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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Gunman Kills Nine Co-Workers At San Jose Light Rail Facility; Senate GOP Posed to Block Commission on Capitol Riots; Doctors Warn of Chance Mutant Strains Could Spread from Games. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired May 27, 2021 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:30]

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. We have reports this morning from San Jose, Taiwan, Mexico City, Shanghai, Capitol Hill and Tokyo.

This is EARLY START. I'm Laura Jarrett.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: All around the world as only CNN can.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Christine Romans. It's Thursday, May 27th. 5:00 a.m. in New York. It is 2:00 a.m. in San Jose, California.

That's where we begin. Nine more victims, nine more funerals, nine more broken families and a numb nation moves on. America's other epidemic shows no signs of slowing. This time a mass shooting at a rail yard in San Jose, California. There have been 17 mass shootings in the last week, 17 in the last week. Deaths from gun violence in the U.S. up 23 percent so far this year.

JARRETT: It's another case where the victims were front-line workers. Last month, it was a FedEx facility in Indianapolis, before that a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado. And now, it's rail workers helping other essential workers get to work during this pandemic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR SAM LICCARDO, SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA: These are the folks who are showing up every day throughout the pandemic to ensure that transit would operate every day to support members of our community who depended on transit for their livelihoods or for their lives. And, you know, these are essential workers and they took risks to themselves, showing up every day for work, and now their friends and their family members are mourning their loss.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: The mayor says the gunman was a co-worker and the victims know him well.

ROMANS: This is happening everywhere in the U.S. -- from San Jose to Park Forest, Illinois, to Charleston, South Carolina, too many places to name. Guns are everywhere. Change is nowhere to be found. CNN's Dan Simon has more from San Jose.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Laura, authorities have not established a clear cut motive, but one thing to note is that the shooter's ex-wife told the Bay Area News Group, a CNN affiliate, that during their ten-year marriage, he often spoke angrily about his co- workers and bosses and seemed to be generally unhappy about his work.

Now, she hasn't talked to him in a number of years, but it's clear that investigators will want to speak with her nonetheless.

In the meantime, investigators still at the scene, processing the facility behind me, the shots ringing out about 6:30 in the morning. Now, around the same time, firefighters in San Jose were responding to a house fire, that house belonging to the shooter.

Now, how that is involved with the overall investigation remains to be seen, but it's certainly an interesting development.

We can also tell you that at the scene, investigators recovered multiple weapons, I can't tell you the make and model of those weapons, but it's clear that the shooter was trying to inflict as much carnage as he possibly could before he took his own life.

A bomb sniffing dog also found evidence of an explosive and now you have robots going literally room to room trying to find additional explosives.

Christine and Laura, back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JARRETT: Dan Simon, thank you so much.

Well, today, Senate Republicans are expected to block a bill to investigate the U.S. Capitol insurrection despite the obvious need for answers here.

Democratic Congressman Jason Crow on CNN Wednesday stressed the risk of not investigating the attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JASON CROW (D-CO): We have a domestic terror movement in America that has been enabled, that has been furthered, that has within legitimized by leaders at the highest levels of our country, starting with Donald Trump. That is the sad reality.

If we aren't honest about what it is we're dealing with, if we are not honest about the dangers of that movement, we will not address it in a way that we need to and we will be at risk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: CNN's Daniella Diaz is live on Capitol Hill for us this morning.

Daniella, good morning to you.

You see this growing tension between Capitol Police on the one hand and lawmakers in the wake of this riot. It's amazing that that's a fight that they want to have. This is a riot that left about 140 police officers badly injured, they had eyes gouged out, and yet Republicans are saying there is no need to investigate here.

DANIELLA DIAZ, CNN CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Laura, most Republicans do not support this commission to investigate the Capitol attack on January 6. You know, they are arguing that Democrats only want this commission because they want to use this as a political tool against them in the 2022 midterms as Republicans want to gain majority in Congress.

You know, two moderate Democratic Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin have been publicly urging Republican senators to support this.

[05:05:02]

And right now, only two Republican senators have said that they would support this, one said that she would vote, Susan Collins, to advance this legislation, to debate it. But the majority do not support this, and they need ten Republicans to support this legislation for it to pass in the Senate.

You know, Mitt Romney actually said Republicans would be seen as not wanting to let the truth come out, which is pretty notable for him to say about his own party.

This legislation passed the House a couple of weeks ago with 35 House Republicans supporting it, which is notable when Republican leaders Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell do not support this panel.

JARRETT: Daniella, the mother of Capitol Officer Brian Sicknick, of course, he is the one who died a day after the riot, he suffered strokes. The mom is going to speak with lawmakers today.

Now, of course, there is no shortage of personal stories like this one, but Sicknick's mom specifically wanted to reach out and meet with Republicans. Tell us about that.

DIAZ: That's right. You know, Brian Sicknick was one of the five who died as a result of the Capitol attack on January 6. He was in the front lines against these attackers protecting the Capitol on that day.

She is planning to meet with 15 Republican senators today, you know, the vote is today for this panel in the Senate. However, 13 senators declined to meet with her.

Now, I really want to read her very notable statement on this, it's very strong and I just really want to take the time to read this right now. This is what she said to try to meet with Republicans. My son, Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, died on January 7th. He

died because of the insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol building on January 6. He and his fellow officers fought for hours and hours against those animals who were trying to take over the Capitol building and our democracy, as we know it.

While they were fighting, congressmen and senators were locking themselves inside their offices. According to some who were barricaded in their offices said it looked like tourists walking through the Capitol. Really? Not having a January 6 commission to look into exactly what occurred is a slap in the faces of all the officers who did their jobs that day. I suggest that all congressmen and senators who are against this bill visit my son's grave in Arlington National Cemetery and while there think about what their hurtful decisions will do to those officers who will be there for them going forward.

This is a really, really strong statement from Brian Sicknick's mother who wants to try to persuade Republican senators to support this commission to investigate her son's death -- Laura.

JARRETT: Just incredible. You said 13 senators refusing to meet with her. It's one thing to be against the commission but to not even meet with this mom is just incredible.

Daniella, thank you.

ROMANS: All right. A federal judge says former President Trump's big lie could still inspire some of his supporters to take up arms the way they did during that Capitol insurrection. Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruling in the case of an accused capitol rioter writing this, steady drum beat that inspired defendant to take up arms has not faded away. Six months later, the canard that the election was stolen is being repeated daily on major news outlets and from the corridors of power in state and federal government not to mention in the near daily fulminations of the former president.

JARRETT: Cleveland Meredith Jr. to remain in jail, saying he could be a danger to the public if released. Prosecutors say Meredith texted that he wanted to shoot House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on live TV and he hauled a trailer of guns and ammo to Washington in January. It does not sound like a tourist visit to me. He has pleaded not guilty.

ROMANS: All right. Nine hospitals will be set aside for the Olympics, leaving Japanese citizens at risk in the summer heat. CNN live in Tokyo.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:13:14]

ROMANS: Another hurdle for the Summer Olympics. The Japanese government is preparing to decide whether to extend critical states of emergency. Overnight, top Olympics officials laid out their plan for keeping everyone healthy if the games do go on.

Let's go live to Tokyo and bring in CNN's Blake Essig. And, you know, the questions about whether this is a good idea to

continue the Olympics have been mounting every day.

BLAKE ESSIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, and if you ask the doctors union the answer is that they should not be held, Christine. The doctors union in Japan has once again called for the Olympic Games to be canceled. While the union only represents a small number of doctors, about 130, the fact that they're speaking out in a country where that rarely happens is significant.

Now, they say holding the Olympics in Japan would be irresponsible for the athletes and could pose a great threat to the people of Japan. Their biggest concern is virus variants. They warn of strains found in India and South Africa that could spread rapidly. They also talked about the possibility for a new strain of the virus emerging.

At this point with only about 2 percent of Japan's population fully vaccinated, COVID-19 cases across the country remain high, fueled by the U.K. variant. As a result the hospital bed situation in many areas is near or beyond capacity and leaders in Tokyo and several other prefectures are calling for a second state of emergency extension to the current order that is supposed to end in just a few days, though the current declaration has done little to slow the spread to this point.

Now, under the state of emergency the government is asking bars and restaurants to close by 8:00 p.m., resident are asked to avoid travel and work from home if possible.

Despite all that, Olympic organizers remain confident in the antivirus measures they have laid out, even if a state of emergency order is still in place at the time when the games are set to start.

[05:15:02]

Now, that includes setting aside nine hospitals for athletes, this at a time when medical professionals say hospitals are already overwhelmed with patients being brought in with heatstroke. A possible extension to the current state of emergency order could be announced tomorrow and would likely last until June 20th, that's about a month or so before the Olympic Games are set to begin, Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Blake for us in Tokyo this morning, thank you.

Laura?

JARRETT: Well, Mexico is coping with wave of murders in the run up to the country's midterm elections on June 6. At least 88 people seeking office have been killed in recent months, hundreds more have been targeted as a corruption scandal grows under the regime of President Andres Manuel Obrador.

So what is President Biden's role in all of this?

Matt Rivers has more from Mexico City.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Laura, as President Biden works to undo the America first policies of the previous administration, it's being acutely felt here in Central America where migration continues to be a big challenge for the administration. With the Trump administration solving migration concerns was more about brute force diplomacy, forcing through repatriation deal with Central American countries, and even threatening Mexico with tariffs if it didn't halt flows of migrants coming to the U.S.

But none of those solutions permanently stopped migration and the number of migrants headed to the U.S. has spiked once again this year. The Biden administration has taken a different tack so far in trying to solve it, trying to address what it calls the root causes of migration to stop the flow.

Experts agree that's really the only long-term solution here but it's not easy. Who exactly can the U.S. count on in the region to improve living conditions enough so that migrants stay put?

There is a hunger crisis in Guatemala. Critics say the president of El Salvador is becoming dictatorial. Honduras's president is credibly accused of being involved in a drug trafficking operation that landed his brother in U.S. federal prison.

And then there's Mexico. President Lopez Obrador is a populist leader who critics say in his attempts to root out corruption, he is in part tearing down democratic institutions in this country in an ill- disguised attempt to centralize power and the presidency. Things like undermining transparency initiatives, extending the term of a Supreme Court judge that critics say is overly friendly with the president, or increasing control over the state's power grid.

But we haven't heard much about those issues from the Biden administration perhaps because Mexico plays a key role in controlling the flow of migrants to the U.S. southern border, but we will get some clues as to how the Biden administration plans to tackle some of those issues because Vice President Kamala Harris is set to visit both Guatemala and Mexico on June 7th and 8th -- Christine and Laura.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JARRETT: Matt Rivers, thank you so much for that report.

Still ahead, face facts on the climate crisis or else. Two major oil companies now feeling the pressure.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:22:21]

ROMANS: All right. Welcome back. Big defeat for big oil. Big win for investors and activist who is want oil companies to face up to the climate crisis. Pro-climate investor Engine Number One won two seats on ExxonMobil's board. The activist investor group holds a tiny 0.02 percent of Exxon's shares. It was one of the costliest proxy fights in corporate history and it puts Exxon's fossil fuel strategy now in doubt with those two board seats held by these activists.

Engine Number One said Exxon is dragging its feet on the climate crisis. It sends a clear message to other fossil fuel companies that these environmental investors, they are gaining more influence in the boardroom.

The vote is just another blow to Exxon. Last summer, it was kicked out of the Dow and it has lost nearly $200 billion in market value since it's peak.

JARRETT: Wow, and the other big story for big oil. A court in the Netherlands ordering Shell to cut its carbon emissions and fast. The landmark decision could have far-reaching effects on energy companies and energy users. Yes, that is all of us and for the climate crisis.

CNN's Clare Sebastian has more on all of this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This was a highly significant ruling because it essentially demonstrates that a court can find an energy company legally liable for climate change.

The background is that Royal Dutch Shell which is one of the world's largest oil and gas companies headquartered in the Netherlands, they had already set climate targets. Shell said it was planning to cut the carbon intensity of its products, that's how much greenhouse gases they emit by 20 percent by 2030 from 2019 levels.

Now, the main plaintiff in this case, which is a group called Friends of the Earth Netherlands, they said those targets didn't go far enough and they were essentially accusing Shell of violating the human rights of people affected by climate change. And the judge ruled in their favor.

Shell has been ordered to significantly step up its climate targets. The judge says it wants Shell to cuts its CO2 emissions by 45 percent by 2030 from 2019 levels. That's almost in half and that includes not only Shell's energy products that it sells, but its own operations.

Now, Shell says it will appeal this decision. It says it already spends billions of dollars on low carbon energy.

But this is coming at a time when these energy companies are facing mounting pressure from a variety of fronts to accelerate their climate targets, and this case will be closely watched because it could set the stage for more lawsuits trying to force that change.

Clare Sebastian, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JARRETT: Clare, thank you so much for that report.

President Biden wants answers on the origins of coronavirus and he's giving his intel community 90 days to get to the bottom of this. [05:25:02]

CNN is live in Shanghai, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: All right. Good Thursday morning, everybody. This is EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

JARRETT: And I'm Laura Jarrett. Almost 30 minutes past the hour here in New York.

A numb America waking up to the reality of another mass shooting this morning. Two hundred and thirty-two mass shootings so far this year, that is three shootings every two days -- from California to New Jersey, there have been 17 mass shootings just since last Wednesday, 17.

This time, the 911 calls started at 6:34 a.m. Wednesday morning as workers at a rail maintenance yard in San Jose, California, were just starting their morning shift.

ROMANS: Yeah, the shooter took nine lives before taking his own, leaving family members scrambling for answers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL HAWKINS SR., WIFE WORKS AT VTA: She left a message from a co- worker's phone saying that she was okay, she dropped her phone, and that was all I heard from there.