Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Ohio Residents Fear For Their Health After Chemical Spill; Death Toll Nears 44,000 Across Turkey And Syria; Six People Dead After Series Of Shooting In Mississippi, Suspect In Custody; Prosecution Expected To Wrap Up Its Case In Murdaugh Murder Trial Today; Court Document Show Fox Stars, Execs Privately Trashed Election Fraud Claims. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired February 17, 2023 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

ASHLEY MCCOLLUM, RESIDENT OF EAST PALESTINE, OHIO: He says, well, I'm not sure if they attached to surfaces or if a special cleaner would have to be presented.

DR. JAMES FABISIAK, UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: So, there's a couple levels of question there, so you know, you had mentioned that the chemical would still be in town. I say that there are probably multiple chemicals, and that's one of the sort of difficulties, is we don't know which specific chemicals or agents are those that we should be most concerned about. Which of them are present in the highest concentrations.

I think there should be some long-term monitoring program of people's well water, drinking water, soil samples. One of the things that concerns me is that there is a large sort of reservoir or pool of chemical that is located very close to the derailment and the spill that can continue to migrate over time to perhaps maybe reach well water in the future or, you know, contaminate the soil that then poses a risk that way. So, I think, you know, you should watch these things over time. And that with a good monitoring system, you would be able to respond to them in some way.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: All right, Ashley McCollum, Dr. James Fabisiak, thank you both for being with me. And thank you for dealing with the technical issues there.

All right, breaking news. Six people are dead in a series of shooting incidents in rural Mississippi. We're just getting details in. A live report is coming up.

[15:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: All right, we're just minutes away from our live report from our Nick Valencia on the breaking news that I brought you before the break. Six people are reported dead. This is in rural northern Mississippi. We're talking about 30 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee. So, stay with us. We've a report coming up. Learning some new details right now.

But until then, we're seeing both heartbreak and hope in Turkey and Syria 11 days after that powerful earthquake. So far, nearly 44,000 people have died. Most of those deaths in Turkey. Turkey's vice president says there are now fewer than 200 search and rescue operations still active in the earthquake zone. Despite that, the miraculous rescues continue. Just in the past few hours, we've learned of a 45-year-old Turkish man who was pulled from the debris alive, 278 hours after the earthquake hit. CNN's Nada Bashir joins us now from Istanbul. To hear there are still people being pulled alive is no less than a miracle. Tell us about the situation there now.

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: It is absolutely a miracle, Victor. I don't think anyone really expected to still be hearing of survivors being pulled alive from the rubble this far on since the earthquake struck. And we've seeing these remarkable videos of people being rescued. And this has been a moment of hope for the thousands of people still waiting for news of their loved ones still buried beneath the rubble.

Earlier today, we saw video of a man, 33 years old named Mustafa, he was rescued after being buried beneath the rubble for 261 hours. And the first thing he did when he was pulled out is call his friend, whose phone number he had memorized. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MUSTAFA AVCI, RECUED 251 HOUSE AFTER QUAKE (through translator): How is my mother and everyone?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): They're all waiting for you. Everyone is well. They're all waiting for you. I'm coming to you.

AVCI (through translator): Did everyone escape OK, Nazli?

NAZILI (through translator): They are all well. Everything is well. They're waiting for you. They are all waiting for you.

AVCI (through translator): Let me hear their voices, if for a moment.

NAZILI (through translator): I'm driving. I'm coming to you, brother. I'm coming.

AVCI (through translator): Thank you to each one of you. May God be happy with you a thousand times.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASHIR: There are now less than 200 search and rescue operations underway according to authorities here. But still, thousands of personnel working on rescuing potential survivors. But of course, these rescuers are growing few and far between. And for those waiting for news of the loved ones, this is the difficult reality that they will have to grasp -- Victor.

BLACKWELL: Conscious and coherent 11 days after the earthquake. It's amazing. Nada Bashir from Istanbul, thanks so much. All right, now we have those details about the breaking news out of

Mississippi. Six people are dead after a series of shootings in Tate County. Again, this is just 30 minutes south of Memphis, Tennessee. CNN's Nick Valencia is getting the updates on this. What do you know?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we just heard from the sheriff there, Sheriff Brad Lance, who spoke to our national desk to say that the suspect has been taken into custody. He was found in his vehicle, believed to be outside of his residence. He was found with multiple guns. And according to the sheriff, who spoke again to our national desk, there was a series of shootings in a community, about 300 people about 30 miles south of Memphis, with the first call coming in at 11:00 a.m. local time.

Again, six shot around this community. The first shooting happened at a local store. We are told that this individual then went to the home believed to be of his ex-wife and opened fire there. And then traveled on to another area and then continued on with the shooting.

[15:40:04]

They have been able to connect at least three of these victims to the gunman, and according to the sheriff, they are working to try to identify if there's any connection with the other victims to this shooter. But again, that shooter has been taken into custody, not identified so far. Just another violent day in America here, as we hear of another mass shooting, yet another mass shooting, Victor, here on Friday.

BLACKWELL: Six dead, again, Tate County, this is in northern Mississippi. Nick Valencia, thank you for the reporting. If you get more, we'll bring you back.

The prosecutors in the Alex Murdoch double murder trial are wrapping up their case. We are live from the courthouse, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:45:00]

BLACKWELL: The prosecution is wrapping up its case in the double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh. The former prominent attorney charged with killing his wife and son. Today, a South Carolina forensics agent gave a timeline of the night of the killings. Navigational data provided allegedly shows the direction where Murdaugh drove, the time, the speed.

CNN's Randi Kaye is live from outside the courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina. Randi, this could be some crucial information.

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely, Victor. It's been really fascinating to listen to him. A lot of details, so I'll give you the key takeaways here. But we're talking about investigator Peter Rudofski, who was on the stand, and analyzed car data, and phone data from both the victims, Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, and the defendant Alex Murdaugh. And one of the takeaways was that when he left his house the night of the murders it was at 9:06 p.m., it's believed that the victims were dead by then.

And as he was driving to go to his mother's house, as he said, he slowed down, according to the GPS data on his car, and he slowed down at the very spot investigators say they found Maggie Murdaugh's phone in the woods. So this data is suggesting that perhaps he slowed down to dispose of that phone. Also, at some points during the night, he's driving around much faster than he is at other times during the day, about 81 miles per hour was his top speed.

But there were also questions about the time he spent at his mother's house that night. That's been a real sticking point between the defense and the prosecution. Here's what the data showed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER RUDOFSKI, SLED AGENT: The data points for the Suburban, it looks like it went toward -- a little bit into the grass closer to the Woodline over here. And that's going to be at 9:22:39.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And again, what time is the arrival at Almeda?

RUDOFSKI: 9:22:39, 9:43:18 -- This is when we first saw movement. And this would be Alex leaving Almeda.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: And that's really critical, because it shows that he was at the residence, Almeda, at his mother's house for about 21 minutes -- from 9:22 to 9:43 p.m. But he told investigators just in an interview played this week in court that he may have been there for as long as 90 minutes. And the caretaker for his mother earlier testified he was only there for about 15 to 20 minutes. So, a real inconsistency there.

Another takeaway, Victor, is when the 911 call was made at 10:06 p.m. that night. He says he had just found his son and wife dead at the property, at the dog kennels on the property. But the data shows -- GPS data shows he only arrived 20 seconds before he made that 911 call. Did he have time to check the bodies as he said? He said he checked the pulse on both of them. Tried to turn his son over a couple of times. That's a lot to do in 20 seconds, according to the prosecutor. So again, more inconsistencies to be considered by the jury -- Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right, prosecution wraps up we expect today. Randi Kaye, thanks so much.

This Sunday night, tune in for "LOW COUNTRY, THE MURDAUGH DYNASTY" a three-part docket series starts at 8:00 p.m. right here on CNN.

A court filing revealed some of the most prominent figures and executives at Fox privately ridiculed Donald Trump's 2020 lies all while pedaling them on air. More on what the documents revealed, next.

[15:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLACKWELL: A new court filing reveals what some of the biggest names at Fox really felt about Donald Trump and his baseless election fraud claims they were chronically peddling for him on air. The documents also show that anyone who veered from the stolen election narrative faced repercussions behind the scenes. Now we're learning all of this from the Dominion voting systems $1.6 billion lawsuit against the conservative network.

CNN senior media reporter Oliver Darcie is with us. Unbelievable -- well, I don't know if it is unbelievable, but it's still jaw dropping what we are learning from these documents.

OLIVER DARCIE, CNN SENIOR MEDIA REPORTER: Yes, these documents really expose Fox News for the dishonest media organization that it is. I mean they show in damning detail that Fox News executives like Rupert Murdoch as well some of the top rated hosts, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham. They privately knew, they privately mocked Trump's election lies behind the scenes but simultaneously these lies were allowed to gain a foot hole on Fox News airways.

I want to read to you some of the comments they were making behind the behind the scenes because it underscores how much disdain they viewed this narrative from the Trump campaign.

Tucker Carlson says in a text: Sidney Powell is lying, by the way. I caught her. It's insane.

Sean Hannity says: ... that whole narrative that Sydney was pushing, I did not believe it for one second.

Rupert Murdoch to the Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott after the January 6 attack. All very well for Sean Hannity to tell you he was in despair about Trump, but what did he tell his viewers?

These messages really show that Fox News executives, Fox News hosts knew exactly what was true, what was not, but they did not present the truth to their audience. And I think this is just a really damning mountain of evidence for the network -- Victor.

[15:55:00]

BLACKWELL: And then if it was the White House correspondent was trying to fact check something on Twitter, and there was a host who says, she should be fired for that. And I'm paraphrasing here. Get back to the line. What is Fox saying about this if anything?

DARCIE: Well, it is not just any host either. It's Tucker Carlson, you know.

BLACKWELL: Sure.

DARCIE: The top-rated network host who is texting Sean Hannity, the second highest host on the network, saying, "How can we get her fired?" And Sean Hannity says he has brought this to the attention of the Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott. Now, the network is not commenting on the specific matter -- although a person familiar with it -- did tell me that Jackie Heinrich, the correspondent, was totally blind sided when she read this in the legal filing yesterday. So Fox News is just saying that these comments, they're being taken out of context and they're really wrapping themselves in the First Amendment as a defense against Dominion in this case.

BLACKWELL: Oliver Darcy, thank you. And "THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" starts after a short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)