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DOJ, Pentagon Search For Source Of Leaked Classified Docs; Dalai Lama Apologizes After Video With Child Sparks Outcry; Today: Vote To Return Expelled Democrat To TN House; TX Governor Moves To Pardon Man Convicted Of Killing BLM Protester. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired April 10, 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]

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: So it looks to me like this is an inside job, somebody who may have worked at the Pentagon, may have worked at some other federal facility that gets this type of intelligence briefing from the Joint Staff at the Pentagon.

All of these factors, you know, would lead me to believe that it is somebody who, perhaps for political reasons or just because they were a disgruntled employee, decided to do this.

It was pretty easy for them to do this. The system is based on a lot of trust. But these kinds of actions may very well limit that kind of trust.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN HOST: Yes, especially after you mentioned Edward Snowden. There have been so many high-profile leaks like this. It's surprising to see it continuing to happen.

Colonel Cedric Leighton, thank you very much.

And coming up next, the Dalai Lama is now apologizing after an exchange with a young boy that many are calling disturbing. More on what happened, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:35:34]

PHILLIP: The Dalai Lama has now apologized after videos surfaced of an incident involving the Tibetan spiritual leader and a young boy. It shows the Buddhist monk kissing the boy on the lips and then asking the child to, quote, "suck" his tongue.

Now this happened back in February at an event in India.

And CNN's Vedika Sud is in New Delhi for us.

What is the latest on this very disturbing incident?

VEDIKA SUD, CNN REPORTER: Indeed, a disturbing incident, Abby. And there's been complete outrage in social media over the behavior and the interaction that the 14th Dalai Lama had with that minor boy in February.

Now it's taken six weeks for the Dalai Lama to issue an apology, which came earlier today local time India, where he said he regretted the incident.

I want to read a bit from that a statement where he's apologized because a few bits of it really stand out to me, and I'll tell you why.

Firstly, he goes on to say that he "wishes to apologize to the boy and his family as well as his many friends across the world for the hurt his words may have caused."

The statement also reads, "His holiness often teases people he meets in an innocent and playful way, even in public and before cameras. He regrets the incident."

Now if you go through that video, which I have already said has been extremely disturbing for people to watch, this is a young boy who goes up to the Dalai Lama and says, can I get a hug?

But the Dalai Lama calls him onstage, invites him on stage and says, give me a hug and a kiss, and he takes a kiss from the boy on the cheek and a hug.

Moments later, he asks for the boy to kiss him on the mouth, and the boy obliges, though reluctantly if you actually gauge his body language. And then seconds later, the Dalai Lama asks him to suck his tongue.

Now if you again go back to the apology issued by the Dalai Lama, the two phrases, like I said, stand out for me. One is, "for the hurt his words may have caused." Clearly more than the words, Abby.

It's the action of the Dalai Lama that needs to be questioned. And it has been by critics across India.

And secondly, where they talk about him, often teasing people he meets in an innocent and playful way. Clearly, it was more than that.

And that's why people are so upset with the Tibetans spiritual leader, who has millions of followers from which there's so many who are currently upset with his behavior -- Abby?

PHILLIP: I don't know how many other ways to describe it, other than very, very disturbing.

Vedika Sud, thank you very much for all of that.

And still to come for us, a Tennessee lawmaker's expulsion from the statehouse may not last very long. He could end up right back in the capital today. We're live in Nashville, coming up.

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[13:42:44] PHILLIP: Last week, Republicans kicked two black Democrats out of the Tennessee state legislature. But those -- the targets of that historic political playback may have the last word.

Justin Jones and Justin Pearson were both stripped of their seats for taking part in the gun reform protest on the House floor.

But the process to get them back in those seats is already underway. And for Jones, it could even happen as early as today.

CNN's Isabel Rosales is in Nashville.

So, Isabel, walk us through what could happen tonight for Justin Jones.

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Abby, even before the special metro council meeting, we're going to see a lot of movement outside of the city hall right here with Nashville's organizing a rally in support of Jones getting his job back.

And then after the city council meeting, we're going to see the march toward the state capital.

We just got a hold of the agenda right here for the special meeting and you can see it's a single item right here, so it should be short and sweet.

I do want to introduce Freddie O'Connell, a council member, District 19. He's going to walk us through a little bit of this procedure.

Let's start with just the length of this meeting.

FREDDIE O'CONNELL (D), TENNESSEE COUNCIL MEMBER: We are hoping it is extremely brief.

There's really one thing to do here, that is to get Representative Jones nominated as an interim appointment now that he has been officially expelled. And then we have to certify the minutes of having done that.

But there are some procedural steps we've got to take to get there.

ROSALES: Right, and walk us through that because the appointment actually getting to the vote to appoint him really hinges on a different vote, and that has to do with the rule. Explain that.

O'CONNELL: That's right. So this is considered now a vacant seat. And if you look, Thursday night. within minutes of the expulsion vote, statehouse page for District 52 had no photograph, had no representatives.

So they moved very quickly to make it clear that Representative Jones was no longer a member of the body.

Now it's a vacancy that -- it falls to us to consider it. Ordinarily, if the vice mayor had not moved swiftly and decisively, this would be a process that plays out across several weeks.

Tonight is a special-called meeting, so there's notice we have to establish a quorum, which takes 27 members of our 40-member body. And then we're going to have to suspend the rules to move more quickly than that ordinary vacancy filling.

[13:45:03]

That takes -- two objections can break that entire process. We're waiting to see if any of our colleagues are going to object to that.

ROSALES: Two objections, you can't suspend the rule. And what does that mean?

O'CONNELL: It means we'll be back on the regular schedule. It would be weeks from now before we could take up that vote again.

ROSALES: Four weeks before you can nominate Jones?

If you're successful tonight, and that rule does get suspended, Jones is appointed, what is the importance of that?

O'CONNELL: The importance of that is the General Assembly is still in session. In fact, they will, I think, gavel in tonight at 5:00 p.m. Central. And we'd love to have him back there to be able to participate in the roll call and be seated again.

One of the reasons that matters is they're still considering legislation. We've got a vacancy here in Nashville and one in Memphis. If there are any close votes, our folks lack representation right now.

ROSALES: And what's your gut saying which way this will go?

O'CONNELL: Coming through the weekend, I will tell you I don't think any of our colleagues have seen this much correspondence on a single issue.

I have a couple of colleagues we're still keeping an eye on to see if they are potentially going to object. My hope is that they will look at the will of voters, both in District 52 but also across the city and county, due the right thing.

And if they want to vote no, they're able to do that, but hold their objections to the process.

ROSALES: This seems less of a matter of if Jones will be sent back to his job, but rather a matter of when.

O'CONNELL: I think that's correct. The difficulty, obviously, is going to be that, weeks from now, they may have all gone home because they don't meet year around like the metro council does.

ROSALES: Freddie O'Connell, thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it.

And, Abby, one other quick note. We're told by the vice mayor, Jim Shulman, that the person nominating Jones will be Delishia Porterfield, who actually ran against Jones for that District 52 seats and lost to him during a primary election.

Now she will be nominating him, for him to get that seat back as an interim successor -- Abby?

PHILLIP: All right. Isabel Rosales, good to have that council member there for that live interview and critical information about what will happen tonight.

Thank you very much.

And just ahead, tonight, we'll hear why Texas Governor Greg Abbott is trying to pardon a man convicted of murder before he is even sentenced.

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[13:51:48]

PHILLIP: We do have a quick update for you right now on our top story. The hospital that is treating patients from the bank shooting in Louisville, Kentucky, now says they are treating or they have treated nine people that is one more than it was previously reported.

Now we're told that three have already been just discharged. And police say that four people are dead and the shooter was also killed. They believe that he was a former employee.

Now two officers were wounded in an exchange of gunfire with that gunman. We'll keep you updated on that story as the day develops.

But now on to another story in Texas, where an Army sergeant was convicted of murder last week and now, before he's even sentenced, the governor is putting him on the fast track for a pardon.

On Friday, Daniel Perry was found guilty of murdering a man at a 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. And Republican Governor Greg Abbott has now ordered an expedited investigation into a potential pardon.

The D.A. who prosecuted the case calls the move "deeply troubling."

CNN's Ed Lavandera is reporting for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- guilty of the offensive murder --

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An Austin jury convicted Daniel Perry on Friday for the murder of Garrett Foster. The Army sergeant broke down after hearing the verdict.

Perry shot and killed Foster during a Black Lives Matter protest in the summer of 2020. After the trial, Foster's family expressed their relief. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're happy with the verdict. We are very sorry for

his family as well. Just there's no winners in this. And just glad it's over.

LAVANDERA: But this case is far from over. The very next day, Texas Governor Greg Abbott tweeted his vow to pardon Perry as quickly as possible.

And argued Texas has one of the strongest Stand Your Ground laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive district attorney.

(SHOUTING)

LAVANDERA: In the weeks after the murder of George Floyd, Black Lives Matter protests erupted all over the country. Garrett Foster joined the protests in Austin.

GARRETT FOSTER, BLM PROTESTER: You got it out tonight. Don't let us march in the streets anymore, so I gotta (sic) practice some -- some of our rights.

LAVANDERA: Daniel Perry was a rideshare driver and had just dropped off a customer near a BLM protest on the downtown streets.

Prosecutors said Perry ran a red light to turn into the crowd. This is where accounts differ.

At the time, some witnesses say Perry deliberately instigated the altercation.

JAMES SASINOWSKI, WITNESS: The driver intentionally and aggressively accelerated their vehicle into a crowd of people. That is extremely clear.

LAVANDERA: The lead investigator testified that video showed Perry did not accelerate but slowed down.

Perry says Garrett Foster was carrying an assault-style rifle, which he was legally allowed to do, and pointed the gun at him.

(GUNFIRE)

(SCREAMING)

LAVANDERA: Perry fired his handgun several times at Foster, killing him. Perry's lawyers call it self-defense.

But in the trial, prosecutors pointed to texts and social media posts Daniel Perry made that summer that suggested Perry was looking for a fight.

[13:55:03]

In one, Perry wrote, he "might kill a few people on my way to work. They are rioting outside my apartment complex." Someone wrote back, "Can you legally do so?" Perry responded, "If they attack me or try to pull me out of my car, then, yes."

The Texas jury didn't buy this self-defense argument and issued a guilty verdict on the murder charge. Perry's lawyer says they're disappointed and will appeal.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIP: Our thanks to CNN's Ed Lavandera for that report.

And that does it for me here in the CNN NEWSROOM. But please don't go anywhere. We've got much more news ahead, right after the short break.

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