Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

More Business Fallout for Donald Trump; Cosby Fall from "Moralist" to Accused Rapist; FBI Raids Subway Pitchman's Home; Will Justice Department Negotiate Deal to Bring Snowden Back to U.S. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired July 07, 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: It's been 21 days for the racist comments referring to migrants from Mexico. He's not backing down. He is doubling down. He said, "The Mexican government is forcing their most unwanted people into the United States. They are, in many cases, criminals, drug dealers, rapists, et cetera. Likewise, tremendous infectious disease is pouring across the border." And then this tweet, that Jeb Bush, "has to like the Mexican illegals because of his wife." The tweet was live for 24 hours before it was deleted. Jeb Bush met his wife in Mexico.

This just isn't about politics. It's about big business.

CNN politics and money correspondent, M.J. Lee, is here with the latest fallout.

We talked about NBC, Macy's, a lot of big stars making videos, and now you have PGA?

M.J. LEE, CNN POLITICS & MONEY CORRESPONDENT: Yep. That's the latest domino to fall. PGA announced today that it will no longer hold one of its major tournaments at a Trump golf course in Los Angeles, which is where it was supposed to be housed. It's fun to see how fast these dominos are falling. Trump, as you mentioned, has shown no signs of taking back anything he has said or retracting any previous comments.

BALDWIN: It's not indicated in the poll numbers.

LEE: He's surging in the national poll numbers, which I would argue this is not where he will be the entire cycle, but we'll see. He's making it increasingly difficult for himself to find defenders, people who will say he misspoke and this is why we should defend him.

The tweet about Jeb Bush and his wife, clearly inappropriate and --

BALDWIN: Personal.

LEE: Right, and he took it back. His fellow Republican candidates are finding it difficult to say nice things about this issue that he's been dealing with, and not to mention the corporations saying we have to cut ties with him because they say they have no choice.

BALDWIN: They are talking about him building this hotel in Washington, D.C., not too far from the White House. And there are some workers, some of whom perhaps not in the United States legally, working on his hotel. So one of the quotes from "The Washington Post" article, they are reacting to this: "Do you think when we're hanging out there from the eighth floor that we're raping or selling drugs? We're risking our lives and our health. A lot of the chemicals that we deal with are toxic." This coming from one of the workers.

Can you tell me about the backlash from the immigrant community?

LEE: I think it's impossible to overstate how upset the immigrant community in the country is by the comments that Donald Trump made. I was on the phone yesterday with the head of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and they have decided to no longer going to use Trump properties for their upcoming conventions which would have gained Trump millions of dollars. He was saying, look, we hear about Macy's and NBC and big corporations saying this is inappropriate, but what we are not hearing a lot about are the families who might have decided, look, we no longer want to vacation at a Trump hotel. We no longer want to rent apartments from Trump apartment buildings.

BALDWIN: And it continues, and he continues, doubling down on his comments.

M.J. Lee, thank you so much.

Next, you may know him as Jared. Today, the FBI raiding the home for the spokesman for the Subway Sandwich Shops. What's happening there? That's ahead.

Also, more insight into the shocking Bill Cosby deposition. Why a speech he made in 2004, the so-called pound cake speech factored in this judge's decision to release the sealed Supreme Court documents. Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:38:07] BALDWIN: Bill Cosby, he had acquired drugs to give to women he wanted to have sex with. He was known simply as a model TV father, a committed husband, and even a moral touchstone for so many. In 2004, Bill Cosby took some black parents to task in what become known as this pound cake speech. Here's a piece of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL COSBY, COMEDIAN: These are not political criminals. These are people going around stealing Coca-Cola, people getting shot in the back of the head over a piece of pound cake. Then we all run out and we're outraged, the cops shouldn't have shot him. What the hell was he doing with the pound cake in his hand?

(APPLAUSE)

COSBY: I can't even talk the way these people talk. Why you ain't where you at, why, where.

(LAUGHTER)

I don't know who these people are. And I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk.

(LAUGHTER)

Then I heard the father talk. This is all in the House. Everybody knows it's important to speak English, except these knuckleheads. You can't land a plane with, "Why you ain't --." You can't be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So this is why that speech is germane with the news. Cosby's moral high ground is the reason Judge Edwardo Brenno (ph) released the comedian's stunning admission that he acquired drugs with the intention of giving them to women for sex.

He's a quote from the judge's ruling, quote, "Cosby has donned the mantel of public moralist and mounted a proverbial electronic or print soap box to volunteer his views on, among other things, child rearing, family life, education and crime, to the extent that the defendant has freely entered the public square and thrust himself into the vortex of these public issues. He has voluntarily narrowed the zone of privacy that he is entitled to claim."

Let's have a conversation with Marc Lamont Hill, CNN political commentator and host of "HuffPost Live"; and Joey Jackson, criminal defense attorney and HLN legal analyst.

Fellows, welcome.

[14:40:19] JOEY JACKSON, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: Good afternoon, Brooke.

BALDWIN: I'm coming to you, it's so important.

But to you, context, 2004, this was a big NAACP event. This was a legacy speech for better or for worse.

MARC LAMONT HILL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Right.

BALDWIN: We heard the criticism of some black parents at the time and reverberating since. How was it received?

LAMONT HILL: Some people applauded it. There's always a conversation about responsibility. But there was also kind of a hatred towards the black poor, in particular, that made people unsettled by this.

He said, I don't know these people. These people, as if he weren't from the projects in North Philadelphia. And it wasn't just about educational choices and language. It was also about sexual propriety. He said, before you know it, you will need a DNA card to know who you had sex with. Black men are sending their sperm out. And giving a responsibility lecture to black women about black men. He's been very careful about what to tell black people to do with their bodies and language and behavior. It's absolutely appropriate that this would happen.

BALDWIN: To you, the judge takes this speech as part of a greater mosaic of reasons as to why he said, yes, the deposition needs to be seen.

JACKSON: The judge had an opportunity to protect this. That is, the deposition as well as other material. Whenever you do legal analysis, there's so many gray areas and you balance the private interests for embarrassment and what it would harm and how it would cause him some unsettling moving forward, some unsettling times in terms of everyone looking at this, evaluating it and having a discussion about it versus the public interest.

BALDWIN: Yes.

JACKSON: What the judge has said -- remember, this has stemmed from a lawsuit where there was a confidentiality agreement attached to it and essentially the lawyers reminded the judge of that and the judge said, wait a minute, you didn't have the opportunity to come to me when it was temporarily served to permanently seal it be that as the may to have the attorneys take it and keep it private, the judge said no it's going to be private. The reason the judge did that is because of what you pointed out. The judge said, no, you can't put yourself into the position of a public moralist, injecting yourself into these issues and speaking very publicly and forcefully, and say, wait a second, now I want to be private. No. You're out there. To the extent that you went out there, you went on record and had a point of view about these matters, and to Marc's issue, address them in a way that he felt was most appropriate at the time. The judge said we're going to release this for the world to see.

BALDWIN: Thus, they unseal it. And he talks about how he said, yes, he intended to give these Quaaludes in order to have sex with them.

So coming full circle, then the story re-broke when this comedian, Hannibal Buress, took Cosby's stance and tone and said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANNIBAL BURESS, COMEDIAN: Bill Cosby has the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) smuggest old black male public persona that I hate. Gets on TV.

(LAUGHTER)

"Pull your pants up, black people. I was on TV in the '80s."

(LAUGHTER)

I can talk down to you because I had a successful sitcom.

(LAUGHTER)

Yeah, it was rape women Bill Cosby, so --

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Here's where I want the discussion to go. I was on Twitter and a tweet today from Jolani Kauff (ph) from "The New Yorker," and his tweet today, "Interesting that Cosby has been tripped up for not being a rapist but for being a hypocritical one."

And you agree. Why is that?

LAMONT HILL: Absolutely. It's problematic that that was the case. He's been taken down a notch and we're attacking him for it. Let's say, for example, he never made a claim about moral propriety. We should still be on top of this story. The problem is we live in a rape culture, a culture that tries to diminish the value and the voices of victims. People say, we finally have evidence. As if female testimony from 40 victims is not evidence.

BALDWIN: But many are focusing on the hypocritical nature of his tone looking at the past and who he is, until now, and that's what frustrates you and so many people because there are still -- and we don't know all the facts. And I know --

(CROSSTALK)

LAMONT HILL: It's still alleged.

BALDWIN: It's alleged. But still, there are many defenders.

LAMONT HILL: Yes, there are.

BALDWIN: Tell me why.

JACKSON: Well, listen, you're always going to have defenders. I do it for a living in large measure and you need that in society. But I think what is very important?

(CROSSTALK)

LAMONT HILL: Do you? I thought that was legal defense. I don't think you need zealous Twitter defense.

(CROSSTALK)

JACKSON: Oh, I don't want to get into the Twitter.

(CROSSTALK)

[14:45:11] LAMONT HILL: But in court, yeah, we need to defend this guy. But we don't have to pretend that we like this guy or think he's innocent.

JACKSON: Sure. But I think one of the real important things now is people are looking for corroboration and you could make the argument -- and, Marc, you just made it essentially -- these people who have come out, these accusers, that's evidence, that's testimony. But when you have a deposition where you have certain admissions that gives the corroboration that was necessary. And I think it shows people that there's some merits to these claims and the people being abused were being attacked for coming out and saying, you know what, that just wasn't so.

BALDWIN: Well, we spoke to one half an hour ago, and because of that speech, they are feeling vindicated for the first time in a long time.

LAMONT HILL: That's a good thing.

BALDWIN: Marc Lamont Hill and Joey Jackson, thank you.

JACKSON: It's a pleasure.

BALDWIN: Coming up, Jared -- remember him? The guy from the Subway commercials? Well, today, the FBI showed up at his home and carried many pieces of equipment away. Why? More on that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:50:26] BALDWIN: I want to show you pictures from this scene outside of one of America's best known corporate pitchmen, the home of Jared Fogle, the famous Jared who became famous by telling his dramatic story of losing weight by eating lots of Subway sandwiches. Investigators will not say why the FBI was there specifically, neither will the U.S. attorney, but investigators have been seen carrying pieces of electronics equipment out of his front door.

Let's go to Ryan Young, who has been following this story.

Obviously, the big question is what is going on here? No official word on that. What do we know?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No official word yet. No charges have been filed. But we're told investigators showed up around 6:30 this morning. You've seen the pictures of all of the computers being brought out of that home. We're told child Internet porn investigators have been there and maybe going through the computers on scene. Of course, everybody wants to know how this is connected to Jared. Now, we do know a former Jared employee was arrested earlier for child pornography, so we don't know if they're linked, but you can tell by the fact that they are going through those computers, and they raided this home, they are going through the investigation.

In fact, Subway had released a statement as early as today to talk about these allegations. I'll read part of that. They say, "We are shocked about the news and believe it is related to a prior investigation of a former Jared employee. We are very concerned and we will be monitoring the situation closely. We don't have any more details at this point."

Investigators have been there all morning. They are continuing to pull computers and other items throughout the house. The Jared employee was arrested back in April and investigators said they did find child porn on computers in that former employee's home -- Brooke?

BALDWIN: Perhaps in the coming days it will become clearer.

Ryan Young, for now, thank you.

Next, will the United States consider a deal to bring former NSA contractor, Edward Snowden, back from Russia? Former attorney general, Eric Holder, weighing in, raising eyebrows with his answer, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:56:47] BALDWIN: Edward Snowden, the man who revealed the massive spy program, he's living in Moscow, but could he be moving back to the United States at all soon? In an interview with Yahoo! News, former Attorney General Eric Holder was asked if they might be open to a plea bargain to allow Snowden to return to the U.S., and this is what he said, quote, "I certainly think there could be a basis for resolution that everybody could be satisfied with. I think the possibility exists."

So could there be a deal in the works?

Let's go to Elise Labott, our global affairs correspondent.

Elise Labott, one camp calls him the whistleblower, one camp calls him a traitor. When I read the words "possibility" from Eric Holder, what are you hearing? Is the Justice Department ready to make a deal?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Let's be clear, Eric Holder is the former attorney general, the top attorney for the United States, but he obviously was in discussions in the administration and still is in touch with some people. That's a question he was asked and it looks as if the Justice Department would be willing to consider something. Administration officials are telling CNN's Jim Sciutto and Athena Jones that, listen, if there were to be considering any kind of deal, it would involve a trial, jail time. But if you listen to what else Eric Holder says, there was this positive effect, in a way, on what Edward Snowden did because it sparked a very large debate in the country and around the world about the surveillance practices around the United States. So I don't think Edward Snowden is going to get off scot-free, Brooke, but the firestorm that he's created in this world, a lot of people here do see him as a hero. I think there is some plea bargain that would involve jail time for him.

BALDWIN: You covered that story so much. If there were hypothetically speaking to be a deal with the DOJ, there would have to be right condition upon condition upon condition for him to return, period.

LABOTT: That's right. A lot of this is sparked by other conversations. And Robert is the top chief counsel to the director of national intelligence, James Clapper, kind of talking about the contours of the deal. And this was just one official putting out possibilities but it gives you a feeling of what they are talking about, maybe three to five years jail time. But I think what the U.S. really wants to know and why they might be willing to considering such a deal is they want to talk to Edward Snowden and they want to debrief him and know what he took. You hear administration officials talk about the damage he caused. They want to know how many documents he had and what else is coming from some of these leaks -- Brooke?

BALDWIN: And I hear you, my friend, pointing out that Eric Holder is former, but he was in the hot seat too long ago, Elise Labott.

LABOTT: That's right.

[14:49:45] BALDWIN: Thank you so much, Elise Labott, from Washington.

All right. We roll on. Hour two. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

And we begin this hour with Bill Cosby and this bombshell here. This is the first piece of evidence against this man coming not from all of these women accusing him of sexual assault. Nope. These are from his own words.