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Ukraine Calls for Fighter Jets; Murdaugh Trial Resumes; Misty Marris is Interviewed about the Murdaugh Trial; Jose Andres is Interviewed about Helping Feed Earthquake Survivors; Flight Takes Dive Near Water after Takeoff. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired February 14, 2023 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Ukraine, of course, is facing a new Russian offensive.

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LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: And together this contact group has made it clear that we will support Ukraine's fight for freedom for the long haul and help Ukraine hold and advance during the spring counteroffensive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: CNN's Nic Robertson joins us now from Warsaw.

Nic, the latest discussion in terms of new weapons supplies is F-16 fighter jets or other NATO standard fighter jets. And I wonder, when you're speaking to folks there, do they consider that an essential part of Ukraine's defense and offense going forward, or as kind of like the next shiny object?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: I think that they consider it here in Poland in particular, but given that the president here has been at the vanguard of pushing for allies to send equipment, military equipment, be it in the early days just ammunition to today they're at the forefront of sending tanks. On the fighter aircraft, though, he has sort of dialed back the rhetoric a little bit. I think everyone accepts it's going to be necessary, but it's not a short-term solution that the proatism (ph), we heard that from the German defense minister today, are air defense and ammunition. Europe, NATO, isn't producing ammunition fast enough to keep up with the way Ukraine's consuming it. It's a war of attrition. So, NATO has to step it up. Germany has said it will.

Here in Poland, the effort, as I say, was to get the tanks and they helped break the log jam on getting tanks to Ukraine. They've also been at the forefront of getting those Ukrainian tank crews trained up on the new NATO made battlefield tank, the Leopard 2.

SCIUTTO: Nic Robertson, thanks so much.

HILL: Our Nic Robertson, appreciate it. Thank you.

Still to come here, a first look at the critical evidence facing the South Carolina jury, as the Murdaugh family murder trial is back in session today. We'll take you there live.

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[09:36:21]

SCIUTTO: In South Carolina, the double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh is resuming this morning.

HILL: Picking up where things, understandably, left off yesterday. That was with powerful, graphic testimony from a pathologist. Alex Murdaugh visibly upset as the witness went into detail about how his wife and son were killed.

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DR. ELLEN RIEMER, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST, MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA: What happened here was an extremely severe, immediately fatal injury.

The force of this wound actually pushed his -- the brain out of his head.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What would have been the effect of that wound?

RIEMER: That would have been immediately fatal and he would not have been standing. He would have just fallen to -- fallen to the ground.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: CNN's Randi Kaye is live for us this morning outside the courthouse.

I mean those details were -- that was just a small bit of it. Really, frankly, gruesome. Very graphic. What else is the jury hearing?

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, certainly hard to watch, Erica. Very, very difficult to be in court listening to those details. Alex Murdaugh was visibly upset as those details were being shared as well.

But that video, the body camera video, was redacted by the court. That's how we received it. So the bodies on the ground have been covered and they're blurred in that video. But you do hear and see Sergeant Daniel Greene. He was first on the scene. And the first person he sees when he arrives there is Alex Murdaugh. And just moments after he arrives, he asks Alex Murdaugh when the last time was that he saw his family.

Listen to his response.

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SGT. DANIEL GREENE: When was the last time you were here with them, or talked to them or anything like that?

ALEX MURDAUGH: Um, oh, it was earlier tonight. I don't know the exact time, but --

GREENE: OK.

MURDAUGH: I left. I was probably gone an hour and a half from my mom's. And I saw them about 45 minutes before that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: So, Alex Murdaugh says -- has said that he wasn't home at the time of the murders and he told that sergeant right there that he hadn't seen his family in hours. The problem with that is that the state says that he was there at the murder scene at the time of the murders. They have extracted video evidence from Paul Murdaugh's phone at 8:44 p.m., a recording that the state says Alex Murdaugh can be heard on and also at least a handful of witnesses have also identified Alex Murdaugh on that video at 8:44 p.m., which would put him at the murder scene around the time of the murders. So that could be a program for him.

But getting back to that testimony from the pathologist. We did learn some more details about the autopsies. She said that the first shot to Paul Murdaugh did not kill him. He was shot in the chest. The second shot was to the shoulder and the head. That was the fatal shot.

She also said that he was standing at the time. There were no signs of a struggle. And that he was facing his attacker, facing the shooter. So, if it was his father, as the prosecution alleges, he was looking right at him.

As far as Maggie Murdaugh goes, the pathologist says that she was shot at least four or five times. There were four or five wounds on her. The fatal shots were fired while she was on the ground, including one to the back of the head. No sign of a struggle with her either.

Erica. Jim.

SCIUTTO: Details are alarming.

Randi Kaye, thanks so much.

HILL: Here in the studio, defense and trial attorney Misty Marris.

So, Misty, as we go through some of what we learned yesterday, let's start off with this body cam. Randi just pointed out some of the questions in the timeline there, which I'm sure we'll hear more about.

The other thing that stood out to me is that Alex Murdaugh brought up this other incident involving his son Paul, who was killed there, a boat accident. Brought that up pretty quickly. And we see that on the body cam footage.

[09:40:00] It seems like an odd thing to bring up, except he's bringing it up saying, oh, I think I know why this happened. We've been getting these strange calls related to this incident. This must be why they were killed.

MISTY MARRIS, DEFENSE AND TRAIL ATTORNEY: Absolutely. We heard that and we've seen that before. That's part of both sides' narrative. So, the prosecution is saying, this is the Murdaughs doing what they did before. And we heard testimony about the death of Mallory Beach. The testimony there that the Murdaughs were on the scene, they were trying to manipulate the narrative right from the get-go.

Well, analogous to that, now we have Alex Murdaugh presenting this alternative theory of what could have happened on that night right away, immediately. One of the first things he says to the responding officers. So that's how the prosecution is going to use that as part of their narrative and try and make that connection with the jury.

Now, from the defense point of view, they're going to say, look, this was something that was plaguing the family, and there are all of these other people, including those who might have been stiffed in these financial crimes, others involved in the Mallory Beach, the threats to the family, well, they also had a bone to pick with this family and they could have absolutely been the perpetrators. And they're going to do that to try and raise reasonable doubt, this alternative theory that we've heard right from the beginning, right from opening statements.

HILL: Something else that stood out, so you and I were talking a little bit in the break, so I was asking you some questions about the testimony yesterday. There's this very graphic testimony from a number of different people involved in the pathology here, these forensic scientists. We heard not just about the wounds, as Randi was detailing there, that killed them, but also there was some testimony about DNA that was found under her fingernails, but it was such a small amount that they said it didn't even meet the threshold for creating a DNA profile. So, it's not entered in there. There's really not enough there, right, to even tell you who it belonged to. You say that's actually a point in favor for the defense, why?

MARRIS: Absolutely, because the defense is, again, going to use that to say, there could have been somebody else on this scene.

Remember, the defense doesn't have to prove that somebody else committed this crime. What the defense needs to do is raise reasonable doubt. And so by using that DNA under Maggie Murdaugh's fingernail, and we heard this on cross-examination, they said that wouldn't it be odd, she had just gotten a manicure, when would she have had the opportunity, other than on that property, that night, to get that DNA underneath the fingernails. And could this have been someone who committed this crime?

Again, to your point, the defense is saying that this investigation was botched from the get-go.

HILL: Yes. MARRIS: Prosecution getting ahead of that in that testimony. Well, look, this wasn't even enough to test to get a DNA profile to potentially identify someone.

HILL: Right.

MARRIS: But the defense is going to be using that in conjunction with other evidence, for instance, the muddy footprint that could have been on Maggie Murdaugh's calf, the hairs that were in Maggie Murdaugh's fist during the autopsy that have yet to be a part of this trial. We really haven't heard more on that. They're going to use that totality of the circumstances to say this could have been somebody else, and you cannot convict Alex Murdaugh for this crime.

HILL: It is fascinating, as it always is.

Really good to have you here, Misty. Appreciate it. Thank you.

MARRIS: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Well, it's more than a week after just a devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria. Teams are still managing to make miraculous rescues in Turkey. But, boy, the survivors need critical help. I'm going to speak with Chef Jose Andres. His World Central Kitchen is feeding thousands there. We'll have an update from the field.

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[09:47:21]

SCIUTTO: The death toll from the earthquake - earthquakes, really, in Turkey and Syria has now surpassed 37,000 people this morning. And even as the two nations grapple with the staggering number of dead, rescue teams somehow are still hearing voices of survivors beneath the rubble. In one city, first responders dug a tunnel under the debris of an eight-story building. After hearing someone's voice as they worked their way through the ruins, rescuers kept the young man talking to prevent him from passing out. In the end, they were able to pull the 18-year-old man out. There you see it.

Amid the destruction, aid groups have been working, doing their best to help the survivors. One organization often at the forefront of this is World Central Kitchen. It's been serving more than 90,000 hot meals every day. I'm joined now by the organization's founder, Chef Jose Andres, who is near Iskinderin (ph), Turkey.

Chef Andres, good to have you on this morning. Thank you for taking the time.

JOSE ANDRES, FOUNDER, WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN: Thank you for having me.

SCIUTTO: I think for folks outside the country it's difficult to understand just the scale of this disaster. Being there now, can you help describe to people just how far and wide the destruction is? ANDRES: Well, Jim, I've been able to drive very much around almost all

the perimeter of these earthquake over the last seven days. I was two days ago in Olistan (ph), in the northern part. Right now in Osmanlye (ph). I'm on my way to Hatay, in the southern part, near the border with Syria. And we are talking around 450 kilometers in distance from one point to another wide, plus add another 200, 300 kilometers to the other side. This is massive.

I remember in 2010, we remember (INAUDIBLE). We remember that huge earthquake. This was one city. One city that was destroyed. Tens of thousands of people died. That was one city. When America and international community came to help, we concentrated in one city. Here we are talking about ten major cities all across the eastern part of Ukraine. This is massive from the mountains all the way to the sea. This is massive. This is like 10, 20 earthquakes all at once.

SCIUTTO: One of the issues, of course, has been access there, particularly in Syria. I wonder, are aid groups like your own able to get to the areas where people need help the most?

[09:50:02]

ANDRES: Obviously, what's going on in Syria is something that the international community we cannot (ph) keep supporting meals (ph) without raising our voices for the people of Syria needs our help. But obviously the situation is very complicated. Politically we know it's about the war, different factions. For lucky -- luckily for us we are trying to go to Syria. And two days ago already team (ph) members of World Central Kitchen, and we are very known local NGO, we were able to cross, and already we've been the last two days bringing 10,000 meals. But this is like put your finger in one hole of thousands.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

ANDRES: Their situation, when we delivered these meals in one city near - one hour from the border, inside Syria, was tense. Why? Because people were hungry. That's why the international community, U.N., World Food Program, all the organizations, we all together combined need to do more to be taking care of those people in Syria that are hungry, that they feel desperate, that we need to be providing them with blankets, with places to (INAUDIBLE) being built, but more needs to be done. Food needs to be reaching those people. That is why the situation intense (ph). If you show up every day, everything becomes more calm. But the people of the world, we need to be doing more with the people of Syria.

SCIUTTO: Yes. You were describing to me how whole cities are going to need to be rebuilt after this, both for the buildings that fell and the ones who are presumed to not be safe anymore. I imagine people are going to need to be fed there for a long, long time.

ANDRES: Oh, the World Central Kitchen, we're emergency. We've done the best we can to ramp up very quickly. We have in total more than 30 kitchens that we are using local partners, restaurants. Who better than restaurants, local restaurants. Ones they're giving - we see that they're safe. We have engineers making sure that those buildings are safe. We're cooking from those kitchens. We are already doing more than 120,000 meals a day.

SCIUTTO: Wow.

ANDRES: Probably we're going to have to, in the next days, reach to around 200,000.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

ANDRES: We have eight kitchens that are our own kitchen, from Gasienta (ph), Abistan (ph), many places that we believe by having a kitchen we can start helping (INAUDIBLE) feeding those camps that they keep opening, they keep being filled, as people realize that they cannot be near their old homes because they are not safe for them to go in. They are looking for places where they can bring their families -

SCIUTTO: Yes.

ANDRES: And go through these very still hard winter under 10 to 20 Celsius degrees temperatures that are freezing cold. That's why you see fires everywhere at night because people need to be warm.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

ANDRES: Sometimes waiting in front of their building is still hoping that they will find their loved one alive, or even use finding their bodies so they can do the right thing with their family member.

The situation all across, yes, food is going to have to be very important. That is why we're going to (INAUDIBLE) Turkey people. And I want to say one thing, the Turkish people are amazing. This is a food culture people.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

ANDRES: Everybody that had the kitchen in the early days, early hours, they will be cooking, they will put the food behind their car in the back of their car or their truck. They will go somewhere. They will open the car, and lines of people will be forming in those random humanitarians that these - these will go across this part of Turkey, people were receiving a plate of hot food in these cold nights of Turkey.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

Well, listen, thank you for the work you're doing. When we met in Ukraine, one thing I'll always say about you, not only do you feed the people, you make sure they eat well and the food tastes good. And that can make a lot of difference.

Chef Jose Andres, thanks so much.

Well, watching this, I'm sure you want to help. For more information on how you can help organizations, such as World Central Kitchen, to get aid to where it's needed most, please go to cnn.com/impact. There are good, vetted options there to donate.

HILL: Yes, there certainly are.

Just ahead here, you're going to hear from a passenger on a United Airlines flight that plunged toward the ocean just minutes after takeoff.

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ROD WILLIAMS, PASSENGER: They got on the intercom and simply said, well, ladies and gentlemen, you probably felt a couple Gs on that one.

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[09:58:43]

HILL: A United Airlines flight from Hawaii plunging toward the ocean just moments after takeoff. It actually came within 800 feet of sea level.

SCIUTTO: It had to be scary for passengers.

HILL: Yes.

SCIUTTO: The previously unreported incident in December is sparking new safety concerns today.

CNN's Gabe Cohen has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Another alarming incident in U.S. aviation. A United 777 diving towards the ocean just after takeoff.

ROD WILLIAMS, PASSENGER ON UNITED FLIGHT 1722: It certainly felt like a roller coaster.

COHEN: Rod Williams was traveling home from vacation with his family.

WILLIAMS: It's one of those things where you start counting your blessings. You start, you know, asking yourself, is this the last time you're going to see your family.

COHEN: The flight takes off from Maui December 18th, climbs 2,200 feet, then suddenly plunges 1,400 feet toward the ocean, falling for 21 seconds, reaching just 775 feet above sea level before abruptly leveling out and rapidly ascending once again. The plane, which can carry more than 300 passengers, was mostly full according to Williams.

COHEN (on camera): What did pilots tell the passengers?

WILLIAMS: They got on the intercom and simply said, well, ladies and gentlemen, you probably felt a couple Gs on that one, and everything's going to be fine. It's going to be OK.

COHEN (voice over): The crew itself reported the incident after landing safely in San Francisco, according to the FAA.

[10:00:03]