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CNN This Morning

Suspect Identified in Colorado Shooting; Manchin Not Running for President; Republicans Head for the Exits; Gaza War's Brutal Impact on Children; Assange's Final Extradition Hearing. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired February 20, 2024 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00]

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Spring's chief of police was asked about this.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF ADRIAN VASQUE, COLORADO SPRINGS POLICE DEPARTMENT: I have to really balance what - what we provide to the community with public interest and public trust and the safety of the public. And I fully understand that, but the investigation has to be able to move forward. And -- and our goal is, while ensuring that public safety.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAFANOV: Now, as for the victims, both were already deceased when police arrived on the scene on Friday. The woman, identified as 26- year-old Celie Rain Montgomery of Pueblo, Colorado. She was not a student at the school. The young man identified as 24-year-old Sam Knopp of Parker, Colorado. Now, he was a registered student. The university describing him as a senior who was studying music. He was also described as a beloved member of the visual and performing arts department, an accomplished guitar player and an extremely talented musician. Friends described him as outgoing and kind.

This now still being described as an active investigation by police who are encouraging any witnesses, anyone with information, to step forward.

John. Audie.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, our thanks to Lucy for that.

So, a Republican exodus. The impact of nearly two dozen congressional Republicans choosing not to run for re-election.

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, why Joe Manchin says he decided not to run for president as a third-party candidate.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [06:35:35]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D-WV): That was a big part of the decision because I came to the final conclusion, I always believed that we could - we could legislate through a crisis. We'd come together for a crisis. Well, guess what, we have a crisis. The border is a crisis. And I saw my friends walk away when they were determined to pass a border security, and they were on board three days before that. And with Donald Trump coming as hard as he came at them, they coward down and walked away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Now, that was Senator Joe Manchin telling our Kaitlan Collins that the failed border deal was the main driver of his decision not to run for president. And his disdain for the dysfunction on Capitol Hill is not unique or even partisan. Twenty-three House Republicans from this Congress have either decided they will not seek re-election or retire early. And that includes some high-profile names, chairs of the Homeland Security, Energy and Commerce, Appropriation, Financial Services, and China Committees.

BERMAN: The reason Colorado's Ken Buck said of House Republicans, "we are not doing serious things." Florida's Carlos Gimenez says, "I thought that some of our members would be smarter." And Nebraska's Don Bacon says, quote, "when you have folks on your own team with their knives out, it makes it less enjoyable."

So, what does this all mean going forward? We're back with Errol Louis, Juliegrace Brufke, and Joyce Koh.

And, Joyce, I want to start with Joe Manchin if I can, because Joe Manchin says he's not going to run for president in a third party. And that quote right there that we played, it makes it seem like he's blaming Republicans. Joe Manchin likes to straddle the middle a little bit. This was less straddling than I've seen in basically him saying its Republicans' fault.

JOYCE KOH, POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes. But it also goes back to when he decided not to run for re-election in the Senate back in November. You know, many people that I spoke to in West Virginia, Democrats and other political operatives alike, said that they didn't thank that Manchin was going to end up running because he knows how unlikely it is that there is a clear path to victory as a third-party candidate.

So, you know, it might be advantageous politically to be, you know, calling out what he's seeing on the Republican side of things. But he's also not happy with Joe Biden. And that factored in heavily into decision to not seek re-election in the Senate because he thought that Biden's unpopularity among, you know, Democrats and Republicans in the state of West Virginia would hurt him politically as far as getting that seat back in - in the next election.

CORNISH: Although that's the point of wanting to run as a third-party candidate, right? So, I don't really get the logic.

But, Errol, can you talk about heading for the exits, who is and how you're thinking about it.

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: A little less, 30 odd years, the number of members of Congress that have chosen to leave or retire or run for higher office ranges from like 40 on the lowest slide to over 100 on the high side. And so, there's probably more to come.

It does, though, point to the dysfunction, the fact that members are making what in other employment situations you would call a noisy exit, leaving and complaining on their way out the door and that -

CORNISH: And not just any members. In a way it would be like your management class walking out.

LOUIS: What -- exactly right. I mean, in fact, if - if you're - you know, look, being a member of Congress is a difficult job in politics. It's - you know, being a senator is one thing, but being in the House is - is kind of tough work. But if you're a chair of a committee, with a little bit of seniority, life is pretty good, or - or it can be.

CORNISH: Or it's supposed to be, yes.

LOUIS: And - but to walk away from, you know, Energy or Commerce or some of these other major committees just because you can't they get anything done, and to have, you know, something that's almost comparable to the famous do nothing Congress in 1948, as far as their low productivity or inability -

CORNISH: OK, you're taking it back - you're taking it back, pal (ph).

(CROSS TALK)

CORNISH: You actually talked to some lawmakers. Are they -- like who -- give me the thinking.

JULIEGRACE BRUFKE, CAPITOL HILL REPORTER, "AXIOS": They could not be more excited to get out.

CORNISH: Yes.

BRUFKE: I mean I've been - there -- I mean they feel relieved about it. They're saying that nothing's getting done. And a lot of these chairmen that are leaving, they haven't termed out of their gavels yet. They could have been there for another two years before leaving and -

CORNISH: And the ones who stay, what's the thinking there?

BRUFKE: The ones that say, I mean I've spoken to some that are -- some of the appropriators, some of the more pragmatic members that have said they're worried to retire, even though some of them would like to get out, they're worried about what's going to follow them afterwards. So, some of them were sticking around. But -

CORNISH: What -- follow them in terms of what?

BRUFKE: I mean I -- there's just so much to - like so much dysfunction right now that a lot of these people, they're worried that the next person in a primary is going to be much more extreme and kind of bring more of those dynamics into Congress.

[06:40:03]

So, you've got some of that, keeping some of these chairs around, some of these senior members around.

But, at the same time, those that are leaving, they're like, we can't get anything done. The way the rules -- especially the rules in the House, with the motion to vacate right now, you've got such slim majorities that really four people can kind of take anything hostage and tank a bill. So, you're not - you're not really seeing major things getting done, which is driving a lot of people out.

BERMAN: You say this was like walking out of a management class?

CORNISH: I mean - no, no, no, meaning your management class exiting the company, right?

BERMAN: Oh, yes.

CORNISH: That's always a bad sign when all your managers leave. You're kind of like, oh, wait, what are we doing here then? What's the mission?

BERMAN: Now I understand. And, yes, it is very bad and it's something I've never seen before in the very few years that I've been in professional life.

These are committee chairs. These are committee chairs with enormous power right now.

CORNISH: Or what they hoped would be.

BERMAN: Well -- well, that's a great point, or what they hoped would be.

CORNISH: Yes.

BERMAN: It's not what they thought it would be like. And I just want -- Speaker Mike Johnson posted this photo of Donald Trump. They met together. And it strikes me that it's possible that this is what these Republican committee chairs fear. Usually, you leave Congress when you're afraid of losing power.

KOH: Right.

BERMAN: I think Republicans feel they have a better chance of winning the White House than they have in some time, and these committee chairs are still leaving. Maybe not in spite of, but maybe because of it. KOH: I think the big concern when you're looking at what's happening

in Congress is whether or not, as Juliegrace was saying, is the Freedom Caucus going to be able to make even deeper in-roads into the House with all of these vacancies, 23 representatives, as you said, and potentially more counting. I mean they're -- some of this is normal turnover. However, this is a significant amount.

And what we're hearing from Capitol Hill is that the dynamics at play, the dysfunction at play on Capitol Hill, has heavily factored into at least some of these decisions.

CORNISH: Which is also in response -

LOUIS: And not - not to be forgotten, you can double your salary walking out the door, right? There are way more lobbyists than members of Congress.

CORNISH: Yes, but you get into it for the power.

LOUIS: Ah, well, you know -

CORNISH: So, if you don't have the power, what's the point?

LOUIS: Power of the purse, right?

CORNISH: Yes, exactly.

LOUIS: Why - why not be a donor instead of having to call up donors?

CORNISH: Well, then I know where you'll be when this is done (ph).

LOUIS: Yes.

CORNISH: Errol Louis, Juliegrace Brufke, Joyce Koh, thank you so much.

Now, we've got an urgent call from the U.S. for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza. Is the Biden administration about to get tougher on Israel?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:46:36]

CORNISH: New this morning, the U.S. calling for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza in a U.N. Security Council draft resolution. Now in the texts, the U.S. warns Israel against its planned ground offensive into Rafah where more than 1.3 million Palestinians are still sheltering. The proposal comes after the U.S. vowed to veto and Algerian draft proposal calling for an immediate ceasefire. The council will vote on that later this morning.

The U.S., in the past, has rejected calls for a ceasefire. More than 29,000 people have died in Gaza since the October 7th attacks according to the Hamas-controlled ministry of health.

Now, on Sunday, Israels war cabinet minister, Benny Gantz, worried -- warned, quote, "if by Ramadan our hostages are not home, the fighting will continue to the Rafah area." Ramadan begins in less than a month.

Now, a senior U.S. official there said there are no plans to rush to vote on the proposal, adding that they will, quote, "redouble efforts" to negotiate on the ground.

BERMAN: Day after day, children are being rushed to the hospital in Gaza, and civilian say there is nowhere left to seek refuge.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond has more.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, Israel's war cabinet is increasingly making clear that a military offensive will come to Gaza's southern most city of Rafah if a deal to free hostages is not reached in the coming weeks. But as they continue to make those threats, they have yet to release any details about what a civilian evacuation of that city where about 1.5 million Palestinians are currently living, what that would actually look like. And what we're starting to see is people taking matters into their own hands, fleeing Rafah for central Gaza.

But there they are finding that that haven that they hoped would exist is no haven at all. Instead, we are seeing air strikes there. Just over this weekend, more than 68 people were killed in airstrikes in central Gaza.

I do want to warn our viewers that they may find these images distressing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIAMOND (voice over): One after another after another after another. The victims of the latest Israeli airstrike flood into this hospital in central Gaza. They're mostly children. Some of them still clinging to life, others bloodied and limp, without a pulse, the life gone from their eyes.

Here, children comfort children, even as they are still trembling from the shock.

MAYAS, INJURED IN AIRSTRIKE (through translator): I was on the rooftop and suddenly I heard an explosion. I flew away and fell down. My back hurts. I saw smoke and stones falling, then I heard people screaming.

DIAMOND (voice over): A hospital spokesman said at least 18 people were killed and dozens of others injured Sunday in an Israeli airstrike on a home in Deir al-Balah. The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment about the strike. Witnesses say many of the victims had just arrived from Rafah, Gaza's southernmost city where fear and confusion have set in as Israel threatens a coming military offensive. But central Gaza is no haven. Then reality revealed in the cruelest of ways.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I can't speak. Innocent children (INAUDIBLE). The kids (INAUDIBLE). They didn't even (INAUDIBLE).

[06:50:02]

DIAMOND (voice over): In the ruins of the al Baraka (ph) family home, to target of Sunday's airstrike, the desperate search for survivors is underway. As one man dives into the rubble, another shouts, get out of their, you'll die down there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We could only pulled two alive from under the rubble, and the rest are all missing. We don't see safety in a mosque or in an onerous (ph) school or in a hospital. The word safety is not something that exists anymore. They evacuated us from place to place, claiming its safe. There is nowhere safe.

DIAMOND: Shouts praising God rise as a girl is pulled from the rubble, but her body is lifeless. Added to the list of more than 12,000 children killed in Gaza. Bystanders try and cover her body, but the man carrying her throws the blanket off. He wants the world to see what this war has wrought.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DIAMOND (on camera): And our thanks to journalist Muhammad al Swalhi (ph), who filmed those images for us on the ground in central Gaza.

Meanwhile, we're getting a clearer picture of the desperate humanitarian situation in northern Gaza. We've been hearing reports in recent weeks of people eating grass, eating animal feed just in order to survive. But now several U.N. agencies giving us a clearer picture on the ground, showing that one in six children under the age of two in northern Gaza are acutely malnourished and 64 percent in Gaza overall are only eating one meal a day.

John.

BERMAN: Our thanks to Jeremy for that report.

Happening now, lawyers for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange are launching a last-ditch effort to prevent his extradition to the United States. Could he soon face trial for leaking military secrets?

CORNISH: And police have identified a person of interest in the case of a missing Texas girl. Why officials are honing in on someone they call a friend of the family.

BERMAN: And just in, Alexei Navalny's mother issues a new message to Vladimir Putin. Her emotional plea in front of the prison where her son died.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:56:31]

CORNISH: Jailed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange making his final bid to avoid extradition to the U.S. and a trial. He was -- his long-faced charges for leaking military secrets. And today the high court of London hears arguments from Assange's attorneys. They want the court to allow him a full appeal. And if it's not granted, Assange could be handed over to the U.S. within weeks.

CNN's Max Foster is in London. And, Max, just remind us how we got here and specifically what their arguments are at this point in this case.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: So, it goes back to a leak of classified U.S. documents in 2010 and 2011. The U.S. wants to extradite Julian Assange to the U.S. to face trial. That's had to go through years and years of legal process here in the United Kingdom. It was approved, that extradition request, by the high court, and then the supreme court and it was signed off by the home secretary, Priti Patel, who was Priti Patel at the time.

What we've got here is a two-day hearing questioning that sign off from the home secretary, arguing that in part it's politically motivated therefore it doesn't qualify and there should be more hearings into this. We should also point out that throughout this - you know, this long process, Julian Assange has talked about his mental health and the risk that he could commit suicide if he's moved to the United States. So that is another factor that's played into all of this. That goes against his human rights.

He hasn't turned up in court today because he feels unwell. So, this is clearly playing into those arguments.

BERMAN: How quickly could a decision come, Max?

FOSTER: Well, the decision could, in theory, come at the end of the two days. That doesn't mean he'll be extradited straight away. If the case is completely dismissed, the extradition process would start. He could be sent in days. Bit it would, I'm sure, take longer than that in terms of weeks.

Also, I'm being told, there is a potential appeal to the European Court of Human Rights for him, but we'll wait to see what the judges say because there's a series of outcomes that could come out of this and there could be more hearings to come.

BERMAN: All right, Max Foster covering this for us. Max, thanks so much.

CNN THIS MORNING continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Navalny's mother is still fighting to reclaim her son's body.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A spokesperson for Alexei Navalny, it says Russian authorities will not be releasing his body to his family for another two weeks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Alexei Navalny's widow is taking on the Russian president.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you are going to be a strong voice of opposition to the Kremlin right now, you have to consider yourself a target.

NIKKI HALEY (R), 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: How many more times do we have to lose before we say, maybe he's the problem.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nikki Haley taking aim at Donald Trump in the leadup the South Carolina primary.

HALEY: He's going to be in court for the rest of the year. If Donald Trump is the nominee, he can't win.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Someone should pinch Nikki Haley and say, wake up from your dream and live in reality. And the reality is, there isn't a path for you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not only is Stewart's both sides are the same rhetoric not funny, it's a potential disaster for democracy.

JON STEWART, HOST, "THE DAILY SHOW": It's one (EXPLETIVE DELETED) joke. It was never my intention to say out loud what I saw with my eyes and then brain. I can do better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Good morning, everyone. I'm John Berman, with Audie Cornish here in New York.

[07:00:00]

Phil and Poppy are off this morning.

And new this morning, Alexei Navalny's mother making a personal plea to Vladimir Putin to hand over her son's body.