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New Day Sunday
Trump Top Staffer Out; FBI Investigating Police Shooting of Teen; Ferguson Marks Anniversary of Michael Brown Death; Boehner Slams Obama's ISIS Strategy; Trump Adviser Roger Stone Off the Campaign. Aired 7-8a ET
Aired August 09, 2015 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[07:00:12]
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROGER STONE, FORMER TRUMP ADVISER: I resigned largely because I thought I was having no impact and the campaign has been diverted from those picture issues that have catapulted Trump to the number one position in the polls.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: The Donald and a top political advisor part ways, the latest fallout from Trump's inflammatory comments about a FOX debate moderator, as we are just a couple of hours away from hearing from him. Is his campaign crumbling or just rolling on?
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, the new investigation into a shooting death of a college football star by police in Texas. The shooting happened just moments after the teen is caught on tape vandalizing cars and driving his vehicle through a locked gate and into a car dealership.
PAUL: It is always so good to have your company. And we are grateful to see you. I'm Christi Paul.
BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to be with you on a Sunday.
PAUL: Yes. Well, you know, we are just a couple of hours away at this point from finally hearing from Donald Trump. He's going to appear on CNN "STATE OF THE UNION".
Two controversies obviously that we're waiting for him to address publicly. First, the comments about Megyn Kelly and the most recent claim that Trump fired his top advisor, Roger Stone.
Here's why that's controversy -- Stone disputes it and he spoke with CNN's Poppy Harlow about what he says happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) STONE: The campaign has been diverted from those big picture issues that have catapulted Trump to the number one issue in the polls, which I thought was counterproductive.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Can you take us into what happened behind closed doors? The (INAUDIBLE) said you were fired, you say, "I was not fired. I resigned." When exactly did it happen? Take us into that room.
STONE: It's very simple. I made a decision this morning that I was having no impact and I e-mailed a letter to Donald saying that I wished him the very best, that I would have nothing negative to say about him or his campaign.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: All righty. So, let's talk about this with CNN politics executive editor Mark Preston right now.
You've been out there. You've been talking to people. What is going on?
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: I've got to tell you what -- I mean, this has been an incredible 72 hours of a presidential campaign. It's going to go down in history as an amazing moment. The big question is does Donald Trump survive? Does he continue on? He says he is going to continue on. But you have to look back at the debate, specifically what happened afterwards on his attacks with Megyn Kelly.
But really what happened here on CNN when he had the interview with Don Lemon where he made the comments about Megyn Kelly.
Now, Roger Stone, I have to tell you, somebody who's been in politics for so long, to come out and talk about being fired from the campaign just hours after it was announced is amazing. In fact, let's listen a little bit more about -- from Roger Stone about why he decided to step aside or as the Trump campaign says he was fired.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Do you think that his comments to Megyn Kelly on stage at the debate on Thursday night and his comments by him last night to Don Lemon were warranted, fair or presidential?
STONE: I'm not going to characterize them. I'm just going to say they counterproductive in terms of getting elected, which is the business I'm in.
HARLOW: Do you think that they are offensive?
STONE: That they will be offensive to some people. They will not be offensive to others. The point is presidency and American elections are decided on big picture issues. We have an Iranian deal that could be -- could conflagrate this country, and we're going to debate about is and is not politically correct, or exchange personal insults. You know, that's not the Trump I know. Trump is much bigger than that.
HARLOW: Yet that's what we saw Trump tweeting about after the debate.
STONE: Yes. And I would have to call myself disappointed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PRESTON: I can tell you what, again, an amazing interview. I can't tell you in politics and I've covered for a very long time, to see something like, you know, this unfold -- but Donald Trump says he's going to continue on.
PAUL: This is what's interesting. A lot of people look at this because Stone still says, "I support him and I want him to be president." So coming off the heels of the whole Megyn Kelly comment debacle, I think a lot of people are wondering was this staged, was this suddenly thrown out there out of nowhere as a distraction from what was happening yesterday morning?
PRESTON: Let me answer it this way. Had it been any other political advisor, had it been any other candidate, I would say absolutely not. That is not true. Roger Stone, Donald Trump, two of the most colorful folks not only in the business world but in politics. Roger Stone very well known and embraces the fact that he does dirty politics. Who knows?
PAUL: All right. Mark Preston, we appreciate it so much. Thank you.
PRESTON: Thanks.
BLACKWELL: All right. For more now on Trump let's bring in two of our CNN political commentators. We've got two of our CNN political commentators. We've got the host of "The Ben Ferguson Show", Ben Ferguson, and former Reagan White House political director, Jeffrey Lord.
[07:05:01] Good to have both of you back.
BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.
JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thanks for having me.
BLACKWELL: So, Trump's rivals including Carly Fiorina, Jeb Bush, Mike Huckabee, spoke out about Trump's comments about Megyn Kelly, and so did Senator Lindsey Graham who put out a statement and here's part of it.
"As a party, we are better to risk losing without Donald Trump than trying to win with him. Enough already with Mr. Trump."
Is this going to benefit any of the candidates? I mean, I imagine them actually and truly genuinely believe what they're saying in these statements.
But, Ben, I'll come to you first. Is there some benefit here to coming out strongly against Trump?
FERGUSON: For some of the candidates, yes, especially if you're low in the polls. I think you're going to do anything you can right now to get noticed. And coming out against Donald Trump in this point I really don't think hurts you especially if you're outside that top ten or on the fringe here.
The other issue is, if you're trying to court women voters, this is a great opportunity for you to say, this is not the GOP. This is, I am not Donald Trump. I don't come anywhere close to Donald Trump.
And I think that's why you saw some of the top tier candidates come out in that way to make it very clear that their campaign and what they believe in is not the same or should even be associated with Donald Trump.
And then you have a third strategy, which is what Ted Cruz did. And I understand his strategy. Well, it's I'm not going to get into some Twitter war, some TMZ war, a war of words with Donald Trump when I know what his response is going to be. It's going to be that I'm incompetent and/or stupid or ignorant. That's what he constantly does to anyone who challenged him.
BLACKWELL: Let's listen to that sound from Ted Cruz, as we have it. Play it, guys.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think that's a decision for RedState to make. I think every candidate should treat everyone else with civility and respect. That's a standard I try to follow. It's a standard I hope all of us aspire to.
I also think that we're not going to solve the problems in this country, we're not going to defeat the Washington cartel by obsessing over the politics of personalities.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Jeffrey, does Ted Cruz risk seeming to be a little too soft on those comments or agreeing with them or being overly tolerant of those if he does come out on one way or the other?
LORD: Well, first of all, as I said yesterday, I think that the critics here -- you know, it's very interesting. All of this fuss about Megyn Kelly, Donald Trump also said some things about Frank Luntz. Nobody is complaining about that. He also said some things about Chris Wallace. Nobody is complaining about that. Why is that?
I would submit to you, it's because this is sexist. They're coming to the defense of a little lady as it were, which is unbelievably sexist. Megyn Kelly, I like her as I said. I think she's a supremely confident, a great reporter. And, you know, clearly, she's being treated by a different standard by a lot of these Republicans. I think that will not go unnoticed here. FERGUSON: Jeffrey, to me, it's still a little bit shocking that you
don't understand the difference here. It's one thing to criticize somebody. It's another thing to say that the reason why someone asked you a tough question is because they were on their period. It is abundantly clear --
LORD: Stop --
(CROSSTALK)
BLACKWELL: Let him finish, Jeffrey. We'll come to you next.
FERGUSON: You said a moment ago that Chris Wallace --
BLACKWELL: Jeffrey, hold on. Let him finish.
(CROSSTALK)
FERGUSON: He said that after he talked about Megyn Kelly and trying to cover up -- because I think Donald Trump even knew I'm about to get in trouble for saying that she was on her cycle and so, I need to bring another name in here to cover my rear end. Donald Trump's not an idiot. He knew he overstepped. And that was his way of fixing it. Let's not act like he said before he talked about Megyn Kelly.
BLACKWELL: Let get in here, guys, because we had this conversation yesterday. And we understand where both of you -- each of you stands on this. What does Donald Trump need to do this morning when he's on "STATE OF THE UNION", Jeffrey?
LORD: Just be himself.
Let me talk about the Roger Stone incident here, situation. I've known Roger Stone for a long time. I have a lot of respect for him. In 1980, on the day of the New Hampshire primary, Ronald Reagan fired his campaign manager and several of his senior campaign staff.
My point is these things happen all the time in campaigns. There were all these stories in 2008 about all the inside baseball with the Hillary Clinton campaign. These things happen. Campaigns for president are about two things, the candidate and the candidate's ideas. And every campaign will either sink or swim based on that. That's it.
BLACKWELL: There are so many questions about the timing and all of this coming together at one time. But, of course, we will hear from Donald Trump himself this morning.
Ben Ferguson, Jeffrey Lord, thank you both for being back.
FERGUSON: Thanks.
LORD: Thanks, guys.
BLACKWELL: And again, Donald Trump will be Jake Tapper's guest on "STATE OF THE UNION". [07:10:01] It airs at 9:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.
PAUL: An unarmed teenager shot and killed by police is sparking outrage in Texas. We're talking about a 19-year-old caught on tape vandalizing cars, driving his vehicle through a locked gate to a car dealership window. It's what's not on video that has a lot of people concerned this morning.
Plus, we're following a developing story. Seven people shot, two officers wounded during a shootout in a North Carolina neighborhood. We have the latest information that we've gathered for you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: We're following a developing story this morning in Houston. Five children, three adults found dead in a house. Police say they were doing a welfare check at the home when they discovered a man inside wanted on -- he's wanted on aggravated assault charges. Officers surrounded the home and they went in. And when the 49-year- old man began shooting at them, they pulled back. After negotiating with them, the suspect was escorted out and taken into custody. That's when the police found the bodies. The police have not released causes of death.
PAUL: Also some new video we want to share with you of the moments before the death of Christian Taylor. He's a 19-year-old black teenager from Arlington, Texas, was shot and killed by a rookie cop early Friday morning after he broke into a car dealership.
Now, this video is edited, we want to point out. But it's released by a surveillance company. It appears to show the teenager hopping on a car, stomping on its windshield.
Nick Valencia is following the story. What do we know about the investigation this morning?
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Still in its initial stages. That officer involved in this shooting has yet to be interviewed by investigators. That's protocol there for Arlington police department. We don't know exactly what that teenager Christian Taylor was doing at that dealership or what happened in the moments before he arrived there. But what we do know is we got this newly released surveillance video that shows him behaving erratically at this leadership in the early morning hours of Friday. At one point, he attempts to smash a car windshield.
[07:15:02] You're looking at footage which we believe shows his car going into the front area of that car dealership. Here he is getting out of his vehicle.
Police say that when they showed up on the scene, they converged on him and he did not obey commands for him to surrender. One officer opened fire, I should say. The other used his taser.
At the press conference late last night, the police chief of Arlington addressed what happened. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF WILL JOHNSON, ARLINGTON, TEXAS POLICE: Equally important to the investigative process is an acknowledgment and in this instance has no occurred in isolation. But rather, it has occurred as our nation has been wrestling with the topics of social injustice, inequities, racism and police misconduct. We recognize the importance of these topics, the impact these issues have on communities throughout our nation. And we pledge to act in a transparent manner in an effort to alleviate these concerns.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VALENCIA: The chief went onto say that he has invited the FBI to join the investigation to participate in the investigation. He also says in the next seven to ten days, more audio and video will be released of the incident. There is no dashcam footage of the shooting. And the police officer was not wearing a body camera.
All of this is being brought into light because 49-year-old Brad Miller, the officer who killed Christian Taylor, was a rookie police officer. He had just finished his police training, the cadet training in March. He was still on this 16-week supervised period where he was being monitored by another officer. And these final weeks of his training, field training, he opens fire, killing and shooting Christian Taylor.
PAUL: And he has not been interviewed yet.
VALENCIA: He has not been interviewed yet. That's protocol. It's part of the investigation. So, that will be instrumental to find out what happened here.
By all accounts, Christian Taylor was a good kid. He's a football player, by all accounts. He was a football player at Angelo State University.
His father interviewed, local affiliate -- was interviewed by local affiliate. And that affiliate said that he had just recently found God. He was a kid that, you know, we were looking at a lot of videos of him on social media interacting with his friends. Very jovial kind of kid, though, in that behavior, in that video it seems very erratic behavior, wearing sunglasses at night. It just seems very odd.
PAUL: The father even said obviously he had some poor behavior going on at the moment. But did it constitute him dying for it? That's the big question.
All right. Nick Valencia, thank you so much.
VALENCIA: Thanks, guys.
BLACKWELL: Thank you, Nick.
Still ahead, we're going live to Jerusalem where dozens of members of Congress are meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the table, of course, the Iran nuclear deal.
Plus, it's been a year since the U.S. led air strikes against is. But after thousands of air strikes and billions of dollars, has this air strike campaign had any major effect on the terror group?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:21:17] BLACKWELL: New this morning, nearly 60 members of Congress arrived earlier in Israel. The group of 22 Democrats, 36 Republicans are expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But, of course, the timing of the visit, some say, is coincidental. Some say it's more than coincidental.
It comes as President Obama is lobbying hard for Congress to accept the Iran deal.
Joining me now is CNN correspondent Oren Liebermann.
Oren, what do we know about this group? Who's there?
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, two big names are House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer and House majority leader with the Republicans, that would be Kevin McCarthy. Those are the big names. The rest are mostly freshman congressmen, it's part of a trip that comes every two years from freshmen congressmen from the charitable foundation arm of AIPAC. AIPAC has lobbied strongly against the deal.
Today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with those 22 Democrats where he will have his chance to push against the deal, which he has done from the very beginning here. He has been one of the most outspoken critics. So, in that meeting, it's very much expected that the Iran deal with come up, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have his chance to push against the most critical part of that deal which is Congress, President Obama as you mentioned is trying to make sure he has the votes to get this through.
BLACKWELL: Now, we know this congressional delegation or some congressional delegation goes every other year to Israel. But there is this news conference, a joint news conference, Democrats and Republicans. Do you know what they're going to discuss?
LIEBERMANN: Yes, that conference is scheduled for early tomorrow morning. We don't have a sense of what they're going to talk about. They could very well avoid the Iran deal and not get into the controversy and the politics of that. If they say something about the deal, it could give an indication whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has managed to sway any of those Democratic votes to his side, which is to say to sway them against the deal. And that would be very interesting here.
BLACKWELL: All right. Oren Liebermann in Jerusalem for us -- Oren, thank you very much.
Christi?
PAUL: And President Obama is now defending controversial remarks he made about the Iran deal. His comments outraged both Democrats and Republicans when he spoke earlier this week at American University, linking Republicans to hardliners in Iran.
Our Fareed Zakaria sat down with President Obama. Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST, "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS": In your speech at American University, you made a comparison. You said that Iran's hardliners were making common cause with Republicans. It's coming under a lot of criticism. Mitch McConnell says even Democrats who opposed the deal should be insulted.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What I said is absolutely true factually. The truth of the matter is inside of Iran, the people most opposed to the deal are the Revolutionary Guard, the Quds force, hardliners who are implacably opposed to any cooperation with the international community.
The reason that Mitch McConnell and the rest of the folks in his caucus who opposed this jumped out and opposed it before they even read it, before it was even posted is reflective of an ideological commitment not to get a deal done. In that sense, they do have a lot in common with hardliners who are much more satisfied with the status quo.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: You can see all of Fareed's exclusive interview with the president today on "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS". It airs at 10:00 a.m., right here on CNN.
BLACKWELL: It has been one year since the shooting death of Michael Brown. The protests and marches go on. But what real changes have been made in Ferguson since the teen was killed? We'll go there live, next.
Plus, the battle against ISIS. The U.S. military now enters its second year of air strikes. But is any progress being made after 6,000 airstrikes?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PAUL: Twenty-eight minutes past the hour.
And we're just an hour and a half away from hearing from Donald Trump. His campaign has fired top political advisor Roger Stone who promptly denied being let go and insists he quit. Trump's campaign says Stone was using the campaign to seek publicity for himself. But a source tells CNN tensions between the two men spiked after Trump's debate performance.
There is Bernie Sanders getting a rousing welcome in Seattle, 12,000 people turned out for yesterday's rally. That's the biggest crowd so far for the Democratic presidential candidate. Black Lives Matter protesters interrupted an earlier rally preventing Sanders for speaking. Sanders says he's fought for civil rights his entire life.
BLACKWELL: The Black Lives Matter movement gained momentum after the death of Michael Brown, who was shot by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. This weekend, hundreds of marchers gathered in that community marking the year since his death.
Sara Sidner is following the story there live in Ferguson.
And, Sara, I know you've been there for much of the past year. Much has changed, but there are a lot of accomplishments, a lot of goals that protesters still say that the city is far from achieving.
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. That's a really good way to put it.
You know, we saw some of the protests in the morning. They were peaceful protests. It was more parade-like with families there. And at night right outside this police department it looked very much like it did a year ago, with about 200 people chanting at police, angry still with police and police tactics.
[07:30:10] But a year later, there have been changes in this city, the protesters saying that perhaps those changes are just superficial. Others residents here are saying, no, real change is happening.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SIDNER (voice-over): The scars of protesters fury 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 by 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 PHILLIPS, 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 what was happening he began recording it, culminating in a documentary.
(on camera): Has anything change 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 are still not engaging their citizens.
SIDNER (voice-over): After a Department of Justice investigation that found Ferguson disproportionately 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: So, really, it's kind of like you can use the analogy of weeds in a garden. For some people, you can pull all these weeds out. But if you still have one there, then, you know, 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 titles as a temporary smokescreen with no real change in how citizens are treated.
But Ferguson resident Blake Ashby disagrees.
BLAKE ASHBY, FERGUSON 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 is the only who worries the new movement could tear the racial divide open even further.
ASHBY: Essentially, what they doing is they're dismissing the efforts of everybody else who doesn't do things exactly the way they do. We're not out shouting at the cops and threaten to rape their families, and somehow we are not really 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 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: But it has also polarized this city, and you may argue, polarized America. There are people who look at this case and say that it should not be worth a movement. Other people saying you're not getting the point.
That is still happening in this town, though residents are trying to work through that to make the city better -- Victor.
BLACKWELL: All right. Sara Sidner for us there in Ferguson -- Sara, thank you. PAUL: And new this morning, House Speaker John Boehner slamming President Obama for, in his view, failing to combat ISIS effectively. He said, quote, "One year after authorizing the first air strikes against ISIL in Iraq, President Obama still doesn't have the overarching strategy that's needed to actually defeat these savage terrorists," unquote.
Now, the U.S. launched airstrikes against the terror group last year. After nearly 6,000 airstrikes, billions of dollars spent, has it diminished the terror group in any way.
Well, Lieutenant General Mark Hertling joining us now.
General, thanks for being with us. Any credence to what Boehner is saying in your opinion?
LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, to a degree, Christi. But -- and good morning to you.
But, first of all, I'd like to say that as Americans we want to get in and fix things fast. As we've said from the very beginning, this is not something that can be fixed fast.
What I suggest is over the last year, we have seen advances in the fight against ISIS. We have regained territory. We have put them on the defensive, taking away their strategic offensiveness and said, hey, they are really reacting more than anything else. Yes, you will see some tactical advances and they will still take over some towns.
But overall they are on the defensive. They have lost a significant amount of fighters and they have lost a significant amount of leaders.
[07:35:02] We also helped generate a coalition campaign. Most recently, Turkey is contributing. And we're seeing advances.
But, again, as we've said from the very beginning this is going to take a very long time. And one year isn't enough to either prove or disprove a strategy.
PAUL: Well, in the last couple of days, we've seen a shift in U.S. government officials saying they've seen a shift in ISIS tactics. They believe ISIS may be trying to facilitate a mass casualty attack, as opposed to some of the lone wolf attacks that they've seen so far.
Do you think ISIS has the capability to pull something like that off more than once, let's say?
HERTLING: I do. But this is an indicator. For me as a military guy, Christie, what I'd say, this tells me something is happening within their ranks. They have been called from some of their jihadists righting there. The original group has been lowered. So, they are now getting new recruits that aren't as capable.
What do you ask these new recruits to do? Well, you ask them to conduct suicide attacks. It's an easy method. You don't have to train for that. You just drive a car laden with explosives. They would put a suicide vest on. So, there's a not a whole lot of effort in that.
The jihadists are willing to do those things. They are wiling to die for those attacks. If they can set a strategy where these mass attacks to kill a lot of people occur, you're going to continue to see ISIS garner worldwide media attention.
Are they capable of doing this? Yes, in some ways they are, especially in areas of Syria and Iraq. We've seen in the last few days they have attacked Christian towns in Syria. That's a further intimidation of the population. It's exactly part of their tactic to try and get people on their side.
PAUL: All right. Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, we so appreciate your insight as always. Thank you, sir.
HERTLING: Thank you, Christi.
BLACKWELL: The GOP field is crowded in the race for the White House. You know that. And whether it's good headlines or bad, one person continues to dominate them, Donald Trump.
And this morning, Trump will be talking to Jake Tapper on "STATE OF THE UNION". The answers Jake wants to get from Donald Trump, that's next.
Plus, the NFL's Tampa Bay Bucs, they haven't much success over the years. Look at these fans, they're not happy. It looks like their latest effort to win over fans is backfiring, too.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:40:53] BLACKWELL: All right. Soon, we will finally hear from Donald Trump. He's going to appear on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION".
Two controversies we're waiting for him to address publicly. First, the comments about Megyn Kelly. And most recent claim that Trump fired his top advisor and long-time friend Roger Stone. Stone disputes that, saying that he quit the campaign.
Joining us so talk about this is the host of "STATE OF THE UNION", Jake Tapper.
Jake, good to see you this morning.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST, "STATE OF THE UNION": Good to see you.
BLACKWELL: So, what are your expecting to hear from Trump?
TAPPER: I'm expecting to hear him defend himself, say that he was not discussing in crude terms what so many people believe he was when he talked about blood coming out of Megyn Kelly's nose -- eyes, blood coming out of her wherever. He's going to say he was talking about her nose and her ears and anyone who thinks differently is a deviant.
And he will talk very aggressively I suspect about the fact that the Republican establishment and the rival candidates who are trailing him in the polls and the media are out to get him. But he is focused on making America great again.
I do not think that Mr. Trump will be deterred at all from his mission and from his campaign.
BLACKWELL: Now, this is not a man who's known for his heart felt apologies. I'd imagine there's no reason to expect one today.
TAPPER: Well, look, he's gotten as far as he's gotten by being who he is, saying what he thinks, even if some people are offended. When Megyn Kelly asked him about comments about women that she clearly found offensive, that many people found offensive, he said, look, I'm not politically correct, I say what I say, I'm sorry if you're offended. I think that's his attitude. I think that's how he's gotten as far as he's gotten not just in the business and celebrity world, but also in politics.
Look, he's really shaken up the race. And every time he says something in which the punditocracy and reporters and the Republican establishment think, oh, my God, he's gone too far with his comments about illegal immigrants from Mexico, or his comments impugning John McCain's war heroism, every time he says something not only does it not hurt him, it helps him.
I don't know that this is going to be any different. Now, you could argue that illegal immigrants and John McCain are not favorites of the Republican base, whereas Megyn Kelly and FOX News anchors are favorites of the Republican base. So, maybe there's an issue here in his target, in his choice of target.
But at the same time, you know, the bottom line is this, again, demonstrates Donald Trump saying what he thinks, that the establishment is out to get him, that the media is out to get him, that the Republicans running against him are out to get him. It feeds into that narrative. I don't know that it's going to hurt him.
BLACKWELL: You also have two other candidates who analysts say who did --
TAPPER: That's right, two other candidates.
BLACKWELL: Two other candidates who did really well on Thursday night.
TAPPER: That's right. Carly Fiorina, who has taken personal issue with what Donald Trump said about Megyn Kelly on Friday night. And John Kasich, the governor of Ohio who barely made it into the debate of top ten Republicans according to polls, but got a lot of very, very strong reviews especially from Washington insiders. So, we'll talk to both of them and see where their campaigns go from here.
BLACKWELL: All right. Jake Tapper, looking forward to the show.
TAPPER: Thank you.
BLACKWELL: And a reminder, check out "STATE OF THE UNION" with Jake Tapper. Of course, Donald Trump, also, as he said, John Kasich, Carly Fiorina, 9:00 Eastern right here on CNN.
PAUL: A California woman brutally attacked and murdered. One of the suspects is an undocumented worker with a long arrest record. That has prompted a new call to action.
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[07:48:14] PAUL: Twenty-eight minutes past the hour.
New this morning, the brutal attack on a California woman is renewing the debate about undocumented immigrants accused or convicted I should say of crimes. Victor Martinez Ramirez and Jose Villagomez are charged with murder, rape and torture in the death of Marilyn Pharis.
Here's what we know: police say Ramirez is an undocumented immigrant. He was arrested six times in just 15 months. And before the attack on the 64-year-old Air Force veterans, suspects allegedly broke into her home last month, beat her with a hammer. She died days later at a hospital.
HLN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney Joey Jackson has been looking into this.
Joey, you know, according to police, Ramirez was in the country illegally. He has this long arrest record, was on probation at the time of the attack.
Want to listen real quickly to the Santa Maria police chief.
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CHIEF RALPH MARTIN, SANTA MARIA POLICE: Two weeks before this murder, Santa Maria police officers arrested him for possession of meth. And you know what we had to do, we had to cite him out. That's the problem with the system. This is not just in Santa Maria. This is all over the state of California and all over the United States.
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PAUL: So, here's the thing, the chief says they had to let Ramirez go after the earlier arrest. The judge said he could go to substance abuse centers rather than jail, because the original felony charge had been dismissed. What the heck is happening?
JOEY JACKSON, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: It's a great question, Christi.
I think to grapple on this issue and get our arms around it, it really requires coordination between the federal government and the state government.
Now, to be fair, judge versus a wide degree of discretion with regard to what they do when people are before them. Should they send them for sentencing -- you know, for things regarding drug abuse to get to the underlying problem?
[07:50:00] Is it a violent crime? Is it a nonviolent crime? Does it warrant jail? Does it warrant community service?
So, there is a great deal of discretion.
However, when you have person who is repeat offender, even if it's an accusation based on what you started, right, telling us, within 15 months, six or five different arrest, that's crazy. As a result of that you need something like an ICE detainer, right, Immigration Customs Enforcement they send a detainer and that allows for the federal government to look into it. In fairness it goes both ways. The locality can always contact the federal government just as the federal government can issue a detainer to have that person stay so that they can further investigate. That's the coordination it really needs.
PAUL: Well, customs officials say they did issue an immigration detainer which would have led to his deportation back in 2014 when he was arrested for felony assault and that meth possession. But they say they weren't notified when he was released by police. So, what can be done to prevent this thing from happening?
JACKSON: Christi, how many times do we hear the same thing?
PAUL: Yes, yes.
JACKSON: There's no notification. There's no coordination. Things are not being done as they're supposed to be done.
So, what you need is a firm policy that suggests either the ICE detainer and all the detainer does is say look, hold onto this person --
PAUL: Yes.
JACKSON: -- for 48 hours so that we can investigate. It doesn't even start deportation proceedings. It just gives the indication that we have to do something, and then again as I mentioned, if the federal government does not issue such a detainer and it's always at issue, they issued one, they didn't issue one. We didn't get it. We did get it.
The locality can always reach out to customs enforcement and say, hey, we have someone potentially you can look into this. And so I think it's going to take, again, that type of coordination to prevent this from continuing to happen, and for us to be talking about stories like this where there's a brutal, you know, beating, a murder, a rape, a torture like in this instance, unacceptable.
PAUL: You know, this is what three weeks after the Kathryn Steinle death. Now there is this proposed Kate's law that would toughen penalties for undocumented immigrants who are deported and return to the U.S. illegally. Are there challenges to that proposed legislation it's going to face?
JACKSON: There's always challenges, but I think those challenges are more political. I think there's a recognition that something needs to be done in order to get a hand and a hold on what's happening. And so as a result of that, it's going to take Congress deciding that there needs to be a law implemented so that when a person is here who's undocumented, and when, of course, they've committed offenses, that person can be dealt with by the system.
And we have to pay more attention not who gets credit, the Republicans, the Democrats.
PAUL: Yes.
JACKSON: We know about politics. But does it credit and does it benefit people in the country? And if that's the standard, then I think it should pass with flying colors and we can prevent instances like this moving forward.
PAUL: Yes, it is -- it is just frightening.
Joey Jackson, we appreciate it so much. Thank you, sir.
JACKSON: Thank you, Christi.
BLACKWELL: All right. The problem for the Buccaneers. A backfire here. Tampa Bay's latest effort to drum up support with its fans met with some controversy. Why the team's plan to gain female fans is falling flat here.
And at the top of the hour, Donald Trump split with a top political adviser. The disagreement that caused the breakup and what this could mean for his presidential campaign.
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[07:57:19] BLACKWELL: Coming up on the top of the hour now.
Let's go to Gaston County where police are investigating a shoot-out with police in North Carolina that left two officers injured.
PAUL: Police say they shot and killed an armed suspect who opened fire at officers responding to that domestic call. Later investigators found a man dead who they say was killed before the officers arrived. Another woman was found shot and taken to the hospital, though police did not say whether that's related.
BLACKWELL: In New York City, 10 people have now died and more than 100 people are infected by Legionnaires' disease. Though Mayor Bill de Blasio says the outbreak is contained he is requiring all owners of cooling towers to test for Legionella. This follows the state's deployment of 150 people to test for the bacteria in areas where the outbreak has been concentrated.
PAUL: How would you feel if you were on this flight? Take a look at it. A Delta flight traveling from Boston to Salt Lake City had to be diverted after a thunderstorm caused some pretty terrifying conditions.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This was the scariest ten minutes of my life.
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PAUL: Hail battered the passenger plane, cracking its windshield. You see that there. Dented the nose cone. Had to that severe turbulence. The pilot had to make an emergency landing in Denver International Airport, and we know at least one person was taken to the hospital.
BLACKWELL: Look at this. Smoke shooting up 2,000 feet out of Mount Aso in Japan. It's the second time in three months that the volcano has erupted. No one was hurt. But officials are warning that an eruption may happen again.
PAUL: Speaking of eruptions -- some women are not so happy with an NFL team.
Thank you very much. I try.
They were hoping its new promotion would bring women closer to the game of football. Not so much.
BLACKWELL: Yes, it's backfiring a bit.
Coy Wire is here.
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS: By some women --
PAUL: They tried. I give them credit. No they tried.
WIRE: Yes, they really did.
PAUL: The execution was a bit questionable.
WIRE: They did. So, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers unveiled the Red movement a few days ago. They describe it as a groundbreaking women's movement to reinvent the female fan experience.
The team says it wanted to help female fans better understand the game. But the team got hammered on social media when people saw that the initiative also included fashion tips, design projects, and recipes.
Now critics are calling the program sexist and condescending to women. So we wanted to know what you thought using #NewDayCNN.
Here's what you had to say. Temeika, "I train my sons, not their dad, #footballmom. Women know football."
PAUL: Go Temeika!
WIRE: She also followed up by saying their dad is also a great supporter and in their lives. Thank you.
Laura said, "I'm sure we can dumb ourselves down to gain entry into the next game, NFL Neanderthals." Caroline Elizabeth, she was supported. She said, "I kind of love this. I already have tailgating Pinterest board."
