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CNN This Morning

California Flood Threats; NBA All-Star Weekend; Trump Likens himself to Navalny; Shooting at Colorado University Dorm. Aired 6:30- 7a ET

Aired February 19, 2024 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:35]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): These were two incredible police officers, one incredible emergency responder. And they were just doing their jobs. They went to the scene, and they rescued these kids. And that rescue cost them their lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: That was Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar mourning the two police officers and firefighter who were killed Sunday at a home near Minneapolis. Officials say the first responders were called when an armed man barricaded himself inside with family members, including seven children. The situation erupted into gunfire. Twenty-seven-year-old Officers Paul Elmstrand and Matthew Ruge in 40- year-old firefighter Rom (ph) Edic (ph) Adam Finseth were killed. The suspect, who has not been identified, has also died. It is thanks to the fallen heroes that the family members made it out of that home safely.

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: An atmospheric river event driving another storm to the west coast with high winds, heavy rain, and even more flooding. More than 37 million people - that's nearly the entire population of California -- are facing flood threats in a region that's already waterlogged from the previous storm.

Meteorologist Derek Van Dam is tracking all of it for us.

And, Derek, it sounds like a lot of rain, but just how much rain?

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, so waterlogged that we're running above -- eight inches above in Los Angeles for the month of February, nearly five inches for Santa Barbara, nearly two-and-a-half inches for San Diego. So, more rain on top of it -- on top of this very saturated environment could, obviously, spell some trouble.

So, this is a very telling satellite imagery loop. You can see the low pressure just spinning off the west coast. What's interesting is that it's driving in this moisture from the Pacific Ocean right into the state. And it's ringing out these rain bands as it runs parallel to some of the mountain ranges in Ventura and Santa Barbara County. That's where we have some of our heaviest rain. Lighter showers for Los Angeles.

But, here's the 37 million Americans under some sort of flood alert. Notice the flood warnings. That's Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

Now, going forward, there's going to be snowfall measured in feet across the Sierra Nevada crest with rainfall totals exceeding four to five inches. Weather Prediction Center has highlighted this very well. We have this level three of four right where you see that shading of red. That is our greatest probability of flash flooding with a slight risk, including Los Angeles County, and points northward.

There's the chance of rain, at least in terms of the totals. It could be four to five inches. And there's the snowfall for the Lake Tahoe region, up to five feet. That is not a typo. And often when we get these atmospheric river events, which, by the way, produce about 50 percent of the state of California's precipitation during the course of a year.

We get a lot of wind as well. Sixty-five-mile-an-hour wind gusts, especially across the north. This is something we want to pay attention to as well, Audie and John. A very rare risk of severe weather across the Sacramento Valley today with isolated tornadoes.

So, a wild way to start off the workweek.

CORNISH: Yes, a couple of -- bad couple of days.

Derek Van Dam, thanks so much.

Right now there's actually an urgent search for an 11 year-old girl outside Houston. She was supposed to catch a bus Thursday and never made it to school. What we're learning about the man in police custody.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:38:19]

BERMAN: A defensive clinic at the NBA All-Star game. And by that I mean it is possible that defense appeared somewhere in the state of Indiana, just not in the arena.

CORNISH: And on top of that fans got to see something new, a battle of the sexes between two of the greatest shooters in the world.

Andy Scholes was there to watch it all. He joins us live this morning.

Andy, what stood out most to you, especially after this little defensive snipe here?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes, well, it was not the defense. It did not stand out the most this weekend here in Indianapolis. You know, the NBA All-Star game, guys, is really just turned into an all- out offensive showcase. But we did have a fantastic weekend here in Indy. They were hosting the game for the first time since 1985. And we got a new competition this year that looks like it may become a staple at All-Star weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCHOLES (voice over): The NBA's brightest stars descending on Indianapolis for All-Star weekend. And while the game produced magic moments, the highlighted of the festivities was Steph Curry taking on the WNBA Sabrina Ionescu in the first ever battle of the sexes three- point contest.

Sabrina putting up an amazing 26 points, shooting from the NBA three- point line. But the greatest shooter of all time coming through in the clutch.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He got it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He got it.

SCHOLES: Sabrina went out there and put up an incredible score. Really put the pressure on, you know, the greatest shooter of all time. But were you a little nervous after her performance?

STEPHEN CURRY, GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS GUARD: Absolutely. I saw the first rec (ph), it added a lot of pressure for sure.

SABRINA IONESCU, NEW YORK LIBERTY GUARD: It's going to show a lot of young kids out there, a lot of people who might have not believed or even watched women's sports that we're able for go out there and put on a show.

[06:40:03]

CURRY: For little boys and girls who are watching this play, like, it doesn't matter what gym you show up to. Don't discount, you know, who's to your left or to your right. If they can shoot, they can shoot, and you can compete and you can have fun.

SCHOLES (voice over): After six years of team captains drafting the teams, that game going back to its roots, east versus west. LeBron James starting in a record 20th straight All-Star game. And he says he always cherishes this weekend.

LEBRON JAMES, LOS ANGELES LAKERS FORWARD: You still have that feeling like, you know, this is pretty cool. You know, I still in -- at heart and like deepened inside, I'm still like that 18 year-old kid that came into this league from Akron, Ohio.

SCHOLES (voice over): And it certainly was Dam-time here in Indy all weekend. Damian Lillard winning his second straight three-point contest Saturday night, and then he remains red hot, making 11 three's, scoring 39 points, earning the All-Star game MVP award and leading the east to a 211-186 wind in the highest scoring game ever.

DAMIAN LILLARD, MILWAUKEE BUCKS GUARD: It's an honor, you know, playing against the game's best. And to be able to come out in the end with this is, you know, is a special accomplishment. SCHOLES (voice over): All the competitions on Saturday taking place on

the first of its kind LED basketball court, which made for incredible visuals all night long. And back-to-back titles were a reoccurring theme. Twenty-five-year-old Mac McClung, who plays in the G-league, using his 43.5 inch vertical to once again wow the crowd.

Mac put his high school jersey on Shaq, and then flew over the big diesel to earn a perfect score, winning the competition.

SCHOLES: All right, Mac, how does it feel to be back-to-back slam dunk champion?

MAC MCCLUNG, 2023 AND 2024 SLAM DUNK CHAMPION: Man, it's incredible. I really felt like I could have done a lot better job. I had some downside (ph) in execute right, but I'm super grateful to be right here and compete against these incredible dunkers.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCHOLES (on camera): Yes, and Mac, despite being the fifth player ever to win back-to-back titles, guys, was kind of upset when he was talking to me because he feel like he didn't put on as good of show as he did last year. But he certainly should be proud because I only know of who people that can jump over Shaq, Mac McClung and John Berman.

BERMAN: That's right. I can - I can pull a muscle watching him do that dunk.

CORNISH: (INAUDIBLE).

BERMAN: I think I just pulled my groin. Tough. Really tough.

CORNISH: Andy, thanks. I love that they put on a show. Andy, thanks so much.

BERMAN: So much fun.

All right, President Biden blames Vladimir Putin for the death of Alexei Navalny, but Donald Trump's reaction, crickets.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY (R), 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He's siding with a dictator who kills his political opponents. Now we know Navalny is another one that he has killed. Why isn't Trump saying anything about that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:46:49]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY (R), 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The fact that he won't acknowledge anything with Navalny. Either he sides with Putin and thinks it's cool that -- that Putin killed one of his political opponents, or he just doesn't think it's that big of a deal. Either one of those is concerning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: That's Nikki Haley slamming Donald Trump over the weekend for his failure to address the death of Putin critic Alexei Navalny. The former president, for his part, weighed in yesterday evening. What he did was he shared an opinion piece on his social media website that compares President Biden with Vladimir Putin and compares himself with Alexei Navalny. Now, Trump as long claim the Justice Department has been rigged against him as he faces multiple criminal investigations. Navalny, on the other hand, survived a poisoning attempt and was jailed multiple times, most recently serving in 19-year prison term for his vocal opposition to Putin.

Back with us now, Christina Greer, Jamal Simmons, and Scott Jennings.

And forget what Trump posted on social media. I think what matters here is what Trump has been saying about Russia and Vladimir Putin over the last several weeks, including suggesting that Putin should do whatever the hell he wants to NATO countries. Then you have Tucker Carlson literally going for a joint media appearance with Vladimir Putin in Russia.

I -- in my lifetime, I don't remember such a large contrast when it comes to a major issue of foreign policy where there's just this division, where - where there are people who think that Vladimir Putin is a threat worth standing up to, and there are people who don't.

CHRISTINA GREER, MOYNIHAN PUBLIC SCHOLAR FELLOW AT CITY COLLEGE: Right. well, we have to remember everything with Donald Trump, every accusation is actually a confession. So, whenever he's accusing people of things it's because he's either doing it or is it himself.

What's really concerning is that, you know, we have to remember Jamal Khashoggi when Donald Trump was in the presidency and when he was murdered. And he was like, ah, was he really American? I mean he didn't stand up for an American journalist then. And so we shouldn't be surprised that Donald Trump is essentially ten toes in with Putin. He always has been.

Now, usually, Democrats and Republicans are pretty much in lockstep, relatively speaking, when it comes to international relations. We're now seeing a massive break. And even within the Republican Party, when Nikki Haley says, you know, where is my opponent's opinion on this because he's been unusually quiet since he usually posts in - I can't say tweets anymore because he's banned, but he posts about his opinions constantly and we know that he's supportive of Putin, even though Putin has just said that he would prefer a Biden presidency. We know that that's actually not the case because Donald Trump abdicated to Vladimir Putin consistently during his four years.

I think what's really concerning is, if Donald Trump is re-elected, he's already said he wouldn't mind being dictator for a day, but we know that he'd like to be a dictator for much more than that because he sees what Putin can get away with.

Having Tucker Carlson in his pocket, who still has a pretty large swath of the Republican support as far as a media personality is, is concerning because slowly but surely he'll chip away at public opinion and help them think about our international relations in really dangerous ways.

JAMAL SIMMONS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: What dictator ever calls it quits after a day, right? Ah, you know, I had enough. We can move on.

John, when - I think when we first met I was working on Wesley Clark's campaign.

[06:05:01]

He was running for president in New Hampshire. This is now 20 years ago.

BERMAN: 2004.

SIMMONS: We have to - can date ourselves here a little bit.

But as a Democrat, we spent - I spent my entire political career trying to navigate around the Republican advantage on national security that Ronald Reagan built in the 1980s, right? And Democrats were constantly trying to figure out how to work this out.

And the 2004 campaign was the -- was the big kahuna of that. We ran - first it was Wesley Clark, then it was John Kerry who became the nominee because he had this military service. Now, you're seeing Republicans take this national security advantage, this contest against Russia that's existed for decades, that they've owned as a political party, and just wrap it up and hand it away. And not just Donald Trump. You see all these United States senators following him down this path that walks away from their advantage on this question of securing America. And I don't know if the American people really want to sign up for a presidency that is about empowering people who have been our opponents for decades and then not sort of taking care of our friends, like Ukraine.

CORNISH: Scott, I want to bring you in here because you've worked for Mitch McConnell, who has been supportive of the Ukraine bill, for instance, has sort of the posture we recognize about Russia in the party. But before that it, Liz Cheney was speaking over the weekend about what she sees in her former party that's the problem here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIZ CHENEY, FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE (R-WY): When you think about Donald Trump, for example, pledging retribution, what Vladimir Putin did to Navalny is what retribution looks like in a country where the leader is not subject to the rule of law.

We have to take seriously the extent to which, you know, you've now got a Putin wing of the Republican Party. I believe the issue this election cycle is making sure the Putin wing of the Republican Party does not take over the West Wing of the White House.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Scott, who's in the Putin wing of the Republican Party?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I don't know if I would characterize it that way. I - I do think she's articulating the very real split between the isolationists and the internationalists. And, you know, for a long time we had an isolationist strain in the party. It was not the dominant strain. We've had these debates in our party going back for decades.

But now the isolation is strain is ascendant. Trump, obviously, leans towards that strain. You have more and more of -- especially the new class of United States senators who subscribe to that theory, that the world would be better if we were withdrawn. And, obviously, we're having a huge disagreement in the Republican Party about this right now.

And, you know, I think we need more clarity, more moral clarity. I sort of -- I find myself in the, you know, more America and the world is good wing of the party and I would hope President Trump would come to that view. But I have been very troubled by what he said about encouraging Russia. I know he would probably say it's a negotiating tactic with our NATO partners, but you just can't have anything less than moral clarity when it comes to standing up to brutal dictatorial regimes. And that was a - that was a bad moment.

On Navalny. I don't know. He's -- I couldn't -- I couldn't speak to what his mindset is on whether he thinks it's a good idea to comment on that today. But as it relates to America's position in the world vis-a-vis the Russian -- our enemies in Russia, you have to know that the next president of the United States is going to stand up to it. And I hope he comes around to that view.

CORNISH: Scott Jennings, Christina Greer, and Jamal Simmons, thanks so much.

SIMMONS: Thank you.

CORNISH: Now, a quick note.

I recently spoke to Congressman Jim Clyburn of South Carolina for my podcast, "The Assignment." And I'm bringing this up because just recently he stepped down from his position in House Democratic leadership. He's 83 years old. He's long been called a kingmaker in Democratic politics. And his powerful endorsement in 2020 was seen as a pivotal moment for Joe Biden.

I'd love for you to hear more of that conversation with Congressman Clyburn. You can scan this QR code on your screen or follow us wherever you get your podcast. New episodes are out Mondays and Thursdays.

BERMAN: Sorry, I'm scanning the QR code.

CORNISH: People really do it. Yes, no, just - are you -

BERMAN: I did. I got it. I captured it.

CORNISH: Yes. Do you need help? OK. Yes.

BERMAN: No, now I'm fixing my hair with it.

No, but that's going to be a great conversation. Talk about someone who's seen at all, Jim Clyburn there.

CORNISH: Truly.

BERMAN: All right, this morning, a double homicide investigation underway in Colorado Springs. Two people found dead inside a college dormitory there. We're going to have a live report on the leads investigators are now following.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:57:55]

CORNISH: Police in Colorado are investigating a double homicide this morning after two people were found shot and killed in a dorm at the University of Colorado campus in Colorado Springs. Now, detectives were working around the clock to piece together what happened.

CNN's Lucy Kafanov joins us from Denver.

And, Lucy, what have you heard from officials so far?

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Audie.

Well, Colorado Springs Police say they are intentionally withholding information in this initial early stage of the investigation. But here's what they have given us.

Police have confirmed that this is a double homicide, not a murder suicide. We now have the identities of the victims, a young man and a young woman, which I'll get to an a second.

Police also say that although a suspect has not been arrested or identified, they do not believe that there is a threat to the public. In fact, in a statement late last night, police described this shooting as a, quote, "isolated incident between parties that were known to one another and not a random attack against the school or other students at this university."

Now, as for these victims, the female identified as 26-year-old Celie Rain Montgomery of Pueblo, Colorado. She was not enrolled at this school. The male, identified as 24-year-old Sam Knopp, of Parker, Colorado. Now, he was a student at UCCS. He was described as a senior studying music, a beloved member of the visual and performing arts department. He was also, according to the school chancellor, an accomplished guitar player and an extremely talented musician.

Now, all of this unfolding around 6:00 a.m. local on Friday when police responded to reports of shots fired at a dorm. When they arrived to that dorm, they found the two victims already dead, at least one gunshot wound each. The campus went on lockdown. Police issuing this terrifying tweet, "lockdown! Lock interior doors. Turn out the lights. Move away from sight. Evade/defend."

The lockdown lasting about 90 minutes. One student describing the terrifying moments.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADAM TRUJILLO, UCCS STUDENT: I was shocked, honestly. I had woke up to an email from one of my teachers saying that there was a lockdown and to just be safe, lock the door.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:00:07]

KAFANOV: Now, classes have been canceled since Friday.