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Shooting Takes Place During Parade In Boston's Dorchester Neighborhood; March On Washington Taking Place To Commemorate Civil Rights March 60 Years Ago; One Co-Defendant In Georgia Election Interference Case Remains In Fulton County Jail; Presidential Campaign For Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Announces Fundraising Success After First Primary Debate; FIFA Provisionally Suspends President of Spain's Soccer Federation After He Kisses Female Player Without Consent; Maui County Suing Electric Company For Negligence Leading To Wildfires. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired August 26, 2023 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:33]

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. It is Saturday, August 26th. I'm Rahel Solomon.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Amara Walker. You are in the CNN Newsroom.

And we begin this hour with breaking news. At least seven people are injured this morning after a mass shooting at a parade in Boston. Police say that several people have been arrested and multiple firearms have been recovered.

CNN's Polo Sandoval has the latest now. Polo, what do we know so far?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Amara and Rahel, good morning to you. At this point, there's zero indication that there's any actual active threat there, but the investigation is very much just getting started after an early morning shooting in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood. It left at least seven people hurt. We understand that their injuries, according to what Boston police have officially confirmed this morning, are not life threatening.

As you mentioned, we do also hear that there are several people who have already been arrested as well as firearms recovered. It's also important to point out that this happened during the city's Caribbean carnival that actually typically includes two parades. In fact, one of them was getting underway when those shots rang out. However, at this point, still we have not heard any sort of indication that this incident will interrupt today's festivities, though it certainly wouldn't be surprising if we at least see a delay in that given the scope of this investigation when you see some of the pictures coming from the scene. You can see that police there certainly have a large crime scene to cover and to go through.

But if there's any good news to report here, it's fortunately, again, none of the people who were hurt this morning. Unclear if they were directly from the shooting itself. All of them are expected to survive after, again, shots rang out in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood this morning at about 7:45. Still a lot to learn in this one. We'll certainly keep you posted on this one. Rahel, Amara?

WALKER: Thank you so much for monitoring this one, Polo Sandoval.

Let's turn now to Washington where tens of thousands are expected to gather to mark 60 years since the march on Washington. That was the day Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "I have a dream" speech, a day when 250,000 Americans from all over the nation converged on the National Mall to demand equal rights for all.

SOLOMON: And right now, let's take a look at live pictures in front of the Lincoln Memorial. We'll hear from civil rights leaders and the King family as they commemorate an historic moment in history. The podium is empty at the moment. CNN's Jason Carroll is there. So Jason, we know that some have already spoken today. What are we expecting?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think what we have been hearing so far this morning is a recurring theme, that the fight for civil rights continues, that it's not over. As I look out about the crowd that's gathered here behind us, I have spoken to people from Arizona, from Iowa, from New York. And they are all basically saying the same thing, that despite all that was accomplished here at the Lincoln Memorial 60 years ago, that the work continues, that there seems to be a movement, they say, in this country to turn the clock back, specifically, when it comes to advancements in civil rights, specifically when it comes to U.S. history. The feeling is that there's an attempt to try to erase U.S. history as it relates to African Americans.

I want you to listen to what some of the folks I spoke to this morning said about why they came out here today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONA WILEY, NATIONAL ACTION NETWORK, PHOENIX METRO CHAPTER: It hurts my soul that 60 years later, we're still fighting for equality. Our ancestors came -- they didn't come on willingly, but they came, they fought. And we're still fighting. It's going to continue until they treat us as equal.

REV. JOEL KING JR., COUSIN OF MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.: We've still have work to do. We're falling behind. We are not voting, we're not getting -- we're getting apathetic about what's going on in our society, and now we have got to bring this whole nation back together and continue to dream that Dr. King did in 63, and do it in 23 and 24.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: That was the cousin of Martin Luther King Jr. Also expected out here today, King's son Martin Luther King III, among other civil rights leaders. Some of the themes that we're expected to hear about voting rights, educational rights, economic equality, again over and over, people keep saying the fight continues. Back to you. [10:05:00]

SOLOMON: We've heard organizers say it is not necessarily just a commemoration. It is also a reminder that it is a continuation. Jason Caroll live for us there in Washington. Jason, thank you.

Turning now to the Georgia election interference case. Prosecutors in Fulton County are preparing for a speedy trial for some of the 19 defendants charged, although the defense team for former President Trump is trying to delay the start.

WALKER: Trump and his 18 co-defendants are facing a variety of charges including racketeering and conspiracy. They all surrendered ahead of yesterday's noon deadline. But this morning only one of the 19 co- defendants remains in the Fulton County jail. CNN's Isabel Rosales is live in Atlanta. But first, we go to CNN politics reporter Jeremy Herb. Jeremy, first off, walk us through the next steps in Trump's case.

JEREMY HERB, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Yes, Amara. Now that we have all 19 defendants surrendered, we get into this very complicated question of how this trial is going to play out. And it's complicated because all of the 19 defendants, they don't necessarily have the same idea about how it should move forward. As you said, two of the defendants, Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro, they want this trial to happen quickly. They filed motions to have a speedy trial. And for Mr. Chesebro, a judge has already set a date of October 23rd.

President Trump, however, former president, he does not want to have such a quick trial. And so he's opposing that, and potentially leading to a severing of these cases, where Mr. Chesebro, he could have a separate trial from the other defendants.

The other question of this is what venue is this trial going to take place? We have now seen five of the 19 defendants have filed motions to move the case from state court into federal court. That includes Mark Meadows, the former White House chief of staff, Jeffrey Clark, former DOJ official, and three of the Georgia officials who served as state electors.

Now, one of the reasons they are doing that is that a jury pool in a federal trial, it would be wider than it would be if it was just in Fulton County, because it would include some of the surrounding counties. This is also an important question because former President Trump, he is also expected to file a similar motion. Now, if this is going to succeed, we will learn more on Monday, because that is when Mr. Meadows has a hearing before a district court judge who will decide whether or not this motion to move the case to federal court is ultimately going to be successful, Amara and Rahel.

SOLOMON: Jeremy, hang tight for a minute. I want to bring in Isabel Rosales. So Isabel, as we said, one of these 19 co-defendants, Harrison Floyd, still in that Fulton County jail. Perhaps not a household name. Remind us who he is, and why hasn't he been released? What do we know about his situation? ISABEL ROSALES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Rahel, unlike his co- defendants, Harrison Floyd was not able to negotiate a bond agreement with the D.A.'s office prior to his surrender. So that meant that he had to stay in custody there at the jail. And he is the only one of 19 total defendants that's still in the jail. Now, Floyd is the former leader of Black Voices for Trump. And prosecutors here allege that Floyd was involved in this plot to intimidate and pressure an Atlanta election worker Ruby Freeman into falsely admitting that she committed massive fraud against Trump during the 2020 election.

On Friday, just yesterday, Floyd there in court before a Judge Emily Richardson learned that he will remain in jail because it is ultimately Judge Scott McAfee who has been assigned this Georgia case who will decide his bond. Listen.

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JUDGE EMILY RICHARDSON, FULTON COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT: I'm going to go ahead and find you are a risk to commit additional felonies and a risk to flee the jurisdiction.

HARRISON FLOYD, CO-DEFENDANT: I got on a plane and voluntarily came here. I'm already on federal pretrial supervision. I've had no issues with being on pretrial supervision. There's no way I'm a flight risk. Ma'am, I showed before the president was here.

RICHARDSON: I understand, Mr. Floyd. Your bond is not going to be decided by me. It's going to be decided by the judge who was assigned to handle your case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: And at last check, Floyd has no representation. Floyd told the judge that he could not afford a private attorney, and the judge told him that he did not meet the eligibility standards of a public defender. On a side note, Floyd does face a separate charge of simple assault for allegedly assaulting an FBI agent who was at his home to serve him a subpoena to appear before a grand jury in Washington, D.C. Rahel, Amara?

WALKER: Isabel Rosales, thank you. Jeremy Herb, great to see you as well.

CNN national politics reporter Daniel Strauss is joining me now to discuss all of this. Good morning, Daniel. Let's start with President Biden sort of weighing in on Trump's arrest yesterday. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you seen Donald Trump's mugshot yet?

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I did see it on television.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What did you think?

BIDEN: Handsome guy. Wonderful guy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[10:10:04]

WALKER: Handsome guy, wonderful guy is what President Biden said when asked about seeing Trump's mugshot. As you know, the White House has made it a point to stay mostly mum about Trump's legal problems and the issues he's facing. This will obviously be the strategy moving forward, right? Tell us why that's so important for the Biden administration.

DANIEL STRAUSS, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER: Yes, because the entire premise of the Biden administration, what he ran on during his campaign, is lowering the temperature, returning to a more serious, more mature custom in the White House. And that involves judiciary matters, especially high-profile ones, like investigations into a former president.

The White House has made clear from the beginning both with the Hunter Biden investigation and with the many felonies against Donald Trump that they want to leave this to the Justice Department and the American judicial system. They don't want to show or even spark any kind of sense that there is political meddling in all of this. And that's what Biden is doing here. He's making sure not to weigh in in any manner because our American political and judicial system is set up so politics should not be involved in law enforcement.

WALKER: And back to the former president's mugshot, which is extraordinary in itself that we're even using the word "mugshot" and "president" in the same sentence, but there he is when he was booked at Fulton County. No surprise that Trump is trying to fundraise off of this picture. And in the short-term, it's going to raise, I'm sure, some money for the campaign. It's going to galvanize his base, as we continue to see over and over again. But Daniel, if Trump, indeed, becomes the Republican party's nominee for president for 2024, might it be a different story, or how might it be a different story when it comes to the general election?

STRAUSS: Democrats are certainly betting so. They are eager to paste the former president's mugshot around the Internet as much as they can, because their view is that outside the Republican Party, outside of this Republican that responds well to instances where they feel embattled, that they feel the last Republican president is under siege, the broader electorate will respond negatively here. And I think that's going to be the bet of the Democrats and the Biden White House going forward. They are going to highlight that the various conduct of the president in the past, outside, like I said, of any judicial inquiries going on now. But going forward, that's the bet of Democrats.

WALKER: Vivek Ramaswamy, so regarding the debate, he obviously got the most attention following the debate on Wednesday night, the most vocal and biggest supporter of Trump. What is he angling for here? Is he really -- does he believe his chances to get the Republican nomination is good, or does he want to be V.P.? STRAUSS: He's clearly, I mean, he's running for president, but the

deference he gives to former President Trump in debates, on stage, alongside a number of other candidates all competing to beat Trump in a primary does raise eyebrows about how strongly he thinks his chances are of actually becoming president with Trump on the ticket. That said though, it's clear from the last debate that he is in a better position, and a better debater, than many seasoned candidates in the Republican field right now.

WALKER: And we just learned that DeSantis Super PAC called Never Back Down made a major ad buy yesterday to the tune of $12 million, booking air time in the fall, mostly in Iowa. As we saw in the debate, DeSantis, yes, was standing in the middle, but he didn't obviously make a huge splash, as I'm sure he was hoping for. He was mostly on the sidelines of the debate. And his campaign did report that he raised more than $1 million in the first 24 hours after the Republican presidential debate. Does this give you the sense that donors, the donor community is feeling bullish about his prospects?

STRAUSS: I think the data point suggests that DeSantis's light touch in the last debate, especially for, I guess we'd call him a frontrunner without Trump in the mix, shows that there are concerns among the donor community and among DeSantis supporters about the knocks on him so far.

[10:15:01]

And the fact that he didn't stumble too clearly, he didn't fall or make a weird comment that went viral shows that to a lot of his supporters that he's still a viable candidate, and he's settling in and growing more comfortable as a candidate. So it's weird, Amara. I usually don't -- I can't think of many examples of candidates sort of fading into the background in a debate and really benefitting from that, but that's what we're seeing here.

WALKER: Yes, really strange. Thank you so much, Daniel Strauss, appreciate the conversation.

STRAUSS: Thanks.

SOLOMON: Still to come for us, the global soccer ruling body, FIFA, has suspended Spain's soccer chief after he kissed a female player after the World Cup final last Sunday. What we know about the suspension and what we're hearing from the chief's office.

Also, Maui County suing its electric company in the aftermath of those deadly and devastating wildfires. The allegations in the lawsuit and how the electric company is responding. We'll be right back.

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[10:20:10]

SOLOMON: Welcome back. And new this morning FIFA has provisionally suspended the president of Spain's soccer federation, that's amid controversy after he kissed a player after winning the Women's World Cup.

WALKER: What an explosive story. Andy Scholes is here with all the latest developments. What's the latest?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Guys, FIFA finally just stepped in here and said enough is enough. They have now provisionally suspended Luis Rubiales pending the disciplinary proceedings that have been opened against him. This comes after just a series of events where Rubiales was defiant, refusing to step down as the president of Spain's soccer federation. Many expected Rubiales to resign after he was heavily criticized for forcefully kissing a player, Jenni Hermoso, during the World Cup trophy presentation. And we'll show you the kiss on the right side of the screen.

But not only did Rubiales not resign yesterday in front of an extraordinary general assembly that was called, he doubled down. He said that kiss was mutual, and he said he's going to fight to the end, calling what was happening to him an unjust campaign and fake feminism.

After he said all of that, the player who was forcefully kissed, Hermoso, released a statement saying in no way was that kiss mutual. She said, quote, "I felt vulnerable and a victim of an impulse-driven, sexist, out of place act without any consent on my part." Hermoso also said she had been pressured to actually release a statement that would verify Rubiales's version of events. The Spain's women's players, they are standing by Hermoso saying they're not going to play again until Rubiales is out.

And earlier today, Rubiales and his office actually tripled down. They said that he has not lied in his version of events, and in a statement they actually threatened legal action against Hermoso. The federation also went on to say that the players have an obligation to participate in matches. So I think, Amara, after FIFA saw that latest statement from Rubiales and his office, they are like, OK, this has gone far enough. We are going to provisionally suspend you until we have official proceedings to come to a resolution.

WALKER: That is a step. I have to say that listening to your report on this all morning, and every time you tell me the story, I'm shocked and I just keep shaking my head.

SCHOLES: Every morning I come in expecting this thing is going to wind down, because -- but it just keeps getting ratcheted up again and again.

WALKER: Yes, I know, I know. Incredible stuff. Thank you so much, Andy Scholes.

Millions of people are under heat alerts, especially here in the south. But temperatures might be getting better. We'll have the latest forecast.

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WALKER: This morning on Maui, the search of the fire zone is nearly complete. Search crews and cadaver dogs made it through 99 percent of the disaster area. Now they are beginning rechecks of the hardest-hit areas.

SOLOMON: And they are also searching the waterfronts, finding personal items of people who jumped into the water to try to get away from the flames. They say they have found everything from jewelry and purses to cell phones. Right now, the death toll is holding at 115, but it still could rise in the coming days and weeks.

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CHIEF JOHN PELLETIER, MAUI POLICE: We are making recoveries. And we're doing everything we can to make as much of a recovery of a human being as possible. We also know we may have some comingled recoveries. The number that we have is what's confirmed that we believe. And there is a good chance that we'll change as we are doing our forensics and our exams.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: As for the missing, the FBI released a list of 388 names of people that are unaccounted for. Now, in the last 24 hours since that list was released, rather, authorities have received hundreds of calls, some to verify information about a person on the list, others to claim that a person on the list is alive. Authorities say they are vetting these calls and they hope to have an updated list out soon.

Meantime, an interim head for the Maui Emergency Management Agency has been selected. That's after the last administrator resigned just one day after defending the decision not to sound the island sirens during those fast-moving fires.

WALKER: Darryl Oliveira has been tapped to take the seat while a permanent replacement is being found. Oliveira is the former administrator of the Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency. He will start on Monday.

Meantime, Maui County is now suing the state's largest electric company. They claim Hawaiian Electric left power lines energized during the high winds, and the fire was a result of their negligence. CNN's Natasha Chen explains.

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Amara and Rahel, the Maui County lawsuit against the electric companies alleges negligence and recklessness. They call this a human-made disaster, specifically the county is saying in this lawsuit, quote, defendants' inaction caused loss of life severe injuries, complete destruction of homes and businesses, displacement of thousands of people, and damage to many of Hawaii's historic and cultural sites. They say that the electric companies didn't keep up their equipment well, that there was advanced wood decay, that they did not have a policy to shut down, deenergize the lines, especially when there were high wind watches and red flag warnings in those days leading up to the fires that they knew there was a high probability that wildfires may happen.

To that end, the CEO and president of Hawaii Electric said a week after the fires that that is actually controversial practice. Even though there are places like California, Oregon, Nevada that shut down those lines, deenergize as a way of preventing wildfires.

[10:30:01]

To the lawsuit, the spokesperson of the utility companies told CNN that their main priority is to take care of residents and the county, and they are disappointed that the county took this litigious route.

Separately, "The Washington Post" is reporting that the utility actually removed poles and that lines, other equipment from where the Lahaina fires reportedly started, preventing investigators from being able to deal with the original scene undisturbed. That's according to the post's investigation into court documents, letters, records. CNN is still working to independently confirm that. "The Post" does say that those actions violated national guidelines on how utilities should handle and preserve evidence after a wildfire.

To that, the spokesperson of the electric company said to "The Post" that they are in regular communication with ATF and local authorities, cooperating to provide them as well as attorneys representing people affected by the wildfires with inventory and access to the removed equipment, which say they have carefully photographed, documented, and stored.

Also, as you may have noted, the list of unaccounted people is down to under 400 now, down from more than 1,000. The FBI verified those names, and the police chief did say that this was going to be a painful moment for the loved ones of the people listed there. Right now, of course, the death toll stands at at least 115.

Amara and Rahel, back to you.

WALKER: Natasha Chen, yes, a very painful time for the island.

Turning now to oppressive heat. Across the country, 90 million people in more than 15 states are waking up to heat alerts this morning.

SOLOMON: In the south, scorching triple-digit heat is expected this weekend. But we could see a cooldown just around the corner. Let's get to meteorologist Allison Chinchar in the Weather Center. So Allison, how much around the corner. What does that look like?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right, I think there's a lot of folks really hoping it would come sooner rather than later. We actually had two different locations tie their all-time record highs this week, one in Shreveport when they hit 110 on Friday and Houston hitting 109 on Thursday. Both of those places still under excessive heat alerts for this today and through the weekend across the south.

We also have additional ones starting to pop up in the southwestern U.S. That's where we're going to continue to see the temperatures jumping up in the coming days. Palm Springs going from 114 up to 117 on Monday, Phoenix 113 jumping to 115 Monday and Tuesday. So again, you're really going to start to see those temperatures jumping in the coming days. The opposite in the eastern half of the country. Yesterday and the day

before, the red color was all the way up towards Minneapolis. Gradually we've started to see that shrink back, focusing a little bit closer to the Gulf Coast. We'll continue to see that shrink back in the coming days.

Take, for example, Memphis. One more day of the triple-digit temperatures, then they then drop back into the 80s. But we're still looking at pretty intense heat right there along the Gulf Coast including Houston and New Orleans bock looking at several more days of the triple-digit temperatures.

And one thing that may actually provide them some relief would be in the form of a tropical system. This potential development here just off the east coast of the Yucatan peninsula is expecting to slide into the Gulf in the coming days. That could provide some extra cloud cover and also some relief in the form of rain. Now, right now it's a pretty disorganized system, not really much to it. But the fact is as it moves into the Gulf, it's going to more into a much more favorable environment. So we do anticipate that this will become a tropical depression and eventually into a tropical storm in the coming days. And then it's going to start to make its way up into Florida as we get into Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. Main focus now looks to be between Pensacola and Tampa, Florida, but a lot could change in the next couple of day. So we'll keep you updated.

SOLOMON: Allison, thank you.

And still to come for us, aviation safety has been in the spotlight for months after a number of airline near misses. Coming up, how the FAA is responding to the situation. That's up next.

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[10:38:10]

WALKER: We are learning more this morning about a shooting at a high school football game in central Oklahoma.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is going on?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: You can hear those shots ring out, and of course, you can see the players running and screaming in the background. That's the chaos that ensued as players and spectators ran for cover. The shots were fired last night during the third quarter between the home team Choctaw and rival team Del City. The Choctaw police chief says at least three people were injured, and a police officer also fired a weapon, though no suspects have been arrested.

SOLOMON: The Federal Aviation Administration is taking action to curb an alarming number of near misses involving commercial airlines. This week the FAA announced that it will hold runway safety meetings at 90 airports across the country. The federal government is also providing $121 million in funding to airports to try to tackle the near collisions. CNN transportation analyst Mary Schiavo joins us live now to discuss. So Mary, great to see you. Good morning. Let's start with the funding first. What do we know about how this money will be divided and where it's going?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN TRANSPORTATION ANALYST: Any safety money, any safety improvements, safety meetings are good. However, this money is going to eight airports. One of them is Boston. Boston has had some near collisions, some close calls. And so it's good that they are getting about $50 million of the money. And Washington Reagan is getting some of the money. But it's only eight airports getting the money, and two of the airports, one of them doesn't have commercial service at all, which is Willow Run Airport near Detroit, commercial passenger service, and also Toledo, Ohio, is getting some of the money, and they only have a few flights with Allegiant, a couple flights, three flights to Florida and one to Phoenix.

[10:40:06]

So it's odd how they divided the money. But once again, additional funds for collision avoidance and airport improvement is good, but it's only going to eight airports.

SOLOMON: I suppose every dollar helps in addition to what you say about the airports. Let me ask, in terms of the causes of these near collisions, I imagine they are not all the same, but what are the common denominators that we're seeing?

SCHIAVO: What's interest is my old office, the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Transportation, looked at that, and they have actually come up with some pretty good numbers -- 87 percent of the near collisions, or near misses, as they're called, is human error. And they break that down even further. Two-thirds of the time they blame it on the pilot -- miscommunication, getting confused on the runway, which is why these grants are important to sort out the runways. Pilot error confusion two-thirds of the time, but air traffic controller mistakes one-third of the time.

And you literally rely on that air traffic controller. I'm a pilot who can honestly say an air traffic controller saved my life years ago. But you rely on those instructions. And knowing that one-third of the mistakes are the controller's, that's something that only the FAA can fix. And the FAA has to fix that. That's why the second announcement this week, that they had hired an additional, I think it was 1,500 controllers this year, is hugely important, because 77 percent of the air traffic control facilities, the FAA facilities, don't even come up to 85 percent employment. And 77 percent of the facilities are below 85 percent staffed. And so the new hires are important, but training can take 18 months to three years. So it's going to be awhile before we see all these people fully deployed. But that's a huge improvement, and a good start.

SOLOMON: As you say, hiring will take time. New technology will take time. How about next best steps right now? What can be put in place quickly? SCHIAVO: Two things should be done immediately, and they are both

within the control of Federal Aviation Administration. One is they are going to have to increase separations between aircraft, because separation is safety. Now, they asked the airports to help by cutting back on some of their flights, using larger planes, not doing as many takeoffs and landings, et cetera. And the airlines did for a while agree to help, but during the busy summer season, that kind of slipped away. So the FAA has to enforce increased separation between aircraft.

And the other thing that they can do, and they have been harangued, the FAA has been harangued about this for years, it is absolutely no exception, require every aircraft in the sky to have a transponder, because without a transponder, all the wonderful collision avoidance equipment both at the airport and on the aircraft, it doesn't work. You have to have a transponder to be seen for collision avoidance and for proper air traffic control. And you can fly legally without one. Stunning. The FAA can stop that.

SOLOMON: Mary, do the airlines deserve any responsibility here?

SCHIAVO: Yes, they do. And that's why some of them voluntarily try to help solve this problem. Everyone wants to fly, or at least that's what the airlines think. Everyone wants to fly at certain times a day and into literally the top 30 airports. Even the FAA calls them the top 30 or top 35. And so the traffic has been impacted. And the airlines have also added on to this with their spoke in hub system. We have impacted so much traffic at so few airports. And there are major cities and states, Delaware, with no air service at all. So we funneled it all into 30 or 35 airports and at certain times of day. And the airlines have to take responsibility for that. That puts tremendous pressure on air traffic controllers, tremendous.

SOLOMON: Those Airports just remain as busy as ever, at least for my estimation. Mary Schiavo, great to see you. Thank you.

WALKER: Still to come, thousands of people are expected for the March on Washington's 60th anniversary. These are live pictures out of Washington where people are gathering. And there are a lot of people there. We'll have more on that when we come back.

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[10:48:43]

SOLOMON: Welcome back. This weekend the nation is marking 60 years since the historic March on Washington.

WALKER: And these are live pictures we want to show you from Washington, D.C., where people had begun gathering there. The 1963 march was a landmark event in the Civil Rights movement. More than 200,000 people poured into the nation's capital to demand an end to racial discrimination. On that day, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "I have a dream" speech.

We're joined by Dr. King's daughter, Bernice King, CEO of the King Center. What a pleasure to have you on. This rally and March on Washington is not being dubbed a commemoration but as a continuation of the fight for civil rights. When you look at how politically polarized we are as a nation today and the conversations that we're having about what did and didn't happen on January 6th, book bans, election laws, Critical Race Theory, abortion, what would your father say about all this?

BERNICE KING, DAUGHTER OF MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.: Well, I think he would be challenging us to continue to focus on trying to find a way to create a society where we can respect the worth and value of all people, and would be pulling together strategies to deal with all of these different issues and organizing people in a way around those strategies to address them and come up with solutions that can move us to a higher plane.

[10:50:23]

The way in which my father fought, obviously, was through nonviolence. He used that as his weapon. And it was a weapon that enabled people to rally around and really focus their attention on the goal that they were seeking. And so I think those are some of the things that he would be doing today, is to not just challenging it, but really organizing people strategically to address each one of those issues that you just raised.

SOLOMON: Bernice, you were born the year of the march 60 years ago, almost 60 years ago exactly. What does your mother, Coretta Scott King, tell you about that day?

KING: She said Martin was at his best on that day. And in a moment when he shifted to talking about his dream, she felt like it was the moment when he was like invoking what for us in our Christian faith was a vision of the Kingdom of God. And she was so proud of him in the way in which he presented the speech. And she also said before everything began and they woke up that morning and looked out the window, they were concerned because they didn't see a lot of people moving on the streets. So they were fearing that enough people were not going to show up. But when they got to the Mall, they saw lots of people, and eventually more and more people came. And she was so delighted to see that all of the efforts in planning this day were not in vain. So it was an exciting day, and she felt very hopeful. She always felt very hopeful, though. That was the kind of person she was.

WALKER: How about your hope? Again, the march was an iconic moment in the Civil Rights movement, but recently we have seen many civil rights being curtailed across the country, whether Affirmative Action or crackdown on gay right rights. Do you feel like, in some sense, we're going backwards? And how much of your father's dream do you feel like we have realized?

KING: It's part of the backlash when you're trying to make progress. There's always going to be those who are going to push against it and pull together their strategies. And we have to plan for those kinds of things. But I'm hopeful just because I know that previous generations faced difficulties. They faced moments of making progress and then one step back. So there's something in humankind across the world that we have the ability to deal with these difficult moments and dark moments. And because I come from these ancestors, I know that we, too, can overcome what we are faced with now.

It's going to be difficult. It's going to be challenging. But I know that this is just a moment in time. And if we continue -- and that's why vigilance is important. If we continue to be vigilant, then we will get through this season and overcome these pushbacks and be able to put the right policy in place, but more important, be able to create a society where we exist as the beloved community, where we may have conflicts, but we resolve them in a way where the dignity, worth, and value of people are respected, that we work in a common ground way to ward off those things that seek to divide and separate us as a humanity.

So I'm hopeful also because there's a generation like my niece and others who are determined to be a part of this freedom struggle. And we are going to be victorious. It's not going to be easy. I may not see certain things in my lifetime, but my dad didn't see things that I see today. So as we continue the fight, as we continue to struggle and continue to remain vigilant, we'll overcome and be in a different place.

WALKER: That's very uplifting to talk to you, Bernice King. Thank you so much for the conversation this morning.

And before we go, we're going to turn back to our top story this hour. The new images are coming in from that mass shooting in Boston that has sent seven people to the hospital.

[10:55:00]

SOLOMON: Authorities closed off the scene of what was supposed to be a parade for a Caribbean festival in Dorchester, but quickly turned into a shooting that sent people running for cover. We do know that several arrests have been made, that's according to authorities there, and multiple firearms were recovered by police. We will, of course, continue to follow this story and bring you more details throughout the day.

WALKER: And two people were shot while attending a White Sox came in Chicago Friday night. At this point, details are still limited, but according to our CNN affiliate, WLS, the shooting apparently happened in the left field bleachers. One person was shot in the leg, another person grazed by a bullet in the abdomen. Police say they responded immediately to the situation, but the game was not interrupted.

That does it for us. That's our time. Thank you so much for watching, everyone.

SOLOMON: And there's much more ahead in the next hour of CNN Newsroom. We'll see you tomorrow.

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