Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

"Vanity Fair" Cover Shows First Public Look At Caitlyn Jenner; 35-Year-Old Nehemiah Fisher Shot And Killed By Strait Trooper Friday; CNN On The Air For 35 Years Today. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired June 01, 2015 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00] NANCY GRACE, HLN HOST, NANCY GRACE: His defense that Wint doesn't like pizza, So let's follow that train of thought. That would mean that somebody else had to order the pizza, and then Wint went up and ate it on the front porch and left -- and put it in the trash can. OK, that is ridiculous.

But let's talk about your former client, sir. You make him out to be some sort of gentle giant. He has a rap sheet as long as my arm, and it includes protective orders taken out by his own family that were afraid of him.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: How do you respond to that, Robin?

ROBIN FICKER, FORMER ATTORNEY FOR DARON WINT. There were in injuries in that case. He never hurt his dad.

GRACE: Because they got a protective order.

FICKER: So what? He had an argument with his dad.

GRACE: So what? He's got six convictions.

FICKER: You're not Carl Lewis the Olympic long jump champion to jump from arguing with your father to having four murders.

GRACE: No, no. I'm talking about taking out a protective order. His own father, a grown man, was so afraid of him, he took out a TPO. That's the tip of the iceberg. I'm looking at six convictions. And if you want to tell me DNA is junk science, good luck with that. The jury probably knows more about it than the three of us put together.

FICKER: You sound like the person who used to say that FBI hair evidence was convincing, that his hair was found on the scene and it matched the hair on his head, which the FBI later admitted was completely incorrect. If you look at "the Washington Post" just this weekend --

GRACE: Somebody's grasping at straws, and it's not me.

FICKER: There was an article this weekend where the FBI admitted many of its underlying assumptions in its DNA matches were incorrect. I've seen many cases where DNA evidence was thrown out of court just like the Atlanta braves would throw a pitch.

BALDWIN: Robin, let me ask, why are you out here defending him? You haven't officially been hired as counsel, correct?

FICKER: His family retained me to go down and talk to him to take their love down to him, which I did, and to see how he was doing. They have not spoken to him since this all went down. His mother said he doesn't like pizza. His brother said he doesn't like pizza.

GRACE: We're back on the pizza?

FICKER: He doesn't like pizza.

BALDWIN: Pizza defense. Nancy Grace, you get the final word.

GRACE: Well, this is what I recall from the case after studying very carefully. He's going to have to show to a jury -- and you say he doesn't have to prove anything. That's true under the constitution. But once the state brings out evidence that his saliva, his DNA is on the pizza that was ordered in the Sovapoulos home, he's going to be hard pressed not to at least attack the credibility of the scientists.

But one thing is over arcing in this case. That is the little boy. His injuries and the way he died different from all the other adults, it was as if he was isolated from his family and tortured to get money while the father and mother could hear their child screaming, all right? Think about that, Ficker.

FICKER: And Daron Wint is not charged with the murder of the little boy. Isn't that interesting? He's charged only with the order of the father.

GRACE: Give it time.

FICKER: Give it time? You're presuming him guilty, not presuming him innocent.

GRACE: Based on the DNA, yes. I am, I certainly am.

FICKER: DNA is a big jump because there was a big time difference between the pizza being delivered and the deaths of the people in that house.

BALDWIN: They're going to figure this out.

Robin Ficker, I appreciate the time. Nancy Grace, we'll be watching all of it, I'm sure tonight, HLN 8:00 eastern. Thank you, both. I really appreciate both of you for coming on.

FICKER: I think Nancy is going to come around to my position before long.

GRACE: OK. We'll see about that.

BALDWIN: Cue the laughter. Thanks to both of you.

Next, Bruce Jenner is revealing a whole new identity today, Caitlyn Jenner. Her announcement is on the cover of "Vanity Fair." We'll show you the photo and the story behind it coming up. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:37:57] BALDWIN: BALDWIN: All right. It's time to meet Caitlyn Jenner. Many of you know her. She's an American Olympian. We watched her tell the world she has the soul of a female. She graces the cover of the July issue of "Vanity Fair" magazine. And this picture here has everyone talking right now. Her cover is already trending #callmecaitlyn. And this tweet today from Jenner's twitter page, quote, "I'm so happy after such a long struggle to be living my true self, welcome to the world, Caitlyn, can't wait for you to get to know her/me."

I just spoke with Kimberly Reed. She is a transgender woman who made a film, made a documentary about her experience. And she said she felt Jenner was exhaling now for the very first time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIMBERLY REED, TRANSGENDER WOMAN: Just a sense of relief. And when you go from being somebody who has secrets, that has this big mystery about yourself that you don't want anybody to find out, it's enormously liberating to just say, you know what, this is who I am. Just feeling like you have to present one face to some people and another face to other people, it's really exhausting. It's not even just gender issues. I think a lot of us do that all the time, and gender is a specific thing to look at where, but we do an awful lot of presentation that may not be ourselves. But I think a lot of people can relate to that, whether it's, you know, you have to be this one person at work or this other person around your family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Kim Reed, thanks again for coming on.

And here he is, Brian Stelter, our senior media correspondent, host of "RELIABLE SOURCES."

And so, I mean, you know, this cover of "Vanity Fair" had all of us talking instantly. I can only imagine the chatter out in the ether. Why do you think this was the venue or the medium for this coming out?

BRIAN STELTER CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: I think it's one of the most prestigious magazines on the planet. I think about even the quality of the paper, it's a special magazine. You hold it in your hand. You spend time reading and looking at it. There's a long article by Buzz Bissinger, who spent a lot of time with Jenner. That will come out in the coming days as well. So this is--

BALDWIN: Annie Liebowitz photographs.

[15:40:00] STELTER: Yes. And most importantly, the photographs by Annie Liebowitz. So it's this package, really, part of this process that Bruce, now Caitlyn, Jenner is going through. It began with the ABC Diane Sawyer interview. It continues now with this magazine cover. It will continue in July with a series on E! and the ESPN award. BALDWIN: On the ESPN award, this is what kind of award is this? This

is the Arthur Ash.

STELTER: The Arthur Ash courage award. We found out about this today as well. It's at the Espies (ph), the annual sports related show. Michael Sam received this recognition last year. Nelson Mandela, Robin Roberts some of the past winners. So Bruce Jenner was chosen back in April when we were still calling him Bruce Jenner. Now as of today, he would prefer to be called Caitlyn Jenner and preferred to be referred to as a woman. And journalists, generally, we've had to learn how to work in situations like this. The best thing to do is go ahead and support that person's choice. So to say she in this case and to say Caitlyn in this case.

But because this is so new, we need to in the media refer to formerly Bruce Jenner. You know, we need to indicate to our audience what we're talking about here. For example, we talk about Chelsea Manning, who is in prison serving time for his involvement with the Wikileaks scandal. We sometimes say formerly Bradley Manning, even though she now chooses to live as Chelsea.

So that's an example of something that I think people are learning, how to talk about this topic and how to have conversations about it. Many people, for the first time now, thanks to Caitlyn Jenner, know someone who's transgender.

BALDWIN: Especially think about the young people. That's what Kim Reed was saying. There was no one on the cover of "Vanity Fair" growing up. So this is a big, big deal.

STELTER: And this is not any photo. This is a photo of - that goes all the way there, so to speak.

BALDWIN: Yes. Brian Stelter, thank you.

STELTER: Thanks.

BALDWIN: Next here on CNN, this mysterious shooting death in the middle of the Oklahoma floods. Why a man stuck in his truck was shot and killed by highway patrol troopers who showed up to help. What police are saying and what the man's family and friends say, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:45:00] BALDWIN: An attempt to rescue two people from rising flood waters in Oklahoma turn into a deadly police shooting. Authorities say 35-year-old Nehemiah Fisher was shot and killed by a strait trooper Friday. Fisher was also a beloved local pastor. They say two troopers were trying to help Fisher and his brother, Brandon, after getting a call about a stranded driver. Some kind of altercation erupted and we know shots were fired. The brother was not injured. He was arrested. Authorities later revealed that Fisher was armed, but it's not clear if the gun was loaded.

Joining me from Tulsa is Mike Haisloop, family friend, Nehemiah Fisher's former basketball coach.

So Mike, thank you so much for joining me. And I'm so sorry for your loss.

MIKE HAISLOOP, SLAIN PASTOR'S FORMER BASKETBALL COACH: Thank you so much, Brooke. Thank you for having me.

BALDWIN: Let me just tell you, we have spoken to Nehemiah and Brandon's brother, (INAUDIBLE) today. I understand the family's planning to pick up Brandon from jail within a couple of hours. Apparently police haven't allowed them to speak to Brandon yet. You've been in touch with the father, a close friend of yours. How's the family holding up?

HAISLOOP: They're in shock. They're in a lot of shock and disbelief of what happened because of the nature of Nehemiah, of who he was, his character. So they're all in shock. It hadn't quite hit the friends, the family, the parish. It just hasn't hit yet. People don't get it. So it's a very head-scratching moment for everyone.

BALDWIN: What don't they get? And in answering that, tell me more about him.

HAISLOOP: Nehemiah was just a golden young man. I knew him when he was in ninth grade. I got the opportunity to coach him for three or four years in AAU basketball. He was just one of my prize kids. He went off to Tulsa University from there and then on to his life. I stayed in touch with him through his father and we became friends.

But Nehemiah was just the ultimate good-looking, wonderful young man who was God fearing, who if you knew him, you were a better person because that's who he was. He made you a better person. He made those around him better people. He was just that good. And it's hard to -- words can't, you know, describe it. I'm sure everyone has heard this story before, but this is a great kid, period.

BALDWIN: Yes, no, I hear you loud and clear. And I think what makes this -- it's the mystery. It's the what happened, right, when police came and a trigger was somehow pulled. And let me just note to everyone that we do know troopers are set to give a briefing where you are in Tulsa on a shooting in about an hour. Obviously we've reached out to police. That's what they told us. They said they won't release any information before then. So, you know, can you ever imagine a situation in which he would be provoked to use a gun, to shoot?

HAISLOOP: No, ma'am, I do not. I don't ever see that in him. He treasured life. He treasured people. He treasured everyone around him. He was more of a let's pray and let's settle, let's hold hands, let's get to a solution, let's love each other. And again, those are just words. But he was -- that's who Nehemiah was. He was someone you could go to, someone you could get relief, you can get prayer, you can get a friendship. That's who he was. So I don't foresee any circumstances.

BALDWIN: What about law enforcement? Final question, just in us talking to the other brother, (INAUDIBLE), just police in the area, apparently (INAUDIBLE) said the area is known for, his words, shady police. Can you respond to that?

HAISLOOP: No, ma'am, I sure can't. That is -- I have -- I really have no knowledge of that. I know that I have the full faith of the OSBI that they'll do a -- they always do a very, very good investigation of the facts and handling of these situations and things like that. But I can't comment on that, ma'am, no.

BALDWIN: No, I appreciate you holding back, if you can't.

Mike Haisloop, thank you so much for coming on. I really appreciate it. And hopefully they find the truth. They find the truth. Thank you.

HAISLOOP: Yes, ma'am. Thank you. And thank you so much. And for the family, we thank you for all the prayers. Thank you.

BALDWIN: Absolutely. Absolutely.

Coming up next here on CNN, what is the key interview, one of the more memorable, that sticks with my colleague Anderson Cooper? He's going to join me live. He'll share that memory as we look back at 35 years here of CNN. Happy birthday to CNN today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:53:50] BALDWIN: We are showing our pride here at CNN today marking a milestone 35 years on the air. And in those 35 years, we have been bringing you coverage of the biggest events, like our coverage of hurricane Katrina.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A powerful hurricane appears to be setting its sights on the central gulf coast.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This maybe the easy side of the storm, but this is not feel very easy right here on the banks of the Mississippi liver.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, AC360: It's a very strange feeling, careening a hurricane, particularly one this size.

I'm in a Wal-Mart earlier in the day and people just come up to you at the Wal-Mart and they like have you heard about my town.

The woman at the Wal-Mart said to me, you should go to the gulf coast in Mississippi because we haven't been in touch with our relatives in Waveland and no one is reporting from there. When I got to Waveland, there was unlike anything I'd seen before.

I want to show you a few shots around me, just the complete devastation.

I went out with this FEMA body recovery team. We went to the house of a family, last name was Bayne. Once you stepped on their porch, you could smell -- everything was ripped apart and things were on the floor. It was very chaotic. There was mud everywhere. And then they found them.

These four people, a man and wife, and two children have died in this home. They had drowned in their living room. And it was a husband and wife, and two of their kids, were special needs kids, but there was really nothing they could do. They marked an X on the door and they put the number four for the number of bodies on the door that were inside, and then they closed the door and they left.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:55:25] BALDWIN: Anderson is with me now. I mean, the last name, the number, those are things you just never forget, in your career, covering a story like that.

COOPER: Absolutely. And I read that actually just dedicated a playground in the name of that family in Waveland.

BALDWIN: Wow.

COOPER: And you know, there were so many stories like that during Katrina and we just met so many people along the way who, you know, just never I'll forget and who some of them I have been able to keep in touch with. And that was truly one of the most remarkable experiences. And you know, it's rare that you're on, in a place where, you know, often in journalism you're just reporting something that's already happened. You know, kind of recounting what already happened.

BALDWIN: You're in the middle of it?

COOPER: Not only during the storm, but for the month after that we stayed there on the ground there. You know, every day, it was something different. The storm winds continued to blow long after the storm itself was passed.

BALDWIN: How long have you been here?

COOPER: I don't know, 12, 13 years. 2002 -- right at the beginning of 2002.

BALDWIN: I mean, at what point being from Atlanta, growing up, you like you drink Coca-Cola and you watch CNN, right? This is kind of how it is. And with the headquarter, and Ted Turner, and legacy looms large there. And so, I always sort of knew in my journalism in college, my God, dream job. Dream job in here, I know, it hit me some time later, after working here, well, like the power here at CNN, and this where people turn, you know, when major news breaks. When do you remember a moment when you said --

COOPER: Well, I mean, I think everybody remembers, you know, the first gulf war, and that's when CNN really kind of came of age.

BALDWIN: Yes. COOPER: And people started to see the potential for CNN, the fact

that CNN was on the air there, and showing a war breaking out in real time. And I think the technology that exists now, it allows us to, you know, all of us, to go to places and be on the breaking wave of history, and to bring viewers along on that journey, and that's just an extraordinary thing. And there's very -- honestly, there's very few places that are doing the kind of reporting that CNN is doing. Actually sending people, you know, out to a story. Having bureaus around the world. That's one of the things I'm incredibly proud about for CNN.

BALDWIN: Of all the people you've spoken to in your 12, however many years being here.

COOPER: Wow.

BALDWIN: What are the more memorable interviews?

COOPER: You know, I mean, I like talking to people who, regular people who find themselves caught up in certain things beyond their control.

BALDWIN: I'm the same. It is not about celebrities.

COOPER: It is not celebrities. It is people who, you know, in Waveland, Mississippi who are coming home and finding homes and trying to figure out what's the next step is. It is people in Port-Au-Prince in Haiti in 2010 after the earthquake there. You know, CNN had a tremendous presence on the ground. We are the first, you know, international news network to get on the ground in Port-Au-Prince, and to be able to be there and shine the light and bear witness to, to what people are going through. I think that's one of the incredible powers of CNN.

BALDWIN: There are some lighter moments here at CNN.

COOPER: There have been, yes.

BALDWIN: And there's --

COOPER: Some beyond my control.

BALDWIN: And there's a little blooper reel making the rounds. I'm in it. You trumped me. Roll it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Sorry. It makes me giggle every time I read it. The comments since -- sorry.

(LAUGHTER)

COOPER: See this on you tube and you don't --

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I mean --

COOPER: I'm wearing the same thing, I think, as I've actually wearing which shows you the limited of my wardrobe.

BALDWIN: But the giggles, I mean, it was a light moment. It was a lovely moment.

COOPER: Yes.

BALDWIN: A moment of levity. People out here are shouting they remember when it happened.

COOPER: Yes.

BALDWIN: Did you -- obviously you knew what was coming. I mean, you got the full-on giggles?

COOPER: I got the giggles. You know, I have the sense of humor of a 12-year-old boy with the giggle of a 12-year-old girl. So it is not a good combination. And the first time it ever happened and something about that unleashed something in me and now it happened like three or four times.

BALDWIN: Has it?

COOPER: Yes.

BALDWIN: You know sometimes you just contain it. You just have to go with it.

COOPER: Yes. I tried to fight it. I really did. Yes, it --

BALDWIN: Yes, that happened.

COOPER: People have it on their ring tone on their phone.

BALDWIN: That's a little scary. That's taking a little too far. Why are you doing that? You should not be doing that.

COOPER: If I could change my life, I would.

BALDWIN: Here we go. But we don't want you to. Seventh great humor, giggle of a seventh grade girl.

Anderson Cooper, ladies and gentlemen, he is back 8:00 as always on "AC360."

Thank you so much, my friend, for coming on. I appreciate it.

COOPER: Thanks, Brooke.

BALDWIN: And do not miss right after that, special report, 35 years of CNN 9:00 p.m. eastern here on CNN.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. That does it for me. "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts now.