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CNN This Morning
Suspect In Custody After Six Killed, Three Injured In Texas; Nevada's Latino Voters Signal 2024 Up For Grabs; Rep. Tim Burchett (R- TN) On Biden Formal Impeachment Inquiry. Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired December 06, 2023 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[07:33:07]
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: And we are following breaking news this morning. A killing spree across central Texas leaving six people dead and three injured, including two officers. Police say the suspect is in custody and facing capital murder charges.
CNN's Ed Lavandera joins us now, live from Dallas. Ed, how do police say they were able to track down the suspect?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, it all came to an end yesterday afternoon around 7:00. After responding to a burglary call at a home in Austin, police there say they engaged in an exchange of gunfire with the suspect. And then after that, started piecing together what is a really troubling killing spree.
Authorities in San Antonio believe it started there where inside a home, a man and a woman were found in what has been described as a grizzly murder scene that were killed. And then, at 10:40 yesterday morning in Austin, at a high school, a school police officer was shot in the leg. That officer is expected to survive. And then, two hours later, there was a shooting reported at another home in Austin where a man and woman were found dead as well.
And then it continued on. Around 5:00 in the afternoon, a male cyclist reported that he was shot. And then, that led to that final scene there just around 7:00 yesterday afternoon where there was a burglary call where officers responded to. And when officers went back to that scene they found another man and woman dead inside.
So in all, six people killed at these various scenes. Three people injured, including two police officers.
Right now, police say the suspect, who was later taken into custody after a chase, is a man in his 30s. He has not been identified yet. Investigators say that he will face capital murder charges which, of course, here in Texas, carries the death penalty. But what investigators haven't come together or haven't shared just yet is what is the motivation behind all of this and whether there's any connection between all of these different shooting scenes -- Phil.
[07:35:05] MATTINGLY: Ed Lavandera, thank you.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Meantime, to politics. Hispanic voters across the nation will play a significant role in this election. And in the key battleground state of Nevada, which has gone blue the last four elections, there is evidence now that modest Republican inroads could spell a bigger opening for the party in 2024.
CNN's John King has the latest installment of All Over the Map -- watch.
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JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lunchtime in Vegas, and Antonio Munoz is happy to lay out the choices -- more cautious, though, about a past choice.
KING (on camera): What about 2020, Biden-Trump?
ANTONIO MUNOZ, NEVADA VOTER: Twenty-twenty -- um, I'll stay away from that today.
KING (on camera): You don't want to talk about that?
MUNOZ: No.
KING (on camera): Why?
MUNOZ: Why? Because of the nature -- the nature of society right now. We're a small business and they will attack you. They will attack you just because you support a certain candidate, um, and it's sad.
KING (voice-over): Munoz started the 911 Taco Bar after a decade in the Air Force and 16 years as a Vegas police officer.
MUNOZ: This was a dream of mine through the military -- owning my own business. I've always had a love for food and tacos so I thought I could bring something special to the community.
KING (voice-over): Hispanics were a small slice of Nevada's population when Munoz was a boy who admired Ronald Reagan -- more than 30 percent now.
MUNOZ: It's amazing the political power that Hispanics are creating here in the state of Nevada.
KING (on camera): This is a state that's gone Democrat in the last several presidential elections. But if you look at it today, it's right there.
MUNOZ: Fifty-fifty.
KING (voice-over): Valeria Gurr is one reason why.
VALERIA GURR, NEVADA VOTER: Our vote has been taken for granted.
KING (voice-over): A former Democrat who worked for the teachers union --
GURR: How'd you do today?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good.
KING (voice-over): -- now a Republican with one defining issue.
KING (on camera): Your son is how old?
GURR: He's six.
KING (on camera): And you won't send him to the public schools.
GURR: I won't.
KING (on camera): Why?
GURR: Because I've worked with Hispanic families for 15 years here and I've seen it. I've seen it firsthand how teachers have classrooms that are overcrowded. They can barely get to them.
I will vote for the candidate that supports my views on a school choice.
KING (voice-over): In 2020, that was Donald Trump, with reservations.
GURR: I will never condone racist comments towards my community, if that's the question.
KING (voice-over): Now, Gurr hopes the GOP makes a new choice.
GURR: I like Ron DeSantis, simply because of the work he has done in Florida. I personally would love to see Nikki Haley to have another mom in the White House as a personal (PH) choice.
KING (voice-over): Inflation and interest rates worry Zolia Sanchez. She's been selling homes in Las Vegas and its suburbs for 26 years. Her voting history tracks Nevada's shift blue -- Democrat in the past four presidential elections. But Sanchez is still a registered Republican. Her first and second votes for president went to George W. Bush. Sanchez liked the idea of lower taxes mixed with compassionate talk about immigrants.
KING (on camera): Does that Republican Party exist anymore?
ZOLIA SANCHEZ, NEVADA VOTER: It does not exist anymore.
KING (on camera): Would you like it to?
SANCHEZ: I would love it to come back. Yeah, that's me.
KING (on camera): Would you -- would you like --
KING (voice-over): Count Sanchez as another Haley fan.
SANCHEZ: Because I think she could bring back that real Republican feeling -- that conservative bit. Everything that it used to be.
KING (on camera): So if it's Trump-Biden you're for Biden?
SANCHEZ: Um-hum.
KING (on camera): If it were Haley-Biden, would --
SANCHEZ: I would vote for Haley.
KING (voice-over): Never Trump for Sanchez, but she says some friends who voted Biden in 2020 talk of giving Trump a second chance.
SANCHEZ: Some of them say because look at what's happened to the economy. There's no way.
KING (on camera): And what do you say to them?
SANCHEZ: I say don't, don't. He's going to make things worse.
KING (voice-over): The Strip has changed a ton since Carlos Padilla started as a Treasure Island pastry chef 30 years ago.
CARLOS PADILLA, NEVADA VOTER: To be in a job that long and actually still love it, it's awesome.
KING (voice-over): Padilla is a loyal Democrat, volunteers every election as a culinary union foot soldiers, and knows even a modest Latino shift could tip Nevada Republican in 2024.
PADILLA: I think we can -- we have a good chance of stopping that.
KING (voice-over): Padilla hears complaints Biden is too old or nostalgia for the pre-COVID Trump economy. He tries to reframe the conversation.
PADILLA: Do you want somebody that's going to be for the working- class people or do you want somebody that's possibly not for the working-class people? As we get closer and people start getting more information -- and correct information -- I think it will be a lot different.
KING (voice-over): Change is a constant here. So in early debates with friends, including two sons split between Biden and Trump, Antonio Munoz says do your homework and keep an open mind.
MUNOZ: I believe people are confused. I'm not -- there's no perfect candidate out there.
KING (on camera): So, we're in Vegas. Would you put your money on Trump-Biden or are we going to be surprised?
MUNOZ: I think we're going to be surprised. I think we'll be surprised.
KING (voice-over): Early odds, of course, suggest otherwise.
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KING: And we'll see if that prediction that we'll get nominees other than Trump and Biden comes true.
[07:40:00]
But the fascinating thing -- this is my 10th presidential campaign. When I started, the population -- the Hispanic population in Nevada was about 10 percent. It has tripled in that time. It used to be a red state in the '90s. In the early 2000s, it was a tug-of-war purple state. It's been blue since Barack Obama. It is definitely in play this time.
The president's team says the labor union will help us. We'll gin this up. But you can just see it. As the Latinos emerge as a political power they're shopping.
HARLOW: Yeah.
MATTINGLY: So he covered his first election when he was four, which I think is an important point here.
KING: Thirty-four, but you're close.
MATTINGLY: That final point, which you say you hear about a lot and people say it's not actually going to end up being Trump and Biden --
KING: Right.
MATTINGLY: -- we all hear it a lot. But I'm just going to be candid. It's going to be Trump and Biden barring some very unforeseen change.
Do you think when that reality sets into people it will change the dynamics of the race?
KING: People are more open-minded than you about this --
MATTINGLY: Why?
KING: -- just because of the volatility of the last 15 years. Obama can't beat Clinton. Biden was dead after the first early primaries. We've just lived through this volatility for years and the unexpected has happened. In just about every -- go back to the last three or four presidential cycles. There has been at least one wow. And so let's just see.
But I think it is more aspirational. Whether you go to the far left or the far right, people are -- there's a lot of people unhappy with their choices and they would like a race other than Trump-Biden. They just think OK -- even if they like them -- people who love Biden, people who love Trump -- it's time to move on. It's time for something new. Will they get that? Well, they get to vote in the primaries coming up and Iowa is, what, a month away and we'll see.
HARLOW: John King, can't wait to see where you go next. Thank you --
KING: Thank you.
HARLOW: -- as always.
MATTINGLY: Donald Trump says President Biden, quote, "deserves" a formal impeachment inquiry and it looks like the new House Speaker is on the same page. Republican Congressman Tim Burchett, from the Oversight Committee, is going to join us live, next.
HARLOW: Plus, what to expect from tonight's Republican presidential debate.
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JIMMY FALLON, HOST, NBC "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JIMMY FALLON": Watching these debates is like watching a middle school play. It doesn't really matter, you just hope that they're having fun up there -- yeah.
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HARLOW: This morning, we are getting a really important update on the premature babies that were evacuated from Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza. We now have the audio working. Larry Madowo is back with us live from the hospital where they were taken in Cairo, Egypt. And Larry, how are they doing?
LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Poppy, they're doing well. In fact, they're doing so well that a few of these pre-term babies, when they arrived here just over two weeks ago, have been discharged from the NICU into the general nursery and they are in the oral feeding phase.
Most of them still remain in the neonatal intensive care unit and all of them are making good progress. The doctors here are very pleased with how they're doing. All but one are out of danger. We have just one of the pre-term babies that remains on a ventilator. They're watching closely to see if he makes progress. But the rest of them are doing well.
We've seen them. They're taking great care of them. And some of them are starting to get a sense of where they are and where they're living now. And a few parents have started to show up, Poppy, so it's big progress.
And the doctors here say that they're in the business of saving lives, so if they can discharge some of them from the NICU into the general ward, then that's massive progress that they've made.
HARLOW: Wow. I'm so happy to hear that, Larry. Thank you for the update. And it's great that some of the parents are getting to reunite with their children, too. Thanks, Larry.
MATTINGLY: Well, Donald Trump knows a thing -- actually, two -- about impeachments and he says President Biden, quote, "deserves" a formal impeachment inquiry. Here's what the former president said when asked about it while campaigning in Iowa.
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DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, it looks like they want to do it and he deserves it, but that's up to them. That's going to be up to them.
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MATTINGLY: Now, Trump's comments come as House Speaker Mike Johnson says he expects to have sufficient support for that impeachment inquiry vote next week formalizing the probe. Johnson says in his view, Republicans have no choice.
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REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): So we have come to this sort of inflection point because Chad, right now, the White House is putting -- is stonewalling that investigation. They're refusing to turn over key witnesses to allow them to testify.
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MATTINGLY: House Republicans are looking at potential charges of bribery, abuse of power, and obstruction -- charges that are largely based -- many of which are already debunked claims about Biden's dealings in Ukraine that emerged during Trump's first impeachment.
If it's Wednesday, you know who we're talking to -- Republican Congressman Tim Burchett of Tennessee. He's a member of the House Oversight Committee. He joins us for our breakfast with Burchett segment. I'm the only one who calls it that but I do appreciate it nonetheless.
Congressman, I want -- I want to start with the idea of if you are having a vote to formalize the impeachment inquiry, you say you're doing it for tools in the courts. Let's be honest here. There will be an impeachment vote in the end of this, right?
REP. TIM BURCHETT (R-TN): I would think so -- I mean, due to the overwhelming evidence. Thirty million dollars has flowed through this family and no one knows if they've even paid any taxes or not. And it's true -- we are getting stonewalled by the president and I get the game.
But the truth is that we -- we're going through the process and our -- and our leadership has stressed that with us. Let's go through the legal process and the first one is the inquiry. It's not an impeachment. And still, there's a -- I don't think there is enough votes right now to impeach the president among the Republicans. So the case will have to be made and that's exactly what they're trying to do.
MATTINGLY: The House Speaker -- it had been reported that privately had said that it wasn't totally clear if there was the evidence at the scale that you are talking about here, which the White House disputes. Is he wrong?
BURCHETT: Well, I think what they're trying to do is show that some of this 30-plus million dollars that flowed through their family has flowed -- you know, the president said that he -- his son -- he didn't talk about his son's business. And then it was reported that, in fact, his son handed the phone around to members of the -- of his board of directors in these corporations that he'd created to talk to then-Vice President Joe Biden.
And then he said his son didn't have business with China and now, in fact, we know there was a $5 million transaction between a Communist Chinese member and Hunter Biden -- a former corporation. It did a circuitous route around James Biden, the president's brother, to -- back to Hunter. And it got over 20-something shell corporations and different -- and bank accounts. And then it -- and then --
MATTINGLY: Just to be --
BURCHETT: -- lo and behold, about $40,000 went to President Biden.
But you even have a letter from a bank that says hey, we need to stop doing business with these cats because the money's flowing in and it's going out erratically, and they're not doing -- and there's no product.
[07:50:00]
And we go back to Trump -- Trump, Trump, Trump -- and I get it. Trump sold crappy ties and cheap steaks. That's what he did.
MATTINGLY: Just to go back --
BURCHETT: Go ahead. I'm sorry.
MATTINGLY: Just to go back real quick, you make the point they need to show or they feel they need to show or directly connect the evidence to the allegations. Everything that you are laying out --
BURCHETT: Yeah.
MATTINGLY: I understand the independent numbers that you're laying out here. None of them have directly connected. Is that fair?
BURCHETT: They -- what they need to connect is to show that this happened during the presidency. And if it happened during the vice presidency there's a question of whether would we go retroactive and go back and impeach him for something that was during this. But every week something comes closer and closer to this time.
And you have to ask yourself what were they buying with Hunter Biden and why was Hunter Biden giving his father these checks and the president's brother. You know, it's obviously, to me as a layman -- I'm not a lawyer -- there is obviously some influence that had to be gotten there or they wouldn't be writing these huge checks. MATTINGLY: Yeah. It will certainly be something you guys are looking
into going forward.
BURCHETT: Yeah.
MATTINGLY: I do want to ask -- I mean, you mentioned the former president. I don't think he'll appreciate your view on his ties and his steaks.
What I am interested in though is the reporting about what he would do in a second term. And the town hall with Sean Hannity last night where Sean Hannity is desperately trying to get him to say that he will not abuse the law. He will not break the law in his second term. He will not be a dictator in his second term. And the former president declines to really say that.
Does that concern you?
BURCHETT: Well, not really. I didn't watch it. I don't watch those shows, generally. I've got other things going on.
But everybody -- listen, he's a New Yorker, he's a Yankee. I'm from the south. I say excuse me and I'm sorry, and I try not to interrupt you. He has a lot of bravado as a -- as a -- as a New Yorker.
And he's going to be surrounded with attorneys. He can't just say it and make it happen. It -- there's a process that everything goes through. And there's -- we have a judicial system and that's what we've got. We've got a Justice Department who I think is corrupted by, you know -- so I don't know.
I would assume, though, that he would not be able to do any of that. He would have to go through the proper processes. And that's what you say during elections. You know, we're going to get this, we're going to do this, and everybody gets riled up and they write their checks, and they -- and they run to the polls and vote for you. But the reality is that this is -- this is campaign talk and that's generally what it is.
MATTINGLY: You're putting a lot of faith in lawyers which, to some degree, surprises me a little bit. But also, I think that was a good, kind of candid recitation of the House Republican Conference after taking the majority in the wake of those election promises.
Congressman Tim Burchett, we always appreciate it. Thank you, sir.
BURCHETT: Hey, I don't want -- don't forget now, my Christmas party on the 12th. It only goes 16 minutes this year. It went 15 last year because we couldn't cram it all in. We'll have a menorah there for my friends that are Jewish. My buddy Jared Moskowitz is under contractual agreement, possibly, to play Santa Claus this year. And it's in my office December 12.
It was written up in People magazine last year, dude. You ought to be there. MATTINGLY: I -- it -- only because, though, you added that extra
minute. That was the critical one for me. And also, the picture of you on that flyer.
BURCHETT: Yeah.
MATTINGLY: That's pretty much everything.
Sir, we appreciate it.
BURCHETT: And if you get there early -- now, there's going to be a peanut butter and jelly bar -- not peanut butter and jelly bars. There was some confusion over that.
MATTINGLY: Yeah.
BURCHETT: And I'll have two 32-ounce Mountain Dews, and I'll have charcuterie board, which is me with Ritz crackers and Cheese Whiz going around. So, please be there.
MATTINGLY: This is -- like, you're speaking my language as somebody from Ohio.
Sir, I appreciate it. Thank you as always.
BURCHETT: Right on. Thank you, brother.
HARLOW: This morning, operations have been suspended at one U.S.- Mexican border crossing because of the latest migrant surge. We will take you there to the border with what it means.
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