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Cleveland Police Shooting Settlement; Honoring Military's Sacrifice; Former Seal Honors Fallen; Blogger: Donate Money to "Take Out" Activist; Santa Barbara Oil Spill: Some Businesses Losing Expected Holiday Sales. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired May 25, 2015 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00] JOEY JACKSON, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: And in the event that you could show others were involved, and they shot too, should because you can't find which one did it, should all of them now be excused?

The second thing -

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: But - but - but - but isn't it hard to figure out what exactly happened when no one's testifying about what exactly happened?

JACKSON: Well - well, yes, Carol, but there was sufficient information based upon the other witnesses that came forward and the judge, when he talked about his decision, actually came down from the bench and he looked at the mannequins and he talked about the trajectory of the gunshots and which one would have hit, would he still be alive? But causation was a very problematic thing for the judge and, again, he found no causation. Since it's a fatal shot but not the fatal shot, I absolve you.

But very important, just one other thing, and that is he also found that it was proven beyond a reasonable doubt that this officer, Brelo, engaged in what's called a felonious assault. And that is he intended to cause harm. However, although he found that beyond a reasonable doubt he did that, he found that Officer Brelo was justified. That is, he perceived an imminent threat and he acted in accord with that imminent threat, hence not guilty as to all charges.

HARRY HOUCK, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Right.

COSTELLO: Well, Harry, some civil rights leaders are still blaming the union for police silence and I'm just going -

HOUCK: Well, of course, they -

COSTELLO: I'm just going to read you what one Cleveland city councilman said. His name is Jeff Johnson. He told the "L.A. Times," quote, "we expect citizens to come into court and testify against their own neighbors, their own relatives. When police don't do that, we question them and their commitment to justice." Is it their duty to tell investigators and a jury or a judge what happened?

HOUCK: Well, first - first of all - well, first of all, everybody doesn't do it. You know, second of all, police officers have the right, like anybody else, they're afforded the same rights of anyone else and if they decide they do not want to make a statement, that's their right, all right? When you become a police officer, you don't lose your rights, all right?: And so that's - and the union's job is what? No matter what, to back the men. Just like any other union does or just like any other defense attorney does. You know -

JACKSON: Or women.

HOUCK: Right, or women.

JACKSON: Right.

HOUCK: Exactly. So, you know, basically it's their job to protect those police officers. And they're the ones who hired the attorneys to help them in their defense, so they're going to stay behind them.

COSTELLO: But you see what it might seem like to some people, right?

HOUCK: Sure.

COSTELLO: If police officers who are the only witnesses -

HOUCK: But why is it -

COSTELLO: To this mass shooting, all these shots being fired -

HOUCK: Right.

COSTELLO: And nobody's talk about it because they have their Fifth Amendment right, how do we know what happened?

HOUCK: But we also have - we also have the crime scene unit - we have the crime scene unit and the investigation that was conducted, all right, and that's where they got to the certain point where an officer was actually arrested and went to trial. And that's because of the result of that investigation.

JACKSON: But in fairness to your point, Carol, in the event that we want citizens to come forward and civilians to assist police in giving testimony that punishes people, certainly we should expect, and anticipate that officers would come in and say it, too. But, again, to Harry's point, you know what, they have constitutional rights and if they don't want to speak, it just means you piece together your case using other information, as happened here. There was plenty of other factual detail that the judge based his decision upon in this case.

HOUCK: And as a detective you had a lot of the cases where there was no witnesses and you still had to conduct an investigation and you made an arrest.

COSTELLO: I have to leave it there, sadly.

JACKSON: And sometimes you got a conviction.

HOUCK: Sure. Exactly.

JACKSON: (INAUDIBLE). Yes.

COSTELLO: I have to leave it there, sadly. Joey Jackson, Harry Houck, thanks so much. I appreciate it.

JACKSON: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a holiday greeting and a hostile blowback. The president's own party answers to the anger in the twitter verse. We'll talk about that next.

But as we go to break, a live look at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:37:00] COSTELLO: Memorial Day 2015, a reminder that this day is more than a lazy day of barbecues and gatherings. This is Arlington National Cemetery, just outside of Washington. Of course, as you know, it's the burial place for many of our nation's war dead, including those killed in recent years in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, is there this morning with more.

Hi, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

I am here at section 60. More than 900 of the nation's fallen on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, this is their final resting place. And on this Memorial Day, as every Memorial Day, and so many days throughout the year, families and friends have gathered here to pay their respects.

I want you to see, we have - we have seen small children running around. We have seen parents, grandparents, battle buddies, many active duty members of the military, many veterans are here to pay their respects and say hello to their fallen friends. This place is really a place where you see the brotherhood of arms live on. The duty and sacrifice that so many have made over the years and that their families continue to make.

You know, what can we say? If you're headed to the beach, if you're headed to the mall, if you're headed to the barbecue, please pause and remember in your town, in your city, the sacrifice that so many military members have made over the years. And, of course, here at Arlington, over 400,000 have this as their final resting place. This is where we have veterans of Vietnam, Korea, World War II, World War I, dating all the way back to the Civil War. One of the most visited places in the nation's capital. But on this Memorial Day, a very special place where families are coming, where friends are coming, and where everyone is paying their respects on Memorial Day 2015.

Carol.

COSTELLO: Barbara Starr, many thanks to you. I appreciate it.

The president's own party is accused of missing the point of Memorial Day by a glib greeting that has set the Twitterverse abuzz. Here's Friday's tweet from the Democratic National Committee. Happy Memorial Day weekend, everyone. Well, many felt the upbeat message and image of President Obama enjoying an ice cream cone ignores the sacrifice of the nation's military. CNN's Jake Tapper among them. He took the DNC to task. His tweet, quote, "respectfully, this is not what Memorial Day weekend is about." After an avalanche of similar sentiments, the DNC finally got the message tweeting, quote, "forever thankful for every American who made the ultimate sacrifice."

Still, admit it, admit it, many of us will spend today by the pool, or grilling out, not taking the time to honor our fallen heroes. Others, including former Navy SEAL Clint Bruce, are remembering fallen comrades. Bruce is the co-founder of Carry the Load, a 2000 mile national relay that travels through cities across the country during the month of May to try to restore the true meaning of this holiday.

[09:40:06] Bruce says he wants every year to remember those who cannot. For him, it's not only a way to honor fallen service members and first responders, but it's also a form of healing. Today, Bruce and his relay team finished their 2000 mile trek in Dallas. He joins me now.

Thank you so much for joining us.

CLINT BRUCE, FORMER NAVY SEAL: Thanks for having me on.

COSTELLO: So tell us about the journey and what went through your minds through that - through the arduous task that you took on.

BRUCE: Yes, yes, that's a great question. Well, you know, this is our fourth year of doing the Memorial May National Relay, which actually - you know, we want to take the while month of May and honor the sacrificial services, which are law enforcement, fire fighters, rescue personnel, culminating in the military with what we call the Memorial Day march, which is started yesterday and it's been going on for 20 hours and 15 minutes. At 12:01, we are all about honoring the guys I served with and those who came before us and just doing Memorial Day the way it should have been done, which is just taking a moment to look at the families and go, hey, your husband, your father, your son, your daughter, your wife, your mother, we're never going to forget them. And nothing says that better than just a slow walk to remember those no longer with us.

COSTELLO: So you go through all of that every year for the past couple of years.

BRUCE: Yes.

COSTELLO: And then the DNC puts out these tweets. What goes through your mind when you hear about something like that?

BRUCE: Yes. I typically don't pay a lot of attention to anything tweeted out of D.C. I just - I don't really have time. I - I'm not waiting for - and I don't think the government - I don't think we need to wait on the government to fix anything. I think as Americans, if we see things we need to adjust and we need to fix, then that's what we need to do. And the government will catch up, as it should. The nation should be let by its citizens and we're not one to really slow down and wait for anybody to fix a problem that we see. And it's been amazing.

You know, 14,000 people yesterday, on Sunday, in Dallas, Texas, came out to do Memorial Day well. And I'd prefer to look at that and smile than to read a tweet and get mad because, you know, the 14,000 people were out there telling me that it really mattered a whole lot.

COSTELLO: Absolutely. And those 14,000 people, some of them, they use this phrase that they asked one another, who are you carrying? Tell me about that.

BRUCE: Who do you carry, that's right. Yes, so that really goes back to the very first kind of day when I did my first Memorial Day walk, which was just really missing my friends and thinking about my buddies. And I just put on a pack and I started walking and I came around this beautiful lake here in Dallas called White Rock Lake and there's an older gentleman who I know was just a World War II veteran and I was going say something to him as I got close to him. And when I got close to him, he actually said something to me first. Now, I pulled my headphones out and he said, son, who are you carrying? And it just - the tumblers fell in place for me that that was a phrase that unlocked an opportunity for me to share a name that was on my mind at that moment and share that name with him and we had that kind of a special connection that you have with these World War II veterans while we still have them. We have to spend time with these men and women because they saved the nation.

COSTELLO: Can you - can you - can you share that name with us?

BRUCE: Well, yes, at the time I was thinking of Jason Dale Lewis (ph). We served together in SEAL Team 5. His wife Donna, his incredible kids and I've been thinking about names before then and think about - you know, one of the things we do, we do a 20 hour and 15 minute walk and next year it will be 20 hours and 16 minutes and people ask me about that. I'm like, well, the truth of the matter is, is we're going to lose more people. We're going to lose people in training and this is the nature of the military. And so we walk a little further every year for those we've just lost.

COSTELLO: Well, thank you, sir, for joining us. And thank you for your service. Former Navy SEAL Clint Bruce.

BRUCE: All right, and thanks for paying attention to this. It means a whole lot.

COSTELLO: Oh, I'm so - any time. Thank you so much for being with me.

BRUCE: Sure.

COSTELLO: To learn more about the relay go to carrytheload.org. I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [09:47:26] COSTELLO: Twitter has suspended a blogger for apparently threatening the life of a civil rights activist. Here's how it all unfolded. On Sunday the blogger, Chuck Johnson, tweeted, asking people to donate money for quote, "taking out activist DeRay McKesson." McKesson responded saying he takes Johnson's comments as a serious threat. No comment from Twitter on how long Johnson's account will be suspended, but there you have it. That's what it looks like this morning.

DeRay McKesson joins me now live from Baltimore to tell us more about this. Hi.

DERAY MCKESSON, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST: Hey. Thanks for the invite.

COSTELLO: Thanks for being here. I appreciate it. So in an e-mail to tech news website Re/Code, Johnson claims he was only speaking metaphorically, he wasn't actually threatening your life. How do you respond to that?

MCKESSON: You know, for someone who considers themselves a journalist, I firmly believe that he understands the power of his words, and his words are his words. "Take out" functions in a certain way. And if I got on any media outlet and said something to the effect of "take out the police," nobody would think that I was talking about an expose; it would function to mean a physical threat. I believe that that was what he meant. And he's had these vitriolic comments in the past. I believe that this is just a pattern of the violent words that he's used and I just happened to be the target this time.

COSTELLO: Were there other vitriolic tweets from him concerning you previous to this one?

MCKESSON: No. He's been blocked for a long time. I actually woke up and the tweet that I tweeted, I said I woke up and saw this, because people alerted me to it and I was concerned, again, because this isn't free speech. That wasn't free speech. That was hate speech. And that just isn't -- that isn't okay on any platform, let alone Twitter. I'm proud that Twitter took the action to move so quickly.

And remember, racism doesn't exist only in the extremes. It's not just slavery and the N word. It functions in these subtle ways, too. And he, again, knew very clearly what he was doing by using this language. As a journalist, I believe that he understood the power of his words. And his words are his words.

COSTELLO: Are you surprised Twitter acted this way?

MCKESSON: I'm not surprised. I have faith in the platform. I think the platform has been a powerful space for people of color, specifically to build community and speak out and for people of all sort of groups, to use as a platform to get their message out.

So no, I hope that his suspension is indefinite because he, again, engaged in acts that if anybody else had done it about any other group of people would have been considered a crime. If I tweet out right now, you know, "people should take out the police," and say that that means it's an expose, it will not be treated as such. It would be treated as a crime.

[09:50:04] COSTELLO: Okay. Well let's go back to the beginning. Why is this blogger -- Why does he so dislike you?

MCKESSON: It's interesting. I don't know. Hate is organized in America. Hate has always been organized in America. Me and many other protesters have simply been telling the truth and the truth is that the police are killing us, that the police have killed about 400 people this year and that people of color have been particular victims of police violence in cities across the country. And I've been telling that story along with many other people.

It seems to be a truth that he's denying along with the people that follow him. And again, the only thing that I can think of is that hate is organized and has never wanted people of color to come together around state violence.

COSTELLO: DeRay McKesson, Thanks for joining me this morning. I appreciate it.

MCKESSON: Thank you.

COSTELLO: I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Some Santa Barbara area beaches are closed for the Memorial Day weekend following last week's oil spill. The spill isn't just sullying waters, it's also hurting businesses. They say even when the oil can't be seen, it's taking a toll on sales. Stephanie Elam has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARRETT KABABIK, OWNER, PADDLE SPORTS CENTER: It's akin to somebody potentially getting hit by a shark in the water. You see everybody just goes away.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Garrett Kababik, the oil spill in Santa Barbara County couldn't have come at a worst time.

[09:55:05] His Paddle Sports Center at the Santa Barbara Harbor should be bustling with customers who want to get out and paddle board or kayak.

KABABIK: We generally would not be able to do this interview where we were standing right now if it were a normal Memorial Day weekend. There would be 50 or 60 people trying to get on the water right now.

ELAM (voice-over): Instead, business is slow.

(on camera): How much has your business been impacted this Memorial Day weekend, do you estimate, because of the spill?

KABABIK: At this point we can estimate in the tens of thousands of dollars of lost revenue.

ELAM (voice-over): The oil spill that leaked more than 100,000 gallons of crude oil into the Pacific Ocean has impacted a nine-mile stretch of the coastline, forcing Kababik to close his other shop in Goleta.

KABABIK: There was oil on the water.

ELAM (on camera): You could actually see it?

KABABIK: You could see it. It was actually covering the bottom of our kayak.

ELAM (on camera): Here in Santa Barbara Harbor, several miles south of the spill, there's been no sign of oil. But the perception that there might be has been enough to dampen this area's economy and it's one that thrives on tourism.

DOREEN FARR, SUPERVISOR, SANTA BARBARA COUNTY: Obviously, people who had reservations at the state campgrounds and our local community that is used to being able to go out and use the beaches, use the ocean, surf, fish, kayak, or whatever, have been greatly impacted by that.

KABABIK: We're a feast and famine business. We don't have very many days to make our money. So having this happen at a time where we are expecting good revenues is tough.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ELAM: Where we are right now, there are campgrounds that are closed because this is a beach well north here of Santa Barbara Harbor where it is closed for this weekend. But overall, Kababik is optimistic things will get better, Carol, simply because, well, Santa Barbara is just too gorgeous to keep people away. People just want to come here because it's just so beautiful.

COSTELLO: I can't say I disagree with that. It is quite gorgeous there. Stephanie Elam reporting live from Santa Barbara.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)