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Zimbabwe Wants Lion Hunter Extradited; Zuckerberg Opens Up on Facebook About Pregnancy, Miscarriages; 2 Officers Contradict Ray Tensing on DuBose Shooting. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired July 31, 2015 - 14:30   ET

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


[14:30:21] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Just in to CNN, billionaire Facebook founder making an emotional statement about his marriage and about children. He says it's a topic more people should be talking about. His major piece of news, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:35:56] BALDWIN: You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Facebook, yes, is becoming one of the most popular ways to make baby announcements, but this latest announcement could be the most shared ever. Mark Zuckerberg announcing that an hour ago he and his wife are expecting a baby girl. But he didn't stop there. The billionaire Facebook founder revealed that they have had three miscarriages over the years and he said he wanted to open up and share the struggle just to give others hope. This is just part of what he wrote. Let me read this for you. He says, "It's a lonely experience. Most people don't discuss miscarriages because you worry your problems will distance you or reflect upon you as if you are defective or did something to cause this so you struggle on your own. Discussing these issues doesn't distance us, it brings us together. It creates understanding and tolerance and it gives us hope."

Joining me now is the host of "Reliable Sources," Brian Stelter. And on the phone, I have two of my colleagues, CNN commentator, Mel Robbins; and CNN correspondent, Kyra Phillips, who can share in this struggle.

I want to welcome everyone.

And bring in Brian Stelter, first, with more on the fact that, you know, listen, Mark Zuckerberg, he's extraordinarily private.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT & CNN HOST, RELIABLE SOURCES: He wants us all to share on Facebook. He wants us all to share our private lives --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: But he is not much of a sharer himself.

STELTER: That's right. He's very careful what he shares on Facebook, which makes it all more notable today, one of the most famous men in the world, probably one of the most famous couples in the world talking so open about this. We've seen the Association of Gynecologist in the U.S. thanking him for raising awareness and from women sharing their experiences of miscarriages and how they now have kids but felt so lonely at the time. People thanking the Zuckerbergs for talking about this, and, of course, doing so on Facebook.

BALDWIN: Kyra, let me go to you first. You wrote a book on your own infertility struggles. I this he with all know at least one person who has gone through something like this and it's incredibly difficult. But for you, you tell me what you want to share and how you feel about this announcement on Facebook.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Well, yeah. That's the whole reason I wrote the book, "The Whole Life Fertility Plan," is because, like Brian said, there's a stigma. Women feel ashamed. Men feel ashamed. They don't want to talk about it. They think something is wrong with them. It's uncomfortable. And it's also heartbreaking to lose a baby. I've had miscarriages as well and it's devastating because there's nothing more in the world that you want when you're trying to get pregnant is a beautiful, healthy baby. I think what's so great about them talking about it, and especially someone with his power and her power, I mean, she's going to be a doctor and the fact that she's talking about this is so great, too, is people can sit back and go, OK, it's not just me. Other people are dealing with this and there are things that you can do to try and prevent it. And there's ways to find out why it's happening as well.

BALDWIN: Mel Robbins, tell me your story. And also to Kyra's point that there's been such a stigma, why do you think that is?

MEL ROBBINS, CNN COMMENTATOR (voice-over): It's an interesting question. A lot of what Kyra said, I 100 percent agree with. The other thing you need to realize is it's extremely common. They estimate 20 percent of pregnancies actually end with a miscarriage. When it happened to me, I thought about it this way. I basically said that clearly there was something that was wrong with the fetus that we had conceived and this was going to be for the best because that child was not going to survive beyond birth. So I looked at it like not necessarily a stigma. I certainly didn't talk about it openly. And there's also the folk lore that you're not supposed to tell anybody until 12 weeks, like it's a magical number that if you get through 12 weeks, that's because 80 percent of the miscarriages occur in those first 12 weeks. There's the stigma, the fear that something could go wrong, the silence that couples have about even the fact that they are pregnant that they are supposed to hold on until 12 weeks. But I really applaud what they have done. Because the number one thing that erases a stigma, the number one thing that actually creates understanding is when people are open about what they are struggling with. And so what this provides for folks that are going through this and feel that sense of, oh, my gosh, I've failed, like it's never going to happen, is it gives them the ability to talk about it and to see that it will get better.

[14:40:54] BALDWIN: And on the note, I think of deconstructing the stigma, which both of you ladies described so eloquently.

Brian Stelter, is now people on Facebook are seeing this post from Mark Zuckerberg and it's spinning off on other people.

STELTER: It's not an anonymous place. You're identified by your real name and real face but it's a relatively safe space to share stories and converse with people. I have a feeling maybe that's what they are thinking about when they decided to write this post, they knew that they were going to start a conversation on Facebook about this topic and I think that's why you hear Ob/Gyns thanking them.

By the way, they say in their post, their child is now pretty far along. They haven't said exactly how far along but they are hopeful and feeling optimistic and very excited to share whenever the news happens, more on that on Facebook, too.

BALDWIN: Our best to them. Kudos on the little one and kudos for being so brave and talking about something that's so difficult and personal.

Brian Stelter, Mel Robbins, Kyra Phillips, thank you all so much.

We now have, next on CNN, new information in the case of the shooting of an unarmed black man by a campus police officer in Cincinnati. We're now learning what two other officers testified in that grand jury about what they saw there after the traffic stop, and it's not like anything like what the accusing officer -- the accused officer described. We'll speak with the officer's former baseball coach, and he says, you know what, this officer is not a monster.

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[14:46:43] BALDWIN: Just in to CNN, we are hearing from the two officers who arrived at the scene moments after the officer shot and killed an unarmed black driver in Cincinnati, and their versions of what happened contradict that of the officer charged with murder. The officer, Ray Tensing, says he was forced to fire his weapon after being almost run over and dragged by Samuel DuBose. He fired a single shot into the car instantly killing DuBose. This was caught on Tensing's body cams. Two others at the scene said they did not see Tensing being dragged. Their body cam videos have also been released. A grand jury did not charge the other two officers in this case.

To Jean Casarez live in Cincinnati on where this stands.

What happens with this investigation with the news from the officers?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the investigation goes forward but I think what we have just learned is very important because now we know that a grand jury has been listening to testimony on the two other officers that actually assisted Raymond Tensing as he made that traffic stop on July 17th. July 19th. The question was, could they have falsified a police report? Because in the original incident report, it seemed to allude that they saw the officer, Tensing, being dragged by the vehicle. And now the prosecutor is saying that that original incident report, there was some confusion in the writing of it. What does that mean? Confusion in the writing. He said that the two officers -- and we're talking about Phillip Kidd and David Lyndonschmidt, that they both testified before the grand jury and they made sworn statements under oath saying they did not see officer Tensing being dragged by the vehicle.

So now the question is, these two officers are on paid administrative leave with the University of Cincinnati's police department. There's going to be an investigation of the entire police department. Who is going to do that independent investigation?

I spoke several hours ago with the chief of police of Cincinnati police department, Jeffrey Blackwell, and he gave me insight into how that investigation will go.

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JEFFREY BLACKWELL, CHIEF, UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI POLICE DEPARTMENT: I think he's going to bring in an outside investigator, maybe an ex- DOJ official who has worked with collaborative agreements or consent decrees to give him a top to bottom review of his agency. And once he gets that final report, we'll know how to move forward in assisting him and his agency in the reform that is clearly necessary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: Now, Raymond Tensing, the department who was fired from the Cincinnati Police Department when he was indicted midweek, now the police union is standing by his side saying that proper protocol was not followed under the contract. He was not afforded his due process right of a hearing before they fired him. So they are now trying to get that -- the process they say the way it should be and obviously they want him to be able to get income while he awaits trial, innocent until proven guilty, most likely believing he should be on administrative leave but not out and out fired by the police department -- Brooke?

[14:50:06] BALDWIN: OK, that's the latest as far as we have of the investigation, what these officers are saying.

Jean Casarez, thank you.

Now more on the character. With me is someone who knows Ray Tension. He coached Raymond Tensing as a teenager in baseball. By the way, he's not acting as a representative of Mr. Tensing whatsoever. This is just his personal perspective, but wanted to take an opportunity to stand up for this man who he calls a good cop and a very honest man.

Kevin, I have you on the phone. Thank you so much for calling in.

Listen, you paint, from what I understand, a very different picture of the man that the public has come to know. Tell me about Ray Tensing, a man who always wanted to be an officer.

KEVIN COOMBS, FORMER BASEBALL COACH OF RAY TENSING (voice-over): Yeah, thanks for having me on, Brooke. He's always been a terrific, terrific young man. From a very early age, his early teens, he wanted to be a police officer. He did all the right things to go on that path and stay on that path and to achieve his goal and the reason I've stepped forward to speak up for him is because there was a narrative out there that made him sound like he was just this horrible monster, a terrible police officer, which could not be further from the truth. And I want to tell you, we all know that what happened was a terrible, terrible tragedy and everyone in our community's hearts are broken. It should not have happened. We all know that. But this is a guy who, if you look at the personnel records since he's been an officer, he's not going to have a folder full of complaints of people. He was very, very well trained. There was a statement made yesterday that made it sound like he was a one-bullet Barney Fife --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Let me jump in on that. Listen, you know, you mentioned a narrative we heard from the prosecutor in this case who said Ray Tensing never should have been a police officer, called the act asinine. And also the sister of the victim here, the sister of Samuel DuBose said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TARINA DUBOSE ALLEN, SISTER OF SAMUEL DUBOSE: He calculated immediately when I heard the dispatch on Thursday say they publicized what the officer said, he said shots fired, shots fired. Well, I have -- I say to -- I called 16 people at least. What does a cop -- when they say shots fired, does that mean shots are coming in or going out? I believe it means they are coming in. So why would the officer have said shots fired when he's dealing with a man that is dead in front of him?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Kevin, is it possible that there is an entirely different side of this man that you've coached, this man that you've came to know?

COOMBS: Well, there's always that possibility but I think what people do and what people say when they are under stress and in a terrible situation like that, it's kind of -- you need to step back from it and say, that doesn't seem right and, again, I'm not a law enforcement officer and I'm not going to try to defend or litigate what happened. That's what the courts are for. He has an attorney. He will have a trial and I think we've all hope that justice is fairly administered in this case and I'm certainly not going to criticize anyone in the DuBose family for expressing their pain and their confusion over what happened. All I know is that I've known ray a long time and he's a good man. He's a good man who certainly would appear made a really, really bad mistake. But he's not the monster that he has been portrayed as. I promise you, he is not. I've said this to the gentleman from "the enquirer" the other day. If you can find one person who knows Ray Tensing who has a bad word to say about him, I will be stunned. That does not mean that he could not have made a terrible mistake but he is not a terrible person.

BALDWIN: Would you classify a mistake pulling someone over for not having a front license plate and in seconds shooting and killing him?

COOMBS: You know, I can't explain what happened there at all. And again, I'm not a police officer. I don't know why he would pull somebody over for that but I don't know why it's against the law either. There are a lot of things that police officers pull people over for that I don't understand. It's happened to me, too. If you have a taillight that's not working and the other one does work, why do you have to give me a ticket for that? But that has happened. Was it overzealous to pull somebody over for that? I don't know what they tell people are told in that department, what to pull people over for or not. All I can speak to is the character of this young man, and I just want people to know he is a fine young man. It's terrible what happened. And, obviously, it's much worse for the DuBose family than anyone. But this is a terrible tragedy for the Tensing family, also.

[14:55:08] BALDWIN: OK. Kevin Coombs, thank you so much for calling in. One perspective and one voice in the story out of Cincinnati. Thank you.

COOMBS: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Next, a potential game changer in one of the world's most deadliest and contagious diseases, Ebola. This is huge. Now, a new vaccine with very promising results. We'll speak with someone on that.

Also, I'll talk live with a hunter who defends the dentist wanted for killing one of Africa's most famous lions. Don't miss it.

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[14:59:37]BALDWIN: Who are we go, hour two. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

We're following several new developments here in the hunt for this American dentist wanted for the killing of what may be the most famous lion in the world right now. First up, the news as far as Zimbabwe is concerned, they want the U.S., they're asking the U.S. to turn over this Minnesota dentist and pretty well-known game hunter, Walter Palmer. Palmer has, by the way, been missing since Tuesday when this story really broke, prompting outrage on a global scale. Just a short time ago, U.S. officials say they have heard from him. I'll have more on that in just a moment.