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Beau Biden Laid to Rest Today; FBI Report Identies As Many as Three Potential Victims of Dennis Hastert; Catholic Church Under Fire; American Pharaoh Takes on the Triple Crown; Florida PD Under Scrutiny; City Accused of Targeting Pet Owners for Cash. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired June 06, 2015 - 15:00   ET

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


[15:00:12] POPPY HARLOW, CNN HOST: Hi, everyone. I'm Poppy Harlow joining you this afternoon from New York.

We begin with the funeral of Beau Biden. He was a mighty heart who made you want to be a better person. Those are the words of President Obama this afternoon on a life cut short. Beau Biden, the oldest son of vice president Joe Biden, remembered at a funeral mass just a short time ago in Wilmington, Delaware.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

HARLOW: His father, the vice president, following the casket of the former state attorney general, soldier, father, and husband who died of brain cancer one week ago at the age of 46. In his eulogy, President Obama said Beau Biden did in 46 years what most of us could not do in 146.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is our obligation, our obligation to Beau, to think not about what was and what might have been. But instead to think about what is because of him. Think about the day that dawns' for children, who are safer because of Beau. Whose lives are fuller because of him. Think about the day of the dawns' parents who rest easier and families who are freer because of him.

Some folks may never know that their lives are better because of Beau Biden, but that's OK. Certainly for Beau acclaim was never the point of public service. But the lines of well-wishers who have been here all week, they know. The White House mail room that's been overflowing with letters from people, those folks know. The soldiers who served with Beau, who joined the National Guard because of him, the workers at birdie's, who still have their home because of him, and have thank him for hoping them bus tables one busy night, and the stranger who wrote from halfway across this great country just to say the only thing we can hope for is that our children make us proud by may making a difference in the world.

Beau has done that and then some. The world noticed. The world noticed. They noticed. Felt it. His presence. And Beau lives on in the lives of others. And isn't that the whole point of our time here?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: It is, indeed.

CNN national correspondent Sunlen Serfaty joins me now. She is outside the church. What a Beautiful ceremony.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It sure was an emotional ceremony both inside and outside the church. Outside here hundreds, Poppy, lined the streets. They couldn't hear a word of the three-hour funeral from outside, but a lot of people stay here for the whole time just hoping to catch a glimpse of the first family and the vice president Biden's family as they mourned.

One woman telling me she needed to be here just to show her support. She had tears streaming down her face. Another small child was holding a handmade sign on a popsicle stick, had a heart and a handwritten note, "rest in peace, Beau Biden."

Now, inside the church was an emotional ceremony where we heard eulogies from not only President Obama but Beau Biden's siblings, his sister Ashley talking about how it was the great tragic privilege of her life to accompany her older brother to chemotherapy treatments over the years, saying that she was jokingly referred to as the flea over time because she stuck to her brother's side so much. Also hearing from Hunter Biden describing in painstaking details the last moment of Beau Biden's life. Here are each of them in their own words.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHLEY BIDEN, BEAU BIDEN'S SISTER: He never judged. He just listened and offered his hand, his shoulder, his wise advice, and his love.

HUNTER BIDEN, BEAU BIDEN'S BROTHER: His family surrounding him, everyone holding on to him, each of us desperately, desperately holding him, each of us whispering I love you, I love you, I love you. And I held his hand and he took his last breath. And I know that I was loved. And I know that his hand will never leave mine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:05:13] SERFATY: And that was one of the most emotional parts of the funeral today, Biden's death being just one week ago today. Afterwards the lead singer of cold play, Chris Martin, he played a song. We're told that he volunteered to come after hearing that Beau Biden was big fan - Poppy.

HARLOW: There was also this Beautiful, Beautiful, huge choir that sang there at the ceremony. And we heard a little bit from the president earlier, Sunlen, but you heard the whole thing. What stood out to you from what President Obama said today?

SERFATY: I was really struck by how much President Obama seemed to carry a message, reading between the lines of his speech and listening to it, a message directly to his vice president for Joe Biden, basically, I would liken it to a slap on the back and saying that a boy, good job, you raised a really good man.

Most of what he said described Beau Biden with integrity and really giving a lot of that credit to Jill Biden and Joe Biden, telling them directly the nation noticed. A long string of people describing the character of Beau Biden not speaking much about his successes or achievements but the way he got there. And I was really struck by something President Obama said, noting that in this day of reality TV, when anyone whose most controversial or who's loudest gets a lot of attention, it's the person that can have success doing so slowly that really does win in the end.

So what I felt is that President Obama was trying to be a griever in chief but specifically for Joe Biden who of course has been struck by tragedies like this before, losing a 1-year-old daughter in the '70s. It felt like President Obama knew he needed to be there for his vice president today and that's certainly the sort of tone that he brought to these remarks he delivered today -Poppy.

HARLOW: And the story that was told today at this mass about how Beau Biden could have jumped right in line to run for senator but he didn't want to. He was waiting to finish the work he felt needed to be done in his current role for his state and his people as General Odierno put it, selfless to a fault.

Thank you, Sunlen. I appreciate it. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:09:04] HARLOW: There are new governments in the growing scandal surrounding former house speaker Dennis Hastert. An FBI report now identifies as many as three potential victims of sexual abuse by Hastert. We also know one of them by name now. The sister of Steve Reinboldt, the man who died in 1995, told ABC news this week that Hastert repeatedly abused her brother during high school in the late '60s and the early '70s. Hastert was a wrestling coach and Reinboldt was the team manager.

CNN's Polo Sandoval is covering the developments here in New York.

And when you look at this, we have not seen him in public, we have not heard from him or his attorney. He is scheduled to be arraigned next week. Do you expect Tuesday, when that happens, is the first we hear from him?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Poppy, that's a very good question specifically not just for Dennis Hastert, but also his legal team. Because keep in mind, these allegations, and again, I say allegations of sexual misconduct, are not mentioned in this federal indictment. Completely separate case here. But nonetheless, these allegations have surfaced allegedly initially in 2005, which is when he denied having any at least really taking part in any of these allegations here. So now the main question is, if, and that's a big if, he does address these after that Tuesday court appearance in Chicago, will he essentially segue onto these allegations instead of now, again, resurfaced -- now that this indictment has been filed, Poppy? HARLOW: I think it's important, you bring up this point that what

we're going to see on Tuesday at this arraignment is actually not about these, you know, sexual abuse allegations. This has to do with, you know, improper use of money, basically, withdrawals, big withdrawals that led the feds to him for these sexual assault allegations, right?

SANDOVAL: Right. And since this indictment was actually filed, Poppy, we've noticed, obviously several people have come forward, particularly Jolene Burdge. She is now saying that her brother, Steve Reinboldt, who actually died in the mid-90s, was actually sexually assaulted by the former house speaker.

Now, this would have happened in the late '60s, in the '70s back when before he was speaker Hastert. That's when he was coach Hastert of an actual wrestling team there. And then Reinboldt was the equipment manager there. Eventually, though, as we're now learning, Burdge says that her brother kept this a secret until he eventually opened up to his sister saying not only was he gay, but did have this encounter. And so, she eventually came forward in 2006 to authorities, to members of the media. However, back then, one of those media outlets, including ABC News, now reporting that did not have sufficient evidence to corroborate this claim, plus Hastert himself was dismissing it as well. So as a result, did not --

HARLOW: That explains why someone so high profile in something like this didn't come to light. News organization couldn't corroborate it. He was saying it didn't happen. They didn't feel like they had enough to take it to air. But then the FBI tracking down these big withdrawals from his account, that eventually followed the money that led them to this.

Again, we will likely hear from Dennis Hastert for the first time, Polo, on Tuesday. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Now to Minnesota, where the actions of the Catholic Church and its leaders are being called appalling. Prosecutors have found criminal charges against the archdiocese of St. Paul in Minneapolis for failing to address several complaints of sexual misconduct against a priest.

Ramsey County prosecutor John Choi says the archdiocese protected, protected father Curtis Wehmeyer, keeping him in the system, keeping him as a priest while he continued to abuse children. He was convicted in 2013 on charges of sexual abuse against minors. He is currently serving a five-year prison sentence.

Let's talk about this with CNN senior Vatican analyst John Allen. Also with me CNN criminal defense analyst and also defense attorney Joey Jackson.

Guys, thank you very much for being here. It is incredibly disturbing to read that not only about this one priest but about a number of priests that the prosecutor here in Minnesota is saying, you did nothing, you basically turned a blind eye, right, Joey?

JOEY JACKSON, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: Absolutely. And, you know, it's important to note, Poppy, that it's really a dual approach the county attorney is taking. It is dual in that there's a criminal complaint of course that's filed against the archdiocese, you know, basically charging the archdiocese with turning a blind eye allowing minors to be abused and not doing anything about it. And there are several counts, of course, in that complaint, six of them. And that, of course, the other approach is a civil complaint that was filed. And that's important, Poppy, and I'll tell you why.

It's important because the criminal complaint obviously addresses issues of punishment and issues of deterrence. What the civil complaint does is address remedial issues, that is, what are we going to do about it, and that is the court will look at it, there will be a hearing held, and the court will intervene and remedial steps will be taken to ensure that it doesn't happen again.

HARLOW: And, John, in a statement the archdiocese told CNN affiliate WCCO in Minneapolis quote "we deeply regret the abuse suffered at the hands of Wehmeyer and all victims of sexual abuse. We will continue to cooperate with all authorities."

How do you expect this will play out or is playing out right now at the Vatican?

JOHN ALLEN, CNN SENIOR VATICAN ANALYST: Well, Poppy, it's not playing out at all today because the Pope is actually in Sarajevo Bosnia at the moment. But the truth of it is, this mess in the twin cities comes at what is already a very difficult time for Pope Francis in terms of analysis of his response to the sex abuse scandals.

In March he appointed a bishop in Chile who has a track record for defending that country's most notorious abuser priests, and that generated enormous blowback. At the moment, one of his top officials, cardinal George Pell, his appointed financial reformer, is facing stiff criticism from a royal commissioner in Australia related to his handling of sex abuse allegations when an archbishop of (INAUDIBLE) about ten years ago.

So I think, Poppy, the reality is that victims and advocacy groups for victims around the world are looking at this particular constellation of circumstances as a kind of litmus test of whether Francis was serious when he promised-a's election there would be a new era of accountability and that there would be no retreat from the church's commitment to zero tolerance for the abuse of children.

[15:15:28] HARLOW: Do you think he is, John? Do you think he will do something here?

ALLEN: Well, we had a precedent about a month ago when Pope Francis demanded and then accepted the resignation of the bishop of Kansas City St. Joseph in Missouri, bishop Robert Finn, who had become the first bishop in the United States to be criminally convicted on a misdemeanor charge of delaying to report an accusation of child abuse.

So the precedent has been set. But I think what victims and their supporters will be looking for is not a one-off sort of gesture of accountability, but indication that this is now the new order and that when officials in the church are not simply accused but actually found by an independent panel to have dropped the ball, that there will be accountability for that.

HARLOW: Joey, that is the question. What kind of legal accountability, legal ramifications could we see jail time for the people that left this happen? Because ultimately, aren't they just as responsible if you know this is happening to children an you don't do anything?

JACKSON: You know, it's a fabulous point to be made, because if you're not obviously part of the solution you're part of the problem. But I think just in analyzing this specific complaint, this complaint of course addresses the archdiocese as a whole. It doesn't name individual members while it does name a number of individual members who were complicit in the cover-up who knew and did nothing and in fact protected but it doesn't file criminal charges against them. It files them against the archdiocese. As far as individual accountable, we won't find that here.

HARLOW: Isn't that important?

JACKSON: Hopefully - it is so important, but I think it starts with the archdiocese being charged and the archdiocese, Poppy, being put on notice that this cannot be business as usual. And of course we know the priest who set off this avalanche. And it talks about systemic. It's just such a horrific as you mentioned patterns of abuses, things that were done, places they were touched, where it occurred. It's just -- relating to the priests as you mentioned at the outset, he of course is serving jail time and of course additional, you know, people certainly will be under investigation moving forward. So hopefully it's a very good start.

HARLOW: You hope that the victims here get some sort of justice for all that they have had to endure.

John Allen, Joey Jackson, thank you very much.

JACKSON: Thank you.

HARLOW: Coming up next, we are going to tell you about a story, a remarkable story, an investigation by CNN money and AC360 for any dog lover out there. You are going to want to see this. It is cough up your cash or they're going to take your dogs away and possibly put them to death. That's story, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:20:57] HARLOW: It is possibly the biggest cyber-attack in U.S. history and the culprit according to many of the feds, they believe it is likely is China. The White House isn't saying that yet. Personal data on four million federal workers stolen. The data breach believed to include Social Security numbers along with names and addresses of government agents, going as far back as 1985. Chinese officials say the allegations are irresponsible, that the U.S. should not jump to conclusions, but perhaps the most frightening part is that this took the government four months to figure out that the data was stolen. Let's talk about it now with California congressman representative

Adam Schiff. He joins us now. Thank for being here, sir. I appreciate it.

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), RANKING MEMBER, HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: You bet.

HARLOW: You're a ranking member of the house intelligence committee. What can you tell us about why did it took the government so long to realize this information had been stolen? I mean, four months?

SCHIFF: Well, it's a real failure, Poppy. Not only did we not prevent this attack from taking place in the first place, but it took us quite a while to even learn about the breach. OPM is utilizing new software defenses to try to prevent these attacks and determine when they have taken place, but that wasn't fully implemented and not in time. And I'm not sure that that was even adequate to begin with.

So it's a big problem, it's a huge data breach, and if the U.S. government can't protect itself, I'm sure a lot of the private sector thinks what hope is there for their defenses.

HARLOW: Interesting you bring that up, we're actually seeing the private sector perhaps doing more. I mean, the big corporations, big banks like JPMorgan chase have literally thrown thousands of employees and millions and millions of dollars into cyber security after the big hacks we've seen in the last year. I wonder if you think the U.S. government isn't doing enough on that front and that is why things like this happen.

SCHIFF: Well, we're certainly spending a fortune on our cyber defenses, but I think one of the key challenges here is this is a very asymmetric battlefield where it's a lot easier and more cost effective to be on the attack than it is on the defense, because after all you only need one open door, one vulnerability, and your system is compromised. So it's hard. I don't want to overstate the difficulty. But nonetheless, we've spent billions of dollars trying to address this problem and still with attacks on OPM, on the White House, on the state department, on the IRS, plainly we're not doing enough, not doing it smart enough to prevent seize kind of attacks.

HARLOW: That's what I'm wondering. If it's not about money, I mean, you said it, we're spending billions of federal dollars on it. If it's not about money, what is it about? How do you get in front of it?

SCHIFF: Well, you know, part of it is having the right technological advance. A lot of it is having the right training for workers to eliminate some of these vulnerabilities. And then a big yet missing piece, I believe, is not having adequate deterrent. This is basically risk-free kind of warfare, risk-free kind of theft. And so you have not only state actors but you have sophisticated criminal actors operating overseas, and with little regard for any kind of retaliation.

So I do think we have some tough questions and tougher capabilities to develop so that we cannot only defend against but also deter these attacks from taking place.

HARLOW: You say overseas. Do you believe that this was carried out by the Chinese government?

SCHIFF: Well, one area that I think we have got an lot better at and that is attribution of attacks, so I think we're really narrowing in on who's the responsible party. This point, I am not permitted to comment on it, but this was a very sophisticated attack. It involved a massive amount of data. And if this were simply a matter of theft for the purposes of I.D. fraud, we probably would have seen that information on the black market. So it may be more sophisticated an attack than that, and this is something we're investigating.

HARLOW: Are those that are going down the road of believing it is China misguided, sir?

SCHIFF: You know, I wish I could comment, but I can't. But we certainly I think have made great progress with the investigation. I can tell you as a general matter that China is a very bad actor in the cyber field and so is Russia. They not only have state actors, but they have private groups that work in concert with the state that are responsible for all kinds of hacks and theft. So we have massive problems, massive transfer of wealth as well going to China by the theft of American intellectual property, research and development.

So on the world stage in terms of cyber bad actors, you'd have to put China and Russia as one and two or two and one.

[15:25:30] HARLOW: What can people - I mean, we're talking about four million Americans who work for or worked for the U.S. government from 1985 on. What do they do now?

SCHIFF: Well, those employees are going to be contacted by OPM to let them know what steps that they should take, that there will be access to a credit review and identity theft review package that they can implement for a year or two. They will be instructed to change their passwords and take other precautions and what to look for in case their personal information was compromised.

But if this wasn't simply about theft and it was about exploring vulnerabilities, that's going to be much harder to prepare the workforce for, because that may mean that a foreign actors who have information about their personal live, it also may mean they can conduct further spearfishing attacks by utilizing some of personal data against them.

HARLOW: Right. Congressman Adam Schiff, thank you very much.

SCHIFF: Thanks, Poppy.

You remember the great secretariat, Seattle Slew, and affirmed. 37 years later, this horse, American Pharoah, is the favorite to possibly become the next Triple Crown winner. We will talk to one of horse racing's biggest fans next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [15:30:12] HARLOW: All right. Welcome back. It is race day and a 3- year-old thoroughbred named American Pharoah is chasing history today, trying to become the first Triple Crown winner in nearly more four decades. Right now the odds for American Pharoah are 2-5. After victories at the Kentucky derby and the Preakness, the longest, most grueling test remains in Belmont State.

Here's CNN's Jake Tapper.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The world with will find out if American Pharoah has what it takes to break the triple crown curse.

Yes, curse. No horse has won the Triple Crown, the biggest prize in horse racing, in the last 37 years. But now another chance, American Pharoah has already won the Kentucky derby and the Preakness. All that's left between the horse and history is the Belmont stakes, the third and longest race in the series.

CRAIG FRAVEL, PRESIDENT/CEO, BREEDERS CUP LIMITED: It is one of the great tests of stamina in American racing at a mile and a half on the dirt. It's a tough race for any horse, particularly a 3-year-old, to win.

TAPPER: It is even tougher to win all three races. Only 11 horses have accomplished the feat in nearly 140 years. Affirmed was the last horse to hoof it all the way back in 1978. That's a long time ago, the disco years. Just last year, jockey Victor Espinosa came close to a Triple Crown victory riding California chrome, a horse thought to have had it all, but it was not meant to be.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: California chrome, he was -- he was just a little bit empty today.

TAPPER: Espinosa will be riding American Pharoah with high hopes to capture the $1.5 million purse and a spell-breaking victory.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm trying to do something different this time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like what?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Win.

TAPPER: But it won't come easy.

FRAVEL: The Belmont is an extra quarter mile longer than the derby. You sometimes have fresh horses taking a shot at somebody who's been through the first two legs of the Triple Crown, it just makes it very hard to do.

TAPPER: No matter how rare, 20 million viewers are expected to tune in for a win with attendance at the track itself capped at 90,000. But the fans will hissed what's really at stake at the stakes, the money that comes afterwards. If he takes top prize, American Pharoah will be an even greater draw for breeders who bid just for the chance at a foal like its father.

FRAVEL: Rumors are in the range somewhere between $15 million and $20 million for the breeding rights. There might be additional incentives built into those deals.

TAPPER: The offspring of a three-race winner could be worth up to $100,000 each. By the way, the last Triple Crown victor Phatered 808 foals.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: Jake Tapper, thank you for that. We will certainly be keeping an eye on that big race late they are afternoon.

Joining me now, Lou Sahadi, author of "affirmed: the last Triple Crown winner."

Lou, thank you for being with me.

LOU SAHADI, AUTHOR, AFFIRMED: THE LAST TRIPLE CROWN WINNER: Thanks for having me.

HARLOW: It has been 37 years, 37 years, 13 other horses have won the first two jewels in racing's Triple Crown only to come up short at the Belmont. Why does it keep happening?

SAHADI: Well, it's probably the toughest three races in the series of any track. It's proven that. I mean, it's gruesome. Barrera, the trainer of affirmed, even though he won it, said it was unbelievable to make these horses run three grueling races in a period of five weeks. So he's not too pleased with the setup.

HARLOW: Yes. You know, it is a lot has been said about sort of the decline of horse racing in terms of popularity as a sport.

Christine Brennan wrote this in "USA Today" yesterday, in her op-ed. If American Pharoah actually wins and we have a Triple Crown winner, as historic as that would be, I don't think the vast majority of us would care by the time the weekend is over. Our sports news cycle moves far too fast and our collective attention span is far too short to linger on any accomplishment, even a Triple Crown in a sport that has long since seen its best days." Is she right?

SAHADI: Well, to a certain extent. I think this could carry on. This is the biggest weekend of the year of horse racing, three great races. The horses that won have established themselves as great horses. I think it will carry on, just a matter of when and where. The big races no longer attack people.

HARLOW: You call American Pharoah akin to Michelangelo's "David." Tell us a little bit about this horse.

SAHADI: He's a beast of a horse. We talk about American Pharoah, a beast of a horse. He's big. He's got great strides. He is really an outstanding animal.

HARLOW: Think this is the year?

SAHADI: Pardon?

[15:35:00] HARLOW: Do you think this is the year?

SAHADI: I think very possibly can. He's positioned nicely at post five. That's on the middle of the track. And really he has no rival the last two races, the derby and the Preakness.

HARLOW: Can he handle the distance? Because this is the longest of those races.

SAHADI: It's grueling. It is gruel. It is absolutely grueling. I mean, the oval itself at Belmont is -- the whole stretch where they call the gray Gods, 1,097 yards long, imagine it is asking your horse to run that last quarter of a mile, that's what they like to call the gray Gods, but a lot of the horses just can't do it. They just fade.

HARLOW: Well, and of course a lot of the ones he has to compete against haven't run in the first two so they're a little more rested than he is and the others that have run the other two.

So we'll be watching, Lou. Thank you.

SAHADI: Thank you.

HARLOW: Coming up next, a Florida inmate gets into this sheriff's van. Eight minutes later he is found unresponsive. Days later he is dead. We're not talking about the case of Freddie Gray. This is another case. Now the family is looking for answers. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:38:19] HARLOW: A Florida police department now under scrutiny after a man is called unresponsive from a police van and dies just a few later - days later. Mitchell Martinez was in court on a parole violation after being arrested for three counts of aggravated assault with the deadly weapon back in April of 2013. His bond was revoked and he was being transported from the courtroom to jail. But after a mere eight-minute ride, he lost consciousness. He ended up in a coma.

Our Nick Valencia has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From a courtroom to a coma, in a matter of hours. Last week Mitchell Martinez got into a jail transport van in Vero Beach, Florida. About three miles and eight minutes later the 35-year-old is in cardiac arrest. He dies four days later.

SHERIFF DERYL LOAR, INDIAN RIVER COUNTY, FLORIDA: Upon him entering the van, showed zero signs of distress.

VALENCIA: At a press conference on Monday, the Indian River sheriff said there was nothing out of the ordinary about the transfer. He defended his officers' actions.

LOAR: He was segregated into a separate you will call it a cell, you can call it a cell within the van. There is absolutely no indications of anything unusual. There was very light traffic. There were no detour, no stops.

VALENCIA: According to the sheriff's office, there were seven other inmates who were in the van. None of them heard or saw anything.

LOAR: There was no other inmates that could touch him, no officers that could touch him.

VALENCIA: When asked about jail transport protocol, a spokesman for the Indian River sheriff's office told CNN we offer the inmates the opportunity to either buckle themselves up or have if they need assistance we can buckle them in. He says the inmates are, quote, not required to be buckled.

On a memorial Facebook page for Martinez, speculation swirls, specifically how did he end up with these red marks on his neck? Friends also curious about why the video freezes here.

[15:40:10] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you believe in your heart happened?

RYAN MUNTO, MITCHELL MARTINEZ' FRIEND: I believe foul play.

VALENCIA: Ryan Munto has known Martinez since high school. Brad, as he called him, was supposed to be the best man at his upcoming wing.

MUNTO: Brad's been there for 27 years and all of a sudden he's dead for eight minutes for no reason. I mean, it's kind of quick and abrupt. It's just shock for everybody that knows him.

VALENCIA: For Martinez's friends and family, the circumstances surrounding his death don't add up. They say Martinez was burdened by his court date last week, wanting only to clear his name. Now after his death, the family says, it may be the Indian River sheriff's office that's going to have to clear theirs.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA: Martinez was initially brought into custody because of a parole violation for a case dating back to 2013. His family tells me that when they heard about his death they immediately thought of Baltimore and what happened to Freddie Gray. They say they plan on launching their own independent autopsy. Officially the death investigation for Martinez is pending toxicology results -Poppy.

HARLOW: Nick, thank you for that.

Let's talk about it with former New York City police detective and CNN law enforcement analyst Harry Houck with me in New York. Also with us CNN political commentator Marc Lamont Hill. Guys, thanks for being here.

And Harry to begin with you, is it suspicious for the video to end as Nick showed us right before the actual incident? It just cuts off.

HARRY HOUCK, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes. This is either time lapse video or the kind of video that starts every time you move. So if you stop and there's no movement, then the camera isn't going on. So that's why probably that happened. They'll be able to check out that video anyway and see if it was tampered with in any way. I really kind of doubt that, but we won't be sure until the investigation is finished.

HARLOW: Marc, you heard Nick say that the family immediately thought of what happened to Freddie Gray in Baltimore. This incident happened earlier this week. It didn't just happen this morning, for example. And honestly today is the first time I heard about it. And I think that's the case for a lot of folks. Why do you think it's not getting as much attention as the Freddie Gray case?

MARC LAMONT HILL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, one thing I remember with the Freddie Gray case is it took a few days for that to bubble to the surface as well. Mark Brown, Trayvon Martin, they all took time before we knew all the details.

HARLOW: But people were talking about the Freddie Gray case. CNN was there live right away when it happened.

HILL: Absolutely. And I think those cases seemed more egregious. I mean, people were standing on the street and saw a guy who was running at one point and then he got into a police van and could barely walk, then he ended up dead. I mean, it was a much clearer case.

This one's fuzzy. We need to see the autopsy, we need to see toxicology, we also need to investigate the veracity of the videotape itself to find out what happened. It's too early to make any judgments. But the fact that Baltimore has happened and other things have happened certainly prompt us to say, hey, this deserves a greater scrutiny.

HARLOW: No, it's true. Puts more of a lens on it and obviously people are going to focus on it more.

Harry, do you think it is time to reconsider buckling up these inmates in these police vans? Because we keep hearing wasn't buckled up, wasn't buckled up.

HOUCK: Right. And you know, we don't buckle children in school buses, for crying out loud, which we should be doing.

HARLOW: Should we?

HOUCK: Yes, exactly. And whether or not, I don't know. I mean, does he have injuries that are consistent of a rough ride? I mean, do the other guys have one consistent of a rough ride? No. You know, what's really suspicious about this case are the marks around his neck, where did those come from, the time line, the drive was supposed to be eight minutes long. The time line matches the eight minutes, so it doesn't look like that the police stopped anywhere and did something to him. So, you know, like Marc had said, we have to wait for the autopsy

report to come back and find out exactly what the cause of death is, you know. And something might have happened to him in the jail before he was transported. We don't know.

HARLOW: True. And have to see if that autopsy report is released to the public or not.

Do you think, Marc, that this points to any just further examination that is needed in terms of protocol and transporting these inmates?

HILL: Absolutely. I mean, even if, you know, one out of one hundred inmates gets injured because they're not buckle up, that's not a good reason not to buckle people up. There's something called diesel therapy that many correctional officers talk about where the so-called rough rides is use to get inmates the form of violence. I'm not saying that's what happened here. The evidence and based on the timeline doesn't look like that's what happened here. But that is something we need to consider, big picture. Even if he didn't get hurt buckling up, buckling inmates is something we should think about big picture. The problem is we live in a world where inmates aren't seen as people. The idea is if you committed a crime, you somehow aren't deserve --

HOUCK: But they have the option, Marc -- all the prisoners in that van do have the option to get buckled, so you know.

TAPPER: If they're cuffed it's not really up to them.

HILL: Right.

HOUCK: They had said on the video the reporter just said the police officers did give them the option to be able to do that.

HILL: You don't believe that, though, right?

[15:45:00] HOUCK: Why wouldn't you not believe it, Marc? Come on.

HILL: Because I've spent the last ten years interviewing inmate who talk about -- one of the thing they talk about --

HOUCK: Everybody's a liar, you know, and something like that, come on. I mean, you don't know if the officers didn't ask them if -- anyway --

HILL: Harry --

HOUCK: Other prisoners also.

HILL: Harry, you're disputing a point I'm not making. Let me make my point first. What I'm saying -- I'm not saying all the inmates are telling the truth and I'm not saying all the correctional officers are lying. I'm saying, though, that we would both be ridiculous to presume that everybody is lying or whether everybody's telling the truth and there is a long history of inmates being denied access to basic human rights and protections. And I'm saying we need to intensify that to that we can protect everybody. That's all.

HOUCK: And I'd like the wait to see what the investigation brings forward here.

HARLOW: Harry Houck and Marc Lamont Hill, thank you.

Coming up, a city accused of targeting pet owners and their dogs to generate cash. If the owners cannot pay these fines, their pets are killed. We will bring this CNN investigation next.

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ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, AC360 (voice-over): The Scottish highlands are his home, but for decades Magnus MacFarlane has been changing lives around the globe. Every weekday his program, Mary's meals, provides free, nutritious food to school children in 12 of the world's poorest countries.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It brings many children into school. Their health improves. Then we see amazing results with academic performance.

COOPER: His work earned him global recognition as a top 10 CNN hero.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Being honored as a CNN Hero in terms of raising awareness, it's just incredible. At that time, we were feeding 400,000-something children. Since then, we've more than doubled.

COOPER: Among those now benefitting from Magnus' work are AIDS orphans being educated by Marie de Silva in Malawi. She was also honored as a top-ten CNN hero.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have this really strong collaboration.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Magnus changed our lives. Now, children are focus and don't leave school and they are graduating.

COOPER: But in May, Magnus reached an incredible milestone. Mary's Meals now feeds one million children around the world every school day. That's five million meals every week.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The million has just a mind-boggling number but then really as a mission accomplished. This is the beginning. This film worth another 57 million children who are out of the school, who are hungry. So we go on.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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[15:51:07] HARLOW: Now to a CNN investigation sparked by what the justice department found in Ferguson, Missouri. Police and courts abusing their powers to generate money for the city through tickets, fines and fees namely aimed at low-income African-Americans. Well, CNN money has been investigating other questionable possibly

illegal tactics other cities may be using to raise revenue. In Colorado Springs the team found something astonishing. It is what some are calling a blatant shake down not by police but by animal control.

Here is CNN's Randi Kaye.

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RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Their names are Jake and Lucy, home is Colorado Springs with the McAdam family who adopted both of them. But now both of these dogs, family pets, are staring down a possible death sentence, accused of killing a neighborhood cat.

Had your dogs ever harmed or killed an animal before?

CAITLIN MCADAMS, DOG OWNER: No.

KAYE: Had they ever been aggressive before?

MCADAMS: No. They never bit or harm anything.

KAYE: But the Pike's Peak regional humane society says it has no choice. The dogs are considered dangerous under Colorado law. So the district attorney has filed criminal misdemeanor charges against Caitlin McAdam and is threatening to euthanized kill the dogs.

This is all because someone thinks they saw McAdams' dogs kill that cat back in January. Caitlin and her husband had no idea anything was wrong until animal control showed up at their house to seize the family's dogs. She says her dogs didn't kill the cat.

MCADAMS: I thought we could just go the humane society, prove that and get them back.

KAYE: She could not have been more wrong. Caitlin was later told there would have to be a probable cause hearing to determine if the county could hold her dogs. And there is more. Caitlin had just 10 days to come up with $1,200 for cover the fees of her dogs' incarceration. No payment and the dogs would euthanized within days.

This case of Jake and Lucy is hardly unique. In fact an investigation by CNN Money which looked at 15 different cities around the country found thousands of active warrants against pet owners. These warrants are for infractions that include a bark dog, a dog without a license, and an animal loose in the neighborhood.

And this may be a lot more than pets. It may be about money, a lot of it. The fines and fees raise millions of dollars across the country for cash poor towns and cities. But Caitlin is convinced some animal control officials are targeting low-income families, those who can't afford to pay.

MCADAMS: And the fact I could be looking at jail time for something like this is just ridiculous. I feel like if I were somebody living in a gated community or something that this wouldn't even be an issue or happening.

KAYE: And as steep as the fines are people like Caitlin McAdams says animal control knows they will find a way to come up with the money to save their beloved animals.

Did you have that kind of money?

MCADAMS: I found that kind of money but no I did not have that kind of money. I had to come up with it.

KAYE: At the Pike's Peak regional humane society in Colorado Springs we asked for an explanation as to why Jake and Lucy, who have never been in trouble before are facing a death sentence.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's no mistake people are notified to get the money within ten days of the hearing.

KAYE: What if they can't get the money?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's ways for people to be able to come up with the money to do this.

KAYE: Always? That's not exactly the case. In Stockton, California, this Siberian husky mix was seized by animal control in 2013 after he escaped from a backyard. His owner couldn't (INAUDIBLE) couldn't afford to pay the fine to get him out. It was about $180.

[15:55:07] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was crying. My husband was crying. I begged them. I begged them. Please, you know, can we do anything?

KAYE: She says animal control refused to budge on the fine even after she told them she lost her job. In the end her family dog chunk just 4 years old was euthanized over less than $200.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was like killing one of my kids. It really was. I mean, we're devastated.

KAYE: The animal services manager for the city who was hired after (INAUDIBLE) dog was put to death told us it was a terrible mistake.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It appears that it was more about the getting $171 or $183 that was being asked instead of getting the animal returned to the owner which now that is what would occur.

KAYE: Back in Colorado, after nearly three months locked up, the dogs Lucy and Jake got a reprieve. They are home, temporarily. Only because the judge ruled they wouldn't be a danger to the community if they were under strict supervision. Now they have to wear muzzles when walking outside. They can't be walked together. And if outside off leash they have to stay in the yard where there's a six-foot fence.

Meanwhile, Caitlin's attorney says the D.A. is trying to cut a deal.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The D.A.'s off certificate plead guilty and we'll kill your dogs and that's your offer. KAYE: So she can avoid jail time if she can agree to have her dogs

put down otherwise she risks going to jail.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

KAYE: Otherwise, she risks going to jail.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Up to six months, yes.

KAYE: To pay the attorney's fees and fines, Caitlin's family sold one of their cars and used their tax refund to come up with the rest of the money. In all she says she spent about $9,000 so far to save her dogs.

Is it worth it?

MCADAMS: I mean, yes. I can't let them just come in my house and kill my dogs.

KAYE: What do they mean to you and your family?

MCADAMS: Well, they are family. Sorry. They are our family. I mean, they are living animals and have souls. Just can't come in to our house and kill them without proving they did anything.

KAYE: Citing an ongoing investigation the district attorney's office wouldn't comment.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: Randi Kaye reporting.

We have a happy update to tell you about on this story. Caitlin's dogs are now free after a court hearing that happened yesterday. Also due to the kindness of strangers Caitlin has received thousands of dollars in donations from people all over the country that will help recover those $11,000 in legal bills that she racked up fighting for her dogs' life.

Coming up next after being banned from G-7 summit, Russia president Vladimir Putin has a message for the west. Russia is not a threat. Russia is not your enemy. What does he really mean? Our next guest just back from Moscow explains.

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