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Video of Violent Arrest Before Tyre Nichols' Death Released Soon; FBI Seizes Website Used by Notorious Ransomware Gang; Southwest Execs to Take Reporter Questions After Holiday Fiasco. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired January 26, 2023 - 10:00   ET

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

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JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour this Thursday morning. I'm Jim Sciutto.

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

Happening right now, testimony is underway in the double murder case against disgraced and disbarred former South Carolina Attorney Alex Murdaugh. He's accused of killing his wife and youngest son in 2021. We're going to take you inside of the courtroom just ahead.

SCIUTTO: And as soon as today, police in Memphis, Tennessee, could release a number of videos from the violent arrest that led to the death of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols. You see him there. Overnight, the Memphis police chief called the actions of police a failing of basic humanity.

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CHIEF CERELYN DAVIS, MEMPHIS POLICE: This incident was heinous, reckless and inhumane. Those five officers and others failed our community and they failed the Nichols family, and that is beyond regrettable.

In our outrage and frustration, there is still work to be done to build each other up, to continue the momentum of improving our police and community relationships and partnerships, to show those who watch us now that this behavior is not what will define our community and our great city.

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HILL: CNN's Shimon Prokupecz is joining us now from Memphis. The community speaking out, community the waiting here ahead of the release of this video. What are you hearing, Shimon?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And, really, many of the law enforcement officials across the country are waiting for the release of this video as they brace for the fallout from this. That is the biggest concern certainly for officials all across the country, here in Memphis. Obviously, a big concern is the reaction to once this video becomes public. And that is really every step here that has been taken by officials is to prepare for that.

And those are the two things that are going on right now. We have whether or not any of these officers are going to be charged by the district attorney here in Memphis, and then obviously word on when this video will be released.

We expect there to be something in the next few days, possibly today, tomorrow. But that is something that law enforcement officials across the country are waiting for, and on word of whether or not these officers will face any charges. That is what is happening here in Memphis.

At the moment, and as you heard from the police chief in that video that was released late last night, preparing the community for the release of this video. Her describing just how heinous and how inhumane the actions by these officers were. It was really remarkable to hear her take that tone. She, of course, moved very quickly once all of the information and the internal investigation was complete to fire these five officers.

Much of what the community has wanted was -- has been to see this video. The family has seen the video. So, now we wait for word from the district attorney here possibly today on whether or not these officers are going to face charges and when this video is going to be made public. So, definitely some critical developments here, perhaps as soon as today and certainly tomorrow.

SCIUTTO: Shimon Prokupecz in Memphis, thanks so much.

Joining us now to discuss, retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent, CNN Law Enforcement Contributor Steve Moore. Steve, good to have you on this morning.

The police chief has obviously seen these videos already, describes them as heinous, reckless, inhumane, saying she does expect community outrage, understandably, it seems. There is, I suppose, a conflict here between the public's right to know and any concerns about what the reaction will be. What's the right move here now and what preparations do you believe police there should be making?

STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: Well, obviously, it appears that these videos are going to be inflammatory, not just provocative but inflammatory. And the police have to walk this hard line between being completely transparent and bringing out information that is going to enrage the community.

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I think we have to lean towards being transparent, especially in a situation like this. And I think the more transparent the police are, the less outrage there will be. If they didn't release these and they were somehow leaked, the outrage would be intense. HILL: Yes. And the police chief, as Jim pointed out, she's been very clear how she feels about it and was apparently -- according to our reporting, she was emotional speaking with Tyre Nichols' mother in the wake of this video. That is according to the family attorney, Ben Crump.

In terms of that outreach and in terms transparency, one of the things that struck me that we heard from Sara Sidner in our last hour is what the communication has been like to this point. And she was noting how the D.A. had met with activists, how the D.A. was speaking to the community. We're still awaiting charges. But the fact that that communication is happening, that is a shift, I would say. How important is that, Steve?

MOORE: That is a -- it is a horrible situation but it is a wonderful shift. I have not seen, to my recollection, a police department come out and so quickly repudiate the actions of officers. I can only assume that the videos must be extremely disturbing. And so I think they're taking the right -- the right tack on this. I just -- I applaud them for coming out so strongly.

And, you know, the fact that their charging or at least alleging that some of these officers simply didn't say anything about it would be an indication of how severe the situation is.

SCIUTTO: Well, we are also joined now by Joey Jackson, criminal defense attorney. Joey, from a legal perspective, to Steve's point there, we've seen police departments react to these events differently over time. We've seen juries react. I think you made that point around the time of the Chauvin trial, more open to holding police accountable it seems over time. And I wonder are you seeing that as well?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, I really am, Jim. I think we're in a new era of accountability. I think that is certainly facilitated by technology, right? And the more we have these instances that are caught on camera, the more public is outraged, the more there is demand for accountability and that this could not stand. Are we not going to believe our own eyes?

And so, yes, as it relates to cases we've seen, George Floyd is the prime example in Minneapolis with respect to the brutality, the more public gets involved, then really demands for justice, the more we see jurors who are impaneled and who evaluate the case who really mete out that measure of justice.

And so here, Jim, I think we're seeing the police department acting swiftly with respect to doing what I think they need to do to discipline the officers and then the federal investigation in conjunction with the state investigation. And I think that will do a lot really to have the public know and understand that, you know what, people are taking this seriously, everyone is looking and it will deter future misconduct.

HILL: Joey, what's interesting is, as we await these charges, there is a call for murder charges, not manslaughter. Just walk us through, remind us of the difference there and why that is so important. JACKSON: Yes, of course, Erica. So, when it comes to murder, the law penalized things, and not to get to technical but it is based upon mens rea, and that is the status of the mind. What does that mean? It means any crime requires a mental state and an activity.

When it comes to murder charges, you're looking at intent, right? You really charge based upon whether you did something intentionally, that is you knew specifically what you were doing, that was your goal, objective, it was your purpose. That is intent. That is murder.

Then you look, Erica, at other things, like, for example, if you acted recklessly or carelessly, or negligently, when you start looking at reckless activities and negligent activities, now you're talking about manslaughter and lesser charges.

And I think what the public is saying is that, based upon the brutality and, really, the specific nature of what these officers were doing, the length of time at which they did it, the fact it was described as just using him as a pinata and you look at the autopsy report, the public is saying, that seems awfully intentional. It didn't seem negligent. It didn't seem reckless. It seemed like you knew what you were doing and you did it anyway. So, generally, that is the distinction when you have murder intent versus other lesser included offenses.

HILL: And we should point out that internal investigation which led to their filing found they violated department policies on excessive use of force, duty to intervene and duty to render aid.

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Joey Jackson, Steve Moore, always great to have your insight. Thank you.

This just into CNN, the Justice Department says that it has seized a dark web website from a notorious ransomware gang. That site has reportedly extorted more than $100 million from different organizations. The FBI says the so-called Hive ransomware group has used the website to shame its victims.

SCIUTTO: CNN Senior Justice Correspondent Evan Perez joins us now from the Justice Department. And, Evan, I mean, there has been really an epidemic of these kinds of extortion cases here. I wonder how essential Hive has been to all of this and what we expect from the attorney general when he speaks minutes from now.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, that is right, Jim. I mean, this is an epidemic. It is also a very lucrative business. And the Justice Department and the FBI, as well as law enforcement in Europe has been fighting this because you see this group, Hive, and others that are targeting, especially they've been targeting health care organizations and they managed to steal the data and the information for hundreds and thousands of millions of people at a time. And then they use this website to try to shame those organizations to try to get money, to try to extort money from those organizations. And what we know is that the FBI along with working with law enforcement in other countries has seized this website. One of things they're trying to do is, in the next hour, we're expecting to hear from the attorney general, from the FBI director, Chris Wray, and I think the message that they're trying to send is that they're working to try to thwart these organizations, these groups that are really wreaking havoc across the globe.

And in the case of the Hive group, they say they're about 1,300 companies and organizations that have been victims of this group, including back in -- a few months ago, a hospital in Louisiana, which said that it's information was on 270,000 patients was posted and was stolen as part of this effort by this group.

And so that is what the FBI and the just department say they are focused on, which is to try to seize the money that these groups are extorting as well to try to prevent other groups from doing the same thing.

SCIUTTO: Goodness. I mean, the Hive sounds like something straight out of a Hollywood movie script on something like this, but frighteningly real for the companies involved and their customers involved. Evan Perez, thanks so much.

Still to come this hour, Wall Street is reacting to the latest strong GDP numbers as the U.S. economy finished 2020 growing more than expected. We're going to take a closer look.

Plus, Southwest is anticipating even more losses in the wake of that holiday meltdown. What the airline CEO is saying this morning.

HILL: And we are live in Walterboro, South Carolina, where Alex Murdaugh this morning has already been seen crying in court as he listens to testimony from the first witness in his double murder trial. We'll bring you up to speed with the very latest.

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SCIUTTO: This just into CNN. The Shelby County district attorney has announced that he will provide an update in the Tyre Nichols investigation at 3:00 P.M. Eastern today. Tyre Nichols, the man who died from his injuries after allegedly being beaten by police. A lot of attention focused on the video, videos perhaps of that arrest.

HILL: We have, of course, also been waiting to hear whether criminal charges will be filed there, filed against the five officers who were fired.

Shimon Prokupecz joining us live. Shimon, what more do we know about this announcement.

PROKUPECZ: Yes. So, this is something we've been anticipating and what we've been talking about here for a few days, is to hear from the district attorney here in Memphis who is making all of the decisions on the state level as to whether or not any of these officers are going to face charges, and that video, the video that we've all been talking about, that the family members have described and seeing and just how horrific the moments were in Tyre Nichols' final hours of this beating that he suffered.

So, we are waiting on word exactly on what this press availability will be, whether or not any of these officers are going to be charged, whether or not charges have been filed. Interestingly enough, I've been talking to some the defense attorneys who represent, some of these attorney, they too tell me they're waiting for word on what the status of their clients are going to be today. And then we're here at the courthouse because we're wondering if there is any activity here at the courthouse.

The thing obviously is will they file these charges, are charges going to be filed and then at some point they're going to be a time where we're going to see the video. We don't know yet how all of this is going to play out because, really, officials have not been saying much. The police department has not described anything. They have not released any information as to how the events transpired, almost 20 days ago. So, hopefully, we could get some answers as to that, because there are still a lot of remaining questions on what exactly happened here.

But certainly significant, that later this afternoon here, in Memphis, we will be hearing finally from the district attorney on the status of this investigation and what is next.

HILL: Shimon, I appreciate the update. Thank you.

For the first time since Southwest holiday travel meltdown, company executives are set to take reporter questions.

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That is going to happen during the company's earnings call this afternoon.

SCIUTTO: This comes as the Department of Transportation announced an investigation into that ordeal. Those lines were no fun. The airlines says it will cooperate with officials as they investigate.

CNN Aviation Correspondent Pete Muntean has been following the story from the ugly early hours of that holiday meltdown. I mean, what exactly are investigators looking for and then the next question would be, of course, what could the potential penalties be?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: We're still in the really early stages of this investigation, but, so far, it is focused on simply why this meltdown happened in the first place. But now it is sort of taking this new turn, where the Transportation Department wants to know if Southwest Airlines overextended its schedule, overscheduled flights so much that it may have potentially broken the law here.

I want to you look at this statement from the Department of Transportation. It says, the DOT is also probing whether Southwest executives engaged in unrealistic scheduling of flights, which under federal law is considered an unfair and deceptive practice.

SCIUTTO: That is illegal.

MUNTEAN: Right. And so this is something that the Department of Transportation has been really focused in on, the Department of Transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, he wants a lot of consumer advocacy not only for Southwest passengers but airline passengers in general. This was the biggest meltdown we have seen so far, especially of recent, because airlines have really struggled as they are coming back from the pandemic, 16,700 cancelations.

I want you to listen now to Southwest CEO Bob Jordan. He was just on CNBC. He takes the hit here but he also says in a statement earlier today that Southwest did have the proper schedule in place and it did have the proper staffing in place but it was really weather that triggered this big meltdown over December.

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BOB JORDAN, CEO, SOUTHWEST AIRLINES: We really messed up that week. And you've got my sincere apologies and you've got my full commitment. It is on me. You have got my commitment to do what it takes to fix our issues.

Our customers are sticking with us. We really inconvenienced them. But if you look at March and beyond, the bookings are strong, our leisure bookings are strong, our managed business bookings are coming in strong. So, there are a lot of evidence that our loyal customers are sticking with us.

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MUNTEAN: Of course, he's trying to spin this a little bit, especially since Southwest Airlines says it was going to lose between $725 million and $825 million because of this meltdown. The lion's share of that money that they lost was primarily for refunds for these passengers. Southwest says it's investing a billion dollars in its infrastructure so this backend problem does not happen again.

SCIUTTO: If unfair and deceptive as it relates to airlines is illegal, I think a lot of passengers will be pretty amazed. I'm certainly amazed, just saying.

MUNTEAN: What is interesting is that the airlines have really gotten a really hard shake from the Department of Transportation about this. And the DOT has really tried to make its language about unfair and deceptive practices a lot stronger leading into the pandemic rebound.

And so this is something that they're really, really focused on now. Whether or not there was a bit of sleight of hand here by the executives, to make it so that we did sort of tee up this big meltdown.

SCIUTTO: Interesting. Pete Muntean, thanks so much.

HILL: Just ahead here, the prosecution currently questioning its first witness in the double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh. A little bit more on what the jury is hearing right now. Stay with us for that.

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HILL: Right now, the prosecution's first witness on the stand in the double murder trial of disgraced former South Carolina Attorney Alex Murdaugh, who, of course, is accused ever killing accused of killing his wife and youngest son in June of 2021. Right now, the officer that responded to the scene is on the stand.

SCIUTTO: CNN National Correspondent Dianne Gallagher, she is outside that courthouse in Waterboro, South Carolina. Dianne, a moment early in the trial is seeing the defendant, Alex Murdaugh, get emotional as the sergeant described arriving at that scene. Tell us what you saw in that moment.

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, Jim, it is quite different from how the sergeant says Alex Murdaugh was acting on scene when he arrived. We saw Alex Murdaugh, of course, a now disbarred, once prominent attorney here in the low country area, become very emotional when the video from Sergeant Green with the Colleton County Sheriff's Office body cam began playing there. He cries, he gets upset, he has appeared that way sort of throughout the morning on and off.

But Sergeant Green was asked to describe what Alex Murdaugh was like when he arrived. He said that he was anxious, he was agitated and upset. He has been asked several times if at any point he was crying, and he said, no, each and every time.

There was also a period where he talks about Alex Murdaugh actually having a rifle with him at that time. And he says that Alex Murdaugh told him after finding the bodies, he went up, he went and got the gun to make sure just in case he was going to need it there. He asked if he could take that gun from him. He put it in his patrol car because Murdaugh did appear anxious and agitated, he said.

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