Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Bloody UVA Arrest; Netanyahu Re-Elected; Secret Service Incident. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired March 19, 2015 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: "Newsroom" with Brooke Baldwin starts right now.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Here we go. Top of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you so much for being with me here on CNN.

It started off as a pretty common scene that plays out on college campuses nationwide. The student tries to get into a bar. But now the bloody aftermath. You'll soon see some of this video. It's led to what has become an all too common refrain, police using too much force against minorities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CROWD: Shut it down! Shut it down!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Hundreds of University of Virginia students here in Charlottesville, Virginia, protested over the arrest of one of their own, a young man by the name of Martese Johnson. The show of support Wednesday drew the University of Virginia junior to tears. He was there at this rally. He spoke to the crowd.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTESE JOHNSON, UVA STUDENT: I want the remainder of - of the - of the students up here to be able to share their opinions and share their feelings. And so I beg for you guys, regardless of your personal opinions and the way you feel about subjects, to please respect everyone here. We're all a part of one community and we deserve to respect each other, especially in times like this. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Martese Johnson's ordeal began the previous night as he was turned away from a pub just around the corner from the university. Officers from the state Alcohol Beverage Control, or ABC, then approached him. His warrant says Johnson became, and I'm quoting it, "very agitated and belligerent." His attorney says these officers forced Johnson down to the ground, smacking his head on the pavement. You saw some of the blood remnants there on the concrete and opening a gash. Here is what happened afterword.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, what are you all doing, yo? So watch out (INAUDIBLE). Move out of the way, (INAUDIBLE). Hey, hey, he's bleeding. Yo, his head is bleeding. Yo, his head is bleeding!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I go to UVA. I go to UVA you (EXPLETIVE DELETED). I go to UVA you (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fighting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED) you racist. You (EXPLETIVE DELETED) racist. What the (EXPLETIVE DELETED). How does this happen? (EXPLETIVE DELETED) how does this happen, you racist?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, these (EXPLETIVE DELETED). I don't - they were just like, yo, what (INAUDIBLE) check your ID.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How does this happen? How does this happen? How does this happen you (EXPLETIVE DELETED) racist. You (EXPLETIVE DELETED) racist.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Alcohol agents charged Johnson with some misdemeanors, including obstruction of justice and public intoxication. But the agents who arrested him may soon be investigated themselves. They are now on administrative leave. The governor in the state of Virginia has now asked state police to conduct an independent probe after he got a call from the president there at the university.

With me now is a four year at University of Virginia, Blakeley Calhoun, who is also chair of the school's Minority Rights Coalition.

Blakeley, welcome.

BLAKELEY CALHOUN, CHAIRWOMAN, UVA'S MINORITY RIGHTS COALITION: Thank you so much for having me today.

BALDWIN: Let's begin with the rally on grounds last - the rally on grounds. I know you helped organize that. But, first, I just want to focus on Martese Johnson as a student there at the university. Can you just tell me a little bit more about him? I understand he's very, very involved in student groups there on grounds.

CALHOUN: Absolutely. So I didn't particularly help organize the rally. I was present. I was doing as much as I could.

But Martese as a person, I've worked with him on the honor committee through the Community Relations and Diversity Advisory Committee and he's incredibly accountable, always there. Couldn't find someone who cared more about what he's doing per say. So you can say a lot of things. You can say (INAUDIBLE). Say whatever you want. But the bottom line is, he's doing a phenomenal job. He cares an incredible amount. A lot of times we like to typecast people and say minorities don't want to do honor (ph), minorities don't do certain things, but Martese took that head on. Martese took it as a charge (ph), calling to integrate, to honor and all the kind of - establish the things at UVA and bring those kind of closer to his community.

BALDWIN: OK. To this rally that so many students attended last night at the university, you know, really calling attention to what some students say is indeed excessive force from police. Here is a clip of police from that rally actually detaining one of the protesters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Justice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yo, get out of the street!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Back up! Back up!

CROWD: Don't shoot! Hands up! Don't shoot! Hands up! Don't shoot! Hands up!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Blakeley, in your experience, because that's really all we can tap into at this point in time, with regard to the university and police, be it ABC, university police, Charlottesville police, is this a race issue or is this just a greater overarching police brutality issue where you are?

[14:05:00] CALHOUN: Yes. So we were remiss to kind of remove race from the situation, right? So there's absolutely no way you could say this has nothing to do with race. I am personally a little more interested in the conversation about student safety. Last semester we just had so much uproar and so much talk about student safety. Right - right behind me is one of the hubs where UVA's new police - the police they've hired. They're supposed to be here to make students safe, right? And Martese wasn't safe when he was here. So I'm concerned about campus safety and (INAUDIBLE) thinking of this as campus safety (INAUDIBLE) concerned about students uncomfortable on UVA. I'm concerned about people say it may just (INAUDIBLE) issue, ABC did this, what is the relationship between UVA and the ABC agents. This is the second time since I've been here that ABC agents have been accused of using excessive force against a UVA student. So, this, of course, is part of a larger issue. You can't separate it from that. But particularly in my mind it's an issue of minority students, (INAUDIBLE) African-American students, not feeling safe on grounds, on places where UVA students frequent, as well as (INAUDIBLE).

BALDWIN: Let me ask you - if I may, Blakeley, may I jump in? I mean I lived in Charlottesville. I actually covered the University of Virginia when I was right out of school myself, so I'm very familiar with where you're standing. You know, I interviewed police, I interviewed students quite often for my job. And I'm just wondering, why student there at the university, why don't they feel safe?

CALHOUN: Absolutely. So for - the incident with Martese is why they don't feel safe. Or my first year - my first or second year, my senior resident, someone threw a cigarette at her from the balcony down there. So it really doesn't take much, right? You don't have to convince some of these people it just isn't safe for them, right? So it's not really -- it's like 10 things happened here. One thing could have happened here. This could have happened to my friend. So it's more kind of - if it didn't happen to me, it could happen to me. So, does that make sense? So it may not be actual incidents because like this happened to my friend and for that reason I don't feel safe here.

BALDWIN: What do you want thus far in terms of the university response? How would you like the university to respond to this?

CALHOUN: Absolutely. So I would like UVA to first talk about, like I said earlier, campus safety and student safety and who are they making more safety, right? So they'll walk us home. They'll, you know, call us a cab. They'll make it so I don't have to pay for that cab, right? They'll get safe ride, but will they keep me from getting my body slammed into the pavement, right? So that's what I am concerned about.

That could have been me. That could have been anyone. You know, I --- I akin myself to Martese quite a lot, that I'm an African-American student doing things that many don't seem to be conventional for African-American students and I'm no different from that. That could happen. So, primarily I'd like UVA to acknowledge that student safety and student comfort on grounds, right? So it's just an inclusive space, is it not? And we have student self-governance here. I'm not sure people are familiar and watching say, well, this is a student problem, right? Students should be fixing this. But we didn't hire this police. We didn't ask ABC officers to come here, right? So I wouldn't be the (INAUDIBLE) -

BALDWIN: But how would you respond - how you would you respond - forgive me, but on the flip side, if you read the - the -- this warrant here, you know, it incidents that Martese Johnson was, in fact, belligerent. He was, you know, charged with public intoxication. That's how police are framing this, his behavior that night.

CALHOUN: Right. Absolutely. So I'm not sure how many people have been on the corner at night, but belligerence is not uncommon on the corner, right? I've heard of someone kicking a police officer and a police officer laughed and find - found a way to detain him without getting him bloody, right? So it's not about what did he do, it about how are we deescalating situations, how are we responding.

For some reason, a lot of ABC officers, police officers, can find a way to deescalate and detain someone whether they let them go or they take them to jail without them ending up on the ground with them being (INAUDIBLE) bloody, right? So I'm not really concerned with what Martese did at all actually. Like, he should not have been treated like that. That was excessive, period.

BALDWIN: Blakeley Calhoun at the University of Virginia. Thank you so much for joining me. We have much more on this over the course of the next two hours.

Meantime, got to turn to some breaking news on the deadly terror attack in Tunisia's capital. The United States is now trying to confirm a claim of responsibility by ISIS. An audio statement posted online takes credit for that massacre at that museum there in the capital and it warns this is, quote, "just the start." A U.S. official telling CNN, there is no reason to doubt the claim's authenticity, but right now they're trying to verify the ties.

Again, now, 23 people were killed. Most of them tourists from some country outside of Tunisia. As far as the suspects, the gunmen, we do know that two of them were killed. Several others managed to escape. Nine suspects have now been arrested.

Let's go to Tunis, the capital here, to CNN's Phil Black, for more on this.

And, Phil, the siege happened just days after this Tunisian jihadist tweeted that a pledge of allegiance to ISIS was coming and now we have this audio statement. How is the Tunisian government responding to this?

We dropped Phil Black. As soon as we get him up, we'll talk to him, because that is obviously a significant breakthrough if in fact this is indeed ISIS there in North Africa.

Meantime, the head of the Secret Service about to admit he is furious over the recent incident at the White House involving President Obama's personal detail. But he is also expected to say the ordeal was not what the media made it out to be. We have perspective from someone standing by.

[14:10:15] Also ahead, Prince Charles and Camilla meeting President Obama at the White House right now. We'll have that video for you in just a moment.

And, should Americans be forced to vote? President Obama floating the idea. And not just because it's patriotic. Hear his reasons and the pros and cons, coming up. You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Two days removed from his re-election, the White House is now reacting to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's controversial comments to voters in which he said there will never, ever be a Palestinian state under his watch if, in fact, he is re-elected. Now the prime minister appearing to walk those comments back today.

Let's go to Jerusalem to Elise Labott with a little bit more for context.

[14:15:04] Elise, what exactly did he say?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, you know, in the last 48 hours before the election, he was really kind of pandering to that right-wing vote saying while he was in office there would never be a Palestinian state. Now, in post-election interviews, he's won the election, he's saying, well, I didn't really say never, I'm just saying that the conditions aren't ripe right now. If you look what the Palestinians are doing with unilateral moves, seeking international - recognition at the United Nations, joining the International Criminal Court. If you look at the Islamic extremism engulfing the region, this is not the time. The conditions are not ripe for a Palestinian state.

But when he was interviewed a few days ago, he said - when he was asked point blank, will there not be a Palestinian state on your watch, he said indeed. So it's going to be a little bit hard for him to completely dial that back.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest was asked about this today. Take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: What is apparent is that in the context of the campaign and while he was the sitting prime minister of Israel, he walked back from commitments that Israel had previously made to a two-state solution. Now, to be clear, the United States, for more than a decade, under both Democratic and Republican presidents, has strongly supported this approach to trying to address the conflict between the Palestinian people and our allies in Israel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LABOTT: And so, Brooke, what U.S. officials are telling me is they really are looking for him to dial back those comments. They want to see if he can introduce some nuance here, soften it. If he can, then, you know, maybe there's a chance that they can move forward. But if there's not, if he is going to double down on this and stay firm to the idea that he will not negotiate with the Palestinians during the remainder of his time in office, officials say this could be a game changer, not just for U.S. involvement in the peace process, but for U.S./Israeli relations.

BALDWIN: Elise Labott, thank you.

Coming up next, the head of the U.S. Secret Service about to admit he is furious over the incident at the White House involving President Obama's personal detail. But you know something else he's expected to say here, this whole ordeal wasn't as bad as previously thought. But does that matter? His comments live, next.

Plus, he was perhaps the most talented NFL free agent that almost no team wanted except one. The Dallas Cowboys. That team now facing huge backlash for signing Greg Hardy, who not long ago stood accused of beating and threatening to kill his ex-girlfriend. So the question is, did Dallas make the wrong move?

Let's go to Washington. The head of the Secret Service, Joseph Clancy, testifying now.

JOSEPH CLANCY, SECRET SERVICE DIRECTOR: With respect to the allegations of employee misconduct on March 4, 2015, I personally became aware of the allegations on March 9th when I received a phone call informing me of an anonymous e-mail that was circulating. On that same date, I determined that the allegations should be

referred to the Department of Homeland Security's office of the inspector general. I made this decision because allegations of misconduct involving employees at the GS15 level and higher must be referred to the OIG in accordance with departmental policy. I trust the OIG's investigation will be through. I have committed the Secret Service's full cooperation to the OIG and I eagerly await the findings of their investigation.

The fact that I did not learn of this allegation until five days after it is said to have occurred is unacceptable. I'm very unhappy about it. I called my senior staff together last week and made clear my expectations for prompt notification of allegations of misconduct that could impact our mission or that violates the agency's standards of conduct. If it is determined that any one of our employees concealed information about this alleged incident, they will be held accountable. Our mission is too important for this to happen. It undermines my leadership and I won't stand for it.

Over the past several months I've made extensive personnel changes in senior leadership in an effort to bring about positive change. These were not easy decisions and many of the people who left served the agency and our country honorably during their careers. But as a leader of this organization, I will do what is necessary to put us back on the right track. And it starts with our people taking responsibility for their actions on duty and off duty.

Let me also be clear that I do not have the ability to simply terminate employees based solely on allegations of misconduct. This is not because I'm being lenient, but because the agency's ability to take action is controlled by Title 5 of the United States code, which provides federal employment - I'm sorry, federal government employees with certain statutory due process rights. The next step in this process is to wait for the issuance of the OIG report, at which point we will determine the appropriate disciplinary actions consistent with our table of penalties. Once again, if the OIG investigation reveals misconduct, those involved will be punished.

[14:20:20] I've also personally reviewed video surveillance from the evening of March 4th and o welcome the opportunity to review this footage with each of you. Based on the footage, previous reports of a crash are inaccurate. There was no crash. The video shows a vehicle entering the White House complex at a speed of approximately one to two miles per hour and pushing aside a plastic barrel. There was no damage to the vehicle. While I am extremely concerned about the allegations of misconduct and the potential for alcohol involvement, I must reserve judgment on these matters until the OIG investigation is completed.

Turning to our budget, I want to thank all members for their work on the 2015 Department of Homeland Security appropriations -

BALDWIN: All right, a couple of headlines here just listening to Joseph Clancy, the head of the U.S. Secret Service outlining, in the wake of this incident, just recently here in which it's alleged that these two senior agents nudged their way through this barrier. You just heard him say, you know there have been words calling it crashing through a barrier. He was just saying, you know, it was - it was - they were going one to two miles an hour. It wasn't necessarily a crash at all.

But let's walk through some of what he said with author and journalist Jeffrey Robinson. He co-wrote "Standing Next to History: An Agents Life Inside the Secret Service."

So, you were listening to that with me and it sounds like a lot of this is predicated upon the OIG, the Office of Inspector General's report within Department of Homeland Security, right? So he doesn't have the power, because of Title 5, to do anything yet.

JEFFREY ROBINSON, CO-AUTHOR, "STANDING NEXT TO HISTORY": It's what he didn't say that really matters.

BALDWIN: What - what did he not say?

ROBINSON: What he didn't say - he said he was unhappy with this. He should have said furious. He should have said really lived.

BALDWIN: He wasn't strong enough for you?

ROBINSON: He wasn't strong enough. He said, I'm extremely concerned. No, he ought to be really seriously livid concerned. I mean he didn't mention the fact - well, he mentioned the fact that it took five days. That's five days and -

BALDWIN: Five days for him to find out.

ROBINSON: And then it was an anonymous e-mail. That says cover up. I mean somebody blew the whistle in the anonymous e-mail because there was a cover up. That is inexcusable and heads should roll. Heads have to roll. He never mentioned whether or not these two agents had been drinking. He never mentioned the fact that they weren't breathalyzed.

BALDWIN: He mentioned alcohol.

ROBINSON: Yes.

BALDWIN: He said the questions over the role of alcohol, we have to wait for the OIG report to come back.

ROBINSON: Why didn't he ask them? Why didn't he say, I've spoken to these agents. They've both resigned because they admitted they were drunk. I mean, no, no, no. I - you know, way back when, in another life, I had to do my military service and I was on - I was in the Air Force, an officer in the Air Force, and I served on generals staff with five generals and three colonels. And the remarkable thing about my generals is they all acted like generals.

BALDWIN: You want Joseph Clancy to act like a general you're saying?

ROBINSON: I want - I want him to act like a general, yes.

BALDWIN: He's not right now. What about also at issue here, Jeffrey, the fact that the Secret

Service surveillance footage, it's destroyed after 72 hours. Why?

ROBINSON: Cover up. Cover up. There was an incident. That should not be destroyed. I mean you walk into a - into a package store and there's the CCTV camera. Nothing happens after 48 hours or 72 hours. It just goes over and erases itself. When there's an incident, that has to be saved. Somebody made sure it wasn't saved. This is really serious.

BALDWIN: We've talked many times, sort of my final thought, about recent incidents. I could go through the list again. I think most people are familiar with them. And here you have this guy coming from within the agency who you say is the best to have somebody who knows the culture -

ROBINSON: Yes.

BALDWIN: Knows the agency, come in and be the chief of the U.S. Secret Service. He said he'd shaken up some of the senior personnel, which seemed warranted based upon x, y, and z in the past. What more should happen beyond heads rolling in this - in this example?

ROBINSON: I'll tell you what shouldn't happen. What should not happen is he should not allow a knee-jerk reaction for Congress to say, we're going to bring somebody in from the outside. Disastrous. What should happen is they go back to the Reagan gold standards. Bring in some of those agents who served on PPD, Presidential Protective Division, with Reagan. They know how it should work. Call them the executive board of directors as an advisor. Bring it back to Treasury and re-instill pride, discipline and proximity in protecting the president. He owes that to the agents who serve with him.

BALDWIN: Jeffrey Robinson, thank you, as always. I appreciate it.

ROBINSON: Always a pleasure.

BALDWIN: Still ahead here on CNN, President Obama sparking a debate after floating the idea of mandatory voting in the United States. How would that sit with you? We'll discuss that, coming up.

Also ahead, imagine you are a female Dallas Cowboys fan. Would you wear this jersey in public? The Cowboy's newest player, a man once accused of beating and threatening to kill his ex-girlfriend, now putting the moral standards of one NFL team and its fans to the test. My next guest says this is outrageous. Don't miss this.

[14:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Right to the videotape we go. Prince Charles sitting side by side with the president of the United States. Haven't seen this in a number of years. And there is the duchess of Cornwall, Camilla Parker Bowles. They are in Washington, as you can see, visiting the president. They have been out and about in the nation's capital. They've been visiting monument sites. They've been visiting charter schools. You see them here at the White House. And they will next be visiting members of Congress. They're here in the - there's the vice president. I see him out of the corner of my eye here on the right side of the room -- visiting Washington, D.C., and they are also heading to Kentucky. All part of a four-day tour of the states.

[14:29:53] To the NFL we go. Remember Greg Hardy. He used to be a defensive end for the Carolina Panthers. Now he is going to be a Dallas Cowboy. Hardy just signed a one year deal worth $11 million. On the field, he was known as one of the best defensive linemen in 2013. Off the field, that's a different story.