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Soldier held in captivity and tortured for five years should serve time; almost half a million refugees fleeing war to Croatia; Two Texas high school football ballplayers caught on video blindsiding a referee. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired September 18, 2015 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00](COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CODY FULL, FORMER ARMY SPECIALIST: Bosses has felt that it was enough evidence to push this to try to (ph) before the enemy.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN NEWSROOM HOST: Do you wish you were testifying?

FULL: I mean, I don't care either way. I just hope -- I know if I was there I know for a fact I would get the truth out from my perspective and I hope everybody else that is there is doing the exact same thing.

BALDWIN: In your opinion, what is the truth?

FULL: He deserted, you know, and now they're trying to say he was going to report some atrocity that was going on a couple of months ago. They were saying he was mentally and unfit so, they keep changing their story on what the excuses for why he did it. And at the end of the day, all as that it is, is an excuse. He deserved it. He had misbehaved before the enemy and the Army found that there is enough evidence to charge him with the -- to send him to an Article 32 hearing.

BALDWIN: So Cody, when he left -- and it was Major Selvino who told you all then -- he reiterated this at this hearing today, you know, that you had to 45 days of searching. You were part of this. He said this is your brother. When you first heard about him leaving, what did you think?

FULL: Well, I mean we had to get him back regardless of what he did. He's still an American and you have to get him back because we're going to treat a lot better than the other players in that area -- they're going to treat him. We wanted to get him back as fast as possible so he didn't end up on Youtube or his head getting cut up, and we did everything we could to try to get him back. And it was mentally and physically exhausting.

BALDWIN: The, General Dahl said that after interviewing Bowe Bergdahl, that he didn't find any evidence to corroborate that Bergdahl was sympathetic to the Taliban. If that is the case and the testimony, you know, that he wanted to escape to make a splash, to be able to get access to high ranking officer, which obviously all went horribly wrong and ended up in captivity by the Taliban for five years -- I mean, you're saying he absolutely deserted but knowing that he was held in captivity and tortured for five years, do you still think he should serve time? FULL: It's not really up to me or General Dahl for that matter (ph). We're both ...

BALDWIN: Dahl says it would be inappropriate.

FULL: Yes, and it's again, like his opinion, my opinion is one (ph). They're still like people, they go on trial, other people have opinions if they should go to jail or not go to jail. It's not up for neither him nor I. It's up for the people proceeding over the trial and I don't know if there's a jury or ...

BALDWIN: Were you potentially in harm's way for 45 days looking for this man? I do think your opinion matters, sir.

FULL: You know, I think, you know, we should serve time for whether that be just a dishonorable discharge or jail time. You know, there's other soldiers that go to Iraq and Afghanistan and they serve this country honorably. They come home PTSD (ph) missing a leg. They might be (ph) from a roadside bomb, and one night they decide they're going to have too many drinks and you know, drive home and then get pulled over for DWI. Well, the military discharges them and they don't give them an honorable discharge. They don't give them any benefits. They get kicked to the curb.

Even though they served this country on honorable conditions and did great things for this country in Afghanistan and Iraq, they come home and have to face punishment if they make a mistake. He made a mistake. He needs to face punishment.

BALDWIN: Thank you so much, Former Army Specialist Cody Full for your time and again, for serving valiantly this country. I appreciate it.

FULL: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Thank you. Coming up next, a flood of humanity. Almost half a million people streaming (p) fleeing war, persecution, poverty. Croatia, the latest country to claim it's overwhelmed by this influx of refugees. We will take you live to the border of Hungary.

Also ahead, two high school football players seen blindsiding this referee, speaking out now about why they did it. Well, that ref's attorney joins us next for his side of the story.

[15:35:00](COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: With teargas and water cannons, razor wire and police vehicles, Hungarian officials draw away thousands of refugees seeking asylum from their war torn nations. But their desperation is so tremendous, this families are now trying to use a different route to get to Western Europe through Croatia. More than 13 thousand people have now entered Croatia in just the past two days and now the government there says it can no longer bear the burden here at this crisis.

Our senior international correspondent, Ben Wedeman is live now in the border of Croatia and Hungary. So Ben, first of all, tremendous reporting there for us here at CNN. Will Croatia allow these families at least to cross through in the next couple of days?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The situation has become utterly absurd at the moment. What we saw in the afternoon was Croatian officials says we can't handle this anymore -- this crisis -- This sudden influx of refugees and migrants. So, they bussed them all here or many of them, thousands of them, to the Croatian Hungarian border. In fact, there's a good 20 buses lined up outside the border post here.

We've already seen about 10 already crossing over. The Hungarian clearly so frustrated with this crisis. They've decided to let in these refugees and migrants who have been stranded between Serbia and Croatia.

[15:40:00] And so now they've let them through and just this evening, a Hungarian government spokesman here described the actions of Croatia in trying to deal with this crisis as pathetic.

They said they will let them in. They will allow, they will bus these refugees to three centers near the Austrian border where they will be registered and our producer asked them, and after the registered what happens? He said they have to stay in those centers at least 24 to 48 hours. Then according to European regulations they are free and if they want to go in the direction of the Austrian border, they can do it.

And therefore, this crisis has been shunted around various European countries and now it's going back in the direction of Austria and Germany. Refugees and the migrants seemed to be so exhausted that many of them simply given up and they're going to go where they're sent with the hope that somehow, they'll eventually end up where they want to go. Brooke.

BALDWIN: To use your word, absurd. Ben Wedeman, thank you so much for covering this for us. I appreciate it and staying on this. The mayor along the Hungarian border is posting an online message to refugees Hungary is bad choice. This town is the worst.

CNN's Erin McLaughlin reports this mayor is just one of so many in Hungary who are making it clear undocumented migrants are not welcome there.

ERIN MCLAUGLIN, CNN REPORTER: Mayor Laszlo Toroczkai appears in a slickly produced YouTube video. Its macho tone is undeniable where each guy hangs out with border guards while a man on a motorcycle patrols the countryside. There's a helicopter, even horses. Plenty of shots of the newly build razor-wire fence and a warning, cross Hungary's border illegally and you'll end up in prison.

This week, Hungary policy towards migrants was on full display. Police fired water cannons and tear gas into Serbian territory. A government spokesperson said it was in response to young men armed with sticks, stones, and bottles. This, the day after new laws were introduced to crackdown on the flow of migrant. It's now a crime to enter Hungary without the right papers and there's a possibility of jail time for anyone caught damaging the newly built border fence. All points to what Toroczkai makes in his video. He's been the town's

far right mayor for almost two years. On the village's website, he welcomes tourists. There is no welcome for refugees. Anything but, it warns residents about the potential health dangers of touching anything that may have been left behind via migrant.

At the end of his video, Toroczkai offers up a final piece of advice. He tells them not to trust human traffickers and to travel through Slovenia and Croatia instead of Hungary.

And there's even a Google map with an alternate route to Germany in case anyone is in need of directions. Erin McLaughlin, CNN London.

BALDWIN: All right, Erin. Coming up, you've seen the video. A high school football referee just totally blindsided by these two players. That ref's attorney joins me live and that's to respond to these new accusations to these teams who are just now speaking out today. Also, let's take a quick peek of the closing bell, just about 15 minutes before the end of the trading day, down 309 points here. Remember the news from Janet Yellen. The Fed share they will not touch those interest rates, but again, a lot of red on the screen as we go to the closing bell. Stay here, you're watching CNN.

[15:45:00](COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Two Texas high school football ballplayers caught on video blindsiding this referee, one and then the other. They are now speaking out in a very public way after their video surfaced.

The pair claimed this referee was using racial slurs toward their teammates. The two players spoke this morning on national television appearing on ABC's Good Morning America. They said they went after the ref because they were following orders from an assistant coach.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, you put your trust into this, you know, grown up. You know, a guardian, your coach who has been there since, for me since my sophomore freshman year and, you know, I trust him. You know that he wants the best for me and I just did what I was told.

BALDWIN: I have with CNN Correspondent Jean Casarez, who's been all over this. Also with me, Alan Goldberger, who is representing referee here, Mr. Robert Watts. So, welcome to both of you. Jean, so now we've heard from these two players. They are clearly pinning it on this assistant coach. We'll get the ref's side in just a second, but what is the school saying about all of this.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I spoke with Northside Independent school District in San Antonio through e-mail today and they said first of all, they had no idea that these two were going and flying to New York to be on ABC news this morning. They also say that the two continue to be students at the alternative high school pending the results of their disciplinary hearing.

Brooke, here, if we really look at the facts, here's one of the headlines. This interview that they did today, they admit that they did. They admit it, and there is currently an investigation ongoing in Texas with the Marble Falls Police Department to determine if criminal charges should be filed. And the video happen to be rolling so, you see it -- that will be exhibit A from prosecutors -- and they admit they did it. Now, they also say they were told to do it by the assistant coach.

BALDWIN: Right.

CASAREZ: Originally though, they said it was because the assistant coach said that the, the calls being made during the game weren't fare so we got to get him. But then that escalated to there were racial slurs.

[15:50:00]BALDWIN: Let me get to that. On that point, Alan, I wanted to address this directly but just to the viewers, who haven't seen these young men talk about that specifically this morning on TV, let's play that sound.

UNIDENTIFIABLE MALE: He told one of my Hispanic friends, he told him speak English, this is America, and I told that and then ...

UNIDENTIFIABLE MALE: Did you hear that or did one of your friends tell you that?

UNIDENTIFIABLE MALE: No, I heard him. And then to the Africa- American in my team, he told him the "N" word.

UNIDENTIFIABLE MALE: And you heard that?

UNIDENTIFIABLE MALE: Did you heard him say the "N" word.

UNIDENTIFIABLE MALE: Did you?

UNIDENTIFIABLE MALE: Yes, I heard him when he had called on Moses Reynolds, you know, the "N" word, and it was just really ...

UNIDENTIFIABLE MALE: He says that's a lie.

UNIDENTIFIABLE MALE: It's not. It's the honest truth right there and I would not lie about this situation like, just how bad it's gotten. Like, the truth needs to be told.

BALDWIN: All right Alan, so just directly to you, with regard to your client, you heard those young men saying apparently the ref said speak English this is America. He used the "N" word. Did he?

ALAN GOLDBERGER: Well, apparently according to these students -- this is not and the other thing was said, but this is nothing new, Brooke.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Hold on, hold on. You got to answer the question first. I want to get you on the record. Did the ref say those things?

GOLDBERGER: I am, I am answering the question. I hope you understand that I was not present at the game, but Mr. Watts has said repeatedly, and I have said repeatedly that Mr. Watts denies using any inappropriate remarks for the record and in fact, the emphasis here is such that the allegations of the students are taking on a character as if it was somehow some kind of excuse or justification for the two crimes that they committed in full view of, by all accounts, about 10 million viewers.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Hey, you're right. It's absolutely exhibit A, the video is rolling so, you have that.

GOLDBERGER: The referees -- right. And the referees including Mr. Watts have no inducement for making the types of remarks that they customarily and routinely penalize if they are witness to any student athlete or a coach, or anyone else connected with the team making remarks at that. Mr. Watts has officiated almost 500 games for the Texas Association of Sports Officials over a 14 year period. He also works college football. He's a responsible person, a leader in the community, is a vice president of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Any complaints ever in his history of those 500 games?

GOLDBERGER: We just answered the question.

BALDWIN: The time is slipping sir so, that's why I needed to jump in.

GOLDBERGER: There has been no indication at all that anything has changed since these students made their original allegation. Mr. Watts has a flawless record and he is not out there to be a punching bag and the implication that because some remark may have been made -- 10 or 15 or 20 minutes earlier -- that somehow supplies the justification, is patently unfair. It's the officials who make the game safe, fair, and fun

BALDWIN: I understand. Quickly sir, final question, will he file charges?

GOLDBERGER: I'm sorry. I didn't hear the question.

BALDWIN: I can't hear anything. Got to go to break. Be right back.

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