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Thousands Gather for Iran President's Funeral; Michigan Farm Worker with Bird Flu; Uvalde Families Announce Lawsuit; First-Time Homebuyers Struggle; Chiefs Respond to Butker's Comments; Weinstein Accuser Speaks Out. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired May 23, 2024 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Amara.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Families in Uvalde settle a lawsuit against the city, but more legal action against officers and the state is coming.

Also, growing concern this morning over the bird flu. For only the third time ever, an American becomes infected. What you need to know.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Right now in Iran huge crowds of people are gathering on the streets as the country - just take a look at this - this is as the country is preparing to bury the president - their president, President Raisi, who died in that helicopter crash on Sunday.

[08:35:09]

CNN's Fred Pleitgen is in Iran for us. He's joining us now.

Fred, what are you seeing? We can see the video of just a sea of people.

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Yes, it's pretty remarkable. And we're seeing it right from our vantage point here. We're actually right in front of the Shrine of Imam Reza, which is the - one of the holy - most holy place actually here in Iran, and also the place where the president who died in that helicopter crash will be laid to rest very soon.

There's a big procession that's happening right now with the coffin of the president making its way to that shrine, to the Shrine of Imam Reza. And as you can see there, Kate, on those images, and we're seeing it in front of us actually right now as well, there are literally, we believe, hundreds of thousands of people here on the streets that are chanting, that are pledging their support for the deceased president.

One of the things that we have to keep in mind is we are in Mashhad, here in the northeast of Iran, is that in many ways this is really the political and also the spiritual homeland of Ebrahim Raisi, the president, who was killed in that helicopter crash. In fact, his father-in-law is actually still the prayer leader at the shrine that you see right behind me. And in 2021, when he was elected, the first place that Ebrahim Raisi went to was this very shrine that you see behind me. I was actually on hand back then to give a political speech there.

So, if you look at the support for Ebrahim Raisi, and also for his conservative policies that we've seen towards the U.S., of course some of that very aggressive policy towards Israel as well, a lot of that springs from here and a lot of the support springs from here.

We were out in the crowd a little earlier today and we asked people how things are going to move forward in Iran now and they say they hope that those policies are going to be continued. So, this is really one of those places where Ebrahim Raisi really had that very large support really throughout his presidency and now we can see those crowds turn out as his body, as the coffin with his body is making its way to that Imam Reza Shrine, the after that helicopter crash that, of course, killed not only the president of Iran, but also several others as well, including the foreign minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, who, of course, also was absolutely instrumental in a lot of those policies again that were also very aggressive towards the U.S. as well.

So, a big moment right now for this country and really the culmination point of those processions that we've been seeing over the past couple of days as those caskets have been going around the country here in Iran now the then Ebrahim Raisi, the president of Iran, will be laid to rest in that shrine that you see right behind me. The Iranians have already said they're going to have presidential elections here in this country on June 28th to then pick a new president moving forward, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Fred, so important to have you there to witness it firsthand. Thank you so much for your reporting, as always.

Amara.

WALKER: There are now two reported cases of bird flu in humans here in the U.S. after a farm worker in Michigan tested positive. It's part of an ongoing outbreak of the virus in birds and cattle nationwide, though health officials say the risk is still low for the general public.

CNN chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is joining us with more.

Sanjay, so how serious is this second case? And do we know how he got infected?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, overall, they still say that this is of low concern for the average population, average people in the population. But what we know is that this person basically had the same sorts of symptoms as we heard about with this most recent patient. So, mostly just eye symptoms, eye redness, eye swelling, conjunctivitis it's called. People know it as pink eye. We know he's a farm worker and was being monitored because of exposure to livestock. There are monitoring programs that are going on to basically try and catch this sort of case.

So, basically had an eye swab, which subsequently came back as having, you know, part of the bird flu. There are still some more additional testing going on. But this person is recovered. What we haven't seen yet, most importantly, Amara, is, is any kind of evidence of human to human transmission. So, did that person then transmitted it to somebody else? We haven't seen evidence of that yet.

WALKER: And, of course, we want to put things in context, right, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, because we're talking about just two human cases.

GUPTA: Yes.

WALKER: But there is some level of concern. I mean should we be worried? Should we be looking at the food supply, you know, looking at our milk cartons?

GUPTA: Let me - let me give you some context. So, if you take a snapshot, sort of, of the current outbreak here in the United States, as you mentioned, two human cases, it's mainly in birds, mainly in poultry, 90 million poultry, and - and these cattle outbreaks, as you mentioned. You know, but I've been covering this for a long time. If you go back in time and you say, OK, let's just look globally sort of what has happened with this outbreak over time, here - here's what we see.

So, some 800 - 887 human cases, 462 of those were fatal.

[08:40:01]

Again, this is over about a 20-year time period, and that affected 23 countries. Not that many cases, Amara. But look at that fatality rate. That's over 50 percent.

Now, over time, take a look at this graph, I sort of broke this down as well for you, over time the numbers of cases have gone down and the overall fatality rate has also gone down. So, those two things are sort of trending in the right direction.

But I think, you know, part of the reason people pay such close attention to H5N1 is because a little bit of the history here. Even though the numbers were small, when you start to see something that creates a fatality rate that's, you know, well over 50 percent, that's going to get people's attention. Right now it's of low concern because you don't see any kind of sustained transmission. But that - but that's really why people are keeping a close eye on this.

WALKER: Well, I'm glad we had this graphic because seeing the numbers go down, I mean, it is relatively comforting.

What do we know about efforts to monitor transmission in humans and in animals?

GUPTA: Yes. So, for example, this farm worker that we're talking about, the second patient, part of a monitoring program. If you are exposed to infected livestock, for ten days people are observed to see if they develop any symptoms. There have been some 300 farm workers that have been observed, 37 of them developed symptoms, got tested. And, as we know, two of those tests came back positive.

What you're seeing on the screen there is something that is relatively new. Something that really came about during the Covid pandemic, wastewater surveillance. So, looking in wastewater and seeing basically, do we see any signals of this particular flu virus? And several areas around the country, you do see some signal. If they see signal, that can be an early warning. They then go test that further to see, is that, in fact, H5N1 or not. Those are the sort of monitoring programs that are going on now, which are much more sophisticated, for example, than even a decade ago.

There's also a push, I would say, to start monitoring pigs as well. Amra, I think it's pigs more than any other animal that really are the precursor maybe to what we would see in humans because they share many of the same receptors as humans. So, they're being monitored in some areas as well.

WALKER: Always lovely to see you. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you so much.

GUPTA: You too.

WALKER: John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, new lawsuits are on the way from the families devastated by the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Families announced they are suing the school district and 92 law enforcement officers fresh off reaching a $2 million settlement with the city itself. Nineteen children and two teachers lost their lives at Robb Elementary in May of 2022.

CNN's Shimon Prokupecz is in Texas this morning.

Shimon, what are you learning?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, tomorrow, John, is the two-year mark of this horrific event, the horrific failures on that day. And so this lawsuit kind of was a big step for this community. They didn't get everything they wanted certainly monetarily. But the big thing in all of this, the attorney talked about yesterday was trying to get the community to heal, trying to get them towards a place where it's not so divided. That's the big problem right now in the community. He said this is sort of - he called it a ray of sunshine in this horrific event.

The community continues to reel from this. The families, obviously, continue to suffer. Tomorrow marks a momentous day, obviously, in this in that it's two years and so little has changed in the community.

We heard from the attorney who talked about this settlement. Take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOSH KOSKOFF, ATTORNEY FOR UVALDE VICTIM'S FAMILIES: There will be lawsuits forthcoming. Most - most immediately against the state of Texas, which has done nothing at all but burden this town before the shooting by not giving them the resources they need, prevented these families from getting the information they need, and then blaming - blaming the city.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PROKUPECZ: And so what this lawsuit is going to do, it's going to basically sue each of the officers from the Texas Department of Public Safety, that's the state police essentially, sue them individually to try and get some more moneys to hold accountability because really no one on the state level or the city level has been held accountable.

The other thing is the school police chief, who was only in the job for just about a year, he suddenly resigned. There was a lot of friction in the community and the other law enforcement agencies with this individual. And so he's resigned. So yet again now this school police is looking for a new police chief.

And tomorrow really the families are going to be gathering. They're going to be gathering at the cemetery to honor their loved ones. We're going to see a candlelight vigil and just a lot of more memories and sort of a really tough, tough day for this community as really the pain, the suffering, and the division in the community just continues.

[08:45:07]

But hopefully this lawsuit and perhaps some accountability at some point will bring some healing to the community.

John.

BERMAN: I know how much this community means to you. Shimon Prokupecz, great to have you there. Thank you very much.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: A CNN exclusive. A woman who accused Harvey Weinstein of assault is speaking out now. Why she says her story was silenced for so long.

And more evidence this morning of skyrocketing home prices. How the affordability crisis is impacting first-time homebuyers now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Home prices were sky high, and still are sky high, hitting especially hard first-time homebuyers. The average price of a home in the United States hit a new record for the month of April at over $407,000.

CNN's Matt Egan has much more on this, especially when it comes to first-time homebuyers. Is it just keeping them out of the market? MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: It is, Kate. It is so tough out there. Buyers

just face this impossible one-two punch of high rates and even higher prices.

BOLDUAN: Right.

EGAN: Let's look at these pricing numbers, just over $407,000 as the medium price, up 6 percent from a year ago.

[08:50:03]

This is the highest price ever recorded in April.

BOLDUAN: In April.

EGAN: Now, let's look at the trend here. This time a year ago prices were actually falling year over year for a bit. And then clearly that trend has stopped. We now have ten consecutive months where prices are rising on an annual basis. In fact, they're heating up.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

EGAN: This is the biggest year-over-year increase in over a year.

And, look, this is happening across the country. All four major regions seeing price gains, although at different speeds. Four percent up year over year in the south, but twice that here in the northeast. And look at the west, on fire again, a 9 percent year-over-year increase to over $600,000. Again, that's the median price. That means half - the homes were actually selling for more than, than that.

Now, I think, as always, this cuts both ways, right? If you already own your home, this is good news because it is padding your net worth. It's giving you some extra financial flexibility. But, Kate, we know there's a lot of people out there who are renting. They want to buy but they can't. Not with rates this high and certainly not with prices like this.

BOLDUAN: Well, that's what I - that's - we keep going back to this. But even if you - if it's good for you to sell, you still need to by. And look at the rates you're going to be looking at when you want to buy again, right?

EGAN: You do. You do.

But, Kate, there is a silver lining, and that's on the supply side.

BOLDUAN: Oh, glimmers of hope. Please, tell me.

EGAN: On the supply side. Look at this, so we know it's tough out there, right?

BOLDUAN: Yes.

EGAN: Slim pickings. But we actually did see a 9 percent increase between March and April in terms of the number of unsold homes, 1.2 million. Now, this is still kind of low historically. And it's about three-and-a-half months of supply. But it is moving in the right direction. But I think for any real relief on the affordability front, we need to see rates come down. And before that happens, we need to see inflation cool off. So, it's still going to be some time, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Standby to standby.

EGAN: Standby.

BOLDUAN: It's good to see you, Matt. Thank you.

EGAN: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: John.

BERMAN: This morning, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is defending his teammate Harrison Butker. The chiefs kicker is in the spotlight over controversial comments he made at a college commencement calling pride month a sin, among many other things.

CNN's Carolyn Manno is with us this morning. So, what's Mahomes saying, Carolyn?

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, he's defending his teammate. I mean, Harrison Butker went viral, very viral this month for those controversial commencement speech comments at Benedictine College and - the private catholic school in Kansas when he was there speaking. I mean this just led to a number of flashpoint discussions, like you mentioned, around things like pride month, but also abortion, also women's role in the workplace and in the home. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRISON BUTKER, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS KICKER: I want to speak directly to you briefly because I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolical lies told to you. How many of you are sitting here now, about to cross this stage, and are thinking about all the promotions and titles you are going to get in your career. Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: Now, speaking to reporters yesterday, Patrick Mahomes defended his teammate's character, while head coach Andy Reid underscored players' freedoms to express their opinions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICK MAHOMES, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS QUARTERBACK: I know Harrison. I've known him for seven years. And I'm - I judge him by the character that he shows every single day. And that's a good person. That's someone who cares about the people around them, cares about his family, and wants to make a good impact in society. When you're in the locker room, there's a lot of people from a lot of different areas of life and they have a lot of different views on everything. And we're not always going to agree.

ANDY REID, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS HEAD COACH: I don't think he was speaking ill to women, but he has his opinions and we all respect that. I let you guys in this room, and you have a lot of opinions that I don't like.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: So, Reid trying to defuse it there a little bit.

Last week the NFL did issue a statement saying that Butker's views are not those of the league as an organization. He has spent his seven year career with the Chiefs, winning three Super Bowls with this team, and they are a tight unit for a reason, John. The league, Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes, they don't want to be judge and jury when it comes to offering their specific thoughts on what he said, but they have definitely drawn a line in the sand now, aligning themselves with their teammate who made some pretty explosive comments.

BERMAN: Carolyn Manno, thanks so much. Appreciate seeing you this morning.

Amara.

WALKER: All right, now to a CNN exclusive this morning. One of Harvey Weinstein's accusers is speaking out about his recent overturned conviction in what she says were the efforts to silence her after she accused the former Hollywood producer of assaulting her nearly a decade ago.

CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMBRA BATTILANA GUTIERREZ, WEINSTEIN ACCUSER: Almost like a gut punch. Why is that happening?

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, stunned after a New York appeals court overturned the sex crimes conviction against disgraced movie mobile Harvey Weinstein. The Italian model giving CNN a wide-ranging interview and new details on previous efforts to keep her silent after she worked with the NYPD on a sting operation in 2015, wore a wire and caught this on tape.

[08:55:09]

GUTIERREZ: Why yesterday you touched my breast?

HARVEY WEINSTEIN: Oh please, I'm sorry, just come on in. I'm used to that. Come on, please.

GUTIERREZ: You're used to that?

WEINSTEIN: Yes, come in.

GUTIERREZ: No, but I'm not used to that. WEINSTEIN: I won't do it again, come on. Sit here.

WAGMEISTER (voice over): Despite an apparent admission of groping her, New York prosecutors never moved forward with the case, a decision that raised questions, which we'll get to.

Adding to her suspicions, someone was leaking her allegations to the press, leading to tabloid headlines like "grope gal asked for movie part," and, "secret lie of Harvey's shy accuser."

GUTIERREZ: I was 22 years old and I was put under accusation of not being truthful and to be a prostitute or not a perfect victim because I am a model.

WAGMEISTER (voice over): Battilana Gutierrez believed then, and now, the Weinstein machine was behind it all.

GUTIERREZ: Because it wasn't just him. I know there is more people behind him that have positions of power that he was using as well.

WAGMEISTER (voice over): But who? Battilana Gutierrez believes part of the answer can be found here at former President Donald Trump's hush money trial. That's where former "National Enquirer" boss David Pecker testified to paying off sources to protect Trump's reputation by preventing negative stories from ever going public.

While Weinstein's name didn't come up on the stand -

LACHLAN CARTWRIGHT, FORMER EDITOR, "THE NATIONAL ENQUIRER": This tabloid news organization became a protection racket for the rich and powerful.

WAGMEISTER (voice over): Lachlan Cartwright, a former editor for "The Enquirer," who now writes for "The Hollywood Reporter," claims "The Enquirer" protected Weinstein too. Cartwright claims he was instructed by an editor who worked under Pecker to buy Battilana Gutierrez's story, later learning it was to keep it from being told and to protect Weinstein, who had a business relationship with "The Enquirer's" parent company.

CARTWRIGHT: Initially, Ambra Battilana was offered $20,000 by "The National Enquirer."

GUTIERREZ: They were trying to say, like, how much you want? And I kept just answering, nothing. I wanted to tell my story, but I wanted to trust someone.

WAGMEISTER (voice over): Cartwright says he was told to raise the stakes to $150,000 for a story that the tabloid could have had for free.

Battilana Gutierrez's go between texted back, she says no. Don't ask again.

Cartwright alleges he later learned that a top lawyer for "The Enquirer" spoke to the Manhattan DA's office in an attempt to disparage Battilana Gutierrez's credibility.

CARTWRIGHT: And telling them that Ambra Battilana was trying to sell her story. It was the complete opposite of what was actually going on because we were inducing Ambra Battilana. She wasn't trying to sell her story. I felt sick to my stomach.

WAGMEISTER (voice over): The decision not to prosecute came from previous DA Cy Vance, no longer in office. He told CNN, "I have no information that I recall presently that 'The National Enquirer' or anyone representing it spoke with our office about selling a story to 'The Enquirer'."

Weinstein told CNN through a spokesperson, "the DA's office knew all the facts and passed on this case. Had they felt they could pursue it, they would have."

Neither Pecker nor "The Enquirer's" new parent company responded to requests for comment.

Battilana Gutierrez says she also turned down hush money from Weinstein's lawyers.

GUTIERREZ: They went up to $300 million, $700 million, and I still turned down every time.

WAGMEISTER (voice over): And then Gutierrez says her brother back in Italy was approached by someone asking about her.

GUTIERREZ: I got so scared. I remember that I called my lawyer right away. And I just said, like whatever they said, just do it. Just do it.

WAGMEISTER (voice over): She finally gave in and signed a non- disclosure agreement receiving money and agreeing not to talk. Weinstein told CNN of the NDA, Ms. Gutierrez's lawyers controlled those meetings and set the terms for it, adding, his legal team later raised reasonable doubts about various aspects of her story during cross-examination in his Los Angeles sex crimes trial.

He never faced charges in Battilana Gutierrez's case, but she did tell her story to a jury in 2022 as a supporting witness in Los Angeles where Weinstein was convicted on three of seven charges and sentenced to 16 years in prison.

WAGMEISTER: And at the end of the trial, I spoke to one of the jurors. And I remember he said to me, if Ambra was tied to charges, I would have felt that Harvey Weinstein was guilty 100 percent.

I see you getting emotional. And if you want to take a moment, it's OK.

GUTIERREZ: I know.

[08:59:59]

Knowing that if maybe I could have just find the right person to release those recordings, you know, I wouldn't lose everything I lost.