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CNN This Morning

Trump Stumps In Ohio, Testing Influence In Senate Race; Biden Plans West Coast Tour On Campaign Trail; Biden Campaign Raises Millions Of Dollars In February; Trump Warns Of Economic "Bloodbath" For Auto Industry, Country If Not Elected; Police Arrest Pennsylvania Triple Homicide Suspect After Standoff; D.C. Police: Two People Killed, Five Others Wounded In Early Morning Shooting; Iceland Volcano Eruption Prompts Evacuation Of Famous Blue Lagoon; Manhunt Continues For Suspect In Fatal Shooting Of A Police Officer; Suspect Arrested In Connection With Indianapolis Nightclub Shooting; Voting Underway On Final Day Of Elections In Russia; Some Acts Of Civil Disobedience Reported At Russian Polling Stations; U.S. Embassy Arranging Flight For U.S. Citizens Out Of Haiti. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired March 17, 2024 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:42]

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. It is Sunday, March 17th. I'm Danny Freeman in for Victor Blackwell.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Good to have you, Danny. I'm Amara Walker. Thank you so much for joining us this Sunday morning. And here's what we are watching for you.

Donald Trump hits the trail for the first time since securing the Republican nomination as President Biden dines with reporters and politicians in Washington. The very different warnings both candidates are issuing on the campaign trail.

FREEMAN: Plus, an arms standoff paralyzes a New Jersey neighborhood for hours on Saturday. We'll tell you what we know about what led up to it and how it all finally ended.

WALKER: Evacuations are underway in parts of Iceland as a volcano near the famous Blue Lagoon erupts once again, the impact on nearby towns as lava continues to flow this morning.

FREEMAN: And the final day of voting is underway in Russia's presidential election. And although Vladimir Putin is assured victory, we're seeing protests across the region. We're live in Moscow with more.

WALKER: Well, the first test of Donald Trump's Senate influence is underway. He campaigned in Ohio this weekend, the first time since rulings in Georgia and New York help delay two of his criminal cases. Ohio GOP Senate candidate Bernie Moreno is locked in a three-way primary and Trump hopes to turn the tides in his favor.

FREEMAN: Meanwhile, President Biden is planning to hit the road this week to make appearances in key battleground states. He's doubling down on his message of this election's importance saying, at last night's Gridiron dinner, that freedom is under assault.

But Trump has a dire warning of his own if he's not elected. Here is CNN's Alayna Treene with a look at Trump's Ohio visit.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: Good morning, Amara and Danny. Donald Trump came to Ohio this weekend and really it was his first formal event that he held since securing enough delegates earlier in the week to effectively declare him the Republican presidential nominee.

But look, his visit to the state was not necessarily for his own campaign. Both Donald Trump and his team think Ohio is a state that they will likely win come November. Instead, this speech was all about boosting his endorsed primary candidate for Senate in Ohio, and that's business this man, Bernie Moreno.

Moreno is currently locked in a messy three-way primary with two other Republican candidates and Donald Trump's visit here was really an 11th hour decision to try and help earn as many votes for Bernie Moreno as he could. But look, even though this visit was not necessarily about boosting his own campaign, the speech that Donald Trump gave was very much a typical campaign and general election campaign speech.

And at one point, he actually made a very interesting comment that I have yet to hear him say on the trail thus far, and that was predicting that if he were to lose reelection, that it would be a bloodbath in the country. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to put a 100 percent tariff on every single car that comes across the line, and you're not going to be able to sell those if I get elected.

Now, if I don't get elected it's going to be a bloodbath for the whole -- that's going to be the least of it. It's going to be a bloodbath for the country. That will be the least of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now, Amara and Danny, Donald Trump's speech was pretty rambling. It was very freewheeling, as you can see. It was very windy in Ohio and Donald Trump blamed that as being unable to use the teleprompter. He said that's why he was kind of just speaking off the cuff more than he normally does.

And so, we really heard him touch on a wide array of topics. And again, focus heavily on the issues that were important to his general election campaign, not necessarily those here in Ohio. Amara, Danny.

WALKER: All right. Alayna Treene, thank you very much.

FREEMAN: And we should note that Trump's campaign later clarified that the former president's remarks saying he actually meant Biden's policies would create an economic bloodbath for the auto industry and auto workers.

All right. Moving on just in the past hour, we actually got our first look at President Biden's fundraising haul in February. It's a major cash advantage as he has raised the most money at any Democratic presidential candidate in history at this point of the campaign.

WALKER: Yes, now he's setting his sights on the West Coast hoping to draw an even more money. CNN's Camila DeChalus joining us now from the White House. Hi there. Good morning, Camila. So how much did Biden's reelection campaign raise last month?

[06:05:01]

How much cash do they have?

CAMILA DECHALUS, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Good morning, Amara, Danny. What we know at this time is that Biden's campaign team raised nearly $53 million in the month of February. Now, that is a slight increase for the month prior where Biden raised more than $43 in the month of January.

At this time, we know that the campaign really wants to use the money that they have raised to open more campaign offices across the country. And really hire more grassroots organizers that can go door by door, talking to voters and making the argument on why they should support Biden and support his reelection efforts.

FREEMAN: Well, Camila, tell us if it's all right. Where is Biden heading next? I understand he's heading to the West Coast.

DECHALUS: That's right. He's headed to Nevada and Arizona. Now, these are key battleground states.

In the past, the campaign has invested heavily in advertisements in those states. And look, they say that Biden is really at his best when he is in front of voters when he is talking to them, hearing their concerns, and that's what they want to do. So, these states will be really crucial in the upcoming election cycle, and they really want to take advantage of that.

WALKER: All right. Camila DeChalus, thank you very much. Let's turn now to Politico White House reporter Daniel Lippman. Good morning, Daniel.

DANIEL LIPPMAN, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, POLITICO: Good morning.

WALKER: All right. So, let's first talk about this cash advantage for Biden, a disadvantage, obviously for Trump, a 130 million as of February versus 40 million. Is this a dangerous moment for Trump, especially knowing that he's got a lot of legal fees to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars that he's also liable for?

LIPPMAN: Yes. A lot of the big donors have been shy about giving to Trump because they don't want their money to be used just to pay lawyers to deal with criminal cases and civil cases. And Trump has shown no sign of wanting to sell off any of his Trump properties to pay for the campaign or even to use it for that New York defamation case and sexual assault case.

And so, he is really -- he's having all these dinners with top Republican billionaires at Mar-a-Lago, almost pleading for cash even sugar mogul, Pepe Fanjul, Jeffrey Yass who helps -- own TikTok. He's trying to look for anywhere to find money for his campaign.

WALKER: And in the meantime, President Biden on Saturday, he was at the Gridiron Club dinner. You know, he made jokes about Trump's mental fitness. He also talked about, you know, the importance of the freedom of the press.

How is Biden taking advantage of this, you know, huge cash war chest that he has for his reelection campaign especially when a lot of public polls show that he is, you know, trailing behind Trump for the general?

LIPPMAN: Well, I think he hasn't really unleashed the full war chest yet. They're still building up and then slowly doing TV ads here and there. But it is definitely an important advantage for Biden because he is down in the polls, he needs to make up that gap. He needs to try to close the gap in terms of his losing with Hispanics.

Twenty percent of Black voters are against Biden. They're voting for Trump right now. And so, trying to remind those communities why they liked Biden in the first place. Although, I will say cash is not definitive.

WALKER: Yes.

LIPPMAN: Hillary Clinton had more money in 2016 and she still lost. And so, sometimes voters if they see 20 Biden ads versus 10 Trump ads, they kind of get sick and tired of the Biden ads because it's just polluting their TV screen.

WALKER: Yes. Yes. And speaking of which, you know, cash not obviously, always being king when it comes to the general election. We know Trump, you know, trying to take advantage of some of these vulnerabilities for Biden.

We heard Trump last night on the campaign trail. Well, actually he was supposed to be campaigning for an Ohio Senate candidate. He doubled down on his rhetoric surrounding migrants going as far as to say that he doesn't view some of them -- some of those in jail as people. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: If I had prisons that were teeming with MS-13 and all sorts of people that they've got to take care of for the next 50 years, right? Young people. They're in jail for years. If you call them people. I don't know if you call them people in some cases. They're not people in my opinion, but I'm not allowed to say that because the radical left says it's a terrible thing to say.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WALKER: Obviously, these are unfounded claims that some of these countries are emptying their prisons and sending these migrants to the United States. And again, it's a familiar theme. But we know that when it comes to the migrant crisis, this is a large vulnerability for President Biden. How was he addressing that?

LIPPMAN: Well, we've heard that the White House is working on these executive actions to try to stem the flow of migrants at the border.

[06:10:04]

We should probably expect that they would be releasing them once they're done. They know that the situation they have right now is not sustainable either policy wise or politically. And you have a lot of Democrats who now support cracking down the border. They didn't expect it to get that bad. But they're also -- don't want to anger their left flank by bringing back every Trump policy.

So, we're not going to see any of the more extreme Trump policies like child separation. But in terms of our asylum system, there's a lot of people who agree that it's broken and that you have these claims that take forever. And meantime, people are allowed to stay in the country.

And so, I think that were probably going to see the White House try to address that even though they did not get that bipartisan border security bill that they are still pushing for but probably to no avail.

WALKER: OK. Well, then let's talk about what Congress is doing or not doing. Because once again, were talking about a potential partial government shutdown that can happen on Friday. Where do things stand in terms of negotiations? Is anything different this time around in terms of, you know, keeping the government funded?

LIPPMAN: I don't think that we're going to see a government shutdown because Republicans have learned this lesson. The last government shut -- a couple of government shutdowns, which is they get the blame politically. So, it's not in their interests, especially in a presidential election year, to cause this and to get -- have Americans lose access to important government services that we have all paid taxes for.

And so, they were able to prevent the partial government shutdown with some of those agencies in the last week or so. They're probably be able to do it again with the remaining part of the government because Speaker Mike Johnson does not want this on his record. It makes it harder for him to keep control of the House, which especially he has to do because it's such a small majority right now.

WALKER: Daniel Lippman, we'll leave the conversation there. Great to see you. Thanks so much.

LIPPMAN: Thank you.

FREEMAN: In New Jersey, police arrested a 26-year-old suspect after an hours-long armed standoff on Saturday. The suspect, Andre Gordon, is accused of killing three people, including his 13-year-old sister in Falls Township, Pennsylvania. Authorities say Gordon then carjacked a driver at gunpoint and fled to Trenton, New Jersey, where he barricaded himself in a home.

Police say Gordon was eventually spotted not far from the home, they believed he was still barricaded in, and were able to apprehend him without incident. CNN's Polo Sandoval is outside the home in Trenton, New Jersey, with more.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Amara and Danny, it was a peaceful conclusion, but also an unexpected one after what was treated as an hours-long standoff between police and who they believed was a barricaded subject inside of that a duplex that you see behind me in this Trenton, New Jersey, neighborhood.

Police initially led here on Saturday afternoon after reports that 26- year-old Andre Gordon had stolen a vehicle in Pennsylvania that made the short drive here to Trenton, New Jersey, and potentially made his way inside the house. It was the residents inside that home that reached out to police saying that they believed that Gordon was still downstairs.

Now, acting on that information, police set up a perimeter around that home and even -- or attempted to negotiate using a bullhorn with the man they believed was inside only to find out about five hours later police encountered an individual not far from this location, the man they believed was actually inside that home. Here's how authorities described more about what took place.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER SCHORN, BUCKS COUNTY ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Preliminary investigation determined that 26-year-old Andre Gordon driving a stolen vehicle, which was carjacked from Trenton, New Jersey, early in the morning, forcibly broke into the residence after which he shot and killed his 52-year-old stepmother, Karen Gordon, and his 13-year-old sister, Kera Gordon, who lived at the residence.

There were three other individuals at the residence, including a minor inside the home, who were able to hide and avoid being shot by Gordon as he went through the house searching for them. Following the shootings at approximately 9:01 a.m. Gordon drove to the unit block of Edgewood Lane, Levittown, where he forcibly broke into a residence after which he shot and killed 25-year-old Taylor Daniel, with whom he has two children.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And this morning, Gordon remains behind bars. He is the prime suspect in the shooting deaths of his stepmother, Karen Gordon, his own 13-year-old sister, Kera Gordon. Police believe after he committed those murders, he allegedly then made a short drive to another home on Saturday morning where he shot and killed 25-year-old Taylor Daniel, with whom Gordon shares two children. Amara, Danny.

WALKER: All right. Polo Sandoval, thank you. FREEMAN: We're following breaking news out of Washington, D.C., this morning where two people are dead and at least five others are hurt after an overnight shooting.

[06:15:05]

Here's what we know right now.

WALKER: Yes, the Metropolitan Police Department says the shooting happened just before 4:00 this morning at the intersection of 7th and P Street near downtown Washington, D.C. Now, this is near the Kennedy Recreation Center and about 12 blocks from the White House. We're told all seven shooting victims are adults. And police continue the search for the shooter.

Iceland's world-famous Blue Lagoon and the nearby town of Grindavik were forced to evacuate following a volcanic eruption in the Reykjanes Peninsula. Officials say this current eruption is the most powerful so far, and lava is rapidly flowing north of the town of Grindavik, just as it did during an eruption in early February.

Aerial video shows lava just spewing out of all the sides of the massive fissure and explosions of lava causing large clouds of smoke to cover the sky. As of now, Iceland's main international airport and regional airports remain fully operational.

FREEMAN: Wild images there. All right. Coming up in a moment, voters are at the polls across Russia while anti-Putin protesters take to the streets in some of the biggest cities in the world. We're taking you to Moscow for a live report on the presidential election in its final hours there.

WALKER: Also, the State Department promises help is on the way for U.S. citizens trapped in the escalating gang violence in Haiti. We are in Port-au-Prince with the report you will only see on CNN.

Plus, we may ring in spring in a couple of days, but winter is making one last stand. Meteorologist Allison Chinchar says more than half of the U.S. population will experience at or below freezing temperatures. Where she's tracking it, we'll tell you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:21:33]

FREEMAN: Let's take a look at some of the headlines we're following this morning. In New Mexico, the manhunt continues for a 32-year-old man who authorities say shot and killed a police officer who offered to help a driver in a disabled vehicle.

New Mexico State police officer Justin Hare was killed around 5:00 a.m. on Friday. The suspect is also linked to another killing of a 52- year-old South Carolina paramedic. Police issued an arrest warrant for Jaremy Smith of Marion, South Carolina, and say he is considered armed and dangerous. WALKER: And in Indianapolis, authorities have arrested 25-year-old Nicholas Fulk in connection to a nightclub shooting that left one person dead and five others injured. The shooting happened at a popular nightclub early on Saturday morning where police arrived on the scene to find five men with gunshot wounds. A sixth victim made his way to the hospital. The incident is just one of 77 mass shootings that have happened here in the U.S. in the first three months of 2024.

The final day of voting in Russia's presidential election is underway, the first since Russia invaded Ukraine two years ago. Vladimir Putin is running for what will likely become an unprecedented fifth six-year term. Voter turnout is reported at about 60 percent.

FREEMAN: But some protests have erupted and there have been outbreaks of civil disobedience reported at some polling sites. Fires have been set and one person was seen dumping black dye into a ballot box. CNN chief global affairs correspondent Matthew Chance is at a Moscow polling site to tell us what he's seeing there. Matthew.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Danny, thanks. It's not been -- you're right. It's not been an entirely smooth process, this three-day process of voting across Russia. There have been numerous acts of disruption taking place across the country at polling stations. As you mentioned, individuals going into polling stations putting black or green dye into the ballot boxes to ruin the votes that have already been cast. That has happened in a number of locations.

There have also been arson attacks as well with people throwing Molotov cocktails or petrol bombs at the doors of the -- of the voting center, or setting a fire to the -- to the actual, you know, places where people cast their -- cast their votes, the polling booth. And so, that's been taking place as well. The election authorities say that about 214 ballot boxes had been ruined because of those kinds of actions by individuals across Russia.

Within the past few minutes, you can see I'm in a polling station now, but it's pretty quiet here. But within the past hour, you know, a couple of hundred people came here at one time to register and to vote in these elections. That was a response to a call from the late -- the team of the late opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, who died in an arctic prison colony last month.

He called it midday against Putin. It was supposed to be a nationwide process in which people came to cast their ballots at midday. And indeed, there was a fairly sizable turnout at this one polling station and the other polling stations across the Russian capital, and indeed across the country as well. An indication along with the other acts of disruption at the simmering degree of frustration just beneath the surface in Russia as these elections, which are bound to elect Vladimir Putin to that fifth term as president, that those elections continue, Danny.

FREEMAN: Matthew Chance, thank you for that reporting. Appreciate it.

All right. Still to come, as gang violence continues to destabilize Haiti, the State Department is working to get Americans out.

[06:25:05]

We'll have the latest on the evacuation measures coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALKER: Right now, the U.S. embassy in Haiti is coordinating flights for American citizens to return to the U.S. as gang violence escalates there. Americans with valid passports can fly back to the U.S. provided that the local security conditions remain stable in Haiti's second-largest city. The airport, about 120 miles away in the capital, is still shut down this morning.

FREEMAN: Now, CNN is the only major network news outlet reporting from Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

[06:30:00]

This morning, David Culver shares a glimpse into one of the neighborhoods affected by Haiti's gang violence.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Neighbors protecting neighbors. That's essentially what this has become here in Port-au- Prince just to survive. And this is one community that we're in that feels rather safe. And that's just because several blocks out, you've got perimeter after perimeter that is set up by the community and works with the police.

So, the police essentially allow the community to do what they need to do, to set up these blocks at entries and exits. And the community in turn helps empower the police so that they can then do their patrols. But for many of them, it's about setting these up to block what is not far from here, and that is an expanding gang territory, one that has been trying to encroach on this community, in particular, many times over the past year or so.

And it got to a point where community members, according to one police commander, had to take justice into their own hands. And they were able to take into custody 14 suspected gang members. They then executed those gang members right in the middle of the street. It was a very public display, but for them it was to send a message to other gang members to keep out of their community.

It hasn't stopped the gangs from trying to push further and further in. But for the folks who live here, they say everyday life has gotten increasingly difficult. We see a few street vendors, but not many. When we were here three weeks ago, many of the sidewalks were filled with street vendors. Folks now simply don't have things to sell. And so, they've resorted to trying to secure as best as possible using the police's help some of the supply lines, trying to bring water and food into areas like this.

I asked some of the community members how is it that they're able to stay afloat. And he said we rely on each other. Essentially, they will have some of these community members go door to door collecting food, maybe some money, some water. And then that provides some sustenance for the folks who are securing these communities.

If you ask who's in charge, they look around and they say no one. That's why they've taken matters into their own hands. If you ask what do you need, what can help, Haiti in this moment, the first thing that most folks have told us is for the international community to not intervene in the way they have at the past. Instead, they want help in the form of aid. They also say that they need some sort of security backup.

What that looks like they didn't really articulate. Folks really didn't want to go into too much detail in trying to explain what that added security might come in the form of. But for most here it's just about trying to figure out how to get to tomorrow and knowing that tonight could bring another round of violence.

David Culver, CNN, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: All right, David Culver, thank you for that.

Still to come, Israeli officials are expected back at the table to discuss a potential ceasefire. Where negotiations stand as pressure grows from the international community.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:38:07]

WALKER: New this morning, the director of emergency response at World Central Kitchen tell CNN that they have successfully delivered a ship with 200 tons of food aid to Gaza and they are preparing to hand it out. Plans for a second delivery are underway. Now, this comes at a critical time as the United Nations Children's Agency recently reported a rise in severe malnutrition among children in northern Gaza with cases doubling in a single month.

FREEMAN: Today, the head of Mossad is set to go to Doha to continue ceasefire discussions between Hamas and Israel with Qatari and Egyptian officials. Yesterday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Bahrain's Crown Prince and Prime Minister to talk about a plan to stop the fighting in Gaza for at least six weeks and to agree on terms for freeing hostages.

WALKER: They also discussed the dangerous and reckless attacks by the Houthi rebels on ships in the Red Sea and agreed on the importance of following international law and ensuring ships can travel freely. CNN's Paula Hancocks is in Qatar.

Paula, hi there! What's the latest on the negotiations?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'm Amara and Danny, we are expecting the Mossad director to travel here to Doha. This according to a diplomat familiar with those talks, the same diplomat saying they believe the talk should happen on Monday. So, this will be between Israeli officials and the Egyptian and Qatari mediators.

Now, we have reached out to Hamas and asked if they will be here for the talks. At this point, they've said "the picture is not clear yet." So, what will happen in Israel today is there will be a war cabinet meeting. There will be a national security cabinet meeting. And that is where the Israeli leader answered that the cabinets will decide the parameters of these negotiations, how far can the negotiators go in agreeing to this ceasefire.

Now, the reason they will be here is it's in reaction to the counteroffer from Hamas, which the Israeli Prime Minister's office has already said is absurd, but they are still sending a delegation here, which the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says shows the possibility and also the urgency of this situation.

[06:40:17]

So, what we heard last Thursday from this Hamas counteroffer was there would be multiple phases to this ceasefire deal. As we know, the first phase, they want to see 700 to 1000 Palestinian prisoners released. And in return, they would release the females, including the IDF soldiers, the elderly, the sick and the wounded hostages from Gaza. And then in a second phase, they would like all of the prisoners and hostages to be released.

But the main sticking point is after that first phase, Hamas wants all of the Israeli military to get out of Gaza. They want a complete evacuation. They want a permanent ceasefire. And we have heard consistently from Israel that that is simply not what they want to do. We know just last Friday the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved an offensive in Rafah, this area in the southern part of Gaza where more than half of the population of Gaza is currently sheltering. Something which the head of the World Health Organization has said he is greatly concerned about.

So, Israel is not going to agree to this full withdrawal or the full ceasefire. We've heard from an Israeli official. It will be very tough negotiations. We've heard from one diplomat as well, saying it is not going to be easy to convince Israel of this Hamas offer. So, no imminent breakthrough expected at this point. But the fact that the Israeli delegation is coming here. Some source of hope.

Amara, Danny?

FREEMAN: Paula Hancocks, we'll see if a deal can be reached. Thank you very much.

All right, coming up next, harnessing the power of Hollywood. We'll tell you how one show is using its platform to try to curb the gun violence epidemic. And tonight on CNN, a new episode of the "CNN ORIGINAL SERIES VEGAS: THE STORY OF SIN CITY." Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CHRISTIAN BINKLEY, JOURNALIST: By the early 70s, it was clear in Las Vegas that the balance of power was shifting. It hadn't completely shifted. Nobody operating in Las Vegas thought the mob was gone. But it was starting to look safer to other people.

MICHAEL GREEN, AUTHOR, LAS VEGAS: A CENTENNIAL HISTORY: It's a period where there's some restructuring going on. You might say recalibrating. The corporations are coming in and Kerkorian sold his two hotels, The Flamingo and The International to Hilton.

GEOFF SCHUMACHER, VICE PRESIDENT, THE MOB MUSEUM: That was a big deal for Las Vegas because there was a respectability associated with Hilton that Las Vegas aspired to. When you were able to attract somebody as respectable as the Hilton family, we were getting somewhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: All right, you can catch an all-new episode at 10:00 p.m. tonight right here on CNN. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:47:29]

WALKER: So, it may have worked with cigarette smoking. Public safety advocates harnessed Hollywood influence in an attempt to shape public behavior and save lives.

FREEMAN: Well, now they're hoping to use the big screen to try to reduce gun deaths. This new tactic modeling gun safety. CNN's Josh Campbell reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHEMAR MOORE, ACTOR: LAPD! Drop the weapon.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Gunfire, danger, high energy, it's another episode of the hit CBS show SWAT.

MOORE: Hey, baby!

CAMPBELL (voiceover): But some in this scene is different. Can you tell?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your day get any better after I saw you?

MOORE: No. Actually, it got worse if you can believe it but we did save a mother and her child so it made it all worth it. How'd the rest of your day go?

CAMPBELL (voiceover): Did you spot it? Look again.

MOORE: -- mother and her child so it made it all worth it.

CAMPBELL (voiceover): Safe gun storage. On that same Sony picture set, SWAT showrunner Andrew Dettmann says in the past the officer may have just set his gun on the counter, but now --

ANDREW DETTMANN, SHOWRUNNER, SWATT: Gun safe opens, he puts the gun away. It's nice and safe before he heads back to talk to his wife. You know, it's a very routine part of his life, come home at the end of the day, store your weapon so that it's safe now that he's got a toddler in the house.

KRIS BROWN, PRESIDENT, BRADY UNITED: That's a game-changer.

CAMPBELL (voiceover): The new approach is one of the successes of the show gun safety campaign launched by advocacy group Brady United which is now partnering with studios across the country after first meeting at a White House round table with actors and writers last year. Their initiative calls for no guns on kids shows rethinking whether guns are needed in adult shows, and if they are showing proper storage and handling.

BROWN: We lose eight kids a day, a uniquely American epidemic, to family fire. That's to -- that's because of firearms in the home that are not safely stored.

CAMPBELL (voiceover): While guns can be politically polarizing, this show believes encouraging the safe storage of firearms shouldn't be controversial at all.

DETTMANN: This is not part of that larger gun debate. You know, we have -- our audience is very much on both sides of that issue. This to me I hoped anyway seemed like this is just a commonsense issue, right? Store it safely. Don't leave it out in the house. You know, and if we can -- if they see their favorite characters doing it on a regular basis, maybe that influences them some way.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, settle, settle, here we go. Fight please.

CAMPBELL (voiceover): Inside another sound stage, we watch as the SWAT crew film scenes with star Shemar Moore. We've heard statistics that more people look up to their favorite actor than a lot of politicians. What's that like?

MOORE: I'm not Taylor Swift.

CAMPBELL: But she doesn't carry a gun.

MOORE: As far as I know.

CAMPBELL (voiceover): Moore told us he's a gun owner too. And with a young daughter both on and off screen, modeling safety is a badge he's willing to wear.

[06:50:07]

MOORE: I'm a big badass Hondo and I get out there and, you know, I take down bad guys. But when I come home, I own a firearm but it's safe. It's protected. If I can use my platform to affect change or affect optimism or to get people to listen, that's an honor. I'm humbled by it. CAMPBELL (voiceover): Along with safe storage, SWAT is also curbing

the amount of gunfire on its show.

DETTMANN: The director had an automatic weapon in mind but maybe we can pull that back and just have it be a few shots so that we don't have all this gratuitous gunfire with no consequence.

CHRISTIAN HEYNE, CHIEF POLICY OFFICER, BRADY UNITED: We got to start normalizing this across the board.

CAMPBELL (voiceover): Gun violence victims like Christian Heyne who lost his mother in a 2005 shooting in California praised the efforts of shows like SWAT. Now a chief policy officer for Brady United, he hopes this new campaign succeeds like past partnerships with Hollywood to deglamorize smoking and promote safe driving.

HEYNE: You never will see somebody get into a car on a film or on television and not put a seat belt on. We have to be thinking the same way about gun violence, to really create a movement in Hollywood where this becomes second nature.

MOORE: People are going to watch me and listen to me, and I know that by behavior, by how I present myself, somebody could follow suit. That's a huge responsibility. And so, hopefully, this is a reminder to the adults, to the parents to be extra cautious.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cutting, cut.

CAMPBELL (voiceover): Josh Campbell, CNN Hollywood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: All right, Josh thank you.

Still ahead, this week marks the official start of Spring. But before winter says goodbye, it is hitting parts of the U.S. with one more cold front.

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[06:56:10]

FREEMAN: All right, it is Winter's last hurrah. This week, the East Coast will get hit with a cold front as we officially say goodbye to Winter and hello to Spring.

WALKER: But before we say goodbye to Winter, let's say hell hello to Allison Chinchar. And there are still some storms we're talking about, right?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: There are, yes. And so, it's that cold front, the same spot that's going to bring that cold air. We've got to get rid of it first which means we still have the potential for some severe thunderstorms today.

Now, most of what we're seeing is really focused right along the Gulf Coast region, so Texas over to Louisiana, and then eventually we'll continue to see that spread Eastward as we go through the day and evening hour. So, there is still the potential for severe weather and extends basically from Texas all the way over to the panhandle of Florida. Large hail damaging winds and yes the potential for a few tornadoes is not cannot be ruled out.

Here's a look at where the storm stands today. The morning is really going to be focused for those strong thunderstorms over Texas and Louisiana, but then we start to see that spread into Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and into the Carolinas once we get towards the evening tonight. But that cold front, once it slides through, we are talking bitter cold temperatures. Yes, some that would remind folks maybe say more of January or February.

Take a look at this. Cincinnati and Cleveland looking at high temperatures on Monday that are more typical for early February. Memphis and Huntsville, their high temperatures more like what you would see in mid-January. And even when you fast forward to Tuesday, Atlanta and Philadelphia also looking at temperatures that are going to feel a little bit more like February rather than say the first official day of Spring which is set to be Tuesday. It's just not really going to feel like it for many places.

Here's that first wave, and that one dives deep. You're talking well into the southeast seeing those temperatures below average. Then we rebound just a little bit briefly before a second round begins to come back in especially for the Midwest and areas of the Northeast by the end of the week. So, take New York City for example, 61 today dropping back down. We rebound again by Wednesday only for the bottom to drop right back out yet again.

FREEMAN: Oh, man. Not loving frigid in huge letters.

WALKER: Hey, Spring has sprung for me because I'm taking my anti- histamines.

FREEMAN: Yes, right. Exactly.

WALKER: That pollen has been a little much. Thank you so much. Good to see you.

FREEMAN: Thank you, Allison.

All right, a teenager trying to catch some air at a skiing competition wound up almost catching a ski chairlift instead.

WALKER: CNN's Jeanne Moos shows you his spectacular wipe out that has the internet buzzing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): It was a little like one of those James Bond ski chases like when 007 skied over a picnic table, only 17-year-old Ivan Jones was just trying to do a move called the flat spin 360 when he almost landed on the chair lift.

Of course, everyone wanted to know --

MOOS: Were you injured?

IVAN JONES, SKIER: I definitely felt very beat up. Mild concussion. I was quite sore.

MOOS (voiceover): But Ivan was able to ski down the mountain at the Lake Louise Resort in Canada to get checked out by the ski patrol so close to landing on the actual seat. Maybe next time was a typical comment. But Ivan said he had no intention of trying that. He thought it would be impossible possible to hit the chair lift until he did.

JONES: When I hit the chairlift, I was actually in shock, so I didn't feel anything.

MOOS (voiceover): His mom, Mindy, was off skiing when she got the call that her son had hit the chair lift.

MINDY JONES, MOTHER OF IVAN JONES: I was very grateful to see him in person before seeing the video, because the video is pretty awful.

MOOS (voiceover): As the video went viral, jokesters added audio.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's dreamed about this his whole life. Oh, that is not good.

MOOS (voiceover): Lake Louise Resort told CNN it does not condone what happened. Imagine the view from the chair full of skiers coming up the lift. And instead of just wondering how Ivan fared --

MOOS: I like "is the chair lift OK."

MOOS (voiceover): You'd be giggling too if you survived this.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: Thankfully nobody was on those chair -- that chair lift.

FREEMAN: Yes. They --

WALKER: Can you imagine?

FREEMAN: Yes. I mean, he almost actually ended up sitting there for a second though.

WALKER: Yes, not really because it was his feet.

FREEMAN: Yes, I guess. Next time.

WALKER: Yes, next time.

FREEMAN: Oh, good. All right, the next hour of CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.

[07:00:00]