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Father: Son Tried To Stop Gunman With A Butcher Knife; U.S. Warns Crypto Firms Against Financing Hamas, Terror Groups; Families Of Hostages Tell Israeli Government "Their Patience Has Run Out. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired October 27, 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: And in Jason's reporting, you just heard from Leroy Walker speaking about his son, Joey, and how he died trying to go after the gunman to be a hero. He's with us next.

(COMMERCIAL)

HARLOW: This morning, Maine is in so much pain. So many families waking up without their loved ones, without their friend, without their coworker -- all gone because of another mass shooting in America.

Our next guest, Leroy Walker, says his son died a hero, and he did -- listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEROY WALKER SR., SON JOEY KILLED IN MAINE SHOOTING RAMPAGE: My son actually -- because he's manager of the bar and everything else -- picked up a butcher knife and went after the gunman to try to stop him from killing other people. And that's when he shot my son to death.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: His son, Joey Walker, was the manager at Schemengees Bar & Grille where at least eight people were killed. And his father says, "My Joey will be missed by thousands."

Leroy Walker joins us now. He's also a city councilor in Auburn, Maine, just miles from where this happened. Leroy, thank you for being here this morning. And what a hero your son was. When you think about that what does it say about the man that he was to you?

[07:35:05]

WALKER: I'm very proud of my son. I know that definitely, he would do this all over again if this was to happen. All my life and all my son's life we have faced many other things that have been crazy at times in life. Meeting people is my son's biggest thing. Knowing people and understanding them is also a big thing to Joe. Loved by many, loved by myself, and he would love back to everybody.

So I know he would do such a thing to try to save lives and not let somebody hurt the people that he loved. And this was family. This place brings thousands of people in, in a year and Joe was usually the first face that they see coming through the door and the last one they see going out the door.

It's going to be hard. It's going to be hard for a lot, a lot of people. And, of course, hard for myself and my family, and his wife, grandchildren, his stepchildren. It -- they're a loving family.

And for someone to do this to so many families, as well as mine, is just crazy. It leaves you an empty hole that I don't know how it will ever be filled.

HARLOW: We're looking at these wonderful pictures of the two of you together as you're helping everyone remember your son and his big smile. Our heart obviously is with his wife, Tracy, and his whole family as well.

He did so much to help people that needed it the most. He did a lot for veterans. He was about to raise money for veterans.

WALKER: Yes. Him and I had talked about it. I connected him with a good friend of mine that's a veteran, and Jerry DeWitt and him were going to meet I believe the next day. Of course, that's not going to happen now. But hopefully, somebody can pick up that ball and run with it. But it's a very short time. November 11 was the date picked to do this and --

HARLOW: Yeah.

WALKER: -- I don't know if it's going to happen at this time.

HARLOW: I'm struck by your remarks yesterday that you do not harbor hate or anger for the man who took your son's life, and I wonder how that's possible despite your grief.

WALKER: Uh, you have to put that part of it -- you have to put it out of your mind. You have to let the Lord do whatever needs to be done. And if this person was, at the time, in his right mind I believe he would have been a loving person just like we are. There's something that went wrong.

And I just can't hate him. I believe in the Lord and I think the Lord will prevail in the end here. And I guess we can't make our choices on people but I can't -- I can't hate this person. I've been taught different than that -- I hope, anyways. And I believe in the Lord and I have to feel that way.

You can't run around this world hating people. If you do, these kind of things will happen more and more. They may be more individual things that happen. But if you hate and the hate drives you crazy you're going to hurt people.

And I've had my ups and downs in my life and I don't want anyone to hurt me and I don't want to hurt anybody.

And I'm sure this man -- whatever happened to his mind, I'm sure he wasn't born to be a killer. And he's got, I'm sure, a father and a mother that would have never believed this would have happened with him. So all I can say is I'm sorry that it's happened to all of us and I'm sorry what may happen to him. And God will prevail.

[07:40:11]

HARLOW: It's just --

WALKER: Hate will never bring my son back.

HARLOW: No, it won't.

WALKER: It just --

HARLOW: It's just amazing to hear you with so much love in your heart, Leroy. For people who don't know, you also lost your daughter 25 years ago --

WALKER: I did.

HARLOW: -- in a car accident. So to have to lose two children and still be able to have faith -- have such faith and such love in your heart is remarkable.

What can everyone watching do for you? How can we help you?

WALKER: Uh, just pray for everybody. Pray for the people that passed away with my son. Pray to the Lord that this doesn't happen again in our community.

None of us would have ever believed this if we would have asked each other five days ago if this was a possibility. Nobody would have believed it. Nobody would have thought it.

We have -- we really have a loving community. We have two cities here -- sister cities. They both believe that their city is the best city, and that's the way we are. But we love each other.

We travel back and forth to all businesses. We make plans together. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. And as a city councilor, I know a lot of their feelings and they know a lot of mine. The two cities try to make the cities the proudest place to be. Diversity, of course, is here and we know that, but we don't go around shooting each other.

So --

HARLOW: Yeah.

WALKER: -- you know, I just hope we can move on through this and get it behind us so that we can start healing. And thank God we have you people to keep our loved ones alive for a few more days. HARLOW: Leroy Walker, your son -- it is clear that all the good in him came from so much good in you. Thank you for sharing about him with us this morning. And we're here for whatever you need.

WALKER: Thank you very much.

HARLOW: Of course.

No love like a parent's love, right?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: I don't -- I don't have anything to say.

HARLOW: What a great human.

MATTINGLY: He said all of the things. And I wish I and everyone else could be more --

HARLOW: Like him.

MATTINGLY: -- like him.

HARLOW: We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:47:15]

MATTINGLY: Well, there has been a stark message from the Treasury Department warning against crypto -- warning crypto firms against allowing their platforms to be used to finance terrorist organizations. That comes as scrutiny continues to grow over the role digital assets and other forms of assistance played in Hamas' attack on Israel.

The U.S., this morning, announcing new sanctions targeted at Hamas financing.

And joining us now to discuss, Deputy Treasury Sec. Wally Adeyemo. Mr. Deputy Secretary, I appreciate your time.

I want to start with -- oftentimes in the wake of an attack like this you see a major influx or surge in donations to groups like Hamas. Have you seen that in this case?

WALLY ADEYEMO, DEPUTY TREASURY SECRETARY: Yes, we have, and that's exactly why we've acted over the last few weeks to go after those -- that surge of donations that are going into Hamas to stabilize and take apart their financial network and to make clear to the world that the United States and our allies will stand together to go after Hamas and its terrorist activities.

MATTINGLY: Do you feel like you have -- I know the intelligence capabilities that the U.S. has -- you've been working on a multilateral basis with these sanctions. Do you feel like you have the best visibility into the different pathways of those -- of that assistance? ADEYEMO: We have a great deal of visibility into the pathways of that Hamas is using to fund itself.

And today, I'm in the United Kingdom because we know that when terrorist organizations like Hamas can't use the United States and the U.S. dollar to get access to money, they try and find other currencies in other countries they can use.

That's why we're busy building and working on an alliance that will go after Hamas' finances wherever they exist, including in the Gulf in the Middle East but also in Europe, the United States and the United Kingdom, and around the world.

MATTINGLY: There are humanitarian carveouts in all of the sanctions the Treasury puts out. That's particularly complicated in this case given Hamas is the governing body of Gaza. There are also some charities that have been labeled as terror groups that have not been sanctioned yet, particularly as it pertains to Hamas.

How do you make that distinction at this point?

ADEYEMO: The most important thing we can do is to work closely with the financial institutions who are transacting money that goes to many of these charities to make sure that they are allowing for legitimate transactions that allow humanitarian assistance to flow to Gaza and to flow to the Palestinian people while making sure that the organization that Hamas -- that Hamas has set up to try and divert those flows do not get access to that financing.

That's why I'm here in the U.K. today because we want to make sure that countries around the world, including in Europe, take similar actions to help ensure that Hamas doesn't get access to funding but that the Palestinian people get access to the humanitarian aid they need, as well as humanitarian financing.

[07:50:06]

MATTINGLY: Today's list of sanctioned individuals include a Hamas official that's a direct connect in Iran, as well as some IRGC officials as well. The U.S. has had strikes -- military strikes tied to IRGC officials and proxies.

At what point will the U.S. consider expanding oil export sanctions on the country of Iran?

ADEYEMO: It's important to recognize that over the course of this year, we have put in place more than 300 sanctions against Iran, including petrol chemical sanctions. We're going to continue to use our sanctions authorities to go after Iran's destabilizing activity in the region, including the actions that we took today.

MATTINGLY: So should we consider oil export sanctions are an expansion of them on the table right now?

ADEYEMO: So we're going to continue to take the actions that we've taken over the course of this year to hold Iran accountable for the actions they are taking to destabilize the region. I'm not going to preview sanction actions. But what you've today is that we've been willing to go after the actions that Iran is taking to destabilize the region. And today's actions against Hamas include connections to Iran.

And what I can tell you, Phil, is that we're going to continue to take actions to make sure that Hamas no longer has access to the financing it needs to pay its fighters and to destabilize the region, and to take the actions that it's taken in Israel.

MATTINGLY: Deputy Treasury Sec. Wally Adeyemo -- the second round of major sanctions since the October 7 attacks -- we appreciate it. Thank you, sir.

HARLOW: Well, families of hostages --

ADEYEMO: Thank you.

HARLOW: -- still being held by Hamas -- some are growing frustrated with the Israeli government's approach. We're going to speak with a father whose son is currently being held.

MATTINGLY: And while the House spent weeks trying to find a speaker, a GOP-led committee continued the work on the impeachment inquiry into President Biden. The details on that ahead.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:56:00]

MATTINGLY: Well, this morning, families of some of the hostages held by Hamas growing frustrated with the Israeli government. In a statement released last night, several of them families day, quote, "Their patience has run out." They also accuse Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of, quote, "being silent about the fate of their loved ones."

Just four hostages have been released and Israeli officials believe more than 200 remain held.

HARLOW: Nineteen-year-old Israeli-American Itay Chen is believed to be among them. His family says the IDF Reservist was on duty and deployed to repel the attack before he went missing.

His father met with officials at the United Nations earlier this week and is calling on the entire international community to do more to free the hostages.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUBY CHEN, FATHER OF MISSING IDF SOLDIER AND HAMAS HOSTAGE ITAY CHEN, MET WITH U.N. OFFICIALS AND JEWISH LEADERS THIS WEEK: We are here not only talking about ourselves; we are here representing 220 families of kids, Holocaust survivors, women being held hostage. We feel and believe, and wish all of you to think that these are crimes against humanity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: And that was Ruby Chen and he joins us now. Thank you, Ruby, very much for being with us. We see the shirt "Bring Itay Home Now."

Have you had any updates from any government agency about your son?

CHEN: So, we have constant contact with both the U.S. government officials as well as the Israeli government officials. Unfortunately, no official update.

MATTINGLY: You've urged --

CHEN: Twenty days --

MATTINGLY: Go ahead.

CHEN: No, I'm saying -- counting 20 days. Twenty-one days --

HARLOW: Yeah.

CHEN: -- is today.

Do you have kids at home?

HARLOW: Yes, we do.

CHEN: Do you know where they slept yesterday? I don't.

HARLOW: Yeah, I know.

CHEN: Do you want to join my universe?

MATTINGLY: We -- to your point, it's -- you can't comprehend the pain that you and other families are going through unless you're in it. And I think -- do you feel like that government officials on both sides -- the U.S. and the Israeli side understand that? Do they -- are they able to identify with that when you speak to them?

CHEN: I think there's an understanding that the situation is different. If there was some sort of playbook, we urge both the U.S. and Israel, as well as the international community to take that playbook and throw it out the window because this situation is unique in so many ways. Like, I don't even want to call them people. Like, you know, who takes babies as hostages? Who takes Holocaust survivors as hostages?

You know, one of the U.S. citizens that has also been taken hostage -- he got hit by a grenade. His arm is amputated from the elbow down.

HARLOW: Yeah.

CHEN: Has he seen a doctor? No. Like, doctors at the borders, as well as the Red Cross at the border -- no one is letting them in. Like, how do you call these people? I wouldn't even call them people. That's why I think that this is crimes against humanity. And it's not just a U.S. thing or an Israel thing; it's an international community thing -- the 30 different nationalities being held hostage.

HARLOW: Yeah.

CHEN: We went to the U.N. I was under the naive assumption that the discussion would be around hostages, bringing them home, and crimes against humanity. Unfortunately, the topic discussed was a bit different. And I think any other topic should be kept for another day. The only topic that should be on the table and is the only narrative is getting the hostages back home.

HARLOW: Do you believe the U.S. government should send in special forces now to try to bring them home -- on the ground?

CHEN: That's a little bit above my pay grade. I'm a businessman. I do MNAs for a living -- mergers and acquisitions. I understand we are.