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Trump Continues to Lead GOP Nomination Race; Obama Says No Compromise on Iran Deal; Silent March In Memory Of Michael Brown; Trump Claims Comments Were "Misunderstood." Aired 2-3p ET

Aired August 09, 2015 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:21] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone. Thanks for joining me, I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

We begin with Donald Trump. He says he has no apologies to make, telling CNN's Jake Tapper his comments are just being misunderstood and questions to him were unfair. Trump has been facing heat since he made disparaging remarks about FOX News anchor Megyn Kelly after she questioned him during the Republican primary debate. Republican front runners, like Jeb Bush, were quick to criticize the comments, saying it was in no way putting him in a position to win an election and Trump should apologize.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think it's amazing, because three days ago he was talking so negatively about women's health issues. And I thought it was disgraceful, frankly. And I think that will go down to haunt him and maybe be the same as Romney's 47 percent, which possibly cost him the election.

Jeb was very negative on women's health. And when you're negative on women's health, you can forget about it. And I'm the exact opposite. I cherish women. I want to help women. I'm going to do things for women that no other candidate will be able to do. And it's very important to me. So it's sort of interesting, he then went back and apologize it the following day and said he misspoke. He really did misspeak.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is covering this from Washington.

So Trump maintaining that he is just being misunderstood. Is this just another controversy that he can wave through or might this have an impact on his campaign?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, he's trying to wade through this even after so many in his party have really piled on saying this time he has crossed the line. But we have seen him survived, of course, a series of other controversies before, so that shouldn't be discounted.

But we did see him today really sticking to his guns and defending himself, refusing to apologize, saying he did nothing wrong whatsoever. But in the face of this fallout there seems to be an attempt by him today to try to pivot a bit, deflect attention away from his comments and onto his opponents' comments you saw there. He was going after Jeb Bush for Bush's comments on funding for women's health care. He's more of his attempt to explain what he was trying to say in his interview with Jake Tapper on "STATE OF THE UNION."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: She was very angry. And when I was speaking about it on a CNN show, by the way, which was interesting, but I was speaking about her, I said blood was pouring from her eyes or out of her eyes, which is a very common statement. And by the way, I said the same thing about Chris Wallace and nobody said anything. But I said the exact same thing about Chris Wallace.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: But then you said she had blood coming out of her wherever.

TRUMP: I said no, blood was coming from wherever because I wanted to finish the sentence. I wanted to get off of the whole thing and get back onto the subject of jobs or whatever we were talking to right after that. So I didn't even say anything, because I didn't even finish the thought. I was going to say nose and/or ears because that's a very common statement. Blood pouring out of somebody's nose. It was a statement showing anger.

She had great anger when she was questioning me. Especially since I mentioned the Rosie O'Donnell statement, which everybody said by far was the loudest applause of the entire day of all of the speakers. She became very angry. And all I was doing is referring to -- I said nothing wrong whatsoever.

And by the way, Jake, let me tell you this. Only a deviant would say what I said was what I was referring to because nobody can make that statement. You almost have to be sick to put that together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: Now, all this comes on the same weekend that Trump's campaign had another shake-up. This is the second in two weeks, cutting ties with one of his top advisers, Roger Stone. Now, there's some dispute whether he resigned or was fired first. But Stone saying in part that he's leaving because of Trump's behavior like this which he said, Fred, is a distraction from the real issues.

WHITFIELD: So then, Sunlen, what about some of the other candidates? What are they saying about Donald Trump?

SERFATY: Well, most notably this definitely gives an opening for Carly Fiorina as the only other woman in the Republican field to come out and speak up against this. And she talked today about times in her past in the corporate world where she's had to put up with the same sort of insinuations herself. Here's what she said on "STATE OF THE UNION."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARLY FIORINA (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think presidential campaigns test character under pressure and over time. And so it's a moderator's job to ask tough questions. All of those moderators asked tough questions of everyone. And so, there's no excuse for personally attacking one of the moderators for asking a set of questions he didn't like.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:05:12] SERFATY: And she later called it completely inappropriate and offensive -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Sunlen Serfaty, thanks so much in Washington. Appreciate it.

All right. So for the first time we are hearing from FOX News anchor Megyn Kelly since Thursday's debate. In a pre-taped interview airing this morning, she said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEGYN KELLY, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: I'm a big girl. I can take it. As I say, I think -- I understand why people get upset because the stakes are very high here. You know, we're talking about the oval office, and they -- they really like the candidate they like and they don't want to see the candidate take any hits. You know, that is the way you feel and get to feel if you are just a voter as opposed to the journalist. We're not allowed to feel like that. We're not allowed to take those considerations into mind when we craft these debate questions. We have to hit them as hard as we can at this stage so the voters can figure out who's our guy, right? Like the Republicans are trying to figure out who's our guy or gal, in the case of Carly Fiorina if she gets it.

And then others are looking at it, you know, beyond the stage saying, OK, I really like this guy but can he win. Because I mean, like this one candidate a lot but I want to find the one who can win, who can beat Hillary Clinton. So in this context given what we were doing, our job was to help them. And I think the way you do that is by exposing their weaknesses.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Let's bring in CNN senior media correspondent Brian Stelter.

All right. So we know these comments, her interview with Howie Kurtz happened Friday night, we believe, and this is before, you know, Donald Trump went on the air with our Don Lemon and then throughout the weekend. But, you know, it is everywhere in terms of what Trump's sentiments are. He has not been silent in any way. But what's peculiar, don't you think, Brian, is that not even FOX News has been covering this like all of the other networks. What's going on here?

BRIAN STELTER CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: It is remarkable what's going on, Fredricka. We're talking about the GOP front runner going after the most popular network among Republicans. I mean I don't know why Trump thinks it could be a winning strategy. Roger Ailes, the chairman of FOX News, is a GOP king maker. He is one of the most influential voices in the Republican Party. And his network is one of the most influential voices in the Republican Party.

So for Trump for three days to be criticizing FOX and criticizing Megyn Kelly in particular, it is not something that's probably going to end well for Trump. Like you mentioned, they haven't really been covering this controversy all weekend. They have barely mentioned it. I think that is because they are privately disgusted by what he said to Don Lemon on Friday night. They don't want to make any more noise about it. They hope Trump will sort of deflate or fall apart on his own without any help from them. You know what I mean?

WHITFIELD: So then, privately disgusted. But at the same time when she takes to the air waves with her show, maybe tomorrow night, Monday night, it would seem that at that point perhaps she's going to comment on it and most likely there are going to be people who will be tuning in like never before. So it will boost ratings, if not for her and her show, but for the network too.

STELTER: Yes, there is an advantage for Megyn Kelly. You know, on the one hand this is ugly, right? No television anchor wants to be the subject of a story like this. People all over television, all over the internet are talking about her menstrual cycle. And I felt very bad frankly having to talk about it on "UNRELIABLE SOURCES" this morning. It's a weird and very unusual situation to be in.

However, Donald Trump is the GOP front runner. And what he said was widely criticized, widely condemned, so this is a big story. And the fact that Megyn Kelly for now is declining to comment, I think is really revealing. We heard what she said in that interview on Friday. Like you said it was pre-taped before Trump's latest sort of round of comments, round of insults. Whatever she says about it or doesn't say about it on Monday will absolutely get more attention.

And I think what we are seeing is that debate on Tuesday, 24 million viewers watching any given (INAUDIBLE), that has created a swell of attention that will continue for the weeks and months to come. It's almost like these debates are now the biggest show of the fall season.

WHITFIELD: Right. Indeed they are.

All right. Brian Stelter, thanks so much. Good to see you.

STELTER: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: So CNN's Jake Tapper also asking Trump today why so many seem to, in his words, Trump's words, misunderstand his blood comments, including several conservative women's organizations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Why do you think that there are so many people jumping on you, stating that that is what you were saying? So many -- Because -- Jake, Jake --

TAPPER: In all due respect, sir, we're not talking about the women's studies department at Oberlin, we're talking about conservatives. We're talking about the concerned women for America issuing a statement saying, quote, "every presidential election since 1964 has been carried by women. Women don't like mean and we certainly don't vote for men or women we don't trust." A lot of conservatives really upset.

[14:10:00] TRUMP: Jake, you're asking me why are these people coming and saying this, right.

TAPPER: Yes.

TRUMP: And most of the ones that I've seen are just opposing candidates. Here's a stupid question, Jake, in all due respect. They're running against me. Some of them, like Carly, are very low in the polls. I hope she goes up. I like to see her go up actually, but she's very low in the polls. Lindsey Graham, all these people that came out, they're running against me, Jake. They're running against me.

I would say it too if I was at one percent or two percent or zero percent. I'd say it against me because I don't know if you just saw, but North Carolina, South Carolina just came out, massive leads, Nevada, New Hampshire, I'm winning big in New Hampshire, winning big in Iowa, winning big -- they're incredible people. Winning big in Iowa, winning big all over the place, Jake. Georgia just came out and the national polls I'm winning by double digits. Then you ask why are these people --?

TAPPER: I didn't mean your opponents, I meant conservative activists, people like Erick Erickson.

TRUMP: Because a lot of them are for other people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. So where does the Trump campaign go from here?

I want to bring in Cheri Jacobus, a Republican strategist and Nomiki Konst the executive director of the accountability project and a democratic political strategist. Both of you in New York. Good to see you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good to see you as well.

WHITFIELD: All right. So Cheri, you first. You know, Trump says he's being misunderstood, his words are being taken out of context but at the same time he says, you know what, everybody loves him and the numbers reflect that. He hasn't taken a real hit thus far. So what is happening here? How is it he continues to be able to kind of control the message and --

CHERI JACOBUS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, he's not. WHITFIELD: And control the attention.

JACOBUS: That's a lot of questions right there. First of all, we have not seen any numbers since the debate and since he made the comments about Megyn Kelly. We've seen like ones where you can vote as many times as you want and Chuck Todd today on "Meet the Press" on NBC tried to pass off a survey monkey survey as a poll. And not one Republican voter was called for that. So we don't know yet what the real impact is.

WHITFIELD: We don't know, but he's touting, he went on the air this morning on all the networks he said, you know, South Carolina, North Carolina, Iowa, all of these numbers are in.

JACOBUS: Donald Trump is not paying for polls. We know that from what Roger Stone has released. He's not paying for polls, he's not paying for ads. He'll pay for the Clintons to come to his wedding. He'll pay for actors to come to his announcement, but he is not spending many on polls. So we don't know the impact of that.

Secondly, and for disclosure, Concerned Women for America is a client of mine. They are not supporting one candidate like Mr. Trump claims. They are-- so the comments of Penny Nance of Concerned Women for America re her own in representing other women on Mr. Trump and what he had said. So he's wrong on that front. So he's wrong on a lot of things.

If his words are misconstrued or taken out of context, as he claimed, it seems to be happening with everything he says. When he said that about John McCain not being a hero because he was a POW, because he got caught, then he claimed that everybody misunderstood him.

Frankly voters are getting sick of it. What's going to happen is some Republican candidates will fall by the wayside, the ones that he jokes about having three or four percent because they don't have his name I.D. because they didn't have an NBC show called "the Apprentice." They will coalesce and you run other candidates. And I think even his die hard supporters will have to fall by the wayside. So I find it hard to believe that he can sustain this buffoonery too much longer.

WHITFIELD: So Nomiki, is it hard to believe that he could sustain, you know, this kind of energy that he's putting into his campaign, whether his words are misconstrued or whether they are simply offensive?

NOMIKI KONST, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT: Well, look, I mean if there's one thing Donald Trump knows how to do, he knows how to manipulate and master not the 24-hour news cycle but the minute-by- minute news cycle. Every 30 minutes on twitter there's a new trending subject around Donald Trump. So he knows how to handle this. And I think that the polls from three days ago will be irrelevant by tomorrow.

The interesting thing here, though, which Cheri brought up, it that you have these other candidates that he's sucking the air out of the room for the tea party candidates. So this might actually be a really good thing for the Republican party eventually, because he's saying such bombastic, ridiculous things that the Republican party, mainstream Republican Party has tried to distance themselves from that in the end it could turn back and flip on the tea party. So those Republicans on the fence start to go more towards the center and back a candidate like Marco Rubio or Jeb Bush or Scott Walker or even Carly Fiorina.

WHITFIELD: OK, so Cheri, if you could comment. It could be potentially good for the party. In what way do you see that?

JACOBUS: Right now, I don't think it's necessarily good for the party to have to go through this. But it's clear that Donald Trump, who can't even answer the question when he became a Republican, if you remember at the debate he was asked that and he didn't answer it. "Politico" few weeks ago claimed he's a registered independent. I don't know if you can do that. So we really don't know. And we also know that Bill Clinton called him and, you know urged him to run.

(CROSSTALK)

[14:15:06] JACOBUS: He does not represent the Republican Party.

WHITFIELD: But Cheri, aren't you and isn't everyone in agreement that he doesn't have to answer the questions. He's not answering a lot of questions and he's actually not giving a whole lot of detail. Yet he still has been able to top the polls. He is still sort of be able to get a lot of support.

JACOBUS: But not since the debate. What's interesting is Donald Trump doesn't seem to understand the difference between these polls where you can vote as many times as you want and an actual poll.

KONST: Doesn't matter, he's repeating it enough that it's going to influence the polls.

JACOBUS: But people are catching on to him. And I did call Chuck Todd on the survey monkey poll on twitter today. We had an exchange and he refused then to respond when I asked him that this was standard procedure for NBC, was this a first time or were they going to continue to do this because, again, not one Republican voter was called.

KONST: Cheri, I want to respond --

WHITFIELD: Hold on, hold on. OK, Nomiki, let me hear from you.

KONST: Yes. So, you know, Cheri mentioned this thing about Bill Clinton calling Donald Trump up before he ran. And there's this conspiracy theory floating around that it's the Democrats setting up. Every single time Donald Trump gets up is a moment that the media is not discussing issues like income inequality, racial inequality, the democratic issues that they're trying to run on right now. So this is going to hurt the Democrats in the long run because not only do they not have a strong debate going with candidates so they can bring up these issues, but now Donald Trump is totally flipping the conversation about issues that don't even matter. Ridiculous conversations.

JACOBUS: What it means is Hillary Clinton gets away without having to talk to the press. And the longer that goes on, the happier she is. And that's why people like talking about Donald Trump. You know, he doesn't represent the Republican Party. We don't know if he's a Republican. And we don't know why he's running. But he's -- this isn't what it should be. I respect the other candidates who are ignoring him. I think the media should do so, but really getting tired of people citing these polls about him being a front runner when we simply don't know what the reaction has been to his shenanigans at the debate and since then.

WHITFIELD: All right. We will perhaps soon find out

Cheri Jacobus, Nomiki Konst. Thanks so much to both of you ladies. Appreciate it.

KONST: Thank you.

JACOBUS: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Don't forget, CNN hosts our first Republican presidential debate on Wednesday, September 16th. Plus, the first Democratic presidential debate will be live right here on CNN during this primary process. That's Tuesday, October 13th. Don't miss either one. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:21:37] WHITFIELD: In an exclusive interview, President Barack Obama tells CNN's Fareed Zakaria he is not going to compromise when it comes to the Iranian nuclear deal. The president says most Americans are opposed to the deal because they haven't been getting all of the information.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST, FAREED ZAKARIA GPS: You talked about Iran's hard-liners, the old guard. But one member of Iran's old guard certainly seems to be Ayatollah, the supreme leader. He seems relentlessly anti-American. His twitter feed has posted a likeness of you with a gun pointed to your head.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes.

ZAKARIA: Is this a guy you can really make a deal with?

OBAMA: As I said, Fareed, you don't negotiate deals with your friends. You negotiate them with your enemies. And superpowers don't respond to taunts. Superpowers focus on what is it we need to do in order to preserve our national security. And the national security of our allies and our friends.

And I think that he tweeted that in response to me stating a fact, which is that if we were confronted with a situation in which we could not resolve this issue diplomatically, that we could militarily take out much of Iran's military infrastructure. I don't think that's disputable. I don't think there's a military expert out there that would contest that.

The supreme leader obviously doesn't want to hear that and I understand. But I'm not interested in a twitter back and forth with the supreme leader. What I'm interested in is the deal itself. And can we enforce it.

Keep in mind, Fareed, when we got the interim deal, as you're aware, the way this thing evolved, was first we essentially froze their program. They had to roll back their very highly enriched uranium stockpiles. And for that we turned on the spigot a little bit so they could access more of their money. All the same critics of this deal suggested that this is terrible. This is a historic mistake. And for the last two years, as we've been negotiating the more comprehensive deal, not only have they continued to suggest that it was a mistake until very recently, but the supreme leader was saying all kinds of anti-American stuff, but the deal held. They did exactly what they were supposed to do. The few times that they didn't, we identified it, told them they had to correct it and they did.

So there's always a gap between rhetoric and action. And the supreme leader is a politician, apparently, just like everybody else. What I'm focused on is can we make sure that they are doing what they have to do and that we have sufficient safeguards, verification mechanisms, to ensure that they don't have a nuclear weapon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: I talked with Fareed Zakaria and asked him if he believes President Obama feels like he can persuade opponents.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[14:24:56] ZAKARIA: There's a very interesting problem here, which is that within Congress the intensity of preference is very different, by which I mean to say the opponents of this deal feel very strongly against it. The proponents think it's a good idea, it's the best of all option options and are not as exercised.

So for a senator like Charles Schumer, the influential Jewish Democratic senator, he faced the reality that had he supported the deal, he'd get a phone call thanking him from President Obama but he would get a very strong, well-financed, well organized campaign against him from very influential forces. Various lobbies that have been arrayed against this deal.

So in the midst of that, I think that the president is trying to make the best substantive case he can for the deal, but recognize that the reality on Capitol Hill is that there is this asymmetry between the deep intensity of the opponents of the deal and the more shallow support for the deal.

WHITFIELD: So the president had said shortly after the deal was made, brokered by all of these nations, he said he's going to do whatever he can to be accessible to answer questions, especially for those opponents on Capitol Hill. But at this juncture does he feel like he has any way to combat or respond to the same concern that Chuck Schumer has just expressed?

ZAKARIA: Well, it's difficult. As I say on substantive grounds, he's very, very comfortable taking on any question, making the case as clearly and forcefully as he can. I think his answer to Schumer's substantive objections would be very detailed and I think very thorough. But this political problem that anyone who opposes this deal, you know, will be satisfying a group of very intense opponents of the deal, but anyone who supports it doesn't get very much.

That's a political problem and it's why in the United States Congress you'll notice that small intense minorities often win the day, whether on guns or on abortion or things like that. And what you have here again is the intensity of opposition to this deal is very deep among what I think is a relatively small number of people, but they are very intense in their opposition. There is no comparable -- there's no comparable force supporting the deal with that intensity.

WHITFIELD: And has the president or did the president comment about what has become in his words perhaps, in his words, a constant political problem, it's not just the Iran deal, but there have been several occasions when he's trying to get his proposals, his ideas through and he meets resistance. What is he saying at this juncture of his presidency how that has impacted his legacy or how it has impacted his experience as president?

ZAKARIA: He didn't address it directly in the way that you're asking it. He did talk about how the -- it was very frustrating to him that opponents of the Iran deal announced their opposition before the deal had even been posted, before they had had a chance to read it. And to him this reflected the degree to which politics has become highly ideological, and partisan. You know, his point being the Republicans would have opposed any deal that he negotiated as witnessed from the fact that they didn't even to bother to read the deal before they announced their opposition. And these are senior Republicans.

The Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, the speaker of the house, John Boehner, both announced they were opposed to the deal before they had read it and they acknowledged that they hadn't read it. So that, I think, frustrated him. And he expressed that frustration. But you're right. This has become a continuing feature of his presidency.

WHITFIELD: And did the president comment or acknowledge that the relationship between he and Netanyahu or the U.S. and Israel overall had changed or been impacted during his presidency?

ZAKARIA: Well, you know, he stressed again and again that he has provided more security and intelligence cooperation to Israel than any previous president, and this is something that I know from my show, the defense minister of Israel acknowledged and confirmed that this was in fact true. In light of that, I think he feels frustrated by Prime Minister Netanyahu's virulent opposition to the deal. I think as he said in his speech at American university he respects his sincerity but thinks he is playing wrong. I did ask him whether he thought it was appropriate for a foreign headed government do injects himself into a debate in Washington on American foreign policy in this man and I asked him did he recall any previous head of government ever doing this in the past.

He wouldn't touch the first part of the question, but he did say, you know, I don't recall any foreign head of government ever getting involved in an American debate quite this way. And I thought in Obama's own quiet restrained way, that was -- that was condemnation enough.

WHITFIELD: Fareed Zakaria, thank you so much.

ZAKARIA: A pleasure.

WHITFIELD: Coming up, it has been one year since the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. We take a look at the changes in the city.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:35:01]

WHITFIELD: One year ago today the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, sparked a firestorm of riots and national protests.

Today, a moment of silence at the spot where Michael Brown was killed afterwards, hundreds of people took part in a silent march. The shooting of Brown underscored a deep racial divide in America and highlighted tensions between police and black communities.

CNN's Sara Sidner is live for us now in Ferguson joining us. Sara, what has this past year been like?

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, it depends on who you ask. Many people feel like there was an awakening here and a movement that really was started here in Ferguson, "The Black Lives Matter Movement," those people who are saying that American society and police in particular do not recognize black lives as much as they do white lives and they do not honor them.

But there's also a group of people here who are very worried about this city and worried about the racial divide getting even wider if it's not fixed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER (voice-over): The scars of protesters' furry wiped clean, waiting for progress. This is Ferguson one year after white police officer, Darren Wilson, shot and killed unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown, unleashing months of protests.

Though Wilson was not indicted by a grand jury and he was cleared of civil rights violations by the federal government, Brown's life became a symbol for something more, that black lives are too often treated as dispensable in American society. CHRIS PHILIPS, FILMMAKER: Regardless of if you saw what happened or not, it was the blatant disrespect that people feel because they left his body here for four and a half hours and so that is really what charges people up.

SIDNER: Filmmaker and Ferguson resident, Chris Phillips lives in the apartment complex where Brown was killed, so moved by the raw emotions he witnessed he began recording it, culminating in a documentary.

(on camera): Has anything changed in the relationship between police and people here, especially in this particular area?

PHILLIPS: I don't think anything has changed with the relationship because they're still not engaging their citizens.

SIDNER (voice-over): After a Department of Justice investigation that found Ferguson was disproportionately and excessively ticketing and fining its black citizens to bankroll its budget. The white police chief, city manager, and chief judge, all criticized in that report have been replaced. The new interim police chief is black so is the new city manager, and the new municipal judge, as are two new city council members.

(on camera): What's left to protest?

PHILLIPS: Really it's like you can use the analogy of weeds in a garden. For some people it's like you can pull all these weeds out, but if you still have one, the weeds can grow back again.

SIDNER (voice-over): To some protesters, the mayor is that weed that must be removed. They see the interim title as a temporary smoke screen with no real change at how citizens are treated, but Ferguson resident, Blake Ashby disagrees.

BLAKE ASHBY, RESIDENT: We are moving forward. Our city is getting better. That will not happen overnight. You know, destruction is immediate and for the people destroying very gratifying. Change is hard and takes time.

SIDNER: Though Ashby says he is not blind to racial disparities in America.

ASHBY: Statistically it's hard to say that our society values African-American lives as much as white lives.

SIDNER: He isn't the only one who worries that a small sliver of the new movement could tear the racial divide open even further.

ASHBY: Essentially what they're doing is dismissing the efforts of everybody else who doesn't do things exactly the way they do. If we're not out shouting at the cops and threatening to rape their families, then somehow we are not committed to the cause of social justice.

SIDNER: Back on Canfield Drive, a plaque serves as a reminder of what happened here, trying to make a point that this wasn't just about Brown's death, but the rebirth of a civil rights movement.

PHILLIPS: With this legacy, I think it has affected the world in a good sense because of the fact that it did make people motivated to speak up, to march, to rally, to fight for change.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: And what's happening right now as we speak is that march is heading towards a church where there will be festivities and commemorations of Michael Brown's death. There are hundreds of people, many from out of town, who have also come here to honor him but also really to mark the fact that a movement was started here -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Sara Sidner, thank you so much from Ferguson, Missouri.

All right, still ahead, Trump says he cherishes women and he is not apologizing for his comments about debate moderator, Megyn Kelly. We ask a Trump supporter to weigh in, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:44:07]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Serena Williams coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, isn't shaping the game of the top women's star chances are he's overseeing his tennis camp in France. He's pouring time and plenty of money into a project to make it one of a kind.

PATRICK MOURATOGLOU, SERENA WILLIAMS' COACH: It's a very big investment, of course, but I think it's worth it because we have a lot of players. We don't have the same culture or academies as Australians or Americans, but I think there is a space for one or two big academies in Europe.

The fact that we have a lot of players here, we have 134 who do school and practice at our academy for a full year shows that we need a place to do it and that now is going to be the biggest in Europe.

UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: The camp will feature 34 courts, including indoor courts, which have been very scarce in this part of Europe, even for the world's best.

MOURATOGLOU: I remember a few months ago, Djokovic was living in Monte Carlo. He called me and said, look, I'm looking for an indoor court because it was raining, where can I play? There is zero.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[14:45:12] WHITFIELD: All right, hello and welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Donald Trump is not backing down. This morning on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" the Republican presidential candidate defended his controversial comments about Fox News debate moderator, Megyn Kelly, saying he thought that she had great anger toward him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (via telephone): They want to be politically correct. They want to get points. I'm leading in the polls by a fortune, by a tremendous margin. Do you think they would have had 24 million people watching that show if I wasn't on it?

If I wasn't on that show, Jake, in all fairness, I say it in all due modesty, you would have had 2 million people, not 24 million people. You can ask any expert about it. But 24 million people was not there to watch Carly Fiorina or Jeb Bush or Lindsey Graham, who by the way has zero in the polls.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, joining me right now is Paula Johnson, a supporter of Donald Trump and co-chairwoman of the Women for Trump Coalition in New Hampshire. Good to see you.

PAULA JOHNSON, WOMEN FOR TRUMP COALITION IN NEW HAMPSHIRE: Thank you for inviting me on today, I appreciate it.

WHITFIELD: All right, so you've heard from Trump this morning on all the networks. He took to the air waves defending his comments, his behavior. Why do you support him? What do you think about what he's been saying?

JOHNSON: Well, first of all, when you saw the debate on Thursday night, you knew with the very first question that they were going after him. There was no doubt in my mind. And then when the second question came out, you know, let's have a fair and balanced debate like Fox talks about they're fair and balanced.

I don't think they were fair and balanced at all with the line of questions. If you want to have a good debate, let's ask every candidate the same question, let's hear everybody's same answer to the question and this way we can form our opinion about the candidates.

But I don't think what Mr. Trump did was wrong. Megyn Kelly had it out for him. The very first question had it out for him.

WHITFIELD: All right. So you're in agreement when he said that he thought there was a lot of anger coming toward him from Megyn Kelly. Meantime this morning on our air, he said he did nothing wrong and that is pertaining to the comments about the blood coming out of her wherever and that he doesn't believe that he has turned off women as a whole because he says he loves women.

He cherishes is the word that he used women and will do a lot for women if elected. How do you interpret his comments Friday night and then again this morning when he was talking about the blood in particular? JOHNSON: Well, you know, first of all, when I heard the comments the first time, it came from a man's mouth and it was obviously not in support of Mr. Trump. I met Mr. Trump several years ago when he came to Nashua, New Hampshire, and I was impressed with him at that point and I was hoping that he would run for president at that point in time --

WHITFIELD: What impressed you?

JOHNSON: -- you know what? I think he'd make a great president.

WHITFIELD: OK, what impresses you?

JOHNSON: What impresses me? First of all, he is a businessman. He knows how to negotiate. He knows how to run a business. This country is a business. The United States is a corporation. He knows how to run a corporation.

He has brought illegal immigration to the forefront, which everybody won't talk about that. That's a hush word out there in the world of politics. He brought that to the forefront and I challenge any candidate out there to tell us what is their plan which they have set in Congress.

Let's take Lindsey Graham. How many years has he been in Congress? He was one of the gang of eight like Marco Rubio. What are they going to do for the illegal immigration in this country?

WHITFIELD: What's your understanding about what his policy is especially since you are working for this group, women in support of Donald Trump? What's your understanding when people come to you and ask you what is it that he represents?

What is the policy he's putting forward, how do you help, you know, relay his message? What's your understanding of his policies as it pertains to immigration, for example, or anything else when he says he's going to do a lot for women?

Like what? What have been the talking points that his camp is conveying to you to dispense for him on his behalf?

JOHNSON: Well, first of all, I believe that he is going to be the only one who's going to get that wall built. That's number one. Second of all, if Mr. Trump and I talk to people about this all the time, if Mr. Trump did not bring up this issue of illegal immigration, nobody else that stood on the stage with him would have ever brought it up.

Then let's talk about the fact that what is he going to do for women? He's going to create jobs out there. We have no jobs. What has this president created in the last seven years? All we've heard is talk from this president. We haven't seen any jobs out there.

We need quality jobs, not retail jobs, but quality jobs because I tell everybody Nashua is the retail capital of the state of New Hampshire. We have no quality jobs recently. That's the issue here, quality jobs.

[14:50:10] WHITFIELD: We're going to leave it right there. Paula Johnson, supporter of Donald Trump, thanks so much for your time. Appreciate it.

JOHNSON: Thank you very much.

WHITFIELD: We'll be right back. All right.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:43:30]

WHITFIELD: All right, checking our top stories, rescue crews are still searching for the boyfriend of Tali Lennox Truckman. She is the daughter of musician, Annie Lennox. The kayak the couple was in capsized on Saturday morning on the Hudson River outside the Keepsie, New York. Officials believe the strong current and alcohol may have played a role in the accident.

A Texas man has been charged with multiple counts of capital murder after five children and three adults were found dead in a house in the Houston area. Police say they were doing a welfare check at the home when they discovered a man inside was wanted on aggravated assault charges.

When officers burst into the home, they say 49-year-old -- the 49- year-old suspect, David Conley, began shooting at them. Officers pulled back and after holding negotiations, Conley was taken into custody. Police are planning to give an update on the case in about an hour.

And the 20-year-old daughter of Junior Seau gave the pro football hall of fame speech that her late father could not. The NFL wouldn't let Sydney give the speech during the induction ceremony citing a five- year rule only allowing the enshrined to speak. After the public's outcry the league interviewed Sydney after the unveiling of Seau's bust.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know that his athleticism and talent was extraordinary enough to get into the hall, but it is his passionate heart that made him truly legendary and deserving of this tremendous honor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:55:06] WHITFIELD: Junior Seau took his own life back in 2012 with a gunshot to the chest. Seau's ex-wife and children have filed a wrongful death suit against the NFL claiming that they hid the effects of repeated hits to the head that can cause brain damage.

We've got so much more straight ahead in the NEWSROOM and it all starts right after a short break.

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WHITFIELD: Hello again. Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. To Donald Trump now saying he has no apologies to make telling CNN's Jake Tapper that his comments are just being misunderstood and questions to him during the debate were unfair.