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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Examining Trump's Non-Response to Supporter Calling Obama a Muslim; Removing Statute of Limitations on Sexual Assault Discussed; Previewing the Pope's Visit to Cuba. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired September 18, 2015 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:08] PAULA JOHNSON, FORMER N.H. STATE REPRESENTATIVE: So, you know, if he does -- if he gives the wrong answer or the right answer, I guess there's no right answer or wrong answer with Mr. Trump right now. And I felt that, you know, he asked the question, I was kind of like bedazzled a little bit about the question that he asked, but, you know what, I think in my opinion only that there is a lot of feelings out there. There's a lot of feelings out there, there's a lot of feelings about a lot of things out in this country right now with a lot of the immigrants that are coming into the country.

Now, is it about the Muslims? I think really in my opinion, it's about what's going on in this country at this point in time, and what people are feeling in this country. And there's something he should've have asked the question but he did.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN HOST: Let's be really clear that there are many Muslims who are in this country who are Americans they're not immigrants. They are sometimes several generations of Americans.

PAULA JOHNSON, FMR. NEW HAMPSHIRE REPRESENTATIVE: And absolutely. And they're wonderful people.

BANFIELD: And I'd like to ask about -- well, wonderful. One of those wonderful people just thought, you know, at 14 years old handcuffs put on him down, it is in middle school in Texas. I'm not sure if it's a middle school, or it has to be 14 years old, he brought a clock to school, because he loves NASA, he loves electronics, he's like an engineer already at the bright young age of 14 and he got arrested for it. And I wanted to get your impressions of that Muslim?

JOHNSON: Well, I didn't follow the story, so I really can't give you an opinion, I guess the question also becomes what is the school policy in bringing things into school, you know. It's all about policy. So I really can't comment on that, you know,

you are kind of throwing me into something I don't know that much about. I haven't followed the story, I've only heard bits and pieces on it.

But, you know, I'll be more than happy to do my homework on it and then you can bring me back on the show and I can give you a concise answer on it.

BANFIELD: So I want to bring -- let me bring Dean Obeidallah into the conversation, and Dean I want to just read one of the recent CNN polls that found that three Americans in 10 believe that President Obama is a Muslim, this despite the fact that he is a regular, as a churchgoer, that most of the top Republican leaders in Congress have fully acknowledged publicly, he is absolutely not a Muslim, he is a Christian and yet you have those numbers and the numbers are even bigger when you go to the Republicans it's like more than four in 10. And among the Trump supporters it's more than half.

DEAN OBEIDALLAH, CONTRIBUTOR, DAILY BEAST: Yes, 66 percent of Trump supporters think Obama is a Muslim. I'm Muslim. I wish President Obama was a Muslim. You know how proud I would be if the president of United States is a Muslim. He's not a Muslim. It doesn't matter if he's a Muslim. They use it as an allegation. To them Muslim means less than American. In fact maybe not even American, not entitled to the same rights and privileges as the rest of us. That's just upsetting.

Donald Trump tells us he can stand up to the world leaders, he wouldn't even stand up to a bigot 10 feet from his face spewing anti- Muslim rhetoric. Forget the facts, the first part of the question was, we have a problem in this country, it's Muslims. Right there Donald Trump who was nodding and said yes and (inaudible) he's nodding and he said yes.

He should have said, "That's wrong. Let's talk about specifics, are there some -- is there a threat of terrorism? Of course. Overwhelmingly, the Muslims in this country, law-abiding citizens, who love this nation, of course. He should have accounted

them right there. Forget Obama Muslim or not. To me, that's secondary, some fear more about Muslims and not even had an agreement.

BANFIELD: Paula Johnson, you're a former New Hampshire State representative, you're the co-chair of the Women for Trump Coalition and what Dean said is that this person who was bigoted said we need to get rid of the Muslims who are the problem in this country. We need to -- When can we get rid of them. And Donald Trump didn't say anything to that and he didn't say anything to the first part where he clearly heard the man because he actually looked away and said we got this set of first question. He didn't say anything about this notion that the President isn't American and is a Muslim.

Are you not troubled by that?

JOHNSON: Well, you know, why don't we get off of this subject already. You know, first of all, in my opinion, I don't care what the president is. I look at people as are they capable of running my country, what are they, what do they represent, OK?

So I feel that Mr. Trump is a very successful business man, I think he has more than the qualifications to run this country. You know what one person believes in their opinion, we are a country of democracy, we have our First Amendment rights. I believe that you are a lawyer, we have the First Amendment rights, we have the right to say

what we want to say, and why can't that man voice what he feels, that's what he feels. Because that doesn't mean that...

BANFIELD: He can. He can. He did but I think the question is...

JOHNSON: That's what exactly what Mr. -- but Mr. Trump...

BANFIELD: ... when someone does use the First Amendment right and makes a very egregious error in this kind of way that as a leader, and Donald Trump wants to be the number one leader of the country it might be who him to correct the record as John McCain so eloquently do.

JOHNSON: Well, let me ask you a question -- let me throw you a question, back what about when our President is disrespectful the Prime Minister of Israel, is that OK?

[12:35:02] I'm Jewish by birth...

BANFIELD: You know what, I couldn't -- It's correct in here (ph)...

JOHNSON: ... and from that one, he is disrespectful.

BANFIELD: I had an interruption in my ear, I could not hear what you said Ms. Johnson. What was -- I'm sorry, I did not hear what you said, what is the President was?

JOHNSON: I said what about when the President is disrespectful to the Prime Minister of Israel, is that OK? And he is our leader. But you know what, it's always both ways.

BANFIELD: I don't think he was ever disrespectful of his state but...

JOHNSON: You know what, you know, you can't do it. You can't say that Mr. Trump is wrong but then we have elected officials that are just -- that are horrible and disrespectful to the American people.

OBEIDALLAH: Hold on, respectfully, can I say I'm not troubled...

JOHNSON: I'm not troubled at all.

OBEIDALLAH: ... the President not standing up...

JOHNSON: I think Mr. Trump has respected everybody.

OBEIDALLAH: Donald Trump is also endorsed by White Supremacist groups publically. The Daily Stormer, I wrote about it.

JOHNSON: Oh, please. You know what...

OBEIDALLAH: You know what, David Duke say this and when Donald Trump was given opportunity to say, "Do you...

(CROSSTALK)

JOHNSON: You wouldn't do this to Jeb Bush or Chris Christie.

BANFIELD: Well, Chris Christie I will end this I think as Christie said this morning that he absolutely would have corrected the record, Ms. Johnson. Chris Christie lied on the air that he would have corrected the record. And I have to leave it there unfortunately. JOHNSON: Chris Christie is having a rally in Nashville with maybe 100 people today.

BANFIELD: Ms. Johnson, I appreciate your time. I have to leave it there I do thank you for being on with us.

JOHNSON: Thank you very much for allowing me to be on.

BANFIELD: And Dean Obeidallah...

OBEIDALLAH: Thank you.

BANFIELD: ... always, thank you for your time as well. I appreciate it.

Stay with us, CNN the Republican Debate is going to re-air tonight if you missed any of it. It starts at 10:00 Eastern Time.

And coming up next, the allegations against Bill Cosby leading to pushing at least one state to get rid of the statute of limitations on sexual assault. Is there a downside to that?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:40:11] BANFIELD: Lawmakers in Colorado want a statute of limitations on sexual abolished, gone. That's a state where at least three women accused Bill Cosby of drugging and attacking them decades ago. Colorado's position and limitation from sex assault is 10 years.

More than a dozen of Cosby's 50 plus accusers appeared on a cable special last night called Cosby, The Women's Pick. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was just a small town girl. I just turned 20.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was 23 years old. I wasn't going to go up against Goliath.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The kind of person I was dealing with would destroy me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And he told me ...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Gloria already appears in that special she represents the -- a few of those accusers. And I want to talk to you a little bit about this notion about Colorado. Three of the accusers are behind these efforts to get statutes wiped out. And maybe as a primer, how many states actually don't have a statute of limitation for sexual (inaudible)?

GLORIA ALLRED, ATTORNEY REPRESENTING SOME OF COSBY'S ACCUSERS: Well, most do have the statute of limitations. New Jersey, for example, is a state that has eliminated the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution of rape and sexual assault. However, it is not retroactive back to the time when at least the accusers o Bill Cosby who accused him of raping or sexually assaulting them in New Jersey would be covered that is would be within that time period to have their case, criminally prosecuted. It's been only that DA decided that that case could be proved and be under reasonable doubt.

BANFIELD: Which is my next question, in fact. And before I even get to that, it is different everywhere you go around the United States. Somehow the 10 years statute of limitations, some 20, some -- if you're young and you have ever -- an elapsed memory, that will change the dynamic as well.

But is there not a downside to stay someone who 14 years after the fact with stated memories, very little evidence, witnesses who maybe dead by now want to bring a case like this?

ALLRED: Well, from my point of view, I think there should be no statute of limitations for criminal prosecution of rape and sexual assault. And otherwise, I don't think that the court has door, should be slammed shot in the face or rape or sexual assault victims. Eliminating it only means this. It only means that the person who believes she is a victim who believes that she can prove it and of course her testimony is evident, can go to the police and the district attorney and state what has happened. And then it's still up to the DA to decide do I or do I not have enough evidence to prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt.

So they're nothing barred by this arbitrary time period set by law.

BANFIELD: Yes, and we clearly decided that for murder cases, we can either go to trial or not depending on the evidence that it already have been able to (inaudible).

ALLRED: And we have changed it to some extent in Nevada. All because of this Cosby issue. My client, Lise-Lotte Lublin, who you just showed, she's one of the accusers on the A&E Special. She and I went to the Nevada legislature and ultimately after we testified, they did amend the law, they didn't eliminate it but they lengthened the statute of limitations, the time period. And then we were with the governor when the governor signed a bill into law.

BANFIELD: They're looking forward to more news from you as you go into deposition next month ...

ALLRED: October 9th.

BANFIELD: ...and what's the date? October 9th, so set a day for October 10 fraud (ph). Thank you.

ALLRED: Thank you.

BANFIELD: Thank you Attorney (ph) Gloria Allred. Thank you.

Coming up next, we'll tell you why Pope Francis is asking you to pray for him as he packs his bags for Cuba and the United States.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:47:39] BANFIELD: The army is deciding today whether or not it is going to go ahead with the court-martial against Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl. He is the American soldier who went missing from his base in Afghanistan and spent five years in the hands of the Taliban. He was set free last year in a swap for five Taliban members held at Guantanamo Bay. The army formally charged him with desertion and other very serious military offenses. And today, the army major general leading investigation into the case began some testifying. Bergdahl could face life in prison if this court-martial goes ahead and if he is found guilty.

Briefly, a few more other stories we are looking at today, a couple of high school football players say they clobbered a referee on the field on the order of their coaches.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL MORENO, HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYER: Well, before, you know, I had got put into the game, the previous safety that was in, he had got injured, and while on the sideline, he pulled me and another player over, and he told us, and I quote, "You need to hit him."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: The players say that the coach ordered them to hit the referee allegedly for making bad calls and using racial insults on the field. The coach is on paid leave and has yet to comment personally on the story.

The federal indictment today on charges related to the shooting deaths of nine people at a church in Charleston, South Carolina. The charges filed today are not against the actual shooter, Dylan Roof, but against another young man, this man, Roof's friend since middle school. The FBI arrested Joey Meek yesterday saying that he knew about Dylan Roof's plan to kill people in his words "to start a race riot," and yet said nothing.

And get ready to see a romance still going strong after nearly 70 years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How about that couple.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey. Great to see the president back at the ballpark.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Home run, I say, caught by the kiss cam.

Former President Jimmy Carter and his first lady Rosalyn being really good sports at the Atlanta Braves' game last night. President Carter smiling and showing no signs of health problems since the cancer treatment that he is undergoing, instead a nice smooch with his wife. Coming up next, we're going to take you live to Havana Cuba where Pope Francis is headed for his historic visit.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:53:41] BANFIELD: Just a day ahead of Pope Francis' arrival in Havana, the Obama administration has further loosening restrictions on travel and business and communications between Americans and Cubans.

The Pope flies to Cuba tomorrow and visits their three cities before starting the first ever trip to the United States and that begins on Tuesday.

First stop Washington, where he'll be the first pope ever to address a joint meeting of Congress. On Thursday, he flies to New York. On Friday, he'll speak with the U.N. and he wraps up his tour in Philadelphia, arriving next Saturday, and then flying home on Sunday night, and yet, he is asking for your prayers. In a tweet at that, my CNN colleague Patrick Oppmann is watching the events in Cuba and things must be very exciting. Take me there and talk to me about all the preps.

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDET: Absolutely and the preps, you can hear the audio. The system has been tested on right now. They're getting everything ready for the pope to come here on Sunday to deliver his first mass at that stage behind me, but let me give you a sense of where we are. This is Havana's revolution square and there's a lot of different signs that we usually we don't see here.

[12:54:51] This is a sign that's been for decades, and it is a picture of Che Guevara, of course the revolutionary leader and also in Argentine like Pope Francis, of course a very different kind of man but then behind me, this is in the -- I'm frankly quite surprised and I've covered it all free table. This is now -- it's a huge billboard of Jesus, saying, "Come to me" in Spanish. We've never seen that here before, so if this is the kind of different signs that you are seeing, the welcome signs that have been put up all over the city and getting the city is fixed up as possible for Pope Francis to come here.

He's to do something that no other pope has done as well, Ashleigh, and that is when he gets to other and beyond Santiago de Cuba. He will fly directly from Cuba to the United States. It's another symbol of how this pope is be able to bring together these two countries that until he got involved to really help the U.S. and Cuba restore relations at odds, but this is where it's all going to happen on Sunday, and a lot of people here will be sitting here behind me. We'll get a front row seat of his -- it's a history, Ashleigh

BANFIELD: That's fantastic. What a great site. I hope the rain behind you goes away quickly. Patrick Oppman thank you for that.

We're going some really extensive coverage here on CNN as well. You have to stay with us right throughout the week as we do the special events and coverage of the pope's visit not only throughout Cuba, but also to the United States as he makes his way back home. And you should know as well this Cuban visit huge as it is well know about the conversations between the pope and leaders of Cuba and United States and easing relations between the two nations.

Thanks for being with us, have a great weekend. In the meantime stay tuned for Wolf who starts right after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:00:09] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello I'm Wolf Blitzer.