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Tensions between Mayor, NYPD Worsen; Ferguson, Missouri, Grand Juror Sues to Speak Publicly on Brown Case; Prince Andrew, Alan Dershowitz Accused in Under-Age Sex Ring; Passengers Stuck on Plane 12 Hours.

Aired January 05, 2015 - 14:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Bottom of the hour. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

You see this. A lot of red? The Dow falling 300 points. Behind the slide, the rapid decline in oil prices. Crude briefly dipped below $50 a barrel, which seemed unheard of not too long ago. Hasn't been that low since 2009 during the recession. While it's given drivers a big break at the gas pumps, global markets less enthusiastic.

Now to what's happening in New York City. At an event dedicated to paying respect, some New York police officers showed what a number of critics are calling absolute disrespect against their leaders. The officers -- see some of them there -- turning their backs Sunday as Mayor Bill de Blasio eulogized slain Wenjian Liu. In about half an hour, the mayor is expected to respond alongside the police commissioner. The officers' move there -- and that wasn't the first time they did that -- definitely an act of protest against de Blasio over what they say is his lack of support in the wake of nationwide protests against police brutality. That's part of their reasoning. The act of defiance happened despite the police commissioner's request to focus on, quote, "grieving" and not grievances during the officer's funeral.

There's no doubt when Liu's widow spoke, it was the tragedy of love lost, it's not police politics that came to mourners minds. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PEI XIA CHEN, WIDOW OF OFFICER WENJIAN LIU: One of his many passions is being a police officer. He took pride in the fact that he is NYPD. Wenjian Liu was a very hard-working cop. Although he worked often, he would always make sure to take time for me, his number one fan, his family and his friends. Wenjian Liu will always live in my heart. We loved you. I love you forever.

Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: They just got married months before that happened. Miguel Marquez is waiting outside of city hall.

Let's start there, Miguel. Why is the mayor calling this news conference today?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this was something that was pre-planned. They will talk about statistics for the police department in general and how things have gone for the last year. This is something that typically happens every year between the police commissioner and the mayor. Typically, it's over just few blocks away from here at city hall, but the mayor because of the situation we gather has come over to One Police Plaza where NYPD is based to talk with police directly and with the police commissioner and release those statistics about how things are going across the city related to crime.

That said, we expect he'll take questions and one of those questions, several of those questions, I'm sure, will be about the protests and about the way that police are perceiving him right now -- Brooke?

BALDWIN: Let me ask you as we talk about statistics we've seen some numbers recently police spoke about decline of arrests from New York police in the last couple of weeks. And some are attributing that to this is maybe the officers' response to Mayor de Blasio or what's been happening nationwide with these protests. What are you hearing?

MARQUEZ: It is not clear. I've spoken to union reps, the beat cops. They say there's no directive to stop making arrests or stop ticketing individuals. There's a lot going on right now across the city. You have protests on many nights in the last several weeks. Thousands of police officers get sucked into that duty. They've not been allowed to go out and do other arrests. You had two high-profile killings here. The precincts where those happened have been long down and people have not been out very much. Added to that, you have two funerals that has brought tens of thousands of police officers in from off duty, and they just haven't been as active in all of that. Plus, it's the holiday season. It's not clear that -- what one can draw from that. It's possible it's related but not very clear -- Brooke?

BALDWIN: Miguel Marquez, we'll see you a little bit on the back end of that news conference with Bratton and de Blasio.

Thank you, sir.

Just ahead, a grand juror in the Ferguson, Missouri, case is suing, wanting to speak out publicly about what happened behind-the-scenes. What's the reasons? We'll discuss.

Plus, Prince Andrew is being accused in this under-age sex ring involving a Caribbean island, an American billionaire, and a high- profile lawyer. And that lawyer, by the way, is blasting these allegations. You'll hear from him next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Prince Andrew, fifth in line to the throne, is denying accusations he's part of a sex ring. Let me set this up. Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, now this registered sex offender, allegedly kept a teenage girl as a sex slave. So in court papers, the accuser here, this woman, Virginia Roberts, says the man delivered her and other girls to powerful friends, including the Duke of York, for orgies in New York and London, the Caribbean. CNN does not normally name alleged victims of sex abuse, but in this case, Roberts opted to go public, giving an interview to a British tabloid.

Andrew falls behind his brother, Charles; nephew, William; and other nephew, Prince Harry. He's number five. William and Kate's second child, due in April, will become fourth in line, bumping Andrew down to sixth.

The royal family is now responding.

Here's CNN's Max Foster -- Max?

MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, this scandal unfolded over the weekend while Prince Andrew was on a skiing holiday in Switzerland. He's now back in the U.K., no doubt holding meetings with officials and lawyers.

(voice-over): When there's scandal at the palace, it usually goes quiet. Not this time. Not one but an unprecedented four statements issued in response to a lawsuit alleging Prince Andrew had sex with an under-age girl several times in three years from 1999 to 2002. One even went as far as specifically naming his accuser, saying, "It's emphatically denied that His Royal Highness, the Duke of York, had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Virginia Roberts. That the allegations are false and without any foundation."

Roberts, referred to as Jane Doe 3 in court papers filed last week, alleges she was kept as a sex slave for three years by the prince's former friend, billionaire businessman and convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein. During this time, Roberts claims she was forced to have sexual relations with the prince when she was a minor, in London, in New York and on Epstein's private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands, in an orgy with numerous under-age girls. According to the court filing, Epstein told Roberts to give the prince whatever he demanded and required, and to report back to him on the details.

The prince had come under harsh criticism for his friendship with Epstein back in 2011. He later resigned as an ambassador to British trade.

According to the court documents, Roberts says Epstein routinely lent her to powerful figures for sex, including well-known criminal defense attorney, Alan Dershowitz.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Max Foster, thank you.

Speaking of Alan Dershowitz, this high-profile attorney, Harvard professor, we talked to him on TV. He says the allegations are completely made up and all about money. And he talked to CNN's "New Day" in a fiery denial of the accusation by Virginia Roberts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALAN DERSHOWITZ, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY & HARVARD LAW PROFESSOR: She is a liar. She has charged Bill Clinton with having sex with her on the island when Secret Service records were obviously shows he was never on the island. She claimed to meet the queen. Buckingham records will show that's not true. How does a lawyer rely on the statement of a woman who is a serial perjurer, serial liar, serial prostitute and bring charges against somebody with an unscathed reputation like me without even checking?

I will take action. I'm filing today a sworn affidavit denying categorically the truth. I'm seeking to intervene in the case. I am challenging her to file rape charges against me. I waive any statute of limitations, any immunity, because if she files a false rape charge against me, she goes to jail. The end result of this case is she should go to jail, the lawyer should be disbarred, and everybody should understand that I am completely and totally innocent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Alan Dershowitz there.

Let's talk about what this means for the palace.

CNN royal commentator, Victoria Arbiter, joins me.

It's worth reminding our American viewers, when you think about Prince Andrew, Duke of York, you think of Fergie and the daughters and the hats and the royal wedding.

When you hear all of this -- you said Fergie herself recently has responded?

VICTORIA ARBITER, CNN ROYAL COMMENTATOR: She was cornered by a reporter. And until later Prince Andrew was skiing with his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, and his young daughter, Princess Eugenie. He and Eugenie left yesterday. But Sarah was approached by a reporter. When asked about the claims, she said he's the greatest man in the world, that the royal family are a tight unit. This is his ex-wife speaking, yet she still calls themselves a tight family unit.

BALDWIN: I read that Andrew had apologized in the past about his friendship with this American billionaire. And I guess I was wondering, do royals typically keep this kind of company and go to Caribbean islands with people like this?

ARBITER: Prince Andrew, in particular, has raised eyebrows for years over questionable relationships and shady businessman.

BALDWIN: He has.

ARBITER: He has. His love of the playboy lifestyle. In 2011, he was forced to give up his role as a special U.K. trade envoy because of his relationship with Epstein. Now, yes, royals are surrounded by advisors, yes, they have P.R.

people but, at the end of the day, they make their own decisions. And Prince Andrew on a number of occasions has been the victim of very poor judgment.

BALDWIN: Max talked about this statement from Buckingham Palace. Are you surprised Buckingham Palace touched this?

ARBITER: Buckingham Palace generally doesn't comment on allegations. If they would do that, it would take a full-time staff of 20,000 of responding to daily allegations. They had to in this case. These claims were made as part of civil proceedings that are ongoing in Florida. Prince Andrew is not party to that case, which means he cannot issue a formal response. So --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: I was wondering if we'll see a denial, like we saw with Alan Dershowitz.

ARBITER: I doubt we'll hear from Prince Andrew any time soon because he's not trained to speak in the way Alan Dershowitz is. He's a defense lawyer. That's what he does. He speaks well. He can defend himself. Prince Andrew is not trained in that respect. It may be a little while before we hear from him, if we hear from him directly at all.

BALDWIN: What a story.

ARBITER: A mess.

(LAUGHTER)

Victoria Arbiter, thank you very much.

ARBITER: Nice to see you.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, the grand juror that investigated the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, is suing challenging the lifetime gag order on the case. Why? We'll discuss.

Plus, stuck on a plane for 28 hours, folks. 2-8, 28. How their nightmare earned and why they were not allowed to leave the plane.

Stay with me. You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Six weeks after a grand jury decided not to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, one of these grand jurors wants to speak publicly. This unnamed individual wants to talk about serving on the jury and the evidence presented. This juror is suing the prosecutor just to get the permission to speak out according to the ACLU, the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU says this juror wants to talk about the case in a way that could, quote-unquote, "contribute to the public dialogue when it comes to race relations." We'll come back tot hat.

But joining me now, CNN legal analysts, Paul Callan and Mel Robbins.

Happy New Year to you two.

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Happy New Year.

MEL ROBBINS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Happy New Year.

So, Paul, former prosecutor, you get the first question which is, remind everyone before all these grand jurors left that room when they decided the majority of them not to indict Officer Wilson what were they told not to do

CALLAN: They were told not discuss the case with anybody because under Missouri law. And by the way, the law in most states is that if a grand juror talks about what they have observed in a grand jury or discussed with other grand jurors that's a crime and, in Missouri, you can go to prison for one year if you discuss testimony. They were told a second thing, though, and they were told by the prosecutor he would release all of the evidence in the case and that there was no reason for them to have to discuss it because all of the evidence would be released to the public. And, of course, the prosecutor did, with the exception I think some witnesses who are being used in the federal investigation, he did release all of the testimony.

BALDWIN: OK. So this is what they were told, the follow up being -- the real question, why does this person want to come forward.

Let's say maybe this person wants to write a book, make a little bit of money, the explanation public dialogue concerning race relations. In your gut, which way do you think this person fell as far as the indictment?

ROBBINS: There's a clue for me and that is that in the actual court papers they talk a little bit about the legal standards being muddled and untimely in terms of how they were presented.

BALDWIN: That tells you what?

ROBBINS: It tells me this is somebody that was not for no indictment. This tells me this is somebody that's saying that the process was broken and that I want to talk about my experience. And even the attorney from the ACLU is saying that this -- they are calling it Juror Doe, John or Jane Doe. We don't know -- wants to present facts and their experience as a way to help repair the broken system and to have things move forward.

So in the beginning, I thought, oh, maybe this is somebody that is going to help with race relationships and is going to say it was unanimous, the evidence spoke for itself. But when you dig a little deep into to the actual court papers, it seems pretty clear to me that this is somebody that wasn't happy with the result.

BALDWIN: Do you think he/she will get this permission, will be allowed to speak? CALLAN: Absolutely, not.

BALDWIN: Oh, come on.

CALLAN: The reason I say that is there's a law in Missouri that says you can go to jail for a year if you're a grand juror and you talk about what you saw in the grand jury. So I don't know. I guess Mel thinks out of the blue the judge will say we'll forget about the law CNN wants to know what the juror has to say. It doesn't matter --

(CROSSTALK)

CALLAN: It doesn't matter what McCollough does.

ROBBINS: Yes, it does.

CALLAN: A judge will look at this and say listen I'm not going waive a law, I don't have the right to waive a law.

ROBBINS: What they could do is compel the D.A. to grant immunity to a particular juror that wants to speak in the public interest, in the wake of the public interest, in the wake of the fact that this is a national conversation where all the evidence is out in the open. The prosecutor himself has actually been out there saying that he wants transparency. And now suddenly, one of 12 people that is unable to talk about this case, suddenly he doesn't want to be transparent about this.

CALLAN: There's a minor problem with Mel's theory.

(CROSSTALK)

CALLAN: In the history of the United States, this has never been done. We have --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: That's my next question. How often are these kinds of circumstances --

(CROSSTALK)

CALLAN: Never. Never.

(CROSSTALK)

ROBBINS: -- when has a D.A. ever just ad grand jury for this purpose and release the evidence?

CALLAN: Practically every year, in every county in America --

ROBBINS: Baloney. Baloney.

CALLAN: -- some prosecutor is accused of misusing grand juries. The reason we have grand jury secrecy, by the way, is so we'll encourage witnesses to come forward not to be afraid to testify in the grand jury.

BALDWIN: Wouldn't this change things if they do allow --

(CROSSTALK)

ROBBINS: No.

CALLAN: Radically. Can you imagine --

(CROSSTALK)

ROBBINS: He's released everything.

CALLAN: Can you imagine --

ROBBINS: There is no secrecy except for these 12 people. Why shouldn't they be able to speak?

(CROSSTALK)

CALLAN: The 12 people on the grand jury, and if you were to allow them -- think of the precedent. All grand juries across America, we'll second guess every indictment. We're going to have people talk about what they debated about and --

ROBBINS: That's not true.

(CROSSTALK)

CALLAN: -- what they heard.

(CROSSTALK)

CALLAN: Let's say you had a rape victim who thought she could tell her story in the grand jury without that story being distributed by some grand juror. Well, the next day, in Mel's world, she will go out and gave press conference about it.

(CROSSTALK)

CALLAN: I think that's a bad idea.

BALDWIN: Then you would say McCulloch was in the wrong because he released everything. And that will have a chilling affect.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Who would indict?

ROBBINS: A judge ultimately would.

BALDWIN: A judge would.

ROBBINS: Yes, absolutely. I think the bigger problem here is, let's just take a step back from the legal stuff, because they with maneuver this because they could maneuver this and figure this out if they wanted to let the grand jurors speak, is that the public distrusts already what happened. The public already doesn't have faith in the system. So if you have a situation where one of 12 people comes forward and says, I just want to tell my experience, and the prosecutor who has been promising transparency suddenly says, no, that is going to make people trust the system even less.

CALLAN: So let's throw out the law.

(CROSSTALK)

CALLAN: And just make it up as we go along.

ROBBINS: No.

(CROSSTALK)

CALLAN: Because that will make the public confident.

(CROSSTALK)

ROBBINS: Let's file an injunction and --

(CROSSTALK)

CALLAN: I think we have a legal system and we should apply the law and that's the way we've developed this country. Throw it out on a case by case basis.

(CROSSTALK)

CALLAN: -- on a case-by-case basis.

ROBBINS: -- like if we were spending holidays together.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Mel Robbins and Paul Callan, we'll see what happens. Then you can say you are right or you are right. There you go.

(CROSSTALK)

ROBBINS: You're a very, very graceful loser.

CALLAN: Thank you very much.

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: We continue on.

Thanks, you two. I appreciate it very much. Great discussion.

Coming up next, this absolute nightmare on the tarmac. You thought you had it bad trying to get home for the holidays. Imagine passengers stuck on an airplane for 28 hours. How can that happen? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: When you are on a plane, waiting to takeoff, sometimes ten minutes can feel like an hour. Imagine sitting on the tarmac waiting for 12 hours. 12 hours. That happened to a flight from Abu Dhabi to San Francisco. Passengers weren't happy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED PASSENGER: They kept telling us we were leaving 15 minutes from now, 30 minutes from now, 15 minutes from now, for 12 hours.

UNIDENTIFIED PASSENGER: The flight attendants were fighting with us, we were fighting with them.

UNIDENTIFIED PASSENGER: The airline has a website but there was no updated information on the website.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Plane landed in San Francisco 16 hours after it took off. Do the math, 28 hours on a plane.

CNN's Suzanne Malveaux joins me with maybe a little bit more insight on this.

Why did this happen?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, I don't know if this was your reaction, but when I heard this, would I be one of those passengers to rip open the emergency door at that point.

(LAUGHTER)

It was infuriating what they went through, the frustration. According to the airline, Abu Dhabi airport closed for just an hour. Had these airlines wait for this freak of nature, this fog that rolls in, to clear. Then massive congestion on the tarmac. Hundreds of planes, different airlines. They crowd the runways, the gateways, which caused the long delays, ultimately the cancellations. They had to wait for clearance. Clearance didn't come for many hours. Quite frankly, Brooke, they were unprepared for this type of scenario. They are not used to it. It was a desert area. It was a huge mess.

BALDWIN: When I heard about this, I'm thinking passenger Bill of Rights. This doesn't apply over there. You mentioned the fog. I also read something about plane delays, switching crews. Was that part of the issue?

MALVEAUX: Yeah. It seems crazy but two things were at play. From the passengers they are saying they are told there wasn't enough space in the airport to accommodate them. So many airlines in the same boat, they couldn't handle all these passengers who were delayed. So the other thing that was in play, and this is the airlines explanation, they told us through the statement the delay was compound by the fact that they had to replace the original crew with a fresh one because of rules limiting the crew's flight time. Not allowed the have the same crew do this 12 hour shift and what's called a long haul shift, the 16 hours of that flight to get to San Francisco. What the airline was calling circumstances largely beyond their control.

So it really does reveal a problem here, Brooke, which is, here in the United States, the U.S. Department of Transportation prohibits airlines from keeping passengers on a plane for more than four hours leaving from the United States. Those rules they don't apply to foreign carriers overseas. So if it happens, let's say, from San Francisco, that airline would have been fined a lot of money if they would had stayed on that plane more than three or four hours -- not the case when it actually took off from Abu Dhabi.

BALDWIN: I thought I had it bad when my flight was canceled on Christmas Eve eve.

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: These people have me beat.

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: Suzanne Malveaux, thank you very much.

(CROSSTALK)

MALVEAUX: All right, thanks, Brooke.