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CNN This Morning
LeBron James Breaks Record; Tyre Nichols' Family Speaks of State of the Union Address. Aired 8:30-9a ET
Aired February 08, 2023 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[08:30:34]
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Well, he's called King James for a reason, right? And now he rules the all-time scoring record.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: LeBron, one-on-one against Kendrick Williams. Backing him in. Turns. Shoots. Scores! There it is! All hail the new king in town! Young and old gather around. From one iconic Laker to another. The king, LeBron James, has passed the captain, Kareem Abdul- Jabbar, and LeBron now stands alone as the NBA's all-time leading scorer.
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HARLOW: To be in the Staples Center. LeBron James broke the NBA scoring record in the third quarter of last night game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. He did it in front of a cheering crowd filled with celebrities, including, of course, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the man who set the record 39 years ago in 1984.
So, joining us now --
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: That -- that announcer was very dramatic. More dramatic than you, Poppy.
HARLOW: How would -
LEMON: Breaking the record -
HARLOW: You take -- you take it over, Don Lemon.
LEMON: I'm breaking the record!
HARLOW: I was giving you my greatest, excited voice after sleeping three hours, getting up at 3:00 a.m. in the morning.
LEMON: No, no, no, I would say - no, no, no, this was not -- I was not comparing it to you. It wasn't a knock on you. I'm just saying the announcer was very --
HARLOW: He was so excited.
LEMON: Don't you think he was like, oh my God!
HARLOW: We were so excited.
LEMON: There -- David Aldridge is here.
HARLOW: Hi. Welcome.
LEMON: Who's a senior --
You got yourself in the middle of this madness.
DAVID ALDRIDGE, SENOR COLUMNIST, "THE ATLANTIC": It's all good.
LEMON: He's a senior columnist at "The Athletic," right?
ALDRIDGE: Yes. That's right.
LEMON: It's good to see you.
2016 Basketball Hall of Fame Curt Gowdy Media Award winner.
Thank you so much.
HARLOW: Of course.
LEMON: I was making fun of the -
HARLOW: But we -- I loved this moment. I was saying earlier to Kaitlan and Don, I also love that it happened to such a good guy who's done so much for so many people off the court.
LEMON: Yes.
ALDRIDGE: Well, yes, LeBron is a complete person. It's not just about the basketball with him. He's got his academy in Akron, Ohio. He's putting hundreds of kids through school. He's done so many things. Speaks out on social issues. In a lot of ways he is the torch carrier from Kareem because Kareem did it when it was a lot harder to do it in the '60s, spoke out on issues, he boycotted the Olympics in 1968 because of civil rights protests in the country at the time. So, they are walking the same path, both on and off the court.
COLLINS: Would he -- I mean, what does this mean, though, for the sports world to see that? We knew it was coming. But to see it actually happen. We actually all went to the Lakers game when they were in New York last week. It's remarkable still to see it actually happen and to see - you know, he had said he wasn't really thinking about it that much, but you saw how emotional he got when he was -
ALDRIDGE: Well, he was lying. It's a big deal. It's a big deal. It's one of the biggest records in sports. It stood for almost 39 years. I mean that is a long time when you consider all the players that have played since, starting with Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant and all of the great players that have come through the league and over those last four decades and none really came close. I guess Kobe did. But for LeBron to break Kareem's record and Kareem is considered one of the greatest players of all time, he's won more MVPs than anybody in league history, he won six NBA championships and he is on Mount Rushmore of the greatest of all time.
So, for LeBron to do that, really speaks to the incredible consistency of his career. He's -- he rarely gets hurt. He plays all the time. And he plays at an incredibly high level, even at 38, 39 years old, as he is now.
LEMON: As -- you mentioned, you said Mount Rushmore. So, maybe it's shared. Who's the greatest, Kobe, Jabbar, M.J., LeBron?
ALDRIDGE: You know, I get asked that a lot. I can only say - I can only talk about the people I've seen. I didn't see Bill Russell play live. People who did see him play live say he's the best. People who saw Wilt Chamberlain play live say he's the best. OF all the people I've seen, Michael Jordan is the best I've ever seen. LeBron's really close.
HARLOW: I grew up with that. Do you remember the wings poster of Michael Jordan?
ALDRIDGE: Oh, sure. Sure.
HARLOW: I grew up with that. Kaitlin's stunned. She can't believe I had a basketball poster in my room, right?
COLLINS: I have a lot of questions for that in the break.
HARLOW: Yes, exactly. But now my kids will have the LeBron one.
COLLINS: Yes, but though, what a moment.
HARLOW: Yes.
COLLINS: Thank you for breaking it down with us.
ALDRIDGE: Sure.
HARLOW: Thank you.
LEMON: Thank you. Good to see you.
ALDRIDGE; Thank you.
COLLINS: All right, last night Congress gave a standing ovation to the parents of Tyre Nichols.
[08:35:00]
The question though that remains this morning, is, will lawmakers -- can lawmakers actually do anything about police reform? Coming up, we're going to have Tyre's mother and stepfather join us to weigh in with their reaction.
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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Most of us in here have never had to have the talk. The talk that brown and black parents have had to have with their children. Bo, Hunter, Ashley, my children, I never had to have that talk with them. I never had to tell them if a police officer pulls you over, turn your interior lights on right away. Don't reach for your license. Keep your hands on the steering wheel. Imagine having to worry like that every single time your kid got in a car.
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LEMON: So that happened in the House of Representatives. The president of the United States acknowledging a family's pain and recognizing how discussions of policing differ along racial lines. The speech coming one week after the family of Tyre Nichols said their final goodbyes.
[08:40:06]
So, as the world knows, Nichols died just last month after being beaten by police in Memphis. The president honoring his parent, RowVaughn and Rodney Wells, at last night's address and calling for change.
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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What happened to Tyre in Memphis happens too often. We have to do better.
Let's commit ourselves to make the words of Tyre's (ph) mom true, something good must come from this.
All of us in this chamber, we need to rise to this moment. We can't turn away. Let's do what we know in our hearts that we need to do. Let's come together to finish the job on police reform. Do something.
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LEMON: So, joining me now for the first time since the State of the Union, attending that State of the Union and being so dignified there, Tyre Nichols' mother, RowVaughn Wells, and Tyre's dad, Rodney Wells, and the Nichols' family attorney, of course, is Ben Crump.
Ben and Mr. and Mrs. Wells, I'm so happy to have you on.
I do - I just have to say -- good morning to you. I'm happy to have you on because I know that last night was important to you.
So, Mrs. Wells, how are you doing? How did it feel being there in front of a national audience with the president of the United States and lawmakers speaking about the things that you said you wanted to accomplish in that interview I did with you a week ago?
ROWVAUGHN WELLS, TYRE NICHOLS' MOTHER: It actually was amazing. I want to start off, first, by thanking the president for even
acknowledging my son on a high platform the way he did. So, thank you, Mr. President.
It was - it was really nice, Don. That was a great experience for me. I've never been to the White House. For him to speak about my son and acknowledge me, it was a great feeling.
LEMON: You said that some good was going to come of this. The president quoted you last night. Do you believe that, Ms. Wells?
ROWVAUGHN WELLS: I actually do believe it. I mean, my son -- my son, by him -- my son didn't die for nothing. It has to be some greater good that's going to come out of this. As I've said before, I feel like my son was here on a mission. He might have been sacrificed for the greater good, but I do feel like some good will come out of this. Yes.
LEMON: The president speaking there about the talk that black parents have to have with their kids and how he never had to have that with his own children. And I was speaking to my colleague last night, quite honestly, Jake Tapper, and he said, this is something that white parents, a talk that they don't have to have with their kids. And those are the people who needed to be reached. And I said, not only do the parents need to be reached, but also the police officers. Having -- hearing the president acknowledging having to have the talk, you know, black parents having to have the talk with their kids, it -- that must have been sort of an interesting moment for you to witness there on the House floor?
ROWVAUGHN WELLS: Yes, because they don't have to speak to their kids regarding police. You never see white kids being beaten or -- by the police. It seemed like you only see black and brown kids being beaten or killed by the police. So, I thought that was great that he said that and he acknowledged the fact that they don't have to have that conversation with their children. So, by him saying that, that lets you know there is a problem and it needs to be addressed.
LEMON: Rodney, I want to ask you about something that we talked about in our last interview, and that was, both of you guys saying that you wanted the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act passed. And what is your message to Congress after listening to the president?
RODNEY WELLS, TYRE NICHOLS' STEPFATHER: My message to Congress is that if they had passed the George Floyd bill initially, my son may not have died tragically the way he did.
[08:45:09]
So, I think that Congress needs to get together, both parties, and get this bill passed so that no one else has to suffer the way we are suffering right now. It's a shame that there is such a double standard. And we have to do something about it. But the first step is to pass the George Floyd bill.
LEMON: Are you optimistic with the divided Congress that we have right now? You saw some of the antics that played out. You were front and center to witness it.
RODNEY WELLS: I have to be optimistic. We have to get this bill passed. There's too many black and brown kids being killed at the hand of the police. I mean, it's evident. We don't want to have another family going through what we're going through. And the families before us that went through this. So they have to get on the ball and get this bill passed as soon as possible.
LEMON: Ben, I want to bring you in here because there's more news coming out of Memphis as it relates to the police officers. Police officers charmed, admitting to investigators that he took -- one of the police officers, that he took photos of Nichols on his personal cellphone, sent one to others after he was beaten. That's according to published reports citing a newly obtained document.
What do you know about that, Ben?
BENJAMIN CRUMP, ATTORNEY FOR TYRE NICHOLS' FAMILY: Well, Don, some breaking news for you all today. We talked with the district attorney and he told the parents that they - there's something they normally don't do. They put a public statement out to address those rumors as having no validity based on everything that they have researched. And they wanted to ease the family's grieving process because, you know, dealing with these rumors after you lose your child is just so unfair. And so hopefully we can put this stuff to bed and focus on the fact that this was a culture, this was a pattern and practice, this Scorpion Unit, and that had that pattern and practice been addressed through the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, or by the Memphis Police Department, Tyre Nichols would not be dead today.
LEMON: Well, Ben, I was referring to -- I just want clarification. I was referring to one of the officers charged admitting to investigators that he took photographs. But you - you mentioned rumors. I'm not exactly sure what you're talking about. Just for clarity, I want to -
CRUMP: Yes.
LEMON: If you can update our viewers?
CRUMP: Certainly. Certainly. The district attorney said they were aware of all these rumors about this was some kind of personal attack. He said they have found nothing to substantiate that. It reminds you of when Botham Jean was killed in Dallas, Texas, in his apartment about the white policewoman who said she came into the wrong apartment and the internet just started talking about all these rumors that they were having an affair and their family had to deal with those rumors while they were trying to deal with the tragedy. And people need to stop spreading these rumors and these, you know, just salacious things to even add to the pain of the family. So the district attorney, Steve Mulroy, said that he wanted to let the family know they looked into this and they found no such evidence.
LEMON: All right. Thank you for responding to that.
And, finally, Mrs. Wells, I just want to know that you had the national stage last night with the president of the United States. What do you want to say to people now as far as it relates to your son and legislation and what needs to happen next?
ROWVAUGHN WELLS: What I want to say is, we just need to get this bill passed. As we mentioned earlier, it's just too many children being killed by police officers. And I met a lot of the mothers yesterday when I was in Washington, and it just saddened me to hear all the stories that these women were telling me. And we really need to get something done here because this is just really getting out of control.
And if they don't do anything, the government, then they're showing me they have no humanity and that they're not for the people.
[08:50:10]
Because I am part of the people. So, you need to get off your butts and get this bill passed because we can't have any more kids -- we can't have another Tyre. We - we just can't have that anymore.
CRUMP: Amen.
RODNEY WELLS: Yes, sir.
LEMON: Yes. Yes.
RowVaughn Wells, Rodney Wells, Ben Crump, all three of you have handled yourself with dignity, especially with you, mom. I can't imagine the pain that is on your heart. I don't think anyone can. The whole nation is with you. I've been telling people you've become America's mother. It's sad that under the circumstances that you had to become America's mother, but thank you for being so dignified, so graceful and we appreciate you.
ROWVAUGHN WELLS: Thank you.
LEMON: And we're thinking about you.
Thank you very much.
ROWVAUGHN WELLS: Thank you so much, Don.
RODNEY WELLS: Thank you, Don.
CRUMP: Thank you, Don.
LEMON: We'll be back in a moment.
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[08:55:11]
COLLINS: All right, we want to take a moment to update you this morning on what's happening overseas.
More than 11,000 people, 11,000, that is not a typo, have been killed in the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria. The images are striking as crews have been racing to find survivors beneath the ruins. Perhaps the most striking, the images of the children from moments of elation as some were found, to despair.
Take a look at this father in Turkey. He is holding the hand of his 15-year-old daughter. She died as a result of the earthquake, still lying beneath the rubble. You can see a mattress It's likely she was sleeping when the quake hit, as so many of them were. The father not letting go of her hand.
These are the heartbreaking cries from another father.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE).
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COLLINS: That father is weeping as he is holding his newborn in Syria. Unfortunately, the baby did not survive.
HARLOW: As always, though, there is hope. This newborn baby girl in Syria, found alive with her umbilical cord still attached to her mother, who was killed. She's the sole survivor of her immediate family. And we are told this morning she is receiving treatment, lying in an incubator at a hospital.
And here's another image.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE).
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HARLOW: That is a young girl comforting her little sister, shielding her from the dust, but they are alive.
A little girl who looks to be in her pajamas, rescued from the rubble. She is alive. And then another little girl pulled from the rubble in Syria beneath slabs of concrete that had fallen on her. She, too, survived.
LEMON: It's almost too much to take.
A little boy rescued from the ruins in Syria.
And this moving moment when an entire family is pulled out alive.
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(CROWDS CHEERING)
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LEMON: There's so much tragedy. It is the moment of pure elation that those rescue crews needed in the middle of so much death and destruction. A good reminder there's always hope and we're thinking of all those still trapped and all those working tirelessly to save them.
COLLINS: Yes, absolutely.
LEMON: We're right back after this.
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