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CNN This Morning
Alleged Gunman's Father Now Facing Charges; White House: Framework Of Gaza Deal 90 Percent Done; Heat Alerts Continue For 55 Million People. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired September 06, 2024 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:40]
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Friday, September 6th.
Right now on CNN THIS MORNING:
The father of the 14-year-old student accused of killing two classmates and two teachers in Georgia under arrest, facing multiple charges.
And --
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GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When we fight --
CROWD: We win!
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HUNT: Just 60 days to go before the November election. How both candidates are trying to win the messaging battle for days out from their first debate with each other.
Plus, Russia interfering in U.S. elections again. And now, Vladimir Putin trying to troll the White House.
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HUNT: All right, 5:00 a.m. here in Washington. A live look at Capitol Hill on this Friday morning.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
We begin this morning with the latest developments from the tragic school shooting in Georgia. The father of the suspected gunman is now also under arrest.
Colin Gray faces four counts of involuntary manslaughter and two counts of second-degree murder. Police say he bought the AR-15 style weapon used in the shooting as a Christmas gift for his son in December. Investigators say he purchased the weapon, even though Colin and his son had been questioned over a school shooting threat that was made online in May of last year.
CNN has obtained the interview from 2023, where the father assures police that the guns in the house are not a safety issue.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
INVESTIGATOR: Do you have weapons in the house?
COLIN GRAY: I do.
INVESTIGATOR: Are they accessible to him?
COLIN GRAY: They are, I mean, there's loaded but they are down.
We actually, we do a lot of shooting. We do a lot of deer hunting. He shot his first deer this year, you know. So like I'm pretty much in shock to be honest with you.
I'm a little pissed off to be even really honest with you if that, if that is what was said.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
HUNT: His son, 14-year-old Colt Gray, is also speaking freely with investigators, even after being told he has the right to remain silent.
The Barrow County sheriff saying he offered a confession.
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SHERIFF JUD SMITH, BARROW COUNTY, GA: I saw Colt in custody, with handcuffs on. He is cooperating with as far as I know.
REPORTER: Still talking?
SMITH: He's still talking. He was -- he described, you know, I did it. But the thing that goes that we're trying to figure out as a 14- year-old, why? Why would you -- why would you do this?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right. Joining me now to discuss CNN legal analyst, Joey Jackson.
Joey, good morning to you. I always grateful to have you on the show. Let's start with the charging of the father in this instance. This is obviously something that we have seen in recent instances of school shootings. The parents of Ethan Crumbley in Michigan were convicted in that particular case.
How do you see the facts of this one as we know them? And what do you think is going to be most relevant as authorities look to try to prosecute his father as well.
JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yeah. Kasie, good morning to you. Yes. We have seen this and unfortunately, very, very short time ago.
Remember, it was just February of this past year, right. And March where James Crumbley and Ethan Crumbley, you referring to the Michigan case with a prosecutor that Ms. McDonald decided that there would be accountability for the parents.
And so as it relates to the facts here, I think they're stunningly similar, stunningly similar as much as you had four children who were killed, similar in as much as you had multiple children, multiple people who were injured. And I think there needs to be accountability.
Now, as a result of the Michigan case, certainly that would have some deterrent value with respect to parents being careful, with regard to parents keeping firearms out of the hands of their children if they know that their children perhaps should be having them. And so, that's one parallel that's very significant.
The distinction, of course, is that this father, Kasie, is charged with murder in the second degree. We saw right, in terms of speaking about the language of charging, we didn't see that in Michigan. We saw involuntary manslaughter while I'm throwing out these legal terms, what they mean?
[05:05:01]
Involuntary manslaughter in Michigan as we look at the father there, related to negligence, right? Here, it also relates to negligence. However, the distinction is Georgia has a statute and that law says that if you as it relates to engaging in abuse, either physically or mentally of a child, at your hands through your negligence and the child dies, its second-degree murder.
And that's a theory that they're proffering here. And based upon facts as we know them, and facts that could be revealed, it very well may be meted out and established.
HUNT: Joey, I guess one question I have is -- is how this is going to be something -- if this is going to be something that were going to see repeatedly, the prosecutor in the Michigan case, she was on with us yesterday morning.
She was also on with my colleague, Anderson Cooper last night. She was on "AC360" last night.
I want to play a little bit of what she had to say and then well talk about on the other side. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAREN MCDONALD, OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN PROSECUTOR: The prosecution of the Crumbleys was never ever meant to be a floodgate of charges against parents because it was such an egregious set of facts. And so, I am -- I think I share the emotions of the entire country that even after that well-publicized case, we're still here.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HUNT: So she called what happened in the Michigan situation an egregious set of facts. There's obviously a different set of facts here, but does it seem to you like -- like we are potentially heading toward a world where this is something that becomes a regular part of -- of how we deal with these tragic events?
JACKSON: Well, I'll say I hope not, Kasie. But that statement relates to the shootings in and of themselves. Certainly they shouldn't be occurring. And then we would not get to the place where were looking for accountability with respect to who to charge and why.
Yes. I will say as it relates to getting accountability for anyone and anyone who is a parent of person who should be in a supervisory capacity, who should certainly have the ability to know what their child as we look there at the child 14, who's charged and his father, but parents are in a unique position to know who their children are, what their capabilities are, and what if any, mental maladies or other issues they have.
And so, to be purchasing a weapon in December of 2023, under conditions where potentially your son should not have wanted its troubling, but I do think we are in a world where prosecutors are looking to use all the tools available to them to ensure that parents safeguard their firearms.
There's a place for the Second Amendment. Nobody's arguing there's not, but there's a bigger place for responsibility. And so I think that's what prosecutors are doing here in terms of having parents keep these guns away in the event that their child cannot handle.
HUNT: All right. Joey Jackson for us this morning -- Joey, always grateful to have you on the show. Very unfortunate circumstances on this story, but appreciate your expertise as always. Thank you.
All right. Straight ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, the White House, sounding hopeful about a Gaza ceasefire deal. But now, Israel's U.N. ambassador is cautioning you us to lower expectations.
Plus, we're getting closer. The first ballots for the November elections to be mailed out today.
And the taskforce that Elon Musk will lead if Donald Trump wins in November.
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TRUMP: Elon, because he's not very busy, has agreed to head that task force. It'd be interesting, if he has the time, to be a good one to do it.
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[05:13:07]
HUNT: Welcome back.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the United States is in, quote, very active discussions, end quote, regarding peace talks with Egypt and Qatar. He says a plan to finalize a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas is expected in the coming days.
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ANTONY BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE: It's really incumbent on both parties to get to yes on these remaining issues.
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HUNT: The White House claims the framework of a deal is 90 percent done. But Israel's ambassador to the U.N. tells CNN, it might be best to lower expectations.
And Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not offering much hope.
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BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Hamas is not there with a deal. There's not a deal in the making, unfortunately.
HOST: And it's not close.
NETANYAHU: And it still hasn't happened. They want to reconstitute their terror kingdom and it's -- unfortunately, it's not close, but we'll do everything we can to get them to the point where they do make a deal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right. Let's bring in CNN's Max Foster. He is live for us from London.
Max, good morning to you. Benjamin Netanyahu, facing criticism, especially from family members of some of these hostages that are being held in Gaza, who question whether he wants a ceasefire deal at all?
What are the politics of this that are putting Netanyahu in this or explain the can explain where Netanyahu is in this and why he's saying things like, hey, this deal is not there?
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: The deal's -- I mean, we keep saying these thing that we were -- America says were close to a deal and then Israel comes out and says, no, we're not.
And there were a lot of Netanyahu's opponents are suggesting that he just keeps adding things to this still, which are nonnegotiable just to eke out the war effectively and keep his position as prime minister. Whilst the war is going on, he's pretty secure.
Of course, he would argue this is all about destroying Hamas and getting the hostages home. The key point of contention most recently has been what we call the Philadelphi corridor that goes between Egypt and Gaza, a narrow strip of land. In the past, Hamas has been accused of using it to traffic goods. Now that Netanyahu is insisting that Israel retains control of that. And some people are seeing that as a last-minute addition, which is getting in the way of talks.
But I think Netanyahu was argue is absolutely essential to maintain peace in the long term when this war is over.
HUNT: Max, is it -- do you think it's realistic to think that there could be some sort of deal that the Americans would be involved in brokering that wouldn't involve Israel at all? I mean, that has been something that has been at least floated.
FOSTER: Well, certainly, there's debate about how America is allowing this war to continue because it isn't using its leverage against Israel enough. It does have -- it's the only country really that has significant leverage because it supplies so many of the weapons are being used in the war and the war wouldn't be able to carry on without America. So they should be doing more to negotiate with Israel.
I think the issue here for many people is Netanyahu because talking about Israel is not talking about Netanyahu is very unpopular there. A lot of Israelis want to see a peace deal as well.
So it is whether or not you get tough with Netanyahu and his right- wing members of his governments. And really goes in hard there and perhaps you know, one argument would be negotiating more widely and politics instead of dealing with him. But were a long way away from that and no ones talking about that at the moment in Washington.
HUNT: Yeah. All right. Max Foster for us this morning -- Max, always grateful to have you. Wonderful to have you back this week. Hope to see you next week.
FOSTER: Thanks, Kasie.
HUNT: All right. Still the come here after the break, Russian President Vladimir Putin weighing in on the U.S. election, including, we will show you his comments about Kamala Harris.
Plus, Boeing's Starliner spacecraft finally set to return home. But it's leaving some important cargo behind. We'll, of course, explain that in your morning roundup.
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[05:22:02]
HUNT: All right, 21 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup.
Hunter Biden, pleading guilty in the tax evasion case against him, just as it was about to go to trial in Los Angeles. The president's son saying he made the decision in order to spare his family from another public examination of his troubled past. Sentencing is set for December 16. Hunter Biden faces up to 17 years in prison. Several top aides to New York Mayor Eric Adams have their electronic seized by federal investigators. It's unclear why they were taken but sources confirmed this is not connected to the bureau's investigation into Adams' campaign fundraising.
Boeing's troubled Starliner spacecraft finally headed home. The capsule is scheduled to undock from the international well space station later today before a touchdown in New Mexico, its crew though, will remain aboard the ISS until February. Their original mission, which began in June -- yeah, it was supposed to last just over a week.
I can't imagine.
Okay. Time now for weather. We have record setting heat possible today in parts of the northwest United States, while a flood watch remains in effect along the Gulf Coast.
Let's get straight to our meteorologist, the weatherman himself, Derek Van Dam.
Derek, good morning. Wonderful to see you. What do you got?
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah. You know, talk about a flight delay there. I mean, I've been delayed by a couple of hours, but talk about a few months. I mean, my goodness.
HUNT: It's space, to be clear. You can't go just get a hotel room, okay?
VAN DAM: I wish it was that easy, you know?
And I wish this weather forecast was that easy, too, because it has been tricky along the deep south and its all because of this flooding rain that has just kind of scattered right along the coastal regions of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi in the Florida panhandle. And there's a flashflood Washington place for about 6 million Americans right now.
But we broaden out to show you the radar. And I want to point out a few different things. Do you see that little rotation just off the coast of Texas there? The National Hurricane center has been identified in this area as potential tropical development.
Now, there's a lot of things working against it. There's not a lot of time for this thing to organize, but it is just set off the coast of Texas and Louisiana for the past several days and that is the reason we have had this rain, excessive rainfall outlook today, highlighting New Orleans and much of the Deep South once again. You can see this kind of elongated area of low pressure that's going to bring more rounds of heavy rainfall to some of the same areas that have been hit. So heads up, flash flood potential today across the lowlands of southern Louisiana.
The other big story, the heat, this has been something we've talked about all week long. It's built into the Pacific Northwest. Phoenix yesterday, the highest temperature tying the highest September temperature of 116. This is the latest in the year that it's done that the heat continues for L.A. as well as Portland into the Northwest where they broke 100 degrees yesterday once again -- Kasie.
HUNT: Yikes!
All right. Derek Van Dam for us --Derek, thank you very much.
[05:25:99]
See you next hour.
VAN DAM: All right.
HUNT: And still ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, we are just two months from election day, if you can believe that. Donald Trump coming up with a possible role for Elon Musk if he's able to secure a second term. We'll try to explain that.
Plus, the Harris campaign is reporting a huge fundraiser haul that they hope will get them over the finish line.
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WALZ: They've tried to tell you that this can't be joyful. This can't be fund. This can't be hopeful. This can't be positive about the future. Well, we reject that?
And it took Kamala Harris to come onto the scene to tell us this is a joyful thing we're doing. This is hopeful.
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