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Texas Deputy Shooting; Brady and NFL Fail to Reach a Deal; New Iowa Poll; Temple Hit by ISIS. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired August 31, 2015 - 14:00   ET

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


[14:00:00] BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: I'll be back at 5:00 p.m. Eastern on "The Situation Room." For our international viewers, "Amanpour" is next. And for our viewers in North America, "Newsroom" with Brooke Baldwin starts right now.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Brianna Keilar, thank you so much, my friend.

Hi, everyone. I'm Brooke Baldwin. You're watching CNN. Thank you so much for being with me here on this Monday.

We have to begin with this accused cop killer stepping before a judge today, breaking the courtroom silence with his shackles. Was this man, 30-year-old Shannon Miles, motivated by some kind of anti-police sentiment? He is accused of gunning down a Texas deputy over the weekend and now a Houston area sheriff is saying Miles may have targeted Deputy Darren Goforth because of his law enforcement uniform. The defendant himself said very little in court today, but the district attorney did not hold back, offering brutal details about how Goforth died, based upon what investigators saw on surveillance video.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEVON ANDERSON, HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS DISTRICT ATTORNEY: They saw a dark-skinned male with - who was bald with red shorts and a white t- shirt run up behind the deputy, who clearly did not see him or hear him coming, and shot him in the back of the head. Deputy Goforth fell to the ground and the male stood over him and fired several more times into the back of his head and his back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The district attorney told the judge that Miles emptied his gun into deputy Goforth. Fifteen shell casings were found at the gas station where Goforth was just swinging by to refuel his patrol car. And while the sheriff acknowledges the alleged shooter's motive remains unknown, he also said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF RON HICKMAN, HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS: So at any point and where the rhetoric ramps up to the point where calculated, cold-blooded assassination of police officers happen, this rhetoric has gotten out of control. We've heard black lives matter, all lives matter. Well, cops' lives matter, too. So why don't we just drop the qualifier and just say "lives matter" and take that to the bank.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: We'll talk to a friend and former officer in a minute, but first, Nick Valencia, to you. You've been on this story for us since the weekend. How did investigators even track Miles down?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In that probable cause hearing, Brooke, we heard a lot about the ruthless details of the killing. You were talking about 14 - 15 shell casings being found there at the scene. We also learned a little bit about how this suspect was tracked down. With the help of surveillance video, this killing was allegedly captured on surveillance video. There was also an eyewitness at the gas station that helped police find that red pickup truck. But most importantly, there was some pretty distinctive qualities that this red Ford pickup truck had, including a white cooler in its flatbed and an after-market hitch that had been attached to this pickup truck.

They did a database search and were able to get a hit on that car locally. They show up at the residence. The brother of Shannon Miles is there, answers the door, let's them inside. And while investigators are inside that residence, Shannon Miles shows up. They question him. And there they learn that Miles has weapons. So they get a search warrant. They go into the garage. And there they find that .40 caliber handgun, that according to ballistic tests links that handgun back to the crime scene.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: All right, Nick Valencia, thank you. We'll talk to you next hour if - once you get more information here.

But I want to focus more on Deputy Darren Goforth. We know he was a father of two, a 12-year-old girl and a five-year-old boy. And in the three days since his murder, this community has raised now more than $170,000 for his family. Hundreds attended a vigil and a march for the deputy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEVON ANDERSON, HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS DISTRICT ATTORNEY: And people for - with - from all races, from all around the county came, over 1,000, both nights, came to support law enforcement. That's what Houston Harris County is about. This crime is not going to divide us. This crime is going to unite us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I have with me now Deputy Goforth's friend, Brian McCullar, a former police officer and now a police trainer. He helped organize this fund-raiser that's now brought in $75,000.

Brian, I am so sorry for the loss of your friend and just someone who was very near and dear to this community. Can you tell me a little bit about him as I - let me just first read for you. This is what his widow has said about her husband. Said this, "he was an incredibly intricate blend of toughness and gentility. The right thing to do was what guided his internal compass." Tell me about him.

BRIAN MCCULLAR, FRIEND OF SLAIN DEPUTY: Oh, absolutely. I think when you look at - at what you - the qualifications and what you want to have as a law enforcement deputy or officer. He fit them all. He didn't let the badge get to his head. That sort of thing. But most of all, a family man. Whenever I'd talk to him, it was always about family.

[14:05:03] And I'll tell you, that's why we're all here now. We're doing everting we can in order to support the family. We can't change what has happened. But I will tell you, the community, it's been shocking. It's come together. And we've had thousands of people here. We are now at around 75,000. We've just collected right here at the location here.

BALDWIN: It's incredible. It's absolutely incredible.

MCCULLAR: But he was a good - he was a good man.

BALDWIN: I understand also, Brian, that you actually went out Friday night to try to find him the night that he was killed. What happened? Why did you do that?

MCCULLAR: Well, I actually went to bed early that night at 8:00 and couldn't - you know, woke up at 1:00 in the morning. And so I checked the news when I can't sleep and I was shocked. Saw the photograph. And where he patrols and where this happened is only two miles from - from where I live. And I couldn't sleep and I - I just had to get out. And, of course, you know, there's 100 of his brothers that are - that are here. And, you know, there was nothing that could be done. It was just a matter of getting with the guys and just trying to find some comfort.

BALDWIN: You said a minute ago that, you know, he was someone who never let the badge get to his head. I am wondering, on the flip side of that, you know, we've heard from the Harris County sheriff who's - who he believes, his own opinion, that, you know, Deputy Goforth was targeted because he was wearing his uniform. And I'm wondering, in any conversation you had with - with him, did he ever express any worry, any concerns over being a police officer, over being targeted?

MCCULLAR: Well, I think he was looking forward to have the body cameras to protected him. In this situation, it's something that, of course, would - would not have protected him. Other than that, no, there's - there's not.

BALDWIN: What was it about the body cameras that he shared with you?

MCCULLAR: Well, he - the way he expressed it to me was just the fact that he looked at it as something that protected him. Instead of having someone come back and say that he might have done something or presented himself unprofessionally, he looked at it as a way to protect him from something like that happening. He - again, I can only say - I mean he was - he was a good guy. I mean, when I talk about him, I tell people that - when we all get into law enforcement, we all feel like we can make a change. We can make a difference. And not only did he feel that way, you could tell by talking to him and you can tell by talking to all of the people here, he made a difference in a lot of people.

BALDWIN: And each and every one of us in our different communities are grateful for the difference, you know, from law enforcement. But in a totally separate city and a totally different part of the country, over the weekend, there was a march. I'm sure you're familiar with the Black Lives Matter movement. And I just want to play just a little something that happened over the weekend. This was the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Really take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CROWD: Pigs in a blanket, fry 'em like bacon. Pigs in a blanket, fry 'em like bacon. Pigs in a blanket, fry 'em like bacon. Pigs in a blanket, fry 'em like bacon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So, "pigs in a blanket, fry 'em like bacon" is what they're saying there. You know, when you talk to - when you talk to people - and I'm watching your face - but when you talk to people within this movement, they say they're a peaceful movement. And, you know, I'll be speaking with the leader of this particular chapter next hour to ask about that exact chant. But my question to you, sir, is, you know, does what we just heard, does that illustrate any potential fear that any of the officers have on the streets these days?

MCCULLAR: I think it's something that crosses their mind. I think it has to. I want to speak about this community and this community - I was out collecting funds for two days, standing on the street and there were African-American, white, Hispanic, Korean, Asian, and there were people and kids that were giving everything they had in their wallet. All of them were affected and crying. And I can't say whether it was a black issue, a white issue. You know, I don't know - the sheriff knows more than I do about that. For me, I don't want to turn it that way. I don't want it to look that way because right now it's not going to change what's happened. It's not going to help the family. The only thing we can do is pray for the family, be for - be there for the family. And right now we can only offer some financial assistance. And, again, it's not going to change anything. But maybe it will relieve some stress in their lives.

[14:10:29] And I do want to say, there are so many volunteers. There's volunteers that are behind the camera. And I came here and people just kept coming and wanting to give and wanting to do everything that they could. Grab a sign. Grab a bucket. Make ribbons.

BALDWIN: Sure.

MCCULLAR: We are blessed. Blessed to be in this community.

BALDWIN: Our thoughts, Brian, with your community. I am so sorry. Brian McCullar, thank you so much for taking the time with me today. I really appreciate it.

MCCULLAR: Thank you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: You got it. We have much more on Deputy Goforth next hour. But let me talk about this.

We could find out as soon as tomorrow whether New England Patriots superstar quarterback Tom Brady will have to sit out the first four games of the season. Deflategate negotiations did end today with no settlement between Brady and the NFL. Brady is fighting, as you know, that four game suspension he was handed after he was accused of playing a role here in the deflation of the footballs in last season's AFC championship game. A judge says he will decide Tuesday or Wednesday whether that suspension should stand.

CNN Sports anchor Rachel Nichols joins me with more of this.

So, neither side really -

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Budging at all.

BALDWIN: Budging at all.

NICHOLS: If you were hoping for an end to this saga that will never end -

BALDWIN: You'll be disappointed.

NICHOLS: Announcement today, it's not ending.

BALDWIN: OK.

NICHOLS: Basically they said there's no settlement. Now the judge will make a decision and that means it's a decision that could be appealed. So not only are we looking at the fact that there's no settlement, but there might not even really be a true end to this - this week. And what he will make that decision on is procedure.

Brooke, you and I have sat here, four months, by the way -

BALDWIN: Yes.

NICHOLS: And spoken about the PSI of footballs, about the ideal gas law, about the weather on a Sunday in January.

BALDWIN: That's right. That's right.

NICHOLS: Tom Brady's hair. You know, whatever topic has come up.

BALDWIN: Whatever.

NICHOLS: None of it is relevant anymore. All that matters is, did Roger Goodell, as the arbitrator in Tom Brady's punishment, follow the correct procedure? The NFL says yes and they have the Supreme Court on their side saying that judges really can't step into an arbitrator's ruling unless it is an extreme example and the NFL Players Association and Tom Brady has on their side what they say are four parts of Roger Goodell's situation there that are extreme, that were a problem and they think that they have a good case as well.

BALDWIN: OK. We'll be watching for that in the next couple of days. In the meantime, I can only imagine the "free Tom Brady" shirts selling like hot cakes around New England.

NICHOLS: Signs, streamers, baseball caps.

BALDWIN: I've heard. I've heard. I've heard. There you go.

NICHOLS: There you go.

BALDWIN: People love the Pats or they love to hate the Pats.

Rachel Nichols, thank you so much.

Next, some big, big news in the race for president. A fellow Republican now tied with Donald Trump in Iowa and third place also raising eyebrows.

Plus, it is one of the world's most important pieces of history, but right now a temple 2,000 years old may be destroyed by ISIS.

And after being told the part found on an island that belonged to Flight 370, that Malaysian Air Flight 370, new word today investigators aren't so sure. Why this case may not be so crystal clear.

You're watching CNN. Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:17:48] BALDWIN: You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

You know the deal, Iowa voters have the first say in the race for the White House. And likely caucus goers there are making one thing very clear, political insiders need not apply. The latest evidence comes in today's new Monmouth University poll of Iowa Republicans. Look at this with me. Do you see the face in the upper left-hand corner that is not normally there? That is Dr. Ben Carson. And now he is tied with Donald Trump at 23 percentage points. In third place, another insurgent candidate with no Washington experience, Carly Fiorina, at 10 percent. Everyone else, all the candidates with long political resumes and experience, they are all in the single digits.

So, Kathie Obradovich of "The Des Moines Register" is with me. Errol Louis, political anchor for New York One News and a CNN political commentator with me here in New York.

Wonderful having all of you on.

My goodness, Kathy, the beginning with you and your paper's weekend poll showed Carson on the rise. Now we just showed the Monmouth poll where he's tied with Trump. What's happened here? Where did Ben Carson come from?

KATHIE OBRADOVICH, POLITICAL COLUMNIST, "DES MOINES REGISTER": Well, ben Carson has been, I think, quietly working to get himself more familiar with Iowa caucus goers. He hasn't personally been here as much as some other candidates, but his campaign is putting out a book about him. You know, doing a lot of direct mail. There are billboards all over Des Moines with Ben Carson's face. And he -

BALDWIN: More than anyone else?

OBRADOVICH: Yes, absolutely. And he is definitely a - you know, I think emphasizing his outsider status. But he's not quite the same kind of bomb thrower as Donald Trump. In our poll we saw - for example, women leaning more towards Ben Carson than Donald Trump. And, you know, he - he has sort of the same type of rhetoric, but he's not quite as bombastic and I don't think he generates quite the same sort of - I think heated emotion that Donald Trump does.

BALDWIN: It's interesting how when you look at all of these, as we point out, political outsiders and how well they're resonating in this outsider status. But, Errol, to you, I mean, listen, people knew the name Donald Trump before - what's it been, three, four months ago and so, especially when you look at his - you know, it was like negative favorability ratings. Like negative 62 or 63 and now positive 62 or 63.

[14:20:10] ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That's right.

BALDWIN: It's more than just being an outsider.

LOUIS: Well, and, look, I interpret it in part as - I mean Iowa experts can confirm this, but that they like retail politics. When they see you face-to-face, then they'll start to sort of form their opinion. It probably didn't hurt that Donald Trump brought the Trump helicopter to the county fair and let kids take rides in it, that sort of thing. If you can press the flesh, if you can get up close to people, and, of course, that's what Ben Carson has done.

There is a long tradition. I mean Iowa became Iowa, capital I, in the presidential contest when an unknown governor named Jimmy Carter went trudging around in the snows and shocked everybody. President Obama ended up doing the same thing. Another little-known candidate.

BALDWIN: Yes.

LOUIS: Grass roots organization. Spent a lot of time out there, surprised everybody. So it's not a guarantee that you'll win, but it's a very good way to start a presidential campaign.

BALDWIN: All right. And then, Kathie, when you look overall, when you add up these candidates who are doing so well with that, you know, essentially zero Washington experience, the Ben Carsons, the Donald Trumps, the Carly Fiorinas, you know, that's basically half of the electorates that wants that, you know, no Washington, no establishment experience. What does that say about the electorate to you?

OBRADOVICH: Well, first of all, I think that the Republican electorate in general is fed up with Washington. They feel like they're - they're electing people who get to Washington and then let go of all of the things that they promised. One of the appeals I think of Donald Trump is that people feel like he says what he means and that he's going to do what he says. But I will add, Iowa's has a number -

BALDWIN: But how do they know that? How do they know that there's the follow through?

OBRADOVICH: Well, that's thing. I mean I think that they - they are basing it on his personality. They're basing it on their feelings about him. It's an emotional appeal.

BALDWIN: Yes.

OBRADOVICH: It's a personality appeal. But no candidate who has never been elected to anything before has ever won the Iowa caucuses. So Iowa does take a strong look at people who are - are new to the scene, but they don't necessarily always win the caucuses. This is a place for them to start.

BALDWIN: Yes, no, you're exactly right and let's talk Democrats on that note and you wrote, you're CNN op-ed, "the Bernie Sanders surge." I love how you wrote, "a funny thing happened on the way to the Clinton coronation. She's losing to him. They're - 96 percent of the respondents responding positively to him. This is what I found was interesting. It's not that they are, you know, anti-Hillary Clinton or there's this huge issue with the e-mail controversy. They love what Bernie Sanders is putting out there.

LOUIS: Exactly right. And I point out, Brooke, in the piece that, we forget that in 2008, Hillary Clinton came in third. She didn't just lose to Barack Obama, which was the main news.

BALDWIN: That's right.

LOUIS: She also lost narrowly to John Edwards. John Edwards is out there talking about a very populous program of dealing with what we now call income inequality. And Bernie Sanders has put that on steroids. He's talking about more than doubling the minimum wage out there to $15. He's talking about free tuition for anybody who goes to a public university. He's talking about a trillion dollars' worth of new investment in infrastructure nationwide and he's talking about doing away with - with NAFTA. So this is somebody who is speaking to the direct economic needs and it's a proven formula to at least get the attention of Iowa voters.

BALDWIN: So, I think to Kathie's point, just staying with you, so maybe she would risk losing in Iowa or in New Hampshire, but you know who else lost both and did pretty well? Bill Clinton.

LOUIS: Bill Clinton. Right. Right.

BALDWIN: Bill Clinton.

LOUIS: Well, we'll see if she's got the stomach for that because, you know, what didn't happen in 1992 or what wasn't around was Twitter, FaceBook, 24-hour news channels. I mean, it's going to be very hard - it would be very, very hard I think for Hillary Clinton to lose both Iowa and New Hampshire -

BALDWIN: And to continue on.

LOUIS: And then just continue on as if nothing happened.

BALDWIN: Errol Louis, thank you very much. Kathy Obradovich, thank you. We'll continue chatting for sure.

Coming up next, it is one of the most important temples in Syria, reportedly bombed by ISIS militants. What is being done to save humanity's precious and priceless relics overseas?

Also, part of a plane wing that washed up on a beach last month cannot be positively identified as being from that missing Malaysian Air Flight 370. What's going on here? Why the mixed messages? We'll get our aviation correspondent Richard Quest to straighten it out for us, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:28:39] BALDWIN: It is being called the most important temple in the Middle East. Nearly 2,000 years old. But it may not be around for much longer because there are reports there's been an explosion at the Temple of Bel carried out by ISIS. The temple is one of the biggest structures in this ancient down of Palmyra. We've been talking a lot about this area in Syria. The history, it's rich. Witnesses say these historic columns still stand but it's not clear how badly damaged the rest of this building is, the rest of this temple is. Our senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is in Beirut.

You know, we were just talking about a temple being destroyed last week and now this. Tell me about the damage.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, a slight glimmer of hope is that according to some eyewitnesses speaking to Syria's antiquities chief, there are suggestion, but after the large explosion the one report had a local saying was loud enough for the dead to be - to hear it. That there may still be some of the columns that are so symbolic to this structure, the Bel Temple, still standing. Really remarkable, frankly, if they're able to withstand ISIS (INAUDIBLE) themselves by centuries of change.

[14:29:45] But, Brooke, this is such a vitally important part of the world's heritage. We know ISIS have no regard really for human life, but it's human history, too, that seems to be in their sight as well. This is where the Persian and Roman empires first embraced the kind of oasis for trade, named Palmyra after the palms that stood for the cool shade it gave traders there. It's so much a part of the Middle East's heritage, of the human races, and it's part of what ISIS calls (ph) cleansing of anything they can sort of not fit in with their world vision.