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CNN This Morning
Transportation Secretary Headed to East Palestine Today; CNN Analysis: Train Slowed Down Dramatically Before Wreck; TV Reporter, Young Girl Among Shooting Victims in Florida; 60M+ in the Grip of Coast-to-Coast Storm Across U.S.; Fans Chant 'Lock Him Up' at Star Player Allegedly Tied to Shooting. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired February 23, 2023 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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(MUSIC: "DANGER ZONE" BY KENNY LOGGINS)
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CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The lyrics for that one, sung by Kenny Loggins. This next Top Gun song won him an Oscar.
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(MUSIC: "Take My Breath Away" by Berlin)
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ROMANS: Berlin from 1986.
Tom Whitlock died in a memory care center in Nashville. He was 69 years old.
Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans. CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just want to feel safe in my town again. And I don't feel safe right now.
JIM STEWART, LIFELONG RESIDENT OF EAST PALESTINE: Did you shorten my life now? I want to retire and enjoy it. How are with we going to enjoy it? You burned me.
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DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Not too much to ask, right?
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, quite a night last night here on CNN. That was a night filled with mixed emotions.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Poppy Harlow, alongside Don Lemon. Kaitlan Collins is on assignment. She will be back with us tomorrow.
Angry Ohio residents grilling officials about the toxic train disaster, but were the answers good enough? We will show you the key moments from CNN's town hall, just as Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is set to visit the crash scene just a few hours from now.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of people ask, how are we doing? I'll be honest with you, not good. But we're doing the best we can. As it hits us.
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LEMON: That is position no one would ever want to be in, especially as a TV journalist. The reason he's feeling that way is because overnight, TV journalists there doing their jobs, even when they had to report the unthinkable: a deadly attack on one of their very own colleagues. What happened and who police now have in custody.
HARLOW: And a powerful storm shifting to the East. Sixty million people under winter alerts this morning. The areas bracing for snow and heavy winds, that's all ahead.
But we do begin this morning with the toxic train disaster in East Palestine, Ohio. Frustration and critics mounting over the government's response. And now the transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, is headed there today. He will be the highest-ranking Biden administration official yet on the ground there, just hours from now.
We are expected to get some answers from federal investigators about why this train loaded with those chemicals derailed. This morning the NTSB will release their preliminary report.
CNN analysis of surveillance video found the train started really slowing down dramatically about 44 minutes before this crash, sparks flying from a wheel that appeared to be overheating.
So did the engineer realize something was wrong nearly an hour before this tragedy?
More than two weeks after the huge chemical spill, families that live in that area are complaining of nose bleeds, rashes and headaches.
Emotions ran very high at CNN's town hall last night. Angry and concerned residents got a chance to confront Norfolk Southern's CEO and Ohio's governor on national television.
Jason Carroll starts us off in East Palestine. Jason, good morning.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you.
It was quite an evening. This was the moment that so many people here, Poppy, in East Palestine were waiting for. The chance to get down face-to-face, face up with these people -- the head of the rail company, as well as state officials -- and question them directly. And they did not hold back.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you for being here.
CARROLL (voice-over): An emotional two-hour CNN town hall. An opportunity for East Palestine residents to share their fears, concerns and anger with those they hold responsible for a toxic train crash and the fallout.
STEWART: I'm angry. I'm angry about this. And it is disgusting that we're just -- lost it. I don't feel safe in this town now. You took it away from me. You took this away from us. Your company stinks.
ALAN SHAW, CEO, NORFOLK SOUTHERN: I hear you. I'm terribly sorry that this has happened to this community.
CARROLL (voice-over): From payments to residents, to cleanup operations, along with testing air, water and soil, Norfolk Southern president and CEO, Alan Shaw, listed short-term and long-term commitments to East Palestine, but that did not stop the barrage of criticism.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We could have been warned, and thank God that there were no casualties, no loss of life, no loss of buildings.
SHAW: I understand the anger, and I -- I've experienced it.
What I can do, and what Norfolk Southern can do to help the recovery of this community.
CARROLL (voice-over): community seemingly traumatized.
STEWART: It's Norfolk's disaster, not a train derailment.
CARROLL (voice-over): And unwilling to hide their feelings of unsafety.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: If you do not feel safe living in East Palestine, raise your hand.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This has the potential to really decimate a small town like us.
CARROLL (voice-over): But the EPA administrator said there are guardrails in place to prevent that from happening.
MICHAEL REGAN, EPA ADMINISTRATOR: The orders are that the company will comply with our order, which compels them to take full responsibility, full accountability, for the trauma they have inflicted on this community and the damage they have caused.
TAPPER: Are you going to follow that order, sir?
SHAW: Yes, the -- Administrator Regan and I are aligned on this.
CARROLL (voice-over): However, the skepticism was palpable as those most affected filed back at Norfolk Southern and state officials, in search of more reassuring answers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whenever things are said like "maybe," "potentially," "might be." This is a really serious issue. And words like that should have no part in this.
GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R-OH): I've tried to be as -- as honest and as straight as I -- as I could. We told you when we had tested the water.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What about the soil?
DEWINE: We posted the results of that.
CARROLL (voice-over): On the issue of soil testing, the Ohio EPA director had this to say.
ANNE VOGEL, DIRECTOR, OHIO ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY: The process is to excavate everything that we know is contaminated. And then we test it so see how contaminated it is and where it needs to be lawfully disposed.
CARROLL (voice-over): The concerns now heightened as residents continue to report some health conditions, such as bleeding noses, rashes, and dizziness affecting both adults and children.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm having the skin issues. His is bloody noses.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I blew my nose, just the amount of blood that came out was alarming.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're all sick now.
CARROLL (voice-over): And many facing a desperate reality for their home town.
STEWART: I'm 66 years old, a diabetic, afib heart, heart disease, everything. Did you shorten my life now? I want to retire and enjoy it. How are we going to enjoy it? You burned me.
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CARROLL: Again, so many emotions running high here, Poppy. Also, later this morning, the NTSB is expected to release its preliminary report on its investigation.
Also, as you mentioned, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg will be here, in fact, in this very spot. He's been criticized for not showing up earlier. But he will be here today -- Poppy.
HARLOW: He has said, lesson learned from that. He should have been there sooner. Jason Carroll, thank you very much.
LEMON: And you can imagine. This could be anybody's town.
HARLOW: Anyone.
LEMON: Anyone's town, and I think this -- they're sort of the canary in the coal mine. This is a bigger issue that we're going to discuss later in the show.
But they're dealing with it now. Could be you next.
HARLOW: Right.
LEMON: And there are so many questions about this. Like, did the engineer know something was wrong with that train before it went off the rails and burst into an inferno?
CNN analyzed surveillance video of the train as it headed toward the disaster. It appears that the train slowed down significantly in the 44 minutes leading up to the wreck.
And you can clearly see sparks -- there you go right there -- from the wheels. They were flying as it continued to travel more than 20 miles.
Let's bring in Tom Foreman now. Break it all down. Tom, good morning to you.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Don.
LEMON: What do you know, and what happened?
FOREMAN: Well, if you just look at the maps and the evidence, what you see is something here that is certainly alarming.
Look at this first map. When the train went through Alliance it was traveling 49 miles per hour. That's based on calculations from when it left one town, when it arrived in another. There's no other way to et there, except by traveling that speed.
You'll notice there, it says that hot box detector. A hot box detector is a set of infrared indicators that point to the bottom of the train. And they're looking for axel bearings that are overheating. They would register that heat.
From Alliance to Salem, the train was traveling at this 49-mile-an- hour speed. At Alliance, there was no sign of that sparking.
By the time it got to Salem, which is 13 miles away, another hot box detector. That's when we see the sudden, dramatic decrease in speed. It had been going 49 miles per hour, which was normal for this section of track. Between 40 and 60 miles per hour, according to federal documents.
And then suddenly, at Salem it drops by 20 miles. It goes to 29 miles per hour. Forty-nine miles per hour to 29 miles per hour. And then it keeps going, past this other hot box detector.
At this lower speed, as you just showed there, Don, with sparks and flashes coming from underneath this car, caught on security cameras. It keeps going for another 21 miles to East Palestine, where of course, we have this calamity here.
Those hot box detectors are going to be incredibly important here, as they've been seized by federal investigators, to look at signatures coming off the bottom of this train that would tell them whether or not these bearings failed.
Because when these bearings fail, that is a very serious thing. That's why they have hot box detectors.
The question is going to be if, indeed, that is the key to this, if those sparks coming off the bottom of the train and this dramatic slowing down happened, why did the train not simply stop to address it -- Don.
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LEMON: Tom, I grew up near railroad tracks. And I'm just wondering. Some places trains go slower than others because of the areas that they're in, the conditions of the tracks, what have you. Do we know if that is the case, maybe, where this train slowed down? Too early to tell?
FOREMAN: We know from federal documents that in that area, the Federal Railroad Authority documents from 2020 would show that the typical speed would have been 40 to 60 miles an hour, not 29 miles per hour.
LEMON: Wow.
FOREMAN: Obviously, if you slow down that much, you're going to know you slowed down that much. The key question: why did you do it? If it wasn't this what other reason did you have?
LEMON: That answers that. Tom Foreman, thank you very much. I appreciate it.
FOREMAN: You're welcome, Don.
LEMON: So we're going to be joined by East Palestine residents Jim Stewart and Ben Ratner, who were at the town hall last night. Were they satisfied with the answers from officials, and what they want to see happen next. That's in just moments.
Plus, Ohio Lieutenant Governor John Husted is going to join us amid the government's response. So make sure you stay with us.
HARLOW: Also new overnight, a tragedy in Florida. A 9-year-old girl and a television journalist among three people killed in a series of shootings there. Police say the reporter was actually covering the shooting of a young woman when that reporter was fatally shot.
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JOHN MINA, ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF: No one in our community, not a mother, not a 9-year-old, and certainly not news professionals, should become the victim of gun violence in our community.
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HARLOW: A 19-year-old man has been charged with those murders. Our Leyla Santiago joins us from Orlando.
Absolutely tragic and it, you know, reminds me of a TV journalist, Alison, who was killed, you know, several years ago doing her job, as well.
LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, something that we as journalists have certainly never forgotten.
Poppy, I want to let you know that just in the last half hour, Spectrum News has now identified the team members that were involved in this shooting spree, identifying 24-year-old Dylan Lyons and Jesse Walden. Dylan Lyons being the reporter that died from this shooting.
They described him as motivated and a talented professional who was living his dream in Orlando. Someone who clearly was very much loved, even within the local news community, with his competitors. If you just took a moment to watch some of their coverage of this last night.
So let's back up and talk about exactly what led up to this, and what is still unanswered at this point.
According to the sheriff here in Orange County, he says that around 11 a.m. yesterday, they received a call of a shooting. A woman in her 20s was killed.
Then about five hours later, the sheriff says that the suspect returned and opened fire again, shooting that news team, that Spectrum News-13 team, as well as a woman and her 9-year-old daughter in their home. That 9-year-old died.
The photographer and the mother of the 9-year-old remain in critical condition this morning.
That 19-year-old that you mentioned, Poppy, that is 19-year-old Keith Melvin Moses. He is in custody. And one of the things the sheriff mentioned was that he has a lengthy criminal history that includes gun charges.
So we will wait to find out exactly what the charges are today in court. In the meantime, though, a lot, a lot of strong feelings just being here at the hospital among the journalists who lost one of their own.
HARLOW: Of course. And thank you, Leyla, for bringing us the names of those killed and injured. We appreciate the reporting this morning.
LEMON: Let's talk more about the people who work with those journalists. This tragedy putting devastated journalists at Spectrum News 13 in a really unimaginable -- unimaginable position. They are forced to mourn the sudden loss of a co-worker while continuing to do their jobs and bring the community the important information. As these reporters bravely tried to carry on last night, there were some moments where they could not deny their emotions. Watch this.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we got the call and immediately went to the scene there, a lot of people, of course, a lot of us still trying to wrap our head around all this. It's a very difficult situation, a difficult day for our family at News 13, but we are doing the best that we can to bring you this information.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of people ask how we're doing. I'll be honest with you: Not good. But we're doing the best we can as it hits us. And it's not just emotion for a colleague. But as a parent. to say a 9- year-old has lost their life, it's not good.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I apologize. This is really difficult to cover. It is very emotional here at ORMC.
[06:15:04]
It is nice to see all the media, we come together in solidarity in this moment. This is every reporter's absolutely worst nightmare. We -- we go home at night afraid -- that something like this will occur. And that is what happened here.
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HARLOW: That's one thing that was said by the folks at Spectrum 13. That that last reporter you just heard from is from a competitor, but of course, in that moment, everyone came together for them.
LEMON: I don't think people realize just how dangerous it is to be a local reporter. One of my things that -- when, as a local reporter for a long time, and before coming to NBC and then here is the one when I saw Adrienne Broaddus, just moments before we went to Adrienne yesterday. And she was standing on the side of the road.
HARLOW: Yes.
LEMON: I hated doing live shots on the side of highways, because many people are killed. When I was in Birmingham, Alabama, someone was going to Talladega for the auto race and they were changing a tire. Died on the side of the road.
And then moments later I had to go and do a live shot on the side of the road, and so it made me uncomfortable.
And so when I see reporters doing that, it's uncomfortable.
I remember once when I was in Philadelphia. I rounded the corner with a camera man, and someone was shooting at someone running away. And like, just moments.
And do you remember the helicopter crash here for Channel 4 when they lost the -- HARLOW: Of course.
LEMON: How many people were injured.
And then when I was in -- well, I wasn't in Philadelphia, but there was a weather man who died in a helicopter crash. And the whole city, the whole -- you know, it was the Delaware Valley mourned.
And so local reporters put their lives on the line every day. People think about war zones and war reporters, but these folks in local towns all over America are putting themselves in harm's way every day to cover the news. And I think that they should be commended, and people at home so realize that. Because they get a lot of criticism --
HARLOW: They do.
LEMON: -- about what they do.
HARLOW: And targeted as well. We don't know the motive here, but you'll remember Alison Parker and her colleague just several years ago. And it's terrible.
LEMON: I can't imagine going on the air. Remember when our colleague, Drew Griffin, died and I was trying to -- in the moment when it hits you, when you're reading about it, it becomes real.
And so for those folks, our hearts go out with you. We understand what you're dealing with. And we are really, really sorry. And I think network news, broadcast, cable news, local, we're all with you and standing for you.
HARLOW: No question.
LEMON: We'll stand strong if you can't right now.
HARLOW: No question. We'll have much more on that ahead.
LEMON: Yes. And speaking of, doing their duties now. Reporters.
We want to turn now to the weather as that powerful winter storm rolls through, bringing blizzard, snow and icy conditions.
More than 60 million people coast-to-coast are under winter alerts this morning. For some states the coldest temperatures of the season. More than 850,000 people are left without power in places like Michigan, California and Illinois. That really spans almost everything.
And so far, 1,700 flights have been canceled. Delta and Southwest are among airlines most affected. The storm even causing more than 350 crashes in Utah.
There are -- one -- there' s one fatality reported so far. Did I read that right? I want to make sure.
HARLOW: Yes. LEMON: Is there only one fatality? Yes.
HARLOW: I believe so.
LEMON: One fatality so far.
So I want to bring in Adrienne Broaddus. She's live for us in Bloomington, Minnesota.
Good morning to you, Adrienne. I'm glad that you are well off the highway and that you're being as safe as possible. So thank you very much. So now report the weather conditions where you are, please.
ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. But I can't ignore what you just said a moment ago. Don, we saw the highway yesterday, but for our viewers, we were safe in a parking lot after so many close calls. As a local reporter, not a risk I'm willing to take.
But let's get right to this weather. Behind me you see this crew clearing out the pathway for folks who do not have the luxury of staying home. They may have to come home and work here at the Mall of America or some of the restaurants that are inside.
The snow is continuing to fall. Once we get past this dangerous area it's going to be a lot of fun to go out and just play in the snow, maybe have a snow fight.
But that's not the case right now. The roads, you can still see ice under the area where they've cleared, even on the high -- or may not call it a highway. The highway is just behind us. But on this stretch of roadway behind us.
Here in the Twin Cities, at least 10 inches have fallen already. We saw that snow pick up overnight.
But the snow isn't the only problem; it's the wind. There's a break in the wind right now, but earlier this morning, it was whipping. It was hitting my face as the snow fell. And that's what people will experience when they're out on the road.
The snow is falling as long as that wind -- that wind is also blowing with gusts of up to 35 to 40 miles per hour in some parts of the state, creating low visibility -- Don and Poppy.
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LEMON: Adrienne, we're glad that you're safe and you're reporting to keep others safe, as well. We'll check back with you. Thank you so much.
HARLOW: So a college basketball player's attorney is pushing back on reporting that he allegedly supplied a gun in a deadly shooting. We'll talk about the details we know. Also this --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh! It's -- I just heard a big bang right here behind me. I probably shouldn't have done the live shot here. There are big explosions taking place in Kyiv right now.
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LEMON: You know, it's interesting having to relive that. I can't believe that was one year ago today. That was as Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine.
Still no end in sight as the bloody war enters its second year. So what's the U.S. strategy going forward? The former defense secretary, Mark Esper, is going to join us live to discuss that.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lock him up! Lock him up! Lock him up!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lock him up! Lock him up! Lock him up!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lock him up! Lock him up! Lock him up!
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HARLOW: Chanting "Lock him up" and "guilty" at Alabama basketball player Brandon Miller after a law-enforcement officer testified that Miller received a text to bring a gun to the scene of a shooting. This was last month.
Our Nick Valencia is with us. Good morning, Nick.
Can you explain what's going on here?
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Poppy.
Miller's attorney is trying to distance Miller as much as he can from this shooting, saying that Brandon Miller, that star guard on Alabama's basketball team, is fully cooperating with police.
[06:25:08]
And he alleges that Brandon Miller was already on his way to pick up his former teammate, Darius Miles, when he got the text from Miles, asking him to bring Miles his gun.
Miles is alleged to have left that gun in the back seat of Miller's car, concealed under some clothes. Then police allege he then took that gun and handed it off to a third person, Michael Lynn Davis, who police say used that gun in the commission of a murder.
Both of them are being held in custody and charged with murder.
Here's part of what Miller's attorney said in a statement, saying, "Brandon never touched the gun, was not involved in its exchange to Mr. Davis in any way, and never knew that illegal activity involving the gun would occur" -- Poppy.
HARLOW: Nick, thank you. Obviously, we're waiting for many more answers. But we'll stay on the story. Thanks for the reporting -- Don.
VALENCIA: You bet.
LEMON: So coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, an exclusive report from inside a Ukrainian city under fire by Russian forces for weeks. CNN is on the ground there.
And the former defense secretary, Mark Esper, joins us live as a new year of Russia's war begins.
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HARLOW: Now to a CNN exclusion.
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