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CNN International: Alex Murdaugh Trial Shifts to Autopsy Evidence, Body Camera Videos; Ukraine Disputes Claim Russia Captured Town Near Bakhmut; DeSantis Slams College Board as He Mulls White House Bid. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired February 14, 2023 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Previous research showed school-provided meals were linked to childhood obesity.
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: It is interesting the U.K. government did a study into mental health and the pandemic and they also found that teenage girls were far more affected thanage boys and it did make teens significantly more depressed.
FOSTER: And it's the question about whether that will stick and affect them long term as a generation.
NOBILO: Exactly. Because it's there in formative years.
Still to come, what newly released body cam video and testimony from a pathologist reveal about the night that Alex Murdaugh's wife and son were murdered.
FOSTER: And later, the battle for Bakhmut. We'll have the latest on the fighting on the frontlines in eastern Ukraine.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NOBILO: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo.
FOSTER: I'm Max Foster. If you're joining us, let me bring you up to date with the top stories this hour.
Officials in Michigan are searching for the motive in the mass shooting at Michigan State University's campus that killed three people and injured five others. Authorities say the suspect is dead from a self inflicted gunshot. We'll get an update from authorities in a few hours for you.
And Syria's president has reportedly agreed to open additional routes for critical aid to get through to the earthquake victims in the largely rebel held northwest of the country. More than 36,000 people have been killed and thousands more displaced by the quake that hit Syria and Turkey. But just today more people have been found alive in the rubble in Turkey and search efforts do continue.
NOBILO: Alex Murdaugh's trial will resume in the coming hours with more testimony from a pathologist.
[04:35:00]
On Monday the court released body camera videos from law enforcement officers who arrived the night Murdaugh's wife and son were killed in June 2021. CNN's Randi Kaye has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SGT. DANIEL GREENE, COLLETON COUNTY SHERIFF: Scene is secure as Whiskey Fox, Whiskey Mike both gunshot wounds to the head.
RANDI KAYE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's just before 10:30 p.m. on June 7, 2021, the night Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were murdered. This is body cam footage from Colleton County Sheriff's Sergeant Daniel Greene, who was first on the scene. Moments after arriving, he spots Alex Murdaugh.
ALEX MURDAUGH, ACCUSED IN MURDER TRIAL: Sir, I would just let you know because of the scene, I did go get a gun and bring it down here.
GREENE: OK, it's in your vehicle. Do you have any guns on you at all?
MURDAUGH: No, sir. It's leaning up against the side of my car.
GREENE: OK. You're fine, man. You're fine. Turn around for me.
MURDAUGH: I don't have any gun.
GREENE: OK, yes, sir, I see that.
KAYE (voice-over): Murdaugh appears to be upset, but first responders have testified in court they never saw any tears. Moments after Sergeant Greene arrives, Murdaugh offers up his own reasoning as to why someone would kill his family.
MURDAUGH: This is a long story. My son was in a boat wreck months back. He's been getting threats. Most of it's been benign stuff. We didn't take serious.
GREENE: OK.
MURDAUGH: You know, he's been getting, like punched. I notice on that and I know that's what it is.
KAYE (voice-over): A key moment in the body cam footage comes when Sergeant Greene asks Murdoch when he last saw his family. Listen closely to his answer.
GREENE: When was the last time you were here with them or talked to them or anything like that?
MURDAUGH: 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.
KAYE (voice-over): Alex told investigators he wasn't home at the time of the murders and hadn't seen his family in hours. But remember, at trial the state revealed evidence of a video recording extracted from Paul Murdaugh's phone. It was taken just minutes before he and his mom were killed, recorded at 08:44 p m. Prosecutors and more than a handful of witnesses say that's Alex Murdaugh's voice on the recording. Putting him at the murder scene around the time of the murders.
On the body cam video, we also see for the first time, this bizarre exchange between Alex and Deputy Buford McDowell, who arrives on the scene. In the middle of talking to Sergeant Greene about his wife, he pauses to greet the deputy.
MURDAUGH: Maggie Murdaugh. Margaret Branstetter Murdaugh. How are you doing?
GREENE: I'm OK.
KAYE (voice-over): Alex also asks the deputy's several times if his family is dead.
MURDAUGH: Did you check?
GREENE: Did I check what?
MURDAUGH: Did you check them?
GREENE: We got medical guys that are -- that's what they're going to do, OK?
MURDAUGH: You've been checking, and they're dead, right? They are dead aren't they?
GREENE: Yes, sir, that's what it -- that's what it looks like.
KAYE (voice-over): On some of the body cam video, Alex Murdaugh is seen pacing around the property. He's making phone calls, including one to one of his brothers.
MURDAUGH: Yes, the police are here now. The police are here now.
KAYE (voice-over): In another clip, he asks the deputies to get his surviving son Buster on the phone.
MURDAUGH: Can you all get a police officer with my oldest son in Columbia? No, I haven't told him yet. It's got to be me that tells him.
KAYE: A pathologist also testified about the autopsy. She told the jury that Paul Murdaugh was shot twice. First in the chest but the second shot the fatal shot was to the shoulder and the head. She also said that there were no sign of any defensive wounds or any sign of a struggle, and that he was facing his attacker as he was shot. So if indeed it was his father, as the prosecution alleges, he would have been staring right at him. The pathologist also said that Maggie Murdaugh was shot five times, at least three times while standing, the fatal shots were delivered while she was on the ground including one to the back of the head.
Randi Kaye, CNN, Walterboro, South Carolina.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: We're following developments in Ukraine where intense fighting is ongoing in the east especially in and around of Bakhmut.
NOBILO: Ukraine is disputing Russia's claim that its forces have captured a nearby town but said that Bakhmut remains the focus of Russia's main attacks. To discuss this with CNN's Scott McLean is here. Scott, we know that Russia's been trying to encircle Ukrainian forces inside Bakhmut. They've made progress in Krasna Hora, which is from the north of Constantinople which is on the west. What do we know about who is in control of that area.
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, as you mentioned, the Ukrainians are disputing some of the Russian territorial gains. Saying that look, they are still fighting on going. That there are still in control of some of these places. But what they're not disputing is the fact that the Russians it appears have cut off many of the supply routes in and out.
[04:40:00]
Ukrainians acknowledging that, look, they are within Russian striking distance. Obviously they are working to try to push the Russians back to regain access to some of the main roads. But it just makes it very difficult for them to get people, supplies, medications all that kind of stuff actually into that area where you have troops actually fighting house to house at this moment.
One of the other issues that surely will come up at this meeting today in Brussels between defense ministers -- Western defense ministers, is the fact that Ukraine is badly in need of more ammunition -- at least according to the NATO Secretary-General who says that they are burning through it faster than they can actually manufacture it in the West. And part of the issue here is that Jens Stoltenberg says that, look, the Russians are content to just use their size advantage, use their advantage in terms of equipment and weaponry to their advantage -- even where they lack in quality.
And a great example of that is town of Vuhledar. This is a town in the southern Donetsk region -- the reason we're even talking about it is because it's strategically important. If the Russians were to capture it they would have easier access to connect railways between Crimea and the rest of the Donetsk region.
So here is the video that I want to talk about specifically. So you can see it's shot from a height. So, Vuhledar, this town sits on a bit of a hilltop giving Ukrainians access to sort of shoot on the planes which are around half a kilometer in every direction around it and see the Russians coming from quite a long way. And so, this has been criticized heavily. The Russians have been criticized heavily even by military bloggers from their own country. Saying that, look, you have these narrow columns of tanks and fighting vehicles essentially approaching this town head-on and they have been doing it for months.
There was a failed effort back in November that brought a mutiny amongst troops there. And then you have videos like this where you see troops sort of trying to find any kind of cover that they can, but there is just that narrow group of trees there. But it seems like they're sitting ducks. In fact, one blogger said it was like shooting turkeys at a shooting range. So, that's kind of what they're up against there and sort of illustrates the fact that the Russians do have this manpower and it seems like in many ways the Russians feel like they have some troops some weaponry that's expendable.
NOBILO: Exactly, I mean, it's incredibly dehumanizing to pose a like this. But people often talk about Russia being able to substitute quality for quantity because if they don't have the technological advancements, they also have the manpower numerical advantage in this. Scott McLean, thank you so much.
FOSTER: The Philippine foreign ministry has issued a formal protest over the actions of a Chinese Coast Guard ship in the South China Sea last week. The Philippines says the Chinese vessel pointed a military grade laser at one of its ships temporarily blinding some of the crew.
NOBILO: China claims that the ship trespassed into its waters and the Coast Guard was defending China's sovereignty. But the Philippines says its vessel was delivering food and supplies to a grounded Navy transport ship.
Still ahead, Florida Governor DeSantis says that he is fighting the woke agenda but the messaging could be to gain support for something else.
[04:45:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: Florida's Republican Governor Ron DeSantis is firing back at the college board even floating the idea of doing away with advanced placement classes. This after the board wrote a letter criticizing his administration for rejecting AP-African-American studies course.
DeSantis accuses the AP of indoctrination and he keeps pushing what he has called an anti-woke agenda. He says they keep pushing an anti-woke agenda as he eyes his White House bid. CNN's Jeff Zeleny has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): Florida is where woke goes to die.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): And for Governor Ron DeSantis, Florida is where presidential aspirations come alive.
DESANTIS: So, help me God. ZELENY (voice over): Six weeks after starting his second term, he's putting the finishing touches on the DeSantis playbook.
DESANTIS: Freedom lives here in our great Sunshine State of Florida.
ZELENY (voice over): Taking his record from Florida's capital to the national stage as one of the country's youngest governors with one of the loudest voices on conservative policies. It is a driving force in the latest chapter of the culture wars, already shaping the 2024 campaign.
DESANTIS: When other states can sign their people's freedom to the dustbin, Florida stood strongly as freedom's linchpin.
ZELENY (voice over): The Governor has introduced himself as a leading cultural warrior with a growing list of what he calls anti-woke laws and proposals.
DESANTIS: And this bill takes three main steps.
ZELENY (voice over): Like the Parental Rights and Education Act, which critics have dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" bill that bans instruction of sexual orientation and gender identity from kindergarten through third grade.
Under his watch, transgender children in Florida can no longer access certain treatments and he eliminated state funding for LGBTQ mental health programs.
He has also called for bans on mandates for COVID-19 vaccines and masks. He used state funds to expand a controversial migrant relocation program and is locked in a battle over an advanced African- American Studies course that he says goes against state law for how race can be taught in Florida classrooms.
DESANTIS: Why don't we just do and teach the things that matter? Why is it always someone has to try to jam their agenda down our throats?
ZELENY (voice over): He spends his time signing laws passed by the GOP controlled Florida legislature rather than sounding off on social media, like his one-time supporter and now rival, former President Donald Trump, who now mocks DeSantis with a nickname --
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Ron De- sanctimonious.
ZELENY (voice over): The Governor is releasing a new book: "The Courage to Be Free" at the end of February and setting out on tour with stops in Texas, California, Alabama, and beyond.
On the floor of the Florida Senate, Democratic Senator Jason Pizzo has blasted the ambitions of DeSantis --
JASON PIZZO (D) FLORIDA STATE SENATE: ... of a speech that's going to be given an Iowa in a couple of years.
ZELENY (voice over): And told us today the governor has cast his entire agenda as the backbone of a presidential bid.
PIZZO: It's a playbook that I think is squarely set towards a national audience because it's certainly not remedying or curing any problems here.
ZELENY (voice over): DeSantis is building a national team, CNN has learned, with plans for an announcement in late May or early June, after the Florida Legislature enacts even more of his agenda that could serve as a roadmap for his political future.
DESANTIS: We will fight the woke in the businesses. We will fight the woke in government agencies. We will fight the woke in our schools. We will never ever surrender to the woke agenda.
ZELENY: As Republican presidential field continues to take shape, Florida governor Ron DeSantis is keeping his eye here on Tallahassee and the agenda he is passing. Hoping to use that as a calling card to early primary voters in states like Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, establishing himself as the true conservative in the race. There is into doubt his advisers say that he is running. Again, he is expected to announce by May or June.
[04:50:00]
Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Tallahassee, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: Coming up, a rare phenomenon on the rings of Saturn. We'll tell you what they are how they happened. Coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NOBILO: Sunday's Super Bowl was a raging smash averaging 130 million viewers. And those are the highest ratings for the game in six years. Fox Sports says Sunday's championship game was the third most watched TV show ever and ratings for Rihanna's performance were better than the game itself. Her halftime show drew more than 118 million viewers on TV and digital platforms.
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is taking a victory lap after winning his second championship in Sunday's Super Bowl. He was at Disneyland on Monday where he rode in the parade and spoke with CNN's Jake Tapper about the significance of the game.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PATRICK MAHOMES, SUPER BOWL MVP: It was a special moment and I was glad that the game went the way it went. Even though it made me a little nervous there at the end, but Jalen played his tail off man. All respect to him.
[04:55:00]
And it showed that the Black quarterback, like we've always been able to do, can go out there and have success on the world stage in the biggest game of them all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: He did explain why (INAUDIBLE)
Much of the talk of course was about Rihanna's showstopping halftime performance that Mahomes explained to Late Night host Jimmy Kimmel, why the Chiefs were forced to skip it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY KIMMEL, LATE NIGHT HOST: Were you at all watching Rihanna's performance during this?
MAHOMES: I didn't, but I heard it was great. But Coach Reid told us, he said if you go out to watch the performance, just keep walking because you're not playing the rest of the game.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: Toy company Mattel is breathing now life into an old children's TV icon. The company announced that Barney the purple dinosaur will be returning to TV and toy shelves in 2024. Mattel says that they've already broadcast and streaming deals in place for the new animated version of the character.
FOSTER: Original Barney and friends aired in the U.S. for 18 years on public television. Mattel is banking on the revived show to be a big hit after posting disappointing earnings and holiday sales last year. They're going in on the big brands, and obviously bringing back some of the old ones as well.
NOBILO: Yes, exactly. I love Barney.
FOSTER: Is it taking you back?
NOBILO: It is a little bit, yes. Growing up with the tyrannosaurus rex.
FOSTER: Finally, a mysterious display on one of the wonders of the solar system. For the first time in years, spokes have appeared on the wings of Saturn. These pictures from Hubble space telescope show them gliding along the surface of the ring.
NOBILO: Scientists aren't really sure what causes them. They suspect that they are icy particles which are levitated by variations on the planet's magnetic field and they hope to test that theory as the Hubble telescope collects more data. And we leave you with that intriguing mystery.
FOSTER: And we are just annoying people by saying look that the, we don't know what it is.
NOBILO: Exactly.
FOSTER: We will find out eventually and show it. Thanks for joining us here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster.
NOBILO: And I'm Bianca Nobilo. "EARLY START" is next right here and CNN.
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