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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Donald Trump Throws His Hat In The Ring For The 2016 Election; Tropical Storm Bill Slams The Texas Gulf Coast; Third Suspect Charged In Terror Attack At Mohammed Cartoon Contest; Sledgehammer Could Serve As Key Piece Of Evidence In McStay Family Murder Trial. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired June 16, 2015 - 12:30   ET

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

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[12:33:13] DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Ladies and gentlemen, I am officially running for president of the United States.

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ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN HOST: And with that the list of presidential wannabe's is a little bit longer this morning. As you just heard him say it from the horses mouth Donald Trump announcing last hour, he's in the horse race, in the 2016 race.

He spoke of improving benefit for veterans, his opposition to the current trade bill and crashing the terror group ISIS. He also called politicians idiots. And he had this to say about Mexican migration.

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TRUMP: When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best, they're not sending you, they're not sending you. They're sending people that have lots of problems. And they're bringing those problems with us.

They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapist and some I assume are good people. But I speak to border guards and they tell us what we're getting.

And it only makes common sense it, it only make common --

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BANFIELD: Joe Johns, also still digesting these words for the second time because he was live in the room joining me now.

I don't know where to begin that that went on and on and on topical Trump fashion. He never really knows when to make the early exit. But maybe this thumbs up the entire announcement and how it will digested by so many in the press at least.

He said at the beginning of his statement, when did we ever beat Japan?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: And there was that one time, right. Yeah. So --

BANFIELD: There was that one small important time. But these are the kinds of things that I wonder are going to plague him. And ultimately make him a laughing stock. You cannot make statements like that if you're going to be the president of United States.

[12:35:03] JOHNS: Right, Donald Trump is, if his anything, his entertaining. And that is why a lot of people are excited about him getting into the race because he's entertaining, because he'll add a little bit of spark there. But yes, this was loud, it was bombastic, it was Donald Trump.

And he went on and on and on and on. And I think that to your point, one of his biggest problems, if he's ever going to be viewed as a serious candidate is his approval numbers which are just awful.

And it something like 57 percent of respondents -- yes, the respondents on the poll in Iowa --

BANFIELD: -- was sort of the show that the apprentice and it when it's up and if may dear, do his approval rating change with that. He's a reality television star for a lot of people.

JOHNS: Well the difficultly for Donald Trump is that this is a guy who is a known commodity. He has a very, very, very high numbers of recognition out there. Everybody knows Donald Trump.

So he's going to have to fight against that. You ask people who work with him and who are going to push him out for this campaign but he's finally decided to do after two decades.

They say it's all just the factor of, if he's getting the race. Once he gets in the race people starting knowing Donald Trump and his numbers will come up. It is true that I mean you look at the polls, he is right on the edge of being one of the top ten.

So there is a chance he can end up in the debates.

BANFIELD: And certainly I think the other Republican candidates probably are enjoying the fact that they will look less crazy with comments like, when did we ever beat Japan --

JOHNS: Yeah.

BANFIELD: -- at anything?

JOHNS: Oh, and building a great wall along the southern border and making Mexico pay for it.

BANFIELD: Making Mexico. I know a lot of people stand for the wall. But maybe that might be a tall older to ask Mexico.

By the way I wanted to be a fly in the room of The Daily Show writer's room. Because I think they all have sprained wrist trying to take down the material for their show tonight.

Joe Johns, always nice to see you in New York, thanks for coming up.

JOHNS: Glad to be here.

BANFIELD: Don't just let it be Donald Trump that brings you here.

JOHNS: Absolutely, well entertaining guy, what can I say.

BANFIELD: Without question. Thank you Joe, I appreciate it.

Coming up next, we're going to take you down south because they're already water logged. Texas is getting swamp again. Look at the live shot there.

KTRK filling this, it is awful. They're feeling the force of a tropical storm named Bill.

We're going to take you there live.

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[12:41:13] BANFIELD: Breaking news out of Texas, it is all about Tropical Storm Bill. Right now, the second tropical storm of the season and it's battering the Texas gulf coast with 69 mile an hour winds. And as much a foot of rain falling on ground by the way, that is already saturated from last month's deadly floods.

I want to bring in our CNN Meteorologist Jennifer Gray and she's in Galveston and also joining us Chad Myers at the CNN Center in Atlanta.

Jennifer, I got to go to you first. How is it looking now and how bad is it expected to be?

JENNIFER GRAY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, right now, luckily it's a little bit better than it was about an hour ago where we had very, very gusty winds and very, very heavy rainfall.

Right now, we had just a light rain. The winds are still breezy. But at its worst, winds are about 45 miles per hour, gusting even higher. So it was pretty nasty for a while. And you can see the seas have actually calm down quite a bit. High tide was at 6:30 this morning.

And so, since then, the seas have steadily gone down and down which is excellent news. Of course, it is still very rough. This public beach is nowhere to be found. It's underwater because the tides are running about four and five feet above normal.

Looks like we only have minor flooding issues here in Galveston, of course, just to our east right around Bolivar Peninsula. They have had more significant flooding, all the areas that aren't protected by a seawall, definitely seeing some of that, Ashleigh. But we are still expected to be in this for the next couple of hours as this pushes in- land and causes possible major flooding across the rest of the state.

BANFIELD: All right, Jennifer, you and your crew be careful in Galveston. Chad Myers at CNN Center, it's not just the Texas story.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's right. No, it's definitely not. It's Oklahoma. It's Arkansas. It's Missouri. And eventually, all the way to Pennsylvania, that's how far this thing is going to swing. That won't be a tropical storm when it gets to Pennsylvania. You won't even feel when it gets to Oklahoma.

But the center is coming on shore right now, Ashleigh. As we speak coming on shore, right over the Matagorda seashore, National Wildlife Seashore. It will eventually go very close to San Antonio. And then make a turn toward Dallas.

Don't look at that line because I want you to see how far it goes this way and how far it's going to go that way.

This is going to be the area that gets the heavy rainfall. It is a wide storm. It is been over the ocean now all morning long, gathering strength and gaining power, gaining moisture, and eventually that moisture will come on shore and make more flooding. The ground is saturated. There's no place for this to soak in.

We're going to see band and band come in to Jennifer's live shot. Big, big weather for Jennifer in the next few hours as those outer bands come on.

And here we go this is why it gets all the way to Cincinnati to Indiana, maybe even to Pittsburgh because it wraps around at low pressure. Here, a high pressure right here and it's going to get to the Northeast eventually as a rainmaker, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: That is ugly and especially for the Texans.

MYERS: Yes.

BANFIELD: Jennifer and Chad, thank you both, we do appreciate it. We'll watch those systems as they move.

Coming up next, a third suspect charged in the terror attack at the Mohammed cartoon contest in Texas, and there could be more to come of the details just ahead.

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[12:47:53] BANFIELD: A federal grand jury had indicted a third suspect in Garland, Texas in that shooting incident. The attack happening last month outside of a Prophet Muhammad cartoon drawing contest in that Dallas suburb.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is following the story live. He's got the latest update.

Who is this third suspect and what is the nexus to the two who were shot dead before they could carry out their attack?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey Ashleigh, we don't even know this attack took place here in the Dallas suburb of Garland, Texas, all of this really stems back to other relationships that these two men, the two men that were shot and killed on that day and their connections back to Arizona.

The federal grand jury indicted a man by the name of Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem. And in this indictment which is just a few pages long, federal investigators detail his relationship with the two men, Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi who were gunned down and shot by investigators before they can even get into the building where that cartoon contest was being held in Garland.

But investigators say that Kareem was instrumental in helping them, those two men obtain the weapons in the indictment. And also says that had gone out into desert areas of Arizona and practice firing these weapons between January and May of this year.

He was indicted on three different counts including conspiracy, interstate transportation of firearms with intend to commit a felony as well as making false statements to investigators. So that's where we stand now. Not much else known about him other than the fact that we spoke with the president of the Islamic center there in Phoenix, Arizona who says that Kareem was not someone who regularly attended the mosque there in the Phoenix area that he become on -- come on to this man's radar several years ago. If and when he was seen around the mosque, he was cleaning carpets there at the mosque. But we're told that this was not someone who attended mosque on a regular basis there, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: So, I get the connection. He cleans the carpet at the mosque, Nadir Soofi and Elton Simpson attended that mosque so that's their connection potentially.

But then, they talked about other people that that they may have spoken with, what do we know about this? Are there going to be more arrests?

[12:50:05] LAVANDERA: You know, you're kind of left wondering that and thinking where exactly this is going to go. Several times as you're reading the indictment, it state that Mr. Simpson, Mr. Soofi and others known and unknown to the grand jury, that references made several times throughout the several pages in this indictment which kind of leaves impression that there are other people who might have been involved in the planning or in the relation -- the early relationships who knew about what was about to happen.

And that investigators are still taking perhaps a closer look at some of those relationships in the months leading up to that attack. So, you're definitely left with that impression as you read through this indictment.

BANFIELD: So there you go, Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem, looking at charges stemming from potentially giving those firearms allegedly to the two terrorists.

Ed Lavandera, keep on it for us, let us know when we hear about other people or any other development. Thank you. Nice to see you. Coming up next, terrible details, a sledgehammer could be a key piece of evidence when the one and only suspect in the McStay family murder case finally goes to trial. This is happening after five long years? And when you hear how those kids died, how their parents died, you may just be astounded.

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[12:55:03] BANFIELD: Long before investigators knew that four missing members of the McStay family in Southern California were dead, a business associate was speaking of them in the past tense, not always a good sign. It was early 2010. And more than five years later that little clue help to persuade the judge to order Chase Merritt tried on four counts of murder.

At one each for Joseph Mcstay his wife her name is Summer and their young son's Gianni age four and Joseph Jr. age three. Yes, age four and three.

But there was something else that came out in yesterday's hearing that the families had been fatally bludgeoned with a sledgehammer which was found with some of their remains in the desert Northeast of Los Angeles.

The Texas also testified that Chase Merritt's DNA was found on the steering wheel of the McStay's SUV though he denied driving it.

Finally prosecutors pointed to an interview that Merritt did with CNN's own Randi Kaye before he was arrested last fall in. And in that interview he said he is "Definitely the last person that Joseph McStay saw on this earth," also a bad fact.

Time to bring in my lawyers, CNN Legal Analyst Danny Cevallos and HLN Legal Analyst Joey Jackson.

So all free of those things, those are prosecutor's facts and they are not good without question. But we haven't yet heard from anybody in the defense side of things yet can you even stomach a defense when you hear little children aged three and four had their skull mashed, Danny?

DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: You have too, that's our job. Our job is to take a horrible set of facts and challenge the prosecution to prove each and every element of their case beyond a reasonable death.

And the reason that we're hearing so much about the prosecutions case right now is that we're really on it the preliminary hearings stage. And that's when the prosecution has to make out their case not be under reasonable death. But just to the lesser standard of probable cause which means that the prosecutions challenge is to show us much of their hands strategically. But just enough to have the case held over without showing too much and signaling too much information to the defense.

BANFIELD: Don't give away that farm, right? JOEY JACKSON, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: Although certainly as defense attorneys we tried get the farm. And that means that we're going to ask questions during that hearing to get as much discovery as you possibly can.

To Danny's point at the preliminary hearing a judge is just determining is their enough for it to go to trial and certainly horrible facts here the bludgeoning, the sledge hammering a four year old, a three year old boy, you know, Mr. McStay his wife Dawn (ph).

And it appeared to be at this point at least compelling facts when look at DNA on the steering wheel "Hey I didn't drive it." But there's the DNA there. But always remember this, Ashleigh, at the preliminary hearing the facts have yet to be challenged by the defense. And so there is DNA on the steering wheel, there could be multiple explanations consisted with science as to how adapt their even though Mr. Merritt did not drive that car.

BANFIELD: Yeah, I mean they were business partners, they weren't unknown to one another.

JACKSON: Yes, exactly.

BANFIELD: So I would find that pretty right feel. But I got this question for you. It's a bit of a mystery and I'm not sure where it place. And then I'm sure that your minds will come to it right away.

Summer McStay that's the mother she found in this shallow grave with no top on. But she was -- apparently there was a bra found with her either on her or with her. And it had paint spatters on it. And the paint matches up with the paint that was in their home. And it looked and so they've been undergoing some kind of renovation.

JACKSON: The home, right. OK --

BANFIELD: Yeah. But again, it sounds very mysterious, its sounds like it sort of some kind of smoking gun. But in the end I'm not sure I can make much of it when it comes to this case and Chase Merritt.

CEVALLOS: Just thinking of the head to a possible defense. A defense might call an expert that says, this particular color in branded paint is found virtually everywhere, it sold in many stores you can find it in many places. This particular brand of paint is not in fact all that unusual. And that might just be thinking ahead one kind of defense. But your not going to see it at this stage because again, rare is the case? Where a defense attorney calls witnesses or puts on an expert or puts on even any evidence --

JACKSON: At the stage

CEVALLOS: -- at a preliminary hearing because there is no upside, its all risks.

BANFIELD: Ten seconds Joey, Chase Merritt said to Randi Kaye "Yes, I am certain," and I'm paraphrasing "That I'm the last person he saw on earth." JACKSON: Sure I mean that in on of itself is not so compelling although it's certainly raise to the suspicion.

BANFIELD: Sounds compelling.

JACKSON: But what happens Ashleigh, is that you have to evaluate that evidence on top of everything else that, you know, the tire tracks that was at the scene, his cellphone pings at the scene. You know, why is his cellphone at the shallow grave there's a lot to be explained, then it will be explain by the defense at the time of trial just not know.

BANFIELD: Innocent until proven guilty there could be an explanation for everything it always looks bad when you hear the prosecutions case, that always sounds horrible at the beginning of a case Danny and Joey, thank you.

[13:00:04] JACKSON: A pleasure Ashleigh, thank you.

BANFIELD: Appreciate it, nice to see you.

And thank you everyone my colleague Brianna Keilar is going to take it from here.