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Gas Explosion at Mexico City Maternity Hospital; Mitt Romney Acting Like Presidential Candidate; Brawl at Ferguson Meeting for Healing; Joe Theismann Talks Football, Marshawn Lynch

Aired January 29, 2015 - 11:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Our breaking news comes out of Mexico. At least seven people are dead including four children after a gas explosion rocked a maternity hospital very near Mexico City.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Dozens of people are injured and many others are trapped inside the collapsed building. That's what we're hearing at this very hour. Officials say a truck was supplying gas to the hospital when a hose burst and the leak caused the explosion.

CNN producer, Fidel Gutierrez, is live from Mexico City and can help us try to understand the enormity of the situation.

Fidel, when you look at those images, you have to start thinking that it's possible that there could be many more injured following that gas explosion. What are you hearing about the blast?

FIDEL GUTIERREZ, CNN PRODUCER: Hi. As you just said, it's been reported seven deaths, four of them are babies and three of them are adults. That's the last of what the authorities have said. The mayor of the city, Miguel Montara, it's been reported that this explosion took place at the morning in the West of the city. It is the last update. About 54 injuries have been taken to different hospitals in the city.

BERMAN: Are you hearing that there are still concerns that people may be inside that rubble? There's so much damage there. Is everyone at this point accounted for?

GUTIERREZ: The authorities have said that they are working the try to find out if there are people inside, if people are trapped inside this hospital. But they still don't know if there are or not. They will try to find out with some special equipment, like dogs to track if there are some people inside. The authorities has not confirmed, but they believe there could be some people trapped. They are not sure. The federal authorities are being in touch with the local authorities. They send more federal elements like the Army and the other kind of securities for helping out to the local authorities. This is just the last information.

BOLDUAN: Fidel Gutierrez in Mexico City for us.

Fidel, thank you very much. We'll continue to track this situation.

You see these images, John. You have to believe there's going to be many more injured.

BERMAN: Seven dead so far, at least four of them children, 54 injuries, Fidel tells us. He also says authorities are still looking at the possibility there could be people trapped in the rubble.

BOLDUAN: Sending more resources to the scene to try to help out as you can imagine. We'll keep you updated on this one.

We also have to talk politics this morning. He hasn't said he's officially running for president, but Mitt Romney seems to be acting like it, going on offense taking a swipe at Hillary Clinton on the way.

BERMAN: If you like drama, you're in luck. The Super Bowl is here. You're also in luck if you like football, because they are going to play a game. We'll talk about all the story lines actually on the field and the ones off as well. NFL legend, Joe Theismann, joins us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: A shocking political move from Mitt Romney. He gave a speech at Mississippi State University, but that wasn't the shocking thing. No. Not only that, he went way out on a political limb, way out. He ate barbecue.

BOLDUAN: Shush.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

MITT ROMNEY, (R), FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR & FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I didn't know I had a choice.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: How do you decide? Talk with your mouthful. Not talk with your mouth full. The eating on camera is never a winner.

But also he was not only eating barbecue, he was also taking very serious swipes at Hillary Clinton. Shocker. Saying in the speech he gave, "How can secretary of state provide opportunity for all if she doesn't know where jobs come from in the first place?" He also said that she is clueless in her approach to Russia.

Let's talk about this. Let's bring in CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist, Paul Begala; as well as Doug Heye, former deputy chief of staff to one of the then-top Republicans in the House, Eric Cantor.

Paul, let me get right to you.

It sounds like, when you're starting to eat barbecue in Mississippi, you have to be running for something. But he's also, taking on Hillary Clinton pretty hard.

PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah. But first, congratulations to those engineers -- the technology behind those animatronic dolls that make them so lifelike that when they run out of batteries they actually look like they're eating.

BOLDUAN: Stop it.

BEGALA: But I know. God bless him. You know, I advise the pro Obama super PAC and we ran millions of dollars in ads attacking Mitt Romney. Here is my advice. Run, Mitt, run. We know how to beat you. We'll do it again if you run again. It seems really pathetic when candidates, as "The Washington Post" said this morning, when a candidate has to rebrand yourself as authentic. When you're rebranding as authentic, you're probably not very authentic.

BERMAN: I want to get to exactly that point, Doug. The Romney people say he's not rebranding, just run being a new message in a new format.

Let me play something for you that he said last night. I covered Mitt Romney in '08 and 2012 and there was a joke he like to tell about Ann Romney. He said when he ran for the Senate once, he turned around and said, in your wildest dreams did you ever think I would be running for Senate? She said, Mitt, you weren't in my wildest dreams.

(LAUGHTER)

Listen to what he said about that joke last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY: She said, Mitt, you weren't in my wildest dreams.

(LAUGHTER)

Actually, she didn't say that. That was a joke I bought during my campaign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: He said what?

BERMAN: So he just said last night that he bought that joke during his campaign.

BOLDUAN: Purchased. Purchased.

BERMAN: Purchased the joke from a writer. Apparently, he said that in the fall, also. I don't know if he's kidding about that. I don't know what's real or not.

But, Doug, if part of new authenticity is to talk about the fact -- joke about the fact you weren't authentic before, is that a problem?

DOUG HEYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, candidates always want to be auth n tick, whether that's real authenticity or fake authenticity. I'm product of the south. Paul is a product of the south. I'll never criticize anybody for having good southern barbecue we have a lot of.

(LAUGHTER)

It's one of the things Mitt Romney is going to need to really show if he's going to run, that he's an authentic person, he's going to talk about real issues that Americans care about every day, about the take home pay, about their school. But there's not a lot of Republicans that think Mitt Romney, at the end of the day, for the valid criticisms he'll offer Hillary Clinton, he's going to be a candidate in 2016.

BOLDUAN: Also, I was just reading this in "Politico." But Mike Allen has AN interesting reporting, Paul, that the Clinton campaign, some suggestion they're not going to announce her candidacy in July. That's months later than originally anticipated. Why is that decision, that might be feeding into what she dealt with the last time around, it's a coronation campaign rather than a real serious go at it.

BEGALA: I can't confirm or deny.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: I'm not asking you to confirm or deny. What do you think of it?

BEGALA: As an analyst, she's in a totally opposite position from the Republicans. The later she gets in, the better. Why?

BOLDUAN: Why?

BEGALA: Because she's got a 75 percent favorable among Democrats right now. I can tell you --

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: The moment you run, it goes down.

BEGALA: Exactly. That's exactly right. The moment she gets in, you go down. Also, it's hard to dance in that spotlight for month after month after month. Right now, because she's hanging back, the spotlight quite rightly is turned to the Republicans. They have the clown car gathering at the Steve King forum in Iowa other day where Sarah Palin tossed a word salad around, and Donald Trump threw his hair in the ring. As a Democrat, I want to see a spotlight on that disaster rather than the inevitable mistakes that any Democratic campaign will have.

BERMAN: Doug, as an analyst and someone who advices candidates ad and politicians, how much would you advise Republican candidates right now to talk about Hillary Clinton? There are some who suggest they need to hone their own message first with their own policies, focus less on who might be their opponent down the line, focus on yourself right now.

HEYE: They should do both. Hillary Clinton has a record we need to examine as closely as possible. At the same time, Republicans need to remember it's not always talking about budgets and outlays and dynamic scoring and exciting things like that. To steal a phrase from Paul, it's about putting people first, talk about families, talk about take home pay. At the same time, Hillary Clinton has her own authenticity problem. She talks about poverty but does so while making $250,000 at a speech. Has a contract writer like Van Halen of no green M&Ms and --

(LAUGHTER)

-- you can't look them directly in the eye. You've got to be authentic. That's something the candidates need to remember as they move towards 2016.

BOLDUAN: You should see Paul Begala's contract rider. It's crazy.

(LAUGHTER)

HEYE: I couldn't look him in the eyes. He wouldn't let me.

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: We have to separate the two men.

Gentlemen, Paul Begala, Doug Heye, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

BEGALA: Thank you.

HEYE: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Thanks, guys.

Coming up, new tensions between citizens and police in St. Louis. A brawl breaks out inside city hall -- look at this -- at a meeting that was meant to try to heal that very rift.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Welcome back. It looks like the old wounds from Ferguson, Missouri, have been reopened. Apparently, they're still a long way from healing.

BERMAN: I want to show you what happened last night at a public meeting at city hall near St. Louis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SHOUTING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: It's not pretty. Pushing and shoving and shouting. That is after a police union official tried to speak at that meeting.

BOLDUAN: No serious injuries or arrests were reported. But clearly, you can see it right there, the divisions are still very much there.

Sara Sidner explains what led up to the scuffle.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First of all, you do not tell me my function.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Chaos unfolding last night between citizens and police at a public meeting in St. Louis, Missouri. The meeting, over a bill intended to improve relations between the community and police. Yet, the meeting achieved anything but.

CURTIS BERGDOOR (ph), POLICE OFFICER: We've heard from speakers before.

SIDNER: One city police officer, Curtis Bergdoor (ph), at the podium, expressing his disapproval for the new bill to establish a civilian oversight board over police work.

(SHOUTING)

SIDNER: Seconds later, the room erupts into shouts, profanity and a shoving match.

Protesters blame police union business manager, Jeff Roorda, who openly displayed an "I am Darren Wilson" wrist band, igniting tensions. Then he and a woman ended up in a confrontation. It's unclear who started it.

He says protesters shouted police down and he stood up to object.

JEFF ROORDA, BUSINESS MANAGER, ST. LOUIS POLICE OFFICERS UNION: As I tried to exit, she continued to do that. Two or three other anti- police radicals rushed over and things deescalated or escalate Friday there.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You didn't push a woman though?

ROORDA: No.

SIDNER: Cachet Curry (ph) says she's no radical but a citizen and Roorda shoved her.

CACHET CURRY, CITIZEN: I was getting up to leave. Roorda pushed me over, trying to get to Kennedy (INAUDIBLE).

SIDNER: The sponsor of the bill, Alderman Antonio French (ph), tweeted, "We saw once again tonight how fractured our city remains. We have a lot of work to do."

This just the last confrontation following months of unrest in the wake of the death of Michael Brown and the acquittal of the Ferguson police officer, Darren Wilson, who shot him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: Sara Sidner is joining us now.

Sara, in your piece, it lays out very clearly, clearly fractures remain in this community. What ended upcoming from the meeting? Did anything happen? And what happens now?

SIDNER: Nothing happened. Once this went off, they could not calm everybody down. It really speaks to the issue. If the two sides can't even speak to each other in a meeting that's supposed to be about bringing the community together, bringing police and the community together, then what is going to become of this movement and the problems that happened and began in Ferguson?

Back to you guys.

BERMAN: That's metaphor for the whole situation. If they can't talk about it, how do you expect to move forward?

Sara Sidner, appreciate it.

The Super Bowl is upon us. Everyone is talking about it, except the Seattle Seahawks' running back, Marshawn Lynch. He will only face them to avoid a fine.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: -- he wears sunglasses.

BERMAN: That's true. To avoid a fine. The thing is, he may be fined anyway. We're going to speak to a former NFL great, Joe Theismann, about all the drama.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: It is Super Bowl time folks. I'm excited.

BERMAN: I'm excited.

BOLDUAN: John could care less. I'm kidding.

At this hour, there's a lot going on. Patriots quarterback, Tom Brady, is battling a cold. That is a very, very serious. Also, this, I think, is more interesting. Seattle running back, Marshawn Lynch, he could face a fine despite his efforts to avoid that very fine. His appearance at Super Bowl media day was the ultimate example of mailing it in, if you will.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARSHAWN LYNCH, SEATTLE SEAHAWKS RUNNING BACK: Answer me all the questions y'all want to, I'm going to answer with the same answer, so y'all can shoot if y'all please. I'm here so I won't get fined.

I'm here so I won't get fined.

I'm here so I won't get fined.

I'm here so I won't get fined.

I'm just here so I won't get fined.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Can't argue with that. He said it nearly 30 times. Turns out, that the league might fine him anyway because of the hat that he was wearing. It has a logo on it, the Beast Mode logo on it. That's Lynch's own brand of wear. They could fine to promote his clothing line without getting league permission. BOLDUAN: I don't know why that makes me have the giggles so much.

Our next guest knows a thing or two about getting ready for the Super Bowl, about the media day, about all of it, Joe Theismann, who led the Washington Redskins to victory in Super Bowl 17. He's now a football analyst and entrepreneur. He's joining us from Phoenix.

Thank you so much for being here.

As someone who has sat in that chair --

JOE THEISMANN, FORMER WASHINGTON REDSKINS QUARTERBACK & FOOTBALL ANALYST & ENTREPRENEUR: I appreciate it. But I'm only here because I won't get fined. That's why I'm here.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: I'm going to ask you 29 questions and let's see how we get through this. As someone who's sat in that seat, is the media at media day, is it that painful that you can't get through it? What's going on with Marshawn Lynch?

THEISMANN: I think Marshawn Lynch personally just doesn't want to do interviews. Sometimes you have to respect someone's individuality. The guy is very uncomfortable in this environment. So instead of forcing him to do it, putting him through the circus, he gets more attention by saying nothing than if he did if he would have said something.

BOLDUAN: Sure.

THEISMANN: Let the guys, Russell Wilson, Richard Sherman, let the guys that want to talk, talk. I think the media did what he needs to do. Marshawn did what he needed to do.

BERMAN: Why even bother? Why does the NFL demand that this guy sit there and repeat that ridiculous line?

THEISMANN: I agree. I agree with you. Why force him to do it? The fact he showed up and says nothing means he doesn't get fined. It's probably going to cost him a hundred grand for the hat. So in showing up, he actually is going to lose more money than if he didn't show up. That's how ridiculous the whole situation is for him.

BOLDUAN: To talk about what some may think is also a ridiculous situation, you did a bit of a scientific test when it comes to the deflated football issue and the Patriots. You didn't think there was a difference that you could tell. What do you make of this whole controversy?

THEISMANN: I think it's a lot to do about nothing when it comes to the outcome of the football game. I think it's very important to the integrity of professional football. With all the black eyes that football has received this year, this is a situation they really are taking time to try and get right. I think it goes to the integrity of the game. I don't believe that Bill Belichick knew. I don't believe that Tom Brady knew. What happened in that two hour and 15 minute period when the officials did not see the ball, that's something we'll find out after February 1st.

BERMAN: What is we don't find out, Joe? What if there never is proof and all we're left with ask the fact that these footballs had less air than they were supposed to? Do they have to punish the Patriots in some way or will they get away with no punishment at all?

THEISMANN: If they find out there was a reason other than someone asking someone to do it or done intentionally, I don't think the league has any other option to say, look, the New England Patriots are exonerated from this, it was the atmosphere, whatever the answer is. You can't try to try and convict somebody because you want to convict them. Let's let the evidence play out. And then let's make a decision accordingly. I think that's the way you have to look at it. If it turns out they didn't do anything wrong, then the league does do owe an apology.

BERMAN: We'll ask you about an issue I know is close to your heart here. It has to do with youth, football and the issue of concussions. It says if you get your bell rung before you're 12. But you're much worse off later on down the line. You've been working with Pop Warner about ways to try to improve the situation.

THEISMANN: Right. We have. And those studies are so important. I've been associated now as a consultant with a company called unequal. It's called a gyro. It's a Kevlar composite that goes inside the helmet. It helps try and prevent concussions. The study that we did with Pop Warner Football, we took 20 teams, independent teams, and we had over 500 players. Of those players, we noticed that the concussions were reduced 75 percent below the national average in youth football.

I encourage parents out there and coaches out there, take a look at our website, which is unequal.com, do the research. Kurt Warner, for example, didn't want his kids playing football. He found Unequal, and now both of his boys play football. He had concussions. I've had concussions. Certainly, it's a major issue for all of us in sports. And it's something we want to make as part of Unequal, and the company, we want to make the game safe for kids. (CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: It's a major issue.

THEISMANN: And I think parents really want to find an answer to it. It really is. It really is.

BOLDUAN: Everyone who love the game.

THEISMANN: This is an opportunity.

BOLDUAN: Everyone does. Everyone wants it to be a safer game, absolutely.

Joe Thiesman, great to see you. Thanks for being on.

CUOMO: That's it for us today. "Legal View" with Ashleigh Banfield starts right now.