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Huge Crowd Attends Mass at Beloved Shrine in Paraguay; FBI Director Ordered Review after Mistake was Found; Sanctuary Cities vs. Federal Immigration Law; NYPD Officers May Not Be Documenting Stops; Victory is Serena Williams' Sixth at All-England Club; Governor Haley: "It's a New Day in South Carolina"; Forty Five Years in Prison for Cancer Doctor. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired July 11, 2015 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:07] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: That's right. We are going to be busy just like you have been all morning long.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

PAUL: All right. You take it away.

BLACKWELL: A lot going on this morning.

WHITFIELD: You're all going to be busy having a little fun this afternoon, I hope.

BLACKWELL: A little bit.

PAUL: We'll be watching you. Don't think you're off the hook.

WHITFIELD: Ok, good.

I'll give you a lot of winks, you know. Kind of the Carol Burnett wink.

BLACKWELL: All right.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: Thinking about you.

All right. Thanks so much, you guys. Appreciate it.

All right. It is the 11:00 Eastern hour. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. NEWSROOM starts right now.

Let's begin this morning in Paraguay. A live look right now at Pope Francis celebrating mass in the small city of Caacupe before a massive crowd there. This is the last leg of the Pontiff's pilgrimage to South America. He visited Ecuador, Bolivia all earlier this week. And he chose these countries in South America to encourage the poorest and the most marginal people to stay faithful.

Joining me right now from Asuncion, Paraguay is CNN's Shasta Darlington and via Skype from Denver CNN's senior Vatican analyst John Allen. All right. Good to see both of you.

So Shasta, let's begin with you. Let's talk about this mass and the importance of it and how so many have turned out to see the Pope.

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN BRAZIL BUREAU CHIEF: That's right. This is the most important shrine in Paraguay. Not only in Paraguay. It is also an important destination for pilgrims coming all the way from Argentina, of course, Pope Francis' home country.

So we're seeing thousands upon thousands of pilgrims from here, from neighboring Argentina. They have been camping out lining the papal route just hoping to get a glimpse of Latin America's first Pope and also the first Pope of any kind to visit Paraguay in almost 30 years. So an important moment for the country.

I think we'll see a lot of Argentine flags waving as well all around this important shrine there, Fred.

WHITFIELD: And then Shasta, it was also important for the Pope to visit a children's hospital earlier. Why?

DARLINGTON: Well, you know, the Pope is a magnetic presence around children. Whenever they see him, they just rush him. And they won't be peeled off of him. Security forces, believe me, they try. You can see Pope Francis himself also lights up.

When he went inside the hospital, according to his prepared remarks, what he told the children is that we as adults need to learn from you, from your joy, from your tenderness, and also from your warrior-like spirit in the face of adversity.

And this is something we have heard from him before that on the one hand, we need to protect our children. But also, he repeats that just like Jesus Christ, we need to view children as our ideals. What we should try and emulate and not the other way around, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. And then John, you know, from Denver, during the Pope's visit, he has focused on the most vulnerable -- the poor. And even yesterday, he visited a prison in Bolivia. What is his overall message during this three South American nation tour as he tries to call more attention to the poor, those who are in prison and those who are vulnerable? Among those, also the elderly. How and why is he choosing this directive?

JOHN ALLEN, CNN SENIOR VATICAN ANALYST: Hey, Fred. Well, this is not only the first time we had seen and heard this kind of thing from Pope Francis. I mean let's remember that shortly after he was elected to the Papacy in March, 2013, one of his first public outings was to go to a Rome prison for Holy Thursday to wash the feet of inmates, both Christians and Muslims and also including some women.

So reaching out to the marginal and speaking out on behalf of the poor has been sort of the beating heart of his papacy from the beginning. I think what is distinctive about this trip, Fred, is that we see a geopolitical strategy at work underneath all of that. He wants Latin America to become, the phrase he uses is "patria grande", a great homeland. A kind of economically and politically integrated continental block that can stand up to the major world powers on behalf of the poor. That, so to speak, is the political heavy lifting he is trying to get done this week -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: At the same time though, you mentioned the word "politics" there. But he has made some conscientious decisions about places not to visit because of the political climate. Argentina is one of those locations. So what do you mean by that in terms of these kind of, you know, political I guess opportunities.

ALLEN: Well, I think the Pope doesn't want to get sucked into partisan politics. Part of the reason he didn't want to go to Argentina this time as you say is because they have presidential elections coming up in October. But make no mistake the Pope does not want to lead a party but that doesn't mean he is apolitical.

[110504] I mean on the contrary. There has been a fairly sharp political edge to a lot of his rhetoric and a lot of the symbolic gestures he's delivered this week. Fundamentally, he believes that the global economic order as it has developed in the early 21st century is unjust. That is, it kind of consigns a large percentage of the human family to kind of forming a permanent underclass. And he wants to challenge all of that.

I think he believes that Latin America, if it got its act together, in terms of overcoming its internal divisions, could be a very important change agent. That's what he's trying to encourage.

Now, will that work? It remains to be seen but let's remember, the last time a Pope was in Paraguay was John Paul II. The country was then under a strong man by the name of Alfredo Stroessner. John Paul directly challenged him to permit greater space for political pluralism and democracy. And within a year after the Pope's visit, Stroessner was gone. So, you know, there is a track record there. Popes can make a difference.

WHITFIELD: All right. John Allen, thanks so much. Always good to see you, appreciate it.

ALLEN: Thanks, Fred

WHITFIELD: All right. And in just a few hours, Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump will head to Nevada and Arizona. In Vegas, he will speak at a libertarian conference and then he will head to the Phoenix Convention Center where he is expected to deliver remarks on immigration with Phoenix Sheriff, Joe Arpaio.

Arpaio has made headlines in the past for his anti-immigration policies and rhetoric. This event was actually supposed to be in a smaller venue but was moved to a much larger setting, the convention center, to accommodate what's expected to be a sizeable crowd.

Last night in Los Angeles, Trump was greeted by protesters upset about his derogatory remarks about people crossing the border from Mexico. Trump also met with families there whose loved ones were killed by undocumented immigrants. Trump continues to insist that he will connect with Latino voters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When the word gets out, I will win. Romney let us all down. He was a very poor campaigner. He did a horrible job. He should have won that race. And he did not do well with the Hispanics. When it is all said and done, I will win, win the Hispanic vote over the Democrat, whoever it may be, probably Hillary Clinton.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Joining me right now, CNN political reporter M.J. Lee. So M.J. you're joining us from New York. Tell us who more about what's expected as the Donald makes his way to Vegas and then later on Phoenix?

M.J. LEE, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Good morning. I have spoken to some of Trump's campaign officials this morning. And I asked them, what will Trump say especially at this big rally in Arizona? They said, his message will be this. Stopping illegal aliens from killing U.S. citizens. In other words, that means that Trump will be doubling down on his original comments, which obviously were so controversial, speaking about folks coming over from Mexico and crossing the border that they are most often criminals or rapists or drug dealers. It has created a huge backlash as you know from Mr. Trump.

But we are expecting him to say those comments again today repeatedly. We are expecting protesters to show up at his event to send him the message that his comments are not appreciated.

WHITFIELD: And so M.J., you know, Mr. Trump is speaking very confidently about his position here and then you look at the polls and he continues to stay on top. What are his people, so to speak, saying about how he is managing to do this and at the same time offend so many?

LEE: Look, I think it is certainly true that Mr. Trump and his comments about illegal immigration probably are appealing to a small subset of the Republican base. But I think you probably also can't overstate just how deeply upsetting his comments have been to the immigrant community, particularly the Latino community here in the United States. I think that's why even though we have seen Mr. Trump surging in the national polls, there has also been a ton of backlash.

Earlier this morning, Michael Smerconish spoke with the executive vice president of the Trump Organization about Trump's relationship with the Latino community. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL COHEN, EXECUTIVE VP TRUMP ORGANIZATION: Donald Trump has a great relationship with Latinos. This is all being fostered by groups that want to create something for themselves. Eventually, he is going to have the Latino community voting for him as well because the people who are most hurt by illegal immigration happen to be legal immigrants.

It is not that he is against immigration. His father, grandfather, came from Germany. His first wife from Czech. His current wife in Slovenia. He is not anti-immigrant. Donald Trump wants immigration. It is what created this country to be the wonderful country that we are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[11:10:09] LEE: So, again, comments that we are probably going to continue hearing over and over again from Trump and his campaign officials in the coming months.

WHITFIELD: Ok. So M.J., let's talk about another potential candidate. Maybe the cat is out of the bag and he is indeed a presidential candidate. But we are talking about Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. So via tweet, prematurely, an announcement was made that he will be running. However, it had been said that his formal announcement would be on Monday.

So which is it? Was it premature? Was this intentional? Was this a problem with Twitter or was this the Scott Walker camp?

LEE: Well, it sounds like walker's campaign did not mean to send out that tweet. They have said that that was unintentional. And they were looking into the technical glitch. But look, it is sort of the worst kept secret in the 2016 campaign right now that Scott Walker will be running for president.

I think we can bet on that being the announcement on Monday which will be made in Wisconsin. We have known for a while that Governor Walker has been holding back from jumping into the race because he has had some legislative issues to deal with in his home state. But on Monday when he makes that announcement can guarantee you that it will be that he is officially making a run for the White House in 2016.

WHITFIELD: All right. M.J. Lee in New York. Thanks so much.

All right. And of course, For all the latest news on the race for 2016, go to CNN politics.com.

All right. Still ahead, the FBI now says Dylann Roof never should have been able to buy the gun he did to kill nine people in a Charleston church. Sunlen Serfaty has details from the White House now.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The FBI admitting a huge mistake here Fred. The background check -- there was a flaw in that background check that led Dylann Roof, the Charleston shooter, to get his hand on that .45 caliber gun. All those details coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. A review by the FBI inspection division is now underway. This comes following revelations that Dylann Roof should not have been able to purchase the gun that he is accused of using in the Charleston church shootings.

CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is live for us now at the White House with the very latest on this -- Sunlen.

SERFATY: Fred this was sure shocking admission by the FBI and it really contradicts what the FBI has previously said that the background check on Dylann Roof was done properly. But now, the FBI director revealing that this big bombshell of an error. He says this was a mistake. They are all sick that it happened.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SERFATY: The man who confessed to gunning down nine people inside a South Carolina church should never have been able to buy the .45- caliber gun used in the slaughter. That admission coming from FBI Director James Comey who told reporters his bureau made a mistake during Dylann Roof's background check. A mistake he said quote, "rips all of our hearts out".

According to law enforcement officials, within days after the shooting, agents on the ground knew something was amiss and suspected that Roof's arrest record should have prohibited the gun purchase.

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It just shows how a bureaucratic mistake can cost human life.

SERFATY: Director Comey says the FBI examiner during Roof's background check didn't discover Roof had previously admitted to illegally possessing drugs when he was arrested in late February -- that information would have prevented Roof from the passing the background check.

CALLAN: There's a regulation that says if he was a drug user, he shouldn't have gotten a gun. And there was abundant information for the FBI to have had that information. Had they had it -- no gun sale and possibly no shooting here.

SERFATY: Comey says the FBI examiner failed to make contact with the Columbia, South Carolina Police Department which arrested Roof on the felony drug charge in part because of a clerical error that listed the wrong police department in the online court system.

After three days of waiting for the background checks, the South Carolina gun shop legally used its discretion to sell Roof the gun even though his status was still pending.

Senate judiciary chairman Grassley said in a statement quote, "It's disastrous that this bureaucratic mistake prevented existing laws from working and blocking an illegal gun sale."

But for the family of one Charleston victim, surprise and understanding.

REV. ANTHONY THOMPSON, WIDOWER OF MYRA THOMPSON: I thought, you know, being that it was an FBI check that they were very thorough. So I was surprised that they were not very thorough. And so -- but I know people make mistakes.

(END VIDEOTAPE) SERFATY: And FBI officials met with the families in person this week to make assurances that the system would try to be fixed but also to explain the mistake -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much.

Joining me right now from New York, former FBI special agent, former police officer Jonathan Gilliam. So Jonathan, help people understand even when you hear Sunlen say that the gun shop legally was able to use its discretion even after they didn't hear from the FBI on this check after three days. That is customary?

JONATHAN GILLIAM, FORMER POLICE OFFICER: Well apparently so. It does point out one thing, one very important thing. If we are going to set up standards that say if you do drugs, you can't have a gun or if you are a felon or if you have been arrested for certain things, you can't buy a gun. If we are going to set up those standards, then we need to have better people that can either input the stuff into a computer so it's rapidly out there. So these gun shop owners can see these things or something has to be redone.

Because you see who it was left to. It was left to a guy who owns a gun store who works at the counter to make a judgment call -- a psychological judgment call that he is not qualified to make. That is something that is a real problem.

WHITFIELD: At the same times, doesn't it send up a red flag, maybe for that gun shop owner or whoever is in the position of trying to consider and get these check-ups done. If they didn't hear from anyone that maybe there is some presumption that something is wrong or does it mean eliciting another phone call to make sure. Is it really ok that I can sell this firearm to someone?

GILLIAM: Well, Fred, we would have to see the statistics on how often this happens. See that's where -- look, if this happens all the time then it wouldn't be uncommon in the gun store to say, oh, it is probably just going to take a little while longer. The law says that I can sell this to you after three days. So I am going to sell this to you.

Why the law says that? I don't know. Because if you are going to put something in place, you need to make it very firm and very strict.

[11:20:01] The biggest takeaway from all this, having been in the FBI for eight years. I will tell you this and I don't know an FBI agent that would not agree with me right now. There is too much paperwork. And stuff is not streamlined.

When they decide to do something a better way, they don't get rid of the old way. They keep them both. And now you are inundated by paperwork. So things need to be streamlined. Technology needs to be pulled off the shelf. If I take a picture with this phone right here, there is a date and time stamp on the picture. Why isn't it then when somebody gets an arrest record or they get arrested or something happens and they input that, it immediately goes to a database with a time and date stamp saying this just happened?

WHITFIELD: So when you talk about the streamlining, are you talking on the level of say, the seller? The streamlining of the local jurisdiction, police department or investigative wing or even the FBI or all of the above?

GILLIAM: I think there should be a national database that collects information rapidly And that can be accessed rapidly when people input that they need a background check. In other words, they log on, the credentials to logon this. They log on -- they're not making a back ground check. They are just logging on and saying, here is the person's information. It immediately goes in and says whether or not this person has been arrested in the past 24 hours, which shouldn't be difficult because most stuff gets inputted very quickly in police departments and turned around and says, ok, you can't sell this guy a gun.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jonathan Gilliam -- thanks so much.

GILLIAM: You got it.

WHITFIELD: All right. Still ahead: the killing of a San Francisco woman is now raising new questions about the so-called sanctuary cities. There are hundreds of these communities across the country. What exactly are they? What role does San Francisco's status as a sanctuary city play in this crime?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The arrest of an undocumented immigrant and the killing of a San Francisco woman has sparked new debate over so-called sanctuary cities, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York are among more than 200 communities across the country, that have policies or laws that limit the extent law enforcement and other government employees will help the federal government find or detain America's estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants.

Kate Steinle was shot and killed while walking with her father along a San Francisco pier on July 1st. Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez pleaded not guilty to killing her. He has been convicted of seven felonies and deported five times before the shooting. He had been released from the San Francisco county jail in April after local authorities decided not to prosecute him on a 20-year-old marijuana possession charge.

Federal immigration says they might have deported him again but that the San Francisco Sheriff's Department never told them Lopez Sanchez was being released. Here to talk about sanctuary cities is attorney and immigration analyst Raul Reyes.

RAUL REYES, ATTORNEY AND IMMIGRATION ANALYST: Thank you. Good morning.

WHITFIELD: God to see you. Good morning. So How are local governments allowed to make these laws or put policies in place that may conflict with the enforcement of federal immigration laws? REYES: Well, They don't exactly conflict. When we talk about

sanctuary cities, there is a lot of confusion about what the term really means. In a sanctuary city, all that that means is that the federal government still has control over immigration enforcement, which it historically has and always has. Which as recently as 2012, the Supreme Court has said that it must have says it must have.

And that leaves state and local officials to handle criminal offenses. And policing that community. One of the big misconceptions about sanctuary cities is that they are a place, for example, where undocumented people can live openly, where they can work openly and not have to fear the authorities.

That's not true. You could be deported in a sanctuary city. Local police can turn you over to ICE or DHS --

WHITFIELD: But wait a minute. But isn't it arbitrary because I means I have here the sanctuary cities can ignore law authorizing immigration and custom enforcement, I.C.E., to administratively deport illegal aliens without seeking criminal warrants or convictions from the federal state or local court.

If the federal government court doesn't Instruct or have warrants, is it the discretion of some of these sanctuary cities to say we are not going to volunteer or we're not going to reach out to ICE. To try to have this person deported or to further any kind of offense of the federal immigration law?

REYES: Generally speaking in the sanctuary cities, which are all across the nation like, for example, Miami, New York, Chicago, Seattle, In these sanctuary cities, when local officials encounter someone who may be undocumented, if they are not processing them for some type of criminal offense, they will let them go.

That doesn't conflict with federal law. They are leaving the immigration enforcement to the federal government. The reason they do that, in the past, there were times when with programs like the secure communities, 287-g program, where local officials cooperated with federal officials. What happened was state police, sheriffs and county executives didn't like it.

And the reason for that -- that doesn't conflict with federal law, by the way they're leaving the federal immigration enforcement to the federal government. The reason that they do that is because in the past there were times when with programs like this it killed communities 287 g. program.

Where are these local officials cooperating with federal officials. And what happened was state police, sheriffs and county executives, they didn't like it. They didn't like to pay for it.

WHITFIELD: Why not. So explain that. Why wouldn't localities want to cooperate or respect federal law? What is holding them back? What is the argument as to why they don't want to?

REYES: Well, the reason there was this pushback. And again remember, this pushback from law enforcement, it did not from immigrant rights advocates or anyone like that. It came from police, local officials. Because they bore the cost of holing They wore the costs of holding undocumented immigrants while ICE came to pick them up. If there was any type of liability issue. For example, they picked up someone who is This he picked up someone Spanish and they held them and they turned out to be a Green Cardholder. They wore the liability for that. They could sue the city, not the federal government.

And finally local officials didn't like it because they are not trained to do immigration policing. So they just thought rightfully that this should stay with the federal government.

And just as what I always like to tell people when we talk about sanctuary cities, one of the biggest proponents of sanctuary cities especially here in New York was Rudy Giuliani who is not someone you associate with being soft on crime.

But he recognized that this was a way to allow local police to do their job that they can do best and to let the federal government handle its responsibilities.

WHITFIELD: So it is very confusing because it also sounds like it is very arbitrary and it differs from city to city even though you are talking about 200 different jurisdictions that may, you know, declassified as sanctuary cities.

But then in the case of the San Francisco situation, you have the sheriff coming out yesterday, who said that it was ICE that didn't follow procedure, but then prior to that, you had ICE, who said San Francisco didn't make that phone call and let us know so that we could take the next step.

So neither one of those arguments have anything to do with what you just laid out, which was an issue of paperwork or money or expense.

REYES: Exactly.

WHITFIELD: So what is it?

REYES: Well, when you think about it, remember the last segment when you were talking, I believe it was, with the FBI official and he said, unfortunately, there was a bureaucratic mistake and a life was lost.

Very tragically, it seems to be a similar situation here because this was not about immigration enforcement. It wasn't about deportations. This guy was deported five times and he was jailed five years for re- entering at least once.

This was a simple case of where the city agency should have issued a warrant and this was a mandatory warrant that the city could not have disregarded but they didn't. The city let him go and then we have these tragic consequences for this young woman.

WHITFIELD: All right, we'll have to leave it there. Raul Reyes, thank you so much.

REYES: Thank you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, and we will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, good Saturday morning again to everyone. Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Controversy continues to surround the New York Police Department stop and frisk policy. The federal monitor overseeing changes to that policy reports that the number of stop and frisk since 2011 is way down, but the report also suggests that many stops may be going undocumented.

[11:35:02] In 2013, a federal judge ordered the program be reformed after finding the department unintentionally discriminated against minorities. CNN's Sara Ganim is joining me now from New York. So Sara, what are we learning from the new report?

SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Fred. That's right. This report is showing that the numbers are down, but not necessarily for the right reasons, Fred. This report finding that in many cases, documentation is not properly handled when it comes to stop and frisk.

That officers aren't necessarily putting on paper when stop and frisk is occurring and there is another reason too, that they found that these numbers may show that they are drastically down from 2011.

That's that this report finds that officers may be misinformed, may be not trained properly and then not using stop and frisk policy when they should so not stopping people who they should be stopping on the street, two-fold here.

Of course, this report comes after the stop and frisk policy, NYPD policy was found unconstitutional by a federal judge in 2013. A judge found that it was a violation of both the fourth and the 14th amendment.

Of course, this policy had been widely criticized and peaked under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the previous mayor. It was a policy of stopping people on the street and searching them if there was any suspicion that there might have been foul play.

That they might have been involved in, well, the 14th Amendment very clearly states, Fred, that you need a reasonable suspicion of a crime being committed. The federal judge found that this was in violation of that.

So as a result, this federal judge, former federal prosecutor, his name is Peter Zimroth, he was tasked with revising the NYPD policy, working with them. This is the first report that he has released since he began going back and looking at that. This is what he found, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, and then how is the NYPD responding right now? GANIM: Right. So they are saying that they are going to revise their training so that officers understand how to document their encounters with the public specifically when it comes to stop and frisk. They say it is of the jut most importance to them that documentation is accurate, of course.

Now, another response to this is that Peter Zimroth is saying that he wants to implement a body camera program that's more random among the different precincts so that they can look and see how body cameras, how the police react to them when they are wearing them.

How it affects what they do and their actions as well as the public that they are dealing with, how they react to police who are wearing body cameras.

WHITFIELD: OK, all right. Sara Ganim, thanks so much in New York.

All right, still to come, Serena Williams making history yet again, another title. This time, Wimbledon, we'll have a live report on the final match from London next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:41:41]

WHITFIELD: All right, a huge day for Serena Williams, call it yet again, the Serena slam. Today, the world's number one women's tennis player won her sixth Wimbledon crown and her 21st grand slam title overall.

Joining me right now is Christina Macfarland from the All England Club. Christina, that's four majors in a row in this calendar year, this Serena slam. I mean, last year, it seemed like it was anomaly, but here we go again. She is amazing.

CHRISTINA MACFARLAND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: She is absolutely incredible. It is hutting up here now with that potential calendar grand slam. Thirteen years after she took her first Wimbledon title here. She has followed up with her sixth, as you mentioned, her 21st grand slam of her career.

But, you know what? It wasn't an easy match for her here in the finals. She went down early in the first game of the first set. She was broken against the young 21-year-old, Garbine Muguruza, trying in her first ever Wimbledon grand slam final.

Serena had to battle back. She hit serves of 123 miles an hour against her young opponent and eventually she wrapped up the match 6- 4, 6-4. She dropped to her knees when she knew she won it and leapt up and jumped all over the court and went over to console her opponent.

But as you mentioned now, all eyes will turn to the U.S. Open next month because Serena is on for a potential calendar grand slam. That's four grand slams in one year. If she can do it, she will become the first player, men or women to win this calendar grand slam since Steffi Graf back in 1988. It's an incredible achievement for a player who is 33 years old.

WHITFIELD: I know that is amazing, a senior on the block so to speak and it is hard to believe, 1988 when Steffi Graf did that. This has been an amazing year for any spectator to watch tennis too. Christina Macfarland, thanks so much. Appreciate it. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:47:27]

WHITFIELD: South Carolina Governor, Nikki Haley, says it is a new day in her state. This is why. The confederate flag was removed from the South Carolina state capitol grounds on Friday triggering a roaring, emotional reaction from the thousands of people that turned out to witness this historic moment.

(VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: This after state lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to remove the confederate flag from the state grounds. It is now in the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum. The call to remove the flag was sparked by the killing of nine people at a historic African-American church in Charleston. The confessed shooter, Dylann Roof, was photographed with the confederate flag.

Joining me right now is Bakari Sellers. He is a former representative of South Carolina State House and was born and raised in the state. Good to see you, Bakari.

So the FBI, before I ask you about the confederate flag and what that means to you, particularly as a native son of South Carolina, let's talk about the FBI and its response saying that the background check of Dylan Roof, the confessed killer, was not thoroughly completed. He should have never been able to purchase that gun. What's your reaction to that?

BAKARI SELLERS, FORMER SOUTH CAROLINA HOUSE REPRESENTATIVE: Well, an apology is not enough. We had a travesty, a failure in our bureaucracy that allowed this to happen. I saw the FBI director stand up and say that he apologized and it tears his heart up, but we need more than that.

We need more action than that. This cannot happen again. We had a failure by our government that allowed nine people to die and I think anyone with common sense can tell you that someone out on bond who previously admitted to a drug offense should not be allowed to get a gun. That's common sense.

So the fact that the system failed, it didn't just fail me or those nine families, but they failed the entire country. We were on the brink of something very, very bad in South Carolina and Charleston.

But as a community, we were able to turn it around. That mistake should have never happened and we are going to make sure that mistake doesn't happen again. WHITFIELD: And in turning history around, the flag would be removed from the state grounds. As someone who is born and has been raised in South Carolina, you have seen that flag, you know, throughout your lifetime on state grounds there. What did it mean to you to witness it being brought down?

[11:50:02] SELLERS: Well, when the flag came down, tears came down. In my 30 years of being on this great earth, I have never lived in South Carolina when that flag has not flown.

For me, it is a personal my father was shot February 8, 1968 and imprisoned after the massacre. I knew Clementa Pinckney very well serving with him for eight years in the General Assembly.

So I'm very familiar with the blood that runs through the soil of the state and I know what it means when that flag came down. It was one of relief, it was one of joy, and my tears were tears of optimism as well.

And so I look forward to a new day in South Carolina, beginning of a new healthy conversation, and not just in this state but throughout the country.

WHITFIELD: What does it mean to you that the catalyst of this change, there have been so many debates over the years. There have been other votes prior to last week. But the catalyst of change of bringing down the flag would be the deaths of nine people, including your friend, Mr. Pinckney? So how do you process that?

SELLERS: Well, for me it goes back even further to be completely honest. For me it goes back, and I think about the sheroes like Sarah May Fleming who sat down on a bus before Rosa Parks. Jessica Simkins and the three young men killed in the Orange Road massacre.

I think about 40 years ago when Jean Tul and Kate Patterson filed a bill to remove it. It does bring you great sadness that Clemen and eight others had to die for this flag to be brought down. But I know those nine are joining hands in heaven today looking down upon us and saying job well done.

WHITFIELD: Bakari Sellers, thanks so much for your time today.

SELLERS: Thank you for the opportunity. Have a great day.

WHITFIELD: You, too. All right, still ahead, outrage over a doctor who got rich by treating hundreds of patients for cancer, even though they didn't even have the disease. Details on the doctor sentenced, next.

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[11:55:48]

WHITFIELD: Outrage today after a Detroit-area doctor was sentenced for giving cancer treatment drugs to more than 500 patients who did not need them. Some of them didn't even have cancer. Dr. Farid Fatah was sentenced Friday to 45 years in prison. But for many victims and their families isn't enough. It was an emotional ending to a long court saga.

Jonathan Carlson from our CNN affiliate WXYZ was there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN CARLSON, WXYZ REPORTER: Farid Fata got 45 years in jail but caused a lifetime of pain for his victims.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So sorry for all you went through.

CARLSON (voice-over): Tears and hugs come naturally these days for this group.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not all right, actually. It's not all right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know? It's not all right. But you have an amazing attitude. Amazing! That's God.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All God.

CARLSON: They're bound by tragic circumstances. Each one a victim in some form of fashion of a cancer doctor prosecutors say did the unthinkable.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This we believe to be the most serious fraud case in the history of the country.

CARLSON: But it was so much more than just fraud to these folks, they lost their health or their loved one to Dr. Farid Fata's care or lack thereof. More than 500 patients were unnecessarily pumped with drugs, prosecutors say. Lives altered or ended. An emotional week which began with victims sharing their stories of pain, finished with Dr. Fata himself sobbing before the judge, begging for leniency, but it didn't seem to matter. The judge went by the book tallying the crimes and the mandated sentences that go with them, 45 years in jail.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Forty five years for the lives that he took.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It wasn't enough, all the victims? My sister's gone. It just wasn't enough.

CARLSON: Prosecutors wanted what the families wanted, 175 years.

BARBARA MCQUADE, U.S. ATTORNEY: We believed that nothing short of a life sentence was appropriate in this case because the harm was so egregious.

CARLSON: But for families, they concede prison terms will never bring complete closure. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can't bring any of them back. You can't heal the hurt.

CARLSON: So where do these men and women go from here? They're still trying to figure that out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hopefully move on somewhat or try to now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's been a very long road and a very hard journey for all of us.

CARLSON: Fata will next have a restitution hearing. He's on the hook for 17 million in fraud. He also has the right to appeal today's sentence.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much to Jonathan Carlson with WXYZ, our affiliate.

Checking stories right now, Florida State running back, Dalvin Cook was suspended indefinitely after being charged with misdemeanor battery for allegedly punching a woman in a face outside a Tallahassee bar last month. He is denying the allegation.

It's the second battery charge against an FSU player in the past several days. Quarterback De'Andre Johnson was dismissed from the team and charged with battery for this incident caught on tape in a Tallahassee bar.

And in Bosnia people are remembering the 8,000 men and boys killed in the Srebrenica massacre exactly 20 years ago. The Serbian prime minister attended the memorial, and he got out of the car, he was booed then he was forced to leave after a group of people throw objects at him.

Former President Bill Clinton was part of a delegation that traveled to Bosnia to commemorate the anniversary and he addressed the crowd there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: I am begging you not to let this monument to innocent boys and men become only a memory of a tragedy. I ask you to make it a sacred trust where all people here can come and claim a future for this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Bill Clinton was president at the time of the Bosnian massacre. The killings pushed him and the western leaders to support NATO action in the region.

We've got so much more straight ahead in the NEWSROOM. It all starts right now.