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Audio, Video Of Attack Of Paul Pelosi Released To Public; Nichol's Mother Weeps Knowing Son Called For Her During Attack; Israel: 7 Dead, 10 Injured After Shooting In Jerusalem; Pence Addressed Classified Docs Found At His Home. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired January 27, 2023 - 15:00   ET

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

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: We begin with the violent video that was just released of the attack against Paul Pelosi, the husband of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Body - police body cam video of that night shows the moment that the attacker strikes Paul Pelosi with a hammer just moments after police arrived. Pelosi was asleep in bed when the suspect broke into his home and we warn you this video is disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you it's this one?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. (Inaudible) said. 2620, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, 3640.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, (inaudible) ...

PAUL PELOSI: Hey, guys.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi. How are you doing?

PELOSI: Good morning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's going on, man.

DAVID DEPAPE: Everything's good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drop the hammer.

DEPAPE: Nope.

PELOSI: Hey. Hey, hey, hey.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is going on in there?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible) we're not getting any answer on the phone (inaudible) ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) ...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible) in the area (inaudible) ... UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) backup, code three.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Just incredible to watch. The court also released surveillance footage from cameras installed by D.C. police which show the suspect breaking into the house, right there.

CNN's Veronica Miracle is live in San Francisco for us. So also Veronica, the court released Paul Pelosi's 911 call, so tell us about that.

VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Alisyn. First of all, that video is so disturbing and hard to watch, especially knowing that Paul Pelosi suffered a skull fracture. And Nancy Pelosi says he still hasn't recovered. That was three months ago and she says it'll be months before he may feel like himself again.

So that 911 call though that you mentioned, it certainly paints an interesting picture, because it happens right before all of the attack happened. It happened in the middle of Paul Pelosi trying to figure out exactly how to get away from David DePape. And you can see I'm trying to talk in code two that dispatcher, so take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PELOSI: I told (inaudible) what is this?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is San Francisco Police. Do you need help?

PELOSI: Oh, well, the gentleman here just waiting for my wife to come back, Nancy Pelosi. He's just waiting for her to come back because he's not going to be here for days so I guess we'll have to wait.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Okay. Do you need police, fire a medical for anything?

PELOSI: I don't think so. I don't think so.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Okay.

PELOSI: Yes, there's the - is the Capitol Police around?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, this is San Francisco ...

PELOSI: They usually take my wife - they're usually here. They're usually here at the house protecting my wife, because this gentleman (inaudible) ...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. This is San Francisco Police.

PELOSI: I - no, understand. Okay. Well, (inaudible) what do you think? DEPAPE: I think everything's good.

PELOSI: He says everything's good. I've got a problem, but he says everything's good.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Okay. I'll dispatch if you change your mind.

PELOSI: No, no, this gentleman just came into the house and he wants to wait here for my wife to come home and so - anyway he's on (inaudible) --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you know who the person is?

PELOSI: No, I don't know who he is. He has this (inaudible) he's telling me not to do anything.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is your address, sir?

PELOSI: (Inaudible) ...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is your name?

PELOSI: My name is Paul Pelosi.

Anyway, this gentleman says that (inaudible) he's telling me to put the put the down and just do what he says, okay.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Okay. Who - what's the gentleman's name?

PELOSI: I don't know.

DEPAPE: David DePape.

PELOSI: What's that?

DEPAPE: My name is David.

PELOSI: The name is David.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Okay. And who is David?

PELOSI: I don't know. I - what's that?

DEPAPE: I'm a friend of theirs.

PELOSI: Yes. I - he said he's a friend, but (inaudible) I've never ...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But you don't know who he is?

PELOSI: No. No, ma'am.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Okay.

PELOSI: He's telling me I'm being very (inaudible), so I got to stop talking to you, okay?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Okay. Are you sure? I can stay on the phone with you just to make sure everything's okay.

PELOSI: No, we wants me to get off the phone.

[15:05:00]

Okay?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Okay.

PELOSI: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Okay. Bye.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MIRACLE: And Alisyn, today, the court also released a 15-minute plus long interview that David DePape did with an investigator after his arrest. And he details all of the steps that he took in order to get into the house, including smashing and breaking into the windows, which we can see on the surveillance video.

He admitted to an investigator that he was struck by how hard it was to break that glass that it was a special kind of glass. He tried to break the doorknob off and wasn't able to do so, but finally was able to get through and climbed through.

And then he said that it was an empty and big house. And he, for a second thought, maybe nobody was home and was actually surprised to find Paul Pelosi sleeping in his bed. He said that they had an interaction while Paul Pelosi sat in his bed and he wanted to tie him up so that he could do what he needed to do. But Paul Pelosi was able to get into the bathroom and that's where you hear that 911 call, which is definitely hard to listen to, because you can hear Paul Pelosi trying not to agitate David DePape.

But David DePape admitted to investigators that after that 911 call and after police showed up, he was agitated and because he was there in order to find Nancy Pelosi and to get other targets. And he said he was there to fight tyranny and would go through Paul Pelosi if he had to. And he clearly did, as you can see in that video, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: You're so right, Veronica. Listening to that 911 call is just stressful for everyone who hears it, because you know what's unfolding before the dispatcher knows what's unfolding. But obviously she caught on and did the right thing.

Thank you very much for all the reporting on the ground there.

Let's bring in Legal Affairs Commentator, Areva Martin. She's back with me.

Areva, I can't help but note the juxtaposition between - as we brace ourselves for the video, the body cam video that's coming out, about Tyre Nichols and the trauma that we assumed that will cause watching versus this one, the police body cam video of what happened to Paul Pelosi also very hard to watch. But this one is clearly in the public interest because there were so many questions about how did the police get in, where - who had the hammer, when - this video answers so much?

AREVA MARTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, Alisyn. I'm sitting here listening to Paul Pelosi with his composure and how calm he is and just how brilliant he is in talking to this dispatcher without irritating and you're escalating the situation with the suspect.

But one of the questions that comes to mind to me watching this video is where was the Capitol Police? He's outside that house for several moments and there's a camera apparently on the side of Nancy Pelosi's house that is connected to some space in the Capitol Police's office.

So did they not see what was happening outside of our speaker's house and weren't they able to dispatch someone to the home? And also, it dispels any myth that this man knew Mr. Pelosi, that he was in the house because he had been invited into the house by Mr. Pelosi or that there was some kind of conspiracy that puts Mr. Pelosi and the suspect together.

So the video is very telling and dispel so many myths, conspiracy theories that have been circling around this story.

CAMEROTA: It exposes also the callousness of these right-wing commentators who tried to inject something salacious into this or conspiracy theories into this, because they were - they couldn't believe that it would be a targeted political attack.

This was a targeted political attack. You see him breaking into the home with the hammer. I think we've learned that the Capitol Police are not there on the premises when the speaker was not home. But as you say, there were cameras set up, but who knows if they're monitoring them second by second.

I mean, obviously, we've shown that they weren't and that there was a flaw in the system. But then what is most remarkable, I think, Areva, is the moment where a police are there, even they can't figure out exactly what's happening when they first show up at the house. But within seconds, the suspect clobbers Paul Pelosi with the hammer and then the police immediately dive into action and call for backup and that is just how fast it all - all the violence happens, it's stunning.

MARTIN: Yes. It happened very quickly, but again, we have to give a lot of credit, Alisyn, to Mr. Pelosi for how quickly he was able to get on the phone with a dispatcher to use this coded language to even cause the dispatcher to send the police to his home. Had he not been able to make that phone call, we don't know what would have happened because this suspect, this intruder was on a mission to find Nancy Pelosi.

I think he said he wanted to interrogate her and he was willing to break her kneecaps if she, in his opinion, lie to him about the election of 2020. So thankfully, Mr. Pelosi acted quickly, was smart enough to get into that bathroom and to make that coded phone call to the dispatcher which caused those police officers to arrive on the scene, because it could have been a lot worse than the injuries that we know he did suffer. [15:10:01]

CAMEROTA: And by the way, we also see in this video how injured he was. There's - we're not showing it again because it is very disturbing to watch, but there's a moment in the video where right after he's hit with the hammer he's lying on the ground immobilized.

I mean, we don't really know - I guess, we actually have heard the reports that he was knocked unconscious for a while and you can see he's not moving at all. So it - now we understand why she has said it will be months for this head injury to heal. And she actually just came out and said that she has no interest in ever seeing this video which, of course, is understandable.

MARTIN: Absolutely, Alisyn. The good news is though he has been charged, the suspects has been charged with attempted murder and assault and he is facing both state and federal charges all of which could land him if he is convicted to serve life in prison for this vicious attack on Mr. Pelosi.

CAMEROTA: Yes. Really interesting, Areva. Thank you for being here for both of these stories.

MARTIN: Thanks, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Okay. Now, back to the Tyre Nichols one. A city is on edge, a nation, of course, is on alert and a family is in deep grief. In a matter of hours, Memphis officials are expected to release that body cam video of Tyre Nichols and the fatal beating by police.

The five Memphis officers were fired after Nichols died on January 10. All are now charged with second degree murder and several other major felonies. All of them are now out on bond. A short time ago, Nichols family thanked supporters and urged protesters to keep the demonstrations peaceful even after the video is out. The police chief of Memphis warned of the graphic nature of the footage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF CERELYN "CJ" DAVIS, MEMPHIS POLICE DEPARTMENT: You're going to see acts that defy humanity. You're going to see a disregard for life, duty of care that we're all sworn to and a level of physical interaction that is above and beyond what is required in law enforcement.

What I saw on this video was more of a group think sort of mentality.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Many of the Nichols family have watched this video but his mother says she could not bear to see the footage. She did see the aftermath of what her son looked like in the hospital.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROWVAUGHN WELLS, TYRE NICHOLS' MOTHER: They had beaten him to a pulp. He had bruises all over. His head was swelling like a watermelon. His neck was bursting because of the swelling. They broke his neck. Muscle on his nose looked like a S, they actually just beat the crap out of him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: CNN's Sara Sidner is covering the story from Memphis. Sara, it's so hard to hear from the mother. They've been incredibly brave in dealing with the public and being at these press conferences, so about the video. Have members of the Memphis City Council watched it yet, because we heard that was going to happen today.

SARA SIDNER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I can confirm that they have and in just a second, we will hear from Martavius Jones, the Memphis City Council Chairman.

I do want to mention to you that today we heard from RowVaughn Wells, the mother of Tyre Nichols. And she said at the end of this video, everyone is saying that you hear Tyre Nichols screaming his mother's name several times. He was very close to the home and she says she truly believes he was screaming that way because he was hoping that she would hear him because he was something like 80 yards away from her home and that really struck everyone in the church as she spoke about how much she loved her free spirited son.

Now, joining me is Martavius Jones, as I mentioned the Memphis City Council Chairman.

Sir, thank you so much for being here. You come here, I know, with a heavy heart because you have just watched a video of police officers and the public having a horrible interaction. Can you tell me what it did to you to watch this?

MARTAVIUS JONES, CHAIRMAN, MEMPHIS CITY COUNCIL: Well, I'm still just digesting things right now. It's very difficult to watch in hindsight, knowing that a young person, a young man died as a result of this. So we started watching it about 12:15, 12:30 today and now I'm here, so it's very difficult to digest.

SIDNER: Let me ask you this. We have heard a lot of descriptions of this video. One very, very strong one from the Police Chief herself. She said this was either the same or worse than the beating of Rodney King in 1992 in Los Angeles.

[15:15:00]

A beating that the world saw and that we still talk about and referenced today because of the horrificness of it. Is that what you saw on the tape? On the video?

JONES: A young man died at the end of the day and I don't want to minimize the fact that he's no longer with us, but I did not view it that way.

SIDNER: You did not see it that way?

JONES: I did not see it that way.

SIDNER: How did - how would you describe the way you saw it?

JONES: It was bad. It was excessive force. Those officers involved need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. But maybe it was the time of my life when I was in my early 20s when the Rodney King incident happened and that's forever branded in my brain as the most brutal attack that was ever caught. But the fact that Mr. Nichols died is - I'm so disappointed that that happened in my community, but I do not agree with the assessment that it was as bad or as worse as Rodney King.

SIDNER: What did you see? Did you see kicking and punching and was it all of the officers together or was it just a few of them, and then some standing by and watching?

JONES: It was all of the above. And so still keep in mind, I'm somewhat limited, the only way that we were able to view this video was something called an attorney-client privilege meeting. So we can't - we couldn't even interact or ask questions or comment amongst ourselves. It wasn't all council members there, less than half, but we had to direct all of our questions to the city attorney.

SIDNER: Let me ask you about this, we have now heard from the attorneys for the Nichols family and they have said that the Scorpion Unit, which was put in place to try and decrease crime, are the criminals and that unit must be banned after this. It must be ended. Do you think the same?

JONES: Well, I've not - I've never professed to be the law enforcement expert on the city council, I would have to make that determination after a full examination to see what it is that they do. If after close examination, we see that they are ineffective in what they're doing, I would call for that. But I just can't rush to judgment without having all of the information before me right now to say that it needs to be disbanded.

Should another person as a result of a traffic stop, should their life be taken? Absolutely not. And if it takes out doing away with the Scorpion Unit to do so, I'm in agreement with that, but I just don't have all the information to make that determination right now.

SIDNER: Lastly, what made the difference in this particular case with the firing of these officers? You mentioned one thing and that was - cameras.

JONES: Yes. Yes. We've - we - you look around our downtown. We have cameras all over the city. We clearly don't have enough, but I'm just grateful for the fact that we do have cameras and we were able to capture it. I was talking to another reporter today and just think about - I just - I'm a - I was a finance major in college, but a student of history and knowing the history of this country, how many murders took place at the hands of law enforcement before our time, and there was not the technology like cameras around the catch them.

SIDNER: Thank you, sir, very much. JONES: Thank you.

SIDNER: And I'm going to send it back to you. But you heard there, he does not agree exactly with the police chief that this was worse than the beating of Rodney King. We will be seeing this video in less than four hours.

CAMEROTA: Yes, that was a really valuable perspective. I appreciate him sharing with you everything that he saw and his feeling today. Sara, thank you.

Let's bring in Darrin Porcher, a former NYPD Department Lieutenant.

So Darrin, thank you very much for being here. How do you explain - having been a lieutenant, how do you explain what happened that night with these five police officers? We've heard so many different theories from - bias and even unconscious bias to kind of adrenaline poisoning, what do you see in these officers' behavior?

DARRIN PORCHER, FORMER NYPD LIEUTENANT: Well, good afternoon, Alisyn, and good afternoon to the viewers. I view this as a breakdown in supervision. The police officers that engage with the public on a day to day do not have the same connection that the Chief of Police has. Therefore, you have a sergeant in play.

That sergeant is the connective tissue between the executive ranks and the rubber that meets the road, which is the police officers. If you don't have a plausible oversight, the police officers will act autonomously, so when we look at a situation of this magnitude, this truly equates to a breakdown in supervision. Therefore, we need to have more oversight over police officers that are embarking upon their day to day duties within the city of Memphis.

CAMEROTA: Lieutenant, what about the Scorpion Unit that we've learned is deployed to high crime areas and they're sort of - they've been called a saturation unit.

[15:20:02]

They are apparently looking for crime even before it happens. Do all big city police departments have a unit that's equivalent to this?

PORCHER: Well, when we spotlight the Scorpion Unit, in particular, when you look at the quantitative statistics, they were successful in achieving precipitous drops in crime. But at the same token that doesn't give the officers the right to violate people's civil rights.

That being said, an enforcement unit is a terminal component in any police department. However they need to operate and function quintessentially. Based on this incident, it's clear that the officers were not adhering to department policy. Therefore, there needs to be a wider overview as to what that unit's function is and what adjustments will need to be made moving forward.

CAMEROTA: As you know, so many people around the country are bracing for the release of this video. It can't help but be traumatic for everyone who sees it and obviously, the closer you are to Tyre, the worse it is. Do you still think there's value in this being released even though the police have been transparent about what's on it? It's been described to us? Do you think that there's value in the public seeing it with their own eyes?

PORCHER: The police and community relationship hinges on transparency. So as a result of having that transparency, I believe it's necessary for the video to be introduced to the public. I also believe that the police department needs to function or create the necessary fortifications to protect the citizens within that city to ensure that the protests remain sound and peaceful.

So it bifurcates into components. Yes, transparency is necessary. Secondly, it's necessary to introduce this video, but lastly, the onus is also on the public to ensure they act in an appropriate manner.

CAMEROTA: Darrin Porcher, thank you very much for sharing your expertise.

All right. We have some breaking news just in to CNN. Israeli officials report that seven people are dead and several injured in a shooting in Jerusalem.

So let's get right to CNN's Hadas Gold.

So Hadas, tell us what you're learning at this hour.

HADAS GOLD, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, what we're learning is about in - two hours ago, around 8:15 - 830, the shooting took place in a neighborhood in North Jerusalem actually outside of a synagogue. It is Friday night, it is Shabbat, so likely people were there for services, Shabbat services.

What we understand from Israeli police is that the shooting began outside of the synagogue. The assailant then got to his car, drove some few hundred meters away and then at a junction began - somehow he was engaged by police and that's where he was shot and killed.

What we know so far is that seven people have been killed in this attack, several more are injured. We know of a 15-year-old boy who was among those injured in hospital and a 24-year-old man also injured in hospital. We're still gathering information on the others.

All we know about the assailant so far is that he was killed according to Israeli police from what we understand he was killed by police. Right now, it's just - the police are just trying to sweep the area, trying to see if there are any more assailants.

And then the question now is what is going to be the reaction from this new government, this government has - was only sworn in just about a month ago and it's the most right wing government in Israeli history. It's already been a very violent, intense 36 hours or so here after an Israeli military raid in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank yesterday killed nine Palestinians.

Another Palestinian was killed later in the day. That made it the deadliest day for Palestinians in over a year and now we have this attack. And in between there, there were rockets fired from Gaza into Israel. Israel responded with airstrikes already before the shooting attack took place tonight. There was a lot of concerns that the situation here was going to just completely spiral out of control. And Alisyn, it feels as though this is now the beginning of that spiral.

CAMEROTA: Hadas Gold, thank you very much for the reporting.

Back here, former vice president, Mike Pence, just weighed in on the classified documents that were found in his home. We'll bring you that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:28:28]

CAMEROTA: This just in to CNN, former Vice President Mike Pence just addressed the classified documents that were found in his home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's actually been a very humbling week for us. But I know we did the right thing.

Look, the proper handling of classified information is very important to the national interest. Throughout my career in the Congress and as your vice president, we always sought to take great care in the handling of the nation's secrets. At the close of our administration, we did a thorough review of all the documents in the possession of the Office of the Vice President and in the residence of the vice president. And I'm confident that was conducted in a professional manner.

But with news in recent weeks of repeated disclosure of classified documents in the personal residence of President Biden and documents dating back to his service as vice president, I simply thought out of an abundance of caution, it would be appropriate to review my personal records, kept at our residence in the State of Indiana and we initiated that process.

Along the way, we determined that there was a small number of documents marked classified or sensitive, interspersed in my personal papers.

[15:30:00]

Upon making that discovery, we secured those documents immediately. We alerted the National Archives. We turned them over to the FBI.