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Marilyn Mosby Controversy; Rubio's Finances Under Scrutiny; Airlines to Add Second Carry-on Size; LeBron Leads Cavs to Game 3 Win in NBA Finals. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired June 10, 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] BROOKE BALDWIN, ANCHOR, CNN'S "NEWSROOM": I think it's really clear. We talked to them yesterday about that. they say that they watched her speech on the steps of the war memorial and I think you were there, Carol, as well when she was announcing the charges. They said it sounded like a campaign speech.

But more specifically, I just got off the phone with one of these officers because I wanted to follow up on the news that apparently, according to these court documents, Marilyn Mosby gave this directive that ultimately down the chain was saying to Baltimore Police, hey, go out to the Penn/North corner, that's where that CVS was burned and looted, that's right around the neighborhood of Freddie gray, I want to see more arrests. And this officer said to me, he said, that's odd to me. It's odd to me that you would get a patrolling command coming specifically from essentially the city's attorney.

And so he said -- you know it's certainly -- let me -- let me just be precise and quote him. He was referring to these officers. They were following orders given by the commander and now something went bad in the process, meaning they were obviously arrested and now charged in the death of Freddie Gray. It's confusing. Do you follow an order and run the risk of getting charged? So, just briefly, I said, well, then will you think twice about even following orders? And he said, no. if somebody tells me to stand at the corner of Penn and North and do target enforcement, Brooke, I will follow that order and do that target enforcement. But it's confusing right now.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it is confusing because the other thing is, if she really did do that and gave them the order to step up patrols in that particular area, that means she could be called as a witness in these six officers' pending trial and isn't that a conflict of interest and shouldn't she recuse herself? I mean it's a good question now, right?

BALDWIN: That's exactly -- that's exactly what the police union -- they've asked now twice and she's been very clear and said, no. I mean she wants to prosecute this case. But they want her to recuse herself and this officer specifically said to me minutes ago, she's impartial.

COSTELLO: All right, Brooke Baldwin, thank you so much for joining me this morning. I appreciate it.

BALDWIN: You got it. COSTELLO: I know you've got a busy morning yourself.

You can catch Brooke's entire interview on "Newsroom" at 2:00 p.m. Eastern. And again, Brooke, thank you so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, "The New York Times" continuing its scrutiny of Marco Rubio by taking a closer look at the Republican contender's finances. But could the findings actually boost support for Marco Rubio? Oh, it already has. We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:36:32] COSTELLO: If elected president, Marco Rubio would be the public face of one of the world's largest economies. But with months to go until election day, the Florida senator's management of his own finances is now under scrutiny. "The New York Times" detailing what it says are, quote, "financial struggles throughout Rubio's career." This is also what it says in that article. "A review of the Rubio family's finances revealed a series of decisions over the past 15 years that experts called imprudent: significant debts, a penchant to spend heavily on luxury items, a strikingly low savings rate, even when Mr. Rubio was earning large sums, and inattentive accounting that led to years of unpaid local government fees."

But the Rubio campaign is hitting back hard, slamming the report as an attack by the liberal media and saying, among other things, that Rubio has indeed paid off over $150,000 in student loans and only has a single debt now, his mortgage.

So let's talk about this. Marc Lamont Hill is a host for "Huffington Post Live," and Ben Ferguson is host of the conservative talk radio "The Ben Ferguson Show."

Welcome, gentlemen.

BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.

MARC LAMONT HILL, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Welcome. Good to be here.

COSTELLO: Good morning.

So, Ben, Senator Rubio would be running for president. Eventually he'll declare. Why is he shocked a newspaper might look into his finances?

FERGUSON: Because it's one of the most embarrassing hit pieces I've seen on a candidate. I mean if I'm Rubio this morning, I'm thrilled you wrote this story. Basically I'm a guy that went to college, took out a lot of debt, am not privileged, have built my own career and I've never filed bankruptcy, I've never not paid a bill, there's nothing about me doing things that were shady in business. Literally you're attack is, you're a young man who started a career, who struggled and has paid off his student loan debt far before it was ever due in real life. I think that's a success story.

The second thing is this. All it does is help him with his story of, look, I'm not a multimillionaire candidate. I'm not a kid that came from a ton of cash. I didn't have a leg up. I didn't get massive speaking fees. And I didn't have a bunch of money from Wall Street coming my way or k (ph) street as a lobbyist. I am the American dream and I struggled even when I was an elected official. I think its great news for his campaign.

COSTELLO: Right. And, right, and they're using it as such because Marco Rubio's campaign manager is actually jumping for joy. He tweeted, quote, "something you won't hear from me often, thank you 'New York Times" #rubiocrimefree, #marcosnotrich."

FERGUSON: Yes, it's great news.

COSTELLO: So, Marc, is the article fair?

HILL: Of course the article's fair. And as much as the Rubio campaign wants to spin it, I'm pretty sure if they could have not had this piece come out, they would have preferred that. Ben said something that I disagree with. He says that the article shows that he didn't do anything shady. The article actually raises some key questions about Marco Rubio's use of campaign funds. It raises the question about what it means to have family members on staff and also what it means to use funds for personal travel expenses.

Now, he says it was a mistake. I take Marco Rubio at his word. I'm not saying Marco Rubio is lying. But to say that there's nothing shady about his dealings based on the article is simply unfactual. But when we get to the more fundamental question here, I think every single candidate has a right to offer their perspective but they also have a right to have their perspective cross checked against their history. We did it with Barack Obama, with who he -- where he went to church, you know, who he hung with, who his friends were. Surely we can -- we can ask the question about Marco Rubio because it speaks to the hypocrisy question. You can't be in a party that has very little sympathy for poor people at says that they need to be more responsible at the very same time that you've engaged in wildly irresponsible financial choices. He wasn't just a guy --

[09:40:04] FERGUSON: Did he file bankruptcy, Marc?

COSTELLO: Well -- well -- let -- let -- let me -- no, let me --

FERGUSON: He didn't -- here's my thing though.

COSTELLO: Well, wait. Hold on a -- hold on a second because I want to make this clear for our viewers. So Marco Rubio, years ago, used a Republican Party credit card to pay for paving his driveway. And he also put relatives on campaign payrolls. So I think that is kind of good to bring up and voters actually should know that.

FERGUSON: And then --

COSTELLO: And I will also -- I will also say, Ben, that Mitt Romney wanted Rubio to run as his running mate but the red flags went up because of Rubio' financial past. So --

FERGUSON: But we don't --

HILL: Right.

FERGUSON: We don't know if he didn't look at -- we don't know if he didn't give him the job for that reason. We know that any time that you're vetting someone, you're going to -- there's going to be red flags on every person that you come about. Now, to say that they were concerned about his finances or that there was red flags in his finances, that's fine and fair game. But let's not forget here, a lot of people employed their own family members on their campaigns. Look at the Clinton Foundation. How much cash --

COSTELLO: He used -- he used a campaign credit card to pay for it, though.

FERGUSON: Right. But my point is, did he pay the money back? Did he say it was a mistake? Did anyone say he did anything illegal there?

HILL: But it's shaky (ph).

FERGUSON: The answer is -- let me finish. Let me finish, Marc. Let me finish. He didn't -- no one said he did anything illegal there. And if that's the worst thing you can find, I wish that you had the same scrutiny, Marc, on the Clinton Foundation with Hillary Clinton and money coming in from governments that might be trying to get government favors while you're in --

HILL: (INAUDIBLE).

FERGUSON: While you're the secretary of state. I wish "The New York Times" would do this much digging on Hillary Clinton's finances with Chelsea Clinton and Bill Clinton and the amount of money and private jets that they've flown around for their own personal weekend gains through people send -- thinking that they're giving to a charity. Where's that article by "The "New York Times"?

HILL: Well, again -- well, first of all, I'm not sure why we're talking about the Clintons right now, but if you want to, I have --

FERGUSON: But the point is, money matters.

HILL: I have -- I have considerable criticism --

COSTELLO: It does matter.

HILL: What -- it all matters. That's the point, it all matters. Hillary Clinton's e-mails matter. The Clinton Foundation stuff matters, although we shouldn't be talking about it right now. The Rubio stuff matters. It all matters because it speaks to character, it speaks to ideology, it speaks to whether or not this person could be a good manager.

We sit there and say, Barack Obama couldn't be a good president because he'd never run anything. We looked into his background. We checked his finances. We looked what he did in --

FERGUSON: I think we've kind of proven that.

HILL: With his book royalties. Now we have to go and look at Marco Rubio and ask the same question. If a guy gets an $800,000 book advance and buys a boat with it, that might make me question his financial responsibility. I see --

FERGUSON: But -- but here's my thing, what -- what is wrong, seriously, with a guy making $800,000 and having a dream to own a boat that costs less than one flight that Bill and Hillary Clinton take on a weekly basis around the country through the Clinton Foundation paying for their travel?

HILL: Oh, my God. OK. First of all --

FERGUSON: Which one matters more to the voter?

HILL: Well, first of all, again, the Bill Clinton thing has nothing to do with this, neither does the Clinton Foundation.

FERGUSON: All right, Hillary Clinton then.

HILL: The Hillary -- the Hillary Clinton -- the Clinton wealth is much more considerable than $800,000. So the book -- the price of the boat isn't relative to the Clintons, it's relevant to Marco Rubio's income. But again --

FERGUSON: I would say -- I would say the boat's completely irrelevant when you have private cash. If you make $800,000 and you have a dream to own a boat and you live in Florida, that is not an issue that I am concerned about as a voter. And I think "The New York Times" is only going to help Rubio by talking about this.

HILL: That's why --

FERGUSON: Can you afford a boat if you make $800,000? I would say, good job, man, go buy a boat.

HILL: If you can afford it. Look, he has every right to buy a boat. He has every right to go into bankruptcy. That isn't my problem. But again it speaks to --

FERGUSON: But he's not.

HILL: It speaks to his financial responsibility. And it also potentially speaks to a contradiction when you're in a party that always says poor people -- I mean this surprises poor -- in the Midwest there's a state that says poor people shouldn't even be able to get seafood if they're on public assistance. This is a party that has consistently said, we shouldn't have sympathy for people who got their homes foreclosed because they got more home than they could afford. So when we look to a Rubio who is engaged in the very same practices that he -- that they've beaten poor people up for for decades --

FERGUSON: Here's the difference --

HILL: I do think it raises a very important question.

FERGUSON: This is very important, Marc.

COSTELLO: OK.

FERGUSON: Marco Rubio was not asking for taxpayers to pay for his filet mignon or crab legs or to bail him out when he made a bad financial decision. He's never had a government bailout and he paid off his student loans in advance and he bought a boat. That's -- that -- there's nothing wrong with that. And if "The New York Times" would sort of --

HILL: He's asking -- he's asking --

FERGUSON: Bottle up an article to that, I hope they write it because it just shows how ridiculous it is.

HILL: He's asking us to trust -- he's not asking for government money -- he's not asking for American people's money, he's asking for the American people --

COSTELLO: All right.

HILL: To trust his financial judgment even though he has none. And it isn't just about a boat.

COSTELLO: And I have to -- I have to -- I have to leave it there.

And, again, back to the credit cards, that happened when Marco Rubio was the Florida house speaker. So that was years ago that he made that mistake.

FERGUSON: Years ago.

COSTELLO: And he's since then paid it back all of what he owed.

So thanks to both of you, Marc Lamont Hill and Ben Ferguson. I appreciate it.

FERGUSON: Thanks.

HILL: Thank you.

COSTELLO: You're welcome.

[09:44:49] Still to come on the NEWSROOM, forget airfare squeezing your wallet. Now planes are squeezing more of your space, really.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Checking some top stories for you at 49 minutes past the hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UM: If you could, in an orderly fashion, please exit as quickly as possible. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Oh yes, Washington, D.C., on high alert after two separate bomb threats caused evacuations at the White House west wing and Capitol Hill yesterday. The first threat targeted a TSA hearing. The second was called in hours later during a live briefing in the White House press room. President Obama and the First Family were not evacuated, although they were in the White House at the time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIIP)

JONATHAN WACKROW, FORMER SECRET SERVICE AGENT (on the phone): This was not an incident where we had to evacuate the entire complex and remove the president and First Lady.

[09:50:07] This was done very methodically. They took the threat and based up on the totality of the circumstances, and responded in kind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Secret Service officials are not saying if the threats are connected.

A judge has dismissed three jurors from the James Holmes murder trial. They were dismissed after another juror reported they'd been talking about the case outside of court. There are still 21 jurors left. 12 will ultimately decide Holmes' fate. Holmes is accused of opening fire inside an Aurora, Colorado, movie theater, killing 12 people and injuring 70 others.

Think it's possible to have even less leg room when you're flying or room altogether? Oh, there's always a way. Get this. Some airlines may ask you to cut down on your carry-on or be forced to check your bag. A smaller carry-on is now in order. That's not the only way airlines are trying to put the squeeze on you.

Alison Kosik is here to tell us the bad news.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Oh, Carol, calm down. It's not a bad as it seems. I mean, how many times have you been trying to get on your plane and it's like a mad rush for everybody to get on because they wants to get their carry-on in the overhead bin to avoid paying that extra fee on the airlines? Well, what this is is suggestion from an airline trade group to have a second luggage size to go ahead and carry on.

Here, let's go ahead and show you the differences in the sizes right now, and this will become clearer for you. So right now the standard is that 22 x 14 x 9. I want to make this clear -- that size is not going away. You can still get that on the plane. What this trade group is suggesting to airlines is create this second standard, a little bit smaller there, 21 1/2 -- you see it there x 13 1/2 x 7 1/2. And that way, Carol, if you have that smaller bag and you're rushing to get on the flight, what the idea here is you'd have a guaranteed seat if you have that smaller bag, because not only can it fit in the overhead, it can also fit under the seat. So you're guaranteed to get that carry-on on the flight.

Once again, though, got to say this. These airlines, they're certainly putting their problems on us. I mean, as they add and increase the number of seats, the space on the plane is certainly getting smaller, and that's why we're having such trouble getting our bags on. And now of course the problem is on us to go ahead and buy a second bag if we want to have guaranteed spot for that bag on the plane, Carol.

COSTELLO: How about doing away with baggage fees?

KOSIK: Well, that could be a suggestion, but I don't see that going away any time soon. That's a huge revenue source for airlines.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: I know. I just had to throw that at you because I like to torture you.

KOSIK: Good luck with that one.

COSTELLO: I know, exactly. Alison Kosik, many thanks.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, LeBron and the Cavs just keep on winning, taking Game 3 of the NBA finals in front of a raucous hometown crowd. Andy Scholes is in Cleveland. Hi, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hey Carol. You know, LeBron was awesome in this game. The fans were awesome. And now the Cavs have a 2-1 lead in this series. And we'll tell you who is the unlikely hero in Game 3 when NEWSROOM continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:57:24] COSTELLO: Oh, the Cavaliers won Game 3 of the NBA finals and now they're just two wins away from giving the city of Cleveland its first sports title in more than 50 years.

Once again, it was LeBron James who carried the Cavs to victory. Our own Andy Scholes was at the game -- I'm having heart palpitations, Andy. I can't go on.

(LAUGHTER)

SCHOLES: I mean, Carol, this place was rocking last night for this game. As you said, they've waited more than 50 years for a professional sports championship in this city. They've waited a long time just to have an important game like we had last night in Game 3. And, you know, poor Cleveland fans. They've been through so much sports-wise over the years. They had that saying, you know, there's always next year.

Well, pretty cool moment before the game. They unveiled these two giant white banners in the stands that said, "There's always this year." Now, that got the crowd really pumped up. And throughout the game they played clips of the bad things that have happened to Cleveland sports fan. They had ESPN commentators all picking the Warriors to win. That got the crowd really fired up, and they fed off of all of those bad things that have happened to them. They fed off the fact that they're the underdog in this series. And they really fueled the team to victory in this game, Carol.

And even after the game LeBron gave the fans tons of credit. And he said he wants the same type of performance from them come Game 4.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEBRON JAMES, LED CAVS WITH 40 POINTS: As loud as they were, they need to go home now and start soaking up a lot of tea, drinking a lot of tea for the next 36 hours, whatever the case may be, because they need to be just as loud Thursday night. So I need you guys to get those voices right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: And, Carol, you can't say enough about LeBron so far in this series. Through three games, he scored more points than anyone in NBA finals history. He's just been phenomenal. He had 40 points again last night and almost had another triple-double.

COSTELLO: And all of that, and there are some players out with injuries on the Cavs, too. It's impressive, right?

SCHOLES: Absolutely. When Kyrie Irving broke his kneecap in Game 1, the big question was who would step up and help LeBron? He can't do it all by himself. And we have an unlikely hero rising in this series, Carol, and his name is Matthew Dellavedova. He's an undrafted point guard. He's been starting in place of Kyrie Irving and he was amazing last night. He was chasing around Steph Curry the whole game, played amazing defense on him. He was diving into stands after loose balls, diving on the floor after loose balls.

But Carol, he was so exhausted after the game he had to get an IV for severe cramping. He even had to go to the Cleveland Clinic to get checked out and reevaluated. LeBron gave him tons of credit for being one of the toughest players he's ever played with, and Coach Blatt gave Dellavedova a lot of credit for helping this team win Game 3. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID BLATT, CAVS HEAD COACH: Della's the most Cleveland-like Australian I've ever met in my life.

(LAUGHTER)

[10:00:02] BLATT: And if you're from Cleveland, you know just what I'm talking about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: So, Carol, you're better to explain that than me. I'm not from this area. COSTELLO: Scrappy, baby!

SCHOLES: So what does Coach Blatt mean right there?

COSTELLO: It means we're scrappy. We make do with what we have, and we never, never, never give up. And we're also very hard working, so don't test us.

SCHOLES: Yes, and Dellavedova, he grew up in Australia playing rugby, so he's a tough guy. You know he'll be ready for Game 4 Thursday night.

COSTELLO: All right, Andy, thanks so much. I hope you're there again tomorrow because I can't wait to go back.

Andy Scholes, thank you.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.