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New Video in Chicago Shooting; Same-Sex Marriage License Fight; Refugees Walk to Austrian Border; Clinton Sorry for Email Confusion. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired September 04, 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] ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: Hello on this Friday. Thanks for joining me. I'm Ana Cabrera.

And we are just getting some new information in the manhunt near Chicago for three suspects wanted in the shooting death of Police Lieutenant Joe Gliniewicz. Now, investigators, just moments ago, briefed reports about a number of videos that they have gotten, saying they now have several videos, in fact, that could give police their first glimpse of the three suspects. A massive manhunt continues across northern Illinois. And a community still on edge as we head into this long holiday weekend and everybody is still on the loose. Officer Gliniewicz, a local hero, who was set to retire at the end of the month.

CNN's Rosa Flores is following this for us from Fox Lake, Illinois. And also with us, we have former New Jersey Police Detective Steve Rogers.

First to you, Rosa. I know you were just listening to that briefing. What is the very latest?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, the commander put it like. He said that they had new golden nuggets of information, and that is those surveillance videos, Ana. So what he says that they're working on right now is putting these videos together in almost like a geographic and also timeline sequence to piece it all together. And he says that so far it's all making sense.

We kept on asking to see if they could see those three suspects that we've been hearing about, to see if we could get a better description of these suspects, but nothing yet. So they're working on those golden pieces of information that could give us a face to these cop killers. We could put a face to these cop killers.

Now, the other big takeaway from today is about the weapon recovered at the scene. The commander confirming that it is, indeed, the officer's weapon. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE FILENKO, LAKE COUNTY, ILLINOIS, MAJOR CRIME TASK FORCE: There were some questions asked about a weapon recovered yesterday. I can confirm today that it was the officer's weapon that was recovered at the scene. We received confirmation yesterday and we're following up on some forensics from that weapon as we - as we speak.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: Now, he also added that that weapon was recovered nearby the body of Lieutenant Gliniewicz. Now, we know that the body was found about 50 yards from his police cruiser.

Now, like you mentioned, this is a holiday weekend, and a lot of people are expected to descend upon this community specifically for this weekend. Now, Ana, here's another very important note and that's the fact that a lot of the homes in this area are summer homes. People are not there. So they're expecting and they're preparing for people to come into their homes and perhaps notice something out of the ordinary. So they have agents ready to go, ready to listen and hear for those tips as they come in and for them to dispatch agents to these areas. The FBI also here at the press conference for the first time and they now have an FBI tip line that they're offering up and that is for anyone to call. And that tip line is 1-800-CALL-FBI.

Ana.

CABRERA: All right, Rosa Flores reporting. Any idea, Rosa, before we let you go, when we might see images from those videos?

FLORES: You know we've asked that question and they don't know at this point in time. They said the answer to that question was, we will tell you more when we're getting ready to make an arrests.

Ana.

CABRERA: All right, let me turn to Steve then because, obviously, that is the big question, who are these people. And you would think it would behoove them to show possible images of the suspects in order to try to identify them?

STEVE ROGERS, RETIRED DETECTIVE, NUTLEY, NEW JERSEY POLICE: Well, you're right. Look, the police commander said they had golden nuggets. But as Tom Fuentes on CNN said earlier, what's baffling individuals like us is what is Homeland Security doing with that golden nugget? That's three days that this crime was committed ago. That - that video should have been analyzed already and brought back to local police and let the public know what these images look like because there's where you're going to get your tip.

CABRERA: What might be the hold up?

ROGERS: I have no idea. I've - I've worked over the 38 years that I've been in law enforcement with the FBI, excellent, extraordinary organization. I believe they would have had this, as Tom said earlier, down in Quantico and back within 24 to 48 hours.

CABRERA: Rosa mentioned a little bit of new information we're learning about the weapon. And they have now confirmed it was, indeed, the officer's weapon that they found at the scene. They also have told us that it was discharged. But they aren't saying how many times it was fired and they're also not saying whether they believe it's the murder weapon. Why do you think they would not come forward on that?

ROGERS: Well, Ana, a lot of times they will not want to compromise an investigation and they would know why. But I can tell you, they are doing extraordinary work. I'm very impressed by the amount of work they're doing and how they're doing it. But now that they have a weapon, they may be able to get DNA off that weapon, a fingerprint off that weapon, even a scent for one of those K-9 dogs may lead them somewhere. So they're doing pretty good work down there and hopefully these leads will get them to where they want to go.

CABRERA: When you talk about possible DNA evidence, how long does it usually take to process some of the evidence collected at the scene for DNA evidence, where we will know whether or not there is a valid fingerprint?

[14:05:11] ROGERS: Well, I've seen it done rather quickly. Now rather quickly could be between three days and a week. Again, it's the technology that we have, how much DNA is on there. I'm not a scientist, so I don't want to venture into that area. But I could tell you this. We are so good, when I say "we," law enforcement and the FBI in particular, are so good at what they do, this thing should be turned around quickly.

CABRERA: All right. Thank you so much for joining us.

ROGERS: You're welcome.

CABRERA: Steve Rogers, really good to have your insight.

Now, thousands of law enforcement officials from across the country are in Houston today for the funeral of a comrade who was ambushed outside a local gas station. Deputy Darren Goforth was a 10-year veteran of the force and a father of two children. Officers flooded the streets and the highways there, bike, motorcades, other just flashed police cruiser lights, parked their cars in the shape of a cross to honor just this fallen deputy. Goforth's family arrived at the church flanked by loved ones and a sea of officers standing in salute. His wife saluted them back.

(VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Outside the church, rows of officers stood shoulder to shoulder. And in the parking lot, the traditional raising of fire truck ladders bearing the American flag. Now, Goforth's funeral is expected to be one of the largest ever for a fallen officer in that Houston area.

We're just minutes away now from a news conference about jailed Kentucky clerk Kim Davis. Today her office did probably the last thing she wanted, it issued its first marriage license to a same-sex couple since the Supreme Court ruling in June.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here's your receipt. And here's your license. And congratulations, man (ph). UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And the first couple. They just got their marriage license. First couple in this county.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm doing (INAUDIBLE) been crying this whole time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't help it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: And you're seeing William Smith, Jr., and James Yates. They've been together for nine years. They finally got their marriage license after being refused five times prior by the Rowan County clerk. So why was the sixth time the charm? Well, since Davis is in jail, held in contempt of court, her deputy clerk have now stepped in. But, still, there is one of her six deputies who - her son, in fact - refusing to issue the documents. And Davis says it is against her belief as an apostolic Christian to issue the license to same-sex couples. The judge has offered her a way out, saying she could go free if she agrees to not interfere with the licensing process. But her attorney says Davis just can't promise that, and so she remains in that jail cell. He did, however, tell CNN that there is a compromise Davis might accept.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAT STAVER, ATTORNEY FOR JAILED CLERK OF COURTS: And she's asked for one simple accommodation for her faith, not just for her but for all the other clerks in Kentucky that are similarly situated, and that is remove her name and title from the marriage certificates. That's all she's asking for. She'll issue the certificates, but she doesn't want her name and title on it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Joining me now, CNN legal analyst Danny Cevallos.

All right, Danny, is it that simple? Can her name just be removed from the paperwork?

DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Probably not. I mean this is certainly a case of first impression. But in looking at Kentucky law, she is the elected official. She is the county clerk. So the county clerk's name must appear on whatever is stamped.

Now, in most clerk's officers, big or small, there are deputy clerks and they routinely sign for the office. And it appears, from Kentucky law, that deputies - deputy clerks, unlike the county clerk who's an elected official, a deputy clerk is not elected and is there essentially, in the language of the law, to assist with official duties. So to the extent they are there to assist with the official duties of the clerk and not the personal obligations that that elected official feels, it appears under Kentucky law that they can issue marriage licenses.

The issue of whether or not the name can and should be removed is undoubtedly a case of first impression. If it has been dealt with, I'm not aware of it. But I think, under the law, I mean you could - you could - a judge could conclude either way, right? I mean the county clerk's office is ultimately who issues the license. Can you extricate the name of the human who occupies that post? [14:10:10] CABRERA: And speaking of that person, I mean she's refusing to do her job essentially. So what are the options? You can't fire her since she is an elected official.

CEVALLOS: This is really interesting. Kentucky law does provide for even criminal misdemeanors where the county clerk doesn't perform her duties, but those appear to be mostly related to voting violations, tampering with voting boxes, refusing to allow electioneers to come in and investigate. There doesn't appear to be any crime or any grounds for malfeasance if they just don't do their regular day-to-day duties. And, unquestionably, that's what we're dealing with here because, remember, she didn't just refuse to issue same-sex marriage licenses, she completely stopped issuing any marriage licenses.

CABRERA: In an effort to say she wasn't discriminating.

CEVALLOS: Right. But if you are taking that route and you say, well, I'm not discriminating, you know, the other side of that coin is that you're in dereliction of your duty because -

CABRERA: You're not doing your job.

CEVALLOS: You're not issuing marriage licenses.

And the court said, I believe pretty clearly held, although she has a different position, the courts appear to say that when a county clerk speaks, she speaks on behalf of the government. It's not her personal speech. Those are not her personal actions.

CABRERA: Right.

CEVALLOS: There is a difference. When you are the county clerk, you operate for the state, not for your own personal views.

CABRERA: Well, and I think the U.S. attorney in this case really summed it up best saying, "government officials are free to disagree with the law, but not disobey it". We know there have been a couple of other county clerks in Kentucky who are refusing to issue the same-sex marriage license, and now her son, a deputy clerk, is also refusing. Could they see the same fate and be jailed as well?

CEVALLOS: It's not as likely because her son is not the clerk with the primary responsibility of issuing these licenses. If the other deputy clerks can take up the work, the son could probably avoid liability, although a judge could, in his discretion, determine that he is in contempt of a court order. But if everybody else in the office is getting the job done, the real cause of action is against him by his coworkers because he ain't doing his job.

CABRERA: Well, and just 10 seconds here, now that the deputies are issuing these licenses, issue solved? Are we done?

CEVALLOS: We haven't resolved the fine - we haven't finely resolved the issue, but I will say that, for the most part, the courts appear to be pretty clear that where you are acting in your official capacity, you have to follow your job obligations, the job that you chose to be elected to. So -

CABRERA: So don't follow Kim Davis' lead.

CEVALLOS: Yes. I mean -

CABRERA: (INAUDIBLE) courthouse.

CEVALLOS: Can you - will you end up in contempt, in jail? Maybe.

CABRERA: All right. Danny Cevallos, thanks so much.

Well, Republican candidates for president also weighing in, taking sides on this very story. We'll have more on that coming up.

And next, a human crisis at its breaking point. Thousands of Syrian refugees spilling over borders, risking their lives for asylum. And who's going to fix this problem? And how? CNN is live right there on the front lines. We're going to take you there, next.

Also, sorry for the confusion. Hillary Clinton today addressing her e- mail controversy, but she stops short of an outright apology. We'll discuss what she did say.

And, a king cobra is on the loose. The hunt is on for this 8-foot venomous snake that has an elementary school on high alert. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:17:38] CABRERA: Today, the young Syrian boy who has now become the symbolic face of the migrant crisis in Europe was laid to rest. Two- year-old Aylan Kurdi was traveling with his family on a boat headed for Turkey when the unthinkable happened, he slipped overboard and drowned in the sea. This image is touching hearts and sparking outrage. His older brother, just four, and his mother also did not make it. Their bodies, too, washing up on the Turkish shore.

His family was fleeing their native home of Kobani in Syria. A city that has all been destroyed in a civil war that is shaking the country. And you can see why little Aylan's parents and tens of thousands of other refugees are fleeing this conflict. Today the little boy's body was brought back to Kobani, where he was buried with his older brother and his mom.

And Aylan's family is just one of thousands that tried to cross the Mediterranean Sea in makeshift fishing boats. Some getting to dry land only to then suffocate in trucks. And they're also packing into crowded train cars, which we've shown you here on CNN, now starving, without water. And now they are walking, thousands of refugees, they are walking on the highway that connected Budapest, Hungary, and Vienna, Austria. Their ultimate goal, asylum in Germany.

The majority of them boarded a train allegedly bound for Austria, only to have Hungarian officials stop that train. A little bit earlier, after hours of protesting at the station, an exodus of families fled on foot.

Now, CNN's Arwa Damon has been walking alongside these refugees. Their desperation and determination is unwavering.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We are on the highway that connects Budapest to Vienna, and there are thousands of people, most of them refugees of the war in Iraq and Syria, who have decided to walk. They came to this decision, they've been talking about it for a few days because they simply could not wait in the train station, wait for politicians to make a decision that would impact their lives, finally deciding to take matters into their own hands and walk, they say, if they have to, all the way to Germany.

She's like, we're not just tired, we're completely broken down.

[14:20:02] All the way to Germany.

You know, the kids, sometimes their resilience is just so phenomenal. And still some of them have the ability to make their parents laugh. And as painful as it is in some cases for parents to see their children in these situations, the fact that, you know, the kids keep going, the kids keep laughing and playing in these few moments that they do manage to capture them, that gives them a lot of strength.

It's very heartbreaking for the parents to see the children, some of the situations that they have already been in. For example, when they crossed the Serbia/Hungary border and had to beg for water, or when they were (INAUDIBLE) - underneath the rain (ph) for days. Very difficult for the parents. But, I mean, you can see this right now, this is sheer pure determination.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Well, the tensions are rising at the train station where this initially erupted and CNN's Frederik Pleitgen is there now.

Fred, I know this is day two in a standoff of sorts and this is an ongoing crisis. It's been weeks. It seems to be reaching a threshold of sorts. Do you anticipate officials are going to put that train back into operation today?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, they certainly aren't. And, in fact, what the officials have done, Ana, is they've cordoned the train off earlier today, actually just maybe an hour and a half ago, they cordoned the train off. They put a different train in front of it to make sure that reporters' views were blocked because we were actually communicating with the people who were on that train and they were complaining to us about the circumstances that they were under. Of course, very little food, very little water. It was also a really, really hot day today here in Hungary and so inside those train cars the conditions there were absolutely miserable. And then what they did was they cordoned the place off. They sent riot police on to the platform and then slowly started walking the people there off of the train. It seems as though most of them have now actually left the train and they were brought with buses to a shelter, which, of course, was something that they wanted to avoid at all costs. There were people who were screaming on those train tracks. There were people who were screaming to us saying, please don't leave us here, keep broadcasting this so - tell the world what is going on here with us as the security forces there were moving in on the train, Ana.

CABRERA: Why is this all culminating in Hungary?

PLEITGEN: Well, it's all culminating in Hungary because that is the first entry point for many of these people into the European Union. And, quite frankly, what you have right now is you do have a lot of chaos in European law. You obviously have this big migrant trek that's going off through most of southeastern Europe and in Hungary is where they go into the European Union.

Now, normally, what's supposed to happen is that people who come into the first country in the European Union, that's where they're supposed to apply for asylum. That's what everybody calls this Dublin agreement. However, what's been happening de facto is that many people have been making it to other countries. They've been making it to Germany. The Germans have said, Syrians that are coming here, they will be welcomed. They will be allowed to apply for asylum here. And that's something that's actually worked. But the Hungarians are saying, listen, the European law says we can't let these people pass, so that's what we're going to do.

CABRERA: Oh, it is a complicated situation, no doubt. Fred Pleitgen, thank you so much.

PLEITGEN: Yes.

CABRERA: And coming up, Hillary Clinton speaking out just moments ago about her State Department e-mails. What she says she could have done differently. That's next.

Also ahead, was Donald Trump asked a gotcha question? A question meant to trick him during a radio interview? Or should he have known the answer about some key foreign policy details? We'll hear from the radio host who interviewed him.

Plus, shocking allegations involving an alleged fight club at a New Jersey daycare. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:28:01] CABRERA: Another one of Hillary Clinton's top State Department aides is on Capitol Hill today facing questions from a House committee over the e-mail controversy. And when asked earlier, Clinton declined to outright apologize for using a private e-mail server. But in her interview with MSNBC, Clinton did talk about what she could have done differently. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Certainly wish that I had made a different choice. And I know why the American people have questions about it. And I wanted to make sure that I answer those questions, starting with the fact that my personal e-mail use was fully above board. It was allowed by the State Department, as they have confirmed. But in retrospect, it certainly would have been better. I take responsibility. I should have had two accounts, one for personal and one for work related.

At the end of the day, I am sorry that this has been confusing to people and has raised a lot of questions, but there are answers to all these questions and I will continue to provide those answers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Let's discuss. Joining me now, Matt Lewis, senior contributor for "The Daily Caller," and CNN political commentator Van Jones.

Van, to you first. Should Clinton apologize?

VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think that she's come pretty close to apologizing. I think if she does or doesn't, she's still going to get hammered the same way. She should have known better. I think it's very hard to understand why she would have put herself in this situation. At the same time, this is the only thing that Republicans can - have been hitting her on and I think most people still honestly just don't care. She's got a bunch of other problems. I really don't think, at the end of the day, this is going to be a voting issue in a general election for the average swing voter.

CABRERA: Matt, do agree?

[14:29:48] MATT LEWIS, SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR, "THE DAILY CALLER": Well, look, I think the - the - I agree in the sense - I don't think the e- mail itself is the smoking gun, silver bullet, whatever you want to call it. I think the problem with the e-mail scandal is, she's been on the defensive talking about it for months and when she talks about it she comes across as unlikeable and untransparent. And if you look at that clip you just played, insulting.