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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Trump Remarks Concerning John McCain Still Causing a Stir; John Kasich Joins an Already-Crowded GOP 2016 Field; Latest Information on Chattanooga Shootings Investigation; Texas Woman's Death in Jail Discussed; Preview of Child Sex Trafficking Documentary. Aired 12:30- 1p ET

Aired July 21, 2015 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:00] NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORREPONDENT: And there are some people in South Carolina, conservatives, who look at Lindsey Graham and call him a RINO, a Republican in name only.

But once again, you have to remember that -- that Lindsey Graham ran away with that Senate race in 2014. I believe he got something like 70 percent of the vote down there. So, he is not someone that you can just pick on down there. I think you're going to get away with it. But, you know, this is vintage Donald Trump and we'll get...

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah.

HENDERSON: ... to see how he -- you know, this plays out in terms of the polls

BROWN: And he's riding high in the polls right now, but it appeared to be after he made those controversial comments a little bit of a dip after that. And we're going to listen right now to what John McCain said as he addressed this controversy just moments ago surrounding Trump's questioning of his Vietnam service. He was speaking at an event at the Hudson Institute. The senator said that he doesn't want Trump's comments to "Reopen the wounds of war," let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN MACCAIN, (R), SENATOR, ARIZONA: So when this whole issue just came up obviously that I've been engaged in, I do not want to reopen the wounds of the war. I want us to celebrate our veterans to move forward and those who may have oppose the war or those who may have -- whatever it is, it's over, and our Vietnam veterans deserve not to have this fight begin again because they are -- in my view, the bravest and most wonderful people because they were generally speaking 18, 19-year-old that got -- you notice and went and fought, and came home, and unfortunately for them because of majority of public opinion was oppose to the war, sometimes that opposition was transmitted and transformed into treatment of them which in some cases not all, but in some cases really the (inaudible).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So, David Chalian, we heard John McCain responding there. He doesn't mention Donald Trump by name, but those... DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Right.

BROWN: ... comments certainly seem to be pointed at Donald Trump.

CHALIAN: No doubt. I mean he acknowledged he's engaged in this controversy right now and that is the acknowledgment to the Donald Trump scenario here. But John McCain for the second day in a row now is really trying to take the high road here and not make this a John McCain versus Donald Trump story line. He is trying to sort of remove himself from that. I will note the two people that we heard Donald Trump take on there, Rick Perry and Lindsey Graham. I think they're the only two veterans in the entire field of the 2016 Republican candidates, which may explain why they're sort of also stepping up their attacks on Trump.

To Nia's point, I just to make this point about the Republican electorate down there in South Carolina, totally right that Lindsey Graham was able to win his primary with big support, but I think it is the sort of slice that was calling him a rhino, the slice of the Republican nominating electorate down there that he was not able to get, that cost him a little bit of heartburn, those are the South Carolinians that I think Donald Trump is very much appealing to.

HENDERSON: And I think it's right.

BROWN: Interesting perspective David Chalian, Nia-Malika Henderson, thank you so much. Stick around. A lot more to talk about, because another Republican officially announced his presidential candidacy, that's John Kasich, he becomes a Republican candidate number 16 in the race for the White House. We'll talk about that, it's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:37:08] BROWN: Well, the latest GOP presidential hopeful jumped into the race or should I say, "Squeezed in," just last hour. He's the Republican Governor of Ohio, and former U.S. Congressman, John Kasich. Kasich spoke to his alma mater, The Ohio State University, in Columbus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KASICH, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And guess what? I am here to ask you for your prayers, for your support, for your efforts because I have decided to run for president of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Here's the field, only the top 10 of these 16 candidates will get an invite to the first GOP debate next month. To discuss all of these, I'm joined again by CNN Senior Political Correspondent Nia- Malika Henderson and CNN Political Director David Chalian. So, Nia, there -- it's a crowded field, 16 now in the Republican field. How is Kasich going to sort of standout in this field and move his way up with such a little oxygen right now?

HENDERSON: Yeah, I mean, it helps that he's from Ohio, that must-win state, for any presidential candidate. It helps that he's got a pretty good record there and it also helps that he did very well among African American voters. One in five black women voted for John Kasich, one in three black men voted for John Kasich the last time he was up for relection there. So, he's got a story to tell about what he's been able to do in terms of bringing together a more diverse coalition and some of the other folks in this race have been able to do.

But gain, you know, in any other I think year, you would look at Kasich and you would think this is a guy who'd be at the top of the field there but he's barely hanging on. I think he's about at two percent of the race at this point and I think he may be able to squeeze into this debate. But it's a pin (ph). I mean, he's fighting sort of at the bottom of the barrel there with folks like Rick Perry as well. So, we'll see if this gives him a bit of a bump, this announcement that again in some ways...

BROWN: Yeah.

HENDERSON: ... has been drowned out by someone named Donald Trump.

BROWN: Well, and David, to bring you in on this, if he is such a strong candidate as Nia says, why is he at the bottom of the barrel?

CHALIAN: Well, couple of things. I think what Nia was describing there is why he may be a strong general election candidate that broader appealed perhaps. But I think he's got a tough road inside the Republican Party to get the nomination. First and foremost, he expanded Medicaid, accepted the Medicaid expansion dollars in Ohio as a part of Obamacare and that is sort of anathema to the Republican Party base.

In fact, just moment after his speech finished today, one prominent conservative Erick Erickson of RedState posted saying, "I would vote for Chris Christie if he ended up being our nominee. I would vote for Jeb Bush if he ended up being our nominee even though wouldn't be his choice for the nomination." He said he will sit out the 2016 presidential election if John Kasich is the nominee. And so I think that winning over the conservative base despite Kasich's strong physical conservative, social conservative credentials is going to be his trickiest part of this process.

[12:40:16] BROWN: All right. Well, more of your analysis on cnnpolitics.com. Nia-Malika Henderson and David Chalian, thank you so much. We do appreciate it.

HENDERSON: Thanks ma'am.

BROWN: And coming up right here in Legal View, authorities may be closing in on a motive behind the Chattanooga shooting. A review of internet activity and writing by Mohammad Abdulazeez are beginning to paying a picture for investigators. Details on that is right ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Authorities investigating the killings of those servicemen say evidence increasingly points to political and terrorist motives of 24- year-old Mohammad Abdulazeez. Last week, four Marines and a Navy petty officer were killed after he opened fire on recruitment centers in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Joining me now, Justice Reporter, Evan Perez. So, Evan, it seems like you're finding more evidence to support that this could be terrorism?

[12:44:59] EVAN PEREZ, CNN, JUSTICE REPORTER: That's right, Pamela. It appears to be there are signs of his radicalization. The radicalization of Mohammad Abdulazeez in the last couple of years, certainly dating back to some of his writings in 2013 in which he makes reference to Anwar al-Awlaki, the Yemen, the American cleric who was killed in a drone strike and in which he makes referenced to the fact that he agrees with some aspects of Awlaki's teachings.

And beyond that more recently in the last couple of days, on Wednesday for instance, he was searching using his smartphone. He was searching the internet for definitions of "martyrdom". He seems to be obsessed with this idea that whether or not you could use martyrdom to make up for and atone for some of your sins such as abusing alcohol and drugs, which we know was one of his problems. He had mental issues and drug abuse issues, Pamela.

BROWN: Sounds like a very conflicted individual. Evan Perez, thank you so much for that reporting. And another big development in the story, the American flag on top of the White House is now at half staff (ph). The president ordered the flag lowered to honor the five service members killed in those shootings in Chattanooga and addressing a packed room of veterans at the Annual VFW Convention in Pittsburgh, he praise them for their sacrifice.

Authorities are now releasing new video related to this Sandra Bland case down in Texas. So, will any of it help explain why she died in a jail cell? We'll have the latest on the investigation just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:49:56] BROWN: Well by now you may have heard her name, Sandra Bland, the 28-year-old was found dead in her jail cell in Texas and now her death is being treated like a murder investigation. She died three days after she was pulled over, allegedly for failing to use her signal while changing lanes.

While the Waller County Sheriff's office says hanged herself with a plastic bag, but the family says suicide is unfathomable, that Sandra wouldn't take her own life. Waller County officials just released this video right here from the moments around Bland's death. You can't see inside her cell and this only the hallway. And while there was a flurry of activity when the guard found Bland hanging, cameras show no one entering or living before her body was discovered.

For the Legal View on this, I want to bring in CNN Legal Analyst Paul Callan, a criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor and Alex Sanchez, a criminal defense attorney. Thanks for coming on with us. I'm going to start with you, Paul, because I want to first sort of listen to what the Sheriff said about this. The Sheriff's office released this statement about her death. They say that "A female inmate was found in her cell not breathing from what appears to be self-inflicted asphyxiation. CPR was immediately started and Waller County EMS notified -- she was pronounced deceased short time later. Any loss of life is a tragic incident and while the investigation is being conducted by outside agencies, the Waller County Sheriff's office will continue to observe the daily operations of the jail to always look for improvements and or preventions of these incidents."

So, Paul, there's this video that's now been released and it doesn't show any one walking into her cell before she was found hanging. How crucial is that video, Paul, in this investigation?

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I think it's going to be a very important piece of video because if of course the Sheriff and the guards whoever was taking or keeping her in a custody are going to say that they had nothing to do with this. So, if somebody is going to into the cell to hang her or asphyxiate her, and that would seem to exonerate them. But, you know, suicide cases are very complicated. Human beings are very complicated people and, you know, as to why you would do something like this. It looks like she is a person who would not but we've got to get the investigation completed before we reach conclusions on this.

BROWN: And the investigation is under way. We know, Alex, that they're running forensic tests on that plastic bag that she allegedly used in this, but even -- this according to the Sheriff's office, but even if they find evidence of someone else's DNA on that bag, that doesn't prove anything criminal. I mean, how many people could have touched that bag?

ALEX SANCHEZ, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You know, look, I think a full investigation is justified here. We have a young person had been in trouble with the law, went to Texas and tried to get a job and ends up dead inside a jail cell located in the police department. However, when you look at the case in its totality, you look at all the evidence or the lack of evidence, it seems to indicate that the only person that may have been responsible for her death was her because this videotape evidence, she had made a call -- indicating she wanted to make a telephone call about an hour before the videotape is monitoring the jail.

So, nobody is going there. If there was some type of the conspiracy to murder her, it would involved literally dozens of people at this point, manipulating the videotape machines, and -- you know, having people conspire to commit lies. And I don't see that happening here based upon the evidence that I've seen. Now, that could change later on but at the present moment, I really don't see that.

BROWN: And we know the medical examiner rule the death suicide, so the question is to how much weight will that carry cannot be overturned? Thank you so much Alex Sanchez, Paul Callan. We appreciate it.

CALLAN: Thank you, Pam. BROWN: Coming up right here in Legal View, we have a preview of a new CNN special report about the problem of child trafficking in the United States, stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:57:02] BROWN: Well, there's been more focus on the problem of human trafficking not just oversees but in America. Just how our children getting recruited into sex trafficking. The answer will shock you. Jada Pinkett Smith sits down with one young woman who says her entry point to this brutal world began in middle school when she was just 14 years old.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JADA PINKETT SMITH, ACTRESS & ACTIVIST: Sasha Ray was born and raised in Florida. By the time she was 14, she was constantly being teased at school.

SASHA RAY, FORMER MODERN-DAY SEX SLAVE: I was picked on a lot for being black. I had really, really dark skin, I guess.

SMITH: She felt alone at home and at school. Sasha Ray says that's why when an older classmate offered friendship, she jumped at it.

RAY: I thought she was like my best friend because I could tell her anything. One day she asked if I wanted to skip school, want to have fun, you know. So, we went to this barbershop. When I was there, she introduced me to these guys.

SMITH: Sasha Ray's new friend had just led her to the man who would eventually become her trafficker.

RAY: We talked about how we were going to make money, how it was going to be easy. We don't have to depend on nobody. And it was all fun and good and stuff and so I fell for it.

SMITH: Was there any kind of grooming process like when this first started? Or it's just something that just happened in you -- he was just expecting you to learn on the way?

RAY: He slowly brought it on when we got closer, when he felt like he got closer to me. He usually did it out of the back of the barbershop. And he even had people that work with the post office, mailmen came in. Mailman came in and paid their money to him. Came back there to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And you could hear Sasha Ray's story of exploitation and escape with Jada Pinkett Smith in a powerful CNN Special Report, " Children for Sale: The Fight to End Human Trafficking", that's tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern. Well, thank you so much for watching Legal View. I'm Pamela Brown. Wolf starts now.

WOLF BLITZER, ANCHOR, THE SITUATION ROOM: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1 p.m. here in Washington, 6 p.m. in London, 8 p.m. in Jerusalem. Whenever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us. Donald Trump defiant as ever. The speech that just concluded only moments ago, he ripped into his rivals at a rally in South Carolina even giving a phone number out to Senator Lindsey Graham, once again taking a swing at Senator John McCain's war record. Listen to this

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[13:00:04] DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And that's why I'm angry with John McCain -- for two reasons. Number one, John McCain, you got to remember this, he's totally about open borders and all of the stuff.