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New Day
Texans Hold Moment of Silence; Texas Governor on Shootings; Royal Wedding Recap. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired May 21, 2018 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[06:31:44] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, your eyes and your hearts should be on Texas this morning. People there are going to remember the eight students and two teachers who were murdered in the Santa Fe school shooting. There's going to be a moment of silence later this morning.
There is an overflow crowd that packed a Houston area Islamic center for the first funeral.
We've got CNN's Nick Valencia is live in Santa Fe with the latest.
Big moments.
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris.
It was an emotional funeral, no doubt, for Sabika Sheikh. She is the Pakistani foreign exchange student. One of the ten people murdered here on Friday. And at her funeral there were calls for the students here to pick up the gun control movement that we saw sparked in Parkland. But there is no indication, from what our crew has seen, that that movement is taking hold here.
Meanwhile, we are getting an update on the investigation.
We know that the gunman showed up here at this Santa Fe High School about 7:30 in the morning and police say within four minutes they arrived, exchanging gunfire with this gunman for at least 25 minutes. What still remains unanswered, though, is if all those shot on Friday were at the ends of the gunman. Galveston County Sheriff's Office telling us that that will not be determined until the autopsies are complete by the medical examiner.
Meanwhile, motive is still outstanding as well. We don't really have a clear indication as to why this alleged gunman showed up here. But I did speak to the mother of Shana Fisher (ph). She says her daughter, for at least four months, was harassed by this gunman and he wanted so desperately to be here boyfriend and he just wouldn't leave her alone. Last week, in the middle of class, Shana Fisher stood up to the gunman and humiliated him in front of his classmates. She says that her daughter was targeted and that one of the shotgun shells was meant for her. Poppy.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Nick Valencia, thank you for being there. Of course we're going to continue to monitor all of it and mourn with all the people in Texas as the Santa Fe shooting victims were remembered also yesterday on national television during the Billboard Music Awards. Host Kelly Clarkson, who is from Texas, opened the show with a powerful tribute. She was asked, she said, by the organizers of the show to hold a moment of silence, but she didn't because she says she is sick of them. They're not working. Listen.
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KELLY CLARKSON, MUSICIAN: Why don't we not do a moment of silence. Why don't we do a moment of action. Why don't we do a moment of change. Why don't we change what's happening. Because this is horrible. And mamas and daddies should be able to send their kids to school, to church, to movie theaters, to clubs. You should be able to live your life without that kind of fear. So we need to do better. We need to do better. So people are failing our children. We're failing our communities. We're failing their families. I cannot imagine -- I have four children. I cannot imaging getting that phone call or that knock on the door. So instead of a moment of silence, I want to respect them and honor them with tonight, y'all, let's -- in your community, where you live, your friends, everybody, let's have a moment of action. Let's have a moment of change.
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HARLOW: You were there.
CUOMO: In Santa Fe.
HARLOW: Friday night. Yes.
CUOMO: Yes, look, I mean, we were all caught out of position on Friday, right? There was so much buildup for the royal wedding. And I was surprised when I got down there. It wasn't that the big shots weren't around. This wasn't covered. There is fatigue. This was another one.
HARLOW: But after Parkland --
CUOMO: Right.
HARLOW: After all that you saw, all the action that Kelly Clarkson is calling for after Parkland, that was, what, was two months ago.
[06:35:02] CUOMO: Yes. And, you know, look, I mean, I could see it. I could see it in social media.
HARLOW: Why?
CUOMO: I could see it when the shooting was happening that people weren't, you know, weren't reacting to it the way they wanted. Because they're sick of hearing about them. And the problem is, tell that to that community.
HARLOW: Oh.
CUOMO: Tell that to those families.
And, look, Clarkson's giving a good message. We should do something. Lawmakers should feel a degree of shame as they come back now into session in D.C. What are they going to do? But it's -- it's guns. This case in Santa Fe doesn't set up great for the gun debate, by the way. But you have -- who knew that this kid was going dark and did nothing. What kind of resources do you have? How do you make schools safer? There's a lot on the table where there's common ground. Even if you take the fringes on this debate, there's common ground and they have still done nothing. It's just the -- just the truth. Sorry it is, but it is.
So, you're going to hear talk about guns and what you can do about controlling access to them to make sure that people who are bent on murder and destruction don't get them. Second Amendment supporters, however, like Texas's lieutenant governor, they're saying there is a lot to talk about here that don't include guns. Like what? Next.
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[06:40:11] CUOMO: Another community will never be the same because of a massacre at one of their schools. This time, Santa Fe, Texas. The high school there, you know, just devastated by this. Ten people who lose their lives, just as many in the hospital afterwards, bombs all over the place.
Now you have the state's lieutenant governor saying this problem is not about guns. What is it about them? He blames too many entrances at the schools, unarmed teachers, cultural values. Listen to this.
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LT. GOV. DAN PATRICK (R), TEXAS: Be surprised in this nation. We have devalued life, whether it's through abortion, whether it's the breakup of families, through violent movies, and particularly violent video games.
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CUOMO: All right, we're back now with David Gregory. And let's bring in CNN law enforcement analyst James Gagliano.
James went down with me Friday on the hop, explained everything that was going on.
James, thank you for getting up this morning and being with us.
David, set the table for us here.
The lieutenant governor is not wrong when he says our violence problem is complex. We are a violent society. You do have cultural issues that are at play. The Santa Fe shooting, as James I'm sure will go into detail, doesn't set up well as being a law away or one vetting step away from this not having happened. But when the lieutenant governor sets it out this way, ignore guns altogether, does it help or hurt?
DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think it hurts because we're so divided in this country politically about the role of guns in an effort to prevent what everybody else wants to prevent, which are these hideous, horrible, anguishing school shootings. And so, right, he can tick off these elements of a devaluing of life and violence in video games and in our culture. I mean, as a parent, I agree with all of those things. I don't know that we -- we know that those are hard triggers for this kind of violence.
But the gun debate still lines up in a kind of similar place, which was, we have huge divides about how to restrict gun rights and whether to restrict gun rights. A lot of that is rural versus urban in the country. And we still have voters for whom this is a -- a single issue that they'll vote on and -- and others who are mobilizing around it but don't necessarily vote on it. That's going to have to change if there's going to be a change in political behavior.
I do think this point that keeps coming up about how to harden these targets is something that is going to have to be a place that we start with because unfortunately for people who are misguided sociopaths or psychotic, who have mental problems, they are choosing schools as a place -- as this kind of fantasy realm for themselves to go out in some kind of blaze of glory. And we have to be real about that as vulnerabilities and hardened these targets. And I just think that's a reality that people on all sides of this are going to have to confront.
HARLOW: So let's talk, James, about hardening those targets. You heard the lieutenant governor on with Jake yesterday this morning constantly saying we have to have one or two entrances to these schools. We have to funnel our children in and out, have eyes on them all the time.
He did not answer when Jake asked him over and over again whether he would support legislation that simply mandates that people lock their guns up so that their children, a 17-year-old, can't get them.
But listen to what Oliver North, who's coming in soon to head the NRA, here's what he said.
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OLIVER NORTH, NRA PRESIDENT: It is a disease is this case. This is the Second Amendment. The disease is youngsters who are steeped in a culture of violence. What we need to do is turn on the TV, go to a movie. If you look at what has happened to the young people, many of these young boys have been on Ritalin since they were in kindergarten.
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HARLOW: What do you make of that, James?
JAMES A. GAGLIANO, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I think -- Poppy, I agree in a sense that this is a complex topic. And as we flesh out all the different threads here and try to look at finding solutions, there just isn't simply a panacy (ph) here of solutions. Yes, we need to harden our schools. And I've addressed this a couple times. The discussion about arming teachers, I think that one is fraught with unintended consequences. I think that in -- "The New York Times" did a study recently. I think it was a few years ago where they talked about officers that in crisis situations in exchanges of gunfire with an assailant. I think they hit their target one out of five times. I mean 20 percent of the time. So to look at this and say arming teachers is going to be the solution, I don't necessarily think that that is -- that is an end all, cure all.
Second, single point entry, OK? They had that in Parkland. And, yes, that works, but you can't button a school up and turn it into a fortress because you've got fire code consideration and things like that.
We have to look at the common threads here. We have, once again, a disaffected young Caucasian male. And to the lieutenant governor's point, yes, they do exist in a violent video age. And not every kid that plays a violent video games is going to act out like this.
[06:45:14] But just to put this in a historical context, the -- the -- this is the second worst school shooting in Texas history. The first one occurred in 1966, 52 years ago. The University of Texas clock tower shooting. And in that instance, you can't turn the entire school campus into a fortress. That gunmen, Charles Whitman, back 52 years ago, climbed up the clock tower during summer school classes and killed, I think, 16 students and wounded 31 others. Fifty-two years now. And being the start, basically, of the mass casualty shooting incidents in the United States and the genesis of SWAT teams, and we're still back here at the same place 52 years later.
GREGORY: And let me just say quickly --
CUOMO: All right.
GREGORY: I mean, you know, Oliver North is head of the NRA. This is not -- they're not a constructive group here. They're just trying to protect the Second Amendment and use the gun issue as a proxy for government encroaching on individual rights.
CUOMO: Right.
GREGORY: That's not where we're going to have real, meaningful change.
CUOMO: Right.
Three quick points, quick. One, they did have a law -- 28 states have a law that they'll punish you if you don't secure your guns. Texas is one but it's an e misdemeanor, which means there're really no penalty for not doing it.
HARLOW: And not federal. Not a federal law.
CUOMO: That's a legitimate issue in Santa Fe. This kid got the guns from the father. Were they properly secured, one. Two, don't demonize these medications that make these kids in many cases better, not worse.
GREGORY: Right.
CUOMO: Don't demonize the medications. That takes us down a bad word -- bad word. Lastly, to hear my kid this weekend, my 15-year-old, say, with her friends, yes, this could happen in our school. I wonder who it would be? Where would I go? I wonder where I'd run? I mean, you know, what -- nonchalantly.
GREGORY: Right.
CUOMO: That this is their new normal makes me sick that we're not doing anything about it.
GREGORY: Yes.
CUOMO: But, you know what, that's the truth. We're doing nothing.
GREGORY: And our kids, Chris, have been doing these drills in schools since they were in kindergarten. Because our kids are the same age. Think about that and that they're kind of numb to it. That is sick.
HARLOW: And you heard the same thing from that girl from Santa Fe High School who said, look, I thought this would happen. I just didn't know when.
GREGORY: Yes.
HARLOW: Thank you both very much.
We're going to go to Hawaii after this because more problems for residents of the big island. Lava has now begun pouring into the Pacific Ocean. Why does that pose potentially fatal danger? That's next.
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[06:51:35] HARLOW: The duke and duchess of Sussex, aka Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, will attend their first official royal engagement as a married couple tomorrow. Saturday's royal wedding was one of the most anticipated events of the year, combing British royalty and American celebrity.
Let's talk with our very own CNN anchor and royal correspondent Max Foster.
You were fantastic, along with Alisyn Camerota, who was there, who will be back in this chair tomorrow. Don Lemon, Anderson, the whole team. Clarissa Ward was back. You guys were great. It was wonderful to watch good news for hours on end with my children, that's for sure.
What's the buzz there as people in Britain are waking up this Monday morning, 48 hours later?
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think, you know, people were really blown away by the service, the celebrities, of course, the kids, the dress, all of that. And they're still sort of pouring over these images.
Also, some, you know, chatter about still Thomas Markle, I know from the palace that Meghan's extremely concerned about him. She didn't want to bring a lot of attention to him in Mexico, so she's not going to fly over there immediately, but there are some plans, I understand where both Harry and Meghan's going to see him and make sure he's OK.
As you say, there's a public engagement tomorrow at Buckingham Palace as well to support Prince Charles' work. A big message there, Poppy, in that Meghan wants the world to know that she's going to put her royal role before even a honeymoon. She's taking this very seriously.
HARLOW: The palace has highlighted her role as an independent woman, a feminist, which we saw displayed as she walked down the aisle partway by herself. But they've now sort of prominently placed that on their website, which I think says a lot about where she is taking the royal family.
FOSTER: I think when we talk about transformation of the monarchy, we had that moment on Saturday. And I think the best way of encapsulating that is that Meghan was allowed to do as she wished during this service. The rest of the system really stood back. It was just down to the couple. She was allowed to express her character. And that's what famously they didn't do with Diana to disastrous effect.
But I think the overall result of that was that it became a very compelling event. And many more people were able to get engaged in the royal family than they were before.
HARLOW: Yes.
FOSTER: So I was told just a thought around this is that, you know, is Meghan making a statement about diversity or feminism during this service? And certainly feminists and equal rights campaignists here in the U.K. have latched on to certain parts of it. But what I'm told is she just wanted to do what she wanted to do. But that is a huge thing that this system allowed her to do that.
HARLOW: Yes.
FOSTER: And there's the transformation.
HARLOW: And it was embodied also by the choice of the Episcopal pastor, Pastor Michael Curry (ph). And one headline from "The Telegraph" that struck me, the head of the U.S. Episcopal church swept the concept of the royal weddings into a new era by referencing Martin Luther King Jr., slavery, war, poverty, hunger, and even Instagram.
FOSTER: That's right. And alongside that as well was his gospel choir.
HARLOW: Yes.
FOSTER: The symbolism of that was unbelievable because this is a castle that goes back 1,000 years. The royal family goes back a thousand years. They've never seen anything like this before.
From Meghan's perspective, it's just a reflection of her character. That's just the sort of thing she wanted there.
And I have to say this, and civil rights campaigners here in London who are eating their words a bit today because ahead of the wedding they wouldn't be drawn. They said this isn't a big moment for diversity because what's going to happen is Meghan's going to go into this white institution and she's going to have to suppress her blackness. And look what she did. She absolutely did not suppress any part of her character. And everyone is celebrating that. Everyone within the royal family, but also outside.
[06:55:25] HARLOW: It was joyous to see.
Max Foster, thank you so much.
CUOMO: All right, President Trump demanding the Justice Department investigate whether it or the FBI spied he his presidential campaign for political purposes. The DOJ is responding. We'll tell you at the top of the hour.
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