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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Reports Indicates Several NFL Players Under Investigation for Various Crimes; Obama Prepares Speech on ISIS Threat; Roger Goodell Tells His Story to CBS

Aired September 10, 2014 - 12:00   ET

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: "LEGAL VIEW" with Ashleigh Banfield starts right now.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: On this eve of 9/11, President Obama is ready to reveal his plan to degrade and destroy the terrorists that even al Qaeda wants taken out. What is his strategy to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria before they strike America?

And is there anyone or anything ISIS won't terrorize? After beheading innocent journalists, now they're threatening to assassinate twitter techs. The guys who shut down their accounts.

Also this hour, the NFL commissioner on the defensive. Did he really say Ray Rice may just get a second chance? Hello, everyone.

I'm Ashleigh Banfield and welcome to LEGAL VIEW. Ray Race may be the most hated athlete in America at the moment. But now, NF commissioner Roger Goodell is giving Rice a run for his money, with calls for his firing getting louder by the minute. The fury building over Goodell's handling of the Ray Rice scandal, the initial two-game suspension and then of course the video clearly showing him punching his fiancee in the face.

ESPN host Keith Olbermann has called Goodell an enabler of men who beat women. A San Francisco chronicle columnist Ann Killion wrote Roger Goodell should follow Rice out the door. And Terry O'Neal, president of the National Organization for Women, broadened it to not just a Goodell problem, but a crisis within the entire NFL. Saying, quote, the NFL has lost its way. It, quote, sets the example for college, high school, middle school and even elementary school football programs. And, quote, new leadership must come in to transform the culture of violence against women, end quote.

Now Goodell himself is coming forward and speaking to CBS news, Miguel Marquez looks at the interview and Goodell's shocking statement about Rice's future.

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MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN REPORTER: Under a firestorm of criticism, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, speaking out for the first time since this shocking video was released on Monday. In an interview with CBS News, Goodell says the league never saw this video until after it was posted by TMZ Sports. NORAH O'DONNELL, CBS ANCHOR: Did you know that a second tape existed?

ROGER GOODELL, NFL COMMISIONER: We had not seen any videotape of what occurred in the elevator. We assumed there was a video. We asked for video. But we were never granted that opportunity.

O'DONNELL: What was ambiguous about her laying unconscious on the floor being dragged out by her feet?

GOODELL: There was nothing ambiguous about that. That was the result that we saw. We did not know what led up to that. We did not know the details of that. We asked for that on several occasions. It was unacceptable in and of itself what we saw in the first tape. And that's why we took action. Albeit insufficient action. And we acknowledge that. We took responsibility for that. I did personally. And I take responsibility for that now.

MARQUEZ: But Revel Casino, where the attack occurred, said it gave copies of the video to police, prosecutors, the State Division of Gaming Enforcement and to Ray Rice's own attorney. Baltimore Ravens owner, Steve Bisciotti, penning an open letter to fans on Tuesday to apologize saying in part, the decision to let Ray Rice go was unanimous. Seeing that video changed everything. We should have seen it earlier, we should have pursued our own investigation more vigorously. We didn't and we were wrong.

O'DONNELL: What does that mean that he was suspended indefinitely? Does that mean Ray Rice will never play in the NFL again?

GOODELL: I don't rule that out, but he would have to make sure that we are fully confident that he is addressing this issue.

MARQUEZ: Rice's wife, Janay, breaking her silence in this Instagram post to defend her husband and blast the media. To make us relive a moment in our lives that we regret every day is a horrible thing, to take something away from the man I love that he has worked his expletive off all his life just to gain ratings is horrific. This is our life. What don't you all get? If your intentions were to hurt us, to embarrass us, make us feel alone, take all happiness away, you succeeded on so many levels. The NFL commissioner insists the buck stops with him.

O'DONNELL: Did the NFL drop the ball or was the NFL willfully ignorant about what was on this tape?

GOODELL: We certainly didn't know what was on the tape. But we have been very open and honest. And I have also, from two weeks ago, when I acknowledged that we didn't get this right. That's my responsibility. And I'm accountable for that.

MARQUEZ: Miguel Marquez, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: I want to bring in Rachel Nichols, host of CNN's "UNGUARDED", HLN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney, Joey Jackson and CNN commentator and legal analyst, Mel Robbins. First to you, Rachel, can Goodell keep his job, whether it's him stepping down or owners kicking him out?

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN ANCHOR: I think he will keep his job. I understand all of the calls for him to step down. But that's not the way the NFL works. This is not the court of public opinion. The only people who have the power to remove Goodell are the 32 other owners in the National Football League and he has made those owners extremely wealthy over the past few years.

He's been a great steward of the game, as far as they are concerned, with their interests. Obviously, public opinion is important to them. Morality and doing the right thing is important to them. I don't want to pretend that it's nothing. But, let's be honest, the bottom line is the most important to this business. And I just want to give you an example.

The TV deals that he has been able to negotiate are so good that CBS, who he gave that interview yesterday to, is debuting a Thursday night football package this week. Thursday nights, eight games this year, so it's one year for eight games. A $275 million rights fee for one year for eight games. That's the kind of money he's making them. He made $44.2 million himself last year. That's how they rewarded him. They're not gonna get rid of him over this.

BANFIELD: Money talks and a lot of times these stories in the news cycle walk, Mel. Here's the problem. In that CBS interview, Rachel just alluded to it, he never said that Ray Rice wouldn't come back to the field. It's possible he could. And yet even that has been sort of a top headline today.

MEL ROBBINS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: The other thing that struck me about that interview, as you said, a lie. He said, we didn't know what was on that tape. They knew full well that Ray Rice punched his wife and they saw her unconscious. And so, it bothers me, first of all, that he's not being publicly called out for lying to the public about that statement. But to your point --

BANFIELD: Well, let me just mitigate him for a second. I'm going to play the devil's advocate here. Cause lie is a strong word. He didn't know what it looked like. He knew something awful happened because you don't get unconscious by serving dinner in the elevator. But he didn't see how awful it was. Which is also a case, and I'll let you talk to this, Joey. There are other cases of domestic violence being adjudicated right now and they pleaded guilty and they're playing on the field.

JOEY JACKSON, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, that's a great question. And there's a couple of things that bring about concern here. The first How do you even impose discipline as a commissioner without all of the information required to do so? and then when you do impose the discipline, you backtrack on it by saying, wow, this is a new revelation to me. I saw this tape. Well, to your point, Mel, what do you think happened in the elevator if you're dragging your girlfriend -- then-girlfriend, now-wife out in an unconscious state? did it change that much or is this, to Rachel's point, a revenue issue? do we now have to apiece our sponsors, appease these who follow the game and backtrack to do it not because it's the right thing to do but because they have to do it now because of the mass pressure that's on them. That's the saddest part of all. Do the right thing from day one. Not when everyone's looking at it.

BANFIELD: How about this? some say better late than never. I'm sure I'm pronouncing this wrong, Steve Bisciotti, the owner of the Baltimore Ravens. I was astounded when last night, I think it was on Anderson Cooper's program, I heard this letter he had written to the fans.

NICHOLS: I'll give credit to the Ravens. We talked the other day about not crediting the ravens for finally releasing Ray Rice when they should have taken action before. What they are doing today and yesterday was impressive. And you can compare it next to Roger Goodell. He was not as forthcoming in that interview as one would hope. And yet the Ravens, in this letter from the owner, did a tick tock, extremely transparent explanation of every step along the way where they did try to get this tape, where they fell down on the job afterward, where they stopped looking for it. When it did become available. He apologized. He said they were wrong. He said they had to do better. There weren't excuses in this letter. This seemed like a genuinely remorseful letter. Now I'm sure it is also a PR hand that you got to make things good with the fans that are buying tickets, but at least it seemed like they got it.

BANFIELD: Mel, let me ask you this. Is there anything, now that some will say, better late than never. Others say, day late, dollar short. And I'm not sure where the weight falls with the fans., cause they're the ones who are paying the tickets. Is there anything the NFL can do to make this better?

ROBBINS: That's a great question.

NICHOLS: Yes. Yes.

ROBBINS: They could actually suspend Ray McDonald who was arrested in August, three days after the new policy came out, and say, we're going to do a thorough investigation --

BANFIELD: Are they now supposed to go through the 713 arrest records that I'm about to broadcast for you in a few moments --

NICHOLS: This is different, Ashleigh. What we're talking about here is, yes, there is a clear way to make this better. There are two current cases on the commissioner's desk --

BANFIELD: Domestic violence?

NICHOLS: Yes. We are going to talk about cases in the past. And that's also a good topic of conversation, but let's talk about what's going on right now. You said, how can they make this better?

JACKSON: But they instituted a new policy following this -- this goes along the line with someone drowns, now we build a fence. In light of what happened to Ray Rice -- NICHOLS: But they have to enforce it. They're not even enforcing the

new policy.

ROBBINS: You have people swimming in pools without fences. You have the Cardinals and the 49ers that have players right now -- one that was convicted of two different charges and another one that's facing felony charges. You're just kind of letting the investigation go.

BANFIELD: Since you guys are talking about it, I want to show our viewers -- I'm not sure if you can see.

JACKSON: 713 arrests.

BANFIELD: 713. This is a document that USA Today put together. Rachel's going to weigh in on it. But here you go. This is basically 61 pages of NFL players who have arrests from everything from sort of a traffic violation all the way up to murder. And we're going to go through it and actually put some context to it because at first flush, I nearly fell over at my desk when I got this yesterday.

NICHOLS: We'll break this down.

JACKSON: Real quick, I do believe in redemption and I do believe at the end of the day, if measures are taken and he establishes himself to do very good things in the future, that he doesn't deserve the death penalty, with respect to his career. What he did is deplorable, it's a horrific thing, never should happen. Violence in any form, towards women or otherwise, but to use him as the lightning rod, to ban him from the league ,to take away everything he owns, I think we believe in America in redemption and if he proves and establishes himself, he deserves a second opportunity.

NICHOLS: I agree, but I would like to see the league redeem itself, too.

BANFIELD: There you go, amen to that. Joey Jackson, Mel Robbins, Rachel Nichols, I knew I had the right panel. I knew I absolutely struck it with you guys. Not the last of this, as well, because Ray Rice, of course, as you just heard, is not the only player who's linked to domestic violence. At least two other players took part in games just this last week despite legal cases against them for domestic violence. At one point, there was even someone pleaded to doing it. Said, sure you bet, I'm guilty. Back on the field. How did that work? It's as big an issue for them as it is for America. We'll talk about that coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: I want you to take a quick look at this big screen behind me. It might just look like a graphic, but it's actually a list of all NFL players who were arrested dating back to the year 2000, 14 years worth.

So we're just going to keep scrolling as I continue to tell you about this. This was a "USA Today" effort. They compiled this list, and the length of it is pretty breathtaking. It just keeps going and going. There's more than 700 arrests, for charges more serious that common traffic violations. Many of them are drug and alcohol-related. A lot of them involve violence.

As CNN's Jean Casarez reports, the Ray Rice domestic violence scandal is far from unique.

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