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14-Year-Old Suspect's Father Facing Multiple Charges; Community Mourns Shooting Victims; Judge Sets Schedule in Trump Election Subversion Case; Typhoon Yagi Makes Landfall Across China's Hainan Province; Israel and U.S. on Chances of Gaza Ceasefire; 17 Dead in Kenya Elementary School Fire. Aired 4:00-4:30a ET

Aired September 06, 2024 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now there's news about the father of the alleged shooter being arrested.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was a role model and she basically goes into the history as a great person, great teacher, and very good educator.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Donald Trump's January 6th case, back in D.C. federal court with a fiery and contentious hearing.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: They always have to remember that two can play the game.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vladimir Putin responded to a U.S. crackdown on alleged Russian election interference with more election interference.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What he really prefers is for us to be more at each other's throats.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Joining us from around the world, I'm Max Foster. It's Friday, September the 6th, 9 a.m. here in London, 4 a.m. in Winder, Georgia. Where the father of the suspect in a deadly school shooting is now facing charges related to the attack.

This is only the second time the parent of an accused school shooter has been charged in connection with their child's crime. 14-year-old Colt Gray faces felony murder charges after he killed four people and injured another nine. Authorities say the teen admitted his guilt whilst being questioned.

Family and friends have been paying tribute to the victims. Two students and two teachers were killed on Wednesday, just two weeks into the new school year. CNN's Ryan Young has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) RYAN YOUNG, CNN U.S. CORRESPONDENT: Still a lot of strained feelings in this community. Of course, now there's news about the father of the alleged shooter being arrested. We spent the day outside the home talking to neighbors and trying to get some information.

That's after investigators indicated to us that they believe the alleged shooter's father bought the weapon that was used here in a shooting as a holiday gift. Now, that's after Jackson County Sheriff's Department talked to the young man and tried to figure out if he was connected to some online threats. After that happened, the father indicated that there was no weapons that he had unsupervised access to.

But that gun was purchased, apparently, and then that was the same gun that was brought here and used for such tragedy.

CHRIS HOSEY, GEORGIA BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION DIRECTOR: He is charged with the following. Four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder, and eight counts of cruelty to children. Mr. Gray, these charges stem from Mr. Gray knowingly allowing his son, Colt, to possess a weapon.

YOUNG: We asked the GBI and the Sheriff's Department where the father was arrested. Did he turn himself in? They did not have those details to share with us just yet.

He will be brought to the Barrow County Sheriff's Detention Center. So we should find out Friday exactly when he will have his first court appearance. But still so many questions about not only the gun, but what led up to this shooting in a community that's still rocked by all this violence and all this loss.

Ryan Young, CNN, Winder, Georgia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Winder is in shock as they remember the four shooting victims. Apalachee High School math teacher Cristina Irimie was celebrating her birthday with her students when she was killed. She is being remembered for her dedication.

Fellow math teacher and football coach Richard Aspinwall is being described as, quote, very passionate. His friend tells CNN he was like a brother to him.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT TANNER, FRIEND OF COACH RICHARD ASPINWALL: He loved those girls. He would do anything for them. Family was really big for him, really big to him.

And you know that most folks always want to find a way to leave it better than you found it and do better than was done for you. And he really took that to heart. And, you know, he'd play with the Barbies, he'd do the hair, he'd sip the teacups. You know, he was in the floor. He was very, very involved, very present father. And, you know, he was a superhero to those girls.

NICOLAE CLEMPUS, FRIEND OF CRISTINA IRIMIE: Christina is a hero for our community, is a role model. She was a role model. And she basically goes into the history as a great person, great teacher and very good educator that was caring for her students.

And eventually, you know, caring so much that she, she gave her life in front of them and probably trying to protect them and to save them from, you know, from this tragedy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[04:05:02]

FOSTER: We also remember the two children killed in the shooting. Fourteen year old student Mason Schermerhorn and 14 year old student Christian Angulo. His family described him as, quote, a very good kid, very sweet and so caring.

Well, the next few hours, we could learn more about Donald Trump's sentencing of his conviction in the hush money case against him. The presiding judge in the case says he'll announce on Friday if he's willing to delay the former president's sentencing date.

Trump was convicted earlier this year on 34 counts of falsifying business records stemming from hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels. He's set to be sentenced on September the 18th, but has asked the court to delay that decision until after Election Day.

And new developments in the election subversion case against Trump could have an impact on the polls this November. The judge has set a schedule for next steps in the case. And that timetable may allow prosecutors to unveil new evidence about what happened on January 6th, just days before the November 5th election. Paula Reed has more.

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DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: It's a total fraud. It was election interference.

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Donald Trump's January 6th case back in D.C. federal court with a fiery and contentious hearing. Attorneys for the former president seeking an immediate dismissal to the case.

We have an illegitimate prosecutor. We have an illegitimate indictment. And we have illegitimate legal issues raised in that indictment. Trump attorney John Lauro said. The judge, Tanya Chutkan, made it clear that was not going to happen.

The Trump team sparred with her over a timeline for the case, calling it unfair to introduce evidence this close to the 2024 election.

Chutkan responding: I understand there is an election impending. You have said before, and I will say again, that the electoral process and what needs to happen before the election does not matter here.

And that she was definitely not getting dragged into the election. But there was one area of agreement. The judge must decide how a Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity affects this case before any trial.

Immunity is the linchpin here, she said. A 6-3 decision in July gave former presidents immunity from prosecution for official acts, but not for private conduct. Attorney General Merrick Garland said this week he was confident in special counsel Jack Smith.

MERRICK GARLAND, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I stand by the actions of the special counsel. The superseding indictment is an effort to respond to the direct instructions of the Supreme Court as to how to effectuate a new indictment in an ongoing case.

REID (voice-over): While the new reworked indictment removed things like Trump's infamous Rose Garden video.

TRUMP: So go home. We love you. You're very special.

REID (voice-over): It added new details about Congress' certification process and what role Vice President Mike Pence played in it. Trump's attorneys arguing on Thursday that the case should be tossed if the judge rules communications between Pence and Trump are immune from prosecution. It tanks the entire indictment, Laura argued.

They also intend to raise other issues like the legitimacy of the special counsel. Questions about obstruction of justice in January 6th and discovery. But one question that won't be answered anytime soon is when this case will go to trial.

It is sort of an exercise in futility at this point to talk about setting a trial date.

REID: Yes, trial clearly still a long way off. So it's close to the case, say, this particular case, all the questions in and around this.

Definitely going to make at least one more trip back to the Supreme Court. Unclear if the justices are going to want to take the case up again, but expect this case to be litigated to the high court one more time, which is why we don't expect that even if this case goes to trial, that that would happen before fall of next year.

Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: In New York on Thursday, Donald Trump gave a speech that was meant to focus on his plans of U.S. economy. But in a familiar turnabout, Trump pivoted from his main topic and lashed out at Kamala Harris and her fellow Democrats, falsely blaming them as legal troubles.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: She and her party are censoring speech, weaponizing the justice system and trying to throw their political opponents, me, in jail. This hasn't happened. I didn't do that to Crooked Hillary. I said that would be a terrible thing, wouldn't it? Putting the wife of the president of the United States in jail. But they view it differently, I guess, nowadays. But that's OK. And they always have to remember that two can play the game.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, when he was talking about the economy, Trump made a pledge to slash red tape and authorize more drilling for oil. He promised those changes would bring out bring about an extremely appealing result.

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[04:10:02]

TRUMP: It will be an economic revival of our country like no one has ever seen before. Energy was what caused our problem initially. Energy is going to bring us back. That means we're going down and getting gasoline below two dollars a gallon.

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FOSTER: Well, many experts warn it would take an economic calamity like the Covid pandemic or an all-out price war with OPEC to make Trump's promise a reality.

And Biden taking some time away from the White House to hit the campaign trail on behalf of Kamala Harris. He traveled to the battleground state of Wisconsin on Thursday, rallying crowds in support of the vice president. Now, his party's presidential nominee.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Vice President Kamala Harris fought like hell for all of you and for the future worthy of your aspirations. Look, just think about how far we've come. We have more to go.

We have more to go. Too many people are still in trouble. Nearly four years that we've been president and vice president of one of the most extraordinary periods of progress in American history.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Harris herself in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, preparing her debate with Donald Trump. The two will face off for the first time on Tuesday in Philadelphia. The Harris campaign is planning a flurry of events this weekend aimed at wooing Republican voters who may be wary of Trump's agenda.

Typhoon Yagi officially making landfall moments ago across China's northeastern Hainan province. Yagi weakened to just below super typhoon status just prior to landfall. But it's still the strongest typhoon to make landfall in that area in a decade. Now, let's go to Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong, who's monitoring this -- Kristie.

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Max, Yagi, now a typhoon. It is still a powerful storm. It is made landfall across northeastern Hainan. The impact here will be significant. We're talking about wind damage, trees down, property damage. It will be power outages, storm surge and flooding.

You know, this is the second most powerful storm this year by wind speed. And Hainan, a neighboring Guangdong province, they have been bracing for this. Conditions in the last day have rapidly deteriorated.

Now, according to state media, in terms of evacuations, as of 12 noon today, Guangdong province has evacuated around 575,000 people. And as of this morning, the Hainan island, Hainan province has evacuated over 418,000 people.

The provincial government in Hainan in particular has been on alert for days now. Transport services like ferries, railways, bus flights have been suspended. And residents there, they have been stocking up on food. We've been monitoring social media video showing residents leaving store shelves empty as they get ready to hunker down.

Residents of the island, tourists as well, have been advised to not go outside. We know several tourist attractions on the island have been shut down. And authorities, they have been warning that the winds could be, quote, massive and destructive.

Now, Hainan is known for its sandy beaches, for its five-star resorts. Also, its duty-free shopping is a tourist destination. Thankfully, it is not peak travel season. And the island has a good track record of weathering storms.

But Yagi has made landfall. It has made landfall as a typhoon, at the moment not a super typhoon, but given its size and given its inherent power, it will still be a menace.

Back to you, Max.

FOSTER: And Yagi is hitting southern China after this devastating season. We've had extreme rain, right? What's been the fallout of that broader picture?

STOUT: Yes, absolutely. And just look at what Yagi could bring. The sheer amount of water that Yagi could bring, especially to Guangdong province, will threaten rice crops there.

And it has been a very challenging, some would say cruel, summer across many parts of China, a summer of extreme rainfall and deadly flooding. As we've been reporting here in the network, you know, these are events, especially in July, that left hundreds of people dead. It forced over a million people to relocate. It led to devastating financial losses. The Chinese government even issued a report saying that in the month

of July, China suffered around $10 billion in losses from natural disasters, including extreme rain and floods. And the extreme weather has also contributed to a spike in food prices in China, adding an additional economic challenge for China, which is already facing a plethora of economic issues.

So the fallout here across the board in terms of human toll, economic toll, has been significant -- Max.

FOSTER: OK, Kristie in Hong Kong, thank you for that.

STOUT: Thank you.

FOSTER: Now the White House and Israel appear to be at odds over the likelihood of a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas.

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Straight ahead, we'll have the latest on those negotiations.

Plus, Israel pauses its military operation in two West Bank cities. We'll have reaction from Palestinian officials and neighboring Jordan.

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FOSTER: The Israeli military says it has withdrawn from the West Bank and towns of Jenin and Tulkarm after more than a week of major military operations. But a source says the campaign isn't over. It's only paused. Israeli officials said the operation was meant to root out terrorists.

The Palestinian Health Ministry reports Israeli forces killed 39 people across the West Bank, including eight children. Residents are allowed to start returning to the area, only for some to find their homes destroyed, neighborhoods without electricity or water.

On Thursday, Jordan's foreign minister accused Israel of escalating tensions in the region with this heightened military action in the West Bank. Meanwhile, Israel's prime minister is casting doubt on the likelihood of a ceasefire and a hostage deal with Hamas again. Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday denied reports by CNN and others that Biden administration officials believe an agreement is roughly 90 percent complete. He says there's no ceasefire deal in the making.

[04:20:00]

The White House is standing by its assessment. In an interview with CNN's Kaitlan Collins, the Israeli ambassador to the U.N., was asked why Mr. Netanyahu's latest comments contrast with the more optimistic statements from the White House.

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DANNY DANON, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: We want to lower expectations because we have experience with Hamas. In May, the U.S. proposed a deal. We said yes. Hamas said no. In August, another deal was proposed, modified by the U.S. We agreed to the deal. Hamas said no.

So they rejected all deals that were proposed. That's why we don't want to raise expectations. But we will still continue to send the head of the Mossad and other officials to negotiate. We will not stop with that.

Hopefully, we will reach an agreement, but with Hamas, you never know.

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FOSTER: Jomana's here with us. I mean, it is the Israelis who have to sign up to this. And they say there is no prospect of a deal right now. So why are the Americans telling us there is?

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean, the Americans have been saying this for weeks and months now, Max. They have been saying we are closer than we've ever been to a deal. We are almost there, 90 percent of a deal.

And, you know, when you speak to, and I've spoken to officials in the region, they would tell you the issue here is they believe the U.S. is not putting enough pressure on Prime Minister Netanyahu, on the Israelis, to try and get to a deal.

Because it did look like they were very close to reaching a deal. Back in July, when you had the U.S. proposal there, Hamas said it had agreed to it. And then, according to our own reporting, and according to Israeli press reporting recently as well, the Israeli Prime Minister added new conditions, 11-hour demands, that completely derailed these talks and the potential deal.

FOSTER: But we have an ambassador there saying we agreed to the deal in July. They didn't, actually.

KARADSHEH: It doesn't seem like they did. It seems that the Prime Minister added new conditions. And you hear it now from Netanyahu, doubling down on the Philadelphi corridor, that nine-mile stretch of land between Egypt and Gaza, that up until recently had not been a sticking point like it is right now.

And the Prime Minister presenting it as this existential issue that he is continuing to hold on to, saying that he will not back down, saying that this is something that is so important for the security of Israel, that there is no way that he is going to change his position on that.

So the question is right now, where do we go from here? When you have the U.S. coming out with these statements, saying we have a deal pretty much, 90 percent agreement. Well, we've had 90 percent agreement for weeks now, if you really look at it. It's those sticking issues that continue to hold up a deal.

And again, as I've been hearing from officials in the region, they believe that to get to a deal, the U.S. must use its leverage and must pressure the Israeli Prime Minister to agree to a deal because you've got Qatar, you've got Egypt, who are and will exert whatever pressure they have on Hamas to agree to a deal.

But you've got both sides accusing the other of holding up the deal. And then you've got critics of the Israeli Prime Minister saying he has absolutely no intention of ending this war. It is about his own political survival. Continuing with this war is what he needs to continue to hold on.

FOSTER: He obviously argues that it's Hamas that's shifting the goalposts all the time. Have they been doing that?

KARADSHEH: Well, look, I mean, there has been some reporting in the past couple of days that Hamas may have also come in with new demands when it comes to the release of prisoners in exchange for Israeli hostages. But then you need to look back at what has really been holding up the deal. And it is the issue of the Philadelphi Corridor, it seems.

So I think the longer this goes on, the harder it is going to become for anyone to be able to negotiate a deal here. And we have to remember, Max, the longer this goes on, this is not just about politics and diplomacy and the positions of the different parties here. Lives here are at stake, whether it is the Israeli hostages, as we saw on Saturday with the devastating developments there with the six hostages executed by Hamas, and the civilians in Gaza.

I cannot begin to tell you, Max, how dire the situation is at the moment. And it continues to get worse by the day with children not only dying because of the bombs, starvation, the conditions on the ground, the humanitarian conditions with children dying of preventable diseases. It is absolutely devastating.

FOSTER: We haven't even touched on the West Bank today, but we will do that during the course of the day. Jomana, thank you.

[04:25:00]

The human rights group Amnesty International is calling for an investigation into possible Israeli war crimes in Gaza. The group is accusing Israel's military of forcing thousands of families from their homes and rendering their land uninhabitable as a form of collective punishment of the Palestinian people.

The report says, quote: Our analysis reveals a pattern along the eastern perimeter of Gaza that is consistent with the systemic destruction of an entire area. These homes weren't destroyed as a result of intense fighting. Rather, the Israeli military deliberately razed the land after they had taken control of the area.

Amnesty International released this map, which highlights the farmland and structures that have been damaged or destroyed in Gaza along the border with Israel since October.

Now, police in central Kenya say 17 students have been killed in a fire at an elementary school. A spokesperson says the bodies have been buried beyond -- or burned, rather, beyond recognition. The Kenyan president, William Ruto, has offered condolences to the families of the children. He's calling for a thorough investigation.

CNN's Larry Madowo was covering the story from Kigali in Rwanda, but you're hearing all these stories, aren't you, of the shock coming out from this area in Kenya?

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are, Max. It's a real tragedy. This is a boarding school. It's got a day section as well. It has 824 students, but about 156 boys and 160 girls are boarders, so they live in the school.

This fire happened in the boys' dormitory. All 156 boys who are boarders live in the same dormitory. We don't know the cause of the fire. It's still under investigation.

But we know, according to the police, that 17 boys were killed in this fire, 14 are receiving treatment. Some of those were burned beyond recognition, according to authorities. It's a real tragedy.

Parents have now gathered at the school to see if their boys were among those who were killed in this or among the injured. And they're just shocked, shell-shocked, standing there silently waiting for more information.

The police have cordoned off this area as they continue this investigation. The disaster management unit from the homicide unit as well as other specialized units of the Kenya police are on the scene there. But this brings back the tragedy of school fires in Kenya, Max. This is not the first one.

In fact, after a string of school fires going back a couple of years, the minister of education came up with guidelines, fire safety guidelines for schools about there should be at least two doors on each end of a dormitory and another door in the middle, clearly marked emergency exit. There should be space between the beds, about 1.2 meters. There should not be any grails on the windows, so they can be easily opened.

They've covered issues like crowding because of so many other school fires. Unfortunately, in many cases, these are not followed. We're not saying this is what happened in this instance. We still don't know. It's all speculative. The investigation will reveal that.

But for so many parents who are going through this tragedy right now, who are learning that their elementary school kids might have been killed in this, it's the worst day of their lives, and they will obviously have questions about, could this have been avoided? And how do you make sure that this does not happen again, Max, for other parents, for other kids in school who go there hoping to get an education and sometimes they don't make it out alive?

FOSTER: That's horrific, isn't it? Larry in Kigali, thank you.

As the U.S. cracks down on ongoing Russian interference in the upcoming presidential election, Vladimir Putin continues meddling with a sarcastic endorsement. Details after the break.

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