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Georgia School Shooter was Questioned in 2023 Over Threats; Liz Cheney Endorses Kamala Harris; 5 Million People Under Flood Watch in Southern Texas, Louisiana. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired September 05, 2024 - 06:00   ET

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

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Thursday, September 5. Right now on CNN THIS MORNING.

[06:01:24]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUD SMITH, BARROW COUNTY SHERIFF: Law will prevail over what happened today. I assure you of that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Another tragic school shooting. A 14-year-old student kills two classmates and two teachers.

And --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I agreed to do it, because they wouldn't do any other network.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Donald Trump and Kamala Harris finally reach an agreement about their debate face-off, set for just five days from now.

And --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We know when the government encourages investment, it leads to broad-based economic growth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Vice President Kamala Harris splits with President Biden on some key economic policies.

And --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LIZ CHENEY (R), FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: But I will be voting for Kamala Harris.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Another Republican opponent of Donald Trump throws her support behind the Democratic nominee in 2024.

All right, 6 a.m. here on the East Coast. A live look at the beautiful sunrise in New York City this morning. Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.

We're going to begin in Georgia, where once again, a community is devastated by a senseless act of violence. And where, once again, parents are learning unimaginable pain and where, once again, children are waking up to a world turned upside-down.

On Wednesday, in what has become an all-too-familiar sight, high school students were sent fleeing from their classrooms, seeking safety from a gunman, this time at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia.

Second period had just started when the gunshots rang out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LYELA SAYARATH, APALACHEE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT: There's a knock at the door, so you look at the door. And he's there. And she -- she's there, as well. And she looks, and she sees him. And she says, he's here. And we're about to open the door until the girl who was going to open it kind of steps back and was like, oh, wait.

And then you just kind of see him, through the little window, turn almost. And you just hear shots.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: In the minutes that followed, four people were brutally murdered: two students, Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both just 14 years old; and two teachers, Richard Aspinwall and Christina Irimie.

The suspect, a student at the school, surrendered when he was confronted by police. Officials say that 14-year-old Colt Gray will be charged as an adult for the murders.

He was questioned just last year by law enforcement in connection with online threats about a school shooting. No charges were filed at the time.

As this investigation unfolds, local officials say that teachers and staff at the school prevented an even larger tragedy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: When someone preys on kids, it's tragic. Like I said earlier, Haiti is not going to prevail in our county, and hate's not going to prevail in our state.

I'm proud of the men and women who protected these kids. I'm proud of this staff. I'm proud of this community. And I just ask for prayers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right. Joining us now, Donell Harvin with Georgetown University's Emergency and Disaster Management Program; Alex Thompson, CNN political analyst, national political reporter at Axios; Karen Finney, CNN political commentator; and Mike Dubke, former Trump White House communications director. Welcome to all of you.

Donell, let me start with you, because we are learning this morning that this child, who would be charged as an adult, but a child, was actually questioned a year ago by law enforcement over online threats.

This is all of these parents', all of -- it's my worst nightmare as a parent, right? What do you think happened here? That law enforcement was kind of onto this kid. And then here we are today with four people dead.

[06:05:05]

DONELL HARVIN, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY'S EMERGENCY AND DISASTER MANAGEMENT PROGRAM: Well, it's not unusual to have threats online being reported. Not in the defense of law enforcement, but we get thousands of these when I was the chief of homeland security in D.C. And to be able to sift through these and vet through them.

It sounds like they did their due diligence. What we don't know is what happened afterwards.

We do know that Georgia doesn't have a red flag law. They may not have been able to continue to track this individual. He may have gone from one school to another, and these threats weren't reported.

And so, that's going to come out as the investigation proceeds.

It's clearly tragic. As you mentioned, sending our children to school should be a zero-risk endeavor. And clearly, it's not.

HUNT: How many -- when you say law enforcement are inundated with threats, I was talking to a former police chief in Aurora, Colorado, where they obviously investigated that horrible theater shooting. He also mentioned there's just so much of it, right? And it's really, really difficult to get your arms around it.

How many of the threats that are kind of flagged result in questioning somebody? Because this kid was questioned by law enforcement. Do they all get that far? I can't imagine that they do.

HARVIN: Yes. It depends on the number of threats, how many people are reporting it. And then there's some background information that has to go through. You have to understand whether the child has had problems in school, whether the school's reporting it, versus someone else in the community. And if there's guns in the home. And so, when they knock on the door, that's one of the things they

want to understand, is if there's guns in the home, is this individual able to operationalize or motivate themselves to actually have the tools to become violent?

And so, there's a lot of calculus. There's a lot of different checklists. The issue is there's no national standard for this, right? And so, this is happening on the state and local level, based on their protocols and based on their procedures.

There's no high-level federal standard for how to investigate these type of cases.

HUNT: In terms of what happens next, I mean, one of the things that we've seen, obviously, Ethan Crumbley's parents were held accountable. In this case, this kid's pretty young, 14 years old. Is this happening younger and younger? And what role do you think the parents play or didn't in this scenario?

HARVIN: Yes. This may shock the viewers, but the actual mean of a school shooter is 16. So, if you look at the distribution curve, 14 is not that far under the range, which is unfortunate.

This year -- and I know we're talking about school shootings now, but this year, there's been nearly 200 school shootings resulting in almost 50 deaths. And so, we're on track for last year.

Whatever were doing, it's not good enough. And so, looking at these younger individuals, they may be getting bullied online. The online environment. What's happening in school? There's a lot of things that have to go right for these shootings to not happen. And clearly, in this case, things didn't go right.

HUNT: Alex Thompson, the sort of unfortunate reality is that every single one of -- every single time something like this happens, there is a political conversation about what to do about it. Just talking about how there's no federal standards for dealing with these things. Georgia doesn't have a red flag law, et cetera, et cetera.

In some ways, it seems like those conversations are becoming more and more brief, because the realities here in Washington are such that there aren't major policy changes that happen regularly.

But this is something that has become part of our national consciousness in a way that a lot of political issues don't. I mean, this is something that every household is aware of, is kind of in the ether in a way that may potentially lead to some sort of ground shift going forward.

We did hear from both of the candidates, from Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, yesterday. But what role do you think this -- these horrific conversations we have to have about gun violence are currently playing in our politics?

ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I mean, you've seen Democrats become more and more confident running on gun control every single cycle. After one of the these shootings happens, they see an actual political advantage on calling for gun control.

You've even seen Kamala Harris hasn't put out that much policy, but gun control was actually a key part of her sort of freedom theme -- theme. You know, freedom from gun violence.

HUNT: Yes. They would never use the phrase "gun control." But that -- putting it that way --

THOMPSON: Yes.

HUNT: -- is something that they -- you're absolutely right.

THOMPSON: Freedom from gun violence has been a huge part of her campaign already.

And the fact is that Republicans, on some ways, are on their backfoot. You saw Republicans vote for, you know, a very light form of -- you can call it gun control, whatever. But just --

HUNT: They would, they would call it gun control.

THOMPSON: Yes. But the last -- the last two years. That was the first time -- you know, you asked if you'd have Senator John Cornyn of Texas vote for at least some form of gun control ten years ago, he wouldn't have. But he did this time.

HUNT: Yes, all right. We're going to pick up this conversation later on in the show when we talk to the prosecutor in that Crumbley situation. And we'll also -- Donell will come back, as well, to talk more about this.

But up ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, Donald Trump's town hall in the pivotal swing state of Pennsylvania making his case on the economy, right after his opponent's speech on the issue.

Plus, Kamala Harris tries to hone her pitch on the top priority that voters have, and she's splitting with President Biden in some critical places. We're going to talk to a senior spokesman for the Harris-Walz campaign.

[06:10:05]

And Liz Cheney, one of the -- the latest Republican to reach across the aisle and support the Democratic nominee.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHENEY: Because of the danger that Donald Trump poses, not only am I not voting for Donald Trump, but I will be voting for Kamala Harris in this election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) HUNT: You said in your Reagan Library speech, men are running the world, and it's really not going all that well.

[06:15:01]

Do you think voters here in the U.S. are ready for a woman to run things?

CHENEY: Sure.

I also do think that, you know, we're -- we're at a moment where, you know, people ought to be judged based on competence. That ought to be judged based on character. And I stand by my statement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Competence and character. Former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney told me two years ago the country's ready for a female president. You saw it there.

Now she says she's ready to vote for one.

Cheney, who is, of course, a longtime Trump critic and the former vice chair of the January 6th Select Committee, became the latest in a series of Republicans to say they will we voting for Kamala Harris.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHENEY: And as a conservative, as someone who believes in and cares about the Constitution, I have thought deeply about this. And because of the danger that Donald Trump poses, not only am I not voting for Donald Trump, but I will be voting for Kamala Harris in this election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right, panel is back.

So, I mean, Mike Dubke, the big difference here seems to be that, you know, there were all of these anti-Trump Republicans who were willing to say, Well, you know, I'm going to write in John McCain. I'm going to write in someone else. You know, Lindsey Graham, or whoever that was not Donald Trump.

Her argument -- and this is somebody -- this is the argument we heard from some Republicans at the Democratic National Convention, is that the risks are too high for that, considering what happened around democracy January 6. That's of course, Liz Cheney's animating thing here.

It's no surprise to me that she's voting against Donald Trump. Do you think this impacts anything?

MIKE DUBKE, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: No. I'll expand on that.

No, I'm actually surprised -- I'm -- I'm actually surprised it took this long for Representative Cheney to come out and make that statement.

But no, I don't. There are a number of Republicans who have -- where the Republican party and this party led by Donald Trump have gone a different direction. And they have voiced their concerns about it, their opposition to that.

I don't think this is really going to change a whole lot. I don't know that there is a group of Cheney voters that were waiting for her to make this decision.

But I -- you know, look, I think it's a -- we're in a democracy. And she has every right to do that. And I -- frankly, I respect her reasoning to get there.

But no, I don't think it's going to make a difference.

HUNT: Are you surprised she hasn't played a bigger role in this election cycle? That, like, we learned about this at an event in Duke that was closed press. You know, she -- there were others that were on stage at the DNC.

THOMPSON: Yes, I'm surprised. And her team has dodged calls on this for months, because obviously, if there was going to be a prominent Republican name that was going to endorse Joe Biden, she is -- or then to Kamala Harris, she was going to be one of them.

So, I was a little bit surprised that she would announce it in this way. I don't even know if she intended it to become -- become public.

It also speaks to the, like, scrambled nature of our politics, that Liz Cheney just endorsed Kamala Harris, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. just endorsed Donald Trump.

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Again, Donald Trump can have the, you know, dead bear in the park, cut off the whale head guy. That's fine.

DUBKE: He's a falconer, though.

FINNEY: Oh, OK. Well, that makes it OK.

HUNT: Wait. What does that have to do with cutting off a whale's head?

DUBKE: Well, it had to do with the dead bear in the park.

FINNEY: He likes birds.

(CROSSTALK)

FINNEY: He's weird. He's weird.

DUBKE: I was just following the line.

FINNEY: OK.

Liz Cheney, though. I know she's doing some other work in this election. That may have been part of the reason for the delay and the timing.

HUNT: Would you like to expand on that? What do you mean?

FINNEY: She's perhaps doing some work for candidates and, you know, she's got some work that she's doing.

But the other thing I would say, here's where I do think it matters. It matters potentially as -- she is someone who can help create a permission structure for the Haley voters, right? The sort of -- you know, sort of moderate conservatives, suburban voters, who thinks she's a reasonable, thoughtful person, who may be on the fence, who are listening to her reasoning. And I suspect we'll hear more from her.

And who -- January 6 does still stick in their mind. It does still bother them quite a bit. And it does bother them when they hear Donald Trump saying it's perfectly OK for me to do what I did around the 2020 election.

So, that's where I think she -- that's where I think she matters.

And again, in an election where it's football season, it's a game of inches, right? This -- it's going to be close. It's going to be tight. Every vote matters. That's why I think it's going to matter.

DUBKE: Yes, and it's a contact sport. I -- I'm actually, frankly, surprised, if I'm surprised by anything on this, is that the Harris campaign didn't do more with it.

Now, maybe it was because it was at a private event at Duke University, and they haven't.

But these are the things that campaigns love to roll out. I mean, back in the day, we would have all of the Democrats who were switching over to the Republican Party, and you'd do a big thing with, you know, bringing them, giving them some spotlight here.

[06:20:09]

I'm a little surprised the Harris camp is not doing that.

HUNT: Well, I mean, it seems clear she does -- she didn't want it.

DUBKE: Yes.

HUNT: That she didn't want it.

FINNEY: And she made --

DUBKE: And she made a conscious decision to make that announcement there. So that -- that wasn't an accident.

FINNEY: Correct. And she may do other events. I mean, we still have --

DUBKE: Yes, that's true. Absolutely.

FINNEY: -- 67 days, right?

THOMPSON: Yes. And to your point, it will be -- you know, the Biden and now Harris campaign have made a real point of going after Nikki Haley voters. And are they able to deploy her in some of these states, in some of these suburban counties and try to rally some of those voters? It will be interesting to watch.

HUNT: Yes. The suburbs of Philly, you know, talking to suburban moms, not a bad place to put Liz Cheney, for example.

FINNEY: Absolutely.

HUNT: All right. Still to come here on CNN THIS MORNING, it's almost go time for Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. The first debate with Harris at the top of the ticket, now just days away. How they're preparing, ahead.

Plus, stunning video from an ATM heist. This is going to be one of the five things you need to see this morning. Take a closer look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:25:20=

HUNT: All right. Twenty-four minutes past the hour, five things you have to see this morning.

An asteroid streaking through the atmosphere over the Philippines. The European Space Agency detected the three-foot-long asteroid just a few hours before -- before.

And that's only the ninth time that humankind has ever spotted one before impact. Wow.

OK. A life-saving rescue by the Italian Coast Guard after a boat carrying migrants sank off the coast of Italy. Seven Syrian nationals were rescued; 21 others including children, are missing.

Then there's this. Talk about a smash and grab. Thieves in Seattle using a front-loader stolen from a construction site to steal an entire ATM, pushing its safe down the street.

Both the front-loader and the safe were later found abandoned about a half a mile down the road. Apparently, there's no word on the money that may or may not have been in the safe. But this is, you know, extraordinary measures.

All right. A man trapped in his SUV and swept away by a flash flood in San Antonio gets it all on video. He says he was just trying to stay calm once he realized his vehicle was no longer in his control.

He was eventually rescued by Alamo Heights firefighters.

Wildfires burning through the night just outside Brazil's capital. Firefighters have struggled to control this blaze. It's now burned for two days and bright -- blanketed Brasilia in smoke. Local officials say they suspect arsonists may be responsible/

All right. Time now for weather. Flood threats continuing today for more than 5 million people in Southern Texas and Louisiana, while parts of the Northwest could see record high temperatures,

Let's get straight to our meteorologist, the weatherman himself, Derek van Dam. Derek, good morning to you. What do you got?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Kasie.

You know, that flood video coming out of San Antonio is really interesting, because we don't often see it from the perspective of inside the vehicle. Often, it's from outside watching these swift- water rescues taking place.

HUNT: I mean, that's probably because who takes video of something like that when it's happening to them?

VAN DAM: Right.

HUNT: This seems like a terrible life choice. But anyway, continue.

VAN DAM: Yes. So, he gets caught in this flash flood, but that is the nature of flash flooding, because you never know how much water is covering that roadway.

And this is the concern we have today across much of the Deep South, because we've got this flood threat continuing, ongoing as this pesky low-pressure system that's just meandering off the Gulf Coast, lighting up our radar like a Christmas tree.

But we focused in on the New Orleans region, Southeastern Louisiana with the greatest flash flood threat for the day today.

So anywhere along Interstate 10 and Southward, we know that these areas are very low levels, low land, and it doesn't take much to flood these regions. So, we're going to keep a close eye on that for the potential of more flash flooding with more scenes that you saw in San Antonio.

But this time, the greatest threat, again, unfolding across the state of Louisiana.

Now here's a look at the rest of the country. It's really the heat that's building over the West. That's the big story. Fifty-five million Americans under heat alerts.

I've got to point this out: L.A. today could reach 100 degrees for the first time in over two years. Look at their normal temperature: 77. So we're well above 20 degrees above average.

And more of the same for Portland: 102 today would be the first -- well, let's say the third time in recorded history where we've reached that temperature in the month of September -- Kasie.

HUNT: Yikes, really tough. All right. Derek van Dam for us this morning. Derek, very grateful for you. Thank you so much.

VAN DAM: OK.

HUNT: All right. Still ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, Donald Trump pitching voters in Pennsylvania. He appeared at a town hall there just days before he gets ready to debate Kamala Harris in Philadelphia.

Plus, I'll speak with the prosecutor who tried the cases against the parents of school shooter Ethan Crumbley as America grapples with yet another senseless act of gun violence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: I asked that you and our community lift up our schools, lift up our public safety, and that again, we do not let this hateful event prevail.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)