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Three Dead in Minnesota Shooting; Two Fatally Shot in University of Colorado Dorm; Trump Rails Against Ruling; FDA Approves Drug for Allergies. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired February 19, 2024 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

ANA NAVARRO, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That's up to you. I'd rather do something else with my $400. It could buy a lot of margaritas.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Or mojitos being that you are in my - you and I are Miami girls. So, you know, that's a possibility for you, too.

Thank you, Ana Navarro, and Keith Boykin so much for coming on and sharing your thoughts.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are heartbroken, and we need time. That is the message from a Minnesota police chief after two police officers and a firefighter were shot and killed early Sunday in Minnesota. We have new details on what led to this tragedy.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:35:04]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: This morning authorities in the town of Burnsville, Minnesota, are looking for answers after two police officers and a firefighter were shot and killed and another officer injured. They were responding to an early morning call for a domestic incident. And after arriving at a home where a man was reported to be armed and barricaded inside with family members, the situation escalated into gunfire according to a release from the city. The fire chief calling it the toughest day the city has ever faced.

CNN's Camila Bernal is covering the story for us.

So, Camila, what more do we know about the domestic call and the sequence of events overall?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Fred.

Yes, just horrific. Authorities describing it as a horrible day for this community. And this morning the victims being remembered and honored as heroes and as people who made the ultimate sacrifice. The two officers, just 27 years old. The paramedic firefighter, who was part of the SWAT team, 40 years old.

So, we learned from authorities that this happened at around 1:50 in the morning. They received a call about a domestic situation. And this was a man who had been barricaded in the home and there were seven children in there. They were ages two to 15.

According to authorities, negotiators were there for quite some time trying to resolve this situation. But at some point, this man opened fire. He fired from multiple locations. Authorities saying he had several guns and also had a large amount of ammunition.

They're trying to piece together exactly what happened, but we do know that that suspect is dead. That sometime after he was pronounced dead, those children were able to exit the home safely. And there is no ongoing threat to the community.

But as you mentioned, so many in law enforcement there in Burnsville just heartbroken.

And I want you to listen to what some of these authorities had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DREW EVANS, SUPERINTENDENT, MINNESOTA BUREAU OF CRIMINAL APPREHENSION: This is really a terrible day for the city of Burnsville, all of the residents, the law enforcement and fire communities that are mourning the loss of these public servants that occurred earlier today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERNAL: And everyone we heard from on Sunday, just extremely emotional. The police chief also saying that they're heartbroken, that they're truly hurting, and asking people for time, but most importantly, prayers, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes, indeed, lots of prayers.

Camila Bernal, thank you so much.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: There's also an urgent search for answers happening this morning in Colorado. Police in Colorado Springs are investigating a double homicide. Two people found shot and dead in a dorm room at the University of Colorado. The official cause of death, still under investigation.

CNN's Lucy Kafanov has been covering this. She's in Denver for us.

Lucy, there's so many questions surrounding what happened here. What's the latest that you're picking up?

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Unfortunately, more questions and answers, Kate. Colorado Springs Police say that they are intentionally withholding information at this early stage of the investigation. We know that they are investigating this as a double homicide, not a murder-suicide. We now also know the identities of the two young victims, a man and a woman. I'll get to those in one second.

We also know, though, police have not arrested or named a suspect. They do believe that there is no threat to the community. And in a statement issued last night, police described this shooting as a, quote, "isolated incidents between parties that were known to one another and not a random attack against the school or other students at this university."

Now, let's get to those victims. The female, identified as 26-year-old Celie Rain Montgomery of Pueblo, Colorado. She was not a student at the school. The young man, 24-year-old Sam Knopp of Parker, Colorado. Now, he was a student. The school said that he was a senior who was studying music, and a beloved member of the visual and performing arts department. He was also, were learning on accomplished tar player and an extremely talented musician according to the school chancellor. She issued that statement last night.

Now, all of this terror unfolding in the early hours of Friday morning at around 6:00 a.m. University police received reports, calls about shots fired at a dorm. They arrived on scene about five minutes later. They discovered the two deceased victims. They locked down the entire canvas for about 90 minutes.

Take a listen to some students describing those terrifying moments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHARIF GAAFAR, STUDENT UCCS: I actually heard the gunshots. Like - it was like four of them. And I just heard the footsteps and like them running down the - like the hill. I didn't see anything really. I just heard it.

JADON THOMAS, STUDENT, UCCS: I just woke up to everything being canceled. And, you know, I asked him, I was like, what's going on. And he's like, I heard gunshots last night

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAFANOV: Now, classes were canceled Friday. The campus was closed over the weekend. Classes continue to be canceled today, but the university is making counselors, grief counselors, available onsite for students to be able to process this.

[09:40:04]

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, Lucy, thank you so much for the update. We'll get back to you. Really appreciate it.

Sara.

SIDNER: Still ahead, Donald Trump continuing to target his anger at the multiple legal trials, and the judges overseeing those cases. There are going to be appeals. We will walk you through them as his lawyers work on that part. That's ahead

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, this morning, Donald Trump is on the hook for nearly $355 million in his New York civil fraud case. And he's furious about it. The former president's legal team is preparing to appeal Judge Arthur Engoron's ruling.

[09:45:03]

Over the weekend, Trump railed against the judge and New York Attorney General Letitia James, and he insisted all the cases against him should be tossed out.

Joining me right now, CNN's senior legal analyst and former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Elie Honig.

Great to see you, Elie.

OK, so, Trump lawyers are preparing to appeal Judge Engoron's ruling for the $355 million plus interests. But, in the meantime, does he have to cough up the money, or at least a down payment, bond, something?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Yes. So he asked to put up some of the money, not the whole $350 million plus dollar amount. What Donald Trump has to do is put together a bond here. Ordinarily the parties will agree what's enough, what's sufficient, and it would be some combination of cash, not the full amount, but cash plus potentially the rights, the property, the deed to one of his properties, just as a surety, just to make sure it's there. If the parties cannot agree, then the judge will say, well, here's what I need. And again, it's not going to be the full amount, but it is going to be a substantial amount.

And, yes, Donald Trump absolutely does have the right to appeal to the New York State Appellate Division. If he loses there, he can try to get it up to the New York state, the highest court, which is called the Court of Appeals, but they don't -- much like the U.S. Supreme Court, they don't have to take any case. So, there's definitely going to be at least one layer of appellate review on this verdict.

WHITFIELD: OK. Going into the penalty phase, we already knew that he was found liable for it.

HONIG: Yes.

WHITFIELD: But along the way a critical witness was his former attorney, Michael Cohen.

HONIG: Yes.

WHITFIELD: And it's striking, I think, that the judge in this case has now said that because of Cohen's relaxed demeanor, regardless of the acrimony and the history that Cohen and Trump had, that he became a credible witness.

HONIG: Yes.

WHITFIELD: How striking to you is that, that he would say that?

HONIG: Well, it was such an important test run really for Michael Cohen because we've seen him testifying in Congress, we've seen him speak publicly, but this is really the first time he's had his credibility assess by a judge in a setting like this.

And what the judge said is overall I credit -- I believe Michael Cohen's testimony. But he gave a little bit of his reasoning behind that. He said, on the one hand, of course, Michael Cohen has his rap sheet. He's been convicted of perjury and other fraud crimes. And the judge said, and this would concern me a bit, he said there were some seeming contradictions in Michael Cohen's testimony in this trial.

However, the judge said, yes, look, I was the one who observed him. I saw him testify. He seemed at ease. And also the judge said, most importantly, there was other independent evidence that corroborated key aspects of his testimony. And so, if I'm a prosecutor who's going to rely on Michael Cohen, and there are some, I would be taking note of that and I would take it as a more or less successful first run.

WHITFIELD: So, how does that set the stage for the upcoming March 25th set criminal trial?

HONIG: Yes.

WHITFIELD: This is the hush money case. Michael Cohen is going to be there for that too.

HONIG: Yes.

WHITFIELD: He will be a witness. Possibly a key witness, right?

HONIG: Yes, absolutely. So, another big headline.

WHITFIELD: So, those judge's words.

HONIG: Well, the judge's words are not binding on the jury, but, yes, in a couple weeks -

WHITFIELD: You've heard it.

HONIG: Right, March 25th, exactly.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

HONIG: And I think it's a good sort of assessment of how you're going to have to handle Michael Cohen as a prosecutor. We have this case, criminal case. The first one happening here March 25th. Michael Cohen is going to be the star witness for prosecutors.

And I would take note, this is exactly how I would argue Michael Cohen to a jury. I would say, of course, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, he has prior convictions. He told you about that. They're mostly based on things he did within for Donald Trump. But you need to look at the independent evidence that backs him up now. You need to ask, where is he now and what's his incentive now.

And look, people -- prosecutors build cases on cooperating witnesses who have committed crimes all the time.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

HONIG: I did it every day of my career as a prosecutor. So, there's ways to handle this. It's not easy. And I think Michael Cohen's been through it now and he's at least survived in the judge's estimation.

WHITFIELD: All right, next time we talked, we're also going to talk about the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court possible activity this week involving -

HONIG: Watch tomorrow.

WHITFIELD: Right. OK, tomorrow might be a critical day.

All right, thank you so much.

HONIG: See you. Thanks.

WHITFIELD: Elie Honig, appreciate it. Thank you.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: A standing ovation at the BAFTA Awards. What brought people in the audience to tears that had nothing to do with the films nominated for awards.

And there's a new drug that could be lifesaving for people with deadly food allergies. What the latest move by the FDA means for millions of people.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:53:13]

BOLDUAN: Also on our radar this hour, nearly the entire state of California is under flood alerts this morning as it's getting hit with more storms this week. Some parts could face up to five inches of rain by Wednesday. There's even a possibility the Sacramento Valley could see tornadoes this afternoon, which is a rare event in California. The timing here is also noteworthy and rough because the state is still recovering from the powerful storms we were talking about two weeks ago, which brought record rainfall. More to come on that.

The most prestigious race on the Nascar calendar is about to get underway. The Daytona 500 was pushed to today after rain forced Nascar officials to postpone yesterday's start. The 200 lap, 500 mile race is scheduled to begin at 04:00 p.m. Eastern. The winning prize, more than $28 million. There you go.

It was a beautiful tribute to actor Michael J. Fox at last night's British film awards.

Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL J. FOX, ACTOR: I said (INAUDIBLE) is OK. Again, thank you very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: That went on and on. Michael J. Fox was a surprise presenter for the best film category, and the audience gave him that long ovation, bringing people to tears. Entering the stage first in a wheelchair and then he walked a few steps to the podium. As you all know, Fox has bravely battled and lived with Parkinson's since 1991. And if you haven't seen it, his life, his journey is captured in an award-winning documentary, truly an amazing film, called "Still."

Sara.

SIDNER: It's just amazing to see him still able to perform.

All right. This morning new hope for people who are allergic to multiple foods like milk, eggs, and nuts.

[09:55:03]

The FDA has now approved a drug to help reduce the severity of an accidental allergic reaction. The medication is called Xolair. It was initially approved back in 2003 to treat allergic -- alert -- people who are allergic to -- allergic asthma. I don't know that was the thing, allergic asthma. The FDA now believes it can help reduce the risk of a severe allergic reaction to foods in certain adults and children.

CNN health reporter Jacqueline Howard is joining me now.

Allergic asthma. I had to get that in my head and I just -- it just wouldn't happen.

Jacqueline, how will these drugs be administered? And there are so many people that have nut allergies in particular. We hear it on the planes, we're not giving you peanuts today because someone on the plane has a nut allergy. How would this be administered, and how effective is it?

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: That's right, Sara. Well, this is an injection. It's administered once every two weeks or once every four weeks. As you said, it is approved for ages one and older. And the idea here is that with repeated injections, this will reduce your body's risk of having a severe reaction if you are accidentally exposed to the foods that you're allergic to. So, this will not work as a treatment, like the way that you give an EpiPen when someone's having a reaction. Instead, this will reduce the risk of that happening. And one FDA official, she described it this way. She said, quote,

"while it will not eliminate food allergies or allow patients to consume food allergens freely, its repeated use will help reduce the health impact if accidental exposure occurs."

And in one clinical study, here's an example of how this works. Among patients who have a severe peanut allergy, those who were taking Xolair, 68 percent of them did not have a moderate to severe reaction when they were exposed to a single dose of peanuts in this study. That's in comparison with 6 percent of people taking a placebo. So, there's an example of how this works. It gives that - again, that insurance policy that you will have a reduced risk of having anaphylaxis or a severe reaction, Sara.

SIDNER: That is really good to know. My best friend and my producer walk around with those EpiPens. And so -- but they still need to do that potentially, right, just -- just in case, if they were to take this drug?

HOWARD: As a treatment.

SIDNER: Yes.

HOWARD: If you are having a severe reaction, yes, exactly.

SIDNER: OK. All right.

Jacqueline Howard, thank you so much for bringing that to us.

Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks, Sara.

Still ahead, defiance from Alexei Navalny's widow as she vows to find out exactly what happened to him in that Russian prison.

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