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Deadly Tornado Outbreak Pummels the Midwest; Clinton to Announce Candidacy Sunday; Dash Cam Video Released, New Questions Raised. Aired 9-9:30a ET
Aired April 10, 2015 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:15] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: NEWSROOM starts now.
Happening now in the NEWSROOM, destruction and devastation. The Midwest waking up bruised and battered after a string of storms ripped through towns and lives. Homes pummeled. And families this morning starting over.
Plus, breaking news in the race for 2016. Hillary making it official on Sunday. The best political team on TV tracking the story for us.
And tale of the dash cam tape. Why did Walter Scott run? And new this morning, breaking developments on the cop charged with his murder.
Let's talk, live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.
Residents from Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, and Illinois are getting their first look at towns and lives devastated in the wake of deadly tornadoes.
You're looking at Rochelle, Illinois. The town hit hard as tornadoes ripped through neighborhoods leaving trees upended and roots exposed.
This man stands alone, solemn, surveying the debris of what once was a home. Now just a pile of rubble. We'll take you to the ground in just a moment. But we want to show you the massive storm force we're talking about. This huge funnel cloud could be seen from miles away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's over. He's over.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go. Go. Go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: The storm chasers were out in force last night. We want to show you some of the incredible sights and sounds they captured.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, it's hitting. It's hitting something.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look, there goes cars.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I saw headlights go flying.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my god that's violent, you guys.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's got to be an EF-5. That's got to be.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, it's hitting. It's hitting something.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Really frightening, right?
Ryan Young is live in Rochelle, Illinois, to tell us more.
Good morning, Ryan.
RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. That really is some amazing video. You can see how just scary and terrifying that video is. In fact, we drove all night. Haven't gone to sleep because we were covering the story. And if you look behind us, you can see what people were experiencing. This was a restaurant here that was torn apart by that storm and just right next to it is that tractor- trailer that was tossed like a toy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED), oh, my god. This is violent.
YOUNG (voice-over): It was the tornado outbreak.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look it, there goes -- there goes cars.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I saw headlights go flying.
YOUNG: That residents in the heartland feared.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED). He's over. He's over.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Call 911. Call 911.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go, go, go.
YOUNG: Tornado watches stretching across the Midwest.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my gosh, that's going right through.
YOUNG: Coming to fruition. Over a dozen tornadoes touching down across Missouri, Illinois, and Iowa, according to the National Weather Service.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guys, we can't stop.
YOUNG: Illinois, the hardest hit. One tornado pummeling the northern city of Rochelle, leaving a path of destruction more than 25 miles long.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We quickly went down to the basement and could feel the tornado right over our house.
YOUNG: Rochelle's hospital in disaster mode throughout the night. Emergency crews quickly clearing debris, rescuing a dozen people trapped in the storm cellar of this local restaurant.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The back wall fell right on top of it when the tornado hit and we were trapped. And we were about an hour, hour and a half in there at least.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm in shock. I've got no job and no car, so it's -- it's scary. So -- but I'm glad I'm alive.
YOUNG: Just north in the cities of Fairdale and Kirkland, Illinois, the local fire department says a tornado pretty much wiped out the town.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right there.
YOUNG: And in Iowa the storms breaking out so quickly. And this camera crew planning on covering a baseball game --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Holy (EXPLETIVE DELETED), dude.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's spinning.
YOUNG: Instead captured this footage of a possible tornado.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: God (EXPLETIVE DELETED), it's moving.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
YOUNG: Sadly one person did die in this storm. We're told eight others were injured. Someone was trapped inside this building for a half hour inside a bathroom. I can only imagine how scary that must have been trying to hunker down to avoid this storm.
[09:05:04] As we look around and the sun comes up, it's amazing to see the power of the storm. In fact, one guy at the gas station told us there were some cows in one farm and then when he woke up the next day the cows were on another side of the farm -- Carol.
COSTELLO: That's just awful.
Ryan Young, thanks so much.
There is a live news conference going -- going on right now in Rockwood, Illinois, by fire officials. Let's listen in for a bit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Last night and their house is habitable, they will be able to remain. But if they leave, they're going to be under the same restrictions of those who have already left.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What are your thoughts right now as you drive through this town and you see this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it's the worst thing I've seen. I know -- much worse things at any place, but when it happens locally, obviously it's the same magnitude no matter what the size of the town or village. So it's obviously distressing and our hearts go out to the families who are still here and who have left and any of those who are injured.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How of the town has (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the town is -- well, I'll let the fire guys respond to that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We -- as of last night we checked 71 structures with our TRT teams. We did one primary search, one secondary search of the buildings, and today we are bringing -- we do have TRT team here. We will relieve them of their duties and bring in a fresh TRT team to get a little more meticulous with -- obviously with -- the daylight helps us. We had some safety issues last night. So we're going to work with them and I can introduce Pete Blaire, chief of the sycamore fire department who is helping out with that TRT, the searches.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How many structures are here (INAUDIBLE)? How many are there total?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All 70. All 70.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning. Polarek. P-O-L-A-R-E-K.
As the chief mentioned --
COSTELLO: All right. We're going to jump away. But as you -- as you can well determine, fire officials have their hands full in Illinois, around the Rockwood area. They've searched 71 buildings so far, looking to see if anyone is trapped or if there are survivors or worse. Of course we'll keep you posted.
On to politics this morning. Hillary Clinton making it official. A source close to the campaign confirms Hillary Clinton is expected to formally announce her candidacy for the White House on Sunday.
Our senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar broke the news this morning.
So why Sunday?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I think it's just at this point time to get going. April is key. This is the beginning of a fundraising quarter of the year so that's also very key, but obviously things are ready for the campaign to go ahead and launch.
We understand from the source close to the campaign that Hillary Clinton in a video on social media, which is already -- it's already been taped. That's what my colleague Jeff Zeleny has reported. It's already been taped and this is going to be released on Sunday. Then immediately she's going to start traveling. Her first stop is going to be Iowa, which is key because you'll remember, Carol, this is where she came in third in the all-important caucuses in 2008. Not just behind President Obama, then Senator Obama, but also behind John Edwards.
Of course, this is something -- you know, this has been the secret about when, but certainly listen to Hillary Clinton just last month. She hasn't kept it a secret that at some point it was very likely she was going to be running for president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Don't you some day want to see a woman president of the United States of America?
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: Well -- well, in many ways, all of these questions, all of these questions can only be answered by you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: So it's almost like she was thinking about it, right? But the other very --
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: But for her entire life?
KEILAR: Certainly for some years, I would say. And it's very important to notice, well, "Huffington Post" got its hands on the epilogue, remember her book, "Hard Choices" came out about a year ago. Well, now there's an epilogue that will be attached to the paperback copy. And this is key because it really lays basically Hillary Clinton's message. She tells a story about leaving President Obama on their last trip together and just thinking how far they had come since it had been a really prickly relationship during the 2008 campaign.
And then also she talks about becoming a grandma and then really the reasoning, which is just as important as declaring that you're going to run, for why she wants to be president. She talks about becoming a grandmother, connecting with so many Americans, and thinking that a lot -- that children deserve to have any opportunity that they have the God given potential to live up to. And she talks about wanting to provide that.
[09:10:20] She says that she shares in a world where, you know, she will pass on the -- she has a responsibility to pass on these opportunities. So I think that is really the foundation for what we'll be hearing from Hillary Clinton. COSTELLO: OK. We'll await the video on Sunday.
KEILAR: Yes.
COSTELLO: Brianna Keilar, many thanks to you.
So, well, you heard Brianna say Hillary's rebranding has been weeks in the making. How will voters respond?
Our national political reporter Peter Hamby is in Washington with more on the reaction.
Good morning, Peter.
PETER HAMBY, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: Hey, Carol. Good morning.
COSTELLO: So what is the -- well, we don't know what the reaction is going to be because the video is not out yet. But we do know that candidates like Rand Paul are already attacking Hillary Clinton. So is this why she's announcing on Sunday and starting her campaign in earnest in Iowa?
HAMBY: Well, I mean, Brianna's right. Hillary Clinton was under pressure from Democrats to get going on this, in part because of what you say, Republicans have been attacking her. You know, she's come under criticism from the media without a real apparatus around her to defend her. And then secondly, going to Iowa is going to be hugely important to her.
Last time in 2007 and 2008 she was criticized for being, you know, too imperious for not going the outside of Des Moines and really not touching and feeling Iowa voters in their living rooms and that sort of thing.
I've been hearing from activists on the ground that the Clinton campaign has been reaching out aggressively in the last few days trying to line up events for this week. She's going to New Hampshire. I checked with some of my sources in South Carolina, another early primary state who say they're actually not -- they're not hearing the same things about an imminent visit in the same way as those first two states.
But look, this is smart of her to announce on Sunday. A lot of people are going to be watching the Masters on Sunday obviously, but this guarantees sort of roadblock political coverage. The following day you've got to feel bad for Marco Rubio, the Florida senator, who's announcing his presidential bid on Monday in Miami. You know, it will be hard for him to compete with Hillary Clinton chewing up a ton of oxygen. So, look, the campaign is most definitely underway this week -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Peter Hamby, thanks for your insight as always. I appreciate it.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the moment before a deadly police shooting in South Carolina caught on dash cam video.
Martin Savidge is in North Charleston with more -- Martin.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Carol, you're right. This video tells us how that terrible day began, but it also reveals a mystery that a lot of people are still talking about. I'll have that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:16:26] COSTELLO: In South Carolina, the officer charged with the murder in that deadly shooting of an unarmed African-American man is now isolated from the general population. Officials say that while Michael Slager is not on suicide watch, guards are monitoring his mental health. This news coming as the dash cam video of the traffic stop that led to that fatal encounter is released.
Martin Savidge is in North Charleston, South Carolina, with more for you this morning.
Good morning, Martin.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
The family of Walter Scott says this dash cam video does not change anything when it comes to the case against former police officer Michael Slager, but it does give us the first look at how that terrible day began.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAVIDGE (voice-over): Dash cam video now released capturing the moment police officer Michael Slager pulls over Walter Scott last Saturday morning. Slager's patrol car follows Scott as he pulls into a parking lot of an auto parts store. Moments later, Slager approaches the car and asks Scott for his driver's license.
OFFICER MICHAEL SLAGER: The reason for the stop is your third brake light is out.
SAVIDGE: In less than a minute the talk turns to paperwork, questions over Scott's purchase of the car.
SLAGER: Just a minute ago, you told me that you bought, and you're changing eveyrhing on Monday.
WALTER SCOTT: I'm sorry about that.
SAVIDGE: Slager returns to his patrol car. Moments later, Scott starts to get out of his vehicle.
SLAGER: Gotta stay in the car.
SAVIDGE: And in fewer than 30 seconds, Scott gets out of his car again and runs.
Possible reason, the 50-year-old tried to flee, a bench warrant was out for his arrest since January of 2013 after failing to pay over $18,000 in back child support for two children.
What happens next is out of view of the camera, but partially picked up on the officer's microphone. He sounds like he's running and can be heard yelling.
SLAGER: Taser! Taser! Taser!
SAVIDGE: One eyewitness says a tussle ensues.
GWEN NICOLS, WITNESS: It wasn't on the ground rolling, it was like a tussle type of thing like, you know, what do you want or what did I do type of thing?
SAVIDGE: The man who took this disturbing cell phone video said they were on the ground before he started recording.
FEIDIN SANTANA, WITNESSED SCOTT'S SHOOTING: I went to the scene and Mr. Scott was already on the ground. The cop was on top of him. He was tasing Mr. Scott.
SAVIDGE: Slager joined the police department five years ago. In 2013, police record show he was exonerated following a complaint of improper use of force with a taser involving this man. Mario Givens, he says that Slager burst through his front door in the case of mistaken identity, meaning to arrest his brother for robbery.
MARIO GIVENS, FIELD COMPLAINT AGAINST OFFICER SLAGER: He pulled out his taser and told me if you don't come out, I'm going to tase you. I put my hand up, I moved out the way. He still shot me with the taser.
SAVIDGE: Slager's mother Karen Sharpe told ABC she hasn't seen the video and can't imagine her son shooting and killing an unarmed black man while he ran away.
KAREN SHARPE, MOTHER OF OFFICER SLAGER: I just have to let it be and hope God takes care of everybody involved. Not only for my family but for the Scott's family.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAVIDGE: Carol, getting back to that dash cam video, at the very beginning when you see Walter Scott's vehicle pull into the auto parts parking lot, if you look closely on the passenger's side, you'll notice there's somebody there. This person could be key.
Now, the authorities interviewed or at least detained this person for a time. They know who it is, but they have not identified it either to the public or apparently to Scott's family because they say they don't know who he is and, of course, the reason clearly many people would like to know is because he might have some insight as to what Walter Scott was thinking, what were the fears he had and why perhaps he ran.
[09:20:09] As of yet that person hasn't come forward, Carol.
COSTELLO: And is it because the person doesn't want to come forward? SAVIDGE: You know, without being able to talk to that person, it's
hard to gauge. There are some in the past, for instance, the photographer, the bystander, he didn't want to come forward. He feared retribution. Is there anything like that going on? We won't know until we get the chance to talk to this person -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Martin Savidge reporting live from North Charleston, South Carolina, this morning.
The dash cam video tells us nothing about what happened immediately preceding the shooting. But it does help us understand why Officer Slager was pursuing Mr. Scott. Put simply, Scott got out of the car and he ran. Yes, he was wanted for back child support, but why run like this?
CNN legal analyst and former prosecutor Paul Callan is here.
Welcome, Paul. Thank you so much for being here.
We can guess that Walter Scott ran because he feared repercussions, right, that's fair to say? There are some who say it's deeper than that. "The New York Times" points to aggressive policing in North Charleston which has led to a decrease in crime but comes to a high cost in trust.
Do you understand where "The New York Times" is going with this article?
PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I understand where they're going and I think there are legitimate points in the article. I'm just not sure it applies to this situation.
"The Times" and others have looked at this aggressive policing policy and found in the past what it does is it increases distrust in minority communities. Aggressive -- you put the cops in high crime neighborhoods, they happen to be unfortunately minority neighborhoods and while it diminishes crime when you're stopping African-American and Hispanic citizens on a routine basis, it creates resentment and it creates fear.
COSTELLO: And it creates mistrust, right?
CALLAN: Absolutely. Now, I say I'm not so sure it applies here because Mr. Scott had a warrant for his arrest outstanding, OK? So aggressive policing or not, the court had issued a document saying if you find this guy, you have to arrest him. So, I'm not so sure that we can blame that on aggressive policing.
I think there's another factor going on though that -- and it kind of worries me, and it's the old -- I always tell my clients, my own kids, never get into an argument with a cop because he's got a gun, you're going to lose the argument. And, certainly, you never want to run away from a cop because you might get shot.
COSTELLO: But my immediate thought is the cops -- my immediate thought is not, oh, this cop's going to kill me. I don't think that when I'm stopped by a police officer. But some people do.
CALLAN: They do. And those are people who live in aggressively policed neighborhoods, minority neighborhoods, OK? But -- and frankly, even if a Caucasian person gets into a dispute with a cop who's got a chip on his shoulder, you may wind up under -- they may not shoot you, Carol, but they'll put you in handcuffs and place you under arrest if you give them too much lip. So, don't get into an argument with a cop.
But I think what's happening now is, because people are more informed about their constitutional rights, and when cops start getting overly aggressive, people are talking about. They're saying, you don't have the right to say that to me. You don't have the right to treat me like that.
And I think the police need more training about how to be polite to citizens so that you don't create the resentment. Now would it have stopped this? I don't think so --
COSTELLO: There were no harsh words traded between the officer and Mr. Scott.
CALLAN: Yes, there's one harsh word there and it's called "arrest warrant". Mr. Scott knew that there was this arrest warrant hanging out there. $18,000 is a lot of back child support to owe. So, I'm not so sure.
And if you look at the encounter, what we've seen, the initial encounter is relatively professional and friendly. To me, the key encounter is what happened in the so-called tussle. What was said that so frightened Mr. Scott that he ran knowing the cop was armed and pulled out a taser already --
COSTELLO: That's what I'm saying. I mean --
CALLAN: What happened in that encounter?
COSTELLO: So, let's just assume Mr. Scott was afraid of being arrested. Did he really think -- because the officer had asked for his driver's license, so he had his driver's license.
CALLAN: Yes.
COSTELLO: He knows who Mr. Scott is.
CALLAN: Right.
COSTELLO: He probably knows where Mr. Scott lives by now or could easily find out yet Mr. Scott ran.
CALLAN: Yes, he did.
COSTELLO: And continued running.
CALLAN: I can't psycho analyze Scott.
COSTELLO: I can't either.
CALLAN: Except to say you can blame aggressive policing for pulling innocent people into a large dragnet for mistreatment of them, for rudely treating them so that people distrust the police, but you can't blame the police for following up on warrants for arrest that had been issued by the court. They're doing their job.
COSTELLO: Absolutely. But you're also not saying that you believe that the shooting was justified.
CALLAN: This -- I believe this was an absolutely unjustified excessive use of force and that this officer should be charged with homicide. That's what I think based on what I've seen on the tape. So, you can look at this from a number of different angles.
[09:25:03] COSTELLO: Paul Callan, thanks as always. I appreciate it.
CALLAN: Thank you.
COSTELLO: Tomorrow, the family of Walter Scott will say good-bye for a funeral service set at 11:00 a.m. Media can attend but no cameras or recording devices will be allowed inside that church.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM: the president set to meet with Cuba's Raul Castro. What they're expected to talk about, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.
An historic meeting in the making, President Obama landing in Panama for the Summit of the Americas, and for the first time ever, Cuba is attending. Obama set to cross paths with the Cuban President Raul Castro, but it would not be the first time. Who could forget this headline making handshake at Nelson Mandela's funeral? At the time, the White House downplayed it, calling it simply unplanned pleasantries.
As for today's encounter, it's happening as the U.S. considers removing Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism.
Rosa Flores is in Panama City following the latest developments for us.
Good morning.
ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. You know, what started under the cloak of the Vatican, with the help of Canada, now is on the world stage happening here in Panama City, Panama, at the Summit of the Americas. We're expecting the historic handshake between the United States and Cuba.
