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U.S. Marshal: Escaped Killer Planned To Carjack Someone, Drive To Canada; Senators Lankford (R-OK) And King (I-ME) Make Bipartisan Push To End Government Shutdowns; Report: Less Than Half Of Gen Z members Feel They're "Thriving." Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired September 14, 2023 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you very much. Illuminating to hear about what it was like in the room. Appreciate it.

MAYA WILEY, PRESIDENT AND CEO, LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE ON CIVIL AND HUMAN RIGHTS: Thank you.

HARLOW: Thanks.

WILEY: A pleasure to be with you.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, we're getting new details about the dramatic capture of a convicted murderer who was on the run in Pennsylvania for two weeks. His ultimate plan if he escaped the search radius, and how the hero dog, Yoda, used the force -- I wish I would have written that myself -- to find the fugitive. That's next.

HARLOW: Also, the countdown is on if the United Auto Workers union and Detroit's Big Three automakers can't reach a deal by midnight. Thousands of workers could walk off the job. The two sides still pretty far apart this morning. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL)

MATTINGLY: Well, this morning, the countdown is on for the United Auto Workers union and Detroit's Big Three automakers to reach a deal. You can see the clock behind me. They have until 11:59 p.m. tonight to find consensus or thousands of workers could walk off the job.

The talks -- they haven't been going well. They are still not going well. And now, the union president is announcing plans for a targeted strike at a limited number of plants that could grind auto production to a halt.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHAWN FAIN, PRESIDENT, UNITED AUTO WORKERS: They nickel and dime our members every day. They price gouge the American consumer and they squeeze the U.S. taxpayer for every dime they can get. The Big Three can afford to immediately give us our fair share.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MATTINGLY: And sources tell CNN that negotiations have proven, quote, "uniquely challenging" because of a new approach by the man you saw there, Shawn Fain, and UAW leadership. Unlike past negotiations, The UAW has not selected a single automaker with which to seek an initial deal that would be replicated by others.

And Poppy, I think the reality right now is as much as we've paid attention to this story it is going to get so much bigger if they can't find a way forward. And it's not just a Detroit issue or a business issue. This is a domestic economic issue with huge repercussions.

HARLOW: Right. I was just looking at some analysis that says -- from Anderson Economic Group -- just 10 days of a strike of all the Big Three would cost this economy $5 billion. And that's just 10 days.

MATTINGLY: Yeah.

[07:35:00]

HARLOW: Yeah. We'll keep an eye on it, Phil. Thank you very much.

We're also learning new details this morning about the dramatic capture of a convicted murderer in Pennsylvania. A U.S. Marshal tells CNN that Danelo Cavalcante told law enforcement officers he was planning to carjack someone and drive to Canada. Cavalcante also told investigators about three near-encounters when officers nearly stepped on him during their search. That's how close they were three times.

And just a reminder, this is how it all started. Cavalcante crab- walked his way out of that Chester County Prison on August 31. Two weeks later, just 22 miles from the prison, that's where he was caught.

Our correspondent Danny Freeman joins us again this morning. You were on with us, Danny, during the breaking news of his capture and arrest yesterday and now we have so many more details.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So many more details, Poppy, that were really stunning, revealed on CNN last night, and just show how close law enforcement officers were to Cavalcante. But Poppy, police always said this was a tactical game of cat and mouse and yesterday, the cat won.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The subject is in custody. Repeating, subject in custody.

FREEMAN (voice-over): Two weeks of multiple search perimeters and hundreds of law enforcement officers combing woods, farms, and creeks have come to an end as escaped inmate Danelo Cavalcante is finally caught.

CNN affiliate CBS News Philadelphia capturing video of him escorted by armed officers into the back of an armored vehicle. DEB RYAN, CHESTER COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Our nightmare is finally

over.

FREEMAN (voice-over): The walls began to close on Cavalcante early Wednesday morning. An armed tactical team converged on a location inside a search zone after aerial infrared cameras detected a heat signal, according to Pennsylvania State Police.

LT. COL. GEORGE BIVENS, PENNSYLVANIA STATE POLICE: They were able to move in very quietly. They had the element of surprise. Cavalcante did not realize he was surrounded until that had occurred. That did not stop him from trying to escape. He began to crawl through thick underbrush, taking his rifle with him.

FREEMAN (voice-over): A police dog with the U.S. Border Patrol tactical unit, named Yoda, was released on the armed fugitive.

ROBERT CLARK, SUPERVISORY DEPUTY, U.S. MARSHALS SERVICE: We knew that he was armed, and using a canine we felt was a reasonable option before upgrading to deadly force.

FREEMAN (voice-over): The 4-year-old male Belgian Malinois subdued Cavalcante, preventing him from using the rifle he was armed with, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

CLARK: He was just essential as far as the tracking and searching, as were numerous other canines that were here.

FREEMAN (voice-over): Cavalcante spent nearly two weeks on the run living, in part, on a watermelon he found on a farm and drinking stream water, according to authorities.

CLARK: He was a desperate man. He was actively avoiding apprehension. He had hunkered down in an area that was very, very secluded and very, very wooded and he didn't move for the first couple of days. His end game was to carjack somebody and to head north up to Canada, and he intended to do that in the next 24 hours.

FREEMAN (voice-over): For the family of Deborah Brandoa, Cavalcante's ex-girlfriend who he was convicted of killing, relief. Her sister, Sarah, releasing a statement saying, "We are profoundly grateful for the support and hard work performed by the U.S. police over these last days." And, "At this moment, me and my family need to regroup and focus on processing everything that has happened as we take care of each other."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREEMAN: Poppy, Cavalcante had his preliminary arraignment yesterday morning. He was officially charged with felony escape. He is not back behind bars, importantly, in a state prison -- Poppy.

HARLOW: Yeah. Danny, your reporting on the ground for these two weeks has been really extraordinary. Thank you very much.

All right. So, lawmakers have 16 days to pass a spending bill or the government runs out of money. Senators Angus King and James Lankford will join us next hour with their bipartisan plan to keep us going.

(COMMERCIAL)

MATTINGLY: Well, Congress is racing to avoid a government shutdown at the end of the month. Failing to do so would put thousands of federal employees out of work and put significant pressure on the U.S. economy.

Our next guests -- they are pushing bipartisan legislation to end the government shutdowns altogether. There's an actual legislative solution here that they've put forward.

Joining us now, Sen. James Lankford, a Republican from Oklahoma. And, Sen. Angus King, an Independent from Maine who caucuses with the Democrat. Senators, I appreciate your time.

I want to dig in on the bill in a second. But just to start with the idea, Sen. Lankford, that right now you guys -- this isn't a new thing -- neither the countdown clocks towards a shutdown nor this legislation. You've proposed this several times. You guys have been talking about this on a bipartisan basis for several years now.

Do you feel like this moment is different because it seems like some of your colleagues in the House aren't just considering a shutdown; some of them seem to actively want it at this point.

SEN. JAMES LANKFORD (R-OK): Yeah, I don't know that anyone really wants a shutdown. We do want a solution to some of the issues that are going on, especially debt and deficit. All of us see the debt and deficit issue and we're always looking for what is the moment that we can actually address this accelerating debt and deficit.

But this is an issue on ending government shutdowns. We've talked about it for a long time.

We do need to have the debate and debt and deficit. We do need to do the hard work of that, but we don't need to have a government shutdown.

We have government workers that are not getting a check. We have chaos across the country as people can't call federal agencies. It actually spends more taxpayer money than it saves by any -- by a far amount. So it's wasteful on the taxpayer, it's difficult on the federal workers, and it's difficult on the American people. Let's have the debate on debt and deficit but let's hold the American people harmless in the process.

MATTINGLY: Senator King, I feel like we talk about this every time we're within two to three weeks of the government shutdown. Everybody says yeah, that's a great idea, and then it never kind of moves forward.

Why do you think that this legislation -- this proposal hasn't gained traction after the eventual solving of the shutdown problem?

SEN. ANGUS KING (I-ME): Well, I think the problem is we get through a shutdown and everybody sort of relaxes and says oh, that's done and we'll move on. The reality is this is becoming a regular occurrence and, as James Lankford said, it's very damaging to the economy.

Thousands of jobs in Maine -- people aren't there to answer the phone. Mortgages went down 13 percent during the last shutdown because there wasn't anybody there to process the federal piece of the mortgage -- of the mortgage process. So it has a really serious impact.

We're -- we believe that this may be a moment when people are going to start taking a solution seriously.

And what we're basically proposing is that there's no travel money. There will be an automatic renewal of a -- of a continuing resolution every two weeks --

MATTINGLY: Right.

KING: -- until we get a solution. But nobody leaves until we get to that solution. It's our version of lock them in a room until they get the decision made.

MATTINGLY: It's a -- it's a very -- you are very cognizant of the dynamics of Congress, which is pain is usually what brings results -- pain and deadline.

[07:45:00]

Senator Lankford, in terms of these -- the current state of affairs, Speaker McCarthy, yesterday, told his conference that he was going to strip out the Ukraine piece of the supplemental funding that they're trying to attach. Do you agree with that approach in the current negotiations?

LANKFORD: Yeah, I didn't -- I didn't see the particular piece from Speaker McCarthy but we do need to stand with the people of Ukraine. The people of Ukraine are in a fight, literally, for their lives at this point. The Russian army led by Putin is coming in and just slaughtering their neighbors. So we should stand with people who are being attacked on this.

Now, we shouldn't have American troops on the ground. But to just ignore what's happening there and assume a war in Europe is not going to affect the United States is to ignore all of the 20th-Century history. So trying to get faster into this war is much better for the American people and for the global stability.

MATTINGLY: And Sen. Lankford, are you concerned at all that kind of the move towards an impeachment injury just creates another hurdle given the fact there's only 16 days left?

LANKFORD: Yeah, there -- it's -- there's a lot of noise in D.C. and it just got noisier as well. And the conversation about an impeachment inquiry -- that's going to be weeks and weeks and weeks in the process as it appears, at this point, they still have a long way to go to actually get to that vote. And any eventual vote if they choose to be able to do impeachment -- that's in the House and that's a process they're going to do. But that shouldn't affect the next two or three weeks.

MATTINGLY: But Sen. King, you -- your name came up yesterday. There is a lot of attention on one of your colleagues, Republican Sen. Mitt Romney, about a text that you sent him warning him of potential problems on January 6. He wrote about that. He passed that along to leader McConnell.

I was wondering if you could kind of give some context from your side of how you sent that text and why.

KING: Well, I was hearing from some friends in the Pentagon that there was some chatter on the internet. This wasn't classified. This was basically internet traffic talking about the possibility of some kind of violence here on January 6.

And Mitt Romney's name came up. As you'll recall, he was the only Republican to vote for the conviction of President Trump in the first impeachment trial. And when I heard his name I thought I ought to let him know. I mean, it's a pretty poor friend who doesn't warn somebody who is a friend that they might be in danger.

It was all rumors and, as I say, it was chatter on the internet. But even if there was -- we all considered it a remote possibility at the time. I just thought I ought to let Mitt know.

MATTINGLY: And Sen. Lankford, you are a Republican senator who is known for working across the aisle when there are issues that align. There's no question about that.

LANKFORD: Yeah.

MATTINGLY: What is it like to see somebody like Sen. Romney decide to depart -- and I think some very critical framing about where the party is at this point?

LANKFORD: Yeah, it -- obviously, everybody makes their own decisions and their own direction. He served as a governor. He was a presidential candidate for the Republicans. He's served in the Senate. He's served in leading the Olympics in the past.

He's been known to be able to work across the aisle. He's been one that's frustrated Republicans and Democrats alike at different points on different issues.

So we have several members -- Kyrsten Sinema. We have Joe Manchin. Quite frankly, my friend Angus King has frustrated both sides of the aisle at times as we all try to engage.

We have a responsibility to be able to represent the people that we represent -- not a certain party.

KING: I'd like to chime in there.

MATTINGLY: Please.

KING: Mitt Romney is going to really be missed because he was a guy -- he was so smart and so principled and thoughtful. He was a guy that you could go to and say here is a serious issue. Let's talk seriously about it -- without regard to the political ramifications. He's going to be a real loss to this body.

MATTINGLY: Just before I let you guys go, and I would -- I would put this out to both of you, would either of you be considering not running the next time you're up for reelection? Just -- I wouldn't want to specify between either of you, but if anybody's up in a near- term race and hasn't made a decision yet, who may be from Maine, do we know?

KING: Well, I am running again in 2024. I'm working at it actively. I have a campaign manager and am working at it and interacting being -- I'll be back in Maine tonight and over the weekend, so I'm hard at it.

Because I think the -- it's funny. I haven't sat down with Mitt Romney. He and I looked at the same issue and made opposite decisions. I just decided this wasn't a time to leave. It wasn't a time to walk away based upon what the circumstances are --

MATTINGLY: Right.

KING: -- here. So I've decided to stick with it and I'm going.

LANKFORD: Yeah. Thankfully, I'm five years away from that decision.

MATTINGLY: Yeah. No, I know, I know. I appreciate it.

Senator Lankford and Sen. Angus King, we appreciate your time. The legislation, again, is not something that's new. You guys have pushed it several times and yet, we're back here every time. Maybe this time it will be different. You guys are certainly giving that a shot.

Appreciate your time, guys. Thank you.

LANKFORD: Yeah, we pray so. Thanks.

KING: Thank you.

HARLOW: Nice to see people working together, Phil.

All right, does Gen Z struggle more with mental health than millennials? There's a new survey and it shows some signs of a pretty alarming shift. We'll explain ahead.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:52:26]

HARLOW: All right, welcome back.

As more members of Gen Z emerge into or approach adulthood, there's a new survey that looks at the challenges that this younger generation faces with less than half feeling like they are thriving in life.

Joining us now, CNN national correspondent Athena Jones. So glad you looked into this. What does it tell us?

ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's a lot in this poll and one thing we found -- that the pollsters found is that Gen Z -- they struggle more with mental health and emotional well-being than previous generations at the same age, and they weight their mental health far lower than older peers.

So you can see here just 20 percent of Gen Z say their mental health is excellent. That's at least nine points lower than all other ages. And more than a third say their mental health is only fair or poor. All is not lost, of course. These numbers -- excellent, plus good -- is still more than six in 10.

HARLOW: Yeah.

JONES: But you can see the difference across generations. And part of the reason is the pollsters found that Gen Zers say they experience more sadness, more loneliness -- negative emotions like that.

But the biggest numbers they found were with anxiety and stress. Fifty-one percent said they felt anxious a lot the previous day. Sixty-two percent said they felt stressed the prior day.

So we're seeing -- we've heard a lot of talk in recent years about mental health struggles, especially when it comes to the younger generation, so this poll really bears that out.

HARLOW: What are they most worried about -- Gen Z -- when it comes to the future?

JONES: Well, they're most worried about making sure they can make enough money to live comfortably. That's what 69 percent of them said. It was the most cited worry.

And they said that they feel like they're going to have a good future. But only 44 percent say they feel prepared, and that's because they feel that their schools, while offering them a view of different career paths, they don't give them enough practical opportunities to prepare themselves for the workforce.

So you say -- 34 percent say their school offers a chance to learn how to apply for a job. Just a third say their school offers opportunities to work on projects relevant to the job they want. And less than 30 percent say school offers help on how to interview for a job.

When it comes to barriers, they think -- 64 percent believe that financial resources are going to be a barrier for them achieving their goals and their dreams. And that is really broken down when it comes to college. Those who want to go to higher education -- only 53 percent say they'll be able to afford it. And when you break it down by race you can see that white Gen Zers are the most likely that believe they can afford it. Black Gen Zers the least likely.

So a lot of data in this poll

HARLOW: It's so fascinating and numbers that we need to pay attention to as we create policies that affect them as they get older.

JONES: Exactly.

HARLOW: Thank you, Athena --

JONES: Thanks.

HARLOW: -- very much -- Phil.

MATTINGLY: All right. Well, at midnight, thousands of members of the United Auto Workers union could walk off the job. The union just laid out a strike plan against the Big Three automakers. We are live in Detroit outside of GM headquarters, next.

[07:55:04]

And now to today's Impact Your World. Meet a man who spent decades cleaning up the Anacostia River in the nation's capital.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On a hot summer day, and this is where we would be able to go into the river and swim and cool off.

When my children became old enough to start going down to the stream to play I noticed that it was trash and the toxic sediment. The floatable trash and debris -- it just made for a toxic soup.

I wound up organizing clean-ups in my own neighborhood, which eventually led me to found a nonprofit organization that led to the installation of a litter-capturing device -- the first one in the whole Western Hemisphere. That allowed us to create a workforce development program and we engaged youth from all around the city who would take responsibility for cleaning up the litter traps. We've also closed down a major polluter. We just have to collect the data.

The Anacostia River has improved tremendously over the last decade. One real indicator is eagles are nesting again. There are fishable days and there are swimmable days. You see kayakers. You see crew teams now. Residents who used to see the river as a place to stay away from now view the river as a place to come to.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL)

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