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NSA Data Collection is Illegal; Tornadoes Strike the Plains; Baltimore Officers Challenge Charges; Is Branding the Key to a White House Win? Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired May 07, 2015 - 10:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:30:40] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We're following breaking news right now. A U.S. appeals court has ruled that the NSA's massive collection of phone records is illegal. The ruling determining the -- the ruling determines that it exceeds the scope of what Congress authorized.

I want to bring in our senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta to help explain this for us. Good morning.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. That's right.

This is the program that essentially allows the NSA to sweep up all of this data from people's phone calls. Not the content of those phone calls, but when calls are made, who those calls are made to. The NSA has been collecting this data for years. And the program was exposed by the NSA leaker Edward Snowden.

Well, court of appeals up in New York looked at this program and found it to be illegal, that it exceeds the scope of the Patriot Act and there's a pretty damming section of this ruling from the court of appeals up in New York saying that it exceeds the scope of what Congress has authorized.

Now, this court ruling did not say whether or not the program was constitutional but it did basically find it to be illegal. Carol, we should point out, though, that not only does the White House sort of agree with all this, but members of Congress agree with this and they are trying to reform the NSA's collection of this bulk metadata as it's called.

There's a bill proceeding up on Capitol Hill at this point that the White House would like to see signed into law. So all of this is moving forward it appears on a legislative front. But the court has weighed in. And for all of those folks out there who were upset with Edward Snowden, all of his exposures of what's happening at the NSA, this is one particular program that he exposed that a federal court found to be illegal -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Jim Acosta reporting live at the White House -- Thank you. I'll be right back.

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[10:36:04] COSTELLO: Tornadoes punished the plains and the spread isn't over yet, widespread damage in Oklahoma City this morning. This video just into our NEWSROOM: homes and businesses simply unrecognizable. In all 51 tornadoes have now been reported. That is the largest outbreak we've seen in one day this year. Some of those twisters coming two at a time -- look at this sort of dangerous tango. It's really frightening.

Chad Myers is tracking it all in Atlanta. Good morning.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning -- Carol.

Yes, look at the map of tornadoes -- from Nebraska all the way down to Texas. Now, I don't have a real number. Was there 30? Was there 50? We don't know. Because if one guy reports it from the southeast, another from the northeast it could have been the same storm reported.

So the Weather Service now go out there and look at how many damaged swaths are out there. But I can tell you that there's a couple of tornadoes for sure because I can show you pictures. Like this one Verdun, Oklahoma, tornado on the ground, no question about it. This was late in the evening after the storms had already gone through parts of Norman.

And then here farther to the north, and on up into Republic County, Kansas and then finally up into Hardy, Nebraska. Look at that beast -- that is a tornado.

Luckily no big buildings in the way. No homes, no schools, no cities in the way of that but obviously a lot of damage done there across parts of the country.

Something else yesterday -- great pictures there. Please don't do this because here is what happened yesterday. We had these called high precipitation thunderstorms -- a lot of rain, high precip. So if you're looking at the storm, you can take a picture of it right there. That's no problem. You can actually see it. But as the storm wraps up, all of a sudden you can't see it anymore because the veil of rain that you have to look through is completely obscuring your view of the tornado. You can't see that through all that rain. There's no possible way to see it. The tornado is there, you're seeing it. And all of a sudden the tornado wraps around, the rain wraps around and you can't see the tornado.

Here is what happened to one of the viewers here for Oklahoma City's TV stations, one trying to show him -- show the TV station and the viewers there what the tornado was like. He got a little too close.

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MARC DILLIART, PHOTOGRAPHER: Got to be ready for it. Big. I've got trees coming on down, power flashes. I've got to back out of here. I've got trees coming down on me. Backing out, Mike, backing out. Power flashes. Large power flashes. It's really cranking down, Mike.

Hang on. It is trying to move the car on me here. It is bad news. It's really cranking down to the ground, Mike. Yes. there's no doubt.

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MYERS: And that was Marc Dilliard talking to Mike Morgan from our affiliate KFOR TV there. Got a little too close, had to back out of the way. Had he not backed up because he couldn't see where the tornado was because of the rain -- he would have been definitely inside that cone. So he's safe -- that's the good news but please don't try it. I say this all the time. A weather radio and pickup doesn't make you a storm chaser.

Stay out of the way.

COSTELLO: It was good there wasn't any traffic behind him.

MYERS: Wow.

COSTELLO: Yes. Chad Myers -- thanks so much. I appreciate it.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, new questions over the decision to charge six officers in the death of Freddie Gray. Now, some of those officers are challenging the charges. We'll talk about that next.

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[10:43:10] COSTELLO: Baltimore state's attorney Marilyn Mosby faces more pushback over her decision to charge six police officers. Sources telling CNN that the investigation by Baltimore police into the death of Freddie Gray does not support some of the charges against those six officers, including second degree murder.

Let's bring in CNN national correspondent Suzanne Malveaux. Good morning.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi. Good morning, Carol. I want to show you what just happened here, just wrapped up. This is the corner of Pennsylvania and North Avenue. This is in front of the boarded up CVS that was just more than -- a little more than a week ago when that CVS was burned out and it was on fire. It was really the epicenter of where the riots had occurred.

Well, today a very important visual there. You saw the mayor of Baltimore as well as other church community leaders, Elijah Cummings, the congressman from the area, a bishop there, as well as young people who are all announcing this initiative. It is called One Baltimore. It really is about trying to address the critical issues that plague the community when it comes to education, when it comes to economic opportunities and really trying to go through this process of recovery.

A lot of praise for the mayor -- we know that she's received some criticism over the last couple of weeks. But from this group, they are dedicated to working with the mayor and really trying to find some solutions here. She just wrapped up this very brief press conference.

And Carol, I want you to listen to how she put it in terms of the importance of what they need to do next.

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MAYOR STEPHANIE RAWLINGS-BLAKE (D), BALTIMORE: We also know that if we are going to have real healing in our city and a real recovery, it has to be a coordinated and overarching effort to leverage all of this energy that we have in Baltimore, all of this financial support and all of this goodwill. We don't have time to waste. We don't have resources to waste.

[10:45:02] We have to come together and make sure that we are using all of these resources to the maximum capacity. That means we have to work together as one Baltimore.

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MALVEAUX: So Carol, obviously, important that they show this unified front because, you know, behind the scene a lot of different opinions about what should happen with these six police officers, how the city should move forward.

We heard a lot of colorful phrases specifically from Bishop Scott Walker Thomas who said there are a lot of people in the community who feel lost in the sauce. Those were his works. But he said you have to take a look at the bricks and the sticks that are actually coming forward. And that's all about recovery, it's about rebuilding inside of that community.

And Carol, there are many different ways of doing that. But if this Baltimore has attracted the activists, politicians, even musicians, this is Ground Zero for them in terms of getting out a message of how they feel about justice, about police brutality, about community development.

Later today we are going to see the Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson before religious leaders. He spent 36 years working here in Baltimore mostly as a neurosurgeon. He's going to be talking about what he thinks is important to do here.

And finally Prince is holding a conference -- a rally for peace it's called on Mother's Day asking people to wear gray in honor of Freddie Gray and his family. We understand, Carol, that these tickets rapidly being sold out, the highest cost, the highest ticket now, Carol, going for nearly $500.

COSTELLO: Wow. Suzan Malveaux, reporting live this morning -- thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Mike Huckabee is in it to win it for 2016. And he's leaving that nice guy image behind. We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: Branding is important when it comes to a successful

presidential run. Voters need to have a sense of who you are and what you're about. For the candidates running a second time and lost, it's time to rebrand though.

Hillary Clinton went from tough as nails to a grandma with experience. Mike Huckabee's image has shifted too. As Politico puts it, quote, "Times change and Mike Huckabee has changed with them. He senses his party doesn't want sweet talking guys. This time around he believes the Republican wants guys who will eat nails and spit out tacks and Mike Huckabee has adapted."

Huckabee showing this not so soft side during his presidential announcement this week where he took a swipe at President Obama's foreign policy.

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MIKE HUCKABE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Dealing with radicals who chant death to America and who fund bombs and rockets to murder civilians in Israel is nonsense. So when I hear our current president say he wants Christians to get off their high horse so we can make nice with radical jihadists, I wonder -- I wonder if he could watch a western from the 50s and be able to figure out who the good guys and the bad guys really are.

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COSTELLO: With me now to talk about this, Republican strategist and CNN political commentator Ana Navarro; and Noelle Nikpour, a Republican strategist and an op-ed columnist for the "Sun Sentinel". Welcome to both of you.

NOELLE NIKPOUR, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Thank you.

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning Carol.

COSTELLO: So Ana it's interesting -- it seems like the Republicans are toughening up and the Democrats are softening I mean when you just focus on Hillary Clinton and Mike Huckabee -- right?

NAVARRO: I don't know about that. And I don't know that Mike Huckabee is rebranding.

[10:50:01] I think he is the nice guy. He is a good guy. That's his persona. That's his identity. That's who he is. He's funny. He often uses humor as part of his political message. He's witty, he's quippy, he is a preacher at heart.

We saw him have great success with that personality with his identity in the debates in 2008. I don't think you're going to see the end of that Mike Huckabee. Surely this time around you have had -- you're going to have eight years of a Democrat presidency and there's things for Republican candidates to be critical of unlike 2008. But I think you're going to still see the Mike Huckabee that we know. COSTELLO: You know, I kind of disagree with that, Ana. And I

hate it because you know, I always pretty much agree with Ana.

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NAVARRO: You're going to ruin both our reputations with that.

COSTELLO: Exactly.

I do think Mike Huckabee has changed his tune. He's a lot harsher than he used to be. Because when he ran the first time he was the sweet talking, tea-drinking southern guy. He's the guy that wrote the book and he lost 100 pounds and he talked about that a lot. This time around he's not that.

NIKPOUR: I think he found out how difficult it was to raise money. I think running before you can kind of find out what people want and what they don't. Now while he's still going to be the evangelical right wing running candidate, I think that he's found out it's better to take a position to be hard as nails, to really hammer Obama or really hammer in this case Hillary Clinton.

So I think you're going to see a much tougher Huckabee so that he can be taken very seriously in 2016.

COSTELLO: And you have to admit, Ana, that that resonates with many Republican voters right -- that tough talk.

NAVARRO: Again, I think it goes back to the fact that we're going to have lived through eight years of the Obama Democratic presidency and a lot of people on the Republican side, in particular, are very unhappy with some of his decisions, particularly on issues like foreign policy but also some domestic policy issues so yes, being critical of this administration scores points with Republicans.

But I still think it's very hard to rebrand yourself. I know Hillary Clinton is trying it. It's very hard to rebrand yourself after the age of 50. I don't think you're going to see -- unless you are Madonna, you cannot keep reinventing yourself.

I think Mike Huckabee, who is a very experienced politician, knows that. He's a very well-known commodity in this country. He's been on Fox News. Not only has he been a governor, not only has he been a presidential candidate, he's also now become a very successful media personality. So he can't all of a sudden become, you know, the world is burning, the sky is falling guy and go completely opposite to what he has been his entire life.

COSTELLO: Ok. Since we're showing that picture of Hillary Clinton while we're talking about Mike Huckabee, let's talk about Hillary Clinton, shall we? Because she's sort of trying to rebrand but not really but I don't quite understand where she's going.

NIKPOUR: She needs to do some rebranding. I think that's why she's hopped on immigration because --

COSTELLO: Republican strategist.

NIKPOUR: I mean yes, in all fairness, I'm a GOP strategist so of course I'm going to say she needs rebranding. But you know, she's had a lot of scandals. She's had a lot of controversy. She had the e- mails. She's got Benghazi. It's one after the other after the other.

COSTELLO: The interesting thing about that, this Quinnipiac poll that came out today shows that none of that is resonating, at least with her supporters, because her support in Iowa has remained virtually the same.

NIKPOUR: I know. And you know what the Clintons really have really what I'd like to call a Teflon brand. I don't think much sticks on them. People really love the Clintons. If you look back, Bill Clinton was one of the key people that people wanted to endorse them when they were running for office as a Democrat. The family as whole -- Chelsea, Bill, Hillary -- have a favorable brand even with all the scandals that come out and all the things that look, have an appearance of being kind of shady.

COSTELLO: What do you think, Ana?

NAVARRO: I think she is attempting to rebrand. Again, I think it's difficult because she is such a known commodity. I almost think she's overcompensating in 2016 for where she was in 2008. We didn't see her embrace the woman factor in 2008 the way she's embracing it in 2016. I think it's going to be more difficult than she thinks.

I also think on immigration and some issues like gay marriage, immigration, it's almost like since they have practically no other candidates, these six debates that the Democrats announce they are going to have, frankly, I think Hillary Clinton could debate Hillary Clinton from 2008 when she was against giving undocumented driver's licenses.

The last time I heard Hillary Clinton talk about immigration last year, she was calling for deportation of the Central American kids who are on the border. Now she's calling for a Deluxe Mack Daddy comprehensive immigration reform. Ok. That's fine. But which Hillary are you? People can see through the distraction while she's trying to make these policy pronouncements that people --

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[10:55:12] COSTELLO: I will say more than one candidate has tweaked their immigration policy. Some candidates haven't talked about it at all. They are going to have to eventually -- right -- Noelle.

NIKPOUR: Absolutely. One of the advantages that someone like a Marco Rubio or someone like a Jeb Bush or even a Ted Cruz has is the fact that they can explain their narrative in Spanish. They're fluent in Spanish.

That's going to be a really upper hand. NAVARRO: Noelle -- Ted Cruz isn't but you are right on Jeb and

Marco. You know these folks from Texas, the Castro brothers, Ted Cruz, their Spanish is not what you think it would be.

COSTELLO: Ok. We have to leave it there. Ana Navarro, Noelle Nikpour -- thanks to both of you. I appreciate it.

Checking some other top stories for you at 55 minutes past: Iran says it's released the Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship, it seized more than a week ago. The crew on board is said to be ok. Iran insists the seizure was not politically motivated was instead due to a debt owed by the shipping company.

In a bid to save Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's life, defense attorneys are planning to call a well-known death penalty opponent to the stand. Sister Helen Prejean gained nationwide notoriety when the movie "Dead Man Walking" came out. It was based on here based on her book of the same name. The defense hopes the nun will convince They hope she will convince jurors to spare Tsarnaev's life.

Whole Foods is opening a new lower cost chain of stores. They are hoping the markets will attract younger shoppers. Whole Foods the CEO describes the new chain as, quote, "hip and cool". It's set to open next year.

Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello.

"AT THIS HOUR" with Berman and Bolduan after a break.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: Brady bites back -- flawed, biased, terribly disappointing. His agent --