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Suspect and Bob Lee Appear to Have Argued Before Murder; Boeing: New Issue Discovered on 737 Max Planes but Still Safe to Fly; France's Top Court Approves Law to Raise the Retirement Age; Docs Show Daniel Perry Posted About Killing Black People & Muslims; Supreme Court Extends Access to Abortion Drug While Considering Case. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired April 14, 2023 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:03]

VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And it shows the defendant and the victim, so Bob Lee and Momeni, in a car together. And the suspect drove Bob Lee to a dark location. They both got out of the car and then, kind of off in the corner, it says that the suspect appears to move toward Bob Lee quite quickly. And then, he ends up getting in his car and driving away quickly, the suspect, while Bob Lee daggers off.

So definitely, we're getting much clearer picture of what happened and it appears that the district attorney is arguing that there was an interpersonal dispute between Bob Lee and the suspect, Momeni.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Wow. Those are quite the developments, Veronica. Really appreciate you bringing those to us.

MIRACLE: Absolutely.

Well, more than four years after it was originally grounded. Boeing says it's found a new issue with the 737 Max, but the company says they're still safe to fly. Hmm, we'll have more details up next.

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[15:35:42]

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR AND NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A new setback for Boeing today. The company says it's going to have to reduce deliveries for its 737 Max airplane because of a manufacturing issue. If that's 730 (ph) Max, stays -- sticks in your head for some reason that's because you may recall the plane was grounded globally after fatal crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia in 2018 and 2019.

Now, Boeing says this new issue does not impact safety. CNN's Pete Muntean, joining us now with more here. So Pete, what is the issue?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erica, you know, this is another bad look for Boeing as it struggles to deal with quality control and rebuild a reputation of the Max, failures of Boeing and with the systems inside each plane led to those crashes abroad. But this new issue is different. Boeing is really coming clean here about a defect and the manufacturing of the jet itself. The issue Boeing says is with a fitting in the rear part of the fuselage of some Maxes that are manufactured by a third party, and Boeing has not said exactly how many Maxes are defective, even though there are about a thousand flying worldwide, more than 300 in the U.S.

In a statement, Boeing says, "This is not an immediate safety of flight issue, and the in-service fleet can continue operating safely." The FAA, which ultimately came down hard on Boeing after the investigations into those crashes in 2018 and 2019 says, It has validated what Boeing says is true and is monitoring next steps.

The contractor responsible for building these parts is a company called Spirit AeroSystems, and it just said, It is working on an inspection and repair for affected airplanes. But for now, the bottom line here is that this is not impacting travelers, only really airlines waiting for their new airplanes to be delivered and they would like a fix (ph).

United Airlines has about a hundred more Maxes on order. It says no impact to travelers just yet. Erica, Bianna.

HILL: All right, Pete Muntean. Always appreciate it. Thank you. Well, happening now. Unrest in Paris as protesters are flooding the streets. After Francis Top court approves the controversial law that raises the retirement age.

We'll take you there live next.

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[15:42:18]

GOLODRYGA: Well, France's highest constitutional court just approved a highly controversial pension reform plan that's triggered months of anger and discontent. The bill, which will raise a retirement age from 62 to 64 could be enacted as soon as this weekend.

HILL: That court decision is a victory for French President Emmanuel Macron, but it is sparking yet more protests across the country. CNN's Rep (ph) Pleitgen joins us now from Paris. What kind of reaction have you seen in response to this ruling earlier today, Fred?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's been a lot of anger, especially here on the streets of Paris, guys, we had a demonstration that took place just as the verdict from that constitutional council was announced. And the situation now in the evening is one where there is still a lot of display of anger, but the crowds have dispersed a little bit.

It's a bit of a cat and mouse game between the cops and the protesters who are still out here. You can see right here the police in full force. We have some of the police fans there behind us. We did see the police charge a couple of protesters. So, it has been, you know, some of a difficult night here in Paris so far, and in general we do have to say there are a lot of people here in France who are very angry at the fact that the retirement age is going to be lifted, but they're also angry at the way that Emmanuel Macron has pushed all of this through.

They feel that he sort of bypassed large parts of the legislative process. And one of the things that we've sort of taken note of as we've been reporting on this on the ground is that there are also a lot of young people who are joining those protests, and a lot of those young people are telling us that they want to continue to fight this bill.

With the kind of protests that we've been seeing here over the past couple of months, and especially over the past couple of days. Of course, several hundred thousand people went on the street yesterday, throughout France. There were a lot of people at protest in France today again as well. And even here all through the night, you can still hear the sirens as the police are out in full force and people are coming up and challenging those police officers because they are so angry.

With what they feel is just the way that Emmanuel Macron, they believe has essentially done damage to democracy here in this country, guys.

GOLODRYGA: Yeah, Macron's argument is that this is what was necessary in terms of where the economy was headed. But there are many people there on the streets that are just not accepting it.

A huge development there in that country. Frederik Pleitgen, thank you. Well, newly unsealed documents reveal the Texas man who killed a protester at a Black Lives Matter rally in 2020, spread racist messages online for years.

HILL: Now, the Texas governor had promised to pardon Daniel Perry shortly after he was convicted.

Before he was sentenced, Abbott claimed Perry was protected under the 'Stand Your Ground Law' in Texas. This new evidence though, may complicate Abbott's efforts. Jake Tapper's going to have more on this story at the top of the hour on THE LEAD.

[15:44:59]

So, Jake, I know you've been following this very closely. Tell us more about these new posts and really the impact that that could have on this pardon request from the governor.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Well, Mr. Perry's defense attorneys are lashing out at the court for releasing these messages, almost all of which were not allowed to be shown to the jury. But perhaps it will complicate efforts to pardon him or give him a new trial. Among the posts that he wrote on June 1st, 2020 on Facebook, he wrote, It is official. I am a racist because I do not agree with people acting like animals at the zoo.

That same day he also wrote, now it is my turn to get banned from Facebook by comparing the Black Lives Matter movement to a zoo full of monkeys that are freaking out, flinging their s-h-i-t. At a different time, he said, too bad we can't get paid for hunting Muslims in Europe and on and on.

And I have not, we have not heard yet from Governor Abbott, who one has to believe was not aware of these text messages, which were not introduced in trial before Abbott said that he would seek a pardon for Mr. Perry. But it certainly is a shocking development and obviously will have a political impact.

And let's be honest here, this case had become a cause celeb among conservatives. And so, politics are very much at foot, and afoot and politics are very much irrelevant.

GOLODRYGA: Yeah, politically, both within the state and nationally as well. This is something that we are watching nationwide. Jake, thank you so much.

And be sure to join Jake at the top of the hour for the lead with Jake Tapper. And we want to bring you this breaking news just into CNN. Justice Samuel Alito has extended a hold on a lower court ruling that would've imposed restrictions on access to abortion drug.

HILL: So, this is what we were waiting to hear on Jessica Schneider joining us now, we've been waiting to hear from the Supreme Court, what does this mean now, Jessica?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This basically means that we're on hold with all of this, so we'll know more next week. I mean, this is the very short order from Justice Samuel Alito here, and what he's saying is he's granting what the Justice Department wanted. The Justice Department asked for a number of things, one of them being a short administrative stay.

So, all of these changes to the abortion pill would not go into effect overnight tonight. So the Supreme Court is saying, yes, we will give you that brief pause, and that pause will last until just before midnight Wednesday. And Justice Alito is also asking the parties to file additional briefs if necessary.

So, what this does is this doesn't settle any questions. This doesn't settle the underlying merits of this case. This basically just puts on pause what might have gone into effect overnight tonight. So, really this whole thing is going to play out again in just a few days when we're once again in that waiting mode to see what the Supreme Court again decides to do.

Because this is an administrative stay, a very short stay. While the Supreme Court gets more briefing from the parties and further decides how to act here, but the takeaway from all of this is that Mifepristone is still available in the same form it was just a week ago before that Texas judge made all those changes to it.

It is status quo for how it's been for the past several years. Women can get this pill, they can get it up to 10 weeks of pregnancy. They can also get it via telehealth medicine and via mail. That will be the case until at least late Wednesday night when the Supreme Court will again weigh in on this. So essentially, guys, the Supreme Court just really kicking the can down the road on this decision saying, we'll revisit this next week. But for now, things are status quo.

There's been a lot of back and forth, a lot of confusion. The Justice Department pointed to all of this confusion and they're filing to the Supreme Court this morning. But it does sort of just keep things on hold while this continues to get sorted out, guys.

GOLODRYGA: So you could interpret this as a short term, a five-day victory for the DOJ to keep things at status quo. What do we expect to hear come Wednesday? Is there anything left for either side to file or to petition before we hear from the Supreme Court once again?

SCHNEIDER: There might be Bianna, Justice Alito is telling the parties that they can make additional filings by Tuesday. So, presumably the parties here, DOJ, the drug manufacturer as well, and maybe even the doctors who brought this case, they might file additional filings with the Supreme Court.

And the Supreme Court at that point will decide a number of things, whether to institute a more lengthy stay while these appeals play out in the Fifth Circuit. What's interesting is the Fifth Circuit has already set a briefing schedule for this, and they've scheduled oral arguments pretty quickly to happen on May 17th.

[15:49:59]

So presumably -- potentially the Supreme Court on Wednesday could say, okay, we are going to grant a stay until the Fifth Circuit hears this appeal. And then it would really put everything on pause for likely weeks, if not months.

So, yeah, there could be more legal filings in the next five days, but everything is on hold until late Wednesday night when the Supreme Court should yet again decide whether to continue this pause or maybe do something different, like let these changes go into effect.

HILL: Okay. Jessica, stay with us.

Also joining a CNN Legal Analyst, Joan Biskupic. Joan, there's so much focus on this because of the drug, right? And because of the access that it's had, but also because of the fact that this ruling just a week ago by this judge in Texas, it called into question the FDA's approval process. This drug was approved in the year 2000, and there has been a fair amount of data since then in terms of feedback about the impact on women and how safe it is.

So, this is also a major focus because it's going to involve potentially the FDA approval process.

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Absolutely this is, you know, this is far reaching beyond abortion access to the FDA's approval for any new and existing drugs. So, what's going to happen here, as Jessica said, we have breathing room for five days.

By Tuesday noon, the original challengers, the anti-abortion physicians and medical groups and anyone supporting them needs to get their filings into the Supreme Court by noon on Tuesday. Right now, we already have heard from the Department of Justice and the drug manufacturer Danco. Plus, also today, more than 20 states who wanted a pause in this litigation had already filed at the Supreme Court too.

So I imagine we'll get a Russia filings by Tuesday. And this temporary pause is just until Wednesday. So that gives, you know, the justices a chance to actually read up on this to consider what their next step will be.

This is a set of justices that just 10 months ago had overturned constitutional abortion rights nationwide and sent it back to the States. But as you said, Erica, this is a whole different kind of battle over the authority of the Food and Drug Administration to review and approve drugs in this case, obviously.

The first pill of a two drug abortion medication protocol. And what's at issue right now is the access, not just the, not the core approval of that drug. That looks like, you know, at least the lower court said that that was done properly and the challengers couldn't go after that at this point.

But what's at issue is more the availability.

HILL: Mm-hmm.

BISKUPIC: May women get this through the mail or must they go in person? What's the window of availability? Seven weeks versus 10 weeks? But all of that uncertainty that we had up until, you know, just like five minutes ago has now dissolved for at least five more days, everything would've gone into effect from those lower court decisions against the FDA approval at midnight Texas time, 1:00 AM Saturday our time and the East coast.

But now everything will play out in legal filings. The main thing we're all going to see is exactly how the original challengers, as I say, the anti-abortion physicians and medical groups, how they tell the Supreme Court do not interfere now. Let this FDA approval be rolled back enough to put more restrictions on the drugs, Erica.

GOLODRYGA: Joan, if I could just ask you, given the legal precedent and the standing that Congress had given the FDA the authority years ago, that in addition to this drug having been approved now for over 20 years, and the legal question we keep hearing is that the plaintiffs, there's a question about whether what legal standing they had to even file this lawsuit.

Given all of that, are you surprised by this ruling from the Supreme Court for now at least just kicking the can down the road?

BISKUPIC: No, I'm not. And you're exactly right, Bianna. First of all, it's just an order. It's just them. It's just Samuel Alito, he obviously, he didn't refer to the court, but I'm sure he was getting signals from his colleagues that this is what they needed to do at this point. The reason it went to Justice Alito, just so we make clear, is that he is in charge of emergency petitions for the Fifth Circuit. That's the regional circuit that actually handled the lower court case. So, frankly, this was the prudent thing to do given how fast moving this was since last Friday when you know everything was upended with a district court's decision that suddenly, as I said, you know, went against the FDA validation. But you're exactly right that this is a whole different kind of case.

[15:55:00]

That is, you know, unprecedented in terms of the attack on the FDA and a single judge essentially putting himself in the shoes of the regulators to say that he can, he looking at studies and medical findings and scientific determinations that he can assess on his own, the safety and effectiveness of Mifepristone and what the Department of Justice has said, and the drug manufacturer who has intervened is, you know, he should not be able to do that.

And just because this is long-standing federal agency --

GOLODRYGA: Mm-hmm.

BISKUPIC: -- authority here. And the other thing, last question, getting to your idea of legal standing who can sue? That's a very key question here that I'm sure the justices will want to take on. Did these challengers actually have the authority to even challenge the agency approval at this point in time? Bianna and Erica.

GOLODRYGA: Yeah. Justice Alito once again, letting our viewers know temporarily extending access to Mifepristone while the Supreme Court considers the case through next Wednesday. Joan Biskupic, Jessica Schneider, thank you so much.

HILL: Thanks to all of you for joining us. I do want to say this is the final edition of CNN NEWSROOM on weekdays. Happy I did it with you, with my good girlfriend here. You can still catch CNN NEWSROOM on Saturday and Sunday.

GOLODRYGA: And don't miss the first day of CNN NEWS CENTRAL in Washington starting Monday at 1 p.m. Eastern. THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER starts after this short break.

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