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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Michael Brown Observance Marred by Violence; FBI Investigates College Student Death by Police Officer; Trump Stands Behind Megyn Kelly Comments. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired August 10, 2015 - 12:00   ET

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


[12:00:00] KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and so I think about half of the workers in the country are not benefiting from that, so more needs to be done.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And we're really the only industrialized nation.

WALLACE: Yes.

BOLDUAN: I know the president points this out, the only industrialized nation without some cash benefit for maternity leave.

Kelly, great to see you.

L.V., thanks so much.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you. Thank you.

BOLDUAN: And thank you all for joining us "AT THIS HOUR." LEGAL VIEW with Fredricka Whitfield starts right now.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, whatever he meant by that blood comment, we may not ever know, but one thing is for sure, Donald Trump is not apologizing. In fact, he says he's the one who deserves an apology.

And in Texas, an unarmed 19-year-old shot dead by a rookie policeman. It started after the teen allegedly crashed his SUV into a car dealership show room. But should it have ended differently? The FBI joining the investigation.

And a California woman killed after a violent break-in and brutal rape. One of the suspects, an illegal immigrant with a criminal record. The police chief says the system is to blame for putting the suspect back on the streets.

Hello, everyone, I'm Fredricka Whitfield, in for Ashleigh Banfield today. Welcome to LEGAL VIEW.

Demonstrations are set to resume this hour in Ferguson, Missouri, one day past the one-year anniversary of the death of Michael Brown. This morning, the U.S. attorney general tweeted her condemnation of the violence that marred observances yesterday, including one near deadly shootout. What is happening here? A gunman, who police have not yet identified,

allegedly trading shots with other people, then with St. Louis County detectives. The chief says the suspect unleashed, and I quote, "a remarkable amount of gunfire," some of which interrupted a television interview with the interim police chief of Ferguson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

INTERIM CHIEF ANDRE ANDERSON, FERGUSON, MISSOURI, POLICE: Well, we're trying to work with the community. We're explaining to them their rights and we just want to be as patient as possible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A message to those who are looting -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get down, gunfire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Later, someone on Twitter posted this video of the suspect on the ground.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get him some help!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Back up! Back up!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get him some help!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Back up!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) get the man some help! He's (INAUDIBLE) breathing, man. You see, he's still alive! He's (INAUDIBLE) on the ground, man.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Back up! (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to get him some help.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Back up!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get him help now! He's still alive, man!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Back it up!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are working (INAUDIBLE) you know he's still alive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Back up!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's (EXPLETIVE DELETED) alive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The man on the ground underwent surgery overnight and at last report was in critical condition. Police say they recovered a stolen semiautomatic handgun at the scene. I want to bring in my colleague Sara Sidner who is there in Ferguson.

You were conducting an interview with the interim police chief when we heard those gunshots.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I was standing beside another reporter who we were talking and listening to the chief talk about patience and the moment he said the word "patience," you heard a couple of gunshots go off and then a barrage of gunshots. Had to be more than 12 to 15, maybe even 18 shots that went off in succession.

Then, just after that, not too long after, a few moments or minutes after that, we heard another set of gunshots which we are - in looking at the scenario of how things happen, police say that the initial gunshots came from two people who were in some sort of dispute and the second set of gunshots came from police searching for the suspects and that could very well have been when police shot the suspect. They are saying that he had a .9 millimeter on him.

We also heard a third set of gunshots. Those were in - on Canfield Drive as we were trying to get away from the scene, move to a place of safety. We heard more gunshots going off.

All that being said, the police chief of St. Louis County has been very clear in saying that the people that were responsible for this appear to be, as he put it, criminals not protesters, saying that the protesters were protesting. This happened a couple hundred yards away from where the protesters were. He doesn't want everybody to get that jumbled up. He said the protesters were doing what they do and that this was a separate issue, a fight between two people that went terribly wrong.

At this point in time, I can tell you that the person who was a suspect in this case is in the hospital. He was undergoing surgery. He was in critical and unstable condition the last time we were able to get medical information on him. And at this point they are not yet releasing his name. We may know who that is and a lot of the city leaders are talking about who that is and that he is from this community.

[12:05:21] I want to now bring in Alderman Antonio French from St. Louis, who has been out here since last August, a year since Michael Brown was shot and killed. You've been paying very close attention to this. All you have to do is to look. If you don't know Mr. French, to look at his Twitter feed, and you are constantly out here monitoring and seeing what's going on. Can you give me a sense of what you saw and what you saw happened before all of these gunshots went off?

ANTONIO FRENCH, ST. LOUIS ALDERMAN: Yes, so there was a - kind of a confrontation earlier between a group of protesters and the police line had formed. There was a familiar site from last year in riot gear. So there were those of us trying to diffuse that situation, to make sure that it didn't get violent or escalate.

That group did get away from their police line. They broke up. And there was a contingent of folks that went in the back towards businesses.

Shortly after, we saw a reporter coming back who had been beaten up and robbed and I made my way back there and I saw that two businesses had been broken into. And so I was actually in front of a broken window trying to keep potential looters out of the building when gunshots started going off about 75 feet away.

SIDNER: In your estimation - because you're watching all of this and I know that the chief of St. Louis County, who was out here helping Ferguson deal with the protests that were going on, which is a normal occurrence now, did you feel that what happened here was a group of protesters that decided to start looting and shooting or was this another group that were just hanging out there in the same vicinity using them as cover?

FRENCH: Yes, these aren't - these weren't protesters. And so similar like we saw last year, there are certain small groups of people that come and use the cover of these protests to do their criminal acts. And so you have folks that kind of wait around by the businesses and then they break in. And it's a crime of opportunity.

Now, what was different, though, was that it seemed to be some kind of altercation. I'm not sure where the gunshots came from, but they started in one direction and seemed to spread all over.

SIDNER: All right, thank you so much, Alderman, we really appreciate you talking to us about this.

FRENCH: Thank you.

SIDNER: And, you know, basically what you have here is a situation, as Alderman French said, and the police chief had said, people using the protesters as cover. But the police chief has been very clear, they want this to stop. It's bad for the city. It's bad for the citizens here. And also they want help in finding who is responsible for putting so many people at risk.

Fred.

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

Let's continue this discussion now with CNN law enforcement analyst and public safety director in DeKalb County, Georgia, Cedric Alexander. Also joining us from New York, CNN political commentator, Morehouse College professor and host of "Huff Post Live," Marc Lamont Hill.

All right, good to see both of you gentlemen.

CEDRIC ALEXANDER, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Good seeing you.

WHITFIELD: All right, so, Cedric, in a situation like this, you heard the alderman who said, there are people taking advantage of this protest, using this as cover, to carry out what unfolded. How do police prepare for large gatherings of people, at the same time anticipate any kind of volatility?

ALEXANDER: Well, first of all, we've certainly got to allow people to exercise their constitutional right. And there's a population out there, Fredricka, that's doing that and they're doing in a way which we hope to be lawful.

However, in the backdrop there somewhere is a population that is being violent. The gunfire and all those types of things that occurred last night are not acceptable. You heard from the attorney general. She's totally in opposition to violence being placed upon the citizen there and the police officers as well, too.

But Ferguson, we have to note, is a community that is still in pain, a community that's still trying to heal and a lot of young people who still don't have a very good thought or relationship with the police. But, however, that does not excuse the fact you cannot harm people or put other people at risk. It's just not acceptable.

WHITFIELD: And so - and so, Marc, how do you go about separating the violence that erupted and the mission of the non-violent demonstrators who gathered to commemorate this one-year marking of Michael Brown's death?

MARC LAMONT HILL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think the first thing we have to do is highlight the fact that the bulk of the resistance, the bulk of the protest, the bulk of the voices that you heard in Ferguson yesterday were positive, they were strong, they were defiant and they often engaged in acts of civil disobedience, but they were all within the boundaries of the law or within the boundaries of our ethical and moral rules.

I was in Ferguson yesterday, actually. I was on the street of West Florissant until 5:00 a.m. I literally just got back to New York. And even then there were young people out there who, as Cedric said, were in pain. They were hurt. They were trying to figure this thing out. They were still trying to recover from last year. And I think it's important to highlight that as opposed to the one or two incident that we don't know about.

[12:10:06] And that's the other thing, we need to wait until we get full information about what these shootings were about. Yes, the police gave an account, but police accounts, particularly from Ferguson, have proven to be faulty all the time. I've been on the streets of Ferguson when police say that we're not shooting tear gas, as we're putting on gas masks because we're getting tar gassed. And so I can't believe the police account without evidence and some level of investigation.

WHITFIELD: So, Cedric, how do you respond to that as someone who represents law enforcement where there is a continuing level of distrust? And I didn't just hear it from Marc, but I heard it from others earlier on our air about people who say they've only heard the police account and they want to know more and so they're unwilling to, you know, believe that there are conclusions being drawn strictly from police accounts.

ALEXANDER: Right. Right. And that's a reality for a lot of people. People who were there a year ago when all this erupted and the optics were certainly very different and the circumstances were somewhat different as well, too. It's all about building trust. You have a new chief, an interim chief in there now, who I think is going to do a tremendous job. And over the last several weeks since he's been there, he's done a lot of good work in that community. But over the last year, a lot of work - good work has been done in Ferguson as well, too.

So there's still a lot of bridges that have to be mended in - as it relates to that trust building. But that is one of the most important elements that you will have is building that trust with your community. There's still a lot of work to be done with those young people who here again still very much feel very much separate from that community.

WHITFIELD: All right, Cedric Alexander - Marc, you got a quick point? Real quick?

HILL: No, the way - the way to help build that and heal those young people, to Cedric's point, is to talk to them, it's to support them, but it's also to give them access to jobs, health care, housing. Broke people are much more likely to do this than people who have been covered under not just democracy but social provision and protection. That's what we need. We need love, we support, we need resources.

WHITFIELD: All right.

ALEXANDER: And if - and if I could add one thing real quick, Fredricka, as well, too. Those who are out there being intentionally violent and creating that type of havoc have to be dealt with appropriately by authorities so that people who are exercising their rights are not hurt.

WHITFIELD: All right, Cedric Alexander, Marc Lamont Hill, thank you so much, gentlemen. Appreciate it.

All right, also, up next, almost exactly a year after the Michael Brown shooting, an unarmed college football player is killed at a Texas car lot by an officer still in training. Coming up, the video shows what the young man was up to just minutes before the shots were fired.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:16:08] WHITFIELD: All right, now to Texas where an unarmed black college football player was shot and killed by a white police officer. This just into CNN. We have now learned that the officer, both of them, will be interviewed today. This along with the fact that the FBI is also joining the investigation.

This is 19-year-old Christian Taylor. He was shot multiple times by an officer in training. And this edited surveillance video of the moments before the fatal shots being released this morning. Joining me now is CNN correspondent Ed Lavandera, live for us in

Arlington, Texas, following this story very closely.

So, Ed, we've been looking at video that shows what some believe to be an erratic behavior by this young man, but we don't see a complete picture on video of the circumstances leading up to and immediately following the shots fired. Why not?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we don't see that crucial moment, as you mentioned, inside - after police say Christian Taylor had driven a Jeep inside of the showroom floor there of that car dealership. The officers here do not wear body cameras. It doesn't appear that there were video cameras or surveillance video cameras inside of that building. At least those haven't emerged as of - as of now. So great questions because even the police chief here is saying that inside that building is where the altercation between Christian Taylor and two Arlington police officers took place. And they say what happened during that confrontation will be, quote, "of critical importance" into this investigation to determine whether or not the shooting was justified.

And as you mentioned, those two officers being interviewed formally at some point today. And that will be crucial in determining whether or not this shooting was justified because a lot of people pointing to the difference here in the way the two officers responded. Forty-nine- year-old Brad Miller, the officer who shot four times and hit Christian Taylor once in the neck, chest, and abdomen, we're told by the medical examiner. The other officer pulled out and used a Taser. So obviously a discrepancy in the level of force that was used in this situation and that will be something that will be hammered on in the details of the questioning of these officers.

Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: OK. And what more is being said because I guess most are observing - we're looking at the videotape right now - the behavior does seem strange. Has there been anything said about whether he may have been under the influence or is there any explanation maybe even by his family about the actions recorded on tape?

LAVANDERA: We haven't heard anything about if there was any kind of chemicals or any kind of -- anything in the system of Christian Taylor to explain the behavior there in - at the car dealership that you saw of minutes of someone wandering around the parking lot and then jumping up on top of a car and then driving into the showroom floor. The only information that has been released partially from the autopsy report from the medical examiner is that Christian Taylor was wounded in the neck, chest, and abdomen from the gunfire. Other than that, toxicology details and the blood makeup workup has not been reported. And I would imagine that usually takes some time. So it would be strange if all of that had already come back to investigators at this point. But, obviously, it will be something that will look - be looked at very closely.

WHITFIELD: All right, sad story. Thank you so much. Ed Lavandera, appreciate it. All right, up next, what he said this weekend has a lot of people's

blood boiling. So why does Donald Trump say he deserves an apology?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:23:12] WHITFIELD: All right, Donald Trump will not apologize for comments he made about Fox News host Megyn Kelly. And in standard Trump fashion, he says she should be the one apologizing to him. This is what Trump told CNN on Friday, which sparked all of the debate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She - she gets out and she starts asking me all sorts of ridiculous questions. And, you know, you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her - wherever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, a lot of people took that to mean that Trump was refers to Kelly's menstrual cycle. But the candidate told CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" that clearly was not his intention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Yes, I do all this stuff. Do you think I'd make a stupid statement like that? Who would make a statement like that? Only a sick person would - would even think about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So I'm joined now by CNN correspondent Athena Jones in Washington.

So, Athena, there's a lot of criticism for what trump said or what he didn't say. Who is coming to his defense right now?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka.

Well, this might surprise you. Of course, Donald Trump, so many people know who he is in part because he's a reality TV star. He had his hit show on NBC "The Apprentice." Well, it turns out one of his former contestants on "The Apprentice," Omarosa Manigault, is one of the people who's coming to his defense. Take a listen to what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OMAROSA MANIGAULT: He said - said very clearly that that was not his intention. So you have to know that Donald Trump is a straight shooter. And when people say because of his beef with Kelly that he has an issue with all women, I think it's absolutely ridiculous.

And one of the things that New Yorkers pride themselves on is being kind of bold and brash and in your face. So a lot of that is his personality about growing up and working in a town that's very tough. (END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:25:00] JONES: So there you have Omarosa, also kind of known as - by one name - defending Donald Trump. But, of course, there are concerns that what he said is going to hurt him with women. And if you look at polling before the debate - that's the most recent polling we have - it does shows that he has a lower favorability rating among women than among men, whether you're talking about all registered voters or just Republican voters.

WHITFIELD: OK.

JONES: So it could still be an issue.

WHITFIELD: All right. And then still an issue is the chorus is getting louder about Trump while his popularity soars. Where are the ideas? Where are his ideas and proposals on policies and now his camp says that coming soon?

JONES: Sure, exactly. I mean you hear from Trump being asked about this, why don't you get specific on these broader policies you talk about, these positions? And he said whether it's on immigration policy or trade that he has a lot of ideas, that his campaign will be putting out those position papers on his time - or in his timeframe. When that's going to be is the big question.

But, of course, I should mention to you that this is all happening while his campaign is undergoing a little bit of tumult. He lost a top political advisor over the weekend, Roger Stone. Stone says that he quit. The campaign says they fired him. Stone, though, says he quit because he wasn't happy with the direction the campaign was going. So there is certainly a little bit of tumult going on as they're trying to hire more staffers and beef up, looking forward, during this primary season.

Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Athena Jones in Washington, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

JONES: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: All right, South Carolina Senator and Republican Presidential Candidate Lindsey Graham says Donald Trump is badly damaging the Republican Party. We'll be talking with him live about that next hour right here on CNN.

Now, up next, a California woman raped and killed in her home. Police say one of the men charged was an illegal immigrant with a criminal record. That should have kept him off the streets, they say.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)