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Donald Trump Plays Nice Guy at Debate; Boy, 8, Charged with Murdering 1-Year-Old Girl; 9 Killed as Plane Smashes Apartments; Double Amputee Veteran Climbs Kilimanjaro. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired November 11, 2015 - 14:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:30:53] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Here we are, the day after the fourth Republican debate, and Donald Trump playing the nice guy, coming to the defense of Jeb Bush, calling out Carly Fiorina for interrupting, although some might say it wasn't very nice, even offering faint praise for his rivals.

A short time ago, our senior Washington correspondent, Jeff Zeleny, caught up with Mr. Trump in New Hampshire and asked him how he's doing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: And during the debate, you have to give other people the chance to talk. In the case of Carly, she was interrupting a lot of people. And by the way, four people came up to me afterwards on the stage, and they say, thank you for what you did with Carly. I think that she is a nice person, no problem with Carly. But if you remember, I did the same thing to Kasich, because he was cutting off Jeb Bush. And I said, "Let Jeb speak."

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Why do you have to be more conciliatory?

TRUMP: I don't think I do have to be, but I want to show respect for the other people up there and I want to let them talk. It's their time to talk.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: It's different than the other debates.

TRUMP: I'm learning.

ZELENY: It's almost like you felt sorry for Jeb Bush.

TRUMP: No, not sorry. I think he was being cut off very unfairly. At some point, I said, hey, let him talk. You saw that, right?

ZELENY: I did see that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: He did, indeed. He said, "Let Jeb speak." Let me bring in writer, senior contributor to the "Daily Caller's"

Matt Lewis and, news director for the Tea Party New Network and columnist for townhall.com, Scottie Hughes.

Welcome to both of you.

MATT LEWIS, SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR, THE DAILY CALLER: Hi.

SCOTTIE HUGHES NEWS DIRECTOR, TEA PARTY NEW NETWORK & COLUMNIST, TOWNHALL.COM: Thank you.

BALDWIN: I have a whole other segment for the Carly Fiorina interrupting moment. Let me just pause that. That's for Dana Bash next hour.

Matt, to you on the debate, geared toward economic visions for the future, and the question is, did Donald Trump stand out? I mean, this is Mr. "Art of the Deal" Trump. Did you hear his deal for America last night?

LEWIS: I don't think he did stand out. I don't think he helped himself. I don't think he hurt himself. If you like Donald Trump, you still like him. He doesn't get into the weeds, doesn't really talk policy. Frankly, I thought the real substance ever the debate wasn't even really over economics. It was things about immigration, which of course is tied to economics, and foreign policy, the clash between Rand Paul and Marco Rubio I thought was maybe the highlight of the evening. So Donald Trump was not really front and center in terms of the news making part of the debate.

BALDWIN: Scottie, do you agree?

HUGHES: Well, to a certain extent. But let me ask you this question. How effective on economic policy can you be when you have eight people on a stage sitting there combating each other for one to two minute sound bite that media will play the next day? There was more economic policy talked about in the earlier debate. That's where I think Reince Priebus and the RNC needs to look at the smaller group format and say, if you want substance in a specific area, you're going to have to lower the number on the stage. It's impossible to talk about macro r microeconomics in a one-minute sound bite.

BALDWIN: I don't know if America wants to hear about microeconomics. Some of it, yes, people want substance and perhaps people want more from Mr. Trump. But there was a discussion, we talked immigration, but there was a discussion on minimum wage, Scottie. Trump said he would leave everything the way it is. Here's Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Taxes too high, wages too high. We're not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is. People have to go out. They have to work really hard. And they have to get into that upper stratum. But we cannot do this if we are going to compete with the rest of the world. We just can't do it. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Leave everything the way it is. I mean, this is a man who touts the slogan, wears the ball cap, "Make America great." How does that jive with that slogan?

HUGHES: It jives with it perfectly. We talk about raising the minimum wage, but the biggest effect it has is on small business, who are already struggling under the regulations of Obama. That will hurt. When we're in an age of technology right now where we're seeing on a daily basis corporations already in these large retailers replacing people with machines, you can't sit there and tell these folks that it makes it worth it to replace people to not replace people when you're raising the wages.

[14:35:] BALDWIN: Matt, do you want to respond to that?

LEWIS: Well, I will say this. You know, sometimes I'm sitting there watching the debate and I'm like an obvious answer that will be simple. The CBO said that raising the minimum wage would actually cost us jobs. More people would be unemployed. Surprisingly, not a single Republican, at least that I heard last night, happened to mention that statistic, which I think sort of proves the point.

BALDWIN: Final question to you, Matt. Then we've got to go. To your point, if Trump didn't truly stand out and it's almost sort of like we're watching reruns and some people love Trump reruns, is he getting tractable?

LEWIS: I think he is. He has a shtick. He's entertaining. This is the fourth debate. We've seen it before already. I think it wears thin over time.

(CROSSTALK)

HUGHES: Obviously, not. His numbers are the highest.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Scottie, they are. People love him. They do, they do.

Scottie Hughes, thank you so much.

Matt Lewis, thank you as well.

LEWIS: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Next, we will talk to Nancy Grace to discuss this horrendous case involving the 1-year-old girl beaten to death by an 8-year-old little boy after their mothers allegedly left them home alone while they went out to the clubs. Now that little boy is charged with murder. We'll have that discussion coming up.

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[14:41:04] BALDWIN: You heard about this, this 8-year-old child facing murder charges after killing a 1-year-old? Beating this little baby, Kelsey Lewis, to death apparently because she wouldn't stop crying. Where were the parents, you ask? Well, this horrific incident happening as the mothers reportedly went out clubbing, leaving them home alone with five other kids between the ages of 2 and 8. Just as shocking? The mothers allegedly did not check on these little ones when they got home around 2:00 a.m., until much later the next morning, when they found this little baby unresponsive.

Joining me now, HLN's Nancy Grace.

Nancy Grace, also to you as a mother, an 8-year-old charged with murder. We were looking, Birmingham police have never charged anyone that young with murder before. How does this happen?

NANCY GRACE, HLN HOST, NANCY GRACE: Well, I think that the fault is going to be determined to not lie with the little boy but with the mothers instead. Because you've got the one mother who is out -- this is her friend's home -- between them, six children at home. The mother is charged with manslaughter right now. As far as the little boy goes, he is not going to be charged as an adult.

BALDWIN: So what happens? Make sure you're OK. I feel for you. I just came out of a cold myself.

I don't know this 8-year-old boy is in custody at the State Department of Human Resources. I know he won't be tried as an adult, but even if he's convicted and sentenced, where do you put an 8-year-old?

GRACE: Oh, this child will be in juvenile jail, potentially, until he is 19 years old.

BALDWIN: Wow!

GRACE: Now, this is what the state's star witness is saying, a 6- year-old little girl in the home. She says that the injuries to the little girl, Kelsey, are consistent with a beating.

Now, what we believe happened is the child is taken out of her crib and beaten and then put back in the crib. Now, what's so disturbing to me is the parents, the two mothers, go out clubbing -- I don't know where the dads are -- until about 2:30 in the morning. They come back home, they don't even check on the children. They come home, probably drunk, and go to bed. During that time, they could very likely have saved this child's life if they had just checked on her, just to make sure she's in the crib. Now the 8-year-old is charged with murder.

Now, in that jurisdiction, if he's charged as an adult, he could potentially get life without parole. However, in Alabama, you've got to be 14 to be charged as an adult. So what he's looking at is 10 to 11 years in juvenile jail.

And I want to tell you a quick story.

BALDWIN: Please.

GRACE: I remember trying a juvenile for murder, and when I saw him as a witness five years later in another crime, he was just pacing back and forth in the courtroom like a tiger. You put a kid in jail at this age until he's 19, he's going to come out worse than when he went in.

BALDWIN: What about mom? As you mentioned --

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: Oh!

BALDWIN: What does her future look like?

GRACE: Can I tell you something? I don't think that's appropriate. I don't think this mother should be charged with manslaughter. Just think if her kid -- she's back drinking and smoking at the club while her child was at home getting beaten to death? I think she should be charged with felony murder. And I'll tell you why. Felony murder does not mean you have intent to kill. It means that during the commission of a felony, which is felony child neglect, a death occurred. That is exactly what happened. If you look at this baby, can you look at Kelsey, and with a straight face think that mother should get off at two or three years jail time? Huh-uh, N-O.

BALDWIN: Nancy Grace, thank you so much.

GRACE: Thank you.

[14:45:04] BALDWIN: Make sure you watch Nancy on our sister network, HLN, every night, 8:00 eastern. Horrible.

Coming up here on CNN, nine people have been killed after this small plane crashed into an apartment building. This is Akron, Ohio. Witnesses say the plane just up and dropped out of the sky. How could this happen? What caused this crash? That's next.

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BALDWIN: Nine people are now confirmed dead in this fiery plane crash in Ohio. Seven were co-workers at a Florida-based real estate firm. Pilot, co-pilot also killed. State highway patrol officials say the privately chartered twin engine jet slammed into this Akron, Ohio, apartment building. Witnesses describe watching the plane, quote, "just drop out of the sky." Investigators say the jet scraped power lines before smashing into this apartment complex. Thankfully, no one was home at the time. Officials say no one on the ground was hurt either. But as many as 12 families are now displaced.

CNN's Boris Sanchez is following this for us.

The NTSB is holding a news conference in a couple of minutes. We'll watch for that. How did this happen?

[14:50:33] BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're not sure. We're looking at the recent history of this plane. It looks like it's had a busy week, four flights on Monday from St. Paul, Ft. Lauderdale, St. Louis to Cincinnati. Yesterday, it flew from Cincinnati to Dayton, and was supposed to fly from Dayton to Akron, but came down obviously a few miles from its destination, an airport in southeast Akron.

As you mentioned, the plane was chartered by a real estate company based in Boca Raton, Peb Enterprises (ph). On its website, it acknowledged that seven of the passengers on board were employees. They offered condolences to the families of everyone on board.

We also heard from officials that it's going to take a while before they recover all the remains and positively identify them. Unfortunately, the fuselage was in tact when it came down, but there was a strong fire. And so --

BALDWIN: The pictures, wow.

SANCHEZ: Pretty intense. So right now they're still working to remove the remains, take them to a lab, positively I.D. them before they release the names of those who were actually on board.

There's no exact indication, no obvious indication for the reason for the crash. You can see in the video it looks like a dark, gloomy day. It had recently rained. Obviously, the FAA and NTSB will look at whether weather was a potential factor in the crash.

BALDWIN: Boris, thank you so much.

Next, today, in honor of Veterans Day, I had the coolest morning ever. I came to work and skyped with this incredible double amputee who managed to summit Africa's tallest mountain, people. It's amazing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SGT. JULIAN TORRES, DOUBLE AMPUTEE SUMMITS KILIMANJARO: We did it. Happy Veterans Day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Sergeant Julian Torres lost his legs in Afghanistan. And this group called The Heroes Project leads expeditions with wounded vets. They made this happen. I spoke with them. I will play our whole conversation for you when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:56:34] BALDWIN: On this Veterans Day, I wanted to bring you a wounded warrior's ultimate journey to the top of Africa, all 19,345 feet to the top of Kilimanjaro. I made the summit myself earlier this year. It is definitely the hardest thing I've ever done.

But after talking to the sergeant this morning, I personally feel like a schmuck because this man is truly outstanding. He was able to do this, this morning, after losing both of his legs in combat.

I want to introduce you to retired U.S. Marine Corps Sergeant Julian Torres.

So he lost both of his legs during a tour in Afghanistan in 2010. Look at this. Five years later, Sergeant Torres has turned this dream into a reality by taking on one of the world's highest peaks. This incredible journey made possible by The Heroes Project. The Heroes Project is a nonprofit created by former Hell's Angel biker-turned- climber, Tim Medvet (ph), and designed to help wounded veterans rediscover their sense of strength and pride.

I got to talk to Tim and Sergeant Torres right after they reached Kilimanjaro's summit.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Congratulations!

TORRES: Whoo! Yeah, baby! Whoo!

BALDWIN: That is just amazing. I cannot believe I'm talking to you two at 19,345 feet on the summit of Kilimanjaro.

Guys, how does it feel?

TORRES: Like a winner.

BALDWIN: Feels like a winner.

Sergeant Torres, have you ever done anything like this?

TORRES: No. Nothing except kicking my kids around the House. What's going on, J.J., Alecio? I love you.

BALDWIN: How does it look from the roof of Africa, the glaciers? How does the air feel?

Gorgeous.

Guys, I was just up there a couple of months ago myself. It's truly spectacular.

Sergeant, can you tell me why you wanted to climb a mountain?

TORRES: Absolutely. I wanted to pay respect to my fallen brothers. We did it. Happy Veterans Day to all the veterans out there.

Happy Veterans Day, indeed.

Tim, tell me why you do this.

TIM MEDVET (ph), FOUNDER, THE HEROES PROJECT: I guess this is my extreme way of serving those who --

BALDWIN: I mean, you could run a race. You could go biking. Like, why feel the need to climb the tallest mountains on earth?

TORRES: America. America. That's all I can say is America. Doing my part as an American on this gorgeous day. Happy Veterans Day, everybody. Everybody should do their own part as an American, thank them for their service. You don't have to do something as crazy as taking one of our Marines, war heroes up a mountain, but shake their hand. Sacrifice, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Phenomenal. My favorite part about climbing was the bronco wall. How about you two?

TORRES: That was not my favorite.

It completely was horrible.

Certainly had to pay my price and pay my dues.

BALDWIN: One of my last questions is, once you get down off that mountain, what do you want to tell your wife, your kids, and do you ever want to climb a mountain again, Sergeant?

TORRES: Yes, I do want to climb again. I would tell my kids there's nothing your dad can't do. I love you guys.

BALDWIN: Incredible. Climbing that mountain is such a metaphor.

Gentlemen, thank you so much. Happy Veteran's Day.

TORRES: Thank you.

(SHOUTING)

(END VIDEOTAPE)