Return to Transcripts main page

Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Military Advisers; Bergdahl's Daily Routine; Bergdahl's Life After the Taliban; Donald Sterling's Angry Voicemails

Aired June 20, 2014 - 12:00   ET

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

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: He's a journalism kid that's going to put this all into a documentary. I think it's fantastic.

That's it for us. What a nice way to wrap up Friday, right? Thanks for joining us AT THIS HOUR.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: "Legal View" with Ashleigh Banfield starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD STERLING, L.A. CLIPPERS OWNER (voice-over): I'm not incompetent, you're (EXPLETIVE DELETED) incompetent you stupid doctor. I'm going to get you fired from UCLA because you're nothing but a tramp.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Remember those doctors who declared Donald Sterling mentally unfit? Well, he showed them. Don, you know those are voicemails, right? And you know voicemails are always recorded, right? And you know what happens with recordings. More on that in just a moment.

And also a peek behind the tightly closed doors where Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl is getting daily lessons on resuming a normal life after years of Taliban captivity. But the big question remains, why hasn't he seen his family yet? It will be three weeks tomorrow.

And later this hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Open the register.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. OK. Hold on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: This robber didn't just empty the cash register, he punched a pregnant store employee so hard he knocked her to the ground and he broke her nose. The crime was caught on camera, and now police say that they've caught their man. We're going to find out who he is, what he's facing and maybe what he's done before as well. Hello, everyone. I'm Ashleigh Banfield. It's Friday, June the 20th and

welcome to LEGAL VIEW.

Our top story this hour, brand-new details on the 300 U.S. military advisers -- talk about that in a moment -- whom President Obama plans to spend to Iraq. A senior defense official now telling CNN the first contingent is expected to arrive as soon as tomorrow. They'll begin accessing the onslaught from the Sunni Muslim militants known as ISIS and they'll be deciding where their fellow special forces are need. We've also learned that U.S. troops already posted to the U.S. embassy in Baghdad may be reassigned to work with the new arrivals.

And in other action, the U.N. is now estimating that warfare has forced more than 1 million Iraqis to flee their homes and villages since the start of just this year. And half of that number is courtesy of this month. ISIS fighters have now taken over a chemical weapons site that dates back to the 1980s. And before that makes anyone panic, the United States says whatever's left there has, quote, "little military value" and may, in fact, just pose more of a risk to the militants themselves than anyone else. Iraq's senior Shiite cleric is now calling on all Iraqis, and not just Shiites, to stand against ISIS, but not in those freelance militias. Iraqi's cut and run army is now asking retirees to come back and reenlist.

And that brings me back to the U.S. military advisers now returning to the country, that the United States troops officially pulled out of in 2011. And joining me with great insights are CNN military analyst and retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona, and Iraq War veteran and former Navy SEAL from SEAL Team 8, Chris Heben.

All right, you two, we are now hearing that this is going to happen overnight effectively. Not sure that's such a big surprise as this is obviously a pretty quick onslaught.

First to you, Chris Heben. We're getting all sorts of words to who these specially trained advisers are going to be. Some people say this is a real euphemism. They're soldiers and they're tough ones. What insight can you lend, having been there, and being a former member of SEAL Team 8?

CHRIS HEBEN, FORMER NAVY SEAL/IRAQ WAR VETERAN: Well, this is a group of guys that play checkers - they don't play checkers, they play chess. Very calculating, very knowledgeable. It's SEALs, Army green berets, some tier 1 ranger individuals. These guys are very mission capable. They're going to advise. But as we all know, with advisers, the potential exists and often does occur they become trigger pullers. That's just the nature of the beast and you need to accept that.

BANFIELD: Well, you're not going to go into any outpost in northern Iraq - and, by the way, that's where we're being told that at least two of the preliminary locations are.

HEBEN: Right.

BANFIELD: Baghdad is one spot, which isn't quite as dangerous at this point as the others, and then northern Iraq. You are certainly not going up there and not ready to pull your trigger many times.

HEBEN: Absolutely.

RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: And they won't specify where, but I'm sure it's going to be probably just a little bit to the east of Mosul, because they've got to cut these guys off. And if you read between the lines of what they're saying, it looks like they want to come down and cut across Mosul and maybe surround these guys and bottle them up. But --

BANFIELD: So the interesting though is - is that - and, Chris, maybe you can weigh in on this, since you've spent so much time in country both as a SEAL Team 8 member and also as a contractor -- what are they going to be doing? What kind of advising is really going to be going on? Or is it more this intelligence gathering and prepping for any potential air strikes?

HEBEN: Well, there's a good deal of both. They're going to be looking at the enemy's capabilities. What kind of equipment have they acquired from us, the stuff that we left behind that the Iraqi army abandoned? What do they have in their possession that can be used against us in a major way? So we're plotting and planning. There's some speculation.

And they're also going to be training these guys and embedding with them. They're going to help these guys feel and more empowered because now all of a sudden you have special forces with them. That makes those guys have their chest puff a little bit more.

FRANCONA: Yes. And as he said, these guys are very mission capable. And one thing we're looking for them to tell us is, how bad off is the Iraqi army? How bad have they gotten over the last three years in the absence of American training?

BANFIELD: Well, this is what kills me. There's not an absence of -- there's still Americans there. I keep saying -- every time I see one of these reports, I keep thinking, wait a minute, shouldn't we already know this? I mean, who did we leave behind and what have they been doing and why weren't we more capable at this point and knowing of what they're doing and what they've - what they're not able to do?

HEBEN: I think the whole situation spun up pretty fast so we had to react and react quickly. We had to, but we didn't. We didn't do a very good job. And there's a number of contractors already in Iraq that we're going to draw from. A lot of these guys are former special forces members, like I was as a contractor there.

BANFIELD: Yes.

HEBEN: So the potential there to have a force multiplier group in country already exists.

BANFIELD: Let me ask you this about the gear that we already have in place at this point. We've got the USS George W. Bush, that is a splendid aircraft carrier with a lot of FA-18s on board, but you're not going to be dropping bombs on trucks with eight guys in them from 60,000 feet. Do we have the right stuff ready to go with those destroyers, well there's a destroyer, a there's a cruiser, tomahawk capable, and then there's this aircraft carrier?

FRANCONA: Yes, I pressed the Pentagon on this yesterday and they said, yes, OK, they got the 80 aircraft on the USS Bush, but he said -

BANFIELD: Again, FA-18s.

FRANCONA: FA-18s. And I said but that's -

BANFIELD: Yes, fast and high.

FRANCONA: That might not be the right mix for what we need. He goes, yes, you're right. He says, we have the full range of air craft in the surrounding areas, including rotary wing assets. So we - that's a good thing to hear. But he - he --

BANFIELD: You mean Apache helicopters?

FRANCONA: Apaches. The gunships.

BANFIELD: OK. And what about the A-10s, those warthogs that you always talk about being (INAUDIBLE).

FRANCONA: And I don't know if they've got -- he would not specify which aircraft, he would not specify which countries. But I think we can assume it's, you know, Jordan, maybe Kuwait.

BANFIELD: That's really important because this has been the huge problem up until now, which countries.

FRANCONA: Yes.

BANFIELD: None of those things that you just talked about, the Apache, the A-10s, can talk off from the George W. Bush.

FRANCONA: Right.

BANFIELD: So they have to have some sand somewhere around Iraq. They're not going to come from Syria. We know that. Saudi Arabia, highly unlikely. Jordan, maybe, maybe. Turkey gave a lot of problems to the United States before.

FRANCONA: And since Jordan was just threatened by ISIS, they have - they have an incentive to help us out here.

BANFIELD: A little more friendly. And certainly to the left of Jordan, Israel, certainly an ally of this country and would (ph) probably (ph) be more ready (ph).

HEBEN: Ashleigh, we have a ton of options. We have a lot of very good options. And I think if that's what we're doing, that's where the advisers come in. This is what we need. This is when we need it. And the package we have assembled is astounding. It can handle anything right now.

BANFIELD: Let me guess, they have big radios?

HEBEN: Big radios. That's your biggest weapon out in the field.

BANFIELD: Is it ever.

FRANCONA: And American eyeballs, you can't - there's no substitute for them.

BANFIELD: Speaking English, another big issue as well.

Chris Heben, Rick Francona, thank you both. Do appreciate it. Stand by.

Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl is starting to open up about his five years in captivity with the Taliban. Strangely enough, though, not to his family, to a group of strangers. CNN has an inside look at a day in the life of Bowe Bergdahl here now on American soil. That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Some new information you cannot get it anywhere but here on CNN. The daily life for Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl as he tries to find a brand-new normal after five years in Taliban captivity. He is only one week into a lengthy reintegration process at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. That aft two weeks of reintegration in Germany. That makes three. And already he's getting a little sample of the avalanche of media attention and the controversy over his release in exchange for five prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.

There is that battle. And then, plus another big obstacle, getting back to the daily activities that perhaps you and I take for granted. Martin Savidge joins me now, along with psychologist Joseph Troiani, founder of the Adler School of Professional Psychology, also knows a thing or two about the actual psychology of what the military's dealing with right now.

And, Marty, I want to begin with you, if I can. I read some of your remarkable reporting on the day to day that Sergeant Bergdahl's going through.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you.

BANFIELD: And I'm just going to let you carry it from there and tell us what you've learned.

SAVIDGE: Well, you know, what's interesting is, most of us, of course, shun the idea of saying, oh, we've got the same old routine every day. But actually routine, according to the military, is a very good friend of those trying to reintegrate back into life after long years of captivity. So take a look at his sort of daily routine, if you will.

And it's pretty much that he eats and sleeps at a normal schedule. Gets up at a typical time, goes to bed at a typical time and has his meals when most of us do. He is on a floor that he shares with other patients. Doesn't mean he readily interacts. It also is a regular room. Nothing extraordinary except there is a security presence outside. And that, the military says, is not to keep him in, but rather to keep those who are unwanted or interlopers out. And also, despite the fact that there's a staff at that hospital of hundreds of people ready to care for him, as the other patients as well, he only interacts with less than a dozen people directly.

And then there's the storytelling. And I'm not talking about the once upon a time kind. I'm talking about him telling his very own story, covering everything of the last five years. And listening to him carefully, it would be his military psychologist, his medical team and Army debriefers. A very small group as he recounts day by day what happened to him.

BANFIELD: And, Martin, still, it will be three weeks tomorrow, this transfer you're looking at on your screen happened, and still no contact with his family? Three weeks?

SAVIDGE: Yes, naturally as a parent, I mean, we all sit there and feel that our hearts go out and wonder why this is happening. There could be a number of reasons. The military stated last week that this was at the request of Sergeant Bergdahl himself. I haven't had the chance to talk to him so I can't verify that. But it could also be that right now the military just believes he needs to stay in a kind of isolation when it comes to any kind of outside contact until they know his current state of mind. So what I'm saying is, it could be part his personal wish. It also works effectively for the military to keep him isolated for now.

BANFIELD: Well, I want to bring in Dr. Troiani when it comes to that. And specifically this issue of the difference in psychology, doctor, when it come to what we're - you know, what we're facing here with Sergeant Bergdahl. It's not the same as any kind of civilian psychology. But there is a significant difference to dealing with this kind of treatment. First and foremost, can you hear me OK?

TROIANI: Yes, I can.

BANFIELD: Excellent. Could you help me to digest this notion that after three weeks someone who's been in captivity for five years either might not want to see his family or for some professional reason shouldn't see or speak to his family?

TROIANI: It could probably be a combination of things. I think one of which is, he wants to feel more normal before he presents himself to his parents. And that's just speculation. Also, I don't think he wants his parents to see him in the state of mind that he's in. Again, having endured five years of captivity and now going through the process of -- well, he's gone through decompression, reorientation. He's going into reintegration and getting back into a routine structure. And that routine structure is being a member of the United States Army.

BANFIELD: So can I just interrupt for a moment, only because there is this one notion that the psychology that's being employed in the treatment of Sergeant Bergdahl is something called SERE. It stands for Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape.

I think of civilians would have been captured and killed in torturous conditions like the three women who were held in the Cleveland "House of Horrors" for 10 years, raped and assaulted regularly, kept in the dark, starved, beaten, forced abortion, that sort of thing. The first thing all three of them did effectively was emerge to the loving arms of family.

So I'm trying to equate what they went through. I'm only going to get, equally as horrifying, but doubly as long as what Bergdahl's going through. I'm not there understanding why the loving arms of your family will trump anything else you're feeling.

TROIANI (via telephone): Those three young ladies were children when they were kidnapped. They underwent continual sexual assault. They were torn away from their families as children. So parents coming into the scene presented comfort and support.

Whereas the sergeant, he's part of the United States military. He went through a different experience in a wartime situation, and he also experienced isolation, great sensory deprivation, and he was 100 percent removed from his world and his culture, the American culture, his world of being a member of the United States Army. So it is quite different.

SERE training is specific training for individuals who tend to be air crews, special intelligence, what to do if held captive or held as a prisoner of war. That really started in the Korean War, Vietnam War, of course, and currently all branches of the services have some sort of SERE training.

This is education, preparation and conditioning in the event you're taken hostage or held a prisoner of war which is different.

BANFIELD: Who knows if it can last for years and years on end? Dr. Troiani, thank you so much.

And, also, Martin Savidge, excellent reporting on what Bowe Bergdahl has been facing and is facing day to day. Thanks to the both of you.

Another story we're watching. Actually, we're more listening to it. Donald Sterling doesn't seem to like it too much when his doctors called him mentally incapacitated.

One thing he hasn't figured out yet, if you leave someone a voicemail, it's actually a recording. And it's a recording that can be released to the TV. You're going to hear it in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Donald Sterling doesn't seem to get it. If he goes on a rant, there's a pretty good chance it's going to be recorded and then a really good chance that recording may be broadcast to the world. The targets of his latest rants are the doctors who diagnosed him as mentally incompetent, and that allowed his estranged wife to authorize the sale of the L.A. Clippers.

Donald Sterling left those doctors some nasty voicemails -- voicemails -- the kind that you record. And you would think he would know that voicemails in their essence are recordings. His estranged wife asked a judge to protect the attorneys and the witnesses from intimidation by Mr. Donald Sterling, still her husband.

CNN's Miguel Marquez has more details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD STERLING, L.A. CLIPPERS OWNER (voice-over): I'm not incompetent. You're (EXPLETIVE DELETED) incompetent you stupid (EXPLETIVE DELETED) doctor.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Apparently nothing can stop the profanity-laden voicemails left by none other than Donald Sterling, a California court ruling the controversial Clippers owner can still contact witnesses as a brutal litigation between Sterling and his wife Shelly moves forward, this after Sterling backed out of a $2 billion deal to sell the team.

STERLING (voice-over): Nothing but a fraud and liar and cheat and I'm going to see that you lose your license, and I'm suing you for conspiracy.

MARQUEZ: Sterling threatening two physicians, Dr. James Spar and Dr. Meril Platzer who diagnosed him as mentally incapacitated, both presenting their evidence in their court on behalf of Shelly who is vying to uphold the negotiated sale.

STERLING: I'm going to call UCLA now and I'm going to get you fired from UCLA because you're nothing but a tramp.

MARQUEZ: Sterling's attorney says the calls were nothing more than a man upset, angry that he's medical records were made public And with Dr. Platzer, a neurologist who had diagnosed him with signs of Alzheimer's and dementia, he got personal.

STERLING: How dare you? What a horrible woman you are. All you did was go to the Beverly Hills Hotel and drink liquor I've got two declarations from people in my house that all did you was cry and drink at complain about your life, and then you lie about me that I'm incompetent.

MARQUEZ: In court papers, Shelly's lawyer, Pierce O'Donnell, even complained Mr. Sterling called him and begin yelling, "You're an A- hole," and then he said in the menacing tone, "I'm going to take you out, O'Donnell."

PIERCE O'DONNELL, ATTORNEY: I took that as a death threat. That hasn't happened in 40 years of being a trial lawyer.

MARQUEZ: Sterling's attorney said his client said no such thing and the billionaire's fierce intimidation caught on tape might not be enough for Shelly to win the fight.

CHRIS LEIBIG, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Being rude isn't enough. Being a jerk isn't enough. Having bad judgment isn't enough. It has to be a true mental problem. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BANFIELD: Well, how about that?

Two perfect guests, Miguel Marquez, the reporter on that piece, and HLN legal analyst Joey Jackson, a very, very clever attorney, and a teacher of the law, they're both here to talk about the legal repercussions.

First to you, Miguel, I don't even know where to start. Is there-- I know there's going to be more recordings, anything that kind of rises to the level of "I'm going to kill you?" Because you know what, it's one thing to be called a tramp. You don't take it as a threat. But it's another thing to be told "I'm going to take you out."

MARQUEZ: That's the thing, "I'm going to take you out." That will be where he comes down in trouble. That was not recorded, though. That is according to the attorneys.

All of this, the attorney saying, look, he didn't threaten anyone, he was just frustrated because he never signed away his rights to make those medical records public. Shelly Sterling's lawyer says he did, in fact, sign over those rights.

BANFIELD: Joey Jackson --

JOEY JACKSON, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, ma'am?

BANFIELD: -- while it is not good form to call people tramps and drunks and all the rest over the voicemail, does it rise to the level of anything criminal? Does it implicate him in a bad way in the legal proceedings that are at? Or is it just great television?

JACKSON: First, you thought -- or you would think -- that he may know better, right? There are people would record these things, and when you leave them on voicemails, you certainly know at that point that it's being -- that everything's being recorded.

BANFIELD: Privacy issues aside --

JACKSON: The issue is how imminent is the harm and the danger. What do you really feel?

And interestingly enough, Ashleigh, of course, in this instance, they made it a civil matter, wherein Shelly attempted to get an order of protection regarding her lawyer and of course the doctors. It would be interesting if they would have called the police instead and said, oh, my goodness, my life is in danger, I can't believe it, we need to get you.

And then of course an investigation would have been -- Miguel is not impressed.

BANFIELD: There's a lot of drama here. There's a lot of drama. Last word quickly.

MARQUEZ: Sterling threatening O'Donnell that way, it just doesn't sound like much of a threat to, I think, anybody.

JACKSON: But I guess the whole purpose was an attempt to void this so in the future they wouldn't be intimidated and everyone can play nicely and live nicely.

BANFIELD: I got to leave it there but you'll be back, both of you. There might be more.

JACKSON: You think?

BANFIELD: I keep saying I think we're at the end of this.

MARQUEZ: There might be a bit more.

JACKSON: Just when you think so, more comes out.

BANFIELD: Have a good weekend.

JACKSON: And you a great one.

BANFIELD: Thank you both, Miguel and Joey.

Just ahead, coming up, a 14-year-old middle-schooler is charged as an adult today, because of a stabbing death at his school, a mate of his. The teenager's family says he was severely bullied by that classmate and that they tried to get help from the school. They did not get help from the school and now here we are.

We're going to find out what led to all of this and what's ahead, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)