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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Court Orders Release of White House Memo Justifying Drone Strikes on American Citizens; Pro-ISIS Merchandise Appears Online; Aaron Hernandez Back in Court Today; Prisons Illegally Sterilized Women; U.S. vs. Germany

Aired June 24, 2014 - 12:30   ET

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

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: You said --

MEL ROBBINS, CNN COMMENTATOR: If Chris is making the decisions in the field, I'm comfortable with that, but there's something that feels inappropriate about it being removed, the president having secret meetings that the "New York Times" is present to, but judges aren't.

Nobody's sitting there, I'm sure, saying, hey, wait a minute, let me argue on behalf of the so-called terrorists.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: It's also an example of how technology has changed these debates.

ROBBINS: Yes.

TOOBIN: In the '40s and '50s, you couldn't target an individual. We didn't have the ability to target an individual. In a way, it's good, because we can presumably limit the danger to bystanders. But the fact that we can target individuals gives us a moral responsibility that's different from when we just bombed --

ROBBINS: But are they that accurate?

CHRIS HEBEN, FORMER NAVY SEAL: They're very accurate, guys.

BANFIELD: I have to wrap up, but I want you to have the last word on this, and it's this. Because of the work that you've done, and again, I'm not going to ask for details, but is this a more effective way of warfare, a less costly and ultimately a better way of fighting?

HEBEN: It is a very effective way to fight. Obama has launched more Predator drone strikes than Bush did. It's been proven to be very effective and cost efficient, especially with respect to human lives.

The Predator drone capability is amazing. There's capabilities that I can't even talk about but I know exits. We use them on the U.S. border with Mexico. It's a very precise piece of equipment.

BANFIELD: All right. I have to leave it there, guys. Thank you, appreciate it. The terrorist group that's fighting to take over Iraq is getting a bit

of a rock star treatment. Take a look at your screen. If you can't read that, don't worry about it. We've got the translation for you. It's a hot-ticket item that's selling on the Internet, shirts celebrating ISIS. Yeah, that's the short story. We'll have the details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: So you may choose to buy a T-shirt to show support for your favorite sports team, but what about your favorite terrorist group? I'm not kidding. Someone online is trying to sell these T-shirts showing support for the militant group ISIS that is trying right now to ruthlessly take other Iraq as we speak.

Joining me to talk about the terrorist memorabilia, I can't believe I'm actually calling it that, is Samuel Burke.

Is there any way to track down who's doing this, where are they selling them and where's the money going?

SAMUEL BURKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ashleigh, T-shirts, hoodies, polos, while terrorism experts tell me we can't be sure ISIS is the one manufacturing these shirts, it does look like they come from Indonesia, and we shouldn't be surprised if somehow ISIS is getting the money from all this paraphernalia online.

BANFIELD: Or maybe a percentage of the proceeds, because clearly it has got to cost something to produce this beautiful material. So, in English, "We are ISIS, Islamic State of Iraq and (inaudible)?"

BURKE: Yeah.

BANFIELD: What does the Arabic say?

BURKE: That's clearly the ISIS flag right there, kind of logo from the ISIS flag, God, the Prophet Muhammad. Another one says, "The Islamic State." One says, "Fight for freedom until the last drop of blood."

BANFIELD: Oh, so no "woo hoo" or anything like that.

BURKE: Exactly.

BANFIELD: What else? You've got the T-shirt? Have you got other -- what about the children's toys? I think you mentioned they're after the children's market as well.

BURKE: Even a figurine for children that comes along with a little sticker. This one, you're seeing it right now on your screen. Also, it looks like it comes from Indonesia, and there it has the Shahada, and that's one of the tenets of Islam. "There's no God but God, Muhammad is the messenger of God," and the circle reads, "Allah, Prophet Muhammad."

Again, all coming from a Web site that is in Indonesia. And one of the most interesting things for me is they're not just sticking to their Web site. They're using Facebook and Twitter.

Ana as soon as they pop up, these social networks try to take them down, but it's like Whack-A-Mole. But it just goes to show what type of good marketers they are. They're really using social media to their advantage.

BANFIELD: Unbelievable. By the way, that toy doesn't look at all comforting in the dark for a little kid. Anyway, that's just me.

Samuel Burke, thank you for that. Thanks for bringing it to our attention too.

Former NFL star Aaron Hernandez is back in a courtroom today. He's charged with first-degree murder.

We've got the details on what's he going to be facing today in that courtroom, and just exactly how his legal case is about to play out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURKE: Aaron Hernandez, the pro football star accused of murder, is going to be back in a courtroom today. The prosecutors are saying he killed two men in a drive-by shooting because he was angry over a spilled drink. That's what today's prelim is all about.

Hernandez is also charged, as you'll probably remember with a third member, unrelated, of a one-time friend, Odin Lloyd.

Susan Candiotti has been following all of these cases. I find it odd we're having to look at two separate unrelated murders at separate times. Today's hearing pertains to the double murder.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is really routine, this is the murder other the spilled drink case, as you've said. They're probably just going to go through some early motions. Possibly we might get a trial date at this point.

As we were just discussing, this is the first time we'll see him in court after he made that mysterious trip to the hospital over the weekend. So will we see a Band-Aid, will we see some evidence of that? Of course, it's more likely than not that the case of Odin Lloyd's murder will come up before -- go to trial before this one.

BANFIELD: That was the other thing. These are two completely separate operations. They're trying him completely separately. I don't know if the prosecutors are even the same.

They are completely severed. And a lot of work too. Probably pretty confusing if you're trying to follow the story. But you've been working feverishly putting together the documentary tonight.

CANDIOTTI: Sadly, Ashleigh, if it had not been for the murder of Odin Lloyd who knows whether police would have been able to unravel this unsolved double murder, and then hearing about another man who was shot in the face, so -- BANFIELD: That's really what happened, because Odin Lloyd's murder

happened, they were able to dig deeper and stumble upon lots other stuff?

CANDIOTTI: That's what precipitated following up and, to their mind, solving the double murder of that murder over the spilled drink. We begin to see the similarities and all of that.

We'll also hear details you may never have heard before. That is, what happened the night of Odin Lloyd's murder and hearing directly from his friends about what they and the family of Odin Lloyd was going through.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: So when you guys left each other, what do you remember saying to him?

DARRYL HODGE, FRIEND OF ODIN LLOYD: "I'm going to see you later."

CANDIOTTI: Little did he know there would be no later.

Monday June 17th, 5:37 p.m., Lloyd's body is discovered by a jogger in North Attleboro, 35 miles south of where he lives.

Here at the crime scene, investigators find Odin Lloyd's wallet, his driver's license, and five .45-caliber shell casings. They suspect he was first shot in the back and then finished off as he was lying face- up in a secluded area of an industrial park.

Daryl Hodge learns of the murder from Lloyd's sister Olivia who calls him.

HODGE: I could hear --

CANDIOTTI: Did she say he's dead?

HODGE: In between the cries and the bawling. Olivia, I'll be there in a minute. I got in the house, I got inside, like --

CANDIOTTI: And you saw his mom? What did she say?

HODGE: Daryl, who killed my son? What do you say to that? I immediately fell to my knees, gave her a hug. I was, like, I don't know. I was, like, I don't know.

CANDIOTTI: That night was tough for Daryl Sweet, who was also at Lloyd's home.

DARYL SWEET, FRIEND OF ODIN LLOYD: I just went back inside my car.

CANDIOTTI: What were the questions in your head?

SWEET: Who was he with? I didn't know nothing. I didn't know who he was with.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: So I just want to make sure you're reminded that Susan has been working on this special report, "Downward Spiral: Inside the Case Against Aaron Hernandez." It airs tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. Thank you, Susan. Great work. Appreciate that.

CANDIOTTI: Thank you, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Another story that we're following right now. Female prison inmates undergoing illegal sterilization procedures. It's not the 1960s, folks. This is according to a new audit done by the state of California. And it's true. Why is it happening? The details are ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Headlines out of California seem pretty shocking. Female prisoners being illegally sterilized. And we are talking about as recent as 2011. These findings come from a year-long audit that was conducted by the state of California. It concludes 39 women were illegally sterilized from 2005 to 2011. I want to be very clear here.

What makes these sterilizations illegal is a matter of procedure. This audit finds that one-third of the sterilizations were conducted without first getting required state approvals. Also, the audit says the state required waiting periods seem to be simply ignored. I want to bring in California Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal. She's joining us live from Sacramento.

Thank you for doing this. I know you were one of the lawmakers that called for this audit. Could you explain to me exactly what the circumstances are, because when you hear about forced sterilization, it takes you back to very, you know, long ago days where there was a very sinister approach to this. Are we talking about something very sinister or are we talking about something that was sort of clerical?

BONNIE LOWENTHAL, CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLYWOMAN: I guess I think it's somewhere in between because none of the required procedures were followed in the prison. Women didn't get the opportunity to have second opinions. There were regulations that weren't followed, even though the prison is under federal receivership. So from start to finish, these 144 tubal ligations were not done properly.

BANFIELD: And I know that there's this one doctor who was quoted in "USA Today" having said something to the Center for Investigative Reporting that the money to sterilize inmates was minimal compared to what you would save in welfare paying for those -- these unwanted children as they procreated more. Again, that's a "USA Today" report. But is there anything that you zeroed in on that leads you to a certain doctor or a certain medical professional where you see that it is an ideology that's afoot here and not just sort of incompetence and paperwork?

LOWENTHAL: Well, frankly, that's a disgusting comment that that physician made. BANFIELD: If it's true.

LOWENTHAL: It really is horrible. And so we wanted to get to the bottom of it. That's why we asked for this audit. We wanted to better understand if there was any demographic information that showed that only certain women underwent this procedure. What we did find out, though, is that it took place either during or immediately following giving birth, postpartum. So either -- whether it was a hysterectomy or immediately following natural childbirth without - without a proper consent form signed, without proper counseling. It was shocking and appalling to those of us in the women's caucus.

BANFIELD: And I just want to always play the devil's advocate because sometimes I simply can't believe what it is I'm reporting. I always think there's a secondary story underneath the headlines. Is it - is it possible at all, assemblywoman, that perhaps there might have been inmates who did consent, gave loads of consent, and there was plenty of waiting time at the time they gave birth for this tubal ligation and ultimately have heard this story since and thought, I'm going to get on that bandwagon because clearly they were doing some wrongdoing elsewhere and I might just fit into that case. Is that possibly part of the numbers as well, or has that been eliminated?

LOWENTHAL: No. You know, the bottom line is that under the receiver's watch, the regulations were not followed. And thinking about women in prison, you know, they still have their reproductive rights. And that's why the Center for Investigative Reporting followed this story. And that's why we tried to change the regulations.

BANFIELD: Well, I appreciate your work and thanks for taking the time to talk to us today. Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal, thank you so much.

LOWENTHAL: Thank you so much.

BANFIELD: And back to one of our top stories today, and that is the fight which is on for the control of Iraq. More specifically, that thing that makes this world tick, the battle for the oil in Iraq. The details on that coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Oh, I love that little buzz. I didn't know we had a jingle. But the USA soccer team is two days away from its next big match in the World Cup. And unless you've been living under a rock, you will probably know that the United States is going to take on Germany. It happens Thursday, after that heartbreaking draw better known as tie, with Portugal on Sunday. Shasta Darlington's in Brazil. She's got the great assignment. She was actually with the USA team this morning during practice.

So what's the game plan to advance to round two, put your heart, soul into it? What do these coaches tell their players?

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's definitely part of it, Ashleigh. The players were amazingly upbeat and positive. You know, they were out on the field joking with each other. They say they're rested and raring to go. But we did hear some bad news from coach Jurgen Klinsmann. He said that Jozy Altidore, the star striker who was injured in the first game, he's recovering but he isn't recovering fast enough to be back for this game. He said, nonetheless, that he really thinks they've got the lineup and then they're going to make it to the next stage, the knockout stage. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JURGEN KLINSMANN, U.S. SOCCER COACH: We're going to play this game to win it. You know, we are not made for going to a game to go for a tie. And that's just not in our DNA, you know, and it's not even in the DNA of the German side.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DARLINGTON: Now, Germany is a very tough team. This is probably their toughest game so far. But they still have more than a 50 percent chance of making it through the next stage. If they don't win this, if it's another tie, or if they don't win it, it will also depend on the outcome of the game now between Portugal and Ghana on the same day. But again, more than a 50 percent chance, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: OK. So I'll dig my vuvuzela out for Thursday and find myself a big screen with a beer tent somewhere.

Shasta, great assignment. Lucky you. Thanks. Also good to see Shasta Darlington. Love her.

OK, this is awesome. Queen Elizabeth, she may have her own elegant throne that dates back centuries, but she took time to check out another one that the rest of us really like. An object of intense battle among seven mythical kingdoms on the HBO series "Game of Thrones," which just so happens to be directed by my cousin, Michelle MacLaren, personal note. She got, by the way, the queen, a personal tour from one of the show's creators visiting the set in Belfast and meeting some of the cast members. Take a good look at that. Far from the jewels. That throne is made of swords. Does not look that comfortable. Kind of cool to see the queen beside it.

Thank you, everyone, for watching. It's been good to see you here today. But Wolf Blitzer's going to take over after this break.

You know what, he's going to give you the latest on Iraq. We won't take a break. We'll go straight to Wolf because there's a lot that's happening. Secretary Kerry having some very important meetings and also the issue of the oil refinery and its control is headlines today. So, Wolf will take it from here.