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CNN International: Special Counsel Sits In On Pence Testimony to Grand Jury; Chokehold Death of Homeless Man on NYC Subway Ruled a Homicide; Tucker Carlson Text in Spotlight Amid History of Race Baiting; Relevance of Monarchy in Modern-Day Britain. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired May 04, 2023 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo. And if you're just joining us, let me bring you up to date with our top stories this hour.
The U.S. Federal Reserve has increased interest rates a quarter point, that is the tenth-rate hike since last spring and moves rates to their highest level in 15 years. The decision comes amid instability in the banking sector.
And Israel says it killed two gunmen behind a deadly attack on a British Israeli mother and her two daughters in the West Bank last month. The third militant accused of aiding the gunmen was killed as well in a raid early Thursday in the West Bank city of Nablus.
CNN is now learning that special counsel Jack Smith is investigating the handling of surveillance footage from Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home following a subpoena last year. That we're told has prompted a new round of grand jury subpoenas. Sources also tell us that two long time Trump organization executives are set to appear before the grand jury in the hours ahead. All this is we're also learning that the special counsel said -- say some of the former vice president's testimony before the grand jury last week. CNN's Katelyn Polantz has more details from Washington.
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KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: The Special Counsel Jack Smith, working for the Justice Department investigating Donald Trump has been busy in recent weeks. Just last week, he was personally sitting in to witness some of the testimony of Former Vice President Mike Pence at a grand jury looking at Donald Trump and the aftermath of the 2020 election for possible federal crimes. That is not a typical thing. There are many prosecutors that work for Smith that are in and out of the grand jury, out of the federal courthouse almost daily.
I don't believe anyone has ever spotted Smith there personally, and he was in the room for some of that Pence testimony to witness it himself. Just underlining how serious of an investigation, how substantial a witness Mike Pence, the former vice president, was bringing him in under court order, under subpoena to testify to that grand jury. Potentially about his former boss, Donald Trump.
And Smith, like I said, has been very, very busy. He's busy in the coming days. We are learning not just related to the January 6th inquiry, is bringing in many, many witnesses. He's also having major allies of Donald Trump. People from the Trump Organization at its high levels, handling security, the chief operating officer are set to testify to the federal grand jury in Washington on Thursday.
Those men, their names are Matthew Calamari, Sr. and Matthew Calamari, Jr., father and son. They are the people that would be responsible for the handling of surveillance tapes by the Trump Organization. And they are of interest right now. We know because the Justice Department, Jack Smith, and his investigators, they are questioning them and others about the handling of surveillance footage that the Justice Department wanted to obtain last year.
It ultimately was turned over and showed employees of Donald Trump moving boxes in Mar-a-Lago at the resort out of the storage room.
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But now, the handling of that surveillance tape itself, when it was requested by the Justice Department, has become an area of inquiry into a possible obstruction case as well as related to Smith and his many inquiries on that side of the Mar-a-Lago documents case.
Katelyn Polantz, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: More witnesses are set to take the stand in the hours ahead in the civil battery and defamation trial against Donald Trump. The former president's attorney confirmed Wednesday that Trump's legal team will not put on a defense case and will not call a previously proposed expert witness due to logistical reasons. Trump is being sued by E. Jean Carroll who accuses him of sexually assaulting her in the 1990s. He denies the allegations. The judge says that he plans to instruct and charge the jury to begin deliberations on Tuesday.
Manhattan district attorney's office says it's investigating an incident where a man died after being put into a chokehold by another rider on a New York subway. We want to warn you that the video where about to show is disturbing to watch.
Witnesses say a 30-year-old man named Jordan Neely was acting erratic and hostile on a subway train Monday. You can see here that a fellow passenger put Neely in a chokehold. Authority say Neely lost consciousness and died a short time later at the hospital. A source says that Neely was homeless. Protestors took to the subway on Wednesday night chanting Black Lives Matter, the homeless matter.
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CROWD, CHANTING: Black lives matter. The homeless matter.
(END VIDEO CLIP) NOBILO: CNN has not been able to independently confirm what happened leading up to this incident. We also don't know how long Neely was restrained or if he was armed. But the medical examiner is now ruling his death a homicide.
New York officials say they won't be able to keep up with an expected flood of migrants coming to the city. Two more buses with migrants arrived on Wednesday sent by Texas Governor Greg Abbott. But the number of border crossings is expected to skyrocket after COVID restriction called Title 42 expires next Tuesday. And New York's mayor says that will be a major problem.
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ERIC ADAMS, (D) NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: Governor Abbott is reckless in his behavior by playing politics with human beings. He has done this since for a long period of time, since April of last year. And it has cost New Yorkers since April of last year to July, it has cost us up to this year, it has almost a billion dollars. Our migrants and asylum-seekers are not the issue. We need to be clear on that. It is what it's costing the city and were not being compensated by the national government. This is predicted to cost us $4.3 billion as we cycle out of the pandemic, this is a major financial crisis to our city.
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NOBILO: When the restrictions expire, the city is expected to see up to 1,000 migrants per day. 50,000 have already arrived since last spring. New York has converted 120 hotels to accommodate them.
U.S. regulators have approved the world's first vaccine for a respiratory virus called RSV. The drug made by the pharmaceutical company GSK is designed to be begin as a single shot to adults 60 and older. It still requires approval from an advisory committee from the Centers for Disease Control but could be available later on this year. RSV is often associated with babies and young children but can also be dangerous for seniors. In the U.S., an estimated 159,000 adults, 65 and older are hospitalized each year with the virus. And up to 13,000 people die as a result of their infection.
From Italy to Brazil, police across the globe team up for coordinated raids targeting one of the world's richest organized crime group. Details from a history making bust coming up next.
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NOBILO: We told you yesterday about a year's long investigation into dark web drug trafficking in which the U.S. and other countries arrested nearly 300 people across three continents. Now European authorities are celebrating what they are calling the largest ever coordinated hit on Italian organized crime. The EU law enforcement agency says 132 members of a crime syndicate based in Calabria were arrested on Thursday in synchronized raids from Brazil to Romania. Europol says that that group has a monopoly on drug trafficking across Europe.
The abrupt firing of Fox News host Tucker Carlson took many by surprise. But newly revealed text messages that Carlson sent to a producer in the hours after the January 6 insurrection gave a hint of what may have driven Fox to axe its biggest store. Tom Foreman has more.
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TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the turbulent wake January 6th insurrection, one incident caught the eye have been top Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
A group of Trump guys surrounded an Antifa kid and started pounding him. It was three against one at least. Jumping a guy like that is dishonorable. It's not how white men fight.
That text to our producer was redacted in court documents but shared with CNN from the Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit against Fox. And Carlson would later reject the notion of racism inflaming the crowd.
TUCKER CARLSON, FORMER FOX NEWS HOST: There's no evidence that White supremacists were responsible for what happened on January 6th. That's a lie.
FOREMAN (voice-over): But critics have long argued his rise to power ways propelled by embracing white nationalist ideas. For example, dismissing the Black Lives Matter movement as a tool primarily for shaming whites.
CARLSON: A small group of highly aggressive, emotionally charged activists took over our culture. They forced the entire country to obey their will.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Saying immigrants will make the country, quote, poorer, dirtier, and more divided.
CARLSON: The great replacement?
FOREMAN (voice-over): And suggesting Democrats want to push aside white voters with a flood of minorities.
CARLSON: It's going to overwhelm our country and change it completely and forever. And our viewers should know that.
OLIVER DARCY, CNN SENIOR MEDIA REPORTER: You know, over the years, he has trafficked in anti-immigration rhetoric. He has promoted the White nationalist great replacement theory. And this shouldn't really have come as a surprise, I think, to Fox and its executives.
JOHN OLIVER, TV HOST: He is the most prominent vessel in America for white supremacist talking points.
FOREMAN (voice-over): For comedians, it all made Carlson an easy target, even as he denied understanding the accusations.
CARLSON: White nationalism. Let's be literal for a moment. What is that, exactly?
CARLSON: I don't even know what white nationalist means and I'm not going to go down that rabbit hole with you now.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Indeed, even up to the end of his time at Fox, he routinely argued for changes he said will help minority communities and dismissed the whole idea of a rising White nationalist movement.
CARLSON: This is a hoax, just like the Russia hoax.
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The combined membership of every white supremacist organization in this country would be able to fit inside a college football stadium.
FOREMAN: What he might think about all of this now, we don't know. Neither Carlson nor Fox responded to CNN's request for any further comment about these latest revelations from the court documents.
Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
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NOBILO: Another big American retailer is pulling out of downtown San Francisco. Nordstrom blamed low customer foot traffic and the changing, quote, dynamics of the area that hasn't recovered since the pandemic and has been in the spotlight for crime. Both of the store's downtown locations will close in the summer when their lease. expires.
Numerous other brands have also said that they will pull out of the area. The San Francisco Standard has tracked 20 major store closures since 2020.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is accusing Facebook's parent Meta company of improperly sharing user data with third parties and failing to protect children. The commission says that this violates a $5 billion privacy settlement and is proposing some changes. Including barring Meta from making money off data collected from younger users and expanding limitations on using facial recognition technology. Meta calls the proposal a political stunt and has vowed to fight it.
And now counting down to the coronation of King Charles. So, we'll ask if the monarchy is still relevant in modern day Britain. That's coming up next.
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NOBILO: It is just two days until the coronation of King Charles. The ceremony will be Britain's first in seven decades. So, is there still broad support for the monarchy? We look at its place in modern day Britain.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And happy indeed by the revelers who welcome Britain's coordination here in Piccadilly.
NOBILO (voice-over): The longest interlude between two coronations in British history. Decades of demographic, religious and societal change raising questions about the relevance of the monarchy today.
1953 was full of post war joie de vi and excitement about a new young queen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They come to seek work in Britain.
NOBILO (voice-over): Despite waves of historic migration, Britain in the 1950s was overwhelmingly White and Christian and divided along class lines in society and the halls of power.
Today three of the four great offices of state, including the Prime Minister, are from minority backgrounds. 20 percent of the population today are from ethnic minority backgrounds too and rising. Many from countries subject to exploitation in the former British empire.
BIDISHA MAMATA, COLUMNIST: The monarchy itself has to find a respectful and humble place for itself without pretending that it doesn't have all of its privilege, all of its history and all of its baggage.
NOBILO (voice-over): But crumbling slowly after the second world war, Britain was still stratified along class lines in the 1950s.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A Duchess for example wears four rows.
NOBILO: Modern Britain is in many ways allergic to the idea of inherited privilege. Society at least strives to be egalitarian. But a recent poll commissioned by the BBC -- Britain's national broadcaster -- suggests that King Charles might have a problem appealing to young people. 38 percent of whom said that they would support an elected head of state. And indifference might be a problem too. 78 percent said that they weren't interested in the royal family.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's definitely time to rethink and I know a lot of people who loved Queen Elizabeth and I don't think that that same fondness is there for King Charles.
NOBILO: The monarch since the 16th century is also head of the Church of England. In 1953 the majority of the country was Christian.
NOBILO (voice-over): Today it is half that with a number of nonreligious and non-Christian faiths rising each year, with multifaith leaders playing a role in the coronation for the first time.
NOBILO: King Charles who has declared himself to be defender of all faiths was honored here at Britain's largest mosque ahead of the coronation. So, could this be an opportunity for all the communities in Britain to come together?
SABAH, AHMEDI, IMAN: With Islam, we're taught a part of your faith is lauded to a nation and we know coronation is a part history of this nation. And our citizens will respect that history.
NOBILO (voice-over): The coronation is a litmus test to how King Charles will be received by 2023 Britain and whether enthusiasm, apathy or opposition to the monarchy will shape his reign.
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NOBILO (on camera): And be sure to join our Max Foster, Christiane Amanpour and Anderson Cooper for special live coverage of the coronation of King Charles III. That is this Saturday May 6, starting at 10:00 a.m. in London, 5:00 a.m. in New York.
Now to the NBA playoffs. Just one game on the schedule, Philadelphia at Boston. And the Celtics have evened up the series thanks to a 25- point performance from Jaylen Brown. Malcolm Brogdon came off the bench to add 23 points for Boston and the game was never really that close.
Newly crowned MVP Joel Embiid was back on the court for the 76ers for first time since April 20th. He scored 15 points and blocked five shots. Final score, Celtics 121, 76ers 87.
On the ice the Carolina Hurricanes are off to a rousing start in the Stanley Cup series against the New Jersey Devils. Seth Jarvis scored the second of two goals in the lopsided first period. Brady Skjei went top shelf in the third period for the teams fourth goal. Final score was Carolina 5, New Jersey 1.
And in Las Vegas, the Golden Knights took game one from the Edmonton Oilers. Ivan Barbashev scored two of the six goals for Vegas but it was Edmonton's Leon Draisaitl who stole the show in a losing effort. He scored all four goals for the Oilers.
The first official trailer for the long awaited second installment in the June franchise debuted on Wednesday.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where you see sand, imagine water. If you dive in, you can't reach the bottom.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You dive in.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. It is called swimming.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't believe you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: The movies is based on Frank Herbert's iconic novel. It follows Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya and an ensemble cast as they're caught in the middle of a galactic revolution. Director Denis Villeneuve says that part two is an epic war movie and much more action packed in the first film. Film studio Warner Brothers and CNN share the same parent company. Dune: Part Two will premiere in theaters on November 3.
And police officers are trained to help people in need. But when a frantic driver approached a Florida sheriff's deputy on Sunday in a panic, it wasn't the average day on the job.
MASTER DEPUTY DANIEL JONES, FLORIDA POLICE: How far along you pregnant? She's forward. She's ready to go, she's ready to go.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, she's coming! She's coming!
JONES: She's coming.
There we go, I got a baby.
Don't push! Don't push! I got her.
There you go my man! I told you I didn't want to deliver a baby! I got the baby! Oh, pretty little girl.
That's a beautiful sound, Mama! Oh, yeah, that's a beautiful sound. Look at your baby, look at your pretty little girl!
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NOBILO: Master Deputy Daniel Jones helped deliver the baby in the front seat of her car on the side of the highway. And it turns out both mom and officer are kind of old hats at this. This was her sixth baby and third time that deputy James helped welcome a new life into the world.
And that does it here CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo in London. "EARLY START" with Christine Romans is next. May the fourth be with you.
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