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Robert Menendez Charges; Ferguson Report; February Jobs Report; Harrison Ford Accident

Aired March 06, 2015 - 14:00   ET

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


ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. I'm Ana Cabrera. And we are breaking news right now here on CNN. We have just learned the Justice Department is preparing to bring charges against New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez. Now, they would be criminal charges of corruption. Let's bring in our justice reporter, Evan Perez.

Evan, what are the allegations here?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, Ana, the attorney general, Eric Holder, in one of his final acts before he leaves office, has signed off on prosecutors' requests to bring charges against Senator Robert Menendez. This is a case that's been going on for several years. Prosecutors here in Washington for the Justice Department's public integrity section have been focusing on his relationship with a doctor, an ophthalmologist, in Florida, whose name is Salomon Melgen.

The focus of this investigation goes back to 2010 and some trips, lavish trips, according to the government, that Dr. Melgen provided to Senator Menendez, along with campaign donations both to the Democratic Party and to the senator. According to the government, the senator used -- got these gifts and these donations and in exchange for that he tried to influence things in the government on behalf of Dr. Melgen. Now that includes a dispute that the doctor had with the Medicaid administrator because he was being accused of fraud. And then secondly, he was also pushing a contract that the doctor had a company that had a contract down in the Dominican Republic. And so this is the focus of the investigation by the Justice Department. We expect that these charges are going to come in the next couple of weeks. This is something that's been a long time in coming at the Justice Department.

CABRERA: I want to bring in CNN's chief political analyst Gloria Borger now.

Gloria, give us a little bit more insight into Senator Menendez. I know he is a pretty high ranking Democrat.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. He is a high ranking Democrat. Was chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee when Democrats held control. And I think what my colleague Evan's good reporting is really outlining here is sort of the classic charge of quid pro quo, which is that you have a large contributor who's been very generous to you over the years. Don't forget the senator's office had to pay back, I believe, $58,000 in plane trips for 2010 for failing to disclose them. So this is somebody he was - he was very close to.

And the quid pro quo comes with allegations that he intervened with federal Medicare administrators who alleged that his friend had been over-billing them. So I think that this is, you know, this is one of those classic cases. The Justice Department obviously feels that given the testimony they've now gotten, that they can proceed with these charges. As you know, Senator Menendez has been - has been fighting this for quite some time.

CABRERA: And he's also been an outspoken critic most recently of President Obama. He's been a little bit of a polarizing figure right within the party, right?

BORGER: Yes. Well, he's been critical of the president on Cuba, for example, very strongly. And I think it's a criticism the president had to take quite seriously when he changed his Cuba policy given Menendez's position within the party. But I wouldn't say that his criticism of Obama is directly linked to anything the Justice Department is or is not doing.

CABRERA: I also wonder what it's going to mean for the Democratic Party in general. We have the Hillary Clinton stuff this week and now this new information.

BORGER: Yes.

CABRERA: How big of a shakeup is that party going through and seeing right now?

BORGER: No, I - yes, I think you have to look at those things through very separate lenses. You know, Menendez is, while a powerful person on Capitol Hill, is not running for the presidency. Hillary Clinton is in a very different position. And, of course, you cannot equate this question of her using her private e-mail with the sort of charges that the Justice Department might be bringing against Menendez. I mean it's really kind of an apple and an orange. And, again, Hillary Clinton is in the presidential spotlight. And that's a - that's a very different level of scrutiny when you're a presidential candidate and I think Hillary Clinton has got to expect a lot more scrutiny. And, by the way, she's already been - she's had a lifetime of scrutiny, as you know, for decades. I think with Senator Menendez, it's a - it's a very different story.

PEREZ: And I -

CABRERA: And, Evan, I know you mentioned that the charges could come sometime in the next couple of weeks or so, but this goes back to 2010 as you say. So what do you know about why now?

PEREZ: Well, one reason is because they -- these -- some of these allegations are nearing the end of their statute of limitations. They -- prosecutors, the investigators, the FBI have five years to bring charges like this. And so they're nearing the end of that time. So they have to act pretty quickly.

I should add, Ana, that we've reached out to Senator Menendez's office. They are not yet providing a comment. But we should also say that he has, you know, very strenuously denied that he has done anything wrong previously. We've talked to him before. Obviously this -- these are allegations that have dogged him for many, many years. And he has repeatedly denied that he did anything wrong. As Gloria mentioned, he paid back the $58,000, which was the cost of a couple of flights -- trips he took down to the Dominican Republic with Dr. Melgen.

And also, you know, he has denied wrongdoing on this and some of the other things because the FBI really looked at a host of issues, including, if you remember, there were some allegations that he had hired prostitutes while he was down in the Dominican Republic with Dr. Melgen and also that he had improperly intervened on behalf of a couple of very wealthy bankers from the - from the - from Ecuador, the Isaias brothers. And so that also was being investigated by the FBI. We're told that both of those matters are not going to be part of this case that's going to be brought forward by the Justice Department in the next couple of weeks.

CABRERA: All right, Evan Perez and Gloria Borger, thank you to both of you.

BORGER: Sure.

CABRERA: And just moments from now, President Obama holding a town hall in South Carolina where he is expected to address today's strong jobs numbers which just crushed expectations. He could also address, of course, the Justice Department's scathing report released this week accusing police in Ferguson, Missouri, of racial bias and discrimination, including racist e-mails about President Obama that were sent by police officers. We'll take you there live to his town hall in just a moment as soon as he starts speaking.

But first, let's go to Ferguson. Two days after the Justice Department slammed the police there for discriminating against African-Americans and policing for profit, President Obama says Ferguson's situation isn't common, but that it's also not the only case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You just saw the Ferguson report come out. I don't think that is typical of what happens across the country, but it's not an isolated incident. I think that there are circumstances in which trust between communities and law enforcement have broken down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: So how does Ferguson move forward? The mayor says the city must do better, but Ferguson's police chief, as you'll see in just a moment, he's not saying much, even after repeated calls for his resignation. Our Sara Sidner tried to get some answers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Don't you think you should have known some of the things that came out? The racist e-mails? The numbers? Were you just trying to bilk people out of money instead of protecting them? Telling your department to just go ticket them?

CHIEF TOM JACKSON, FERGUSON, MISSOURI POLICE: OK, thank you. And I will be in touch. Get ahead of Jeff (ph).

SIDNER: I've - I've talked to - I've talked to everyone. I've given you literally every opportunity. We've been talking for days and days and days. All we want is an answer from you.

JACKSON: I'm going to analyze the report and take action where necessary. OK.

SIDNER: Does that mean you're going to stay around?

JACKSON: I'm going to take action where necessary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Joining me now to discuss, Montague Simmons, the chair of the organization for black struggle, which is one of the members of the Don't Shoot Coalition. Also with us, Professor Eugene O'Donnell from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Montague, I want to start with you. The president says this is not an isolated incident. How widespread do you think this problem is?

MONTAGUE SIMMONS, CHAIRMAN & EXEC. DIR., ORGANIZATION FOR BLACK STRUGGLE: Well, one group that we've worked with quite a bit, Malcolm X Grassroots, has done their own research. And while not being totally inclusive, meaning not even including data from St. Louis, they registered that incidents like what happened to Michael Brown Jr. take place on average around every 28 hours. Meaning every 28 hours black or brown people --

CABRERA: In that area?

SIMMONS: Not just in that area. This was a national survey. And it was not all inclusive. Meaning just from the cities they were able to survey they showed these incidents to be rampant. Meaning they were happening literally back-to-back. So this is a crisis.

CABRERA: And when you're talking - when you're talking about these incidents specifically, I just want to make sure we're not -

SIMMONS: Sure.

CABRERA: We're not mincing words here.

SIMMONS: OK.

CABRERA: Are you talking about cops shooting African-Americans?

SIMMONS: I'm talking about extra judicial killings, which means that either a police officer or a security guard or a vigilante, someone who is in or perceives themselves to be in some form of authority is killing a black or brown person without due process. Someone's actually being fired upon or violence is being exerted by, in this case, when we're talking about police, by the state, against black and brown people without due process. So, yes, the -

CABRERA: So you feel like this is a huge issue all around the country.

Eugene, you were a prosecutors, an NYPD officer. How many other Ferguson type situations do you think are out there?

EUGENE O'DONNELL, JOHN JAY COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE: Well, I think the root of the Ferguson issue is a political issue. But at the same time, I think police departments -- every police department should take a hard look at Ferguson and should take a hard look at itself. This is an agency that was enforcing jaywalking -- 95 percent of the people that are summons for jaywalking in Ferguson are African- Americans. This is an agency that was doing illegal pedestrian stops and documenting them so you could see them. You really have to say some of these police departments, you know, the management mirrors the kind of management you'd see in Radio Shack. Problem? What problem?

Now, I don't want to absolve the political establishment because they're at the root of this. Ferguson was affiliated to having a reasonable tax system. The legislature should be held to account for that. But police departments really have to look at -- in the mirror on this. And frankly, you know, we have failing schools, we have failing businesses and we have some police departments that are failed. You know, Camden, New Jersey, shut down its police department. Maybe that has to happen in some of these cases. When your agency's completely disdained by the community, where do you look then? You have to look inside, it seems to me.

CABRERA: Montague, what do you think needs to happen for accountability to take place and for there to be a clean slate to be able to re-establish trust?

SIMMONS: I agree actually with what your other guest just said. In some cases, these departments may need to be shut down. We need not just police reform, but we need full and honest transformation. Ferguson, for instance, is one amongst a number of police departments throughout the county. And for those of us who live here, we know they are by far not the worst actor.

So even if, let's say Ferguson is shut down, you go a mile to the north and you're dealing with another jurisdiction that's inflicting the same kind of problems and violence. So we're talking about not just reform, but wholesale transformation.

CABRERA: Montague, you're part of this Don't Shoot Coalition. Have you had a chance to read the Justice Department's findings on Michael Brown's death as they pertain to Darren Wilson?

SIMMONS: I've had a chance to take a glance, yes.

CABRERA: Has it changed your view of Darren Wilson at all, the fact that he was cleared in this incident? SIMMONS: Not at all. Unfortunately, the findings were expected.

Meaning that usually in these cases what we've seen is that law enforcement - law enforcement and the voice of those officers that are involved are given much heavier weight than witnesses. And even though we've seen countless witnesses come forward and testify that his hands were up, they're still giving a greater weight and proportion to law enforcement's findings. But even if his hands weren't up in this case, he was not -- he should not even actually been executed in the way that he was.

CABRERA: Obviously the whole catch phrase "hands up don't shoot" takes on a much more symbolic meaning moving forward because it has been a point, a flash point in this whole conversation about race relations and law enforcement involvement with different communities throughout the country, really.

Eugene, do you think though that there may have been a rush to judgment in this case?

O'DONNELL: I mean we shouldn't be oversimplifying the issue. The nation is awash in guns. I'm sitting in Philadelphia today, a city where thousands of young African-American kids have been murdered in the last few years. A police officer, African-American police officer was murdered yesterday. So -- and we've got a great mayor here in the city trying to fix this. But let's not -let's not deny the reality that police in America generally are pretty restrained. Big city police departments, many of them.

We saw the LAPD, an agency where the cops show up, they're subjected to a full frontal assault. They try to use non-lethal weapons. There's pretty clear evidence this individual is trying to take the officer 's gun and yet there's some dismantling about the facts there. So it's important we isolate. There is misconduct, but the idea that police using deadly force, you know, that - that's automatically -- the reality is police departments all over the country, every single day, don't shoot people they could shoot because they exercise great restraint. That's the reality.

And the other reality, again -- and this is a really important point is, Ferguson is about the police being ridiculously cavalier about enforcement, but the disengagement of the police. And this is the problem in the minority community. They're always being asked to either have policing that's indiscriminate, you know, where officers are going around willy-nilly enforcing rules like they were in Ferguson, or the cops are feckless. They get there an hour late when they get called. We have to have a country where the police simultaneously are respectful but also proactive where they need to be. No political -- there should be no politics where there's silence in the face of cities where you have thousands of kids being killed. That's unacceptable. And we need police strategies in those places to address those issues.

CABRERA: All right, Montague Simmons and Eugene O'Donnell, thanks to both of you for sharing your thoughts and providing some insight on the conversation. We do appreciate it. Now just moments from now, President Obama could address this report

on Ferguson in addition to the day's stellar jobs report. So stay here for that.

Plus, investigators, just minutes ago, talking about the plane crash involving actor Harrison Ford. What happened in that cockpit?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: New jobs numbers are in. They do not disappoint. The February report is crushing expectations. The nation's unemployment rate fell to a seven-year low. And, right now, President Obama is actually speaking about this at a town hall in Columbia, South Carolina. Let's join the conversation now.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This morning we learned that our economy created nearly 300,000 new jobs last month. The unemployment rate went down. The unemployment rate ticked down to 5.5 percent, which is the lowest it's been since the spring of 2008. Our businesses have now added more than 200,000 jobs a month for the past year. And we have not seen a streak like that in 37 years. Since Jimmy Carter was president.

All told, over the past five years, our businesses have created nearly 12 million new jobs. And what's more, the unemployment rate for African-Americans is actually falling faster than the overall unemployment rate, which makes sense because it went up faster, too, during the recession.

But it's still too high. The unemployment rate across the country and here in South Carolina is still higher than we want, which means we've got more work to do. And we've got to make sure those are good jobs that pay a living wage and have benefits with them. So we can't let up now. We've got to do everything we can to keep --

CABRERA: OK. So that again is President Obama in South Carolina right now at a town hall talking about the economy. He's also expected to talk about race relations given the Ferguson report and also this weekend, of course, is the 50th anniversary of the march on Selma and Bloody Sunday.

And as the president mentioned, the economy is really in an upswing. I do want to take a quick look at the markets right now and see how things are looking on Wall Street. You can see, in responding to the good numbers, the Dow is actually down right now some 260 points. And our experts will tell you that might have something to do with some concerns there on Wall Street that the Feds are going to now hike interest rates. Our chief business correspondent Christine Romans has more now on the jobs report and what it could mean for the U.S. economy.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Ana, a strong jobs report this month, a really strong report, continuing a very good trend. Look at this, 295,000 net new jobs created in the month. That is a very good number. And what's really a great number here, the unemployment rate. The

lowest since May 2008, 5.5 percent. That is the lowest since before the crash. A seven-year low. A remarkable number. It bears repeating when you look at the recovery here how far we have come. Back here, 2010, 2009, 10 percent unemployment. This unemployment rate has been steadily declining.

Here are the sectors. Important, Ana, to point out, you're seeing broad based job gains now. In food, retail jobs. Retail and restaurant jobs tend to be lower pay. But you've seen some of those companies raising those pay because they have to keep their employees, right? There has been a tightening labor market. Business information services, 51,000 jobs there. Retail we talked about. Construction, 29,000. These are where the jobs have been created.

One thing to note here, wages up about 2 percent year over year. You want to see stronger wage growth. But the headline here, Ana, this was a strong jobs report. Another signal that the labor market is healing.

Ana.

CABRERA: All right, Christine Romans, thank you so much.

Up next, as Harrison Ford recovers from his crash landing in Los Angeles, we'll talk with a pilot who survived a crash landing in that same model aircraft. You'll hear his perspective on what may have happened in those moments before impact.

Plus, gripping testimony in the Boston bombing trial. A father recounting the impossible decision he faced after the blast, saving his son or his daughter. You'll want to hear his message. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Federal investigators say they have not yet spoken with actor Harrison Ford, who is hospitalized still after crash landing his vintage airplane on a golf course in Venice, California. Now, Ford sent out this distress call just minutes after taking off. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRISON FORD, ACTOR (voice-over): 53178, engine failure. Request immediate return.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL (voice-over): Ryan 178, run A21, clear to land.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: The NTSB today confirmed that Ford was trying to circle back to the airport. He was experiencing engine trouble he reported when he clipped some trees and came down on the eighth fairway just short of the airport.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PATRICK JONES, NTSB INVESTIGATOR: The investigation is ongoing. Our plans for today, we are going to finish documenting the accident site. We are going to recover the airplane later this morning to a local hangar here for further investigation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Now, we hope to get an update soon on Ford's condition. He is being treated for multiple injuries, we understand, none of which are considered life threatening, thank goodness. His son sent out this tweet, and I quote. It says, "at the hospital. Dad is OK. Battered, but OK. He is every bit the man you would think he is. He is an incredibly strong man."

Unlike modern aircraft, Ford's World War II plane is very old school, in the words of the NTSB. It's systems are mostly mechanical, so figuring out what happened should be fairly straightforward. And for a better sense about this type of plane, let's bring in pilot Larry Lee. He's joining us from Kennesaw, Georgia. And he actually owns two of these vintage aircraft.

Based on what we know here, Larry, what do you think the NTSB is going to do in terms of focusing their investigation?

LARRY LEE, PILOT & AVIATION ENTHUSIAST: Well, Ana, I believe that they'll be looking at what would have caused the engine to fail. Unfortunately, right after takeoff is the most dangerous time for engine performance. It's not been running for a while, so it's - it could be anything. You don't know whether it was a fuel issue or an ignition issue or a mechanical issue with the engine.