Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Former Uvalde Mayor Slams Report; Soon: Robert Hur Testifies to Congress. Aired 9:30-9:40a ET

Aired March 12, 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]

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Schiff on the Democratic side. They're going to ping pong back and forth for five -- five minutes each.

Now, the key areas of focus, first of all, of course, Democrats, we just heard --

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Right, that's the big headline.

HONIG: Yes, I mean that is a big headline.

SIDNER: No criminal charges.

HONIG: We just heard the White House spokesperson stress no criminal charges. But again, not necessarily a full exoneration. You will hear comparisons to the Trump case. Robert Hur says in his piece that Trump's conduct was worse than Biden's.

And finally, of course, there will be much about Joe Biden's age and memory.

There will be a lot about all of this as we will hear on Capitol Hill. And we are waiting -- just a few minutes from now we are expecting to see Hur walking down that big hall straight to the committee room.

HONIG: A big day. It's going to be fascinating.

SIDNER: A big day.

Elie Honig, thank you so much.

HONIG: Thank you, Sara.

SIDNER: Appreciate it.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: You mentioned a big hall. That big hall right there. Live pictures of the big hall on Capitol Hill where minutes from now former Special Counsel Robert Hur will arrive for his testimony on Capitol Hill. We will bring it to you live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BERMAN: New this morning, a CNN exclusive. The former mayor of Uvalde, Texas, is slamming the report that exonerated all the police officers who failed to take action during the 2022 Robb Elementary School massacre that killed 19 children and two teachers. Don McLaughlin was mayor at the time. He sat down with our Shimon Prokupecz.

[09:35:00]

Shimon is with us now.

Shimon, what did he have to say to you?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Look, John, it's really hard to believe that nearly two years later this is still going on here where people, anyone can find a reason to somehow exonerate these officers. And that's what happened in this report. The city hired an expert who was controlled, not by the city, was controlled by an outside attorney who was working for the city and essentially wrote this report where he exonerated all of the city officers and their actions that day.

What this has done is it's just brought so much pain again to this community. And when I sat down with the former mayor yesterday, he told me about that pain.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DON MCLAUGHLIN, FORMER MAYOR OF UVALDE: Well, it ripped the -- it ripped the wound wide open again. Instead of a -- instead of a tear, it's -- its torn -- its gushed wide open now. I mean, you know, we've got -- we're right back that we've got a -- we've got to re-establish trust again. We've got to reestablish a deal there. And, I mean, I believe this council will. But I -- you know, I think there's -- there's a question of mistrust still with this report.

PROKUPECZ: How painful is that to see?

MCLAUGHLIN: Pretty painful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PROKUPECZ: And so tonight, John, there is another city council hearing where the city will have an opportunity to decide on what they're going to do with this report. It's expected that they are going to reject the report tonight and give the families what they want, and that is say that this report does not stand for what they believe, John. It's going to be a key moment for this city tonight.

BERMAN: Shimon Prokupecz, thank you so much for being there. I know for some of those people so frustrated with how this goes, you are one of their only outlets for them to voice their displeasure and frustration.

SIDNER: Yes.

BERMAN: So our thanks to Shimon for being there.

BOLDUAN: That's a really good point.

Thank you all so much for joining us today. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

CNN's special live coverage of the testimony of former Special Counsel Robert Hur, his investigation into President Biden begins after this this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:40:00]