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$100,000 Reward For Info In Birmingham Mass Shooting; Speaker Johnson Unveils New Plan To Avoid Government Shutdown; NASA Astronaut Tracy Dyson Back On Earth After 184 Days. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired September 23, 2024 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[13:30:00]
ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: So at this point, I don't think we have enough information to say that a ball was dropped here. But it'll be interesting to find out the full extent of what the government knows as this case goes forward.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: All right, Misty, Andy, thank you so much to both of you. We do appreciate it.
And next, A big reward and some new tips in this weekend's deadly mass shooting near the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Police say there are multiple shooters at large. We will go live to the scene next.
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[13:35:00]
KEILAR: Happening now in Birmingham, Alabama, Crimestoppers and the FBI are offering up to $100,000 for information in connection with a mass shooting there over the weekend.
Multiple shooters fired into a group of people outside of a nightclub there in Birmingham in what police describe as a targeted hit. Four people killed, 17 others injured.
CNN's Rafael Romo is in Birmingham following this for us.
So, Rafael, in a press conference earlier today, officials said that the shooters were paid.
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brianna, that's one of key -- several key details that officials have revealed since the shooting.
Birmingham police say the shooter -- the shooting was not random and stemmed from an isolated incident and were -- multiple victims were caught in the crossfire.
In fact, Chief Scott Thurmond said he believes this was a targeted hit on one person and the other victims were caught in the crossfire.
This is how the chief explained it earlier. Let's take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF SCOTT THURMOND, BIRMINGHAM POLICE DEPARTMENT: There's just motivation from, as Carol mentioned, that, you know, some of the individuals that were killed have extensive criminal histories.
And because of that, there's oftentimes motivation from others and there's people who are willing to pay to have them killed. And so that's -- that's part of it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMO: And, Brianna, Thurmond also said that multiple suspects fired upon a large group of people outside an establishment here in the Five Points South area on Saturday night just after 11:00.
And here's another key detail. Police say the shooters used what is believed to have been a gun conversion device that can be used to override the trigger mechanism on a gun so that it functions as a machine gun.
That will explain the reason why police say more than 100 shell casings were collected here at the scene.
Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin says the city is getting a lot of help from the FBI and the ATF as they continue the manhunt for the people responsible for the shooting.
KEILAR: Yes, these suspects at large. We'll be continuing to follow this.
Rafael Romo, thank you so much.
Still ahead, the pressure is on. Lawmakers have just seven days to reach a budget deal or else millions of federal employees will be forced to work without pay. We're going to tell you where things stand.
Plus the U.S. wants to ban Smart Cars equipped with Russian or Chinese technology. And the reason is a little unnerving, to say the least.
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[13:42:08]
KEILAR: Just one week to go before a government shutdown and House Speaker Mike Johnson is now pushing a new plan, one that would keep the government funded until December 20th.
It includes an additional $230 million for Secret Service funding, but it does not include a Trump-backed measure requiring proof of citizenship to vote.
This bill would punt the funding fight past Election Day and, of course, right before the holidays. But are they really close to a deal? We have CNN's Manu Raju live for us on Capitol Hill.
I'll ask you, Manu. Are they close?
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, look, this is expected to pass Congress this week. We do expect a government shutdown to be avoided, but not until the speaker decided to essentially give Democrats what they had been asking for.
Democrats had asked for -- to extend government funding for three months until mid-December. That's pretty much what speaker decided to do. He did it until December 20th.
They also, the Democrats wanted it to be free of any extraneous provisions, namely that proposal that Donald Trump himself had been demanding two provide -- to demand proof of citizenship for people who are voting.
An effort to try to clamp down on undocumented immigrants from voting in elections, something that's already illegal, but something that Trump and Mike Johnson, the speaker, both said was absolutely necessary.
Now, because Johnson has dropped those provisions, he's gotten a lot of backlash from the right flank of his party.
And I asked the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee about what some members on the right are calling a capitulation to Democrats.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: What do you say to folks in your conference who are concerned about a clean C.R.? They see this as a capitulation.
REP. TOM COLE (R-OK): Well, it's not, frankly. You know, they all voted for it last week when -- or most of them, when it was coupled with the SAVE Act. We're sorry, but it was our own members that didn't -- didn't show up to do that.
Look, there's no way, politically, a government shutdown on the eve of an election is good for us, not good for the president, not good for the Republican House majority. More importantly, is just not good for the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: Now, the speaker himself wrote a letter to his members just yesterday, essentially citing that same message from Chairman Tom Cole that you heard just there.
He said -- the speaker said in this letter, he said, "As history has taught and current polling affirms, shutting the government down less than 40 days from a fateful election would be an act of political malpractice." Now the question is, does Trump agree with this? Trump put out a
social media post last week essentially saying do not move forward with any government funding bill if it does not include that anti- immigration provision.
Now that does not include it, where does Trump stand? We do know that Johnson Trump did speak.
I asked Tom Cole whether or not they're on the same page or not. He did not want to get into that. He said, you have to ask the speaker himself.
But they believe there will be, politically -- significant political backlash if the government shuts down. So why not punt it until after the election? Deal with that then.
[13:45:08]
And at that point, there's going to be -- there's going to be some major decisions about how to keep the government open for another few weeks, a few months, try to extend into next year.
And that's going to be a decision for whoever wins the White House in November -- guys?
KEILAR: All right. I bet they'll enjoy that.
Manu Raju, thank you so much.
Now to some of the other headlines that we're watching this hour.
Vice Presidential Candidate Tim Walz was misspelled "Tom Walz" on some Palm Beach County, Florida, ballots emailed last week to overseas voters.
The county election supervisor says a vendor there made a manual change to the approved ballot without authorization and incorrectly typed "Tom" instead of "Tim."
She says the error was isolated to 257 electronic ballots, that it has been corrected, and that it will not affect the counting of the votes.
Also, the U.S. proposing a ban on the sale or import of Smart vehicles that use Chinese or Russian technology. U.S. officials say the tech poses national security concerns.
A government investigation found risks from Chinese and Russian technology that include the possibility of remote sabotage, by hacking, and the collection of personal data on drivers. The rule would not apply to vehicles already on the road.
And in the Caribbean, a tropical system forecast to rapidly intensify once it reaches the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. That is expected to happen Wednesday. It will likely then become a category two hurricane with a potential landfall in Florida, possibly as soon as Thursday. Three astronauts and cosmonauts back from space, but not the two astronauts who have been delayed on the International Space Station for months.
We'll tell you about the return of this trio and what is ahead for the delayed Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who will remain on the International Space Station a while longer.
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[13:51:39]
KEILAR: A NASA astronaut is back on earth after spending 184 days in space. Tracy Dyson left the International Space Station early this morning, boarding a Soyuz capsule for the ride home.
Here's the moment that she and two Russian cosmonauts parachute-landed in Kazakhstan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Touch down. Right on the money. A textbook touchdown on the steppe of Kazakhstan.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tracy Dyson is home after 184 days in space. Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub are home after 374 days in space, a record for an International Space Station mission.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: CNN's Tom Foreman is with us now.
Two things. One, that's like a harder landing --
(CROSSTALK)
KEILAR: -- than I was expecting. I'm like, oh --
(CROSSTALK)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: -- the way home.
KEILAR: Brace for impact.
Tom --
(CROSSTALK)
FOREMAN: -- compared to the 1960s.
KEILAR: But also two of her friends delayed on the space station?
FOREMAN: Yes. Well, that continues.
(CROSSTALK)
FOREMAN: You know, this is the Boeing Starliner crew, the two that went up in early June, June 5th.
KEILAR: Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore.
FOREMAN: Yes. Exactly. So Williams and Wilmore, which kind of sound like a country band.
But nevertheless --
(CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)
FOREMAN: -- they're -- they're up there still. And they're going to remain there for right now. You may be saying, why are they remaining there? Because, with these flights going back and forth, they we're supposed to come back in a little over a week and they're stuck up there.
The reason is basically this. Because their ride was canceled, in effect. They said, look, we're bringing back the Starliner craft with nobody on board because of the issues about helium and about thrusters and about the way it was -- the way it was approaching earth.
And they wanted to make sure everything was OK, nobody got hurt. It was a safety call.
But the way they assign seats up there is very complicated. There are deals between the U.S. and Russia negotiating on who gets on one of these flights like this from Russia or who gets on flights from the U.S.
It's very involved. And you don't really upset that apple cart easily by saying just jump on the next flight.
Plus, astronauts are prepared to stay for months and months. That's what makes them astronauts. They don't get mad about not coming home on time. They would rather stay longer. So that's a bonus.
KEILAR: I once worked in radio and there was a contest --
(LAUGHTER)
KEILAR: -- of how many people could stay for as long as possible in a Volkswagen Beetle.
FOREMAN: How'd that work out?
KEILAR: Well, it gets uncomfortable --
(CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)
KEILAR: -- which leads me --
(LAUGHTER) FOREMAN: -- a concept, too, it's like going to a concert. But --
(CROSSTALK)
KEILAR: All right, so how many people -- you know, is it starting to get like that? Like how many people can the space station accommodate comfortably for how long?
FOREMAN: Right now, there are nine people on board. There's going to be another flight later this week, depending on what happens. Earlier using two of the seats leaving two seats empty, which is beginning the swap process to bring back Williams and Wilmore in February, which is currently the target.
But here's what's interesting. The space station is about the size of a five-room house, is one way to describe it. They have had at one 13 people up there.
So it is capable of supporting a pretty good number of people for a pretty good bit of time.
They would rather not, because they have work to do and there are real reasons for them be there. It's not just a hotel in space.
So if you had to be there with a bunch of friends, better than a Volkswagen. No offense to the V.W. people out there. But -- but better than a Volkswagen.
But they don't really want to have it overcrowded. They want to have a working environment to do all the work they we're doing.
And as we mentioned, our astronaut who just came home, she was doing all sorts of work on medical issues and on technical issues, as they all do.
[13:55:10]
So, it's a working environment. Can take a lot of people, doesn't really want to.
KEILAR: Yes, like van life, like an R.V.
(CROSSTALK)
KEILAR: An RV across the country.
(CROSSTALK)
FOREMAN: -- California --
(CROSSTALK)
FOREMAN: -- van life. You live here in California.
KEILAR: Well, I'm not. It's gets uncomfortable. I'm not about that life. (LAUGHTER)
KEILAR: Tom Foreman. Tom Foreman, thank you very much.
(CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)
KEILAR: Coming up, with just 43 days left, former President Trump and his Republican running mate hitting the trail, visiting two states critical to their strategy as new polls show a path to victory through the Sunbelt for the GOP ticket. All that ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.
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