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Initial Autopsy Indicates Tyre Nichols Beaten by Police; U.S., Germany Announce Plans to Send Tanks to Ukraine; Meta to Allow Trump Back on Facebook, Instagram; Teacher Wounded in Shooting Plans Lawsuit. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired January 26, 2023 - 04:00   ET

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

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BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world, I'm Bianca Nobilo.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Max Foster joining you live on CNN. Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But they wind up stopping innocent people and they wind up using brute force to do it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This incident was heinous, reckless and inhumane.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Helping Ukraine defend and protect Ukrainian land.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They do, however, pose a significant event to Russian forces that are inside Ukraine illegally.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The FBI searching the home of a sitting president.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Justice Department was not fully comfortable with Joe Biden's team doing the search on its own.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo.

FOSTER: It's Thursday, January 26th, 9 a.m. here in London, 3 a.m. in Memphis, Tennessee. Where any day now we could see the police body camera footage of the arrest of Tyre Nichols who was stopped by Memphis police officers, taken into custody and died three days later.

NOBILO: The family of the 29-year-old black man is demanding answers after seeing the video earlier this week. The preliminary autopsy report says that Nichols suffered extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating. He had been pulled by police over for allegedly driving recklessly. FOSTER: All five police officers involved in the incident have been

fired, so have two members of the city's fire department. The police chief says they're conducting a transparent investigation.

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CHIEF CERELYN DAVID, MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE POLICE DEPARTMENT: This is not just a professional failure, this is a failing of basic humanity toward another individual. This incident was heinous, reckless and inhumane. I expect you to feel what the Nichols family feels. I expect you to feel outrage in the disregard of basic human rights. As our police officers have taken an oath to do the opposite of what transpired on the video.

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NOBILO: We're also waiting to see what charges will be brought against the officers. The family's attorney says that they're seeking murder charges.

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ANTONIO ROMANUCCI, ATTORNEY TO TYRE NICHOLS' FAMILY: From what we saw, that in the time that Tyre was in the custody, who's in the control, in the custody of these officers for about a three to three and a half minute time period, he was severely beaten. And as I've said, our independent medical examiner said that his injuries are consistent with a severe beating, and that's what happened for those three, three and a half minutes. I mean, his bleeding was so deep, the hemorrhaging was deep that it's only consistent with that type of physical contact that those officers made.

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NOBILO: CNN's Shimon Prokupecz is in Memphis and he has more questions now on -- he has more now on the questions surrounding Tyre Nichols death.

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SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME INJUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: There are a lot of questions over what happened there and exactly how everything occurred in terms of the first encounter with Tyre Nichols, when they pulled him over, to the chase, then them finding him again. It seems that he had disappeared at one point and then they found him again and then there was another chase. And what happened during all of that time.

The other thing that's important that we don't really know about is the aid, what kind of medical aid did the police, did the EMTs who were scene who were suspended? What kind of medical aid did they render Tyre Nichols as he lay there, and what steps did they take after that? Was he brought to the hospital when he was brought to the hospital?

And then just specific certain questions of the time line and what police did and what actions they took and all of those moments. We still don't have the very basic answers to all of that. And hopefully in the coming days someone from here in Memphis, one of the city officials will be able to talk about it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Meanwhile, Nichols family want people to know more about him. They say he loved his mother and was father to a 4-year-old son. Here's why the president of the NAACP in Memphis says his death is so shocking.

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VAN D. TURNER, JR., PRESIDENT, MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE NAACP: Mr. Nichols was only feet away from his home. He cried out for his mother three times before he died. He was a good person, a good son, if you hear the mother.

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She stated that, you know, there was no criminal background. He was not out there doing things that he shouldn't be doing. He was going to work at FedEx and he was living his life. He was a skateboarder, nonthreatening, and for this to have happened to her son, she was just devastated.

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NOBILO: Meantime, Memphis officials are already preparing for protests once the arrest video is released. One Memphis city councilman said that they're taking steps to ensure that incidents like this don't happen again.

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J.B. SMILEY, JR., MEMPHIS CITY COUNCILMAN: We're preparing -- preparing as it relates to what we can do to prevent this from happening ever again. We are drafting legislation to require more transparency so that we can have information related to excessive abuse, complaints brought forward and any officer associated with an offensive use complaint. And in addition to that, we're trying to, you know, do what we can. We want people to protest. Because they should be angry. But we also want them to do it as peacefully as possible.

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FOSTER: Well, Tyre Nichols funeral is set for next Wednesday in Memphis and Reverend Al Sharpton is expected to deliver the eulogy.

NOBILO: Now to a CNN exclusive. Multiple sources say the dozen or so classified documents found at Mike Pence's home last week included briefing memos for foreign trips. One person said the materials were nothing unusual and described the classification markings as lower level. CNN's Jamie Gangel has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JAMIE GANGEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: According to multiple sources, we have learned that among those roughly 12 classified documents that were found at the Pence home are materials described as background briefing memos that were prepared for then Vice President Pence's foreign trips. We're told that some of the classified documents were likely used to prepare Pence for foreign meetings and that they actually may have been overlooked during the packing process because they were found tucked into old trip binders. Sort of interspersed with other papers. Perhaps they would not have been visible unless the packers went through these binders page by page.

Just for context, it's not unusual for presidents and vice presidents to be given these travel briefing binders that include background memos on people they're meeting with in foreign countries. Our sources say that sometimes they just include basic biographical information on foreign leaders, government officials but sometimes they also include more sensitive information.

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NOBILO: Now to a major boost for Ukraine on the battlefield as U.S. President Joe Biden announces plans to send dozens of highly sophisticated tanks to the war zone. A move Mr. Biden says will help enhance Ukraine's ability to defend its territory.

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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Abrams tanks are the most capable tanks in the world. They're extremely complex to operate and maintain. So, we're also giving Ukraine the parts and equipment necessary to effectively sustain these tanks on the battlefield.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did Germany force you to change your mind on sending tanks?

BIDEN: Germany didn't force me to change my mind. I wanted to make sure we're going to do it altogether. That's what working to do all along and that's what we're doing right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: Mr. Biden says the U.S. will be sending 31 Abrams tank to Ukraine and praised Germany for its own commitment to provide 14 Leopard 2 tanks. CNN's Oren Liebermann is following developments and has more from the Pentagon.

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OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: The announcement that the U.S. is connected to sending 31 of its M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine is a significant milestone. One the Ukrainians have been asking for, for months. As we've seen Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy say they need Western tanks to take back territory to counter Russia's pure advantage in terms of the number of forces.

It's important to note that the U.S. made Abrams tank and advance complex system will not arrive in the battlefield within in a matter of weeks. This is a time line of many months we're looking at. And that's because first the U.S. needs to prepare the tanks but then be it also needs to train and -- the operations, the maintenance and the logistics of providing these tanks to Ukraine. So, this is a time line that will take quite a number of months.

However, the White House has said training could begin sooner such that when the tanks are ready, the Ukrainians will already know how to use them and will be able to employ them on the battlefield. But it's not just U.S. states alone and that's what important to note here. The U.S. announcement of tanks from President Biden also coincides with Germany announcing that they're sending 14 Leopard 2 tanks but it will also approve other countries in Europe sending Leopard tanks.

So, it's not just the U.S. acting here, it's much of NATO acting in unison to make sure that Ukrainian forces have this very new powerful new capability on the battlefield. And that's another point worth making here. This is the most powerful direct offensive weapon we have seen the West provide to Ukraine.

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Up until now it was largely attacking from a distance. HIMARS, howitzers. These all operate from 30 to 40 miles behind the front line. Tanks, however, are right on the front line designed for direct face-to-face clashes with Russians as Ukraine prepares to try to take back more of its territory that was seized by Russia over the course of the past year or so in this conflict.

It will take time for them to train up on the U.S. tanks but also on the German and the U.K. tanks as well as all of the other new systems. But that's part of the ongoing long-term commitment from the U.S. and the West to Ukraine.

Oren Liebermann, CNN, at the Pentagon.

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FOSTER: Salma's here and monitoring this but also a new wave of missile strikes in Kyiv tonight.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, air raid sirens going off across Ukraine today. One power company had to cut off power supplies to residents, to families, because of these missile attacks that were happening. Air raid sirens again, as I said, activated air defense systems. We're still getting information on what's been hit but it seems it was across the country.

We do have information just coming into us now that one person at least has been killed and two others wounded in Kyiv. We also know that there was attacks on the eastern parts of the country, of course across the front lines.

Ukraine is going to see this potentially as a response maybe to the tank announcement, the announcement that the United States, Germany, other European partners are going to provide just over 100 tanks to Ukraine, a major announcement.

But also let's put aside the details of the actual weaponry. A really huge shift. The message behind this announcement I think from the United States and its partners is we are stepping up our support for Ukraine and we are much less threatened by Russia. I mean, it was unimaginable a year ago that Western allies will provide these tanks to Ukraine. Now they see Moscow as much less of a threat. This is a weakened country in the eyes of the West. That's been weakened by this conflict. And it comes at a very critical time. Ukraine is preparing for the spring counteroffensive and these case could be critical. Take a look at how John Kirby, a senior U.S. official, described the strategy here.

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JOHN KIRBY, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL COORDINATOR FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS: As the weather conditions improve, you can expect that the Russians are going to pick up the tempo. We have to be ready for that and I know the Ukrainians feel they have to be ready for that. So, it's about helping Ukraine defend itself. But also, as you heard the president say, helping Ukraine be able to go on the offense when the weather conditions and the operational conditions are permissive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: Now I am going to give a bit of a reality check here. As I said, 100 plus tanks, 31 of them Abrams, over 80 of them potentially Leopard 2 tanks coming from multiple countries. But there's going to be a lag here between the promise of tanks and the tanks actually being delivered. Leopard tanks should be on the ground in two to three months. The Abrams are going to take much longer. Months just to arrive in Europe. Months more for training and this is not all the weapons that President Zelenskyy needs. It's not even all the tanks he needs. He wants a lot more. So, we do have to take a bit of caution when we think about the impact that we're going to see on the battlefield. There's a lot more to come according to President Zelenskyy.

FOSTER: Yes, but he tends to get something he wants, he immediately moves onto the next thing he wants which is why he's been so successful, isn't it? Salma, thank you.

NOBILO: Former U.S. president Donald Trump may soon be back on Facebook and Instagram. Facebook's parent Meta says it will restore his accounts more than two years after he was banned for allegedly inciting violence when his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6th.

FOSTER: The decision comes on the heels of a similar move by Twitter where he has more than 87 million followers. CNN's Donnie O'Sullivan explains why Meta made this decision.

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DONNIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Meta announcing the most politically consequential decision in its history certainly here in the United States. Announcing on Wednesday that it was going to let former President Donald Trump back on its platforms, which will include of course Facebook and Instagram.

Now you might remember Trump was kicked off the platforms in the days after the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Facebook at the time saying it was too dangerous for Trump to be able to have that megaphone that he might incite further violence. And two years later, Facebook, Meta has now said that it has reassessed its ban. It has determined that there isn't as great a risk of imminent violence or harm posed by Trump and that they are going to allow him back on the platform in the coming weeks.

Now this is a boon in Trump's campaign effort for 2024. He has of course announced that he is running for president. Again, we have seen in the past the Trump campaign really effectively use and spend hundreds of millions of dollars of advertising on Facebook. Because it is a very effective way, they have found, of targeting voters but also fundraising.

As you can imagine, a lot of people on both sides of the political spectrum here speaking out for and against this decision.

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Of course, many people saying it's important to be able to hear from a former president and candidate for president. That's including the ACLU, who at this statement.

They said: This is the right call. Like it or not, President Trump is one of the country's leading political figures and the public has a strong interest in hearing his speech. They said, indeed some of Trump's most offensive social media posts ended up being critical evidence in lawsuits filed against him and his administration. And we should know -- we filed over 400 legal actions against him.

And that's a very important part of all of this, of course. The ACLU saying there although we might not like Trump, we believe what he is saying should be able to be seen by voters and citizens in the United States and people around the world whether it be good, bad or ugly. Back to you.

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FOSTER: It's interesting, isn't it, that he has been allowed back on Twitter. And we are going to come to this in just a moment. He's been allowed on to Twitter but he hasn't gone on there and the same can be true for Facebook. One of the theories is he owns True Social -- Truth Social. And if he comes off it, that's the whole attraction of Truth Social. So, the value of that business would collapse.

NOBILO: And we know that business is a risk they're not going to take.

FOSTER: Yes. Now a Virginia teacher allegedly shot by her student plans to file a lawsuit. Just ahead, her attorneys plan how school officials responded to multiple warnings about a 6-year-old. NOBILO: Then police chase a stolen car after a woman napping in the

back seat wakes up and then calls for help and the rescue is all caught on camera.

FOSTER: And millions in the U.S. under winter weather alert right now. Our meteorologist Britley Ritz has all the details for you.

BRITLEY RITZ, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And while many have been under achieved with snowfall totals from the plains to the Ohio valley, more snow is on the way. I'll let you know when and where coming up right after this break.

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NOBILO: The attorney for a Virginia teacher allegedly shot by a 6- year-old student says the school was repeatedly warned about the child having a gun.

FOSTER: Now the school's superintendent is out of a job and the teacher is planning to file a lawsuit as well. CNN's Brian Todd reports.

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DIANE TOSCANO, ATTORNEY: This should have never happened. It was preventable. And thank God Abby is alive.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The attorney, for Abby Zwerner, the teacher, who was shot and wounded, by a 6-year-old student, in her first grade class, says she will file a lawsuit, against the Newport News School District.

TOSCANO: Had the school administrators acted in the interest of their teachers and their students, Abby would not have sustained a gunshot wound to the chest, a bullet that remains dangerously inside her body.

TODD (voice-over): Attorney Diane Toscano, alleging a dramatic timeline, of warnings, on the day of the shooting. The first coming around 11:15 AM when Zwerner warned an administrator, the 6-year-old threatened to beat up another student.

TOSCANO: They didn't call security. They didn't remove the student from the classroom.

TODD (voice-over): Later, at 12:30, another teacher searched the boy's backpack, suspecting he had brought the gun to school and put it in his pocket before recess.

TOSCANO: The administrator downplayed the report from the teacher, and the possibility of a gun, saying, and I quote, "Well, he has little pockets." This is outrageous.

TODD (voice-over): Around 1 p.m., a third teacher told administrators, a distressed student confessed to seeing the gun at recess. TOSCANO: Did administrators call the police? No. Did administrators lock down the school? No.

TODD (voice-over): Diane Toscano says another teacher was then denied permission to search the child.

TOSCANO: He was told to wait the situation out, because the school day was almost over.

TODD (voice-over): CNN reached out to the School District which declined to comment.

DR. TERRI L. BEST, VICE-CHAIRMAN, NEWPORT NEWS PUBLIC SCHOOLS: I move that we approve the separation agreement and severance with the Superintendent.

TODD (voice-over): At a special meeting Wednesday night, the school board voted to approve a separation agreement with Superintendent George Parker and appointed interim superintendent.

LISA R. SURLES-LAW, CHAIRMAN, NEWPORT NEWS PUBLIC SCHOOLS: Effective February 1st, 2023, Dr. Parker will be relieved of his duties as Superintendent.

TODD (voice-over): A move, parents like Mark Garcia Sr. are calling for.

MARK GARCIA SR., FATHER OF STUDENT IN SHOOTER'S CLASS: Different principal, different administration.

TODD (voice-over): Thomas Britton's son is in the same class, as the alleged shooter, but wasn't in school, that day. His response to the allegations?

THOMAS BRITTON, FATHER OF STUDENT IN ALLEGED SHOOTER'S CLASS: I told my wife, I had to be sought, I'll leave the expletives out, but I can't believe someone could be so blase or callous with the safety, like what is their job?

TODD (voice-over): The latest allegations likely little comfort for the students and parents, getting their first chance since the shooting to return to the school on Wednesday afternoon. Not for classes but for a short reorientation. An effort to give students and staff what may feel like a far-off sense of normalcy.

GARCIA SR., FATHER OF STUDENT IN ALLEGED SHOOTER'S CLASS: My son is still scared, and he was crying about three nights ago about this. And you know, it's -- he wants to go back to school, but he just wants to know that he's going to be safe.

TODD: James Ellenson, the attorney for the family of the alleged shooter, responded to the latest allegations from Zwerner's lawyer and to the planned lawsuit, with an email to CNN saying that the family continues to pray for Abby Zwerner. The family attorney had earlier told CNN that the gun the child accessed had been secured with a trigger lock and kept on the top shelf of the mother's bedroom closet. Brian Todd, CNN, Newport News, Virginia.

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FOSTER: Millions of people are under winter weather alerts across the northeastern U.S. today. The winter weather is moving east after unleashing heavy snow in the upper Midwest. In Detroit, Michigan, authorities closed part of the Interstate 94 on Wednesday after a tanker truck crashed into the median and caused a second crash.

NOBILO: More on this now. We're going to our meteorologist Britley Ritz.

RITZ: Yes, and most of these areas actually under achieved their snowfall, but some picked up over a foot, like in Arkansas where Mount Magazine Park hit 16 inches and parts of Missouri nearing a foot of snow. Yes, still under some weather alerts.

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We have winter storm warnings in effect for the entire state of Maine back into parts of New Hampshire and Vermont and upstate New York where we have lake effect snow winter weather advisories now in effect. So we still had that heavy snow with the first system moving through, hence, why we still have the winter storm warnings in effect. The rain pushing off the coast line now so finally start to dry out a bit or the mid-Atlantic coast.

But you notice that wave of moisture pushing across the Ohio Valley and the Great Lakes. That's our next wave and we'll bring in a few inches of snow with that system already from the last system picking up nearly a foot across parts of the Ohio Valley and the Great Lakes, roughly about four to six inches. And now we're going to add more to it.

Not just from the system that we're dealing with today but another one rolling in on Friday and into Saturday. So we'll pick up quite a bit of snow especially along Lake Erie's eastern side just south of Buffalo -- typically where we get heavy snow anyway. But nearly a foot of snow through Friday expected there, widespread I say about 4 to 6.

There it is. The next system we're watching coming down from Canada. We call this a clipper. It's usually quick moving and it can drop quite a bit of snow in a short amount of time and that's what's expected here in the next few days. So, round one out of here. The next one rolling in Friday into Saturday bringing in quite a bit of snow with it across the Great Lakes once again. And with that, not only snowfall but, yes, we dealt with quite a bit of severe weather especially along the Gulf Coast where we had 20 reports of tornadoes and several wind reports as well -- Max, Bianca.

NOBILO: Britley, thank you so much adding to our meteorological vocabulary.

FOSTER: Always. Southwest Airlines, meanwhile, and its holiday meltdown are now under

investigation by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Millions of passengers were left stranded last month when Southwest canceled more than 16,000 flights over eight days. Investigators want to know if the airlines is scheduling more flights than it can handle. Southwest says it is cooperating to make sure it avoids a similar situation in the future.

NOBILO: Representatives for plane maker Boeing are expected to appear in a U.S. federal court today as the company faces arraignment over two deadly plane crashes. The charge that it conspired to defraud the United States of its safety of its 737 Max jets.

FOSTER: Families of victims are scheduled to speak. The plane manufacturer is expected to plead not guilty to the felony charge. 346 people died in the two crashes.

Updated COVID boosters cut the chance of someone getting sick by about half. That's according to the U.S. CDC which conducted real world studies into the efficacy of boosters that contained components of both the original virus strain and the omicron variant.

NOBILO: The conclusion applies to the COVID sub variant XBB.1.5 which is spreading fast. The CDC says the boosters probably work even better in protecting against hospitalization or death. The data came from 30,000 COVID tests taken from December until mid-January.

FOSTER: Still ahead, new developments in Joe Biden's document drama. What the FBI was ready to do if the president didn't agree to a search of his Delaware home.

Plus, new financial disclosures from embattled Congressman George Santos. And they're raising new questions about who paid for his campaign.

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