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Russian Media: Police Raid Several Gay Bars In Moscow; Report Details New Evidence Of Sexual Violence On October 7; Supreme Court To Review Case Involving Oxycodone. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired December 04, 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]

ASHLEY RANDELE, FATHER ADMITTED ON DEATHBED HE WAS A FUGITIVE, HOST AND PRODUCER, "SMOKE SCREEN: MY FUGITIVE DAD" PODCAST: And that's when I saw the headline -- like, "Vault Teller Heist" and I was absolutely floored. I could not have been more shocked. I think I said out loud just to the room, "Oh my gosh, my life is a Lifetime movie."

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: What -- can I ask -- the process of processing, to some degree, where are you now versus where you were when you had that moment of realization?

RANDELE: I'm definitely I think in a more solid place now. Honestly, working on this podcast and being able to essentially investigate my dad has helped me transition through a lot of uncertainty and a lot of the grief of losing him.

I think what's so fascinating about this project specifically is the psychology of a criminal is fascinating to me. But we hear a lot about it from criminals who were caught, and my dad was never caught. So being able to have those conversations with him and really delve into that psychology of what does it mean to be a fugitive on the run for 50 years to have to keep that huge secret. But then also, what other secrets do you then have to keep from your friends, from your family? I mean, from your wife and your child --

MATTINGLY: Right.

RANDELE: -- to keep that original secret and protect yourself.

MATTINGLY: Before I let you go --

RANDELE: So it's been a healing journey --

MATTINGLY: Yeah.

RANDELE: -- but fascinating.

MATTINGLY: Just real quick before I let you go -- and everybody should definitely listen -- it's a fascinating story -- do we have any idea where the money went?

RANDELE: I wish. Wouldn't it be great if there were just a big bag of money? I do not have one. I wish I did. It's --

MATTINGLY: You probably wouldn't be doing the podcast, right?

RANDELE: It's -- I mean, it sounds like when he first moved here he lived in a gorgeous apartment and didn't work all that much. And it was gone within a few years of just living a really nice life in Boston.

MATTINGLY: Right.

Well, Ashley Randele, the story is fascinating. The podcast is out today. Thank you so much for joining us.

RANDELE: Yes. Thank you so much.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Well, ahead, more details coming to light about Hamas' horrific crimes on October 7, including reports of rape and sexual assault. Our Jake Tapper joins us to discuss.

MATTINGLY: And a string of raids in Moscow against LGBTQ bars. We're going to tell you why it's happening, next.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:36:24]

HARLOW: Well, new this morning, police in Russia raided several gay bars in Moscow over the weekend. This is after a top court in Russia banned the LGBTQ movement, calling it, quote, "extremist." That's according to two independent online news outlets.

Our Fred Pleitgen joins us with more of this reporting. This is shocking news. Why were the raids carried out and also, what are the long-term impacts?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think the long-term impacts could be huge for the gay and lesbian, transgender, and queer community in Russia. They certainly are already having a chilling effect, I can tell you, from speaking to some activists on the ground there.

But it seems as though there were three venues that were raided this weekend and they're not necessarily gay bars or clubs per se, but they are gay entertainment venues where apparently, events were taking place. And that all is very significant even though the authorities there are saying that no one was detained in those raids. However, there were some documents that were photographed from those people there which that, in itself, can have a chilling effect in a place like Russia, of course.

The authorities are saying that these were normal drug raids, as they put it. But certainly, it seems as though folks from the gay and lesbian community on the ground don't necessarily buy that. They are definitely terrified at what happened.

And the reason why this is significant, guys, is because it's another sign of a massive crackdown that's happening in Russia on the gay, lesbian, transgender, and queer community there -- something that's been going on for several years.

But what happened on Thursday is that the country's Supreme Court did not only ban what they call the international LGBTQ movement, but they also declared everybody who, as they say, is a member of that community. In other words, all of the folks in Russia who are gays, lesbians, transgender, or queer are all extremists -- they are considered in Russia now -- which that, of course, can have huge legal repercussions for those folks.

Again, this is something that we've seen over the past couple of years -- the big crackdown happening on that community. Certainly, life has become a lot more difficult for them over the past couple of years.

And the other thing that we also have to say is that one of the reasons why Vladimir Putin says he's doing this is he says to counter Western influence, which is also, he says, why he's conducting his invasion of Ukraine, guys.

HARLOW: Fred Pleitgen with the big picture there. Thanks very much for the reporting.

MATTINGLY: Well, this morning, the Supreme Court is set to hear a high-stakes case to determine if the maker of OxyContin can proceed with its controversial bankruptcy. What this could mean for victims of the opioid epidemic -- that's next.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:42:58]

MATTINGLY: A warning to our viewers the testimonies you are about to hear are very graphic and very disturbing. A new report revealing horrific stories of rape and sexual violence during Hamas' attack on October 7. Survivors and the investigators looking into what happened that day sharing details of rape and other atrocities they witnessed with the British newspaper, The Sunday Times.

A 39-year-old witness who attended the Nova music festival on October 7 told the Times, quote, "I saw this beautiful woman with the face of an angel and eight or 10 fighters beating and raping her. She was screaming, 'Stop it, already. I'm going to die anyway from what you are doing. Just kill me!' When they were finished they were laughing and the last one shot her in the head."

A police commander leading Israel's investigation into sexual violence and crimes said, quote, "It's clear now that sexual crimes were part of the planning and the purpose was to terrify and humiliate people."

HARLOW: Also this. A commander of the ZAKA rescue unit said, quote, "We collected 1,000 bodies in 10 days from the festival site and kibbutzim. It was clear they were trying to spread as much horror as they could -- to kill, to burn alive, to rape. It seemed their mission was to rape as many as possible." Now, these horrific accounts come as Israel's delegation to the United Nations this morning will hold a special session focusing on sexual violence committed by Hamas. One of the speakers there will be Lean In founder and former chief operating officer of Meta (formerly Facebook), Sheryl Sandberg.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERYL SANDBERG, FOUNDER, LEAN IN, FORMER CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, META: The silence on this from too many is deafening. We have come so far in believing survivors of rape and assault in so many situations how can we ignore how these women spent the very last moments of their lives?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: On Friday, the U.N. Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment wrote this. Quote, "We are alarmed by the numerous accounts of gender-based atrocities and sexual violence during those attacks." But that was 55 days after the October 7 attack. Israel's foreign minister slammed that statement as both "feeble and late."

Also, I want you to listen to this exchange between our Dana Bash and Democratic Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal. This is yesterday. And Dana was asking her why there has been, really, silence from many progressives -- progressive women in Congress on these rapes by Hamas -- listen.

[07:45:13]

REP. PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-WA): I have condemned what Hamas has done. I've condemned --

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR AND HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS" AND "STATE OF THE UNION": Specifically, against women?

JAYAPAL: -- all of the actions. Absolutely. The rape, the -- of course. But I think we have to remember that Israel is a democracy. That is why they are a strong ally of ours. And if they do not comply with international humanitarian law they are bringing themselves to a place that makes it much more difficult strategically for them --

BASH: Yeah.

JAYAPAL: -- to be able to build the kinds of allies.

BASH: With respect, I was just asking about the women and you turned it back to Israel. I'm asking you about Hamas, in fact.

JAYAPAL: I already answered your question, Dana. I said it's horrific.

BASH: OK.

JAYAPAL: And I think that rape is horrific. Sexual assault is horrific. I think that it happens in war situations. Terrorist organizations like Hamas obviously are using these as tools.

BASH: Um-hum.

JAYAPAL: However, I think we have to be balanced about bringing in the outrages against Palestinians.

BASH: Yeah.

JAYAPAL: Fifteen thousand Palestinians have been killed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Joining us now is CNN chief Washington correspondent and anchor of "THE LEAD," Jake Tapper.

Jake, Sheryl Sandberg is obviously a big name. She wrote that cnn.com op-ed about this a couple of weeks ago.

What is she going to say today at the U.N.?

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, ANCHOR, "THE LEAD": Well, I managed to get an early copy of her remarks and she is going to be focusing on rape as a crime. As a war crime. As a weapon of war.

And look, I understand Congresswoman Jayapal's desire to change the subject to what's going on in Gaza. And certainly, that is something that a lot of activists and a lot of members of Congress want to talk about and I understand that. But there is also a desire by individuals in Israel, and women's groups, and feminists, and people who have been talking about rape as a weapon of war for decades now who want to talk specifically about this issue.

And one of the things that Sandberg says in her prepared remarks is that 30 years ago, there was this big effort after the wars in Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and Congo, and the efforts of then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to focus on rape as a weapon of war and to prosecute it, and to make sure that there is punishment for it. Because before then, it was just seen as oh, yeah, that happens in war.

And she doesn't want that to -- doesn't want the world to go back to that world again where it's just kind of seen as yeah -- that, of course, that happens in war just like looting happens in war.

So we're going to -- she's going to -- she's going to put it to the world at the U.N., according to her prepared remarks that I got ahold of, who is the world going to believe? The Hamas spokesman who says oh, no, we don't do that sort of thing or the evidence you see in the bodies of these women --

HARLOW: Um-hum.

TAPPER: -- whose bodies leave very clear evidence as to how their last moments on Earth were spent?

MATTINGLY: Jake, this seems very black and white, and yet, there has been -- we have seen the reticence from the U.N. We've seen the attempts -- and I think the word was balance that Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal said with Dana. Why?

TAPPER: Well, I think there -- I think there are a few reasons.

One, and you see this with the people tearing down the posters of the victims of kidnapping. There are people who are so outraged by what is going on in Gaza that they think that any focus at all as to what happened on October 7 is perceived as justifying what is going on in Gaza.

They are unable to acknowledge the humanity of the Israelis at all because they are so outraged by what happened -- what is happening right now in Gaza as if one's heart or one's brain doesn't have room for both. As if the politics of it all -- you know, you have to choose, which I personally reject. But I think that's one -- that's one of the reasons.

There are other people that look at this and say it's just antisemitism or it's just people who just do not accept the -- or acknowledge Israel's right to exist. And for some people, that might be -- that might be accurate as well. Certainly, the United Nations does not have a blemish-free record when it comes to being antisemitic or anti-Israel.

And I think also there are a lot of feminist groups who are going to have to take a cold, hard look at themselves and wonder why it is they were so eager to believe the absolute worst when it came to allegations against Brett Kavanaugh, but when it comes to very credible, very serious allegations of rape committed by a group Hamas that is a terrorist organization they have had not anything to say at all.

[07:50:15]

I don't know. Every individual and every organization is going to have to answer them questions -- those questions for themselves. All I can say is that Israel is, right now, compiling lots of very serious evidence of rape -- firsthand witness accounts and more. And I think that there is going to be a full-fledged investigation going on. Well, there is one going on in Israel but I think there's also going to have to be more than that.

And it's really, honestly, quite shocking and ugly. And there's been some great journalism done by Bianna Golodryga and Dana Bash yesterday on this subject, and The Times, of London, as you note. And hopefully, there will be more.

MATTINGLY: Certainly, there has to be.

Jake Tapper, we appreciate you taking the time this morning. Thank you.

TAPPER: Thank you.

MATTINGLY: Well, we're continuing to follow the Israeli military ramping up airstrikes after announcing its expanding ground assault into the entire Gaza Strip.

HARLOW: Also, a New York Times report detailing a pattern of glaring vulnerabilities in America's air traffic control system. Wait until you hear this, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:55:39]

HARLOW: Well, this morning, the Supreme Court set to hear arguments in its highest-profile bankruptcy case in years with millions of dollars on the line for thousands of victims of the opioid epidemic.

This case centers around Purdue Pharma's bankruptcy agreement and a controversial provision that would protect the wealthy Sackler family who own and used to control the company. Purdue and the Sacklers are both behind the painkiller OxyContin, one of the drugs that drove the opioid epidemic. The CDC says more than a million people died from 1999 to 2020 from opioid overdoses.

Now, the Sackler family had agreed to pay up to $6 billion to Purdue's reorganization fund on the condition that the Sacklers themselves -- the individuals -- would be shielded from other opioid-related civil lawsuits.

At the core of the case is the responsibility for the early days of the opioid crisis -- a crisis that continues very much so today.

Listen to what one victim told Jake Tapper after that original settlement agreement was reached.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RYAN HAMPTON, VICTIM OF OPIOID CRISIS: What I told Richard Sackler was that I hope for the rest of his days that he hears our names in his dreams. That he hears the sirens. That he hears the screams of family members who have lost a loved one to an overdose on the bathroom floor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: This case could also have very broad, wide-ranging implications for other corporate bankruptcy cases, exposing organizations that face mass injury claims to ongoing legal challenges and financial penalties.

Joining us for all this, our legal analyst and criminal defense attorney, Joey Jackson. And Beth Macy, the author of "Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America." Thank you both for being here.

It's a really big day, Beth, in court, particularly for the victims who you have followed for years and chronicled through both of your books.

What does what happens today in court -- the oral argument -- we'll get the decision in a couple of months. What does that mean for them?

BETH MACY, AUTHOR, "DOPESICK: DEALERS, DOCTORS, AND THE DRUG COMPANY THAT ADDICTED AMERICA" AND "RAISING LAZARUS" (via Webex by Cisco): Well, they're just hoping to get some accountability. They say that this settlement in no way captures the scope of what OxyContin has done and that company has done in terms of fraud and harm. We've got seven million people with opioid use disorder. There have actually been over a million deaths since OxyContin came out in 1996.

And Purdue has already twice admitted to felony misbranding --

HARLOW: Um-hum.

MACY: -- in 2007 and again in 2020.

HARLOW: Beth, when I looked at this a bit more, the bulk of that money goes towards recovery programs and prevention programs that are crucial. Only about 750 million of the $6 billion goes directly to the victims. But at the same time, it took years to even get to this settlement.

Is there also the side of this argument among those victims that say if we don't -- if we don't agree to this, then when are we ever going to see anything?

MACY: Right, yes. Some of the parents are divided. But as the U.S. trustee who will be facing off against --

HARLOW: Yeah.

MACY: -- Purdue and Sacklers lawyers today has pointed out only 20 percent of the families that were eligible to vote on that even voted.

And so, I like to think of the families I've been following for a decade now. They've been texting me all morning. They were out in front of the court at dark at 5:00 a.m. holding signs that said -- that say things like "My dead son does not release the Sacklers."

HARLOW: Yeah.

MACY: They believe that no amount of money is worth immunity and wealth for the architects of the opioid crisis.

HARLOW: That's a really good point, Joey, that what Beth is talking about here is something -- it's essentially a loophole in all of this -- third-party releases.

What is the big impact of that? So, you look at the Catholic Church and the lawsuits against it, or the Boy Scouts of America. What the court decides here is going to impact victims across the board.

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY (via Webex by Cisco): Yeah, there's no question about that, Poppy, in a significant way. There are a lot of people who are ailing and really hurting as a result of what occurred in the opioid crisis. And so, the court issue here is one of immunity and it's a very simple

issue, quite frankly, for the Supreme Court. You have a bankruptcy judge who is essentially saying that because of what's called a non- debtor release clause -- a debtor, obviously, is someone owing money. That would be Purdue. And then you have creditors who are owed money.

And so, the essence of it is the Sacklers are not a party to the bankruptcy. So why is the argument should they.