Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Soon: Vote On Reinstating Second Ousted Tennessee Rep; Appeals Court Could Rule Any Moment Over Suspending Mifepristone; Police Release 911 Calls From Louisville Shooting. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired April 12, 2023 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Job he was elected to do. The voters that needed to reinstate Justin Pearson -- the votes rather needed to reinstate Justin Pearson happening this hour. Pearson, of course, is one of two Tennessee State Representatives who were expelled last week after demonstrating on the State House Floor demanding gun reform. Republicans who hold a supermajority voted them out, saying that they broke rules of the quorum.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: A third representative, Gloria Johnson, avoided expulsion by just one vote. Pearson's colleague Justin Jones was reinstated two days ago. And now, it's Pearson's turn. His fate is up to the Shelby County Board of Supervisors.

CNN's Ryan Young is in Memphis, the county seat for Shelby County. Ryan, a rally is happening now to support Pearson. Any doubts about whether he will be reinstated?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Yes, that's what they believe that Pearson will be reinstated. The energy is behind him as you can feel with this crowd that is marching a mile from the Lorraine Motel all the way to the County Commission building. Let's look in this direction, the Tennessee Three are actually walking just ahead of us.

This is actually been an attrition given with this weather right now because the weather has been so high that several people have sort of passed out on this walk. We do know that they're planning to move people toward that county commission. We believe that will last about two hours. And then they will send back those minutes to the state capitol.

What a week this has been to see democracy play out this way with all three of these leaders now being catapulted into the top of the country, and everyone knowing their names. The talk here, especially that early part of this rally was all about gun violence and making sure real gun control laws get passed. With that, take a listen to part of that early rally from just a few minutes ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STATE REP. JUSTIN PEARSON (D-TN): Representative Johnson and Representative Jones here in Memphis to continue what the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said the movement lives or dies in Memphis. The movement lives or dies in Memphis. And here at this hallowed place -- in this sacred place, we show in the United States of America and the Republicans in Tennessee that the movement is still alive.

This is a democracy that's going to lift up the victims of gun violence instead of supporting the NRA and the gun lobbyists. This is the democracy that they're scared of. This is the democracy that they're worried about because this is the democracy that changes the status quo.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Bianna, you see the image of Dr. Martin Luther King right there. Of course, we started the Lorraine Motel. It has been 54 years since he was assassinated. That's where we started from at that point where he was shot.

This crowd is energized and they believe there's a real movement now that's been started thanks to the Republicans here in this state. There are people talking about voting coalition's all-around gun violence. And you add what happened in Louisville, you can understand why people are just tired of the senseless violence that happens with the innocent victims.

Let's not forget about the victims here in Nashville, six of them killed, including three under nine. That's what really galvanizing people to come together. Black, white, and other, all standing together to really march and push this forward.

But let's get back to the representative vote. That should happen within about an hour. We're not sure if they're going to do a public comment section yet. If that happens, it could take a little longer. But the energy here and what we're walking amongst is intense and people want change, Bianna.

HILL: You talk about, Ryan, the fact that this many people there that you've spoken with, folks in the streets, that you're talking to today, they're in support feel that this is the start of a movement. Specifically, I know you mentioned government. For what do they feel they can achieve with that movement?

YOUNG: Well, that's the thing. It's all about getting to the polls because you know, we've seen this before where people go out and they march and then people don't vote. That's what you're hearing from a lot of people. Let's go out and vote. Let's make some changes here.

Then you saw the governor yesterday actually talked to Republicans and Democrats asking for some common-sense gun laws. So, there is a momentum that's actually moving things forward. When you think about how popular the state is, especially Nashville with tourism, they understand that the country is watching to try to see exactly what happens.

So, when you put all that together, and you add this energy behind it with young, with old, with black and white, it's a different sort of calculus in terms of how they may move this forward. I will tell you there are people who've been planning for quite some time, who said they've never seen this ground swelling of support for any issue in the last ten years here.

HILL: This is really saying something. Ryan, appreciate it. We'll continue to check in with you of course throughout the hour.

Also joining us now, Democrat Sam McKenzie, a Tennessee state representative who's also chairman of the Tennessee Black Caucus of state legislators. Sir, good to have you with us this afternoon. I'm sure you could hear that from Ryan's live shot there and I'm sure we've seen the pictures of the energy on the streets. Do you have any reason to believe that Representative Pearson will not, in fact, be reinstated?

[14:05:04]

STATE REP. SAM MCKENZIE (D-TN): None at all. He's going to be reinstated. They're going to expedite the process. I'm hoping to see my colleague at 9:00 a.m. Central Time when our floor session convenes tomorrow morning.

GOLODRYGA: Representative, last week after both Representatives Pearson and Jones were expelled, you said we need more Howard Baker- type Republicans that say the guy on the other side just might be right. We're right this time, is what you said, they're wrong.

MCKENZIE: Right.

GOLODRYGA: After all of this, do you expect your Republican colleagues specifically Speaker Sexton to say, hey, you know what, maybe we were wrong here.

MCKENZIE: I certainly hope so. I know that there are some Republicans that come to me and say this shouldn't have happened this way. I just hope it's enough of them. And I hope that Speaker Sexton can convince them to just stop this.

We tried -- we -- before any of this went down, we tried to say this is a rules violation. This is a technical rules violation that may have upset your Apple card of got you up -- got you all upset, but it's not worth expulsion. And if you do it, you're going to bring a whole lot of just unintended consequences to your door. And that's where we are.

This is -- this has been a beautiful thing because the Republicans, especially this year, have been unduly -- unfairly harsh to us, shutting off our microphones, preventing us from bringing our bills forward to just get vetted. And that's where the culmination of what's been happening this year.

HILL: Do you anticipate then that this will lead to some real changes in the way business is done in the legislature?

MCKENZIE: I hope so. You know, at the end of the day, they're still a super minority -- majority. If we, the minority party walk out, it's going to be business as usual. But the optics -- the optics, and they -- and they double down when you have two young African-American men expelled and the Caucasian lady who herself said it's yes because I have blonde hair and I'm the white woman to be able to stay. I'll be about by one vote. She still gets to serve.

Think about what these two men have gone through. They've been expelled. They've gone to their districts. They're -- 150,000 people don't have representation because of this just frivolous act. Now, they have to get appointed, and then have a special election this summer. All the taxpayer dollars, all of the shame, this come to our great state because of just some interpersonal pity -- the pity of political ideas.

GOLODRYGA: Well, Representative McKenzie, we'll continue to follow the developments today. In the next hour or so, we'll hear whether Justin Pearson is in fact reinstated. We appreciate your time. Thank you.

MCKENZIE: Thank you.

HILL: All right. Well, in Indiana right now, firefighters are battling a raging inferno at a plastics recycling plant. This is in Richmond, a city in the eastern part of the state along the Ohio -- along the state line with Ohio. The fire in fact is so big that the smoke is clearly visible on these satellite images. Look at that there. They were captured some 22,000 miles above the Earth.

GOLODRYGA: But those images. Well, officials are saying to the fire erupted Tuesday after a semi-trailer parked behind the facility caught fire and then spread. The truck contained an unknown type of plastics. At one point, residents could hear terrifying popping sounds coming from the fire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(POPPING SOUNDS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: That sounds like gunshots.

HILL: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: The fire marshal said that the thick dark plumes of smoke billowing across the city are definitely toxic, which has forced thousands of nearby residents to evacuate. Health officials are concerned about toxic air and the release of asbestos. The EPA Administrator tells CNN, teams are on the scene awaiting the results of critical air quality tests.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL S. REGAN, EPA ADMINISTRATOR: We were on the ground just hours after. We are providing support to state and local officials during this emergency response. We've also activated our air monitoring assets as well to be sure that we understand what those air quality implications are. Our goal is to ensure that this community stays safe. And so, we've been on site since the beginning and we're going to stay there until we can assure that this community is not seeing any threats from the air quality implications here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: CNN's Omar Jimenez is on the scene in Richmond, Indiana. Omar, officials say this fire will likely burn for days, so can you give us an update as to what officials are saying about the safety of the air quality there? That's a top concern for residents.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Yes, a major concern for these residents as far as why we're wearing a mask right now.

[14:10:03]

They're really concerned about particulates in the air around the ground level. A lot of the toxins that they've seen so far in the plume of cloud that you see behind me here. And I should just give you a better look at this.

This obviously, is still a massive operation, though much better than it was when we first got onto the scene a little bit earlier today. As you mentioned, though, their assessment is that for them to be able to put this out completely, it's likely an operation that's going to take days at this point.

I mentioned some of the concerns of the particulates, that's actually partly good news because we have seen the results -- or we were told about the results of some preliminary tests in the air quality at the ground level, and no toxins were found at the ground level but they found those particulates which typically come from smoke. So, there are still risks for smoke inhalation. And of course, smoke getting into people could cause some respiratory issues as well.

Take a listen to one of the health officials from Wayne County here describing some of what they are concerned about. Again, even with some of those particulates around the ground level.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE STINSON, DIRECTOR OF WAYNE COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT: These are very fine particles. And if they're breathed, then can cause all kinds of respiratory problems, burning of the eyes, tightening of the chest, it could aggravate asthma, cause bronchitis, and all kinds of things. So, we are stressing to the public to honor the evacuation zone. It's for your safety that the evacuation zone is there. And if you can see the smoke, you're in the smoke, get out of the smoke.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: And about 2000 people are being affected by the evacuation order. As for what caused this, they're still looking into it. They say they're not going to be able to really find out until this smoke and flames are put out. But the mayor here was quick to say that they had been cited -- they had cited this property before that this property had been cited for fire hazards multiple times, according to the mayor. And that the talk among officials was not if something like this would happen but when and now it appears it has. So, it's obviously something officials are going to be looking at much closer as they try to pinpoint an exact cause of this fire.

But bottom line, there are toxins going into the air. And while it's into the air right now and it's particularly it's on the ground, the concern is that as they progress further in fighting the smoke and these flames, those toxins get lower and lower and lower. And that is why EPA officials on the ground have told us they are testing continuously so that if any sort of threshold there is met, they're able to know as quickly as possible and of course, alert those here in this community.

HILL: Yes. So important that they -- that they stay on it. I can only imagine the anxiety for folks that are on the ground, too. I mean, just the cloud of smoke is really something, Omar.

GOLODRYGA: Yes.

HILL: Glad to see you're wearing masks. I know that you already touched on the fact that the plant owner was previously cited for unsafe conditions on that property, can you -- how much do we know about those citations and whether any were related -- were any of them related to previous fire issues?

JIMENEZ: At this point, what we're -- what we're told is that they were related to fire hazards that when the -- they were -- whether there were complaints or inspections, that the fire officials or the city assess that what we're seeing here could create or could lead to situations like what we're seeing behind that. And by the way, we even heard that from residents who say -- one resident here described me -- described it who works at a business nearby that it just looks like plastics were laying around the place like a dump truck just dump things onto the ground. That resident's description was that he didn't believe there was any sort of organization.

And we know that the fire at least began with a dump truck or tractor- trailer that was on fire, spread to some of that debris, and then it spread into the compound. And last thing is that the fire officials said the most difficult part was they actually couldn't get to this because there was so much debris that was blocking their path to fight this fire.

HILL: Wow.

GOLODRYGA: Goodness.

HILL: I mean, that's scary in and of itself. Omar, really appreciate it. We'll continue to check in with you. Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: Well, the Department of Justice and the maker of the abortion pill, mifepristone, have formally replied to a new filing from the anti-abortion doctors trying to take the drug off the market.

HILL: So, now, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals could rule at any time whether or not to uphold the Texas judge's order suspending that medication. Litigation over this view could ultimately reach the Supreme Court.

CNN's Supreme Court Reporter Ariane de Vogue is here now to explain to us also what happens next. So, we could hear at any moment, do we have any indication of when that moment maybe?

ARIANE DE VOGUE, CNN SUPREME COURT REPORTER (on camera): Right The clock is ticking now. It could be as early as today that that federal appeals court tells us whether or not it's going to freeze that lower court opinion.

[14:15:03]

That opinion that blocked the approval of those -- of that medication abortion drug. It was -- it is set to go into effect, that opinion, this Friday, unless the Court steps in. And you know, the Biden administration is still reeling from it because so many women, millions of women have used this drug in the more than 20 years since it went into effect. So, they are just very perplexed by how the lower court ruled here.

But as you said, the challengers, which is a group of doctors who are opposed to abortion at midnight last night, they filed their legal briefs. They think that this appeals court should stay out that that lower court opinion should stay in effect. And we are hearing from lots of other parties.

There have been so-called friend of the court briefs filed. Some of the drug companies are weighing in. And they're saying, look, we're nervous about that lower court opinion because it could destabilize regulation for all different kinds of drugs. That's why they're very concerned.

Now, the federal appeals court is a very conservative court. It's filled with a lot of Trump nominees. The Biden administration might have an uphill climb there. But it's already said that if it loses at the appeals court, it's going to race to the Supreme Court and ask the Supreme Court to step in.

And we'll see how the justices if they get this, we'll look at this emergency petition because usually, this conservative court, it's a little skeptical of the power of federal agencies. But sometimes when they really think that an agency is acting within its authority, then they will defer to an agency. So, all that is in play. We're waiting -- literally, that appeals court could rule at any time today or tomorrow. We're just not sure of the exact timing.

GOLODRYGA: The consequences of this ruling and its decision, our justice, is so huge. I mean, this drug has been legal and on the market and approved by the FDA --

HILL: For 20 years. GOLODRYGA: -- for 20 plus years. And as you noted, that ruling could come at any moment. Of course, we'll come back to you when that happens. Ariane de Vogue, thank you.

Well, Kentucky officials released the 911 calls that came in while the massacre at a Louisville bank was unfolding. We'll have more on that just ahead.

HILL: Also, the shooter's family now speaking out. The role they say mental health may have played. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:21:14]

HILL: Police in Louisville have just released the 911 calls for Monday's mass shooting at a bank in Louisville. Perhaps not surprisingly, these are tough to hear. They are disturbing.

The calls being released just a day after police released that bodycam footage which shows the officers confronting the gunman. Now, we will bring you those 911 calls shortly. Our team is actually going through the files right now.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. Investigators say it took the shooter one minute to carry out the attack before he waited in the lobby ready to ambush officers. Now, a warning for you. This video is quite disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: I Want to bring in Adrienne Broaddus who is live in Louisville. And, Adrienne, we're now hearing from the shooter's family for the first time. What are -- what are they saying about all of this?

ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bianna, they released a statement overnight saying in part that they knew Connor struggled with depression. And in that statement, they said they knew we had challenges with mental health but they were actively trying to address those challenges. And I want to read part of that statement to you.

It says, "no words can express our sorrow, anguish, and horror at the unthinkable harm our son Connor inflicted on innocent people." It also goes on to say we mourn their loss and that of our son Connor. We pray for everyone traumatized by his senseless -- and I'm paraphrasing here, "acts of violence." And we deeply are grateful for the bravery of the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department.

And we know five people lost their lives as a result of that 25-year- old shooter. And those five individuals will be honored later today at a vigil here in town. We saw the body camera video yesterday and we've been talking about it throughout the day. You just see the bravery of these two officers. We're talking about Officer CJ Galloway and the rookie police officer that he was training, Nickolas Wilt. They both ran up the steps which you see behind me. You see plywood covering the windows and the door that leads to the lobby of the bank. We know after that one-minute attack, the shooter returned to the lobby, and that's where he waited, waited for officers and then ambushed him.

The shooter had an advantage because he could see out. But those on the outside, the officers responding, the first two on-scene, were not able to see inside. Officer Wilt is still in critical condition. A short time ago, the Interim Chief of Police telling us the next four to five days will be critical when it comes to seeing the progress and the recovery of Officer Wilt. Erica and Bianna.

HILL: Yes. So tough. Appreciate those updates, Adrienne. And again, as you mentioned, that vigil happening later tonight. Thank you.

Joining us now is senior crime and justice correspondent Shimon Prokupecz. Shimon, you've been sitting here, as we said you know, our team is going through them, you even sitting here listening to these calls on set. What are you hearing in those moments?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME & JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, this first call. So, the police here have now released, it looks like about six calls -- significant six phone calls. The first call is just horrific. It's a woman who is an employee of the bank. And she's actually -- there's a board meeting, she says, going on when this happens, so she could see everything as the shooting unfolds.

[14:25:08]

And so, she's sitting at home or whatever, watching this meeting -- zoom meeting. She says it's a -- it's a board meeting. And as you can imagine, she's just hysterical.

And she's telling the 911 operator, what happened and describing the shooter, he's wearing khakis and that he had a rifle. But clearly, she can't identify -- can't identify him. But it's heart-wrenching. She's just hysterical as you can imagine, and probably feeling so helpless, and that she can't do anything and seeing her colleagues get killed.

The other significant thing is that there's also the -- a phone call from the shooter's mother. And this phone call, what -- from what I keep -- hear briefly is that the mother calls the police because the shooter's roommate calls her and says he was about to do something and that he was heading to the bank -- Old National Bank. And then the mother, you can also tell she's freaking out. She's talking to the 911 operator, obviously, very frightened by what this roommate told her. And so, she's going through that. And that call lasts about 18 minutes or so, providing information to the 911 operator.

But there was this note that was left behind according to the mother, that the roommate alerted her to. Of course, as we heard that from Adrienne, the family has told police that there was some -- he was having some issues -- some mental health issues. So, clearly, this is giving authorities some more information. But also, a key here was that the authorities had all this information pretty quickly, which I think is significant.

But again, you know, once we get through this and decide what we're going to air, it's going to be heart-wrenching. I mean, to think that a person sitting at home, working from home, participating in a board meeting, is sitting there watching on her computer, as someone barrels through the door with this rifle and just starts killing people, her friends, her colleagues, and as you can imagine, this woman will never be the same.

HILL: Yes.

PROKUPECZ: And there are a couple of other calls. There's a caller from the outside, and there appear to be a couple of other witnesses inside the bank. In total, the calls are about close to an hour. So, you know generally, it's just different people calling. And then they also released the audio transmissions, the radio -- the radio transmissions --

HILL: Of the officers.

PROKUPECZ: -- of the officers, so --

HILL: -- which some of those we heard. We could hear some of them on that bodycam released just yesterday.

PROKUPECZ: Yes. You know because some of them are wearing ear mics, the officers, so, we didn't get to hear everything. But I mean, these 911 calls, it's just harrowing -- (INAUDIBLE)

GOLODRYGA: I mean they're all harrowing. And you've become all too familiar in covering those mass shootings.

PROKUPECZ: Yes, at some --

GOLODRYGA: Shimon, if we could go back to that bodycam video that we saw.

PROKUPECZ: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: We have a clip from Officer Wilt's camera. He is a 26-year- old rookie. I believe he was just on his fourth day on the job.

PROKUPECZ: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: And as we heard from Adrienne, I mean, they were ambushed. Because if you look at how the layout of the bank was, they had to actually walk upstairs to get inside.

PROKUPECZ: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: So, the shooter could see them before they could see him.

PROKUPECZ: Yes. Their vision, as you can see just from this video is blocked by those stairs really. And not only that, it's a reflective glass so he could see out but they can't see in. And from everything that we understand -- because he was also live streaming this. Remember.

And so, police have that video. And they could see him sort of just -- I guess lying in wait -- you know, just waiting for the police to show up so that he can ambush them. Despite all that, despite taking all these gunshots and the fire that these officers took -- I mean, they still went in.

GOLODRYGA: Yes.

PROKUPECZ: They still went towards the gunfire. They basically didn't have any kind of cover. Certainly, in the initial moments, they didn't know where the gunshots were coming from or where the shooter was. They had an idea obviously, where the gunshots were coming from. They don't know where the shooter was but yet they were still going and still moving towards it.

And we know from what the authorities have told us and what the doctors have said it's their heroic efforts, their, A., in distracting the gunman, getting him to focus on them and then by killing them, when they finally did and then going in so quickly, they were able to render aid -- give people medical assistance that needed it immediately that were probably bleeding and had the officers knock on and sooner that could have died just because they would have bled to death. You know these are horrific injuries. This is a horrific weapon that causes horrific injuries. And so, their quick actions there doing everything that they did certainly save lives.

HILL: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: Officer Wilt is still in critical condition in the hospital --

HILL: Of course, we're all thinking --

PROKUPECZ: So young, you know. Like you say, just four shifts. Yes.

GOLODRYGA: So young, so new to the job, but still his intuition, right, he went straight into the gunfire.

HILL: He -- I spoke with one of his former bosses when he was an EMT, last night.

PROKUPECZ: Oh, well --

HILL: And she said to me, she wasn't at all surprised when he came to her and said I want to be a police officer. She said this is exactly who he is. It is in his nature. It is in his DNA that he wanted to serve.