. What is going on in the Republican Party right now?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. It's not good enough for them, because nothing is good enough for them. I mean, that's the reality here. Kevin McCarthy has made all these concessions and I'm afraid none of its ever going to be good enough, because these people excel at moving goalposts and never taking yes for an answer.

And so by agreeing to this rule change, I mean, if he makes it tomorrow, essentially, five people in the whole House Republican conference can go in, in his speakership, anytime they feel like and he'll be on constant thin ice. He'll be constantly living under a piano hanging by a very, very weak wire.

And so I think it was a weak move to have to do this. I hope he makes it, he deserves it. But it's a little bit chaotic. And for all the Republicans and people who voted Republican out there who are wanting the Republican Party to govern, they're actually starting off with this chaos instead of pushing bills about, say, the IRS agents or oversight or whatever. And I think it sends a terrible signal.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. He's given into almost all of their demands at this point. And CNN is reporting that he's even moved into the speaker suite, which is typical protocol. But nothing's typical about what's going on right now, as we've heard we haven't seen something like this in a century.

So Ron, give us a preview if he does get the speakership, he will be a much weaker speaker, especially coming on the heels of Nancy Pelosi. Talk about what legislating will look like and governing will look like under his leadership.

BROWNSTEIN: Look, I think the critical issue has already been resolved, whether he wins or not. The far right vanguard, conservative vanguard of the party has demonstrated that it has the leverage to drive the caucus and that it is willing to use that leverage.

We just had an election where Republicans in the national exit poll lost independent voters on a national basis, something that has almost never happened for the party out of the White House, and had really disappointing results in the key statewide races in the states that are likely to pick the president in 2024: Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona and Georgia.

And in all of those places, Republicans were hurt by an image of extremism, by an image of being still in thrall to Donald Trump and what I think the right of the caucus has signaled very clearly is that they intend to double down on those kinds of politics over the next two years.

Republicans have lots of legitimate oversight targets, for example, but McCarthy is agreeing to establish a select committee on the weaponization of the federal government, right? I mean, that seems like it is aimed directly at a ton of a - almost Fox programming and that is the problem they are going to face over and over again, thus can he impose any constraints on the members of the caucus who want to lead them down a path that proved very politically perilous and 2022.

GOLODRYGA: Scott, can you help us explain what this minority group of hardliners has against Kevin McCarthy? Specifically, he has the endorsement of Donald Trump, Marjorie Taylor Greene right now that he's caved in to her demands. What is it about him? You can't call him a progressive or too liberal and those that would replace him are who exactly?

JENNINGS: Yes, they don't really have an alternative and that's the whole problem with this. You're negotiating with people who don't really want an outcome and other than your own scalp. I mean, that's what they want. They want to be able to say we took out someone that we consider to be part of the Washington swamp, the establishment, whatever you want to call it and erase the name of someone that I think bears conversation, and that's Donald Trump.

Donald Trump supports Kevin McCarthy. He has asked these people to vote for Kevin McCarthy and yet they will not. Which begs the question, what good is Donald Trump if he can't convince the Trumpiest members of the House Republican Conference to do what he wants them to do?

So ultimately, Bianna, I think they don't want anything other than to say we killed off somebody that we consider to be too far inside the Washington establishment. That's it. Beyond that, I don't think they really have any outcomes that they desire.

GOLODRYGA: Ron, can you speak to what Scott just said? Because did this - is this answering the question in real life as to how relevant Donald Trump is at this point among those hardliners in the Republican Party?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Well, first, I mean, they do have specific demands. I mean, they want a caucus that is focused on maximum confrontation at every point with the Biden administration and is airing conservative grievances and even conspiracy theories.

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