Transcripts For CNN CNN Newsroom With Brooke Baldwin : vima

Transcripts For CNN CNN Newsroom With Brooke Baldwin



he considers a sex addiction and sees these locations as something that allows him to go to these places and it's a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate. >> you heard him, a temptation he wanted to eliminate. but the atlanta mayor is praising police for acting so quickly because they say this could have been so much worse. the suspect indicated that he was heading down to florida perhaps to carry out similar crimes. we have much more on that. other top stories this afternoon, president joe biden is defending the administration's handling of the thousands of unaccompanied minors crossing the border, urging anyone considering migrating to the united states to stay home. >> i can say quite clearly don't come over. and in the process of getting set up, don't leave your town or city or community. >> and exciting news in the fight against the pandemic. access to covid vaccines is expanding to any person 16 or older in multiple states. as of now, all 50 states have fully vaccinated at least 10% of their adult populations. but 14 states are reporting an uptick in case counts and the warnings remain stay vigilant to all of pus. we want to start in atlanta where this investigation is under way into the horrific murders of eight people most of people were asian-american women. cnn's natasha chen is live for us. natasha, as of now, what are police saying, why did this happen? >> reporter: that's what everyone wants to know, brooke. what they were able to share with us today, it's based on an interview that the suspect gave investigators after he was brought into custody last night. as we know, there are three massage parlors involved here. one in cherokee county, one directly in front of us and one behind us in atlanta. we've seen more and more people in the community come up to these locations bringing flowers. you can tell how much this has shane the atlanta community that this violence happened in such a short span of time. what investigators are learning by pittsburghing to the suspect that 21-year-old robert aaron long tells them he did commit the shootings that he perhaps was motivated by targeting places that he felt were temptations for his sexual addiction and not necessarily a racially motivated act. cnn has spoken to a former roommate of long who told us they had spent time in a transition house together. that long had spent time in rehab for sexual addiction. so, a lot to go through there, as far as investigators' work is concerned. like you said, this is not being called a hate crime right now. especially what law enforcement have just said about his potential motivations. but the fact still remains that the majority of the victims are women of asian decescent. and that is in the broader context of the rise in recent hate crimes across the country. and that has created anxiety in the asian-american community and that fear is real. and we spoke to a state representative who will said that the white house even this morning reached out to him, an asian-american member of the georgia legislature to just see how the administration could help offer support for the asian-american community, brooke. >> people are understandably furious. and fearful. and want to know why this is happening, or maybe more importantly how we can stop it. natasha, thank you very much. again, functioning in facts waiting nor the results of this investigation, vincent velasquez, a rehired homicide detective. detective, nice to have you on. you heard natasha saying that the suspect told investigators he had issues, potentially, specifically, sexual addiction issues. may have frequented some of those spas in the past. you hear all of this. what's your main takeaway? what's your gut as a former detective tell you? >> well, brooke, i have to follow my instinct and my experience in 17 years of working homicide, i've never seen a case like that. you know, it's not to say that's not indeed what this motivation is. it's just not something that we're used to seeing or hearing. and in fact, in 17 years i've never even had a case inside of a massage parlor, much less a homicide. now, we have a suspect who is giving a narrative to law enforcement that his motivation is sexual addiction. but we can't ignore the fact that six out of the eight victims happen to be asian women. so, i got a feeling more is going to wash out of this, the investigators right now are doing a heavy scrub on his social media, his acquaintances, his family, his associates. to try to find out who this guy, robert long, really is. >> you know atlanta so well. what do you know about these spas? >> so, atlanta has a good geography of concentrated areas that have sex shops. and in this particular area, there's events not far from there just that. as early as january of this year, we've had shop owners, shop owners charged with prostitution, masturbation for hire. that is that element that exists in atlanta. that's not to say this is the case. i heard keisha lance bottoms saying they're looking into it to see that there's no illegal activity going on. i suspect that cherokee county and atlanta are going to work heavily together to find out exactly who robert long is. and if he frequents these places. we don't even know if he had a personal relationship. most of these mass shootings are grievance-related. if it's a work-related shooting, someone got hired, a relationship, i think there's more to learn about who robert long is and how he plays into these three particular spas. >> the fact that, you know, he is talking, it sounds like he is cooperating with investigators at least to that degree. we learned that, you know, he was planning to get to florida. but the fact that he is talking. what does that tell you? and then if you're, you know, sitting on the other side of the table from him, how do you find out if this was some sort of sex addiction or a need to kill off these women in an effort to kill off this part of him, versus something to do with the race of these women? >> well, what's happened so far, i believe cherokee county investigators had the first crack at him. i highly doubt at this point going forward whoever his attorney is going to allow him to speak to investigators. atlanta investigators certainly want to talk to him. a trained homicide detective who has interviewed hundreds of people, that's a very delicate situation. and it's not an interview you want to challenge him in the interview too much because the more he talks, the more you can learn. what he's saying doesn't necessarily mean it's truthful. it can be self-serving. many, many times, these shooters commit suicide. this was not obviously the case. he was in a car chase. he was fleeing, actively resisting and taken into custody. not only do the investigators have to figure out what happened, but also keep in mind they need to have all of the tools, all of the evidence for a successful prosecution. who knows what the stories are later even if he even has an opportunity to tell, for now, that's what he's sticking with. >> my last question is overarching, we're having to be cautious because we're taking the lead from police. the police not connecting the dots on this being an asian hate crime. but the asian community as you've been following the attacks over, really, the last year, right, they're furious and fearful for good reason. because investigators say it's too soon to know the motivation here, how can law enforcement help the asian community in this country feel safer? >> i think in this take particu case they need to be as transparent as possible. we have seen an increase in assault against our asian citizens in our country. and that's documented. so, when something like this happens, you know, the default is to always be cautious. you have to expect the worst case scenario, and hope for the best. and in this case, just because robert long is saying this is a sexual addiction motivated shooting spree. that doesn't necessarily mean that's true. if you're an asian-american in this community, you should be cautious and law enforcement needs to be as transparent as they can in getting that information out. especially if we find anything out about this being motivated towards asians, that information needs to be put out to the asian community so they know how to deal with that and inform the citizens of what they can do to become safer. >> so appreciate your perspective as a former detective in atlanta, vincent velasquez, thank you, sir. let's get you to the other big story, thousands of migrants making their way to the southern border. president biden sending a message to those hoping to make their way to the states, he's saying do not come. >> first of all, the idea joe biden said come -- i heard the other day they're coming because i'm a nice guy. good they >> they're saying this. >> well, here's the deal, they're not. >> do you have to say quite clearly, don't come? >> yeah, i can say quite clearly, don't come. in the process of getting set up, don't leave your city or town or community. >> cnn chief white house correspondent kaitlan collins is with me now. when you hear him saying don't come a side from that message. what do you know just about what the administration is going to do when it comes to this crisis at the border. >> reporter: well, somewhere, brooke that biden's own top immigration officials have admitted sometimes their message is drowned out by other messages that these people are receiving and still trying to come to the border. and doesn't appear to be slowing down the search yet. even though you've heard officials repeatedly say now is not the time to come to the border including president biden saying so last night in that interview with abc news. look at what like the mexican president are saying, yes, these people are trying to cross the border which we're told by the dhs secretary is a record number in the last two decades, last 20 years, you have the mexican president saying the reason that's happening is because they view president biden as the, quote, migrant president. now officials have said that's not the way they believe they're taking a more humane approach to the border than his predecessor was. but the reality is this is a problem that is facing them. and biden is coming under increasing scrutiny not just from republicans but also members of his own party who are saying what is happening to thousands of migrant children crossing the border and being held in border patrol facilities for longer than legally mandated is not a solution either. i think that's where you see the administration and where they are right now, and with even the dhs secretary testifying on capitol hill today, facing tough questions what the response is going to be not in the long term, but in the short term. >> we'll have a bigger conversation about this in just a little bit. kaitlan, thank you in washington. as for covid in this country, vaccination appointments are opening up for more americans here. it comes as a dozen states report a jump in cases. more details ahead. and president biden taking his strongest stance yet on new york governor andrew cuomo saying if the allegations are true, if, then he should resign and he could be prosecuted. president biden is changing his stance on a totally game-changer for his agenda. and senator minority leader mitch mcconnell is ordering a scorched result. i'm brooke baldwin. learn more at phoenix.edu not everybody wants the same thing. that's why i go with liberty mutual — they customize my car insurance so i only pay for what i need. 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[szasz] we take care of ourselves constantly; it's important. we walk three to five times a week, a couple miles at a time. - we've both been taking prevagen for a little more than 11 years now. after about 30 days of taking it, we noticed clarity that we didn't notice before. - it's still helping me. i still notice a difference. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. welcome back. you're watching cnn. i'm brooke baldwin. former president donald trump who got his covid vaccine off camera back in january, he's urging his supporters to roll up their sleeves but in doing so, he also highlighted, quote, our freedoms. >> i would, i would recommend it. and i would recommend to a lot of people that don't want to get it. and a lot of those people voted for me, frankly but, again, we have our freedoms and we have to live by that. and i agree with that also. >> here is cnn's nick watt with the very latest covid developments today. >> all day long. >> reporter: tough to tipple with the mascot. despite mitigation measures, celebrating st. patrick could spread this virus and two more variants are now officially of concern to the cdc. both first found in the united states. here in california. >> we are until a race to stop transmission. and the emergence of variants that spread more easily has made that even more challenging. >> reporter: this past week, all these states averaged new case counts climbed by more than 10%. in michigan up over 50%. >> i think we're seeing a new wave. it's starting in the north. >> reporter: the country is still averaging well over 50,000 new cases every day. >> when we see a plateau like that, whether that's been here previously or in those european countries, that predicts another surge. >> reporter: predicts, not for certain. here's the bright side. >> there are two things working against this virus right now. one is the weather. as it gets warmer and more humid it is more difficult for this virus to be transmitted. and more and more people are getting vaccinated. >> reporter: every single state has fully vaccinated at least 10% of their adult population. >> my concern is is that we prematurely pull back and don't give the vaccines time to continue to protect the country. >> reporter: two weeks ago, mississippi's governor signed an order that removes all of our county mask mandates and allows businesses to operate at full capacity. >> reporter: average case counts in the state had been falling, but rose nearly 20% this past week. >> opening businesses just makes sense but doing that at the same time that you release mask mandates just doesn't make any sense. >> reporter: and some good news on schools. the federal government is going to funnel $10 billion into testing for kids k through 12. and also the cdc hinting again that they might tweak their guidance and say that with masks three feet of social distance is okay in the classroom. and finally, brooke, a ray of sunshine from here in california, disneyland will reopen the end of april. it has been closed for about a year. >> my best friend's daughter will be happy to hear that. nick watt, thank you. back here in new york, just a couple hours ago, new york gopher andrew cuomo publicly received the covid vaccine. just a few months ago the scene might have been received very differently. and this is usual for one of the pandemic's most prominent governors but now cuomo faces several allegations of inappropriate behavior and harassment from a growing list of women. his future in politics is uncertain at best. while president biden gives his strongest repudiation of the governor yet. here was the president last night. >> if they affirm the claims of the women, should he resign? >> yes, i think he'll probably end up being prosecuted too. >> a woman should not be scapegoated and being victimized by her coming forward, number one. but there should be an investigation to determine what she says is true. >> >> tara palmeri joins me. so nice to have you on. tara, just because of your history in conferring the governor from your "new york post" days. just what do you remember about that time and when it comes to office culture and what staffers would tell you? >> right. i remember that there was a culture of intimidation and bullying and it extended to the press. you so, simple conversation could turn into shouting. i also thought and i'm sure you have this experience as well, staffers tend to act like their bosses a lot. and they look up to them. that was an experience that i had. some of the former staffers i've spoken with recently about his conduct have said, you know, gross jokes, inappropriate comments were pretty regular. not just with junior staff, but senior staff. just accepted as part of the culture. one of the former staffers i spoke to as a woman said there was a lot of pressure to look good. so much so that she would be wearing high-heels while running around the capitol. you and i both know that is no fun wearing high-heels all day long. but if you feel like your appearance is factored into your job, that's obviously an issue. basically, this person just seemed to say that a lot of the staffers were talented, on-the-rise, a whole generation. almost traumatized by the culture. and difficult to stay in government. and cuomo runs the state with an iron fist and has so much control over so many agencies but it was hard to move out of his inner circle into other places in government. as to the extent of those specific allegations of harassment. i just know that the culture there, that it felt like a bit like a boys' club for a long time. >> given all of that, and, you know, the governor has so far resisted -- you obviously call these calls to resign. and now we have this interview with president biden how he's weighing in as far as he has with george stephanopoulos, do you think that changes the calculus with governor cuomo or not whatsoever? >> i think it does. he's still the number one -- joe biden is the president. and just having your name and the words "resign" even though he said obviously should resign if the investigation proves to be true. you just don't want that out there. you don't want those two words together. and hours later, you have the number two, most powerful democrat in the country, nancy pelosi saying the exact same thing. not just that, but the entire -- almost the entire delegation of democrats in new york state put pressure on him, launching an impeachment trial. it seems untenable in some ways. a politically sound situation especially with a crisis like covid. this isn't the only scandal to come his way. we've also seen a manipulation of the numbers of deaths in nursing homes. this is just a new wave of issues for andrew cuomo. and i know that his thinking is right in the middle of a crisis, it's wartime, he needs to stay in position and carry new york to the finish line. but it's going to be difficult for him, when he doesn't even have the support of his own party. >> i appreciate all of your time, having covered him and your knowledge of the staff and the culture. and we shall see, right? we shall see what happens. tara palmeri, th

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