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CNN International: Mifepristone Available in U.S. for at Least Two More Days; At Least 78 Killed in Yemen Crowd Surge; Wounded Teen Ralph Yarl Expected to Make Full Recovery; Two Cheerleaders Shot After One Opened Wrong Car Door; Smartmatic Seeking $2.7 Billion from Fox in Defamation Case. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired April 20, 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.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Max Foster joining you live from London. Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Supreme Court will make a consequential decision. We don't want a Supreme Court justice in our bedrooms telling us what to do.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He has ignored the fact that mifepristone has a 20-year safety record, and he has ignored the law.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As soon as they saw the gun, they said, go and they drove and they went about two miles down the road, and that's when they realized that Katlin was seriously hurt.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: India is expected to surpass China as the world's most populous country.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is going to be extremely worrying for the Indian economy and India's youngsters.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Live from London. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo.
FOSTER: It's Thursday, April 20th, 9:00 a.m. here in London, 4:00 a.m. in Washington. Where once again the U.S. Supreme Court is at the center of another major decision on women's health care in America. This time the court is deliberating over whether to allow access to the widely used abortion pill mifepristone.
NOBILO: It remains available for now, after the justices paused the restrictions imposed by the lower court for another two days. But some sort of decision on its future use is now expected by midnight Friday local time. CNN's Paula Reid explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: As of now, this commonly used abortion medication will remain widely available. The Supreme Court is expected to issue another update on Friday. At the center of this case is mifepristone is one of two drugs used in a process called medication abortion, which accounts for over half of all abortions conducted in the United States. Several weeks ago, a judge in Texas though, revoked the FDA's approval
of mifepristone. And now the Supreme Court is mulling what happens to that decision, while this case makes its way through the courts.
Now they have several options. One is the Supreme Court could decide that they're just going to take up this case, trying to decide it before the term ends in June. They could also allow the case to continue working its way through the appeal system, potentially eventually ending up at the Supreme Court. But eventually this issue does have to be decided on the merits. And right now, it is up to the justices on what will happen to this medication in the interim. Will remain on the market, or will they uphold that Texas decision while this case moves forward?
We expected at this point, the Supreme Court will have another update, though it's unclear if it will be a final answer by midnight on Friday.
Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: It's been almost a year since the U.S. Supreme Court ended the federal right to an abortion. And a new poll indicates that the clampdown on reproductive freedom is becoming a factor for adults trying to decide where to attend university.
FOSTER: The State of Higher Education study found 60 percent of those aged 18 to 59 who are not enrolled in college and do not have a degree, say reproductive health laws are at least somewhat important in deciding where to enroll.
NOBILO: And almost three quarters of students already enrolled say that their decision to stay at their university is at least somewhat affected by their state's reproductive health laws.
FOSTER: More than 50. Million people are under threat of severe weather across the U.S. today. The threat extends from Texas to Wisconsin right now. Severe thunderstorm watches for parts of Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa. At least two people were killed by dangerous storms rolling through the plain's states.
In Cole, Oklahoma, a large tornado was spotted Wednesday evening. Law enforcement officials say some people are still trapped and more deaths and injuries are still possible. Police in Oklahoma are asking residents if you can check on your neighbors. NOBILO: Severe storms and tornadoes tore off roofs, destroyed homes
and downed power lines. Debris is making it hard for search teams to move around and help those who need it. There have been at least 15 tornado reports so far from Oklahoma to Iowa, and eight of those were in Oklahoma.
Officials have ordered an investigation into a horrific crowd surge at Ramadan charity event in Yemen.
[04:05:00]
FOSTER: They say at least 78 people were killed at this school in the capital of Sanaa on Wednesday night. It happened while local merchants were handing out money to people in need, which is a holiday tradition. Yemen has been ravaged by nine years of a brutal war which led to a massive humanitarian disaster. The victims were hoping to receive a donation worth about. US$10.
Our Salma's here with more on this. And just the images are horrific, and then you get to learn the details behind them.
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's really tragedy on tragedy in one of the most impoverished, most hard struck corners of the world. We do have a still image to show you. I do have to warn you, it's graphic. This is a screen grab from a very disturbing video that you mentioned there, Max, that shows this surge of people. You're literally looking at a wall of humanity, a crush of bodies, and if you watch that video, which again we're not playing, because it's too disturbing. You hear very harrowing screams of people trapped inside between these bodies. You can see arms flailing, hoping for help. People trying to pull them out. But they simply can't.
This took place outside of a school where two local merchants were distributing aid at sunset. That's a very normal tradition that happens during Ramadan. We're just at the turn of Eid al-Fitr, of course, one of the most important holidays in the Muslim calendar. And these people were gathered to get just $10. 78 people killed waiting for just $10. I mean, truly, truly heartbreaking.
Now Houthi officials say those two merchants did not coordinate with local authorities. That's what caused this crowd surge. They've arrested those two merchants, and they are offering aid and assistance to those who have been affected. They're giving some $4,000 to the families of victims and also covering hospital expenses for those who are wounded. But again, you are looking at a place Sanaa, Yemen, and across that country that's been devastated by nine years of war that is home to one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, according to the United Nations at a particularly poignant time for Muslims and this horrifying tragedy, just ripping through.
FOSTER: It's the shoes, isn't it? The image of the shoes that really hits home.
ABDELAZIZ: It really is. Just imagine that those families left their homes, thinking that they could just get that tiny bit of help and instead, not coming home at all. FOSTER: Salma, thank you.
NOBILO: Three arrests have been made in that deadly shooting at a birthday party in Alabama over the weekend. A 20-year-old man and two teenage boys have each been charged with four counts of reckless murder. The teenagers will be charged as adults.
FOSTER: Authorities say more charges are likely, and they also expect to make more arrests.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SGT. JEREMY BURKETT, ALABAMA LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY: For what's happened in the time frame -- and I'll be honest with you, the magnitude in the chaos of what went on for us even in this amount of time to have executed three custodial arrests is huge. And we very much anticipate that we will make more arrests.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Four people were killed in the weekend shooting with dozens more injured. Family members say they're glad someone is being held responsible.
Wounded 16-year-old Ralph Yarl is expected to make a full recovery after being shot in the arm and the head when he went to the wrong house in search of his siblings in Kansas City, Missouri. His attorney shared this photo of Yarl sitting up on a bench where the caption calling the teen a walking miracle. A GoFundMe page started to help with medical expenses is raised more than $3.3 million from nearly 90,000 donations.
NOBILO: On Wednesday, 84-year-old Andrew Lester pleaded not guilty to two felony charges related to the shooting. Lester told police that he opened fire when he thought the teenager was trying to break in.
I still I can't get over this story. We know that Lester now had two doors, so he had his primary door to the house and then another glass door. But then, before any words were exchanged between the two of them shot ralph Yarl in the head and then when he was already on the floor again in the arm.
FOSTER: Well, it's the image of seeing him that shocked him clearly. Because they didn't know each other.
NOBILO: No but it is just -- we've seen such a spate of mistaken identity or just being in the wrong place, wrong time shootings and it's just so tragic.
The New York man who shot and killed a 20-year-old woman in a car in his driveway will remain in police custody. His attorney says. Kevin Monahan felt threatened as several vehicles were revving their engines and coming up his driveway at a high rate of speed.
FOSTER: Kaylin Gillis was a passenger in one of the several cars that turned into the wrong driver whilst looking for friend's house on Saturday. Authorities say Monahan fired two shots as the vehicles were turning around. One of them hit Gillis. Her father says Kaylin deserves justice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDY GILLIS, KAYLIN GILLIS' FATHER: For this man to sit on his porch and fire at a car with no threat is just -- it just angers me so badly. And I just hope to God that he dies in jail.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[04:10:00]
NOBILO: And in Texas, yet another case this week of an apparent mistake being met with gunfire. Two teenage cheerleaders were shot after opening the wrong car door after a late-night practice.
FOSTER: One of them is still in hospital with serious injuries. CNN's Ed Lavandera reports on how it all unfolded and what we know about the suspected shooter.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That's Payton Washington, practicing her high-flying acrobatics cheer routines. Three times a week. Washington and three teammates of the Woodlands Elite Cheer Company carpool from Austin to the Houston area for team practices. That's what brought them to this grocery store parking lot in Elgin, Texas, just after midnight Tuesday morning.
One of the girls in the car, Heather Roth, emotionally recounted during a vigil at the cheer team's practice facility later Tuesday. How she opened the door to a car she thought was hers when she was shocked to see a man in the passenger seat. She got back in the car with her friends when the unthinkable happened.
HEATHER ROTH, SHOOTING VICTIM: We're backing up. I see the guy get out of the passenger door. And I rolled my window down and I was trying to apologize. And then he -- I just -- halfway my window is down, he just threw his hands up and then he pulled out a gun. And then he just started shooting at all of us.
LYNNE SHEARER, MANAGING PARTNER, WOODLANDS ELITE CHEER COMPANY: As soon as they saw the gun, they said go and they drove and they went about two miles down the road, and that's when they realized that Payton was seriously hurt.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Lynne Shearer is the Woodlands Elite Cheer Company manager. She says Heather Roth suffered a minor leg injury, but Payton Washington was shot at least twice in the back and the leg. Elgin, Texas investigators say surveillance video at the grocery store helped them identify the shooter as 25-year-old Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr.
Payton Washington was rushed by helicopter to a hospital. Her team manager says Washington's spleen was removed and she suffered damage to other internal organs. But she's breathing on her own again and face timing with family and friends. Even lamenting that she will miss a major cheer competition this weekend.
SHEARER: The realization of the fact that she's not going to be competing this weekend, it was starting to set in, I think. So, she was extremely, you know, up and down with her emotions.
PAYTON WASHING, CHEERLEADER: I'm Payton Washington of Woodlands Elite Generals. Come tumbling down with us at world's fest this Saturday. See you there.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Payton Washington was born without one of her lungs. But despite that, her coaches say she's reached the top of her sport. She's committed to be a member of Baylor University's acrobatic and tumbling team next year. But for now, four teenagers will have to live with the horrors of surviving such a senseless attack.
SHEARER: It makes me sad for them because I don't think they're ever going to get over this. They're going to have fears that they never thought about in their life that now they're going to think about all the time, which is unfortunate.
LAVANDERA: The suspect has been charged with one count of deadly conduct, and he's being held on a $500,000 bond. Search warrant affidavit, documents today revealed that the suspect was actually arrested several hours after the shooting in his apartment where he was already asleep. And court documents also revealed that he was previously known to law enforcement officials from previous encounters. But officials in Elgin, Texas, would not elaborate on what those encounters were about.
Ed Lavandera, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: Completely independent of the constitutional arguments people have. There is just a sense of incredulity because in all of these cases of being in the wrong place at wrong time, the person who's done the shooting has said that they felt personally threatened. And we're talking about a five-foot eight teenage young Black man. We're talking about, you know, 20-year-old slight woman, two female cheerleaders. I mean, just -- there is no way in which that is commensurate to the threat that people say that they feel.
FOSTER: No, it's so bizarre, isn't it? We've had that string of very similar stories. People ended up in unfortunate circumstances and all relating to guns.
It wasn't just a legislature voted Wednesday to ban most sales of assault style weapons in the state. Under the bill, the term assault weapon applies to dozens of firearms, including the AR-15 in all forms.
NOBILO: The bill prohibits them from being manufactured, imported, distributed or sold in the state, with some exceptions, such as the sales to the armed forces and law enforcement. The bill now goes to the governor's desk for his signature. Washington Governor Jay Inslee is expected to sign it.
The family of Tyre Nichols has filed a federal $550 million wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Memphis, Tennessee and its police department. You'll recall that Nichols died several days after being brutally beaten by members of the Memphis police officer -- members of the Memphis police after a traffic stop back in January.
FOSTER: A video of the beating sparked immense backlash. Five police officers were fired and have been charged with his murder. A Memphis police spokesman -- a spokesperson declined to comment on the wrongful death lawsuit.
[04:15:03]
Still to come, a tragedy in the world of K-pop. South Korean singer Moonbin died at the age of 25. We'll go live to Seoul for the latest.
FOSTER: Plus, exclusive details on how Fox and Dominion reached a massive settlement at the 11th hour, avoiding a painful trial and keeping major fox stars off the witness stand.
NOBILO: And India is on track to have the world's largest population sometime this year. But what does that mean for an already overcrowded nation with few job opportunities?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NOBILO: Washington is no closer today to negotiations on potentially raising the U.S. debt ceiling. President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy have been at odds over the matter for months now.
FOSTER: McCarthy House Republican has referred to the U.S. debt as a ticking time bomb. CNN's Phil Mattingly breaks down why neither man is willing to concede.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Now for several months here at the White House down in the Capitol, there has been a simmering battle over raising the debt limit. There is no question it's kind of an anvil hanging over Washington's head.
[04:20:02]
But the full engagement, the full escalation hadn't really taken place yet. Not anymore. That is no longer the case. President Biden ramping up the political pressure on House Republicans, on Speaker Kevin McCarthy specifically. The Speaker, laying out in detail his proposal that he says should launch negotiations with President Biden.
Here's the issue really, the central issue right now, President Biden has made very clear and his top advisors, there will be no negotiations over raising the debt limit. That it should be done in a clean manner. No spending cuts, nothing attached to it. They can have negotiations over long-term fiscal priorities, but not attached to the debt ceiling itself. McCarthy, House Republicans, they hold the majority, they say that's
an absolute nonstarter. And that leads to basically this split screen. Take a listen.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Folks here's this really dangerous. MAGA Republican congressman threatening to default on the national debt. The debt that took 230 years to accumulate overall. Overall. Unless we do what they say. They say they're going to default unless I agree to all these wacko notions they have.
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA) U.S. HOUSE SPEAKER: President Biden has a choice. Come to the table and stop playing partisan political games. Or cover his ears. Refused to negotiate and risk bumbling his way into the first default in our nation's history.
MATTINGLY: And of course, he detailed his proposal on the House floor just a few moments before President Biden spoke at a labor union office in Maryland. The back and forth really showing a very clear contrast between the two, between the two proposals and underscoring the fact that there is no clear road map out of this problem. These are two diametrically opposed positions.
There is no effort underway, back channels or anything like that to try and find some pragmatic solution to try and reconcile these differences. And that means the political pressure, the rhetoric, the attacks back and forth are only going to escalate. Both sides right now feel like those are an absolute necessity to try and force the other, in the words of one White House official, to crack.
Meantime, McCarthy and House Republicans are trying to coalesce behind his proposal. Vote on it as soon as next week. They know it's dead-on arrival in the U.S. Senate. Obviously, the president would never sign it. But they believe that could force Biden into negotiations. Negotiations he and his team say simply are not on the table at this point out.
How does this end? Well, don't really know at this point. But one thing is clear, that battle we all knew was coming. It is certainly underway now.
Phil Mattingly, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: The judge overseeing the case of 21-year-old Air National Guardsmen, Jack Teixeira, has been -- has postponed his detention hearing for him so that prosecutors and his lawyers have more time to prepare. Teixeira appeared briefly in a Boston courtroom on Wednesday, waiving his right to a preliminary hearing. He faces charges under the Espionage Act but hasn't yet entered a plea.
NOBILO: Meantime the Air Force Intelligence Unit where Teixeira was assigned has been told to stop its intelligence activities. The Air Force inspector general also plans to investigate how well the group was complying with policies, standards and procedures. FOSTER: A U.S. federal judge has issued a new ruling in the showdown
between the Manhattan District Attorney and House Republicans. She's denying Alvin Bragg's request to block the congressional subpoena of former prosecutor Mark Pomerantz. All of this stems from Bragg's role in Donald Trump's indictment. Pomerantz is scheduled to testify before the Judiciary Committee today. He's written a book called "The People Versus Donald Trump" about his work in the district attorney's office investigating the former president.
Meanwhile a source tells CNN federal prosecutors are scheduled to interview Trump ally Boris Epshteyn today. It's part of the special counsel investigation of Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents after his presidency. Epshteyn worked as a special assistant in the Trump White House. He also accompanied the former president to his arraignment earlier this month in New York.
NOBILO: Fox News is facing another pricey showdown over the lies that it spread about the 2020 election. It just settled with Dominion Voting Systems for over $787 million, but its liability doesn't end there. Voting technology company Smartmatic is suing Fox for $2.7 billion. CNN's Danny Freeman has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After a historic settlement for Dominion Voting Systems --
JUSTIN NELSON, CO-LEAD COUNSEL FOR DOMINION VOTING SYSTEMS: The truth matters. Lies have consequences.
FREEMAN: -- the potential consequences of another defamation case loom on the horizon for Fox News.
Even before Dominion filed its $1.6 billion lawsuit saying Fox knowingly lied about its voting machines, Smartmatic, a different voting technology company, filed a similar suit. This one seeking $2.7 billion in damages, accusing Fox News, several of its hosts and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, of falsely saying Smartmatic rigged the 2020 election.
[04:25:03]
In its complaint, Smartmatic alleges Fox knowingly aired more than 100 false and misleading statements, including this one.
MARIA BARTIROMO, FOX NEWS HOST: I have spoken with a few whistleblowers myself this weekend. And one source, who is an IT specialist, told me that he knows the software and specifically advised people in Texas -- officials in Texas not to use it, and yet he was overruled.
FREEMAN (voice-over): The company also argued Fox falsely claimed Smartmatic was linked to former Venezuela President Hugo Chavez.
SIDNEY POWELL, MEMBER OF FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP'S LEGAL TEAM: Smartmatic agreed to create such a system and produce the software and hardware that accomplished the result for President Chavez. After the Smartmatic electrical management -- electoral management system was put in place, he closely observed several elections where the results were manipulated using the Smartmatic software.
FREEMAN (voice-over): Fox denies wrongdoing, saying they were just covering the news, an argument the Dominion judge threw out. Smartmatic's cases is currently still in the discovery phase at this time.
Meanwhile, CNN has learned exclusive new details about how yesterday's $787 million Dominion settlement came to be. Sources tell CNN's Oliver Darcy and Marshal Cohen, Fox and Dominion couldn't lock in a deal themselves over the weekend, so they called veteran mediator Jerry Roscoe. Roscoe, who's helped resolve wartime disputes in the Balkans, was on a cruise in Europe on Sunday when he was brought in a day before the trial was set to begin.
After several Zoom meetings and phone calls, the deal was finalized around 2:00 Tuesday afternoon and signed just minutes before the judge announced the resolution in open court.
FREEMAN: Now since the Dominion settlement came down, we actually have received statements from both Smartmatic and from Fox previewing their own case and what that battle will look like ahead.
An attorney for Smartmatic said in part: Dominion's litigation exposed some of the misconduct and damage caused by Fox's disinformation campaign. Smartmatic will expose the rest.
Meanwhile a Fox spokesperson said in response, quote: We will be ready to defend this case surrounding extremely newsworthy events when it goes to trial, likely in 2025. As a report prepared by our financial experts show Smartmatic's damages claims are implausible, disconnected from reality and on its face intended to chill First Amendment freedoms.
So, you can expect we may be talking about all of these issues again for the next two years.
Danny Freeman, CNN Wilmington, Delaware.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: K-pop singer Moonbin of the boy band Astro has died at the age of 25.
NOBILO: Let's go straight to Seoul now with CNN's Paula Hancocks has the latest for us. And Paula, obviously, this has come as a huge shock. What more do we know? And were there concerns about his welfare prior to this dreadful announcement?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bianca and Max, what we know at this point from police in the area is that at about 8:10 last night, so Wednesday evening, they received a phone call from the manager who had gone to his home and found him unresponsive. Now the police have told us that they believe he did take his own life. And they say that there was no sign of any foul play.
Now tributes have been pouring in for this man. He was, as you say, 25 years old. He had joined this group Astro, a well-known K-pop group here and elsewhere in the world back in 2016. He'd been acting before that. So, he was well known here.
And he also came from a K-pop family if you like. His sister is also in the industry. His sister Moon SuA, a member of the girl group Billie. And surprisingly, that's group has said, that's all its schedules for at least the next week have been canceled, and they are calling for privacy for the family.
Now we've heard from the record label of Astro, Fantagio. They said they are heartbroken, that they are shocked, also saying that suddenly he left us and became a star in the sky. Now they also asked people to avoid any speculation or any rumors.
But what we have been seeing on social media is really an outpouring of grief, of condolences, of support for those around him, certainly from the fans themselves. It is trending on Twitter, for example, a #Moonbin has had more than well over 2.5 million tweets and tributes. Photos being shared among those who knew him or a knew of him.
So certainly, this has come as a shock to those who know him, but unfortunately, not the first that we have heard of in the K-pop industry.
NOBILO: Paula Hancocks live in Seoul for us. Thank you.
FOSTER: India expected to have the largest population in the world within months. We're live in New Delhi with more on the country's record growth and the challenges of the nation's already struggling economy.
NOBILO: Plus, dire warnings about pilot shortages in the U.S. What the airline industry is telling Congress about the issue and possible ways to solve the problem.
[04:30:00]
