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Report: Copies of Hernandez Suicide Note Given to Family; John Kelly Says Trump Will Face North Korea Missiles in First Term; Ivanka Trump Will Attend W-20. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired April 24, 2017 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Just into the newsroom, copies of the suicide notes left behind by former NFL star Aaron Hernandez have just bye-bye handed over to his family. This is all happening on the same day as the funeral after he hung himself in prison. Deborah Feyerick has been following the story for us.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The family was told the notes existed but didn't have the notes until today. The reason for that is they asked a judge to get them to the family. The judge ordered the notes should be turned over. What we do know is there were three notes. They appear to be some sort of suicide note. Some are to the family, but at least one is to somebody other than the family. Nobody knows who that is. The name has not yet been released. We do know that his fiance was very moved by happened and she's at the funeral home. Also, several NFL players have also attended the funeral including Mike Pouncey, who played with Aaron Hernandez at the University of Florida and now with the dolphins. But there's a lot of controversy because he seems to have killed himself in a flamboyant way blocking access to his cell once he was discovered. The suicide notes were confiscated as part of an ongoing investigation into the death because any unattended death in prison has to be investigated. Although they have ruled this a citizen, they are doing due diligence. But with respect to the suicide notes, it's generated a lot of speculation as to who they were to. Some were to his immediate family. But it's that note that was to somebody else that is the subject of all this attention.

BALDWIN: Thank you very much for that.

President Trump will face a nuclear armed North Korea with missiles capable of striking the U.S. homeland. That is the grave warning coming from the head of homeland security to CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KELLY, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: The minute I would tell you North Korea gets a missile that could reach the United States and put a weapon on that missile, a nuclear weapon, the instant that happens, this country is at grave risk.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: How far away do you think that is?

KELLY: Trump will be dealing with this if real terms before he starts his second term.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Joining me now is Jim Walsh, international security analyst and a senior research associate at MIT. Good to see you. Here the warning about the President in his first term dealing with the capable North Korea. How does that jive with intel you may have?

JIM WALSH, INTERNATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST AND A SENIOR RESEARCH ASSOCIATE AT MIT: We don't have to wait until North Korea has a ballistic missile to see that there's a threat right now. That missile isn't going to be done for years. They have yet to flight test a reentry vehicle. But today, North Korea, we have more than 20,000 U.S. troops in South Korea. Tens of thousands more in Japan. Both those countries are treaty allies. We are sworn to defend them. So, the problem is not four years from now. We're confronting it right now and we don't have to wait to be worried about it.

BALDWIN: What about this under additional provocative measures from North Korea over the weekend. They threatened to sink a U.S. aircraft carrier. So, President Trump spoke with China's President Xi and the Japanese prime minister Abe and in terms of the President's personal diplomacy, do you think that that is helpful?

WALSH: Of course, I think it's helpful, but I also can tell you what I don't think is helpful. That's a lot of bluster on both sides. We have the administration giving mixed signals. We had the ambassador saying we would use military force if they even tested and ballistic missile. Mike Pence said something else. You don't wave a gun around unless you're prepared to use. It it's a good thing to consult allies, but the chair is empty in one. There's no elected President in South Korea. It's South Korea that would bear the brunt of any conflict that broke out. Let the South Koreans hold their Presidential election before we make big threats we may or may not follow through on so we can consult with our partners. That's the more prudent way to go.

BALDWIN: Back on the ambassador, that's what she said, but she also said To Kim Jong-Un is paranoid. Do you think he is?

WALSH: I'm no fan of North Korea. But when you're trying to understand an adversary, it's best to look through their eyes. They are surrounded. Japan is a great power. The U.S. hates them. There's this idea they basically feel isolated and threatened. Now they are their own worst enemy ask causing all sorts of problems and not to mention the human rights record that they have and all the other things they do. The use of VX and bizarre things they do.

[15:35:00] BALDWIN: I'm sure you heard this upcoming Wednesday there's this rare briefing specifically on North Korea so everyone is on the same page. You have the secretary of state, defense secretary, joint chiefs chairman as well as the entire Senate. Imagine the busses and the vans going from Capitol Hill all the way to the white house to so everyone is informed with regard to this increasing threat that is North Korea. What do you make of that? WALSH: I've tried to make a few calls. Everyone is pretty tight

lipped about it. Let me say we have a super busy week this week. We have the possible budget shutdown, health care, tax reform, 100 days. Why would you call for a meeting you have never had before when all 100 senators on this Wednesday? Maybe, it's because you think there might be a test later tonight between 7:30 and 10:00 p.m. of either a nuclear test or a missile test and you're confronted with that the next day. Here's a way you can look like you're on top of it by calling a big meeting like this.

BALDWIN: Are you telling me you know something that may be possible?

WALSH: I think all the watchers not just me expect something tonight. It's the armed forces and the people's army. Typically, something does. Happen around here. They conducted 26 tests last year. They are not going to stop on a dime. And they have been e ready to conduct a nuclear test for at least a month. All the indications are they are ready to go. The question is whether they are going to pull the trigger or not. My thinking is, and this is speculation, if you're having a big meeting, it might be because something big is going to. Happen the night before.

BALDWIN: I guess we'll see. Jim Walsh, I appreciate your intel. We'll loop back and have a conversation on the other side of this big meeting. I appreciate it. Coming up next, the first daughter taking up an unofficial diplomat role? Ivanka Trump set to make her debut on the world stage. Also, CNN talks with the alert driver who slammed on his brakes and rescued a 4-year-old girl who tumbled out of this moving bus. His reaction, and police weighing in.

[15:40:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: She's the first daughter, Ivanka Trump making her presence known in the white house this week. She will be headed to Berlin. Both will attend the W-20 women's summit where the agenda is women's empowerment and gender equality. Before heading out, she joined her father in congratulating a NASA astronaut who broke the space flight record.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IVANKA TRUMP, FIRST DAUGHTER: Congratulations on your incredible milestone today. You may know that my father recently signed the inspire women act to encourage female participation in stem fields across all aerospace areas and really with the focus on NASA. So, encouraging women and girls to pursue stem careers is a major priority for this administration.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: CNN white house reporter Kate Bennett is in Berlin following Ivanka Trump's trip. Nice to see you there. 9:45 at night in Berlin. Tell me exactly what she'll be doing at this summit.

KATE BENNETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: So, it seems like she will be talking about the same things she was talking about in Washington when Angela Merkel visited. Mainly gender issues with supporting entrepreneurs. She's going to be on a panel from the IMF, Queen Maxima of the Netherlands and a few other business leaders. She's going to be focusing on the gender issue, stem research. She's going to visit Semen's technology school afterwards. She's also later in the afternoon going to visit a memorial for murdered Jews here in Berlin where she will pay respects to victims of the holocaust. But her visit here is big news. She was on the cover of the newspaper and the head line here is first whisper as though she might have influence on her father. We're expecting a full day from her tomorrow.

BALDWIN: First whisperer, what is the buzz in Berlin beyond the front page of the newspaper?

BENNETT: I think like most people, there's a curiosity here. Everyone I have spoken to about the Trump administration about the President, but also about Ivanka and whether she might be a moderate conduit to her father and whether she wields that influence. When they had that awkward non-handshake moment, they have since rebuilt the relationship. They have spoken the phone four times, three times just this month and that could be Ivanka's doing. She hit it off with Angela Merkel. She was personally invited to come to the summit. So, there's some friendship building between the two leaders. And Ivanka being the first whisper is a hopeful avenue and bridge between the two leaders.

[15:45:00] BALDWIN: We will look for her at the W-20. Although as the President told Julie Pace at the AP, he thought he and the German chancellor had tremendous chemistry.

Next, he could become the youngest President in French history. A closer look at the man who is now in a run-off election with the far- right candidate. His unique love story, marrying his high school teacher 24 years his senior. More on that in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A man who has never held public office could be the next leader of France. Not only is Emmanuel Macron the surprising Presidential front-runner despite not having the support of an established political party, but it's his unique personal story that shall we say grabbing headlines.

[15:50:00] The novice politician is married to his former high schoolteacher, a woman 24 years his senior. He met her when he was her teenage student at the age of 17. He promised one day he would marry her and she discouraged her and a decade later he married the divorced mother of three in 2007. Let's go to Max Foster covering the election in France. There's the politics of this and then the personal back story. How is this playing out among the electorate in France?

MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Just friends where you look. The glossy magazines have been full of this affair for years. It's been on the cover four times over the last year so fascination there certainly. If you look at the French newspapers though today after this result, they are much more focused on the fact that the mainstream parties are now out of the race, so that's more interesting for them. You've got the front saying the macron sensation. They are much more focused on, you know, the result at the moment simply because they know quite a lot about this history.

It's sort of new to us because we've talked about it now and it's not as shocking to them. Also, as we said for these sorts of affairs this, salaciousness isn't as shocking in France. Presidents have had affairs. The current incumbent was caught going into the apartment of a young actress and he stood up with his partner and Francois Mitterand had an affair, not quite as shocking in France as in the U.S.

BALDWIN: Credits his wife for a lot of his successes. What has he said about her and the role she could play if he wins?

FOSTER: Well, it's interesting. The role of a first lady isn't what it is in the United States. Actually, it's seen as quite an unusual thing to have a formal role for a first lady. It doesn't even exist in French law. They tend to be quite discreet. Going to be really interesting to see what role she plays because she has been very present on the campaign trail. She's quite a formidable figure, reading through his speeches so who knows, you know. This new wave of populism wiping across Europe right now could throw off a first lady in France. It does have a role. It's certainly very involved in his life and in his politics.

BALDWIN: Last question, so he's 17 when he first meets her. How did his parents react to this whole thing?

FOSTER: Well, this is -- this is fascinating because there's a book that came out earlier this year and the author was a well-respected journalist and spoke to Macron and his wife and his parents. There's great quotes in there and apparently, the father approached and said can you wait until he's 18 before you formalize this affair and she said she can't promise anything. His mother went to her saying don't you see you've had your life, but he -- you won't have any children with him. She's worried she wouldn't have grandchildren so there are all these stories, the pair themselves have never admitted this relationship started. Show says in this book. That belongs to us. It's our secret, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Hmm. The back story, the salacious back story of this potential front-runner here. Max Foster, thank you so much on Macron in France.

Coming up, just a horrifying moment caught on video this. 4-year-old girl falls out of the moving bus, and now police are weighing in. Also, the chilling words of a killer, the man accused going on a shooting spree targeting white people now speaking out in a jailhouse interview. Hear from him next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

New jailhouse confession tape for the man accused of killing four man in a racially charged shooting spree. He's accused of targeting white men at random and explained why during a phone call with CNN affiliate KGPE.

[15:55:00] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KORI MUHAMMAD, ACCUSED KILLER: I'm going have to fight for them. I'm going have to fight for all the people who died at the hands of racist white men. The security guard was being very disrespectful so I shot him.

REPORTER: You shot the security guard?

MUHAMMAD: Yes, sir, and I was going to turn myself in and I thought about the missing black women. I started thinking about Flint, Michigan. I started thinking about the crack cocaine epidemic. I started thinking about all the injustice and the trafficking that my people go through. That's why I snapped. I wasn't thinking like, you know, kill, kill, kill. I was thinking white supremacy has to die and the people who benefit from white supremacy are white men.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Prosecutors say he'll undergo a mental competency evaluation next month and horrifying video to show you. This little girl falling out of a bus in Arkansas. The whole thing caught on dashcam of a volunteer fire fighter who happened to be driving behind. He obviously rushed in to help.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RYAN CIAMPOLI, VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTER: When I walked over and knelt down to her, I started talking to her, and she finally -- she lifted her arm up at me once she heard my voice, but when I first walked up she was completely unconscious.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: She's going to be OK. Police say the bus driver will not be charged.