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CNN International: Police Bodycam Video Shows Search for Nashville School Shooter; Judge Rules Pence Must Testify in January 6 Investigation; Senators Grill Regulators Over Dramatic Bank Failures; Migrant Detention Center Fire in Mexico; Israel Coalition and Opposition Hold Talks Over Judicial Overall. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired March 29, 2023 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm Bianca Nobilo live in London. Max Foster is on assignment for the rest of the week. Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police still have not isolated what motivated Audrey Hale, a former student.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These students that were targeted were randomly targeted.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You in Washington is going to fix this problem. You're wrong. They're not going to fix this problem. Look what happened in Nashville, Tennessee. The laws don't work.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The bank failed because its management failed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It looks to me like the regulators knew the problem, but nobody dropped the hammer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We haven't seen this level of drills in the Korean Peninsula for over five years and multiple drills across the country. In South Korea they're being held on land, at sea and in the air.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from London. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo.

NOBILO: It is Wednesday, March 29th, nine a.m. here in London, three a.m. in Nashville, Tennessee, where police have released dramatic body cam footage of officers responding to Monday's deadly school shooting. We'll show you that in just a minute.

But first police say the shooter Audrey Hale, was under a doctor's care for emotional disorders. We're also learning that Hale sent chilling text messages to a childhood friend minutes before the attack, saying, I'm planning to die today. Another one reads one day this will make more sense. I have left more than enough evidence behind, but something bad is about to happen.

Hales friend told CNN what she did next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AVERIANNA PATTON, CHILDHOOD FRIEND OF AUDREY HALE: Initially I was, you know, trying to comfort her. But soon as I got it, it was just like, this is strange. Let me send this to my daddy. I screenshot to him. I was like do I call somebody he was like, yes. And I was like, OK. Who do I call like? How do I deal with something like this? Like so then he was like, call the suicide prevention. And then that's when I started that process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: Now to the police response. Officers coming face to face with the shooter -- and we must warn you that our report from Carlos Suarez contains some disturbing video.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POLICE OFFICER: Let's go!

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Body camera video from two Nashville police officers showing them rushing into the Covenant School on Monday.

POLICE OFFICER: On me, on me. I don't know where he is. Let's go, police!

SUAREZ (voice-over): Going room to room.

POLICE OFFICER: It's upstairs. It sounds like it's upstairs.

SUAREZ (voice-over): And up to the second floor, before confronting the shooter. Surveillance video at the school released by police captured 28-year-old Audrey Hale, shooting through doors at the school, entering and starting the attack.

The authorities revealed more about the writings they said Hale left behind.

CHIEF JOHN DRAKE, METRO NASHVILLE POLICE: There's several different writings about other locations. There were locations of -- there was talk about the school. There was a map of the school. A drawing of how potentially she would enter and the assaults that would take place.

SUAREZ: Police said they've interviewed the shooter's parents, who said Hale was being treated for an emotional disorder.

DRAKE: We've determined that Audrey bought seven firearms from five different local gun stores here legally. They were legally purchased. Three of those weapons were used yesterday.

SUAREZ (voice-over): According to investigators, Hale hid the guns at home.

DRAKE: The parents felt that she should not own weapons. They were under the impression that was when she sold the one weapon that she did not own any more.

SUAREZ (voice-over): As a search for answers continues, so does the mourning for the six people killed.

KAYLEE FRANZEN, NASHVILLE RESIDENT: I think that it's always terrible to hear about something like this happening, but when it's just down the street from your house, it's -- it hits another part of you.

SUAREZ (voice-over): Among the killed was Cynthia Peak, believed to be a substitute teacher. Mike Hill, a 61-year-old custodian at the school. And 60-year-old Katherine Koonce, she was the head of the school who police believe encountered the shooter in a hallway.

[04:05:00]

JIM LEE, KATHERINE KOONCE'S FRIEND: No question whatsoever, she gave her life because she was trying to -- protect students, protect faculty.

SUAREZ (voice-over): The children who were killed were all just 9 years old: William Kinney, Evelyn Dieckhaus, and Hallie Scruggs.

Scruggs and the other victims were remembered in a service that was held at the Park City's Presbyterian Church in Dallas were Scruggs father served as associate pastor before coming to the Covenant Presbyterian Church.

PAUL GOEBEL, ASSOCIATE PASTOR, PARK CITIES PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH: We're here because their hearts are broken. We're here because we weep with our friends.

SUAREZ: The chief of police was asked why it took officers 11 minutes to respond to the school after the initial 911 call was made. The chief said, based on what he had seen so far, he did not have a problem with it, but that the department would look into that response.

Carlos Suarez, CNN, Nashville, Tennessee.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: It may have taken police 11 minutes to get to the school, but once they were inside, they shot and killed the attacker in less than four minutes. Law enforcement experts that CNN spoke with said that the two officers who killed the shooter followed their training and protocol.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: He gets out of his car. He doesn't know how many people are in there or how many are not. He just knows he's got a long gun. He's got to get in there. He heads for the door, where he sees another officer or somebody directing him towards that door. And he just you know you -- -ideally you want to go in as 2, 3, 4 people, and so he calls out what he needs. And he either gets -- presumably, he gets that support. If not, he's going in anyway, because he's here. He hears that person from the school tell them that, you know, there are shots being fired.

So, it's a very quick rally and they get inside and they find the threat. There's no there's no standing around the hallway, talking about it, asking for extra equipment or more people. They got to get the job done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: U.S. President Joe Biden is once again calling for an assault weapons ban. But Republicans in Congress, including Tennessee lawmakers say that that isn't going to happen. We'll have reaction coming up later this hour.

The special counsel investigating the efforts from Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election scored a big win in court on Tuesday. A Washington DC judge ruled that Trump's former Vice President, Mike Pence must testify. This along with the hush money investigation in Manhattan, adds to the growing legal troubles facing Donald Trump.

CNN's Paula Reid has the latest on both of these cases from New York.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, according to court sources, the grand jury hearing evidence in the hush money investigation into former President Trump will not hear any more evidence in that case this week. Suggesting that prosecutors still believe they have more work to do before bringing this case back before a grand jury and before moving on to a possible vote on an indictment.

Now in the ongoing federal investigations. Some bad news for former President Trump as a federal judge has ordered that former Vice President Mike Pence must testify about conversations, he had with Trump in the lead up to January 6th. The former president had tried to assert executive privilege. But now investigators will be able to get details about conversations between Trump and Pence during what investigators have described as a pressure campaign on the former vice president. He faced enormous pressure from Trump and his allies. Not to certify the election results. In Biden's favor.

There was one particular call that multiple witnesses have testified about on the day of the Capitol attack, where Trump launched a series of insults at his vice president.

But a judge also wrote that Pence will not have to testify about anything connected to his official duties as president of the Senate on January 6th. He has tried to assert constitutional protections under the speech or debate clause, and the federal judge appears willing to accept that. Now this is yet another victory for special counsel Jack Smith. He's

had over a dozen victories as he presses to get testimony from various witnesses and really test the limits of presidential power, vice presidential power and the separation of powers. Now Pence can still appeal this ruling. We'll see what happens.

Paula Reid, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Mike Pence says his team is evaluating the court decision that he must testify in the January 6th investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: How they sorted that out and what other testimony might be required, we're currently reviewing. But look, let me be clear, I have nothing to hide. I have a constitution to uphold. I upheld the Constitution on January 6th. We're currently speaking to our attorneys about the proper way forward, and as I said, we'll have a decision in the coming days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: As you've heard, the former vice president could appeal the court's ruling , but his testimony may be pivotal. Legal experts say that Pence could have knowledge that no one else can provide.

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[04:10:00]

ELLIOTT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Number one, what evidence or information did he hear about the president, knowing he was going to obstruct the actions of Congress, which is itself a federal offense. Was the president -- did the president make any threats to Mike Pence? Was he aware of violence on the day of January 6th? Was he aware of, you know, any other crimes that may have transpired?

Those are all legally relevant questions to charges that could either come to the president or other people around him. So, you know, it's yes, it's interesting as a human matter, but there's actually some law there and Mike Pence is a very central figure who might have heard important information.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: U.S. bank regulators are set for a second grilling on Capitol Hill Wednesday after testy hearing in the Senate on Tuesday. Lawmakers are demanding to know how two U.S. banks suddenly collapse and what can be done to prevent a repeat. Federal Reserve Deputy Chairman Michael Barr says the larger one -- Silicon Valley Bank --imploded because of sheer mismanagement. He says regulators told the bank it had serious risk problems, but that the bank didn't act on it.

But Senators grilled Barr on why regulators didn't take more aggressive action.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JON TESTER (D-MT): If it's a regulators fault, it better be fixed. If it's a regulation fault, it better be fixed. If it's something else, I hope there's a report to this committee saying you know what, guys, this can happen again unless this happens. But it looks to me like -- I'll just tell you this, and I'm looking out from the outside in -- it looks to me like the regulators knew the problem. But nobody dropped the hammer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: And CNN's Clare Sebastian is here to talk more about this. So, Clare, it seems that there is basically consensus on the fact that more regulation would be a good thing. What type of regulation and also what are the chances of that passing with bipartisan support?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think that'll be interesting as we go into the House hearing -- the second of the two hearings this week. The House is of course, controlled by Republicans, the Senate controlled by Democrats. We have a divided Congress, which always makes legislation -- change is less likely, right.

So I think, look, there was an interesting moment where the three regulators were surveyed, really by Elizabeth Warren, who said, look, are you all in favor of more bank regulation, and they all said yes. In terms of the lawmakers themselves, that's a lot less clear. Republicans tend to be more in favor of looser regulations.

But they are sort of scrambling around to apportion blame here. Because we got a sense of the scale of this. According to the vice chair of the Fed 100 billion in deposits were scheduled to leave Silicon Valley Bank on that day, March the ninth. They just didn't simply didn't have the collateral to cover it. So they're looking at the rollback of the Dodd Frank reforms in 2018 for midsize banks. They're looking at some supervisor's, you know, as you saw that potential failure to act on warning signs and whether the current regulation that we have is fit for purpose.

Take a listen to Senator John Kennedy, what he had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): If you had stress tested, Silicon Valley Bank in 2022, it wouldn't have made any difference, would it?

MICHAEL BARR, VICE CHAIR FOR SUPERVISION, FEDERAL RESERVE: I don't know the answer to that question.

KENNEDY: Well, you didn't test for Silicon Valley Bank's problem. I've read your report.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN: So, he seems to be suggesting that the current stress tests is ill designed that they should be updated. There was some suggestion that under current legislation, there is some discretion for the Fed to sort of tweak current rules. But it remains to be seen whether they feel like a more drastic approach is necessary.

NOBILO: Clare Sebastian, thank you.

Two U.S. bank collapses, interest rate hikes and stubborn inflation, but none of it appears to be shaking Americans confidence in the economy. The conference board reports that U.S. consumer confidence rose in March about 8/10 of a point about the month before. Economists had expected that it would drop. But that doesn't mean that Americans are going on a spending spree. The survey did show that many expected to spend more on health care, home maintenance and car repair and less on leisure pursuits such as vacations, movies and even gambling.

And already waterlogged California was hit by even more rain and snow on Tuesday. The situation has become so overwhelming the Governor Gavin Newsom, has expanded a state of emergency to nearly 50 counties. He's also requested a presidential major disaster declaration to get aid and money to those affected. Cities like Oakland and Monterey could hit record rainfall levels for March by the end of the week.

Snowpack in the Sierra Nevada Mountains is more than 200 percent of the normal amount for this time of year.

California's governor also signed a new bill to bring transparency to how the state's oil companies work. The bill creates an independent watchdog group to hold companies accountable and prevent price gouging and allows the states energy commission to create penalties for the industry. This is what the governor had to say.

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GAVIN NEWSOM (D) CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR: Why is it that we're paying at peak $2.61 more per gallon of gasoline than the national average. What is it? And this state year after year that defines the terms of the gap that we pay that's unique in this nation. Finally, we're in a position to look our constituents in the eye and say we now have a better understanding of why you're being taken advantage of. Thank you. Thank you to the people of the state of California. You should not have had to endure these price spikes. You should not have to endure them in the future. We are going to get under the hood, and we are going to address this issue like no other jurisdiction has in this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: The U.S. said that it's ready to process migrants injured in a fire in Mexico so they can receive emergency medical care. Mexican officials say that the fire at a migrant detention center killed 38 people. More than two dozen others were injured. The disaster happened in Ciudad Juarez, just across the border from El Paso, Texas. Now there's new video showing the moment that the flames and smoke spread through the facility. CNN's Ed Lavandera has the latest -- but a warning that his report contains graphic content.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This dramatic video captured what appears to be the beginning of the fire that spread through this Mexican migrant detention facility in Juarez late Monday night.

You can see flames and smoke filling the detention area in a matter of seconds, migrants scrambling for their lives and several Mexican immigration officers walking away from the area while migrants were left locked in the cells. Eventually, thick smoke fills the area, making it impossible to see anything else.

Outside, witnesses described hearing migrants screaming for help as fire spread through the detention center. Rescue workers responded, pulling people from the smoke and flames. This woman says there was smoke everywhere. Everyone was running for their lives. But all the men were left locked inside and the door to let them out was never open.

Mexico's president says the migrants started the fire when they found out they were being deported. The president says they protested by setting fire to mattresses inside the building where they were being detained.

The video from inside the detention center doesn't clearly show how or who started the fire, but several mattresses can be seen on the ground by the steel jail bars.

Mexico's National Migration Institute and attorney general are investigating the cause of the fire as many questions remain.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I showed up when the fire had already started, just flaming and more than anything that take away was the screaming of people still inside.

LAVANDERA: You don't sound convinced that it was the migrants that started this fire?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Migrants are coming to me and letting me know that they believe that someone else outside the building started the fire. They were locked inside a room, which they should have never been locked in.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): This woman who cried as her husband was taken away by ambulance, said he was grabbed off the street in Ciudad Juarez and taken to the migration center. They grabbed him on the street for no reason. Immigration advocates say this deadly fire fuels concerns along the border as migrants continue to flow through Mexico trying to reach the U.S.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have migrants that are just desperate and frustrated.

(END VIDEOTAPE) NOBILO: Ed Lavandera reporting there.

In Philadelphia officials say that the city's water is safe to drink and use following a chemical spill in nearby Delaware River. They say that no contaminants have been found in the water system at any point since the spill. They say that they're also ending the ongoing advisories about monitoring the water treatment plant. More than 8,000 gallons of water and latex solution spilled in Bristol Township on Friday.

A Canadian biotech company has developed new test strips, which detect the presence of xylazine, an animal sedative that's being mixed with fentanyl but comes with dangerous risks. The paper strips can be placed into a mixture of water and the drug to be tested. And then they'll show a positive result if xylazine is present. Xylazine is not approved for human use, and it doesn't respond to the opioid overdose medication Narcan. Xylazine can cause soft tissue wounds and kill body tissue cells, which could lead to amputation.

Still ahead a U.S. court reinstates Adnan Syed's murder conviction just months after it was vacated, we'll have the details.

And in Israel, a pause on judicial reforms has not paused the protests even as talks between the two sides get underway.

Plus, practicing an amphibious assault. The U.S. and South Korea stage their biggest military drills in years. Ahead, how North Korea might react.

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NOBILO: And the rage is on in France over the government's controversial move to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets Tuesday for another day of nationwide strikes. In several cities protesters clashed with the police throwing stones and burning garbage piles. The French Interior Ministry estimates more than 700,000 people participated in the protest. That's a lower turnout compared to demonstrations earlier this month.

After a tumultuous three months, the two sides are talking. Negotiators from Israel's ruling coalition and opposition held their first face to face meeting over the Prime Minister's effort to overhaul the judiciary. And more talks will get underway in the hours ahead. That's after Benjamin Netanyahu put the reforms on hold to allow more time for dialogue. And while the protests have yet to let up, it would noticeably smaller on Tuesday.

Meanwhile the U.S. president says that he hopes Mr. Netanyahu abandons the overhaul. Let's head out now to Jerusalem, and CNN's Hadas Gold.

[04:25:02]

Hadas, President Biden was explicit here. He says that Israel can't continue down this road. That he hopes Netanyahu walks away from these proposed plans. How significant an intervention is that from the president? And what does that say about the impact that these protests and these proposed reforms are having on Israel's perception internationally?

HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bianca, I can't remember the last time that an American president and made such a public critique of an internal matter in Israel, something that had to do with internal politics.

There have been previous crises in the relationship between the United States and Israel, most recently in 2014, of course, over the Iran nuclear deal. But to have President Joe Biden, who has long talked about how he is a stalwart supporter of Israel talked about -- he's talked about how he has known so many Israeli Prime Ministers for the last 40 years has made so many visits to Israel, to have him come out and make such a public and sharp critique of Benjamin Netanyahu and of his planned judicial overhaul. That is incredible to me.

He said that he hopes that the Prime Minister will not continue down this road and that the Prime Minister will act in a way that he can try to work out some genuine compromise. What's also interesting is he talked about how he will not be inviting Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House anytime soon. I think we have that clip if we can play that right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I don't know they're an inflection point, but I think that it's a difficult spot to be in and they've got to work it out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hope he, uh -- I hope he walks away from it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLD: So yes, so he also said that when asked if the Prime Minister will be coming to the White House anytime soon, which had -- which, normally an Israeli Prime Minister would come to the White House after coming into office quite quickly. Instead he says, not in the near term, not anytime soon. That is incredible in its own right.

Now the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded in a middle of the night tweet thread, saying that while the alliance between Israel and the United States will be unbreakable, he is trying, he says, to strive to achieve a broad consensus. But he also talked about how Israel will make its own decisions and will not be based on pressures from abroad.

What's also been interesting is to hear from Netanyahu's coalition partners and their allies talking about how Israel will need to make its own decisions. His minister of national security Itamar Ben-Gvir saying that Israel is not one of the stars on the United States flag.

Some are even saying that the Americans are being fed what they call fake news about a coup in Israel. Those are quite striking comments from Israel's ruling coalition. This whole situation that was being portrayed in the Israeli media as a crisis in the relationship between Israel and the United States. This is likely not something that the Israeli government was seeking to have on top of the brewing internal crisis over this overhaul.

Now, as you noted, there is a pause right now in the legislation to get the two sides to come to some sort of compromise agreement, but we are very, very far from that compromise agreement being anywhere nearby -- Bianca.

NOBILO: Hadas Gold in Jerusalem, thank you.

Still to come and talking gun control on Capitol Hill, CNN asked members of Congress about a push to ban assault weapons after yet another school shooting in the U.S. We'll have their reactions for you.

Plus, a U.S. court reinstates the murder conviction for Adnan Syed. What his attorney is saying about this surprising turn of events.

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