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Search for Kidnapped Americans; Meta Announces New Layoffs; Protesters Being Arraigned on Domestic Terrorism in Atlanta; Attack on a United Flight; China's New Foreign Minister Warns of Conflict and Confrontation. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired March 07, 2023 - 09:00   ET

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


[09:00:10]

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Erica Hill.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Jim Sciutto.

This morning, an urgent search in Mexico for four American friends kidnapped at gunpoint in broad daylight. CNN is now learning new details such as why the friends were in Mexico in the first place and why investigators think that what happened here is a Mexican cartel mistakenly targeted the group thinking they were drug smugglers.

Plus, terrifying moments on board a flight from Los Angeles to Boston.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tell them to bring SWAT to shoot me down, because they're going to have to shoot me down today. Remember that. Where are they diverting us, because wherever it is, there's going to be a blood bath everywhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Imagine that. That man is now in custody after attempt to stab a flight attendant, also open an emergency exit door midflight. We're going to have details on that incident coming up.

HILL: And new this morning, China's foreign minister warning the U.S. of catastrophic consequences if Washington does not change its tone on a number of issues, including U.S. support for Taiwan. What we're learning from this key communist party meeting.

We will get to all of that.

We do want to begin though this hour with the four Americans kidnapped in Mexico.

CNN's Rosa Flores following this for us from Houston. Dianne Gallagher is in South Carolina, where three of the missing people grew up. These are close friends we're told, Dianne. What more do we know about them? I know you've been speaking with the families. DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, Erica, these

four families of these Americans who were abducted just absolutely terrified right now by what has happened. Two of those families have identified the four Americans as Latavia "Tay" Washington McGee, Shaeed Woodard, Zindell Brown, and their friend Eric.

Now, as you said, they are a tight-knit group of friends. Three of the four actually grew up here in the Lake City, South Carolina, area. We're told they traveled down to Mexico together because one of those friends, Tay McGee, was set to have a medical procedure there. Her mother says that on Friday morning she never showed up for her doctor's appointment. And then on Sunday, the FBI told her that her daughter had been abducted and was in danger. She says the FBI said, if your daughter calls, you need to call us right away.

Now, McGee's aunt says that she actually saw a video on Sunday where she recognized her niece being kidnapped. She said she recognized her blond hair. She also recognized the clothes she was wearing from a Facebook Live that they had done there on the trip down.

Now, look, the sister of Zindell Brown, one of those Americans who was kidnapped, said that she had a bad feeling. She talked to her brother while he was on the trip down. She had a bad feeling. She told him about it. His mother, meanwhile, is simply clinging to her faith and holding out hope.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZALAYNA GRANT, KIDNAPPING VICTIM ZINDELL BROWN'S SISTER: I felt a little uneasy because I told him I had a dream, you know, I said, so I'm just checking on you. That's what I told him Thursday. And then, like I said, Friday morning I texted and I didn't get anything.

CHRISTINA HICKSON, KIDNAPPING VICTIM ZINDELL BROWN'S MOTHER: The waiting is the worst part. It has its advantages and disadvantages. But, however, no news is good news. That's the way I'm staying with it. No news is good news.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: That's probably -- that's probably the only way that she can stay with it right now.

Now, look, McGee's family says that this is actually the second time, Erica, that she has gone to Mexico for a medical procedure. The first time was about two to three years ago. And, look, everybody here is holding out hope, hoping that they return safely. Perhaps no one more than Tay McGee's six children, hoping that their mother comes home safely.

SCIUTTO: Rosa, officials in Mexico, they are now working to locate these Americans. One, do we have a status update on the search, and can you tell us more about the circumstances that investigators believe led to this here?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Mexican authorities are not saying much about their search other than saying that it's all hands on deck to try to find these Americans.

Now, I want to take you to the video, Jim, because that's what's going to show us the circumstances of this kidnapping. I've got to warn you, the video is very graphic.

What we know from the FBI is that these Americans crossed over to Matamoros, Mexico, on Friday in a white minivan with North Carolina license plates. In that video, you can see that white minivan. All the doors are open. And you also see a woman next to that minivan. We're seeing the same also from photos that CNN has obtained of the scene. According to the president of Mexico, these Americans were caught in a confrontation between two different groups there in Matamoros, Mexico. That's what led to their kidnapping. And in that video and those pictures, you also see that these individuals are dragged onto the bed of a pickup truck.

Now, according to a U.S. official with knowledge of the investigation, this official says that this is a terrible tragedy, this is a terrible case of mistaken identity.

[09:05:07]

They say that the cartels likely confused these Americans for Haitian smugglers.

Now, as you look through this video, you can see that there are armed men that are controlling this scene. And later some photos also revealed that there was an ambulance on scene. But it's unclear when that ambulance arrived and if medical attention was provided to anybody there on scene.

Now, about Matamoros, Mexico. Matamoros is in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. And the U.S. Department of State has added Tamaulipas to their do not travel list for a while now. And the reason is because Americans have fallen victim to crime and kidnapping in the past. And, of course, they recommend that Americans not travel to that location.

And, Jim and Erica, I should mention that the FBI has announced a $50,000 reward for anybody who can bring information about these Americans, to locate the Americans and arrest those responsible.

SCIUTTO: Goodness, must be so difficult for their families to see that video.

Dianne Gallagher, Rosa Flores, thanks so much to both of you.

All right, so, joining us now to discuss, CNN senior law enforcement analyst, former FBI deputy director, Andy McCabe.

Thanks for coming on today.

I wonder, in your experience here, and so investigators believe, as Rosa was saying, that these Americans were mistaken for drug smugglers. Now, a group that took them, groups like this, in your experience, are they willing to negotiate under these circumstances? ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, Jim, I think

these circumstances are fairly unique. You know, these - these - we're talking about highly organized, structured -- organized criminal enterprises. These aren't kind of -- this isn't random crime on the streets committed by a stranger. And so they don't typically, you know, snatch people that they're - that they're not looking for. So, this is - this is a bit of a one-off, right?

I should say, this is exactly why it is so important for the FBI to maintain their foreign offices, which they refer to as leget (ph) offices. They have in Mexico City the largest legal attache (ph) FBI office in the embassy there of any place else in the world and they enjoy very productive contacts with their law enforcement and intelligence colleagues across Mexico. This is why you try to maintain those relationships in the most positive and productive way possible, even in a place like Mexico where that can be very challenging because of the drug trade, because of the organized crime activity, which also invariably leads to corruption. Despite those challenges, you want an active present FBI presence in those countries for moments like this.

HILL: So you lay out really well why it's so important to have those U.S. officials there, to have FBI agents in Mexico.

That being said, when you're dealing with a drug cartel, I mean, what's the handbook for that?

MCCABE: So, this is incredibly dangerous activity, right? This is - there's a reason why Matamoros is on the do not travel list by the State Department because of concerns about crime like this.

I can tell you what the FBI agents and their colleagues at the DEA and across the embassy are doing right now is working, not only their contacts in law enforcement, but their informants. FBI agents and DEA agents conduct a lot of investigative activity in Mexico and they develop informants in these organizations. I can guarantee you that they are working those networks right now to try to identify the group, the subgroup, the street crew, whoever it is, affiliated with one of these cartels that's been involved in this activity, and that's where the investigation really digs in and you start trying to locate those individuals.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Let me just ask you quickly, because there are State Department warnings about some of these areas, but there are often State Department warnings, and it can be hard for travelers to kind of figure out which ones they should just completely stay away from.

Looking at these areas now for folks watching right now, would you say don't travel to these parts of Mexico?

MCCABE: Absolutely. Absolutely. I would follow the State Department warnings.

This is not just an exercise caution or be aware of street crime. This is a do not travel. That is the highest level, the greatest degree of concern that the State Department has. If I had a family member who was considering going to Mexico, I'd tell them not to go to an area that was under a do not travel warning.

SCIUTTO: Understood. OK.

Andrew McCabe, thanks so much. We appreciate it.

MCCABE: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Another story we're following, new this morning, "Bloomberg: is reporting that Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, will lay off thousands of workers this week. That comes on top of 11,000 employees the company laid off just last November.

HILL: CNN's chief business correspondent Christine Romans joining us now.

So, we see this latest round. Is this expected to be the final round or could there be more cuts to come at Meta this year?

[09:10:01]

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You know, it's unclear but we know that last month Mark Zuckerberg said that they were going to start getting rid of divisions that they didn't need anymore, that they were going to be cutting projects that weren't succeeding the way they wanted and they were going to be getting rid of middle management so they could make decisions faster. And Zuckerberg, at the time, had said that 2023 would be the year of efficiency.

So, that means rolling back a lot of these jobs that had been added in the go-go days of the last couple of years for tech. And that's been the story in tech and in so many different companies. They really grew with no restriction and no breaks over the past two, two and a half years. And now, as they head into 2023, and the economy is changing a little bit, they are - they are course correcting, if you will. So you're seeing some layoffs across the board there.

Broadly, though, more broadly, outside of tech and a little bit in banking and some in media, the job market does remain pretty strong. The trend seems to be that bosses want to keep their employees. They're afraid of laying off workers in general because they're having such a hard time finding workers.

SCIUTTO: And the question for Meta, right, is this cyclical or is this something more to their core business?

ROMANS: That's right.

SCIUTTO: All right, other news, and this folks watching closely, the Fed chair, Jerome Powell, he's going to speak before the Senate Banking Committee today. They will certainly be asking him questions about direction on interest rates. What do we expect to hear?

ROMANS: Well, you know, the last time we heard from him back in June, the last time he testified before these two hearings, these two committees, you had an inflation rate of about 9 percent. Now you've got it about 6.4 percent. So you've got inflation moving in the right direction, but you will probably hear him grilled about why it's not moving down more quickly after so many aggressive interest rate hikes.

And I do suspect you might hear from Democrats and progressives who are concerned that the Fed might throw the U.S. economy into a recession and hurt the people who could least afford it by trying to get inflation under control.

I'll be listening very closely to what he says, guys, about the job market, with a big jobs report on Friday. Remember last month it was a blockbuster. Those higher interest rates have not been cooling the job market yet. And there's a feeling the Fed needs to see the job market cool or it will continue to crank up interest rates, and that could be overall longer term dangerous for the economy.

SCIUTTO: Goodness. We had Jason Furman on last week talking about signs that inflation is going to stick around for a while.

ROMANS: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Christine Romans, thanks so much.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

SCIUTTO: Well, this hour, nearly two dozen people will be arraigned on domestic terrorism charges for violent protests in Atlanta. We're going to be live at the site of the proposed police training facility, known as cop city, that sparked those protests.

HILL: Plus, terrifying moments on board a flight from L.A. to Boston. A passenger arrested after trying to stab a flight attendant in the neck. And that's not all that happened. All the details just ahead.

Plus, a new bipartisan effort to crack down on TikTok, as the CEO goes on a tour of the U.S. How he's defending his company just weeks before he's set to testify before Congress.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:16:57]

HILL: Right now, 23 people are in an Atlanta courtroom. They're facing domestic terrorism charges on the heels of these violent protests at the site of a proposed police training facility. It's the one you've heard about a lot. It's been dubbed "cop city" in Atlanta.

SCIUTTO: Authorities say that dozens of what they're calling agitators went to the construction site on Sunday, attacked officers with fireworks, you can see them there, rocks, even Molotov cocktails.

CNN's Nick Valencia joins us live from the edge of cop city.

Nick, tell us what we know about the folks facing charges and how serious those charges are.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Jim and Erica.

They're facing very serious charges. Domestic terrorism charges. And these activists here, they really take exception with what police say are outside agitators that came in here to cause the events that we saw happen this weekend. The fact, though, is, of those 23, just two of them are from Georgia.

And we're here on the edge where many of those individuals are now calling this home, this forest home. They're camping out here in opposition to this proposed police and fire training facility. And you can see around me some of their items, makeshift -- or a tent, rather, left behind. They've got a camp site here. And they even have a free store where we've seen individuals come this morning to get new changes of clothes.

We talked to some of the activists this morning and some of them are upset. It's really a robust coalition of activists. Some of them are upset by what they perceive as the militarization of police. They think that cop city is further going to militarize police, not just in Atlanta, but beyond. And they are also environmental activists who say that this 85-acre proposed facility will have a detrimental impact on the environment.

The bottom line, though, and what is clear is that this has sort of become a ground zero for activists across the country to come in here and confront police and, at the very least, air grievances against police, as what we saw happen here in on Sunday, where some of those protesters started to throw large rocks, bricks, fireworks, even Molotov cocktails at police. In fact, we -- I believe we're showing you new video, aerial video, of when those agitators or those protesters turned into agitators.

Tensions here have only ratcheted up since January. That's when a climate activist named Manuel Teran was shot and killed by police. Now police state Teran opened fire on them first and they returned fire, killing Teran, but that's really only fueled the tensions between these activists and the police.

In fact, earlier this morning, they took exception with our presence here and started throwing canned goods at our cars and started throwing rocks at us. They really have, you know, different sort of perspectives here and they say that it is not just one group here, but really a coalition of people that have come here to protest.

They did say that they're having a press conference later today, so it really just sort of matters when you catch them when they want the media here. This morning they didn't want us here and they made that known to us.

One thing is, though, very clear here is that the tension here, as I mentioned, is ratcheting up with the fate of this proposed facility still hanging in the balance.

Erica. Jim.

HILL: Nick, really appreciate it. Thank you. SCIUTTO: All right, a truly frightening incident in the air. A United

Airlines passenger now facing charges after authorities say he tried to open an emergency door and attempted to stab a flight attendant.

[09:20:06]

I mean there's video of this.

HILL: And it is tough to watch if you watch that video. This was on a flight yesterday from L.A. to Boston.

CNN's Pete Muntean has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT (voice over): United Airlines Flight 2609 from Los Angeles to Boston. It was a smooth flight for the first five hours on Sunday, until --

FRANCISCO SEVERO TORRES: So, where's the Homeland Security with the gun, because I'm waiting for them to point the gun at me so I can show everybody that I will die when I take every bullet in that clip to wherever in my body they shoot it and then I will kill every man on this plane.

MUNTEAN: The agitated passenger is identified as Francisco Severo Torres of Massachusetts. The video, obtained by CNN, was recorded by a passenger. It shows Torres having violent outbursts towards other passengers and flight attendants.

TORRES: Hey, Bianca. I love you, Bianca. I'm coming for you. I'm coming for you, Bianca.

MUNTEAN: Four minutes, nervous passengers sat down and listened.

TORRES: Nobody cares. Nobody cares. Where's Homeland Security? There should be Homeland Security.

Where are they diverting us? Because wherever it is there's going to be a blood bath everywhere.

MUNTEAN: Fifteen seconds later, Torres walks out of his seat, pulls what appears to be a makeshift weapon out of his jacket pocket, and said what no airline passenger ever wants to hear.

TORRES: I'm taking over this plane.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God.

Uh-oh.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dude, I'm telling you right now -

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, no.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm telling you right now -- MUNTEAN: While United airlines says there were no reported injuries,

the Justice Department says Torres rushed towards one of the flight attendants in a stabbing motion with a broken metal spoon, hitting the flight attendant on the neck area three times. Torres also told law enforcement that he tried to open the emergency door to jump out of the plane. Torres also claimed he was defending himself because he believed the flight crew was trying to kill him.

Video shows passengers and crew members tackling and restraining Torres. A passenger told CNN, Torres remains restrained for another 30 minutes before the plane landed safely at Boston Logan International Airport, where Torres was arrested.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MUNTEAN: This is the second high profile case of an unruly passenger onboard a commercial airliner in as many weeks. Torres has been banned from flying on United Airlines again. He is being detained pending a hearing before a judge on Thursday.

Jim. Erica.

SCIUTTO: Banned, that seems to be the least that you could do. That's frightening.

HILL: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Pete Muntean, thanks so much.

Still ahead, dramatic scenes playing out in Ukraine in the ongoing and fierce battle for the city of Bakhmut in the east. The fatal mistake Russia could be making there.

And the disturbing story, truly frightening, of a Ukrainian soldier captured near Bakhmut. His apparent execution caught on camera, used as propaganda by the Russian military.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:27:21]

SCIUTTO: Today some fairly alarming words coming from senior Chinese officials. China's new foreign minister held his first press conference on the job, took very district aim at the U.S.

HILL: That official really striking a combative tone, saying that if America does not change course, conflict and confrontational -- confrontation, rather, are inevitable.

CNN's Marc Stewart is with us live from Tokyo.

So, Marc, as you're following this, the foreign minister, who had previously served, of course, as China's ambassador to the U.S., this messaging is really something, Marc.

MARC STEWART, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's interesting because when Qin Gang was a diplomat, he was known as being very careful, being very accomplished, thoughtful. Yet now that he has this new role with the foreign ministry, he is embracing this often stern, sharp and pointed language that we are so used to hearing recently from Beijing, in particular some comments about the future of the U.S./China relationship. A bit of a warning included. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QIN GANG, Chinese FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): If the United States does not hit the brake but continue to speed down the wrong path, no amount of guardrails can prevent derailing, and there will surely be conflict and confrontation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEWART: Something else that we're hearing that is (INAUDIBLE) from Xi Jinping himself, Chinese leader Xi Jinping, he made some remarks to a group of entrepreneurs saying that the U.S., and it's rare for him to single out the U.S. in particular, but that the U.S. and western allies are basically getting in the way of Chinese development, going so far as to tell the heads of Chinese firms, Chinese companies, to basically get side-by-side with the communist party.

All of this happening, we should point out, as a new legislative session begins in Beijing. This is, in many ways, an indication of perhaps the tone to come.

Jim and Erica.

HILL: Yes, certainly. Marc Stewart, appreciate the reporting this morning. Thank you.

Taking a closer look at the situation in Ukraine. Over the last 24 hours, Ukrainian soldiers, you see -- like those seen running in this video here, well, they say they've repelled more than 140 enemy attacks as they fight to hold on to that eastern city of Bakhmut.

SCIUTTO: I mean also look at the big picture there. Look at how that city has been decimated, destroyed. Incredible new images of Ukrainian combat inside that embattled city.

All this as Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is now vowing, quote, to find the murderers, this on another topic, seen executing a prisoner of war, a Ukrainian soldier, who disappeared near Bakhmut just last month.

[09:30:08]