Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Tropical Storm Bill Making Landfall in Texas; FDA Says Trans Fat Not Safe for Human Consumption; Bike Arrested in Waco Shootout Says Arrests Bogus. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired June 16, 2015 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Really, really, really rich.

(CROSSTALK)

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: I commend him on his business acumen.

BALDWIN: Lisa Boothe and Gloria Borger, ladies, thank you so much.

Be sure to capture this interview with Donald Trump himself. That is this Sunday, "State of the Union," 9:00 a.m. and noon eastern.

Next here, dozens of bikers still behind bars after that big gang shootout at the restaurant in the parking lot. One of them is free. You see him dotting away tears, got emotional. Why he broke down before members of the media and what happened inside of that jail.

Plus, breaking news today, Tropical Storm Bill making landfall in Texas. People there on high alert. We'll take you to where the water is already rising.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:35:11] BALDWIN: You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Got to talk about Texas today. Back in the bull's eye with high surf and torrential rains as Tropical Storm Bill drenched the state here. The storm has just made landfall. It is moving at a snail's pace northward. Tropical storm warnings and flash flood watches are up for much of the Texas coast and inland, and dangerous flooding is possible as the storm is coming ashore. In fact, Astronaut Scott Kelly, who, is in the midst of spending a year in space, he snapped this picture from the international space station. There it is swirling off in the distance. The state of Texas has barely recovered from May's record- setting rainfall. Flooding killed nine people and destroyed dozens of homes.

Sara Sidner is live in Seabrook, Texas; and CNN Meteorologist Jennifer is in Galveston.

Sara, I know you'll a tall gal like myself, so that is, what, a good couple of inches of water that you're standing in?

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's about a foot of water here. The water is getting deeper as we go in. I just wanted to give you an idea of where we are. This is a really low-lying area. I want people to understand this is not what it looks like everywhere. Over there is the Galveston Bay. You can see the water is choppy there. On the other side of the road are the houses which, by the way, are used to seeing some of this because they are in a very low-lying area and they are also surrounded by water on the other side. The folks are having to make sure that the stuff in their garages, for example, has been cleaned out. They are kind of used to it. You know, they are taking it in stride. Nobody is having a fit. Everybody is kind of watching this as it goes by.

And what we're hearing from the Harris County Emergency Management, just recently there is a tornado watch that is going to be in effect for the county until about midnight local time here. So that's a concern. But you can see it's a little bit of rain and then the band comes in and rain starts pounding again and then it goes away. It's just like normal for tropical storms. A lot of folks saying this isn't a big deal, we've gone through a lot worse. In fact, it was flooded back when you mentioned from Memorial Day, that weekend. Very tough on folks here. They were worried about a lot of flooding and that's the biggest concern is, of course, flooding. It can be deadly. They are being warned time and again, do not drive through high water -- Brooke?

BALDWIN: It bears repeating, Sara Sidner. Thank you.

Jennifer, to you.

Speaking of Memorial Weekend, I have pictures of you standing in Wimberley sort of seared in my mind. Here you are in Galveston. What's the story on the coast in Galveston?

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That is the biggest concern. The floods were so bad. It was less than a month ago and then here we go again. When I was there less than a month ago, they were saying, OK, the worst-case scenario would be a tropical system pumping up moisture and rain. Well, here it is, Tropical Storm Bill. We're talking about a possible foot of additional rainfall. Not what they need at all. Galveston is right here on the Gulf of Mexico. We're standing on the seawall, which protects the island from a sea surge. The rocks were completely under water. The tide is running four, five feet above normal. Since then, they have relaxed a little bit. The seas have calmed down just a little bit. But just as Sara was saying, you get these bands that pick up the wind and the rain. That's what we've been dealing with off and on throughout the day.

Of course, the flooding in Galveston hasn't been so bad. A couple of the areas downtown in the historic district have seen minor flooding but all in all things are OK east of the island, that's where they ordered the voluntary evacuations. Highway 87 there has some flooding and that's why they ordered the voluntary evacuations. They said emergency crews won't be able to get to you because it's one road in and one road out.

BALDWIN: Right. GRAY: Most of Galveston is doing OK. We're going to get very heavy rainfall throughout the day and then we're going to just continue to see more of the same and hopefully the flooding won't be so bad. Unfortunately, with several more inches anticipated, Brooke, I do expect to see some flooding, especially on the east side of Houston.

BALDWIN: Jennifer, let me ask you about this phenomenon. It's called the brown ocean effect. It makes the storm strengthen when it comes into land. Can you explain that for me?

GRAY: Yeah. Basically, when there's a lot of moisture on land, storms can strengthen. It's basically the same phenomena that happens over the water. It provides the rich moisture and enables storms to strengthen. If you have a lot of that over land, you can get strengthening there. Tropical Storm Fay back in 2008 actually strengthened over Florida. The same scenario happened. And so, yeah, I don't think there's going to be a lot of anticipation with this storm whatsoever but I think it will help it maintain a little bit of that moisture and keep it going for a little bit longer. That's why we're anticipating a lot of additional rainfall north of Houston, Dallas, Oklahoma on into portions of Missouri as well.

[14:40:27] BALDWIN: Jennifer Gray, thank you so much. We'll check back in with you in the next hour.

Sara Sidner, my thanks to you as well.

If you would like to help the folks in Texas, go to CNN.com/impact.

Next, all of your favorite fatty foods could be getting a huge makeover soon. The FDA is saying that trans fat is generally not safe for human consumption. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is joining me to explain what is happening.

Plus, sources tell CNN this man's wife had sex with one -- a man's wife had sex with one of the escaped inmates. They wanted to murder him. Yet, he just visited his wife in jail. Find out what went on inside, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:45:41] BALDWIN: Say good-bye to trans fat, America. In a bold move, the FDA is telling food manufacturers they must remove all artificial trans fat from their products, saying it's not generally recognized as safe for use in human food. So items like donuts, french fries, even coffee creamer will have to change.

CNN chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is joining me from Atlanta.

If I could get a trans fat 101 as we have conversation and, two, explain the announcement for me.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You love your trans fats, Brooke, I know.

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: Probably too much.

(LAUGHTER)

GUPTA: There are saturated fats. Those are the animal fats. And there are unsaturated fats, more the vegetable oils. Saturated fats, have long thought to be bad for you. Part of thinking behind that, saturated fats sort of created these artificial trans fats. The industry said, look, OK, we won't use saturated fats anymore. We'll use these partially saturated, if you will, fats. And those are the trans fats. They've been around for a long time. And it was interesting, it was sort of why people started using margarine, for example, instead of butter.

BALDWIN: Right.

GUPTA: -- the saturated fats stuff, I'll use the trans fat stuff. And we now know, and that's in part what has been happening for some time now, those trans fats probably are worse than the fully saturated fats. All along, the margarine was probably worse than the butter all along, which is why coronary heart disease and heart attacks has continued to go up in men and women for the last 30, 40 years. So this is something that's been a long time coming.

BALDWIN: So, it's been a long time coming but doesn't New York already have anti-trans fat laws and other countries do as well?

GUPTA: Yes, they do. In 2006 and 2007, New York banned these artificial trans fats. Another country is Denmark, one of the big ones that did this as well back 12 years ago now. And so because it's been that long, you start to see, for example, in Denmark, some of the impact. You do start to see a decrease in people dying of heart disease. It's not a direct cause and effect but they are pretty confident that the trans fats have increased the likelihood of heart disease, and banning them, getting rid of them will do the opposite.

BALDWIN: OK. Makes sense.

Dr. Gupta, thank you.

GUPTA: You got it. Thank you.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, remember that deadly biker club shootout from a couple of weeks ago in Waco, Texas? Well, dozens of these bikers are still behind bars. But one of them here has been released and spoke incredibly emotionally to members of the media. He'll join me next. Hear why he broke down, what happened that day, and why he says the arrests are all bogus.

Plus, was she the plan B all along, as the trail here for these two escaped inmates gets cold? We're learning more about this prison worker, this woman, who told police that she was supposed to be the getaway driver. Was she merely a pawn in this massive prison break? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:52:47] BALDWIN: One of the bikers arrested during the deadly motorcycle gang shootout in Waco, Texas, is suing the city, the police department and the county district attorney. He's Matthew Clendennen. He's filed a federal civil rights lawsuit. He says he was illegally arrested in the police dragnet. The 30-year-old was one of 177 people arrested. He says he does belong to a biker club. No, he's not a gang member. And he choked back some tears after his release as he tried to explain how the arrest has affected him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW CLENDENNEN, ARRESTED DURING BIKER SHOOTOUT IN WACO, TEXAS: To see how quickly such a careless response from all aspects of the justice system here, how quickly it can ruin something -- how quickly it can ruin something that you've worked so hard for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Clendennen says he could lose his business and custody of his children. He's joining me now, Matt Clendennen, and his attorney, Clint Broden.

CLENDENNEN: Thank you.

CLINT BRODEN, ATTORNEY FOR MATTHEW CLENDENNEN: Thank you for having us.

BALDWIN: Matt, let me begin with you.

Can you just explain, what about that day, about that moment, about this whole ordeal, made you so emotional?

CLENDENNEN: Well, I mean, it's kind of been just an accumulation of things. Just the events that took place that day and everything that's kind of happened as a result of it. It's been building up and there's been a couple of times since then that it kind of gets to the point where it's overwhelming and start thinking about my family and my business and things and it just gets a little bit too much to handle. And, you know, it just kind of happened.

BALDWIN: Can you take me back to that day at that Twin Peaks restaurant? What the heck happened there?

[14:55:00] CLENDENNEN: I mean, the whole thing was just chaotic. I was kind of sitting on the patio and when everything happened in the parking lot and I heard the first gunshots and, you know, everything just went crazy from there. I immediately went inside of the restaurant into a hallway and took cover in there just to try to get away from everything and try to seek some shelter somewhere and it -- you know, the whole event was just total chaos.

BALDWIN: But what was that -- it's unclear to me -- I talked to a number of people, connected or family members of people who were there and connected to all of this, and I heard reports that there was going to be some sort of truce, like a peace brokering between these two rival clubs. But then, you know, you have the hundreds of weapons, everything from hatchets to knives and chains, some of which was hidden in the kitchen. What was that about?

CLENDENNEN: I've read some of these reports in some of these releases and, to me, there's a lot of detail here that hasn't been released, a lot of real information that hasn't gotten out. I mean, we --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Like what? What do you want to know?

CLENDENNEN: I want to know how many of these things that they've identified as weapons were actually a part of the incident and how many of them were found in the back of pickup trucks or in the cab of a locked vehicle. I mean, we live in Texas and, you know, it's one of our rights in Texas to carry a weapon -- to carry a firearm. You could go at any given time in the state and go to a random parking lot and you're going to find a lot of stuff. I'd like to know how many of these weapons that they said that were on the scene, you know, were actually involved in this and how many of them were ones that they kind of padded their numbers with stuff that they found in vehicles and so forth.

BRODEN: For example, Brooke, we had heard that the chains that bikers used to secure their wallets in their pants are being described as biker chains and being classified among the weapons.

BALDWIN: Right. I heard that, too. I heard that, too.

Let's go back, though. You were on the patio, you heard the gunshot, police roll up to the seen, Matt. How long were you there? What were they explaining to you when they took you into custody? Describe that for me.

CLENDENNEN: Well, after the police came in through the front door of the restaurant and kind of ordered everybody to the ground and then eventually got us up and marched us out of the restaurant, they took us back to the back and searched everybody individually, sat us down in the parking lot. You know, the initial word that they kept telling us was that we were going to be taken to another location, as they described it, a secure location or secure facility, they would be taking our statements and then allow us to have somebody come pick us up. So throughout this -- sitting in this parking lot for probably five or six hours, you know, believing these things, you kind of understand the fact that you've got a large number of people here that they need to get statements from. And then you end up, you know, spending another day and a half or another solid day in a room in a convention center with your hands zip-tied behind your back before they finally question you, take your statements, put you back in the room with your hands still zip-tied and it's not until Tuesday -- the Tuesday following that they then just took us over to the jail and booked everybody in.

BALDWIN: And that's where you've been -- that's where you've been ever since. And so I guess what I want to get to -- Clint, let me bring you in for this. Because Matt was arrested, his ex-wife has full custody of the kids,

might lose his job. What do you all want from these suits?

BRODEN: Well, I mean, the first is we want some acknowledgement of wrongdoing on the part of the Waco Police Department. What they did was clearly unconstitutional and it can't happen again. So that's the first portion of it.

But the second portion of it is that Matt deserves to be compensated for what happened here, what happened to his reputation, what might happen to the custody of his children for 17 days spent in jail. A jury will have to determine what it's worth to spend 17 days in jail and lose your livelihood and your business and your reputation.

Matt said it the other day, and I think he put it perfectly, you work your whole life to get a reputation and it can be destroyed in minutes. So we want some acknowledgement of wrongdoing, first of all. The police are still saying that they have probable cause to arrest 177 people, which is obviously false.