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Investigating the Death of Tyre Nichols; Growing Calls for Action on Racism and Criminal Justice Reform; Students to Return to Class Weeks After Teacher Wounded; Blinken to Urge Calm During Trips to Israel, West Bank; Biden, McCarthy to Meet on Debt Ceiling. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired January 30, 2023 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:00]
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world. I'm Bianca Nobilo.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Max Foster joining you live from London. Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We think that this was part of the culture of the SCORPION. unit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was done to Tyre was a vicious violent gang assault camouflaged as policing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was a human being. That he deserve due process. His life mattered.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The blood of black America is on your hands so stand up and do something.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo.
FOSTER: It is Monday, January 30th, 9:00 a.m. here in London, 3:00 a.m. in Memphis, Tennessee. Where once again a young black man's death at the hands of police is sparking demands for change regarding police brutality and systemic racism in America.
NOBILO: Family and friends are preparing to lay Tyre Nichols to rest this week, with calls to tackle criminal justice reform are growing louder.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN CRUMP, ATTORNEY FOR NICHOLS' FAMILY: In communities of color, they often have different types of policing than many of our white brothers and sisters have in their community and this video illustrates it that it's this culture that says it doesn't matter whether the police officers are black, Hispanic or white, that it is somehow allowed for you to tramp on the constitutional rights of certain citizens from certain ethnicities and certain communities and we have to have a larger conversation about this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: Five former officers have lost their jobs with the Memphis Police Department and are facing charges in Nichols' death. The local district attorney explained why all of them should be charged with the same crimes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVEN MULROY, SHELBY COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Each of the five defendants participated in a different way in the death of Tyre Nichols. All of them acted together and all of them, their actions taken together resulted in Tyre Nichols' death. And under the principles of criminal responsibility under Tennessee law we feel comfortable in bringing the same charges against all five of the defendants and we're confident we'll be able to prove each element of those charges beyond a reasonable doubt once we get to trial.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: The former officers who were charged all belong to the Memphis PD SCORPION unit which is aimed at tackling violent crime. That unit has now been permanently disbanded. The city's police chief is being praised for the move but local leaders say there are still questions to be answered by Memphis police and the chief herself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRANK COLVETT, MEMPHIS CITY COUNCIL: I think that there is a reckoning coming for the police department and for the leadership. There are going to be -- the tough questions are not going to go away and they're not going to calm down in any way. And she's going to have to answer not just to the council but to the citizens and really the world.
Clearly there were other officers there. I'm curious as to why they have not been disciplined or suspended. I hope to know that tomorrow, Monday morning so direct answer to your query is, C.J., chief Davis is going to have to answer to that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: During a news conference in Memphis Sunday night, the president of the Tennessee chapter of the NAACP said congressional action on police reform is needed. CNN's Isabel Rosales has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now we heard from the NAACP in Tennessee. The president applauding the Memphis police chief for firing those officers involved in the beating of Tyre Nichols and for doing so within 20 days, not waiting months to a year to do that. Also, she applauded the D.A. for charging those officers involved and finally demonstrators who took to the streets peacefully around the U.S., that president saying, quote, we've shown the world how you do it. Here's what all she had to say.
GLORIA SWEET-LOVE, PRESIDENT, TENNESSEE NAACP: We come to call the action for Congress by failing to craft and pass bills to stop police brutality, you are writing another black man's obituary. The blood of black America is on your hands so stand up and do something.
ROSALES: Family attorney and civil rights attorney Ben Crump saying that the work is far from over, that reform needs to happen on a national scale.
[04:05:00]
CRUMP: Well, in our community we say this is the blueprint going forward, whether the officers are black or white, we expect to see swift action and swift justice even if it's a white police officer that abuse us.
ROSALES: And back in Memphis, the official GoFundMe for Tyre Nichols' mother and father for the family has crossed over the million dollar mark since those videos were released on Friday. Those donations will go toward helping out his parents, specifically with their mental health services and for taking time off of work. Also, written within that GoFundMe is that they hope to use the money to build a memorial skate park. We know Tyre was so in love with skating and sunsets.
Isabel Rosales, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: The renewed focus on police reform has put the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act back in the spotlight. It passed the Democratic-controlled House in 2021 but not the evenly split Senate. Nichols family lawyer says all of Washington should work to get the bill passed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRUMP: Shame on us if we don't use his tragic death to finally get the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act passed. We told President Biden that when he talked to us because, you know, he should marshal the United States Senate with Senator Booker, Senator Schumer and they should try to get the House to re-engage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: The measure proposes a ban on racial and religious profiling by law enforcement along with certain police procedures. And it overhauls what's known as qualified immunity which protects police officers from being sued in civil court. The current majority whip says it's time to return to negotiations.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL): Senator Booker, chairman of the crime subcommittee has been working on this for years. I think he and Senator Scott should sit down again quickly to see if we can revive that effort. In but in and of itself is not enough. We need a national conversation about policing in a responsible, constitutional and humane way.
REP. JIM JORDON (R-OH): What strikes me is just the lack of respect for human life. So I don't know that any law, any training, any reform is going to change -- you know, this man was handcuffed, they continued to beat him. I don't think these five guys represent the vast, vast majority of law enforcement. But I don't know that there's anything you can do to stop the evil we saw in that video.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: The Congressional Black Caucus has asked for a meeting with President Joe Biden to discuss criminal justice reform.
NOBILO: In the coming hours, students attending Richneck Elementary School in Virginia will be back in classes for the first time since a 6-year-old allegedly shot the teacher more than three weeks ago.
FOSTER: But even though the school system is implementing new safety changes, some parents feel it's not enough. CNN's Polo Sandoval has more from New York
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POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A spokesperson for the school system in Newport News, Virginia, confirms for CNN that the principal at Richneck Elementary School -- which is where that shooting took place just over three weeks ago -- will be reassigned to another position within the school district. She's now the third school system employee to be removed from or to step down from their post since January 6th when a sixth grader on campus shot and wounded his teacher.
On Wednesday, you'll recall, the school board actually voted to cut ties with the superintendent of the entire school system. There's the assistant principal at Richneck Elementary that resigned on their own. The attorney representing the injured teacher maintaining that school administrators were warned three times, the day of the shooting, that the child was armed with a firearm, but the attorney maintaining that they failed to act. She even planks to file a lawsuit against the school system. Now, the school district not commenting because of the ongoing investigation.
But ahead of the first day of classes since that shooting, parents and students and staff still in a tough situation as many of them have to decide whether or not to return to school on Monday. Michele Brown is one of the parents who we've had an opportunity to speak to. Her son a third grader on that campus at Richneck, says she needs to feel reassured that those who she believes to be responsible are being held accountable. And also that school officials are doing everything they can to keep her son safe. To keep this from happening again. Now the school is responding trying to reassure parents saying they
will install metal detectors at all of their elementary schools. There are also considering requiring only transparent backpacks on campus. But some parents saying but is still too little too late. They want a restructuring of the school system and administrators in general and for them to take a hard look at the procedures in the policies in place.
Polo Sandoval, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: In the highly watch double murder trial involving a prominent family is set to resume today in South Carolina. Alex Murdaugh is a disbarred attorney accused of shooting both his wife and son. And we expect to hear cross-examination from his defense team today.
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NOBILO: On top of the murder counts prosecutors allege that he committed a string of other crimes. Murdaugh faces 99 charges including accusations he defrauded his clients and former law firm of nearly $9 million.
FOSTER: The man arrested for allegedly attacking the husband of then, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, says he should have come better prepared on the night of the attack. It's one of many things David DePape said when he called a San Francisco reporter over the weekend from jail.
NOBILO: He allowed that call to be recorded which came the same day that a California court released video of the attack. And here's part of that call.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOICE OF DAVID DEPAPE: PAUL PELOSI ATTACK SUSPECT: Freedom and liberty isn't dying, it's being killed systemically and deliberately. The people killing it have names and addresses. So I got their names and addresses so I could pay them a little visit. I want to apologize to everyone. I messed up. What I did was really bad. I'm so sorry I didn't get more of them. It's my own fault. No one else is to blame. I should have come better prepared.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Well, this is police body cam footage from the night of the attack showing a man holding Pelosi by the arm with a hammer in his other hand. DePape is facing many state and federal charges for allegedly attacking Paul Pelosi in October and has pleaded not guilty.
NOBILO: In Oregon a man suspected of kidnapping and beating a woman unconscious remains at large. Police say that there following leads and they are confident they will find Benjamin Foster with the public's help. FOSTER: But they warn but he may try to change his appearance to evade capture. Over the weekend they also said he could be using dating apps either to lure unsuspecting people into helping him escape or to find new victims.
NOBILO: International security is high on the agenda today as the U.S. Secretary of State continues his trip to the Middle East.
FOSTER: At this hour Antony Blinken is meeting with Egypt's foreign minister after holding talks with the country's president.
NOBILO: And later he'll travel to Israel where he is expected to urge calm amid of wave of violence in the region.
FOSTER: Israeli authorities said they are taking strict measures to handle the unrest. Over the weekend they sealed off the family home of a man they considered a terrorist.
NOBILO: Authorities say that he fatally shot seven people near a Jerusalem synagogue on Friday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has responded with additional security proposals which included expanding weapons permits to allow more Israeli citizens to carry guns.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): We are not seeking escalation but we are prepared for any possibility. Our answer to terrorism is an iron fist and a powerful, swift and precise response.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: On Sunday a Palestinian official said Israeli settlers attacked stores and cars on the West Bank in an apparent response to Friday's shooting. CNN's Nic Robertson joins us live now. A lot of tensions in the background to this U.S. visit.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, they weren't expected tension, this spike has happened over the past few days and this trip by Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been on the books for a couple of weeks now. He's obviously going to come with a message to both sides to de-escalate and back away from the situation that could raise tensions further.
How is that actually going to look? Well, he's very likely to when he speaks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to say, look, we've heard and the United States supports you in your efforts to crack down on the terrorism threat that threatens and has taken lives of Israeli citizens, but do look very carefully at some of the measures that you're proposing.
One of those measures is the possibility, the consideration by the government -- and this was announced over the weekend -- that the residency rights of relatives of Palestinian attackers could be taken away from those Palestinian citizens. That is something that could raise tensions further. It's under consideration. It hasn't been done yet. And another one of the cabinets' points that it raised over the weekend, was that -- in the words of the Prime Minister -- that it would be strengthening settlements. And Prime Minister Netanyahu has a proposal on that that he'll be putting forward later in the week.
But of course, these tough security measures are exactly what his far right coalition government are looking for him to enact and the killing of Israeli citizens opens the door for that to press those tougher measures. There's a greater popular sentiment for it.
However, that sort of thing that Antony Blinken would say, look, consider the reaction on the Palestinian side and when he goes to meet with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, he's very likely to bring a message there, look, one of your reactions to the right intention has been to cut off security cooperation with Israel. And that hurts you and it hurts Israel and that also inflames the tensions. So, they'll likely be a call on the Palestinian Authority leadership to reverse that decision.
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But having spoken to several people here who have the views of both sides, it's very clear that this spike is -- comes off the back of a year where the death tolls of both Palestinians and Israelis have been high and therefore expectations of what Secretary Blinken can do, the hope that it would tamp down the current spike but over the long term I think the realities are that this is -- this is a much deeper problem.
FOSTER: OK, Nic, back with you on the updates on this visit there in Jerusalem.
NOBILO: U.S. President Joe Biden is gearing up to meet with the new House Speaker as a battle is brewing in Congress over the debt ceiling. Details ahead.
Plus, this --
FOSTER: The matchup for this year's Super Bowl is now set. We'll have the highlights from Sunday's NFL conference championship games.
NOBILO: And later millions of Americans under winter weather and windchill alerts. Our meteorologist will have the latest forecast.
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Frigid temperatures are blasting their way across the nation's midsection. Unfortunately, this this is going to time with some wintry precipitation. I'll highlight where the cold air is headed and where the potential ice storm is forming coming up after the break.
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[04:20:00]
NOBILO: Parts of northern New Zealand including Auckland getting hit with more heavy rainfall today. That's on top of the severe rainstorms and extensive flooding that have battered the region since Friday leaving at least four dead. Officials don't expect the storm to be as intense but the impact will still be widespread because the ground is already saturated. The education ministry has closed all schools in Auckland until February the 7th due to the flooding.
I was talking to my family in Auckland there over the weekend and they were saying that throughout their entire life they've never seen anything like it. I think 75 percent of all of summer's rainfall in 15 hours.
FOSTER: Yes, it was so sudden as opposed to the amount.
NOBILO: And it's been causing house slips as well of course they're seeing all over the city.
FOSTER: Now in the U.S. a person was killed and several others injured in a multivehicle accident in Wyoming. It happened on Saturday in a highway that was completely covered by snow as you can see. Officials say a total of 44 vehicles collided in two separate crashes. The interstate will remain close while crews clear the vehicles and debris.
NOBILO: That severe weather is not just in Wyoming. Over 30 million are under winter weather alerts today and over 15 million are under windchill alerts across United States. So, here's CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam with those details for you.
VAN DAM: Prepare yourself for yet another arctic blast of air across the Midwest and into the northern Rockies. Get this, temperatures will range from 25 to 35 degrees Fahrenheit below where they should be this time of year. Here's a prime example. Denver, your normal high, 44 degrees. Today you'll only top 7 lonely degrees. Another good example of this is Chicago. You're normal high temperature right around freezing. I think you'll only top 12 degrees.
Now notice this is a very short lived arctic blast of air. Because temperatures do moderate from tomorrow and into the day Wednesday. But it's certainly cold enough for the National Weather Service to issue some warnings. In fact, we've got 15 million Americans under windchill alerts stretching from the north all the way to the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandle.
Remember, this is what it feels like on your exposed skin as you step outside. It's how quickly your exposed skin can experience frostbite and some of these temperatures are quite impressive. We are talking about some windchill warnings between -45 and -50 degrees. That's what it feels like, again on your exposed skin. You can see International Falls, Bismarck, Minneapolis all the way southward into Des Moines, well below zero.
But I want you to notice where the cold air is headed. It is going to traverse further south and it's going to impact places like Oklahoma, Texas, as well as Arkansas and unfortunately there's precipitation that's going to move through this area. So, of course, you guessed it. It's going to fall on the form of some type of winter-type precipitation and not the best type either. It's going to potentially lead to some icing and some sleet across this region. National Weather Service issuing winter weather alerts, winter storm
watches and warnings. And this, by the way, includes the Dallas-Fort worth metroplex. Notice how many separate rounds of sleet and freezing rain potentially moving over the central and eastern portions of Texas. This could be significant for travel delays, some of our computer model picking on anywhere from a quarter to a half inch of icing from today right through Tuesday. So, something we want to keep a very close eye on. Not to mention the potential for flash flooding along the deep south. Back to you.
FOSTER: Thanks to Derek.
The U.S. Federal Reserve expected to raise interest rates once again today when it meets on Wednesday, in fact. But it's widely expected to reduce the pace and raise rates by just a quarter of a percentage point this time around. What happens beyond this week will depend on inflation and whether it is indeed slowing. Now we'll get a better sense of that on Friday when the January jobs report is released. Economists predict 185,000 jobs were added which would indicate a slowdown. That Means the Feds previous hikes worked to take some air out of the economy.
NOBILO: U.S. President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy will discuss the debt ceiling when the two sit down for talks Wednesday. The White House spokesperson says Mr. Biden will ask McCarthy if he intends to meet his, quote, constitutional obligation to prevent a national default.
FOSTER: The White House said previously said raising the debt ceiling is not a negotiation but an obligation to avoid economic chaos. Here's McCarthy's take.
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SEN. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA) U.S. HOUSE SPEAKER: I know the president said he didn't want to have any discussions but I think it's very important that our government is designed to find compromise. I don't think there's anyone in America who doesn't agree that there's some wasteful Washington spending that we can eliminate. So, I want to sit down together, work out an agreement that we can move forward to put us on a path to balance at the same time not put any of our debt in jeopardy at the same time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: But there's concern the nation could default if an agreement isn't reached in time. CNN's Arlette Saenz has more from Wilmington, Delaware.
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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy are heading towards a high-stakes showdown over the debt ceiling as the two men are set to meet at the White House on Wednesday. This will be the first time Biden and McCarthy are meeting in person since McCarthy became House Speaker. And both sides have said the debt limit will be on the table.
Now, both men have said that they don't want to see the nation default on their debts but for the time being they disagree on how to get there. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has insisted that he believes there should be negotiations and that ultimately, they believe there need to be spending cuts if the debt ceiling will be raised. But President Biden and the White House have insisted that there will be no negotiations over this and that Congress must fulfill their obligation to raise the debt ceiling.
A spokesperson for the White House saying in a statement, quote: The president will ask Speaker McCarthy if he intends to meet his constitutional obligation to prevent a national default, as every other House and Senate leader in U.S. history has done and as leaders McConnell, Schumer and Jefferies have pledged to do.
The president, they add, will underscore that the economic security of all Americans cannot be held hostage to force unpopular cuts on working families.
Now Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said they are using extraordinary measures until this moment and that the nation's debt limit must be raised by early June.
So, certainly this could have huge ripple effects for the U.S. economy if the nation were to default on their debt. Now the president this week is also planning to push some of his accomplishments from the past few years when he travels this week to promote the bipartisan infrastructure law that was signed just last year. The president will be making stops in Baltimore and New York City to tout this law as he's also trying to promote many of his bipartisan achievements ahead of a possible reelection bid in 2024.
Arlette Saenz, CNN, traveling with the president in Wilmington, Delaware.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: The U.S. Justice Department says it's trying to meet lawmakers demands for more information on classified documents found at properties associated with Donald Trump and President Joe Biden.
FOSTER: But the DOJ adds that it'll try to do so without harming ongoing investigations into both matters. It comes as Senators are calling on authorities to share the documents that were seized.
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SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): Our job is to make sure there's not an intelligence compromise. And while the director of national intelligence had been willing to brief us earlier, now that you've got the special counsel, the notion that we're going to be left in limbo and can't do your job, that just cannot stand. SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL): I don't know how Congressional oversight on
the documents, actually knowing what they are in any way impedes an investigation. These are probably materials we already have access to. We just don't know which ones they are.
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NOBILO: This week the House Oversight Committee will hold its first transcribed interview with the General Counsel of the National Archives. Members are calling for changes to the way that sensitive documents are handled.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY): I said when Mar-a-Lago was raided that this had been a problem in previous administrations. There had been accusations that presidents and vice presidents had mistakenly taken documents that were deemed classified with them. This has always been a problem. I don't understand why we can't have a system where someone and if that someone is from the National Archives is there overseeing the boxing up of documents. Because every president and vice president has a right to take personal documents with them. They have a right to go in the private sector and right to write a book and things like that. But we need to make sure they're not accidentally taking classified information that could jeopardize our national security.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Still to come, California honors the man who disarmed the suspect in the deadly Monterey Park mass shooting.
NOBILO: Plus, a missile strike at a residential building in northeast Ukraine. We'll have the latest for us just ahead.
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