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Philly Mass Shooting Suspect Identified as Kimbrady Carriker; Busy Travel Day Ahead as Millions Head Home After July 4; Judge Blocks Biden Administration Officials from Communicating with Social Media Companies. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired July 05, 2023 - 07:00   ET

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

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[07:00:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A federal judge has just blocked the Biden administration from meeting with the heads of social media companies.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two states attorneys, generals, Republicans, filed a lawsuit, saying that the administration overstepped to try to combat COVID disinformation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A powdery substance that prompted an evacuation at the White House on Sunday night.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A hazmat team came in deemed the substance non- hazardous. But two sources familiar with the matter say that that powdery substance tested positive for cocaine.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Florida beachgoers spot a shark in shallow waters. While in New York, multiple suspected shark attacks were reported.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What we're hearing from the shark experts is that these bites are undoubtedly a mistake.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was born in 1968, so when Jaws came out, I would not go in the water for like ten years. Now, that there's actually sharks in the water, I probably won't anytime soon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bebe Rexha was rushed off stage. Rexha was hurt when a cell phone was thrown at her head.

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POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. We are so glad you're with us. As you can see, there is a lot of news to get to this morning, including an update we have from that mass shooting in Philadelphia.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: Update from the mass shooting, more details on the major legal decision that was put down the injunction yesterday as well. I think you and I are completely fascinated with, big, big stories, lots of big news.

HARLOW: Yes, we'll get to that in just a moment.

Here's where we begin though. Prosecutors are now confirming just a few minutes the identity of the suspected mass shooter accused of going on that deadly rampage on the streets of Philadelphia. The district attorney's office tells CNN the suspect is a 40-year-old, their name is Kimbrady Carriker. Carriker is set to be arraigned on murder charges today.

MATTINGLY: And police say the suspect was wearing body armor and a ski mask, firing randomly at cars and people walking on the street with an assault style rifle Monday night. Five people were killed. Two children were wounded, including a toddler who was shot four times in the legs.

Brynn Gingras is here with the latest details. Brynn, this is new information we're learning about the name of the suspect. What more do we know right now?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Just got this into our newsroom. 34 counts is what I'm totaling up here, the charges that this suspect is going to face in a courtroom there in Philadelphia later this morning. Five counts of murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault, assault, reckless endangerment charges and gun possession charges. As you guys said, the suspect is named Kimbrady Carriker.

Remember, this was Monday night. Authorities say that this person went through the streets of Philadelphia for several blocks, firing an AR- 15, wearing a ski mask, a bulletproof vest, carrying a police scanner, and just really firing indiscriminately at just a number of people.

Some of those victims, a 15-year-old being the youngest. One woman who talked to our affiliate says her 20-year-old son, the youngest of her children, was killed and they were just going to a local store to buy a candy bar.

I want you to hear from authorities about this shooting and how it's impacted their community.

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MAYOR JIM KENNEY (D-PHILADELPHIA, PA): I am frustrated and outraged that mass shootings like this continue to happen in communities across the United States. This country needs to reexamine its conscience and find out how to get guns out of dangerous people's hands.

We are begging Congress to protect lives and do something about America's gun problem.

LARRY KRASSNER, PHILADELPHIA DISTRICT ATTORNEY: It is disgusting, the lack of proper gun legislation that we have in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Some of that legislation might have made difference here. (END VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRAS: 50 shell casings found in this crime scene that, again, stretched several blocks. A suspect was arrested after a short police chase.

But, guys, just keep that in mind, those shell casings of an AR-15, imagine just being in your neighborhood and seeing all of that. Phil, you mentioned those young children who were victims as well. A two- year-old, twins, one was shot in the leg several times, a 13-year-old as well. They're actually doing a little bit better, stable condition. Of course, our hearts go out to them, but a community just rattled, of course.

HARLOW: Children out in their neighborhood, 8:30 at night, and this happened.

GINGRAS: 8:30.

HARLOW: Yes.

MATTINGLY: Brynn, fast-moving developments, thanks so much.

And ahead in our 8:00, we'll be joined by the Philadelphia district attorney, Larry Krasner. You saw him just a short while ago. It will be ahead of the suspect's arraignment. Tune in.

HARLOW: We are expecting a really busy travel day. Millions of Americans heading home after the long 4th July weekend. Airlines trying to bounce back after a wave of flight delays and cancelations that have been creating a holiday travel nightmare across the country. Take a look. Those are live pictures at LAX airport.

Pete Muntean is on the other coast at Reagan National, just outside of the nation's capital. Pete, AAA warning this is going to be a record- breaking weekend. How'd we do?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: We've done okay, Poppy. This begins the big rush home. And the proof is behind me here at the terminal 2 north TSA checkpoint here at Reagan National airport, really long line.

[07:05:04]

The TSA screened 2 million people yesterday, 2.2 million people the day before that, that is the slump. The big number we saw on Friday, 2.88 million people, the highest number that TSA has screened at airports nationwide ever. So, we will likely see the rush of folks coming home.

The good news right now is that the cancelations have remained relatively low. Just check FlightAware. We've got 78 cancelations starting off the day nationwide today. Yesterday, we saw 450 for the full day. But think back to one week prior when passengers were facing 2,200 flight cancelations nationwide.

Travel expert Scott Keyes of Going tells me things are looking a lot better this week.

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SCOTT KEYES, FOUNDER, GOING.COM: Never just assume everything's going to go great. Have a backup plan just in case. But I think that your odds are a lot better of an on-time arrival this week than they were last week.

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MUNTEAN: FAA warning of possible ground stops, though, as the day goes on today in Boston, in Denver, Miami, Tampa, Orlando and Atlanta, so some really big hubs on that list.

The good news, though, right now is that so many people are traveling by car this holiday. According to AAA, about 43 million people driving 50 miles or more. The worst times to travel, listen up, between three and 6:00 p.m. today, the best times to go, before 2:00 P.M. So, watch CNN this morning then maybe hit the road. A lot of people trying to make it home for -- at least it's a two-day week, at least, Poppy.

HARLOW: I think that sounds like a good plan, Pete. Thank you. Phil?

MATTINGLY: All right. Well, also new this morning, a new -- a significant development in the legal fight over free speech. A federal judge has blocked Biden administration officials from communicating with social media companies over certain content.

Now, the preliminary injunction issued yesterday stems from a lawsuit filed by two Republican state attorneys general accusing the government of going too far in its efforts to combat COVID-19 disinformation.

I want to bring in CNN Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig. And, Elie, we talked about last hour, I think we've all been talking about the last 24 hours, just how significant this could be, the scale of this injunction and what it may mean. But take us back to the beginning. Where did this lawsuit actually start, come from and how did it develop?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, Phil. We've really never seen a case anything like this. Let's make sure we understand. First of all, who are the parties here, now, the plaintiffs? The parties who brought this lawsuit are the Republican A.G.s from the states of Louisiana and Missouri. The defendants, the people who they've sued, are essentially the entire executive branch of the federal government, past and present. There are 54 named defendants here, including the president, Dr. Fauci, who's retired, the surgeon general, and essentially every meaningful federal agency, including HHS, CDC, DOJ, and so forth.

Now, here's the allegation that the plaintiffs make. They say that the defendants, quote, colluded with and or coerced social media platforms to suppress disfavored speakers' viewpoints and content. Now, I should mention the allegations go back to 2017, which actually started in the Trump administration, but the vast majority of the focus here is on the Biden administration.

The decision that was issued yesterday includes hundreds of examples of the administration, various officials reaching out to social media platforms about certain articles and certain content that was posted. But the most common areas of focus in the decision are really these three things, COVID, mass requirements, vaccines, the efficacy, the 2020 election, and election security, in general, and, of course, Hunter Biden.

And the plaintiffs allege that the defendants here were trying to unfairly, illegally influence the way social media companies, coverage and post-coverage of these issues.

So, now, here's the defendants' response. They say, first of all, this is a legitimate government function. We're supposed to look out for the safety and the wellbeing of the public, and we're supposed to be fighting against what we perceive as disinformation.

The defendants also argued there was no coercion or suppression. No one was punished for what they put up. No social media company was ever faced with any penalties. And, finally, they argued there was no injury, nobody was hurt.

And this issue of redressability, they say this is not something that a judge can monitor, can police, and it's beyond the court's kin to get into this.

MATTINGLY: Walk me through the injunction itself, because this was not dry legalese, boring. This was interesting writing to read along with what it actually meant.

HONIG: It's a remarkable ruling. Now, the plaintiffs have won at this phase. It's a preliminary injunction, meaning, for now, it's on hold. And the judge found in favor of the states and against the Biden administration.

Now, the court ruled that, if proven, by the way, a very big if, if proven, the present case arguably involves the most massive attack against free speech in United States history.

[07:10:02]

This is a very high-minded opinion, by the way. The judge cites Voltaire, he cites Orwell, he cites George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin.

Now, the judge has said here's what this means. There needs to be a line of separation between essentially the entire executive branch, White House on down and all the major social media companies, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Google.

Now, the judge has said there is to be no contact regarding protected free speech. Okay, but what does that mean? Can there be any contact at all? The judge gave some guidance on that, not particularly clear. But the judge said these things are not protected free speech, meaning you can have contact relating to national security, cybersecurity security threats and criminal activity.

But, again, where's the line? What does or does not fall within the heading of national security? And, again, this is just a preliminary injunction, so it's on hold for now, but it's going to go up the line.

MATTINGLY: So, as it goes up the line, A, what is the path, like what happens next, but also the judge himself? Everybody is pointing out, well, he was a Trump-appointed judge. Okay. But he was confirmed 98-0. What do we know about him, his rulings in the past and what that means going forward?

HONIG: Yes. So, this is the chief judge of the district court in Louisiana. He was actually a state judge for about a decade. He was then nominated by President Trump in 2017. He was confirmed by the Senate, 98-0.

His most notable decision before this one is he blocked the Biden administration's vaccine mandate back in 2021.

So, here's where we are. We are at the trial court level, district court for the Western District of Louisiana. If and when, and I think it's a safe bet, that they will appeal, the Biden administration will take this up to Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Really important to note, we have 13 different courts of appeals in our federal system. The Fifth Circuit is known as the most conservative, ideologically. But, judicially, I'm not sure how conservative this ruling is.

Whoever loses there can then try to get the case up to the U.S. Supreme Court. Of course, it's up to the Supreme Court whether and which cases they take.

So, we've got a lot of important high stakes litigation ahead.

MATTINGLY: Yes, no question. Elie, come back with me to the table, because I know Poppy has far more questions and far smarter questions than I do about this case and what it actually means going forward.

HARLOW: But I am obsessed with this story. And I want to bring in CNN Political Commentator and Political Anchor for Spectrum News Errol Lewis back with us on all of that.

So, Elie just went through brilliantly the law here. What do you make of what this actually means in practice? If this were become the final ruling and withstand challenges in the Fifth Circuit and up to the Supreme Court, then what FBI, CDC, DHS DOJ?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That would be startling in part because these agencies all use social media. They don't just sort of censor it and weigh in on it and ask a question here and there. They're propagating really important information about public health, about public transportation, about safety and security.

For them to now suddenly have a hands-off attitude and let anything run rampant across all of these platforms would just be radical. It would be a very different kind of a country that we have. It's hard to imagine how they could do their work effectively. Perhaps they would have to go to some other new platform and create something new.

So, to take your hypothetical, if anybody can say whatever they want, propagate any kind of conspiracy theory, false information, misinformation across these gigantic platforms, the government would have to do something just to be able to tell us about the weather or whether or not roads are blocked, that sort of a thing.

HARLOW: Correct me if I'm wrong, Elie and Errol, but this judge isn't saying those social media companies can't use their own content moderation tools. They're saying the government can't work with them in cahoots or what have you to tell them what to monitor.

LOUIS: And then that is really the heart of the issue here. That's not necessarily addressed by this case in particular. But the social media companies have been irresponsible or asleep at the switch, however you want to put it, when it comes to this.

And it has only been when either a popular swell of opinion or the government has said, you're doing something wrong. You are contributing to a problem. Whether it's suicides among teenage girls who go searching on social media and suddenly the algorithm starts putting nooses in front of them and articles about how to kill yourself and it has to be brought to the attention of social media.

There was the case I had mentioned before about a 12-year-old girl commits suicide, live streams it, and the video stays on Facebook for two weeks before they take it down.

If the government is powerless to say anything about that, to even inquire and say, gee, could you do something about this, could you fix this, how often does this happen, if they're not in a position to do that, God help us all, I don't know where or how irresponsible they would be.

We know that their algorithms promote rage, anger, division, whatever is going to get clicks, so that they can sell advertising around it. It's a very profitable business model. If the government is powerless to put any guardrails around that, they're going to do more of what we've seen that has been so harmful, so damaging, and that led to a lot of the government inquiries in the first place.

[07:15:02]

HONIG: One of the interesting aspects of this case is the social media companies are not parties to this lawsuit. This is the states against the administration. And I wonder if in their heart of hearts, the social media companies want this or don't want this. On the one hand --

HARLOW: No, they haven't replied to questions yet. It's interesting.

HONIG: Right. I mean, I would ask anyone if I had a chance to interview a representative one of these companies. MATTINGLY: It's nice to have the COVID of like, well, government asked us to do X, Y, and Z, right?

HONIG: Exactly. It gives them an out on the one hand, to say we're responding to the federal government. On the other hand, they might prefer to be completely unregulated and just do what they please. So, it's interesting to see where they stand.

MATTINGLY: Can I just say one example, having covered elements of this we did not expect this to come, I think a lot of administration officials were surprised by the scale of the injunction, but an example that I think was cited in the lawsuit, which I think gets it, but kind of how this has landed up to this point is the Biden administration would regularly reach out to Twitter and Facebook and other companies in kind of the early stages of their COVID response and say, this person is spreading lies about vaccines. This account is spreading misinformation that is inhibiting not just our efforts, the administration's efforts to address COVID, but also public health, do something about it. And often, I think more often than not, the companies would respond and say, okay.

And there are emails that came out during the course of this case that that was something that I think when it was explained to me at the time, I thought, all right, that makes sense, that's probably what we should do on public health grounds.

HARLOW: If this passes muster through the courts, this would ban that.

MATTINGLY: And as of now, they can't do that anymore because of the injunction, is that correct?

HONIG: Yes. But, again, there's that gray area. The administration might say, but this is a public health, national health issue, so we're allowed.

HARLOW: Right, because there's those exceptions of the judge then.

HONIG: So much that the judge leaves unclear.

HARLOW: Okay, thank you, guys. Stay with us.

MATTINGLY: All right, coming up ahead, how former Vice President Mike Pence is trying to declare independence to some degree from his former boss.

Plus, more on this very candid warning from Adele.

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MIKE PENCE, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: I can't account for what other campaigns decided, but for me, it was vitally important to be here, where the journey to the White House always begins.

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HARLOW: Republican White House hopeful, that is former Vice President Mike Pence, campaigning in Iowa on the 4th July, a beautiful 4th July, it looks like too, making the point to remind voters who was not there, his former boss, Donald Trump, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. DeSantis opted for New Hampshire during one of his several events. He went after Biden and the Biden administration, claiming freedom is under assault.

Trump, meantime, nowhere to be seen on Independence Day. The former president, who is facing multiple indictments, stayed off the campaign trail yesterday all together.

Let's talk about all of this with Political Scientist at Princeton University Lauren Wright and Errol Lewis back with us as well.

Welcome to the table, Lauren. What do you make of that, because he's still not directly going after Trump, but he is saying, I'm here?

LAUREN WRIGHT, POLITICAL SCIENTIST, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: He has to go directly after him because I don't understand what the lane is here for Pence. I mean, he's alienated ultra conservative voters who believe in the lie that the 2020 election was stolen. He's also alienating those moderate voters who might typically want to hear from someone like Mike Pence on the issues. So, I would talk about January 6th all day, every day if I were Mike Pence.

But I don't understand where he thinks this is going. He's probably not going to be the president's running mate if he --

HARLOW: Probably.

MATTINGLY: I feel like you can be a little more definitive on that.

WRIGHT: So, the lane is unclear. But Trump has the luxury of skipping all kinds of things, including July 4th campaigning. I wrote a book about celebrities running for office. Trump does not have to follow the normal rules. Pence has to follow some of the normal rules and then explain why he's running against his former boss, which really never happens.

MATTINGLY: So, I want to just ask both of you because of what you're just talking about. Trump doesn't have to follow the normal rules. That's always been the case. It's kind of tried at this point to keep saying that. But, really, he's not anywhere on July 4th. He can do big rallies if he wants. He can do retail if he wants. He can go back and forth and do whatever he wants. He will always suck up all of the oxygen.

To your point, Mike Pence is in Iowa. If there is a lane, if there's going to be a breakout Mike Pence moment, it happens in Iowa, those 90-plus counties that their evangelical base should be his base any other year except for this one. I guess my question is, trying to do it the normal way, is there any path at all? Like does that even exist anymore in a Republican primary?

LOUIS: I don't get it. The Iowa Mirage, I think, has captured the minds of a lot of political strategists.

MATTINGLY: But it feels dated now, which is why --

LOUIS: It's absolutely dated.

MATTINGLY: Mike Pence was like the only one there yesterday.

LOUIS: Other than a brief two cycle period, 1996 and 2000, the Republican winner of Iowa has not gone on to become the nominee if the Democrats were in charge or it was an open seat. So, in 2008, Mike Huckabee wins Iowa, doesn't become the nominee. 2012, Rick Santorum wins Iowa, doesn't become the nominee, 2016, Ted Cruz, right? So, what are you fighting over, right?

I mean, so, fine. If you want to try and be sort of -- and this is where Mike Pence comes from. He was a radio host. He's beloved by evangelicals. He is part of that movement. If he somehow does manage to go back to that base and win the nomination, we can just add him to that list along with Cruz and Santorum and Huckabee as somebody who won Iowa for whatever it was worth.

Now, I understand he doesn't have a lot of options. He's got to try and get some kind of earned media buzz and look like he's got some momentum and it would have to start in Iowa. But watching him shake hands on that sparsely attended parade in Urbandale, I was thinking it's like, man, that's a long way from there to the White House. And when you're polling in single digits, I don't know if that's the right strategy.

HARLOW: There is, on a different note, a really interesting piece in Politico.

[07:25:01]

I think you don't agree with it. I want to get your take here. But the Politico's senior media writer wrote that Biden needs a primary challenger.

Let me just read part of this piece. Biden needs a primary opponent who can prepare him for the 2024 general election, somebody who can make him prove that he can still run the traps and beat whichever Republican he faces. If Biden can't vanquish a worthy Democrat in the primary season, he has no business entering the general.

WRIGHT: Who's the opponent? I mean, I would like to know. So far, they have Oprah's spiritual adviser. They have RFK, who's mostly famous for his acting anti-vaccine stances.

MATTINGLY: I think Schaefer's point in the piece is that Gavin Newsom should jump in or prominent Democrats who lined up? WRIGHT: I mean, honestly, all of these people have issues. Biden has already beaten half of them. Or in Newsom's case, he's the poster child for unpopular COVID lockdown policies, for learning loss, for a lot of things that a lot of Americans want to see debated and don't agree with. And that's a really tough line for Democrats.

HARLOW: I think the argument that he's making in this is put him to the test. When you see things like Biden referring to the war in Iraq, when he means war in Ukraine, et cetera, why not sort of make him flex those muscles in a primary?

WRIGHT: I mean, I would love to see it. I'm a political junkie. I would love to see an active Democratic primary debate stage. The DNC has said we won't see that. But, really, I think the disaster for Democrats, frankly, is if Biden is not the nominee. I don't know who there is who could get more support overall.

And, by the way, to get through that process, hypothetically, they'll have to make many of the same attack points Republicans are making, or they'll have to take a stance that is so progressive against Biden, it will taint the entire party and make Republicans job easier that way. I think this is a terrible idea.

LOUIS: Yes. I mean, there's -- look, substantively and politically and sort of logistically, this has all been optimized the entire Democratic organization behind Joe Biden for someone else to try and --

MATTINGLY: Which is fascinating, by the way, and underappreciated --

LOUIS: Very much so. I mean, that's just politics. That's why he's the president. I mean, he sort of -- he took a little bit of everything. He's been talking with civil rights movement activists and environmental movement activists and the labor movement.

And I think the analysis is correct to the extent that he's got to now try and mobilize all of these movements that he has either co-opted or sort of gotten behind and given some kind of support to. And that's what these early endorsements from labor really represent.

And the challenge is going to be to create an organization and then also have them mobilized and excited, properly funded, oriented on the right talking points and ready to go next year. It's a very tall order. There's very few people who could pull it off.

HARLOW: Errol, Lauren, thank you. I appreciate it.

MATTINGLY: All right. Well, take a look at this. That is a shark swimming shallow water. You see the people around it.

HARLOW: It's like right out of Jaws.

MATTINGLY: Sending people scrambling for the shore. Not great.

Meanwhile, a string of shark attacks off of New York beaches are prompting officials to step up surveillance. We're going to speak to an expert about what you need to know if you're heading to a beach. Stay with us.

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