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Unabomber Ted Kaczynski Dies At 81; Trump Speaks At Georgia GOP Convention; Trump Calls Federal Criminal Indictment "Ridiculous And Baseless"; Pence Calls On AG Garland To Speak On Indictment; Top Trainers Violated Medication Rules Meant To Protect Racehorses; Colorado Widow Says Police Failed To Respond Quickly To Alleged Hostage Situation Leading To Husband's Death. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired June 10, 2023 - 17:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:00:53]

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. Jim Acosta has the day off.

I'm Alex Marquardt in Washington. Thank you so much for joining us.

We came to know him as a country by a single name, the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, who killed three people and injured many others with sophisticated bombs that he mailed or hand delivered.

He is now dead. He was found lifeless in his prison cell. Kaczynski was 81 years old. The Unabomber case eluded the FBI for nearly two decades until Kaczynski's own brother helped crack the case.

Following this development for us is CNN's Polo Sandoval and for more perspective, CNN's senior law enforcement analyst and the former deputy director of the FBI Andrew McCabe.

Andrew, stay with us. I want to first ask Polo to bring us up to speed on how Kaczynski died, Polo.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So here's what we know directly coming from the Federal Bureau of Prisons. We know that Ted Kaczynski was found overnight unresponsive in his cell. He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Just a bit of background here. He had been -- in 2021, in December of 2021, he had been moved to a security federal medical center in Butner, North Carolina which houses prisoners with special medical needs.

He was transferred there from Colorado Super Max where he was about two decades into serving those eight life sentences after his 1998 guilty plea, admitting to sending a series of mail bombs and 16 devices which killed three people and wounded 23.

His reign of terror spanning 17 years starting in 1978 until his eventual arrest in 1996. He planted bombs on an airplane, in a university building, near a computer store, even mailing them to professors and executives.

His own words that were later published in a manifesto where what eventually led FBI agents to his off the grid cabin in 1996, tipped off by his own brother and sister-in-law.

This is what is -- this is what his brother and sister-in-law shared with reporters in 2016.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID KACZYNSKI, BROTHER OF TED KACZYNSKI: When she said, well, I think maybe your brother's the Unabomber, I thought, well, this is not -- this is not anything to worry about. Ted's never been violent. I've never seen him violent.

LINDA PATRIK, SISTER-IN-LAW OF TED KACZYNSKI: He had posted the first few pages of the manifesto on the screen -- computer in the lobby of the library. So Dave went with me, and then as Dave read the first page, I was sitting at his side, and his jaw dropped.

KACZYNSKI: I thought I was going to read the first page of this, turn to Linda and say, see, I told you so. But on an emotional level, it just sounded like my brother's voice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: It's such important insight that adds perspective. Decades later here as part of a deal with prosecutors to avoid the death penalty, he did admit to those 16 bombings.

At the time of the 1998 sentencing, Alex, the widow of Joe Murray, one of his victims said, quote, "he will never, ever kill again", Alex.

MARQUARDT: It's just remarkable to hear about that chilling moment from his own brother. Polo Sandoval, thank you so much for bringing us that report.

Now, the Unabomber case stumped the FBI from 1978 until 1996, almost 20 years. It wasn't until Kaczynski brother came forward with that suspicion that the FBI got the break that they had needed.

CNN senior law enforcement analyst Andrew McCabe, again he's the former deputy director of the FBI. Andrew, this was a story, a saga that gripped the country and, of course, the FBI for years.

What are your thoughts learning now that Kaczynski is dead?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, Alex, I mean it's truly, you know, the final chapter in this sad and tragic story, certainly for the victims involved. But it was a seminal case in the history of the FBI.

There are some investigations that really survive the test of time and then remain in the public consciousness. This is certainly one of those. One that bedeviled the organization for, as you said, two decades. [17:04:53]

MCCABE: I think it's also a case that really changed the way the FBI thought about these sort of investigations and the way that we thought about some of our own capabilities, how to more effectively use the public to generate leads on a dormant investigation.

I was not a part of the investigation. I actually arrived at Quantico about four months after the Unabomber was arrested. But even at that early time, I mean I remember studying this case in Quantico as an example of both what to do and what not to do.

MARQUARDT: Can you speak more to that? How that changed the way that you investigated, that you reached out, as you said, to the general public. How did it change the way that the FBI went about things?

MCCABE: Well, you know, you can put yourself back in that moment in '95 when the -- when the manifesto has been received, and you can imagine the kind of conversation that took place around the table with senior leadership from the FBI and the Department of Justice debating the pros and cons of actually publishing that manifest -- asking, really requesting that the two kind of pre-eminent newspapers in the country run the manifesto on their periodicals.

There's a down side to doing that, right. The risk in doing that is you give this person, this extremist, this terrorist a platform, and exposure to that sort of material can have an inspirational effect on other like-minded individuals, that you run the risk of provoking additional violence.

On the other hand, it might be the only way to generate, to really kind of shake the tree, right. To see, to reach in a very broad way everyone who might recognize that manifesto or that language.

Attorney General Janet Reno pushed for that. It was ultimately her decision, and she decided to go with that approach.

And you know, what we learned from that, I personally saw used in cases like the Boston bombing where I can remember sitting in Robert Muller's office with others and debating the pros and cons of releasing to the public the photographs that we had uncovered of the bombers before we knew who they were or where they were. And of course, we made the same decision in that case.

So you can see these echoes of things the institution learned in the Unabomber case and then employing them in other large significant investigations.

MARQUARDT: As you say, the last chapter in a story that really did grip this country.

Andrew McCabe, Thank you so much for your time and your perspective today.

Now former president Donald Trump, he is on the campaign trail once again in Georgia this afternoon, just one day after his historic federal criminal indictment on charges of mishandling classified top secret documents and obstructing justice.

He made his first public comments on the indictment a short time ago at the Georgia State Republican Convention.

That's where we find our Kristen Holmes, joining us live from Columbus. Kristen, the former president, he has once again called the indictment a witch hunt. How is what he's saying today landing among the folks there at the convention?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alex, they loved it. We had long asked since this happened -- so I guess not long, just in the last couple of days -- how Republicans across the country were going to react.

I has spoken to so many Republicans, particularly around Washington, around Trump's inner circle who were concerned.

However, here in Georgia, they did not seem to have any concerns. They cheered him on, they enjoyed his lines where he mocked Hillary Clinton. He called Jack Smith deranged. He went after former (SIC) President Biden.

He called it a joke, this federal indictment, saying that it was horrible for the country.

Take a listen to just some of what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The ridiculous and baseless indictment of me by the Biden administration's weaponized Department of Injustice will go down as among the most horrific abuses of power in the history of our country.

Jack Smith, what do you think his name used to be? I don't know. Does anybody -- Jack Smith, sounds so innocent. He's deranged. This is a political hit job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And Alex, it's very clear that we knew that Trump was going to paint this as political, but he's also painting it as election interference not just Democrats coming after him but Democrats and Biden specifically coming after him because he's running for president in 2024.

Now, I do want to show you some footage here. Trump went to Waffle House to meet with a couple of voters here in Georgia after his event and you can see Walt Nauta in this video with him. And I'm told that he's traveling with him today as his body man.

[17:09:48]

HOLMES: Of course, as we know, Nauta was charged with Trump indicted on six counts as part of that conspiracy. He's still keeping by Trump's side. We still don't have more details about what Walt Nauta's arrival in Miami is going to look like, but he has been with him since the White House and clearly this indictment is not changing that.

But again I just want to go back to Trump and his response here today. It is clear that the legal issues that he is facing, not just this federal indictment, but overall, are really clouding this campaign.

For 40 minutes of a roughly 90-minute speech, he talked about these legal issues. He did not only talk about the federal indictment but he also went after Fani Willis. He talked about the indictment in New York.

So this is taking up a large amount of oxygen in this campaign, and still as I talk to these advisers around him, these Republicans who say they just don't know what it means, how it plays out in the long term in terms of the 2024 election.

MARQUARDT: Yes. He may be calling it a witch hunt and dismissing it, but it's certainly clearly weighing him quite a bit and understandably so.

Kristen Holmes in Columbus, Georgia. Thank you very much.

So what's in the indictment against Donald Trump? Well, it contains new details about his handling of top secret documents and those boxes you see there. It includes never-before seen photos of boxes containing classified documents at various locations around Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

CNN's Zach Cohen joins me now to break down what is actually in this indictment -- 37 charges. How serious are they?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes Alex. Regardless of what Trump says from the rally stage, these are very serious criminal charges. And you know, it's not a decision that prosecutors took lightly to bring charges against a former president. And that's really laid out clearly in the indictment.

In fact if you read through this document. And there's a lot of detail in here and it spells out essentially what the prosecutors' narrative is for why they believe Trump not only retained sensitive U.S. secrets, classified documents that he wasn't supposed to have. But then when the government tried to get those documents back he resisted those efforts too.

So in total, we're seeing 37 different counts against Trump. 31 of those deal with the retention of National Defense Information. So this includes things -- in the case of Trump, like information about the U.S. nuclear programs, information about defense and weapons capabilities, vulnerabilities that the U.S. has to attack from foreign countries and what the response options might be if they get in an attack like that.

You know, the other accounts that we're seeing here deal with more of an obstruction. Similarly detailed in this indictment, they really lay out how Trump in their minds, you know, really tried to assert his power over, you know, close associates like Walt Naut who Kristen mentioned and even tried to get his lawyers to help him prevent the government from getting the records back.

MARQUARDT: Those 31 counts, 31 documents because they're classified, we only have a very short summary of what topics they actually covered -- nuclear as you mentioned, military contingency plans.

But what we do see there also the levels of classification. So what does that tell us about how sensitive those documents are?

COHEN: Yes. You not only see top secret and secret labels throughout this sort of appendix of documents that they found, but you also see that some of the additional markings, additional restrictions compartmentalized documents are so sensitive that they're redacted.

You don't even know where those -- how sensitive those documents are because their sensitivity is redacted on the document.

But basically what you can tell is that these are incredibly sensitive. And not only that, the indictment includes photographs of where Trump left these documents at Mar-a-Lago, these sensitive U.S. military secrets. You see them everywhere from being left in a ballroom to a bedroom to even a shower.

There's one photo in particular where you see a sensitive Five Eyes intelligence document, one that can only be shared with the closest U.S. foreign allies, and it's strewn about on the floor of a storage room along with newspapers, clippings and other various documents themselves.

So you know, prosecutors really trying to make clear, hammer home the point that these are incredibly sensitive materials, and they were left, you know, throughout Mar-a-Lago with pretty much reckless abandon.

MARQUARDT: The documents ARE so sensitive that the level of classification was redacted indicating we've been told that those were codeword classified, meaning a very small number of people can actually see them.

Zack Cohen, you have been all over this story. Terrific reporting. Really appreciate it, Thank you.

Let's bring in now Yale Law professor and former special counsel at the Pentagon, Oona Hathaway. Thanks you so much for joining me.

I want to get a sense first of how you think this is now going to play out in court. We know that the former president has to show up on Tuesday. Game out for us what we can expect to see after that.

OONA HATHAWAY, YALE LAW PROFESSOR: I think what we can expect is that Trump's lawyers are going to try to delay, delay, delay. And I think their strategy is likely to be to try and push this back as long as possible.

And the strategy there is probably hope that if Trump is the Republican nominee, he has a chance of being elected president, if he's elected president, then the case would almost certainly be suspended while he's in office.

[17:14:56]

HATHAWAY: So my expectation is that they're going to use a lot of delay tactics to try and push this out past the presidential election with hopes that he may not face charges for many years to come.

MARQUARDT: And of course, we heard Jack Smith yesterday, the special counsel, saying that he hopes that this can be done or carried out in a speedy fashion.

I also want to play a little bit of what he said in a very brief statement that he made yesterday. He really highlighted the dangers that these documents being out there could cause to U.S. national security. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACK SMITH, SPECIAL COUNSEL INVESTIGATING DONALD TRUMP: The men and women of the United States intelligence community and our Armed Forces dedicate their lives to protecting our nation and its people. Our laws that protect National Defense Information are critical to the safety and security of the United States, and they must be enforced. Violations of those laws put our country at risk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: Oona, I want to ask you to put on your national security hat. What long-term impacts do you see because of this?

HATHAWAY: Well look, this is really an extraordinary set of events that are laid out in this indictment. The president is charged with really treating these documents, which have the most serious national security secrets, with complete and utter reckless abandon. He stored them, as the last guest explained, in these haphazard ways, lying all over Mar-a-Lago in totally insecure locations. He sort of shows them to people. And he's really treating these national security secrets, which really people -- it's not an exaggeration to say people die for these secrets, people die to obtain these secrets, people die to keep them secret.

It really is an extraordinarily important part of our national security strategy to maintain these secrets, and the president really treated them as if they were sort of party favors, left them lying around.

That's extraordinarily dangerous. And you know, this is why I think that the special counsel really felt there wasn't a choice but to bring this case forward.

The president is on tape, and it's recounted in the indictment, basically admitting to the charges. He basically says, I have a document here, it's secret, I could have declassified it, but I didn't.

MARQUARDT: Right. HATHAWAY: So it's very hard under the circumstances to not bring the charges.

MARQUARDT: Yes. And he showed someone a map, a classified map according to the indictment.

We only have a couple of moments left. But I want to point out that this does come on the heels of that first class airman in Massachusetts Jack Teixeira also posting hundreds of classified documents. So now we have someone at the very top and someone near the bottom mishandling these classified documents. How embarrassing do you think this is for American national security officials?

HATHAWAY: I think it's really embarrassing, and I think it's an opportunity for us to really rethink our national security classification system. I think it's evidence that it's pretty broken. And, you know, for a long time, people like me have been calling for reassessment of our classification system.

I think these crises -- these events really I think hammer home how important it is for us to rethink how we manage our national security secrets.

MARQUARDT: Yes. Certainly something that DIC and the military are thinking about right now.

We have to leave it there. Oona Hathaway, thank you very much for your time and your expertise on that.

HATHAWAY: Thank you.

MARQUARDT: Now, before the indictment came out, Trump was arguing that it would be unfair to charge him because of President Joe Biden. Daniel Dale is back with another fact check right when we come back.

Plus, a new CNN analysis after a dozen horses died at Churchill Downs in the weeks leading up to the Kentucky Derby.

And later with relations deteriorating between two of the world's biggest super powers, U.S. Intelligence suggest that China could be building a spy base not far from the U.S. Southeastern shores.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

[17:18:56]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUARDT: Donald Trump speaking at two public venues on the campaign trail today. One in Georgia just a short time ago and another to come in North Carolina, that's later tonight.

Trump has already made some comments today in reference to the 37 federal indictment counts against him. He's been addressing his own case, but he's also attacking President Joe Biden. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: By the way, Biden's got 1,850 boxes. He's got boxes in Chinatown, D.C. He's got boxes all over the place. He doesn't know what the hell they're doing. He's fighting them on the boxes. He doesn't want to give the boxes.

And then they say Trump is obstructioning (SIC). He's obstructing. No, it's a sad day for the country. Think of it, 1,850 boxes he had. Mine is peanuts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: CNN's Daniel Dale joins us now to fact check those latest comments by Trump. So Daniel these 1,850 boxes in Chinatown, D.C. What's he talking about?

DANIEL DALE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He's talking about 1,850 boxes that have precisely zero relevance to his own case. More specifically, Alex, these are boxes that President Biden donated very publicly, legally and normally in 2012 to the University of Delaware, his alma mater.

The key point here is that they are boxes from his 36-career as a United States senator. Why that's so important? Well, if you're the president, you're subject to the Presidential Records Act, which says that all of your records are owned by the federal government when you leave office.

There is no Senate Records Act. If you're a senator, you own your office's records, and you can do whatever you want with them. You can decorate your house with them, give them to your dog, you can do absolutely anything.

The president, like many senators, donated them to a university, and that is again, entirely normal.

The second key difference between the Biden case and the Trump case is that there is no current indication, Alex, that there is anything classified in these 1,850 boxes of Biden's Senate records.

[17:24:55]

DALE: The FBI conducted two searches of the University of Delaware with the Biden legal team's consent. and as of February, when they have done initial analysis of these documents, a source told our colleague, Paula Reid (ph) that there was no sign that there was any classified marking on any of these documents.

MARQUARDT: This is something we've heard from him before. We heard it at our own CNN townhall. Is there any relevance to the indictment that he is now facing?

DALE: I don't think so.

He's trying to create relevance by saying things like Biden has been obstructive about these boxes. He's been totally uncooperative, won't let anyone look at them. Again that's wrong. He's let the FBI look at them.

He even said at the town hall that no one knows where these boxes are. We do know where they are. They're at the college, at the University of Delaware, where they have been since 2012.

The university published an article on its Website when they arrived. Still has a web page saying that the papers are there. They have not vanished whatsoever.

MARQUARDT: So 36 years in the Senate. They're now at the University of Delaware. And why is that not improper?

DALE: Well because, again, if you're a senator, you can donate your boxes wherever you want. You can even throw them in the trash. There's no law saying that you have to retain them, you have to preserve them, you have to do anything with them. They are yours to do what you wish. And the most common thing, according to the Senate's own Web site, is to donate them to a research institution. That's precisely what former senator, now President Biden did.

MARQUARDT: And he is being looked into, these cases being looked into by the DOJ, by another special counsel.

And we should remind our viewers that former Vice-President Mike Pence, he also had classified documents that he gave back quickly, and the DOJ just announced that there would be to prosecution against him.

So again, this is a very, very different case that includes obstruction and conspiracy when it comes to the former president Donald Trump.

Daniel Dale, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Now, candidates for the GOP nomination are weighing in on the former president's indictment. The impact that it's already having on the 2024 presidential race, that's next.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

[17:26:52]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:31:07]

MARQUARDT: Former President Donald Trump is on the campaign trail again today in Georgia making some of his first public comments since being indicted on federal criminal charges related to the mishandling of classified documents.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The ridiculous and baseless indictment of me by the Biden administration's weaponized Department of Injustice will go down as among the most horrific abuses of power in the history of our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: And with me now is former Republican Congressman Joe Walsh and former Clinton White House Press Secretary, Joe Lockhart.

Joes, thank you so much for joining me today.

I want to go to you first, Joe Lockhart.

You've heard some of what the former president said on the campaign trail, his first public comments since that indictment came down. What do you make of his response?

JOE LOCKHART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I mean, it's typical Trump rhetoric. He knows that his people, the MAGA folks, will believe anything that comes out of his mouth, so a lot of unbelievable things come out of his mouth.

We know what his strategy will be, which is the system is rigged, rigged against him. His voters believe that. And it's actually in an odd way politically, an example of it being rigged when he gets indicted for something he says is ridiculous.

MARQUARDT: And, Joe Walsh, does that work? We saw -- we know that in some ways it does -- after the indictment in Manhattan, his poll ratings actually went up.

Is this different, though, now, because it's federal?

JOE WALSH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Alex, I actually think -- and maybe this is contrary -- this indictment really helps Trump politically. This is right in his wheelhouse.

He's always the victim. The Deep State is always coming after him. He's the one that's targeted, not Hillary or Biden or Pence.

He's going to play that victim thing, the Deep State coming after him. And that's music, sadly, to the Republican-based voter.

MARQUARDT: And that's going to drown out a lot of what his opponents will be saying because this is going to be -- it is such a big story.

But one of the things we saw in the indictment yesterday was several instances where President Trump himself spoke out in the past, as he was running for president and while he was president, about severe punishment for anyone who mishandled classified documents.

Let's take a listen to what he had to say on this exact subject.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: In my administration, I'm going to enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information. (CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: No one will be above the law.

We can't have someone in the Oval Office who doesn't understand the meaning of the word confidential or classified.

One of the first things we must do is to enforce all classification rules and to enforce all laws relating to the handling of classified information.

We also need the best protection of classified information.

Servicemembers here in North Carolina have risked their lives to acquire classified intelligence to protect our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: Joe Lockhart, do you expect that any of the former president's opponents, whether it's in the Republican field or from President Joe Biden, will be using those act clips as they run against him?

LOCKHART: You know, I don't think so. I think the Biden administration will stay out of this as long as they can. It just -- it would -- it helps their cause to just be quiet, and I hope that they will be.

This is -- I agree with what Joe Walsh just said, that this really helps Trump because it makes his case.

But it does something else, too, which is it ties up everybody who's running against him. They cannot win the Republican nomination without these base conservative MAGA voters.

[17:35:05]

And now, their leader, who's under attack, they have to get behind. And if they don't get behind him, they might get good press for saying something, but they won't get votes.

So you're going to see a lot of sort of political gymnastics over the next couple of days among Trump's opponents. But they know they can't use those clips, they can't charge him with hypocrisy, and they know they have to support him on this.

MARQUARDT: It's remarkable to see some of these candidates try to walk that line.

One of them being the former president's own former vice-president, Mike Pence, who has been critical of President Trump, but also has said that all of this essentially should just go away.

Now, Pence is calling on the attorney general, Merrick Garland, to publicly justify this indictment. Let's take a listen to a little bit of what he had to say earlier in

North Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Today, I'm calling on the attorney general to stand before the American people and explain why this was necessary in his words.

Attorney general Merrick Garland, stop hiding behind the special counsel and stand before the American people and explain why this indictment went forward.

(APPLAUSE0

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: Joe Walsh, I would assume that most people will not read a 49-page legal document. They will certainly hear about it in the press.

Do you think something like that is necessary if only to explain to Republican voters why this is such a serious issue?

WALSH: No. Because Republican voters are going to tune them -- Jack Smith out. They're not going to listen.

Joe Lockhart nailed it. This is the voters. DeSantis, Pence, Haley, Scott, any serious challenger to Trump, they're trapped now. They're in a position, Alex, where they have to echo Donald Trump.

Trump screams witch hunt, they all have to scream a variation of that because that's what the party voters want to hear. And if they don't, well then, they're done.

Chris Christie and Asa Hutchinson are not serious candidates, so they can criticize Trump.

But if you want the nomination, you have to echo Trump's witch hunt.

MARQUARDT: It's going to be very, very interesting to watch.

Joe Lockhart, we only have a few moments left.

You noted the White House is staying silent. Is there anything they can do to drive the point home that Merrick Garland and the rest of DOJ and Jack Smith are acting independently, that they're not in cahoots with the White House?

LOCKHART: They can do one thing. They can say nothing. Every time they're asked in the briefing room, if they're asked 100 times, the answer should be, we have nothing to add.

MARQUARDT: So far, they are adhering to that advice.

Joe Walsh, Joe Lockhart, thank you both very much. Appreciate the conversation.

And coming up, horseracing in the spotlight. As the sport's best trainers rake in millions, records show that they violated rules aimed at keeping the animals safe. A CNN investigation next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. WILL FARMER, EQUINE MEDICAL DIRECTOR, CHURCHILL DOWNS: It's been a really, really big challenge. It is definitely concerning to all of us, not only at Churchill Downs, but as an industry, that we want -- we want an answer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:42:19]

MARQUARDT: It is one of the biggest days in horseracing, the Belmont Stakes, the final leg of the Triple Crown. And it gets underway in just over an hour's time.

But this year's race is being overshadowed by the recent surge in horse deaths at racetracks. Plus, there's no chance of a 2023 Triple Crown champion this year.

As horseracing elites saddle up for the run of tonight's Belmont, a CNN analyst of disciplinary records finds that the top-earning trainers violated medication rules.

And as CNN investigative correspondent, Pamela Brown, uncovers, many are still racing their horses and pocketing winnings while paying minimal fines.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One of the biggest days in racing. Hours before the Preakness Stakes --

ANNOUNCER: (INAUDIBLE)

BROWN -- tragedy strikes.

ANNOUNCER: Losing the rider, having a meltdown.

BROWN: A horse injured, the jockey thrown, the horse euthanized right on the track.

BOB BAFFERT, HALL OF FAME HORSE TRAINER: It's been a very emotional day.

BROWN: It was supposed to be a triumphant come back for that horse's trainer, Hall of Famer Bob Baffert. Later that day, he won his first Triple Crown race since a

disqualification at the 2021 Kentucky Derby, just one of the horse deaths at America's top racetracks this season.

At Churchill Downs, home of the Derby, 12 horses died in about a month, leaving the facility to suspend racing operations.

FARMER: One horse fatality is important to me. There's no excuse for that.

BROWN: Dr. Will Farmer, the equine medical director at Churchill Downs, sat down with CNN.

(on camera): What do you make of this recent cluster of deaths?

FARMER: It's been a really big challenge. It's definitely concerning to all of us, not just to Churchill Downs, but as an industry, that we want an answer.

BROWN (voice-over): Part of the investigation includes whether the horses had preexisting injuries, which happens in more than 85 percent of horses with fatal injuries according to researchers.

They'll also look at what, if any, medication trainers gave their horses. Something as simple as an anti-inflammatory can mask the pain of a minor injury. So there are strict rules about what's allowed on race day.

FARMER: We want to make sure they're not going out with a potential injury that could become significant.

BROWN: Even the most successful trainers have broken those rules. A CNN analysis shows the 10 top-earning horse trainers in the U.S. have violations for excessive medications found in their horses, more 140 total infractions.

While some have few violations, others have more than a dozen over decades of racing. The penalties they faced: warnings, small fines, or brief suspensions.

LISA LAZARUS, CEO, HORSERACING INTEGRITY & SAFETY AUTHORITY: When you look at violations, the vast majority are medication violations. And that's really important but it's very different from the doping and cheating.

[17:45:04]

BROWN: Bob Baffert has had about two dozen medication violations, including a horse that placed first in the Kentucky Derby in 2021.

Churchill Downs suspended Baffert but he was able to race elsewhere and won nearly $10 million in prize money last year.

Baffert denies any wrongdoing at Churchill Downs and disputes some of the violations. He and other trainers blame a patchwork of changing state regulations and testing that doesn't account for differences between horses.

(on camera): Some of these trainers, Bob Baffert himself, argue that such a small amount could be detected if lab testing is so sensitive.

GRAHAM MOTION, HORSE TRAINER, FAIR HILL TRAINING CENTER: It's a very small amount, but it's very potent. That's the most important thing is to identify with the medication its potency.

We, as an industry, as a sport we are under tremendous pressure to improve how we handle things.

BROWN (voice-over): Horseman Graham Motion has won and placed in Triple Crown races. He says it's time for a change.

MOTION: I think, certainly, the scrutiny is warranted. It's inexcusable to have seven or eight horses die the week of the Kentucky Derby. It's a tragedy. But we need to be better regulated.

BROWN: Congress created an oversight group, and new nationwide rules just went into effect to standardize medication for horses.

LAZARUS: This is a seismic change for the industry, this is really the most dramatic thing that's happened in horseracing.

MOTION: Punishments are going to be more severe than they were.

BROWN (on camera); Do you think they are too laxed?

MOTION: Yes, I do.

BROWN: I mean, some people only got fined a couple hundred dollars.

MOTION: Yes, I think it's absurd.

BROWN (voice-over): About 1,000 horses die at racetracks every year in the U.S., according to Patrick Battuello, an activist who compiled information from state records.

(SHOUTING)

BROWN: His group wants to see horseracing banned all together.

PATRICK BATTUELLO, ACTIVIST: We see horseracing as no different from dog racing, which is all but dead in America.

MOTION Look around us. These horses are probably better taken care of than some human beings. We look after their every need.

BROWN: Graham Motion, who has two medication violations himself, says it's a delicate balance to care for horses.

MOTION: Horses are a very complicated animal.

BROWN (on camera): Have you ever had to make the decision to euthanize a horse because of an injury before a race?

MOTION: Yes.

BROWN: What's that like?

MOTION: Devastating.

BROWN (voice-over): As the investigation continues at Churchill Downs, the racetrack is trying to find other methods to prevent injuries, including state-of-the-art technology.

(on camera): How do you explain the tension between wanting them to go out there and win, and also wanting to take the best care of them possible?

MOTION: It's an extraordinary thing to see a horse go out and give their all, so it's our responsibility to take care of them. The most important thing is the welfare of the horse. It's not winning at all costs.

BROWN: Even with the new national standards and rules, it's unclear whether that would have prevented any of the recent horse deaths.

We are still waiting for some of the reports from Churchill Downs as well as those on the deaths at Preakness and Belmont -- Alex?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUARDT: Our thanks to our chief investigative correspondent, Pamela Brown, for that very important report.

A Colorado widow demanding answers. Why she says police were so slow to respond when she called 911 to say that her husband was possibly being held hostage and had to try to save him herself. That's next.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[17:52:45]

MARQUARDT: To Colorado Springs where a widow is accusing police of failing to respond quickly to an alleged hostage situation concerning her husband.

The woman's husband was found later dead less than a mile away from the Colorado Springs police headquarters, and about an hour after she placed that 911 call.

CNN's Camila Bernal is following this story.

Camila, what more are you learning?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Alex. So the majority of what we're learning is coming from Tali'Ja Campbell. She is this widow who says her husband texted her on June 2nd saying he needed help. That text message included a picture of a man that he was in the car

with, that you're seeing right there on the screen, and the words, "911 send please."

She says, that along with that picture, she also sent his location. So she was able to call 911 and immediately tell them exactly where he was and that he was allegedly being held hostage.

Now, she says that she did not see the urgency in the dispatch operator, so she decided to go to that location herself.

The problem was that she was about an hour away. She still went. And by the time she got there, she says she did not see any officers on the scene.

Instead, she saw her husband slumped over the driver's side of his car. And she says she fell to her knees. Was, of course, crying and distraught. And said she had to do even more than that.

Here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TALI'JA CAMPBELL, WIDOW OF MAN ALLEGEDLY KILLED IN HOSTAGE SITUATION: I wanted to check to see if he had a pulse. I opened the door and I put my fingers on his neck, I couldn't feel anything. I put my fingers on his wrist, I still couldn't feel anything.

So, my uncle was the only one that was big enough to help pull him out of the car in a pool of blood. It was me that had to try to perform CPR on my husband in a pool of blood.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERNAL: She was so emotional. She said she shouldn't have been the one to have to do that. And it is why she's asking for answers from the police Department of why it took them so long and what was taking priority over this incident.

[17:55:00]

The police department acknowledged the phone call but they say this is an open and active investigation so they can't comment on this phone call.

They released a statement, saying:

"We are aware there is information circulating about this case and we understand the concerns and questions that arise as a result. We will continue to gather all relevant details about Mr. Campbell's death and ensure the accuracy of our findings."

So again, very little details from the police department. So we'll have to wait for all of that. As this widow is planning a funeral and demanding those answers -- Alex?

MARQUARDT: Such a horribly tragic story.

Camila Bernal, thank you very much for that report.

And tomorrow on CNN NEWSROOM, Campbell's widow and her attorney will be joining Jim Acosta, live, to discuss their concerns. Join us for that interview tomorrow.

And coming up, sources have told CNN that Cuba has agreed to allow China to build a spy facility on that island. A former U.S. ambassador to China is here to react. That's next.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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