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Biden Speaks about Mysterious Objects in the Sky; Harris and Blinken Meet Leaders at Munich Conference; Christopher Miller is Interviewed about China; LAPD Arrests Suspect in Jewish Shooting; Bodycam Video of Deadly Shooting of Unarmed Black Man; Ex-Memphis Officers to be Arraigned in Nichols' Death. Aired 9-9:30a ET
Aired February 17, 2023 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[09:00:20]
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Good Friday morning. I'm Erica Hill.
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Jim Sciutto.
New from overnight, police are investigating a possible hate crime in Los Angeles. They say they have arrest add man accused of shooting two Jewish people. Much more on possible federal charges now.
Also new this morning, some amateur balloonists say that one of their small balloons is, quote, missing in action. It's last known location, somewhere over Alaska on Saturday. This as President Biden has now spoken on the U.S. shooting down a Chinese spy balloon, as well as three other objects. He says he makes no apologies for the first one, but is now asking his team to device sharper rules for dealing with other unidentified objects. Questions now as to whether some of those were real threats.
HILL: Yes.
And also happening right now, which we're monitoring, Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Munich, Germany. World leaders gathering there for a security conference as we quickly approach the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
We do want to begin, though, this hour at the White House. CNN's Jeremy Diamond there.
So, Jeremy, the president addressing those downed objects now after mounting pressure over the last several days. What more did we learn from those remarks?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, President Biden made very clear yesterday that the U.S. intelligence community believes most likely that these three unmanned aerial objects that were shot down between Friday and Sunday are indeed benign in nature and also making clear that there's no evidence to suggest that there is any kind of rise in these kinds of unmanned objects above U.S. skies. Instead pointing to the fact that the U.S. really widened its aperture on its radar systems which led to capturing -- spotting some of these unmanned objects. And ultimately the president, on the advice of the military, deciding to shoot them down.
But what's really interesting here is the decision for the president to actually speak out on this publicly and deliver those remarks. For days White House officials deliberated the possibility and the wisdom of the president delivering these remarks. There were concerns early on about making this a bigger issue than it was by having the president speak on this. And they also wanted to make sure that there was enough information.
But I'm told that by yesterday President Biden believed that it was the appropriate time to deliver these remarks. He believed that the U.S. government had enough information about these unmanned objects and also wanted to put these findings in context for the American public. I'm told that the president was especially adamant about included details of his tasking to the U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan about the steps that he's going to take going forward, setting up this government-wide interagency process that's going to look at new protocols for identifying and handling some of these unmanned objects. Those protocols and that government-wide effort also includes looking to improve the inventory of unmanned objects and also updating rules and regulations for the launching and maintaining of unmanned objects. Those are all details that the president provided.
What the president was also trying to do here was to talk about the U.S./China relationship, trying to reassure Americans that while that spy balloon launched by China was indeed a violation of U.S. sovereignty, something that the president said he makes no bones about the fact that he decided to shoot that spy balloon down, he also wanted to reassure the public that this doesn't upend the U.S. relationship all together.
And I'm told that that is why the president, yesterday, also ad-libbed this part where he said that he does expect to be speaking with the Chinese President Xi Jinping. I'm told, though, that there is no call actually in the works at this point. No firm plans for a call. But the president wanted to signal his intent to continue those conversations.
SCIUTTO: There seems to be concerns in both Beijing and Washington not to let this escalate.
Jeremy Diamond, at the White House, thanks so much.
HILL: Well, Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken are at the Munich Security Conference in Germany today. The U.S. delegation coming face-to-face with their counterparts from China. Of course, this in the wake, nearly two weeks now, since the U.S. shot down China's suspected surveillance balloon.
SCIUTTO: CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson, he is in Munich, Germany, with more.
Nic, this comes at a crucial time, a key time in the war in Ukraine. Russia not present at this year's conference, but we did, of course, hear from Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. What was his message? NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: His message was
Ukraine is the David, Russia is the Goliath. That David needs help with his slingshot and is getting it from allies and partners in the whole gathered around. It was a very sympathetic audience. And, as you point out, Russia not only not here, disinvited. Typically Russia always attends the - from the foreign minister here at the Munich Security Conference. Not invited this year.
[09:05:02]
And Zelenskyy's message was, look, essentially, don't dabble around thinking about how many tanks to get to us and what we might do with them, because at the same time Russia is consideration how to take on and potentially attack and strangle Moldova. His message is, don't delay, get us the military equipment now, hurry is up.
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PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINE: We need to hurry up. We need the speed. Speed of our agreements. Speed of our delivery to strengthen our sling. Speed of decisions to limit Russian potential. There is no alternative to speed because it is the speed that the life depends on.
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ROBERTSON: And he also said that he thinks that by this time next year Ukraine will have won. The war will be over. And he expects to be here in person. I'm not sure if the audience particularly buys that at the moment given the current state of the conflict.
We know that President Macron of France is speaking. Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, is going to be speaking soon as well. Kamala Harris is expected to meet with both of them. She'll meet with the Finnish prime minister, the Swedish prime minister as well. Both those nations wanting to join NATO.
HILL: Nic Robertson, appreciate it. Thank you.
SCIUTTO: Joining me now is former acting defense secretary during the Trump administration, Christopher Miller. He's also author of the new book, "Soldier Secretary: Warnings from the Battlefield and the Pentagon about America's Most Dangerous Enemies."
Secretary Miller, thanks so much for joining us this morning.
CHRISTOPHER MILLER, FORMER ACTING DEFENSE SECRETARY UNDER TRUMP: Jim, thanks for having me. It's kind of a dream come true. Hardest hitting morning show on TV. Get to the bottom of some stuff. It's good to be here and live as opposed to being in my man cave in the basement with some, you know, bad Zoom thing behind me. So, thanks for having me in person.
SCIUTTO: I hear you. Always good - always better to do it face-to- face. We appreciate it.
I do want to begin this morning on Chinese surveillance balloons. "The Wall Street Journal" is reporting this morning that intelligence officials in the Pentagon were aware of and monitoring a series of mysterious objects then believing China was using them to test radar jamming systems. This was in the summer of 2020. You became acting defense secretary in November 2020. Were you aware of or ever briefed on this threat during your time at the Pentagon?
MILLER: Wasn't, Jim. Really need to get to the bottom of that. I suspect that this was in some sort of special access program. You know, there are special compartments that only a few people can see. As the acting secretary of defense, I should have had access to that, but I was not informed. And I was taken by surprise, as well as the rest of America, when this happened two weeks ago.
SCIUTTO: Had you been informed -- can I ask, and it's always hard to deal with hypotheticals.
MILLER: Sure.
SCIUTTO: But given what you know now, had you been informed about that, what action would you have taken? For instance, would you have recommend to the White House that they be shot down?
MILLER: Absolutely. Yes, that would have been my recommendation. Let's -- you know, this maybe sounds trite, but when you're dealing with totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, the only thing they really respond to is strength. And it's maybe not always a good thing, but that's what they respond to. So, you have to respond very strongly. And that's kind of one of the concerns that we need to get to the bottom of.
SCIUTTO: To that point, I want to talk about China, because in your new book you advocate a plan to cut the military budget in half. You also argue that Washington has heightened the China threat in part to keep some big budgets. But as you note, you know, China is a threat to the U.S. in many ways. It's very public about its intention, by the way, to surpass the U.S. as the world's premiere global power.
Why shouldn't the U.S. challenge China more?
MILLER: Jim, you've been out there. You did your time in government. Thanks for doing that. You see how the government works. Bureaucracies only respond to resource cuts. My concern right now is we're fighting exactly the way the Chinese want us to, using the Cold War model. We need to force new thinking. We need to use regular approaches. Things that they're not used to and not ready for, because that's the way you, you know, you handle these situations.
Don't go through the front door, go behind and do things like that. And that's the point I'm trying to make.
And we've got really, really smart people down there in the bowels of the Pentagon that know what needs to happen. And we're not doing it right now.
SCIUTTO: Give me an example of what would be a back door way to challenge China. MILLER: Information operations. The Chinese are masterful at flooding our social media and our media writ large.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
MILLER: We aren't responding effectively in my humble opinion. That's one way. Cyber operations. And also, let's be clear, there's a whole population that's disgruntled with the Chinese Communist Party that's ripe for a rebellion. And those are the types of things when I talk about indirect, regular warfare, gray zone warfare, that's we're talking about.
SCIUTTO: Yes. Shadow warfare you might even call it.
MILLER: That's - oh, exactly, Jim.
SCIUTTO: Do -- there's a - there's a great deal of public concern about China's designs on Taiwan. And you have -- you know, not so much a debate in the Pentagon because when you speak to folks in the Pentagon in general they say China will take military action there. It's just a question of time. But you have some saying as soon as the year 2025, including a senior Air Force general.
[09:10:01]
Do you share that urgency in terms of China attacking Taiwan?
MILLER: I share the urgency in helping the Taiwanese protect themselves from potential invasion. I think it's a classic example of, much like we see in Ukraine right now, they want our material. That's what America's really good at producing. So, in that regards -- and I also think there's some muddlement and confusion right now about what our policy actually is.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
MILLER: President Biden says we'll defend Taiwan. Others, the secretary of state, and the secretary of defense, say otherwise. So, I think there's some confusion right now. I don't think that's helpful.
SCIUTTO: But what's the right answer? Should the U.S. go to war to protect Taiwan?
MILLER: I think we need to have a very firm policy that if the Chinese make an attempt at Taiwan, that we will support the Taiwanese and their right to defend themselves, yes, I do.
SCIUTTO: OK, on to another topic, and that, of course, January 6th.
MILLER: You're hard hitting, Jim. You're just going. Let's go.
SCIUTTO: You're - well. Time is limited, so we're trying to move as quickly as we can.
MILLER: OK. SCIUTTO: You've read a lot about that and you've been asked about this a lot, about your position on the president's actions leading up to and on the day January 6th.
You've said that the president gave you the authority at the Pentagon to protect demonstrators, but you say in effect, if I hear you correctly, in your previous statements and interviews, that it was up to the legislative branch to protect the Capitol. Are you saying the commander in chief had no responsibility during those crucial hours to protect members of Congress, the vice president or even the process, the electoral count itself?
MILLER: Thanks for asking that question. I had all the authority I need. I was raised as an Army Green Beret special forces officer where you're given mission and intent and kind of general vision, which the president gave, which was to provide any support required.
The key thing we have -- and you know this, Jim, Capitol Hill is a legislative branch. Executive branch is the military. You don't go to Capitol Hill without being invited. If you do that, that's called a military coup. I wasn't going to be party to that, Jim.
SCIUTTO: So you're saying you were not quickly - you were not invited quickly enough as it were to send national guardsmen to protect the Capitol?
MILLER: I think what we see from the 1/6 report is, at 2:35, the Pentagon received an appropriate formal request, 3:00 I was briefed, at 3:04 the order went out to mobilize the National Guard and move on the Capitol to support local law enforcement.
SCIUTTO: You have said that you still have a, quote, open mind, I'm quoting you here, as to the president - the former president's responsibility for January 6th and efforts to overturn the election. Why do you still have an open mind given all the evidence we've seen?
MILLER: Jim, I always get yelled at by my wife for -- she thinks I'm quibbling on this, but I actually believe that the politicization of the process right now is so polluted that I want to see what the final investigation reveals and what the Department of Justice reveals. And it sounds like I'm quibbling, but that's kind of the way we need to see this one through in my - in my opinion.
SCIUTTO: Quibbling, though, you have a president who -- a former president who still says to this day the election was stolen and it took him, as the January 6th committee chronicled, hours to act, to issue a statement calling those protesters back.
Do you hold him responsible for -- well, here's the question, I suppose, did he have a positive responsibility to act definitively to call those protesters back on that day and more quickly?
MILLER: I've been very clear that I did not think the president's actions that day were helpful for - you know, changing the situation in a positive way at the Capitol. Reinforce, though, the key thing I was, as secretary of defense, the acting secretary of defense, was to provide any resources requested by Mayor Bowser, Capitol Hill leadership, being Speaker Pelosi and McConnell, and I did that and was ready to provide additional support, which we did.
Remember, Jim, we put 25,000 National Guard troops on the Capitol Hill immediately following -- recognizing that the inauguration would be the next key event.
SCIUTTO: Right. I was there.
Christopher Miller, the book is "Soldier Secretary: Warnings from the Battlefield and the Pentagon about America's Most Dangerous Enemies." I hope we can keep up the conversation because there's a lot more to dig into here. Thanks for being on the show.
MILLER: Thanks for having me, Jim. Appreciate it.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
Erica.
HILL: Well, this morning, police in Los Angeles are investigating two potential hate crimes. Two Jewish people were shot just a day apart. It happened in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood. And police have now arrested a suspect.
SCIUTTO: But this morning houses of worship and schools in the area have now increased security as precautions.
CNN's Josh Campbell joins us now.
Josh, you were the first reporter, in fact, to break the news of this arrest. What more are we learning about how serious the threat was and what the plans were?
JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim and Erica, so this arrest happened in Riverside, California. I got a call from a source just shortly after that happened late yesterday. That was about an hour east of Los Angeles where these two shootings took place in the Pico- Robertson area of L.A., which, as you mentioned, has a large Jewish population.
And just to walk you through the timeline. So, on Wednesday morning, witnesses say that a man, a Jewish man, was leaving synagogue. A car drives by, opens fire twice. He is struck.
[09:15:01]
The very next morning, another man, also according to witnesses, walking from synagogue, is shot by a car that was fleeing.
Now, I was told by a law enforcement source that the license plate of this vehicle was captured. That was key to getting investigators on to the suspect. They put out this be on the lookout alert for a light colored compact car. They said that they were looking for an Asian male. And, again, I'm told that late yesterday they took this suspect into custody without incident. There's still a lot we don't know about him, about his past, obviously
about the motivation. We are hearing from the Los Angeles Police Department that they are investigating this case as a hate crime. Of course, this comes as the Anti-Defamation League says that attacks on Jews has soared over the last couple years and that has certainly put this community here in Los Angeles on edge.
I want you to take a listen to one person who lived near the shootings. Have a listen.
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ELISHEVA AMAR, NEIGHBOR: Very scared for my kids. You know, it is shabbat coming up tomorrow night and I'm not going to let our kids go to school this weekend. And definitely scared to have them wear their kippahs, to look Jewish.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMPBELL: So, certainly unsettling in the wake of all of this anti- Semitic activity that we've seen.
Finally, I'm told that in addition to the Los Angeles Police Department, special agents from the FBI have now also launched an investigation, working with the LAPD. I'm told that agents working hate crimes cases, as well as domestic terrorism cases here in southern California, are looking at the evidence, looking at this shooter's past, to determine if there will be any federal charges brought in this case, guys.
HILL: All right, Josh, really appreciate it. We know you'll stay on top of it and bring us any of those updates as they come in.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
HILL: Thank you.
Up next here, a Louisiana police officer is charged with negligent homicide after shooting and killing an unarmed man during a domestic disturbance call. We'll take you live to Shreveport with some of the newly released body cam video.
SCIUTTO: Plus new video of sparks underneath that train that derailed in Ohio, spilling toxic chemicals, creating major health concerns for the people living there. Remarkable video. What the EPA chief told them during his visit to East Palestine.
And later, Tesla has now recalled hundreds of thousands of cars. What they are saying about ongoing problems with the self-driving mode.
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[09:21:22]
SCIUTTO: In Louisiana, the family of Alonzo Bagley, the unarmed black man shot and killed by a police officer, is now suing that officer for wrongful death. This comes after police released the dramatic body cam video showing the fatal shooting of the black man, he was unarmed. Shreveport Officer Alexander Tyler has now been charged, we should note, with negligent homicide.
HILL: We do want to warn you, this video, which you are about to see, is difficult to watch. As CNN's Ryan Young shows us, though, the entire incident, it's important here too because it also puts this into perspective. This entire incident happened in less than two minutes.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Two officers arrive at the home of Alonzo Bagley, responding to a 911 call regarding a domestic disturbance.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi there. What's your name?
ALONZO BAGLEY: Alonzo.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi. Can you step out for me?
BAGLEY: No. What you need? My dog - I've got dogs.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, no, come on in, sir, he's disturbing the peace.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People (INAUDIBLE).
BAGLEY: Be careful. Let me put my dog up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sit down.
BAGLEY: Let me put my dog up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who you talking to? That's right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sit down. Let the - let her -- hey, come here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Put the dog up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come here.
BAGLEY: I'm putting my dog up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She can put the dog up.
YOUNG: The first officer follows Bagley down the hallway as his wife continues to yell in the background.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey! Hey! YOUNG: The officer realizes Bagley is heading out the door of a
balcony, sees him jump from the second floor to the ground below. He then turns back to run through and out of the apartment down stairs to chase after Bagley.
Once outside, you hear one officer yell to the other.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He went that way, Kyle (ph).
YOUNG: About five seconds later, you hear a single gunshot.
It's been one minute and 25 seconds since officers first knocked on the door.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dispatch, send EMS right now. Shots fired. Shots fired.
YOUNG: For the next two minutes, you hear the officers distraught and administering CPR.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, you're good. Hey, keep breathing. Keep breathing. Keep breathing. Keep breathing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stay with me, man. Stay with me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED) breathing. (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're good. Keep breathing. Keep breathing, dude. Keep breathing. Keep breathing. Keep breathing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED), dude.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, go to - go to the front of the building. Go to the front of the building. Wave them down. Wave them down with your flashlight. Come on. Run, run, run, run, run.
Hey. Hey, dude, you're going to be all right. You're going to be all right. Look at me. Hey, look at me. Look at me. Look at me. Look at me. Look at me. Hey. Wake up. Wake up. Look at me. Look at me. Hey. Respond. Come on. Come on. Come on. Wake up. Respond.
YOUNG: Bagley was unarmed during the encounter according to Louisiana State Police. The officer who fired the shot, Alexander Tyler, has been charged with negligent homicide.
In court Thursday, a Louisiana State Police investigator told the judge in the split second after the shot is fired, you can see in the body camera footage Bagley's hands are up. On cross-examination, the investigator acknowledged the view from the body camera is obstructed by the way the officers turn in the moment the shot is fired.
DHU THOMPSON, ATTORNEY FOR OFFICER ALEXANDER TYLER: Officers are always faced on a day to day basis with dangerous situations like that and at times where they have to make split second decisions where they are in a potential life-threatening situation. The mere fact that an argument is being made by the investigator in
court that he was unarmed does not necessarily mean he's not a threat to the officer.
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[09:25:05]
YOUNG: Yes, truly tough video to watch. I can tell you this weekend the family is going to have a funeral for Mr. Bagley. They are obviously still very upset after having to watch this video yesterday. We talked to them right after they came out of watching that video. They were heartbroken, but they did actually thank the LSP for doing this investigation as fast as they did and moving forward with charges.
The mayor for this city, who's a new mayor, has apologized to the family as well for not getting in touch with them as soon as possible after this shooting. And the police chief tells me that he's actually doing a review, not only of this video, but all administrative procedures moving forward because they still have to decide what's going to happen to the officer after he faces these charges.
So many questions still left to be answered, but you can understand why this community was taking a deep breath yesterday, especially after this video was released. So hard to listen to.
HILL: Yes, it really is.
SCIUTTO: Listen, it's - it's stomach turning. You're watching a man die there. And the image of this hands up prior, goodness, just shocking.
Ryan Young, it's such an important story. We really appreciate you bringing it to us.
HILL: Minutes from now, all five former Memphis police officers who have been charged with murder in the death of Tyre Nichols will be arraigned. Each one facing seven charges. Among those charges, second- degree murder, aggravated assault. This, of course, after Nichols, which we also saw on video, was repeatedly punched and kicked following a traffic stop on January 7th. He died three days later.
SCIUTTO: CNN's Shimon Prokupecz is covering this in Memphis.
Tell us exactly what's going to happen in the courtroom today.
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so we're waiting for the arrival of the five officers, Jim and Erica, which could happen at any second at this point. They're expected to appear in court here at the top of the next hour. It will be their initial appearance, their arraignment. And it will really be the first time that we get to see them, that the community gets to face them. And then also Tyre Nichols' family, who are expected in court, along with their attorney, who will be speaking with reporters afterwards, they will hear the charges against them, they will enter pleas and then the case would be adjourned and then, obviously, on its process into a potential trial.
This is all happening as the district attorney continues to investigate this case. Several other officers are potentially facing termination and disciplinary matters. And then also there could potentially also be more charges according to the DA as they continue their investigation.
And also we're still waiting for more video and audio that the city is expected to release from that night. Of course, the video from the incident has already been released, depicted just horrific events surrounding and the beating of Tyre Nichols and now these five men facing charges, murder charges, assault charges and kidnapping. And for the first time we will get to see them today in just a short while here.
HILL: Shimon Prokupecz, appreciate it.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
HILL: We'll continue to check in with you. Thank you.
SCIUTTO: Still ahead this hour, new video of the train that derailed in Ohio. You can see it there. Those are sparks underneath its carriage before it went off the tracks. Why didn't that set off protection measures? There are a lot of questions here. What rules weren't followed? We're going to have the latest on the investigation.
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