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CNN International: Texas Suspect Captured After Manhunt, Found in Closet; U.S. Braces for Surge of Migrants as Title 42 Ends; Federal Reserve Expected to Raise Interest Rates Today; Impasse Over Debt Limit Could Mean U.S. Default; Fighting Sparked by Khader Adman's Death Subsides for Now; New Reports of Fighting In and Around Khartoum; Iran's Raise Arrives in Syria for Talks with Assad. Aired 4- 4:30a ET

Aired May 03, 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]

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm Max Foster in London. Bianca is off for the day. But just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Suspect is in custody.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was found under laundry in a closet.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They do expect that as soon as that order expires, they expect thousands of more migrants to try to cross the borders.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How would you characterize what you're seeing right now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Scary.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Fed, of course, is likely to raise interest rates yet again.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We cannot be seen around the world to be a government that maybe we'll pay our debts and then again maybe we won't. No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

FOSTER: Hello, it is Wednesday, May 3, 9:00 a.m. here in London, 3:00 a.m. in Cleveland, Texas. Where after a four day long multiagency manhunt, the suspect in the fatal shooting of five people including a mother and a 9-year-old son has been arrested. Authorities say that 38-year-old Francisco Oropesa was found hiding in a closet under some laundry at a home just miles from the house where the killings took place. He was captured after the FBI received a tip on his location.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF GREG CAPERS, SAN JACINTO COUNTY, TEXAS: It was a multijurisdictional operation to say the least. Somebody got a tip, DPS, CID, U.S. Marshals, FBI, we had a tact team. They all meandered over there and found that tip to be true.

JIMMY PAUL, ASSISTANT SPECIAL AGENT, FBI: The tip for the suspect's location came in through the FBI's tip line. And we just want to thank the person who had the courage and bravery to call in the suspect's location.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Oropesa will appear in court later today and is currently being held on five counts of murder with bond set at $5 million. Law enforcement officials say they did knock and talk to multiple homes during the search. One expert tells CNN, it likely wasn't easy for him to lie low.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: It is not easy to go on the lam, to run from hundreds of law enforcement officers who are looking for you. It's almost impossible to do without a pre- existing support system and a fair amount of cash to get you along. And all that gets, you know, a thousand times harder when everyone else in the public, in your town, in your county, knows what you've done and is looking for you. It's very hard to hide.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Oropesa is accused of carrying out the massacre after he was asked to stop shooting his rifle near the victims' homes. CNN's Josh Campbell has the details on how the manhunt came to an end.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A major development in southeast Texas, authorities announcing Tuesday the arrest of the man accused of brutally murdering five people. Authorities say that 38-year-old Francisco Oropesa was taken into custody without incident. He is charged with opening fire on the home of his neighbors after being asked to stop shooting late at night on Friday. That of course, sparking a massive manhunt involving hundreds of law enforcement officers in Texas, as well as authorities in Mexico.

Sources told CNN that authorities along the US-Mexico border had been on alert concerned that the suspect may try to flee in the state, but ultimately authorities say that they arrested him just less than 25 kilometers from the original crime scene. The sheriff there in Texas spoke about the arrest.

CAPERS: Bottom line is, we now have this man in custody. He was caught hiding in a closet underneath some laundry. They effectively made the arrest. He is uninjured.

CAMPBELL: Now authorities had announced an $80,000 reward for information leading to Oropesa's capture. The FBI said Tuesday that an unidentified tipster called the FBI, providing them with the location where he was ultimately taken into custody by tactical officers without incident. He is currently being held on a $5 million bond. The sheriff saying that he faces five counts of murder.

Josh Campbell, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[04:05:00]

FOSTER: A manhunt is now underway in Florida after police say a mother and her three children were found shot to death in their home on Tuesday. Authorities in Lake Wales, just south of Orlando, say they were responding to a medical call at an apartment complex when the bodies were discovered. They're looking for a 38-year-old man who believed to live in the same complex, he might also be injured. No motive is known at this time.

Cities across the U.S.-Mexican border are bracing for a massive surge of migrants as a U.S. rule enabling their immediate deportation expires a week from Thursday. Mexico has just agreed for humanitarian reasons to continue accepting migrants from four countries, in the U.S. returns even after May 11th. But with thousands of migrants arriving, the Biden administration is sending 1,500 additional troops to the border to help manage the search. The U.S. border agency is straining to accommodate the migrants who already have arrived. It say more than 22,000 migrants right now are in its custody. The former acting director of Homeland Security says President Biden's approach is not the way to stop the waves of migrants.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHAD WOLF, FORMER ACTING DIRECTOR, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY: I think you got to get serious about stopping the current flow. You got to get serious about putting in measures that are going to secure that border so that you funnel people to legal points of entry. And that you're able to vet them. Were able to check them out, so we understand who's coming into our front door to this country. And if you don't do that -- and you really need to do that first and foremost. Because we've seen it time and time again and facts show you, that if you don't do that, you want to just continue to reform the legal pathway, it's not going to work at the end day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: But right now, thousands of migrants are camping out in cities on both sides of the border waiting for May 11th. CNN's Rosa Flores is in the border city of El Paso, Texas where officials and advocates for the migrants say their safety net is already at the breaking point.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The city of El Paso under a state of emergency. As hundreds of migrant's camp outside shelters, on the streets, in alleys and parking lots ahead of the lifting of the pandemic era rule known as Title 42, which allows immigration agents to swiftly expel some migrants to Mexico.

FLORES: How would you characterize what you're seeing right now?

JOHN MARTIN, THE OPPORTUNITY CENTER FOR THE HOMELESS: Scary.

FLORES (voice-over): John Martin runs the Opportunity Center for the Homeless and says the surge started last Tuesday when 70 migrants started camping outside. Now, nearly 700 total.

MARTIN: We haven't had the opportunity to come out here and actually talk to each of these folks one by one.

FLORES: Because so many have arrived so quickly?

MARTIN: Exactly.

FLORES (voice-over): And the flow of migrants? Arriving by train to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, across the border from El Paso, is growing, too, say officials. CNN was there in April.

FLORES: Were you coming on the train?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Si.

FLORES (voice-over): As migrants like Emerson Duarte (ph) from Nicaragua jumped off the train with his four children and his wife.

FLORES: She says her children haven't eaten in 4 days.

FLORES (voice-over): The Duartes are part of a large group of migrants who are arriving in northern Mexico and staying on the streets, in hotels, or migrant shelters.

Like this one, the pain of the migrant struggle palpable during church service. Hilario Garcia embraces his two boys and says, he and his wife couldn't live in their native Nicaragua anymore.

HILARIO GARCIA, MIGRANT FROM NICARAGUA: It's difficult and dangerous for me.

FLORES (voice-over): Especially after he protested against his government in 2018.

Garcia shows us --

GARCIA: A small shot.

FLORES (voice-over): He still has a pellet in his arm, which he says came from Nicaraguan security forces.

Nearly 40,000 migrants are in northern Mexico, according to officials and community leaders. In Tijuana, about 9,000 are waiting. In Reynosa and Matamoras, more than 17,000, and in Ciudad Juarez, up to 12,000. Their desire to seek asylum in the U.S. varies.

For this woman from Guatemala -- it was gang threats and her son's death.

For the family getting off the train --

FLORES: He says that they left Nicaragua because of political oppression there.

FLORES (voice-over): Back in El Paso, if this time lapse of a walk around one city block is a preamble.

FLORES: About how long can you go based on the resources that you have?

MARTIN: Best guess right now, I'd estimate Friday.

FLORES (voice-over): Community leaders say the end of Title 42 could be one for the history books.

FLORES: Now take a look around me. You can see that there are hundreds of migrants here in the streets El Paso. Which the obvious question is, if Title 42 was still in effect, which means that immigration agents are able to swiftly return migrants back to Mexico, then why are there so many migrants in the United States? Well, here's the answer. From talking to those migrants and officials on both sides of the border, they tell me because there's tens of thousands of migrants who are waiting in northern Mexican cities, a lot have lost patience.

[04:10:00]

Some have turned themselves into immigration authorities, others have simply crossed illegally.

Rosa Flores, CNN, El Paso, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: The U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates today for a second time this year. Experts say it's likely to increase by a quarter point. It comes just days after the collapse of First Republic Bank, the second-biggest bank failure in U.S. history. It will be the tenth rate hike since March last year. The previous hike have consumers already dealing with high cost-of-living whilst having to pay more to borrow. CNN's Matt Egan explains why the Fed wants to go ahead with this hike.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: The Fed of course is likely to raise interest rates yet again this week, adding even more pressure on the banking system. Former FDIC chief Sheila Bair, she told me that the Fed really needs to pause these rate hikes right now. Because doing more is only going to add more pressure. Bair urges Fed Chair Jerome Powell to stop trying so hard to look tough on inflation because eventually it's going to backfire.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Of course, investors will be watching the Fed's decision. Here's how U.S. futures are looking right now. They are up currently. Probably rates will rise today, but could it affect future decisions? Stocks ended sharply lower on Tuesday as investors were fearful that turmoil in the banking sector hadn't been contained. The Dow, the S&P and the Nasdaq were all down.

Now the best chance to avoid a U.S. debt default could come next week when a source says House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has agreed to a meeting at the White House. The Treasury Secretary says the federal government will run out of money to its pay bills around June 1. Democrats want to raise the debt limit with no strings attached but Republicans are demanding spending cuts like those in the bill that recently passed the House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): The negotiation ought to be about the budget after we agree to avoid default.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So, they're saying a red line. They're saying a clean debt ceiling is a red line for them.

SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D-WV): There is no such thing as a red line. The bottom line is we're here to negotiate. We can't even talk about how we got ourselves in the position and start talking about how we're going to get ourselves out of it.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): It should be clear to the administration that the Senate is not a relevant player this time. They have got to have a measure that can pass the House. How does it pass the House? As I said, the support of the Speaker and I'm behind the Speaker.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: If the U.S. defaults on its debt, the consequences would be huge. Borrowing costs for Americans will go up, Social Security payments may be late. Veterans' benefits could be suspended and federal employees may not get paid. CNN's Phil Mattingly has more from the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen certainly shook-up Washington when she made clear that the deadline everybody has known is looming over not just Washington, the entire country of when the debt ceiling will actually be breached. When default is a distinct possibility can be much sooner than expected.

However, for anybody who thought that might shift the dynamics of what to this point has been a months long stare down contest, it has not. White House officials maintaining the president is going to continue to hold the position that there will be no negotiations over raising or suspending the debt ceiling. There'll be no conditions. There'll be no spending cuts attached to it. It must be clean.

And Republicans have already passed a bill to raise the debt ceiling that includes dramatic spending cuts. Saying to some degree, that's the floor of a negotiation that at some point is nonexistent.

The president did make one move. Called all four congressional leaders, invited them to the White House on May 9. Making it clear that this is what they are going to discuss. But up through lenses that Republicans have said works for them.

The president will once again hammer home the reality that he is not willing to negotiate the debt ceiling. More than happy to have a longer-term discussion about fiscal and spending priorities. How to actually address a debt that's above $31 trillion. But when it comes to the debt ceiling, his position will be like this, according to White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It is Congress' constitutional obligation to act, not hold the full faith and credit of the United States hostage unless we allow them to make cuts to programs hard working Americans rely upon. Threatening to default and crash the economy unless the president agrees a with Speaker McCarthy's entire agenda isn't just unreasonable, it's dangerous.

MATTINGLY: Now to some degree there's an expectation in Washington -- certainly among Republicans -- that the president's position, hardline as it was, was a bluff, a negotiating ploy. But White House officials have maintained -- and with my conversations with them throughout -- is that is exactly opposite of the case.

They believe they hold the political high ground here. They think that this is a logical discussion considering the downside effects of what would happen if no agreement is reached, if no clean debt ceiling passes.

[04:15:00]

More importantly though -- and this comes from many of these officials having served in the Obama administration -- they want to put an end to the idea of using the debt ceiling as leverage in any negotiations forever. They don't want to deal with this anymore and they believe this is the moment to put their foot down and say no more.

Republicans, of course, have made clear that is not an acceptable answer or offer and they need something.

So, how does this actually end? It is a very open question right now. Whether or not there's some type of off-ramp tied to a discussion about longer-term spending or fiscal issues, that would be the logical way out, at least in past negotiations. But Republicans have made clear spending cuts must be attached to a debt ceiling increase. Biden administration says the exact opposite. Obviously, something is going to have to give or else the country is going to default.

Phil Mattingly, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Now an intense exchange of fire between Palestinian militants in Gaza and the Israeli military has come to an end at least for now. The massive round of rockets and airstrikes was sparked by the death of Khader Adnan, a prominent figure for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad who died after a months long hunger strike in Israeli custody. CNN's Hadas Gold is live for us in Jerusalem. What's the atmosphere like they are in right now?

HADAS GOLD, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Max, since the early hours of this morning, a truce has held so far. It hasn't really been broken. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad saying that they -- said that confrontation has ended. The Israeli military not necessarily calling it a ceasefire because they say they will have no cease-fire with militants in Gaza. Then said messages have been exchanged.

And there is an understanding that this latest rather intense round of fighting is over at least for now. But what we know overnight is that at least 100 rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel. The Israeli military responding with at least two rounds of airstrikes where they say both military jets and helicopters were used. The Israeli military saying that they targeted 16 sites that they said belong to Hamas. They say they used everything from weapons manufacturing sites to underground tunnels.

Now in terms of casualties, we did just learn in the last couple of hours that one Palestinian man in his 50s was killed in one of those airstrikes and at least five others were injured. That's according to the health ministry in Gaza.

In Israel yesterday at least three people were injured by rocket shrapnel, one of them a man in his 20s suffered serious injuries as a result of this shrapnel. It goes to show you how intense -- it was short but it was rather intense round of fighting between the militants in Gaza and Israel.

One interesting thing to note though, is it does seem as though while Hamas was involved and while Hamas was the main target from the Israeli military, this was really being led by Islamic Jihad. And that's because of course, Khader Adnan, as you know was a leader in Islamic Jihad. He died yesterday as a result of a more than 86-day long hunger strike while he was being held in an Israeli prison.

Khader Adnan may not be well known around the world but here in this region he became really the face of Palestinian resistance and of Palestinian prisoners. He had been imprisoned by Israel at least ten times since the early 2000s. And this was not his sixth hunger strike. It was actually his sixth hunger strike. But he was found dead in his cell yesterday morning. The Israeli prison authorities saying that he had been refusing medical care. But of course, the reaction from that death we see could reverberate across this region -- Max.

FOSTER: Hadas in Jerusalem, thank you. Just into CNN, a 7th grade boy in in the Serbian capital of Belgrade

is accused of opening fire in an elementary school and he's been arrested. Our affiliate N1 reports five children were wounded. Authorities say the boy had brought his father's gun to the school. It's still very early in the investigation. We'll bring you any new details as they come in.

Still to come, a campus and city on edge following three stabbings near the University of California Davis. What police are saying about the search for a suspect.

Plus, more dramatic testimony on the stand in the civil battery and defamation trial against Donald Trump. We'll have the latest from New York.

Also, new violence is rattling Sudan despite talk of a longer ceasefire. We'll have a live report after this short break.

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FOSTER: We're getting new reports of heavy clashes today in Sudan. Witnesses say there were explosions near the presidential palace in Khartoum. Airstrikes and antiaircraft fire were also reported in a nearby city. This comes just hours after Sudan's warring factions agreed in principle to a new ceasefire starting on Thursday -- according to neighboring mediator South Sudan. This truce is supposed to last a week but a series of earlier cease-fires all failed to stop the fighting. CNN senior Africa editor Stephanie Busari is live for us in Lagos. The other issue here is getting aid into the country as they get foreign nationals out.

STEPHANIE BUSARI, CNN SENIOR EDITOR, AFRICA: Yes, good morning, Max. The aid situation has been severely hampered just because the aid workers have not been able to get into the country. There's not a break in the fighting to allow a safe passage, a humanitarian corridor to deliver aid safely.

The World Food Program earlier this week said that it was going to resume some of its operations in safer parts of the country. But it has lost some workers early on in the conflict and the U.N. relief chief has just arrived in the country. And he tweeted earlier. Let me read what he had said as he arrived in the country, Max.

That he said that he just arrived in Port Sudan to reaffirm the U.N.'s commitment to the Sudanese people and he said that he was in awe of the unwavering dedication of the humanitarian community and local volunteers doing their best to help.

[04:25:00]

So, he is there now to assess the situation. He's in Port of Sudan. And to see how they can start getting this urgently needed aid into -- for the Sudanese people who've been living mostly without enough food supplies, enough water supplies, power, you know, very -- unstable power supplies as well. And with the health care and medical supplies also very, very low. So, there is hope that aid will now start to get into the country -- Max.

FOSTER: OK. Stephanie in Legos, thank you.

A short while ago, Iran's president arrived in Damascus for talks with Syrian President Bashir al-Assad. According to Iranian state media, the trip marks the first state visit by an Iranian head of state to Damascus since the Syrian civil war began 12 years ago. CNN's Nada Bashir is joining us. So, I men, so many things to look at here. The dynamics are interesting.

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Absolutely. I mean, over the course of the civil war in Syria, Iran has remained a staunch backer and ally of President Bashir al-Assad. Also providing crucial military and financial support. In this is clearly a signal from Iran that they will continue to maintain and even strengthen that relationship between Iran and Syria.

Now we've heard from state media reporting that Ebrahim Raisi, the president in Iran, will be seeking to establish -- re-establish and to strengthen those ties with Syria focusing on trade, on the economy and of course on political and diplomatic ties between the two nations.

He is traveling with a high-level delegation. They will be meeting as well as with President Bashir al-Assad, with other Syrian officials. And as well taking time during the two-day visit to meet with Iranian and Syrian businessmen currently in Syria as well as visiting some religious sites in the country.

And of course, the backdrop of all this is very interesting. This is happening as Syria essentially moves out of what has been a prolonged state of isolation from its regional neighbors, the Arab state gradually building -- rebuilding those relations with the Syrian government. We've also seen Iran, of course, strengthening its relations with its Arab neighbors. Just in March we saw a significant deal between struct between Saudi Arabia and Iran, reestablishing those relations there. So, this is a hugely significant development and it is the first time that we have seen an Iranian president visiting the country in over a decade.

FOSTER: OK, Nada, thank you so much. Will be following that in great detail.

Still to come, a man is arrested after allegedly attacking a United Airlines employee. We'll have more on how the incident unfolded.

But first the search for a suspect in California after three stabbings near the campus of U.C. Davis. We'll have the latest on the investigation.

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