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Baltimore Cops' Lawyers to Prosecutor, Drop Charges or Step Aside; Manhunt for Escaped Fugitives Intensifies; Red River Submerges Homes in Louisiana; Russian President Visits Vatican Today; Attackers Target Ancient Site in Egypt; Texas Pool Party Officer Resigns; Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired June 10, 2015 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:02] DAVID BLATT, CAVS HEAD COACH: 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.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: 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, ever 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 four Thursday night.

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

SCHOLES: All right.

COSTELLO: Andy Scholes, thank you.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, two escaped killers possibly spotted. Police rush to a small wooded town after neighbors catch a glimpse of two suspicious men. And the son speaks up to defend his prison worker mom, saying she had nothing to do with the escape.

TOBEY MITCHELL, JOYCE MITCHELL'S SON: She is not the kind of person that's going to risk her life or other people's lives to let these guys escape from prison.

COSTELLO: Also, bloody Baltimore. A sky high murder rate, distrust after protests. Two active officers describe the inner workings of their department.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The criminal element feels as though we're not going to run the risk of chasing them.

COSTELLO: How do we fix this?

Plus, drowning in college loan debt? No problem. Don't pay it back. That's the advice of writers giving new college grads. Irresponsible? Or does he have a point?

Let's talk. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

We begin the hour in Baltimore where Maryland's top attorney is being told to step aside or drop the charges against six Baltimore police officers in the death of Freddie Gray. Attorneys for those six officers filed paperwork last night signing a directive that came directly from Mosby's office asking police to step up patrols in the very area where Gray was arrested because of concerns over drug activity.

And at least one Baltimore officer says he agrees with those defense attorneys, exclusively telling CNN's Brooke Baldwin that Marilyn Mosby is not impartial.

Miguel Marquez is live in Baltimore with more on this.

Good morning.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning there, Carol. And they're not only saying it privately and without being known anonymously, they're also saying it straight out as well.

This is the corner of North and Mount. This is where Freddie Gray was spotted by police on April 12th. A couple of blocks down this way, that's where he was arrested. What is significant about this corner, though, is that lawyers for the police officers are using Marilyn Mosby's own words against her. They are saying that on March 17th weeks before Mr. Gray was spotted here, the lawyers for Miss Mosby sent out a memo to police officers asking them to increase the level of surveillance here on this corner and crack down basically.

That memo, that very e-mail went to one of the officers named Brian Rice. He is now -- excuse me. Brian Rice. He has now been charged in the Gray matter. As evidence for all of this Mosby's office passed on photographs, surveillance photographs taken, they say, by people in the neighborhood that suggest that drug dealing was going on here. They put those photographs in this filing as well.

All of this to say that Mosby should be removed from this case or all the charges against these officers dismissed. I spoke to one officer who are now speaking out openly. A lieutenant. He works in the southern district here. He's also the head of one of the unions, the police unions here. And I asked him what his -- what his police officers, he runs about 18, 19 police officers per shift, what they tell them about how they feel about doing their job.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. KENNETH BUTLER, BALTIMORE POLICE: Am I going to receive backup from this administration, this police commissioner if someone makes the complaint? And it's controversial. It may look bad on television. Am I going to receive backup from this administration? That's the biggest concern.

MARQUEZ: It's not a good place for a police force to be.

BUTLER: Absolutely not.

MARQUEZ: Do you think you can get past it with this commissioner?

BUTLER: Don't know. I really don't know. A lot of guys like I said before, they feel betrayed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: I was a little shocked by that answer. I expected him to say that we will figure out a way beyond this, that somehow that they can repair things. But there is great distrust of the police leadership here, of Marilyn Mosby's office, and that distrust and that openness about is becoming more and more evident -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Miguel Marquez, reporting live from Baltimore this morning. Thank you.

They may have pulled off an elaborate prison escape but authorities now believe two cold-blooded killers were missing one thing. That would be a getaway car.

[10:05:04] New details about a female prison worker who knew Richard Matt and David Sweat. A source telling CNN investigators believe Joyce Mitchell planned to pick up both inmates after they broke free but changed her mind at the last minute. Also raising suspicion Mitchell's cell phone which has been linked to the inmates.

Now the son of one of those convicts is speaking out. Listen to what he told CNN affiliate WIVV.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you have any respect for your dad at this point?

NICK HARRIS, ESCAPED FUGITIVE'S SON: I don't know him to say I respect him or not. Obviously he was in jail when I was younger. And he wasn't there for me as a father 100 percent. So there's that. But I don't him well enough to say.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: This morning officials are going back to square one, searching homes in Dannemora, New York. So let's bring in Polo Sandoval, he's on the ground there.

Good morning.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol. Good morning. And I can tell you that if there's one thing that law enforcement here in upstate New York has going for them is really the sun is out finally for the first time in about two days. We've seen drenching rains, heavy fog, something that have mostly likely hampered some of the efforts to track down these two very dangerous individuals.

But today really a very significant improvement in the weather which means law enforcement will be out in full force. As you mentioned there, though, the difference is New York state police are now saying they are essentially going back to square one, you're back to where the story all started here in the small town just outside the Clinton Correctional Facility. Officials telling us that really there aren't any new leads that prompting them to do this.

They simply want to retrace the early steps of this investigation and really if you look back, they would be potentially retracing the steps of these two men to continue on the run. Yesterday a potential break in the case when an individual in this small town about 30 miles south of here spotted two suspicious individuals Monday into Tuesday. A massive manhunt ensued. However, that search not producing any actual results there so we are told they scaled back the search in that part but they are still monitoring very closely.

A few moments ago we did see a heavily armed SWAT team essentially met here planning out what they expect to do today, going door-to-door in this small community in upstate New York. Because the main question is exactly where they are.

I should mention, though, Carol, there are two potential breaks in this case here with respect to Joyce Mitchell, the women you just mentioned, the employee of the Clinton Correctional Facility. CNN sources now saying that she is believed to have agreed to pick these two individuals once they emerged from the manhole cover not far from where I'm standing here at this hour, but at this point the investigation seems to indicate that she pulled back before she went to pick up those two individuals.

One of the breaks in the case here -- at least potential break in the case, a source is now telling CNN that several phone calls were placed using Mitchell's phone to people that could have been linked to Matt, one of the fugitives that's still on the run. However, the lingering question here, Carol, who made those phone calls, when were they made, and of course the question, exactly where are these two individuals at this hour -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Absolutely. Polo Sandoval, reporting live for us this morning, thanks so much.

Brandon Bostian, the train engineer during a deadly Amtrak crash near Philadelphia last month, was not using his cell phone before the incident. NTSB investigators say analysis of Bostian's phone records show he did not make any calls, text, or use the Internet while operating that train. Eight people were killed and more than 200 injured when the train derailed back on May 12th.

We turn now to Louisiana. Floodwaters swallowing homes and businesses, and the Red River is still rising. Utter destruction as the river swells to historic levels.

Jennifer Gray is in Shreveport this morning. Good morning.

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, good morning to you, Carol. Good news here in the Bossier City-Shreveport area, as it sounds like the river has crested as of last night and early this morning at 37.08 feet. That's about a foot under the record flood stage, but it is expected to possibly drop another foot by Saturday. That's also very good news because you can see all of these homes behind me are completely submerged.

These homes are all along the riverfront. In fact, you were saying, though, the river is still rising. That is true for areas south of here in Natchitoches Parish and then points to the southeast. It will continue to rise before falling again.

People have been out here 24 hours a day placing sandbags all around their home. And if you can see the house in the back with that pump, there is basically a wall of sandbags all around their house and they are there 24 hours a day trying to protect their home. The sheriff's office told me they predict about 500,000 sandbags have been delivered to people. People have been picking them up.

The inmates have been out here helping people as well. You can see as we pan around, homes still under construction completely under water and there's possibly about 200 to 300 homes in the Shreveport-Bossier area that have been impacted by this flood. And a lot of those completely under water.

[10:10:05] You notice another thing that's interesting. Here's the levee. These homes were built on the river side of the levee. These homes were built about eight to 10 years ago and you may say why in the world would you build a home on this side of the levee. They're actually out of the floodplain. They're actually built with very high elevation. This river is running about 40 to 50 feet above where it normally sits.

And so these people thought they were safe. And so, as we know, Mother Nature has a mind of her own sometimes. And so these homes are now under water unfortunately, Carol. but they are keeping their fingers crossed, they are hoping that the water continues to recede and hoping by Saturday that things will be a foot less than they are now.

We do have rain in the forecast, though, Friday through the weekend. They are not concerned about the afternoon showers. They say the worst-case scenario here would be some type of tropical system to come dump several inches of rain, which of course that isn't in the forecast in the near future -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And that's a good thing. Jennifer Gray, reporting live from Shreveport, Louisiana. Thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, clashes erupting between Russia and Ukraine, but will Pope Francis take a stronger stance on Vladimir Putin's latest moves?

We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:15:40] COSTELLO: All right. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, is about to speak in Ukraine. She's meeting with top government officials to discuss the ongoing conflict there. As you well know, Russia has denied that there are any Russian troops on the ground in Ukraine but the Ukrainian prime minister told Wolf Blitzer that is simply not true.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARSENIY YATSENYUK, UKRAINIAN PRIME MINISTER: I want to be very clear. More than 10,000 Russian military boots are on the Ukrainian soil. And in addition, about 30,000 of Russian-led terrorists trained by Russian FSB and Russian army.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Russia's president facing growing isolation on the world stage over Ukraine. Well, Mr. Putin is in Rome today. He could be looking for a friendly ear. He's set to meet with Pope Francis. On the agenda perhaps, emerging threats to Christianity in the Middle East and maybe, just maybe, Russian aggression.

CNN's Nic Robertson is in St. Peter's Square and Matthew Chance is in Moscow.

I'll start with you, Nic. Catholics in Ukraine have urged Pope Francis to condemn Russia. So far he has not. Why?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He's called it fratricide. Brother on brother. They think that's an utter misrepresentation. There are four of five million Catholics in Ukraine and there are others there of course. They feel let down by the Pope's position. They want him to be tough on President Putin and Russia. They want the truth to come out. They want the world to understand that the annexation of Crimea. They want the Pope to -- you know, to put this in very bold terms to President Putin.

But why may we not hear the Pope doing it directly like that? Well, the Pope sees himself as a peace maker. He wants to build bridges so he's unlikely, we're told, to do it in the sort of language that would make President Putin recoil and feel that he has another enemy. He might use other language to try and achieve the peace in Ukraine that he wants -- that he wants to get.

COSTELLO: All right. Let's head to Moscow now and Matthew Chance.

So, Matthew, during their last meeting, the Pope and Mr. Putin talked about Christian persecution. Will that be on the agenda?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think it probably will be because, as Nic was just saying, the Pope and Vladimir Putin want to build bridges with each other diplomatically. The plight of Christians in the Middle East is one of the areas where they cooperated in the past and could cooperate in the future, and so rather than see condemnation from the pontiff about Russia's actions in Ukraine, I expect we're going to see, because he's got his own diplomatic priorities he wants to follow in terms of bringing back into the fold the Russian orthodox faith, I think we're probably going to see more positive talk about how Russia and the Vatican are going to cooperate in the future about issues like saving Christians and looking after the welfare of Christians in the Middle East -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Matthew Chance and Nic Robertson, thanks to both of you. I appreciate it.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, terrorists target a popular tourist attraction. How police in Egypt prevented the bomb attack from being much, much worse.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:23:03] COSTELLO: Militants targeting one of Egypt's most popular tourist sites. The temples at Luxor. Security forces stopping two attackers before they could make it past security. A third was killed when his suicide bomb went off. Five people injured.

Luxor is one of Egypt's most famous tourist destinations, home to ancient temples including King Tut's tomb.

Ian Lee is covering the story from Cairo.

Tell us more, Ian.

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, this had the potential to be a devastating attack. And if it wasn't for a vigilant police officer who noticed the militants coming into the Karnak Temple area, he thought they looked suspicious, stopped them, that's when the incident took place, killing two of the militants. One was injured in the attack. We're hearing that some civilians and police officers were also injured in the attack. No tourists were harmed.

And it was potentially deadly as hundreds and at times thousands of tourists visit this site on a daily basis. A lot of Egyptians are remembering back to 1997 when militants attacked another Luxor temple killing dozens of people. The Ministry of Tourism has released a statement saying that they place a priority of safety of tourists in our country and they have enhanced security measures at all the sites across the country.

But what we're witnessing here is a real escalation of the violence by militants. Previously they have only gone after the government and security personnel. And this is the first time we've seen them going after a tourist site which has a lot of Egyptians afraid we're returning to the days of the '90s when this was more of a common threat.

COSTELLO: All right. Ian Lee reporting live from Cairo, Egypt. Thanks so much.

The Texas police officer who sparked outrage after appearing in this video resigns. Corporal Eric Casebolt, you see him there, he's the one who slammed a 14-year-old girl to the ground and later drew his gun on unarmed teenagers. His own chief condemning his actions yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[10:25:10] CHIEF GREG CONLEY, MCKINNEY POLICE: Our policies, our training, our practice do not support his action. He came into the call out of control and as the video shows was out of control during the incident.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Alina Machado is in McKinney, Texas, this morning with more.

Good morning, Alina.

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. The officer had been on administrative leave and he resigned from his position even though the investigation into what happened is still very much ongoing.

The reaction here to his resignation has been mixed. There have been a few people who we know were at the pool party, who have defended the officer's action, but we've also talked to people who say there is no doubt in their opinion that he overreacted and acted inappropriately.

Here's what the young woman who organized this pool party had to say about the resignation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TATYANA RHODES, HOSTED PARTY: I'm happy that he's resigning. I feel that everyone in McKinney will feel better that he's resigning. And that I feel sorry for my friend and I hope that she can get through this. And that I want her to know that we're here for her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACHADO: Now the girl who was seen in the video interacting with the officer was not charged with anything. At this point we've heard there's been some talk of possibly filing some lawsuits and the former officer is still under investigation even though he resigned from the police department. It is unclear at this point if he's going to be facing any criminal charges related to what happen after that pool party. We have not heard directly from the officer himself but we know that

he has received death threats. His attorney has scheduled a news conference for later this afternoon. We're hoping to learn more about his side of the story in that news conference -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Alina Machado, reporting live from McKinney, Texas, thanks so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Republican House speaker John Boehner, well, he had a lot to say moments ago about President Obama's perceived lack of strategy in the battle against ISIS. We'll tell you what he said next.

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