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Alex Murdaugh Testifies In His Own Defense; Transportation Secretary Buttigieg Visits Ohio Train Crash Site; Preliminary Report Reveals New Details On Ohio Derailment; Snow & Ice Slam Parts Of U.S. As Southeast Feels Record Heat. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired February 23, 2023 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

DIANNA GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: But there were moments, especially when he was talking about his relationship with his son, that he broke down and had to gather himself.

Take a look at this one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX MURDAUGH, FORMER ATTORNEY ACCUSED OF KILLING HIS WIFE AND SON: Most of all, I'm sorry to Mags and Paul Paul. I would never intentionally do anything to hurt either one of them. Ever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: And he's talking there, of course, about the lies that he told after they were killed, Abby.

As someone following this essentially since Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were killed, I'm interested to see how the state cross-examines Alex Murdaugh.

His attorneys were quite concerned about bringing all the other charges he is facing, that he is yet to plead to and be convicted of, if he is, the financial charges, the charges of fraud. The state will be able to ask him about some of them.

And the defense is worried, will the other allegations and other potential crimes cloud the jurors' viewpoints when Alex Murdaugh has to answer those questions or chooses not to so he doesn't incriminate him on this stand for this trial for the potential ones that he faces after this one.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN HOST: So much more to be revealed in this case.

Dianne Gallagher, who has been covering all of it for us, thank you for that.

Joining us is criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor, Bernarda Villalona.

Bernarda, you also have been covering this case from the beginning.

Murdaugh's very first comments on the stand were frankly pretty jaw dropping, admitting he lied to police, and when he denied he was around those kennels at the time of the murder.

What is the strategy here, as a criminal defense attorney? Putting him on the stand to perhaps clear the air around that at the very onset?

BERNARDA VILLALONA, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY & FORMER PROSECUTOR: Abby, he had no choice to admit that he lied because the evidence is so concrete.

That video, that he had no idea existed, does exist. And it completely implicates him and putting him at the kennel.

He could not run from it, especially when you had various witnesses close to his family that identified his voice on the video. So absolutely he had to own up to it.

And it's a million-dollar question that everyone wants to know, why did you lie that you were not at the kennels? So he had to give an explanation as to that.

That's why I think the main reason why the criminal defense attorney in this case made a calculated decision to put him on the stand.

The question would be, was it worth it? In my honest opinion, when we're talking about the reason why he lied, one, it was due to his opiate addiction and he was paranoid.

But also, too, of his distrust of the SCLD, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.

But when you backtrack that, he was lying from the initial, from when he made that 911 call, when he said that he last saw his family an hour and a half or two hours ago.

The question will be, will that satisfy this jury in determining he lied because of an opioid addiction or because of his distrust of law enforcement, which makes no sense. Remember, he comes from a long lineage of solicitors in that county.

We'll just have to wait and see. I'm dying to hear the cross- examination in this case.

PHILLIP: We all are. I am fascinated about this admission about the opioid addiction and the introduction of this idea that he was paranoid.

It seems like that alone could very easily backfire, as the prosecution will make an argument that he was pressed financially and for all of these other reasons and was desperate to do something to get out of the trouble he made for himself.

VILLALONA: Absolutely. Especially since the prosecution laid out days of testimony of his financial crimes. What did the prosecution prove to this jury? Alex Murdaugh is a massive manipulator. He's a con artist.

So who is to say he's not trying to con these 12 jurors io believing I had nothing to do with killing my wife and son despite being there within minutes after that video.

And minutes of the phones going dead forever in the sense of they didn't send any test message or answer any calls.

So It's going to be up to the jury. This is a different type of defendant when we're talking about that he took the stand on his own behalf.

Remember, the jury is the judge of the facts. And they have to determine credibility, believability.

What makes Alex Murdaugh different? Remember, he's a former attorney, a former lawyer, a person that, yes, now is disbarred, but he specialized in civil litigation.

[13:35:00]

Aside from that, the Murdaugh name that comes with power, prestige, law enforcement. Aside from that, the hundred charges that he has open. Will he plead the Fifth Amendment, or will he admit to those charges?

Plus, there's just so much you can ask of this man.

PHILLIP: Yes.

VILLALONA: So it's going to be a tough job for that jury to determine his believability.

PHILLIP: What do you make, though, of his demeanor on the stand? There were times when he was breaking down in tears. As he was answering those first initial questions, he was his body was physically shaking.

And we just heard from Dianne, one of our producers in the room, saying he was talking directly to the jury.

What impact do you think all of that has on the jury?

VILLALONA: I'm not surprised. Remember, he is a former attorney, a civil litigator. This is what he's been doing for a living, and making millions doing it, having to deal with trials. So he was ready to address that jury.

He knows the millions of times he told witnesses, look, when you take that stand, I need you to look directly at the jury, look them in their eyes when you answer them.

I saw the tears coming, I saw the shake coming and it was planned. I knew, as having been a former prosecutor, and being a defense attorney and having tried hundreds of cases, of how you prep your witnesses? So I saw that coming. On the flip side, the prosecutor will argue just how he's crying, how

he was crying when he was looking at you. He was also crying on a 911 call.

He was also crying when he staged a shooting of himself. What do we know from the shooting? That despite those cries, it was all a lie.

So which is the truth? What should I believe? So there are arguments on both sides.

PHILLIP: A tough job for this jury ahead.

We still awaiting obviously the cross-examination, which prosecutors will get to question Alex Murdaugh and make their case. That's going to be fascinating ahead for us later this afternoon.

Bernarda, thank you very much for breaking all of that down.

Straight ahead for us, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg tours the site of the mangled train disaster in East Palestine, Ohio. He is calling for more regulation to keep it from happening again.

Plus, snowed under. A big swath of the country is enduring blizzard conditions right now, but for how much longer?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:41:43]

PHILLIP: "This was 100 percent preventable." That's what the NTSB says after releasing its preliminary report on the toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

On day 20 of this frantic cleanup, the report is revealing crucial details about what led up to the crash.

The focus on the findings right now is this wheel bearing that rapidly overheated. It became 250 degrees hotter than the air temperature, trigging the train's critical alarm.

Today, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg saw the wreckage firsthand. His visit came hours after frustrated residents confronted the rail company's CEO and the Ohio governor in a CNN town hall.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM STEWART, EAST PALESTINE, OHIO, RESIDENT: I'm angry. I'm angry. I've lived in East Palestine for 65 years. I don't feel safe now. You took it away from me. You took it away from me.

BEN RATNER, EAST PALESTINE, OHIO, RESIDENT: If the cleanup is done, will you stay with us? Within the one mile?

GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R-OH): Yes. Yes. I've been there three times.

(CROSSTALK) RATNER: For a few hours.

DEWINE: I've been there.

RATNER: Will you stay overnight for a period of time?

BUTTIGIEG: Yes.

JESSICA CONARD, EAST PALESTINE, OHIO, RESIDENT: We could have been warned. And thank god there were no casualties, no loss of life, no loss of buildings.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: CNN's Jason Carroll is on the ground in East Palestine right now. And our transportation correspondent, Pete Muntean, is here Washington.

Jason, I want to start with you.

We heard from those frustrated residents. We are now seeing the transportation secretary on the ground. What is he saying? Did he meet with residents while he was there?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He did. He did. He said that, during a briefing he held at the site not too long ago, he met with residents, also toured the site here.

He also says that he met with East Palestine's mayor as well, spoke to him for a short period of time.

As you know, Abby, there's been a great deal of criticism in terms of why the transportation secretary wasn't here earlier.

And he did address that when he was pushed on this particular question, and basically said, after more thought, he should have expressed his thoughts on the issue earlier and he should have been here sooner. So there's that.

Also he's made several points he's made before, seemingly about the need for more regulation in the train industry, higher fines, tougher regulation, getting Congress involved as well. He was talking about that.

One of the issues, though, that a number of residents we have spoken to over the past week, two weeks, repeatedly have brought up, they know politicians are coming in to give speeches and tour sites.

What they're worried about is what happens five years from now? What's going to happen 10 years from now?

I put that question to the transportation secretary. Would his administration commit to the long term?

Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUTTIGIEG: Health issues, environmental issues can last for years. They can last for decades.

And there's really just two things I can say. First of all, we will never forget the people of East Palestine and will support them with everything we've got.

Second, the best way to deal with an ecological disaster is to stop it from happening in the first place.

[13:45:01]

And that's a big part of where my department comes in. We take that very seriously. It's why we've laid out the things we're doing, things we want Congress to do, things we expect the railroads to do about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: Abby, Secretary Buttigieg said the entire nation should be wrapping their arms around East Palestine, not using it as a political football -- Abby?

PHILLIP: It certainly has been thrust into the political realm. Clearly, they need a lot of support and help. They also want answers for how it happened in the first place.

Jason, thank you.

We'll go to Pete now.

To walk us through this preliminary report from the NTSB that's starting to shed a little bit of light about what happened on the rail tracks. What does that say?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN TRANSPORTATION CORRESPONDENT: The big headline, Abby, is this now report, according to the NTSB, on this wheel bearing in car 23 of this 149-car train that overheated rapidly.

They can tell this from wayside detectors, an infrared beam, either along the track or next to the track, that is able to sense the temperature in the wheels of the train.

And there's a bit of a timeline here. The NTSB says the temperature was sensed at four different spots as the train was approaching East Palestine.

First, the temperature was at about 38 degrees, then continued to go up, went up to about 103 above the ambient temperature, and then ultimately to 253 degrees above the outside air temperature.

It was only then that the crew was able to hear a critical alarm, warning them of this overheat and warning them also to slow down and stop the train.

It was in the process of that braking, the preliminary report says, that the train derailed. About 38 cars derailed, some of them carrying this hazardous material that ultimately leaked and fed this fire.

The NTSB said they very clearly know what happened. Now they have big questions as to why this wheel bearing overheated in the first place. Was it inspected properly? Was it used too much? Was it at the end of its useful like?

There's some big questions here that Jennifer Homendy here, the chair of the NTSB, just laid out at a press conference. And they will be digging into that.

Right now, we only know the very initial facts according to the NTSB, but it will take months, if not more than a year for them to reach their final probable cause.

The NTSB underscores this one big thing. Chair Jennifer Homendy says you have to wait for the investigation process to play out.

A lot of people will say different things here. They're simply trying to get to the bottom of this.

The wheel bearing that they found is on its way to Washington, D.C., to be analyzed -- Abby?

PHILLIP: As you laid out, a lot of questions. And these residents just want relief here from the devastation that has hit their town. And also some answers from the company, who is responsible for this train as well.

Thank you so much, Pete, for breaking all of that down for us.

And coming up next, a brutal winter blast or summer-like heat? The extreme weather that's hitting coast to coast.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:52:58]

PHILLIP: Epic snow or record heat? It is a tale of two winters as extreme weather is gripping the United States. We are talking historic conditions from coast to coast.

In the Los Angeles area, a blizzard warning is in effect right now. Heavy snow. You can see that there. Really extraordinary for the middle of February. And it's already pummeled those higher elevations.

And across the Midwest, driving is really tough right now. Hundreds of thousands of people have no electricity.

But in the southeast, a total difference. The heat is on. It is June- like temperatures, breaking dozens of daily records, including right here in Washington, D.C.

Meteorologist Jennifer Gray is tracking all the extreme events.

Jennifer, I just checked. It's a high of 78 here in Washington in the middle of February. Where do you even start with that map? JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's -- it's remarkable.

We'll start with the snow. How about we start on the cold side because this one has been getting a lot of attention for the last 24 hours.

This major snowstorm that has been impacting the Midwest and the Great Lakes. Luckily, it is starting to move out. So, things are winding down.

But we had some very impressive ice totals across portions of the Midwest. Michigan really hit hard with almost .75-inch ice, which led to a lot of power outages. And 950,000 people or more without power.

You can see Michigan, the hardest-hit state, with more than 100,000 there.

And if you look at the counties that lost power, it's really right where that ice line was. This is right where we are watching all of the freezing rain, the sleet fall yesterday. So, really in line with that.

Let's talk about the difference in temperature. So 96 degrees across southern Texas, 11 below zero in Cut Bank. So, we had more than 100- degree temperature difference across the United States yesterday from the south to the north.

We set monthly records across several cities. Atlanta was one of those, hitting 81 degrees yesterday. Highs today, 79 degrees. We could set several more records today.

[13:55:02]

Extreme cold temperatures could also set records today. So we're setting records on both ends of the spectrum here.

Potential high records today, all of these black dots represent a potential high temperature record could be broken today.

Very warm air moving into the east, the mid-Atlantic.

D.C., your high today 74. Record is 78. Wilmington, your high of 84. Your record if 82. You will most likely break a record today.

Let's talk about the next storm. This is the one you were talking about impacting California, where we have blizzard warnings in effect.

And that snow is mainly adding to the higher elevations. The coastal cities most likely won't see snow, but it will be very, very close.

PHILLIP: Very close to snow in the coast of California, that's incredible.

GRAY: Yes.

PHILLIP: Jennifer Gray, thank you so much.

And that does it for me here today. Thank you for joining us.

But don't go anywhere. There's much more news ahead right after a short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)