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Clinton to Announce Candidacy Today; Investigator: Deputy Fires Gun Instead of Taser. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired April 12, 2015 - 08:00   ET

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


[08:00:00] COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS: No one has had a better first three rounds than Spieth has had this year. At 16 under, he broke the record shared by Raymond Floyd and Tiger Woods, and he's even drawn comparison to a young Tiger and being called the next Rory McIlroy.

That's a lot of pressure, guys, for a 21-year-old. But so far, I mean, this guy is absurdly brilliant play. We'll see if anyone can catch him.

Tiger has been the other big story line. He's currently at 6 under and tied for fifth place. We'll see. He looks more a lot more like the old Tiger. He's paired up with Rory McIlroy today. So, that's must-see TV if you're a golfer.

But a lot of good stuff going on.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: All right.

WIRE: We'll see, we'll see. Phil Mickelson is in the hunt. Justin Rose is only 4 behind. So, we'll see.

A lot of people are wondering, can he keep this up?

PAUL: Well, yes. I mean, it's the first time we've seen him do much, let's say.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Do well.

PAUL: Do well, yes, I'm trying to find the right words.

WIRE: He's so young, 21, at 4 under. Four years ago, Rory McIlroy was 21 also and 4 under and he collapsed in the back nine.

So, we'll see. He's 21 years old like Rory was with a 4 stroke lead. We'll see if he can do it.

BLACKWELL: All right, Coy. Thank you so much.

PAUL: Thank you, Coy, so much.

And thank you for starting your morning with us.

BLACKWELL: We've got so much ahead. Next hour of your NEW DAY starts right now.

(MUSIC)

PAUL: Just hours away now from her formal announcement to run for president, we're learning details about Hillary Clinton's campaign message. Critics are already taking aim, too. And --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I shot him. I'm sorry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: A sting operation to catch a gun dealer goes horribly wrong, alleged gun dealer. Shocking video shows the suspect's final moments before a reserve cop shoots him with his gun instead of the taser which he meant to grab.

PAUL: We are always so grateful for your company. Thank you for being here. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to be with you.

Add one more to the race for the White House today. Hillary Clinton is expected to announce her candidacy in just a few hours, releasing a video on social media.

PAUL: Yes, we're covering this story from all angles this morning.

Senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar in Washington. Mark Preston outside the Clinton campaign offices in Brooklyn, looking at today's likely announcement, and Dana Bash in Washington, looking ahead to the challenges.

Brianna, I want to start with you. What are you hearing about the shape this campaign will take?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're expecting that this -- I mean, this is the kickoff. So, we're expecting this to begin with this announcement on social media.

It's a video we understand Hillary Clinton had already taped even a couple of days ago. So, this is supposed to come out today and then it's going to be followed by campaign travel essentially. She'll be going to the key early states of Iowa and then New Hampshire.

And this is really important because Iowa was not friendly to Hillary Clinton in 2008. She didn't come in second. She came in third behind Barack Obama and John Edwards.

So, this is sort of a sign I think that a lot of insiders and those closer to her would say is humility, that she's going back to the scene of the crime and showing that she wants to fight for the support of those caucus goers in Iowa. Then she'll be heading on to New Hampshire in the coming days which was much more friendly to her in 2008. She won that primary, very key turn around victory for her. Ultimately insufficient, but it's certainly friendlier territory.

PAUL: All righty. Brianna Keilar, thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: We've got CNN Politics executive editor, Mark Preston, outside of Clinton campaign headquarters in Brooklyn.

Mark, in addition to changes in the strategy, there will be the challenges of a candidate who hasn't run in eight years, going from former secretary of state traveling to more than 100 countries going back to Iowa when it gets to snow going to pancakes and politics. That's going to be a challenge.

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: It certainly is going to be a challenge. I think what Brianna said is important. Hillary Clinton will see in the coming days, Victor, will head out to Iowa. She will be doing small events. She won't see large campaign rallies.

And that's very important for this reason and this reason alone -- Hillary Clinton has come under a lot of criticism for the entitlement factor. A lot of people think that perhaps Hillary Clinton shouldn't run, that they should allow some other Democrat to step forward and lead the party. In fact, her husband, of course, ran the country for eight years.

However, Hillary Clinton is trying to show that she is going to fight for every vote. In fact, Victor, just yesterday, the campaign manager met with volunteers who are now going to become staffers. And he put out this guiding principles memo -- and this was s important because they wanted to put in place that the Clinton campaign will fight for every vote.

Let me read a little from that memo, Victor. "We are humbled. We take nothing for granted, we are never afraid to lose. We always outcompete and we'll fight for every vote we can."

[08:05:03] I should also say in that memo, they noted they would do their best to work together as a team. There would be no in fighting. In fighting is something that marked Hillary Clinton's first run for the presidency back in 2008.

BLACKWELL: And this tone taking on the run for the Senate back in 2000, what we saw in Upstate New York going on that listening tour.

Let's talk about what we're hearing from the detractors. Some anti-Clinton efforts at work outside her offices today, right?

PRESTON: They are. And we've already seen fundraising on Hillary Clinton, using her to try to get the Republican base out. The Republican National Committee is one of those organizations doing that. In fact, they have staffers out right now walking up and down the streets. And they're handing out these t-shirts, "Stop Hillary."

And what they're trying to do right now is to try to capitalize on her announcement today themselves. They're trying to gin up the grassroots, trying to get conservatives to really against her candidacy and in doing so, they're going to hope to try to raise some money and get out their own base -- Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right. Mark Preston outside the Clinton headquarters in New York. Thanks, Mark.

PAUL: And now, let's get to CNN chief congressional correspondent, Dana Bash.

Dana, so good to see you.

Brianna was talking about how Hillary Clinton came in third in Iowa last year and now, she's getting ready to embark on that again.

Is there any indication how Iowa feels about her now or what she has to do to try to do better there?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's a great question. As Brianna was noting, she's trying to note that she's going to have a big slice of humble pie going back to Iowa.

I actually was with Hillary Clinton in Iowa a few months ago. She was there campaigning for the Senate candidate who lost, Bruce Braley. And I have to say, there wasn't a lot of energy in the room. Now, to be fair to her, he was not somebody who sort of got a lot of people on their feet. It just kind of wasn't his style.

She does have her work cut out for her. That was a rally, and as we've been reporting, she is going to do more of small listening sessions and I think that's primarily because she's rusty when it comes to the big rallies. And she's much more engaged and engaging on a one-on-one level, because that's what she's been doing for the past few years, Christie.

PAUL: You know, there is restlessness amongst her own party. Senator Elizabeth Warren said she wants to hear more about here economic plans. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz seemed to welcome, you know, Lincoln Chaffee's possible candidacy.

Are there any unexpected stars here? Maybe Martin O'Malley, anybody that she should be worried about?

BASH: She should be worried about everybody because she wasn't worried about Barack Obama eight years ago and look what happened there. Look, I think that that is kind of part of the M.O. of this campaign, not going in with the air of inevitability even though it seems like a different field right now, no question about it.

But I think also what is most interesting, I'm going to be and I already am covering the Republican candidates. She is already taking such a beating from them. They are hitting her as much -- actually more than they're hitting one another in this race.

And I actually think when it comes to her getting through the Democratic primary process, that could may be helped her. I interviewed Rand Paul whose interview is going to be on "STATE OF THE UNION" at the top of the hour, and he was so eager to talk about Hillary Clinton, about Benghazi, that being her 3:00 a.m. phone call that already happened.

So, I actually think that in a weird, maybe even twisted way that might help her at least at the beginning because it will embolden Democrats who might not be that enthused about her but to say, wait a minute, don't hit our guy or our woman, our candidate. We want to be behind her.

PAUL: All righty. Dana Bash, thank you so much.

Listen, I want to give you a shout out here. Maybe sure everybody to tune in to CNN today, there's a special two-hour edition of "STATE OF THE UNION." The focus is Clinton's 2016 campaign. It starts today at Noon Eastern. So stay close.

BLACKWELL: Hey, listen. A moment to smile, maybe laugh this morning. The folks over at SNL, "Saturday Night Live", they really do their best work in the presidential election cycle.

PAUL: They do, don't they?

BLACKWELL: 2008 was legendary. They're having fun with the 2016 election. Here's their twist on Hillary Clinton.

Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, hold up your phone. You can just look natural.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You want to soften a little. OK. A little more. OK. Maybe a lot more. Great. Great.

And action.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Citizens, you will elect me. I will be your leader.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: We didn't include Darrell Hammond.

PAUL: What?

BLACKWELL: Darrell Hammond came back as the former president.

PAUL: It's just getting started and it's going to be good. We know that much.

[08:10:00] BLACKWELL: It's going to be good. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roll on your stomach.

(EXPLETIVE DELETED)

(GUNSHOT)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I shot him. I'm sorry.

(EXPLETIVE DELETED)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Yes, what you heard there was a gunshot and then an apology. A sting operation, it went awry leading to the deadly police shooting you just saw there. Authorities in Tulsa, Oklahoma, say they're now investigating what went wrong leading up to this incident, and it was all caught on camera.

Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL (voice-over): The incident on April 2nd captured on police video shows the suspect Eric Harris appearing to sell a 9 millimeter semiautomatic pistol and ammunition to an undercover officer. Shortly after allegedly selling the gun to a Tulsa County gang task force member, Harris runs from officers trying to arrest him.

It's while Harris is bolting from the police that one of the officers catches up and the suspect is wrestled to the ground. It's in the ensuing take-down that you can hear on the tape the 73-year-old Tulsa County Reserve Deputy Robert Bates shouting that he has a taser.

ROBERT BATES, DEPUTY: Taser! Taser!

JIM CLARK, TULSA POLICE SGT.: That's done to warn other law enforcement officers that you're about to deploy this device.

[07:15:04] BLACKWELL: Investigators say bates accidentally pulls the trigger on his gun instead of the taser, firing a round into Harris. And you can hear him apologize for what he has done.

[08:15:01] BATES: Oh! I shot him! I'm sorry.

BLACKWELL: Tulsa City Police Sergeant Jim Clark, who was brought in as an independent consultant said Friday during a news conference a scientific phrase explains what happened to Bates in that moment. It's called slips and capture, that's when someone reacts differently in times of extremely pressure.

CLARK: You can train someone as much as you can. And you train in every area that you can. But in times of crisis, sometimes training is not going to take you through the scenario.

BLACKWELL: Clark says that in the 200 shootings he has investigated, he has never seen a weapon leave the officer's hand and he believes there's no doubt that Deputy Bates thought he was getting ready to discharge a taser.

CLARK: He, obviously, had a taser grip when caused the gun upon discharge to leave his hand and fall to the pavement.

BLACKWELL: Before the tape was released, Harris' son spoke to the press about what he talked to his father.

AIDEN FRALEY, SON OF SHOOTING VICTIM: That I loved him, that I'll talk to him the next day. But when I didn't get to talk to him, I knew something was happening.

BLACKWELL: And as the investigation is happening, the family and their attorney still want all the information to come to light.

ATTORNEY: There's a lot we know about what happened to Eric Harris, but there's a lot that we don't know.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: So what happens next here? Well, the Tulsa County district attorney will reportedly take a look at the evidence and consider possible charges against that reserve deputy, Robert Bates.

PAUL: You know, the Florida Everglades, it's home to so many animals and reptiles. It's special to a lot of Floridians. But did you know it's in danger of drying up? Well, there are some plans to save the swamp. We'll tell you what's going on.

Stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:20:13] PAUL: Well, Bill Weir, he has the job of a lifetime, doesn't he? He travels the world in search of places that are changing before our eyes. In tonight's season finale of CNN's "THE WONDER LIST", his search lead in somewhere close to home, the Florida Everglades.

Take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL WEIR, THE WONDER LIST: To a different kind of forest alongside a different kind of prairie, mangrove forest, sea grass prairie. What makes them different to their cousins is not just the water, but a particular mix of salty and sweet.

Welcome to Florida Bay. It is a ground floor in a fishing, shrimping, crabbing industry worth billions.

Another good way to gauge the health of these waters is to trade snorkel for paddle. Say good-bye to a manatee.

What are you doing?

And go look at the sky. Go look for shore birds at a place known as Snake Bight.

Those are pelicans in the distance. They had a big flock, a little plover. To really appreciate this spot --

So amazing.

You need a little history lesson and some imagination.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: The cinematography is just fabulous, isn't it?

Bill Weir, "WONDER LIST" host and chief innovation correspondent, with us now.

Bill, thank you. I can't believe we're already at season finale.

WEIR: I know, it flew by, didn't it? Thank you.

PAUL: It did. Yes.

OK. So, talk to me about the Everglades. What stuck with you the most? What was most impressionable with you?

WEIR: This episode really surprised me. I went in with such low expectations. We think we know what the Everglades are about. You look down as you're flying to grandma, you're going to see Mickey Mouse, and it looks like a squishy waste land of stuff that wants to bite you.

But when you get out in the middle of it and you appreciate what guys like this, Max Stone, amazing wildlife photographer, you realize it is a web of life unlike any other, not in America but in the world. There's -- you know, manatees, panthers, crocodiles, and alligators, and orchids and base sponges, and all this Web of life, and it's really a representation of man realizing, you know, we can't trash entire ecosystems without paying the price.

You know, half of the everglades is dead, the other half is on life support, because in the '50s, it was dredged and drained in order to turn Florida into this paradise. But all of the drinking water comes from under the aquifers, underneath those glades. Now, we're spending billions to try to put it back the way it was before we got ambitious.

PAUL: So, when we talk about this new plan, how hopeful are folks down there that it can be restored?

WEIR: Well, there's good signs, for the first time in a long time. What happened was in the '90s all that fresh water that flows south from Lake Okeechobee, all the way to the Florida Bay, it really slowed to a trickle. There was a huge fish kill, algae blooms, Florida Bay essentially died. That's when people woke up.

And so, during the Florida recount, one of the most politically polarizing times in America, Republicans and Democrats came together. Jeb Bush was there and Bill Clinton signed a multi-billion dollar plan to save it. There's a lot of special interest tug of war. There's big sugars involved. You've got cattle ranchers, and farmers, and citrus growers fighting for the right balance.

But, for the first time, there is proof that things are turning around. If they can restore the Everglades, and they should be able to, it's contained in one state. You don't have to worry about Tennessee's water, you know, politics.

PAUL: That's true.

WEIR: If they can fix it in one state, this could be a model for the rest of the planet because nowhere else is wilderness and civilization so close and so stark, and this has to be a model as we add a few more billion people to the planet in this generation.

PAUL: Yes, what a great point. It has been a remarkable series. Bill Weir, thank you so much.

WEIR: Thank you.

PAUL: Good to see you.

And the two-hour season finale, remember, of "THE WONDER LIST" starts at 9:00 Eastern, right here on CNN. You do not want to miss it.

Stay close. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: You know, this is how much we love Victor here. He asks, our team delivers. More for you from the folks at "Saturday Night Live." This time, about Bill Clinton.

BLACKWELL: It's worth it. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am running because I want to be a voice for women everywhere.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did someone say women everywhere?

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hillary would make a great president.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I would make an even greater first dude.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Bill. That's nice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hillary, isn't it crazy that phones can take videos now?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, if they could have done that in the '90s, I'd be in jail.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: That's just wrong.

BLACKWELL: Darrell Hammond is so good.

PAUL: So good.

BLACKWELL: I mean, I guess he just came back for this but --

PAUL: Oh, my goodness.

BLACKWELL: He's got to reconsider coming back to the show.

PAUL: As she reaches around and does this. I was waiting for her to smack him aside the head.

BLACKWELL: She says, all right. All right.

PAUL: All right. A little more subdued than many people would have been.

BLACKWELL: That's going to be great this cycle.

PAUL: Yes, it is. It is.

Thank you so much for starting your morning with us.

BLACKWELL: "STATE OF THE UNION" with Dana Bash is up at 9:00 a.m. and again at noon with a special edition.

But, right now, it's "INSIDE POLITICS WITH JOHN KING"