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New Attacks on Kramatorsk; House Votes to Remove Omar from Committee; House GOP Slams Biden's Handling of the Southern Border; Biden and McCarthy Meet over Debt Limit; Hunter Biden Targets Right- Wing Critics; Additional Footage of Nichols' Case to be Released. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired February 02, 2023 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:46]

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Bianna Golodryga.

Right now, President Biden is on Capitol Hill, speaking just moments ago at the annual National Prayer Breakfast and calling on Republicans and Democrats to unite in the wake of Tyre Nichols' death. This as he makes the push for national police reform. It comes ahead of his and Vice President Harris' big meeting just hours from now with members of the Congressional Black Caucus. They'll discuss police reform efforts just a day after the vice president spoke at the funeral of Tyre Nichols, where she called the 29-year-old's death at the hands of Memphis police a moment that demands Congress to take action.

Also soon on Capitol Hill, the Republican led House is expected to vote on a resolution to remove Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar from the powerful Foreign Affairs Committee. Speaker Kevin McCarthy says he has the votes to oust her. We're following that for you as well.

And going on the offensive. Attorneys for Hunter Biden now calling for criminal probes into Trump allies and others involved in disseminating his personal content from his laptop.

But first, let's go live to Ukraine, where CNN was on the front lines near the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk. City officials say the Russians not only targeted civilian with their first round of strikes on the city, they then launched another round, this time targeting the civilians who moved in to rescue those hit in the first strike.

CNN's senior international correspondent Sam Kiley joins us now from Mykolaiv.

So, Sam, what can we say, yet another war crime it appears committed by the Russians.

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that was what occurred in Kramatorsk, where my colleague Frederik Pleitgen and his team saw it with their own eyes, as many of us have seen in the past, the indiscriminate shelling of civilians areas in Kramatorsk. And arguably an attempt following that last night to hit civilians and rescue workers with what's known as a double tap, when they go in on the ground and try to clear up and search for any survivors that may be in the rubble there.

Now, the local authorities there say three people were killed in that attack. I've just come from Kherson, which is about a half an hour's drive from where I am now. That city, Bianna, was liberated from Russian occupation several months ago now. CNN was on the ground during that liberation. There was jubilation. The streets were thronged with people. Now it is almost a ghost town.

Why? Well, in this two and a half or three hours we were there, we, frankly, lost count of the number of detonations of blasts of mortars, of direct tank fire, of multiple rocket launch grad (ph) systems, those are the launches that fire 10, 15, 20 missiles at a time that were raining down on different parts of that city. The only people that we met there really were elderly and poverty stricken people who were coming to the central square where there had been celebrations, desperately seeking help. One man even trying to find a bit of plastic to cover his destroyed window. So, a scene of disaster there, and continuing attacks on civilians in Kherson, too.

Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, those images are just horrific. And President Zelenskyy, once again this morning, reiterating calls for a fresh round of sanctions against Russia.

Sam Kiley, thank you.

In just hours the House votes whether to remove Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee.

CNN's Lauren Fox is on Capitol Hill.

So, Lauren, it appears that Speaker McCarthy finally has the votes to do so.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and this came after a long fight internally between Republicans as they tried to wrestle members to get these votes. And they did find a compromise. Language that includes what Republicans are calling due process for Ilhan Omar and other members of Congress who lose committee assignments in the future that would allow them to refer their cases to the House Ethics Committee. Ilhan Omar is expected to be removed from her committee assignment on the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Here's what she said about losing that job.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ILHAN OMAR (D-MN): They've been on a vengeance tour. It's very blatantly clear, when we removed those two from their committees in the last cycle, it was because they threatened violence against members of Congress.

[09:05:09] REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): This is so different from what the Democrats have done. The Democrats walked in and judged Republican members of Congress for something they said before they were members of Congress and threw them all off committee.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOX: And one thing to keep in mind here is that Democrats did remove two members of the Republican Party from their committees in the last Congress, both Paul Gosar and Marjorie Taylor Greene. It's also important to point out, however, that just a few days ago, last week, Kevin McCarthy removed two members from the House Intelligence Committee. So, obviously, going forward, the question is going to be, is this going to continue to be an issue for Republicans and Democrats as they take control of the House of Representatives.

Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, what appears to be a tit for tat retaliatory move here.

Lauren Fox, thank you.

Well, with me now is Heidi Przybyla, national investigative correspondent for "Politico," and Toluse Olorunnipa, White House bureau chief for "The Washington Post."

So, Toluse, let's start with you because after some wrangling clearly it appears that Speaker McCarthy has enough votes to oust Ilhan Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

What do you make of his hold right now of his own caucus given what we saw just a few weeks ago as he was fighting for that speakership role?

TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, WHITE HOUSE BUREAU CHIEF, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Well, Kevin McCarthy is definitely trying to find his feet as the speaker and he has been able to corral his members for a number of key votes. This is one of the votes that was going to be a test of his speakership, whether or not he was going to be able to flip members. And he did prove that he was able to do that.

Now, this is a much lower stakes issue than some of the bigger challenges and fights that he's going to have ahead on things like the debt ceiling and on what to do about whether he should impeach members of Joe Biden's cabinet or even the president himself. But it does appear, at least in these early weeks of his speakership, that he has been able to maintain somewhat of a hold on his members, which was not clear when he had those multiple rounds of votes about his speakership with several members saying they did not want him to be speaker.

But it does appear that on some of these issues he's been able to focus on issues where he can keep the committee - the members of the Republican caucus all together. But it's not yet a clear sign that he's going to be able to do that when these bigger fights on major policy issues comes down the pike. And those are coming very soon. GOLODRYGA: Well, Heidi, it does appear to be at least symbolic, if not a preview of what's to come. I mean you had Republicans, prior to the midterms, threatening impeachment. Well just yesterday you had House GOP Congressman Andy Biggs of Arizona file articles of impeachment of the Homeland Security Secretary Alejandra Mayorkas for his role in the southern - the border there with Mexico.

What do you make of that? How significant of a move is this? And what does it mean for what's to come in the months ahead?

HEIDI PRZYBYLA, NATIONAL INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT, "POLITICO": Well, it's part of the broader agenda, which is investigations, and stands in contrast to one of the issues in this Gallup poll that came out this morning that Americans are most concerned about, including the economy, inflation, guns. And so this is the tension now that Republicans are facing, which is that the tools that they have are not great if they want to advance major legislation because their agenda is so different from the president's. So what they're going to do are these investigations.

I think the concern here are those 18 Republicans who are in Obama/Biden districts who are very concerned that what Republicans are doing here is running headlong into, for instance, debates over classified documents, over Hunter Biden's laptop, when, in fact, what the polling shows is that Americans, despite the fact that we didn't go into recession during Covid, are very concerned still about the economy. They're concerned about what we've seen over the past few weeks, which is, even though Congress passed some of the most significant legislation on guns in the last Congress, we've had more mass shootings this year than we did the previous year just in the first few months.

So that is the risk that Republicans run here, which is there is a small fraction of the conference that is demanding these things, such as the removal of Ilhan Omar from the committee, such as these investigations in order for McCarthy to be able to function, to be able to even keep his speakership, but at the same time the broader public is demanding progress on much more profound concerns out there in America, including income inequality, including guns. And there's also a sense among the public on issues like abortion, where public opinion is very much out of line with what just happened with the ruling, for instance, on Roe v. Wade.

GOLODRYGA: Well, Toluse, let's talk about the must pass issue facing the economy right now, and that is raising the debt ceiling, because we saw Speaker McCarthy spend about an hour and a half yesterday with President Biden on this subject.

[09:10:03]

President Biden not budging when he said that he was not going to negotiate on this specific issue. Said that he is happy to talk down the line on cutting the deficit and deficit reduction, but that this would be a standalone, clean bill.

Kevin McCarthy came out yesterday and said that he seems pretty optimistic that they can, quote, find common ground and reach a consensus sooner rather than later. What did you make of those comments and that optimism?

OLORUNNIPA: We definitely had to read between the lines a little bit because McCarthy came out of that meeting saying no agreements were had, that they were going to continue to talk, but he did say that it was a good meeting, that they spoke for quite a long time, and he didn't come out throwing fire bombs at the president, and so that could potentially be a good sign. He talked about things like finding waste in the government, not talking about slashing major programs or having significant cuts to the overall budget. And so there could be some areas of common ground. Maybe some programs that have been proven to be wasteful that Democrats and Republicans can agree on and maybe have different talking points about whether or not an actual cut was made. Those are the kinds of negotiations that could take place within this environment, which has the president saying we're not going negotiate over the debt limit, and has Republicans saying, we have to negotiate over the debt limit. It may be a situation where, as we get closer to the deadline, the different parties are going to have different takeaways and have different talking points about whatever agreements they come up with that allows them to save face. And that may be where we're going. It does appear that McCarthy is willing to at least talk in positive ways about the president. That may be a first step to having the kind of agreement that can avert a crisis, which would come if they allow the debt ceiling to not be raised and America to default on its debt for the first time in the country's history.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, I guess the question now is, is McCarthy speaking for himself or for his caucus? Because we know that there are some there within the party that say that they are not on board with this at all. We will see and continue to follow this.

Heidi Przybyla and Toluse Olorunnipa, thank you.

Well, a strategy shift for Hunter Biden. He's now going after the right-wing figures who have been using his personal business and legal issues to attack President Biden. His attorneys are calling for state and federal agencies to investigate several people they say unlawfully shared contents from his laptop. That includes a computer repair shop owner, Rudy Giuliani, Steve Bannon and Fox News.

So, let's bring in CNN's senior justice correspondent Evan Perez and former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Elie Honig.

Good to see you both.

Elie also has a new book out called "Untouchable: How Powerful People Get Away With It." I can't wait to start reading by book.

Elie, congratulations.

Evan, let's get to you first. What exactly is Hunter Biden doing here with this shift in strategy? EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bianna, good

morning. He's trying to turn the tables on these right-wing figures who have really made him a target for the last couple of years, the last four years or so, trying to use some of the contents of this laptop that purportedly he dropped off back in 2019 at this computer repair shop in Delaware to essentially use that as an attack - use as a vehicle to attack his father, President Biden. He's asking for state and federal officials to launch investigation for not only computer crimes but also, you know, for basically violating his privacy.

So, what we are hearing, though, from his - from his attorney, Abbe Lowell, is a full frontal on all of these figures, including, as you mentioned, this computer repairman, John Paul Mac Isaac, as well as Rudy Giuliani and others.

I'll read you just a part of what Abbe Lowell, his lawyer, said in a letter to the Delaware attorney general. He says that the failed dirty political tricks directly resulted in the exposure, exploitation and manipulation of Mr. Biden's private and personal information. And he goes on to say that this allowed for hundreds of gigabytes of Mr. Biden's personal data, without any discretion, to be circulated around the internet.

And, you know, you can tell what this is about also is the Republican Congress that is now using some of the stuff that was found on this laptop, things having to do with his personal business, to try to use these for investigations and tie them to President Biden, Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. And Abbe Lowell, we should note, a well-known attorney within Washington who's represented both Republicans and Democrats.

Elie, the letter signaled a distinct change in strategy by Hunter Biden after bringing on this new lawyer to help defend him against an onslaught of attacks from Republicans. I guess the question turns to whether it can be an effectively strategy.

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, Bianna, Hunter Biden has gone on the attack here.

I think the answer is sort of yes and no here. Yes, some of the things that Hunter Biden is asking for in his letter may have some legal merit to them. He's really asking for two things. One, he wants a criminal investigation relating to the accessing of his information, which can be a federal crime.

[09:15:00]

It is a crime to hack a computer, to gain access to somebody's information on a computer without their authorization. We'll see if DOJ takes that up.

The other thing that Hunter Biden is looking at is potential defamation action against people who he claims have knowingly made false public statements, false and damaging public statements against him. And, again, that could play out in the courts. But ultimately, Bianna, Hunter Biden, let's remember, is under a

criminal investigation by the Justice Department for conduct having nothing to do with either of those things. DOJ has been investigating him for potential tax crimes and for a potential firearms offense. So, Hunter Biden might even be right in what he's asking for here, but it won't technically defend himself against anything.

GOLODRYGA: And it appears that he is admitting the authenticity of this laptop and that it belonged to him as well, which is an interesting point to make.

Evan Perez and Elie Honig, thank you.

HONIG: Thanks, Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: Well, this afternoon, President Biden will meet with the Congressional Black Caucus to talk about police reform. This, of course, in the wake of Tyre Nichols' death. And we're learning about potential new charges for the officers involved.

Plus, new details about three potential mass shootings that were thwarted this week alone. In one case, the LAPD arresting a man who was pointing a high powered rifle out of his apartment windows.

And later, the Ohio Department of Education is investigating a white supremacist homeschooling network. Among the assignments, get this, writing Hitler quotes in cursive. But there may not be much the state authorities can do to stop it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:20:36]

GOLODRYGA: Members of the Congressional Black Caucus are heading to the White House today to meet with President Biden and Vice President Harris and restart the conversation on passing federal police reform legislation. This comes one day after the emotional funeral of Tyre Nichols.

Earlier this morning during the National Prayer Breakfast, President Biden called for unity and justice for the Nichols family.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Tyre Nichols and his family and the community of Memphis, justice is long overdue. We can come together to do big things for the country. We can join hands and get things done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: Prosecutors investigating Nichols' deadly beating say they plan to release up to 20 more hours of video footage. Officials also say they haven't ruled out criminal charges over discrepancies found in the initial police report.

CNN's Ryan Young is following this story for us from Memphis.

So, Memphis, yesterday, was really mourning and celebrating the life of the Nichols family, right, and mourning with them. Today, though, the investigation continues. What more are you learning?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Bianna, we saw that emotion pouring out there at the -- at that church yesterday. You could tell that people were really putting their arms around this family. When you think about this investigation, there are several parts of this investigation that are going on at the same time. You have the TBI that's doing their criminal investigation. And then you have the police department that's doing an administrative investigation. And that's because they're looking to see -- and you've got the DA's office involved in this as well. But they're all looking to see what officers reported in the hours shortly after the beating because when you watch that video and you see some of the things the officers say, and then that initial police incident report, has some discrepancies that we're already been able to notice. They're going to put all this together and they're going to compile some of this evidence so that they can get a full picture of exactly what happened and whether or not any officers told lies in those beginning few hours in terms of what they omitted from that initial police report.

But take a listen to the folks yesterday really hammering home the fact that there is a need for justice in the George Floyd Act.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We demand that Congress pass the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act. Joe Biden will sign it. And we should not delay. And we will not be denied. It is non-negotiable.

REV. AL SHARPTON, DELIVERED EULOGY FOR TYRE NICHOLS: Some of us are going to fight until we make this legislation happen. I don't know when, I don't know how, but we won't stop until we hold you accountable and change the system.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Bianna, I think there's an interesting mix here because a lot of times when we cover these stories, and, look, you've been a part of this as well, we're not this far into an investigation. You don't have officers already fired and already charged and us talking about additional charges. So you see the speed in which this police department initially moved to make sure things were going in the right process with those officers being fired and the DA's office coming in very quickly to announce the charges.

Now, as they go through the back half of this investigation, you're seeing them pick up steam in terms of going through the next parts of this. And they always said there could be more charges for these officers.

The community is actually watching all this play out. They like the fact that there's been this much transparency so far. Now we know about these additional hours. So we're all sort of waiting to see what happens next. But, at the same time, at least those five initial charges were serious enough that it seemed to give the community some pause and seemed to understand what was going on here in this community, especially after that horrible video that we all watched.

Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, and as you know, we continue to learn more and more details about some of these officers' backgrounds. And as we mentioned, more video is expected to come out as well.

Ryan Young, thank you.

Well, could this cell phone video place Alex Murdaugh at the scene of the crime the night his wife and son were murdered? We have new details for you straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:29:00]

GOLODRYGA: Developing this morning, at least three potential mass shootings thwarted by law enforcement across the country this week alone.

In Los Angeles, police arrested a man after recovering multiple high- powered firearms at a high-rise apartment, with some of those guns pointed out windows. Police say they seized more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition, two assault rivals, several high-capacity magazines, scopes and body armor.

In Washington, D.C., police arrested a man accused of shooting and killing a metro employee Wednesday. That employee was trying to stop the gunman after he shot two commuters following an altercation on a bus.

And in Omaha, Nebraska, police confronted and killed a gunman who opened fire inside a Target store. Police say the man was carrying an AR-15-style rifle with 13 loaded magazines. Thankfully, no one else was injured.

Joining me now to discuss is former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.

So, Andy, this clearly is the reality that we live in.

[09:30:00]

And for so long, even the first few weeks of this year alone, we've talked about these mass shootings throughout the country.