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Dad of Student Killed by Chicago Police Speaks; Fears Al-Qaeda Camps Returning to Afghanistan; Trump: Bill Clinton's Scandals "Fair Game." Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired December 29, 2015 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:05] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: She ends up getting shot accidentally. Police have acknowledged that. I want to give you a minute and just doing my job and my due diligence, if I may, just part of -- no, no, do not -- do not apologize. Please, please, please.

But let me just make sure I'm -- this is what Chicago police say. The responding officers were confronted by, this is quoting them, "A combative subject resulting in the discharging of the officer's weapon, which fatally wounded two individuals. The 55-year-old female victim was accidentally struck and tragically killed. The department extends its deepest condolences to the victim's family and friends."

So that is from the Chicago Police Department. We know they are going to do this independent review. And let me just get to this wrongful death lawsuit, sir, filed two days after your son was killed.

Can you tell -- this is to either of you, if you want to take a minute, Mr. LeGrier. Tell me why.

BASILEIOS "BILL" FOUTRIS, ATTORNEY FOR QUINTONIO LEGRIER'S FATHER: You know, first, I want to address the fact that there's this information out there about a combative subject.

What we know is that, as you just heard, Quintonio was inside the building when he was shot. And the police officer who shot him was outside the building 20 to 30 feet away. So this is just after the fact justification trying to justify what happened. The facts don't bear that from what I understand, occurred. As far as the wrongful death lawsuit is concerned, I think it has to be filed to find out what truly happened.

BALDWIN: Do you want to take a minute? This doesn't seem right. Let me ask the two of you --

FOUTRIS: I agree.

BALDWIN: I don't feel right doing this live.

(CROSSTALK)

FOUTRIS: I think we need some time.

BALDWIN: Forgive me. Let's take a break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:35:20] BALDWIN: And we're back with an incredibly emotional and exclusive interview here with a father who just lost his 19-year-old son over the weekend in Chicago in this police involved shooting.

The father is Antonio LeGrier. His son was Quintonio, an honor student in college, age 19, shot and killed Saturday, the day after Christmas. His attorney joining us, Bill Foutris.

So we're back. We just wanted to give you both a moment.

And where we left off, gentlemen, and I appreciate you staying with me. Where we left off was just asking about this wrongful death lawsuit. I want you to explain to me because as I read it, according to the wrongful death lawsuit, Mr. LeGrier, your son, quote, "Did not present any danger or threat of harm to anyone immediately proceeding the aforesaid shooting."

So then why called police in the first place? I'm just trying to understand.

FOUTRIS: Antonio already explained. It was -- the whole purpose was to get help. He felt that the police was more -- was better equipped and trained in order to deal with an angry teenager. He just got woken up. And that's the purpose. That's what you're supposed to do. When you need help, everyone has told you, call the police. And that's what he did. He certainly didn't expect that someone would be shot and killed.

BALDWIN: Mr. LeGrier, I know a moment ago you were explaining as best as you could, you know, your anger, your sadness, your frustration in seeing your son shot on the foyer floor wanting paramedics to attend to him. And I understand you were pulled away in that moment to be questioned is that correct?

ANTONIO LEGRIER, QUINTONIO LEGRIER'S FATHER: Yes, I was. I was first questioned inside the apartment. Then I was taken from the building to the police station.

FOUTRIS: And he was required to stay there until they were done questioning him.

LEGRIER: I was concerned about my son. I did not know the status of my son, whether he was alive or deceased. I was denied for up to eight hours to even leave the building, to even find out information about the well-being of my son or Ms. Betty Jones.

I feel like I was robbed of everything. I mean, I don't mean to speak so emotional, but of course you see the gravity of the situation. I feel that everybody took everything from me in telling me I got to sit in a room and answer questions about something that happened so fast that -- it's just unbelievable that I had to sit there and not know the fate of my son and Ms. Jones. And all I wanted to do was help everyone in the building and I didn't know.

FOUTRIS: It's particularly unfeeling. They knew he was the father of the person who had been shot. One of the people that were shot. And they required him to sit in a conference room in a police department and answer questions. So that's not something you should be doing.

At the minimum, you should allow this father to grieve before you start questioning him. And the investigation started off on a bad foot and it's a shotty investigation from what I know. As a matter of fact, they still haven't even finished the forensic investigation.

And I got a call today from the independent police review authority they want to go back to the scene to conduct a forensic investigation. Why didn't they do that before? There had been reporters all over there. There had been press conferences over there. It's been trampled. And you haven't gone there yet to conduct a forensic investigation? Why wasn't this done before anybody was let in?

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: I can't speak to the forensics of it, but I understand your questions are valid questions. And to Mr. LeGrier's, you know, the question being why.

Do either of you know? Was there any kind of video, in any video that exists, of what happened that you all know of?

FOUTRIS: What I can tell you is there are half a dozen houses surrounding the home that all have video cameras pointed in various directions. And what I have been told is that the police went to these various homes and confiscated and took video from these various homes. So there's certainly video of something, whether it depicts the actual shooting or not, I don't know. The Chicago Police Department now has all that video, as far as I know.

BALDWIN: OK.

FOUTRIS: So they haven't released it, certainly.

BALDWIN: OK, because that will obviously be a piece of this as well.

[14:40:00] Mr. LeGrier, your -- I don't have to tell you this. You know that your son's death comes at a time of deep frustration and anger and sadness over this -- in this country over officer-involved shootings. Not just in Chicago, but elsewhere as well.

Right around this time yesterday where we were sitting in this same seat talking about Tamir Rice in Cleveland, who, you know, just yesterday the Grand Jury result was that they will not be charging criminally either of these officers who are involved in his shooting and his death.

And I had a "New York Times" opinion columnist and a father, Charles Blow. He called in the show and he was, you know, very just authentically, just emotional asking this question, what are we supposed to tell these parents who are losing their children, and you, sir, are one of those parents now.

How would you answer that question?

LEGRIER: Well, Ms. Brooke, one of the things I think we need to do, and I say it from my heart, we need to get more involved in our kids' lives or, in some cases, our parent's lives or in some cases our grandparent's lives because people have issues and sometimes it's hard to talk about.

You know, we just push them aside and go on with our day-to-day. And sometimes they just need to be told I'm loved and I need to be loved and be able to express themselves. And that will help. That's a start.

Quite naturally, no one expected the Chicago Police Department to just start shooting into a doorway where a young man may or may not have had a weapon when the door opened. Maybe it was an inexperienced officer who wasn't trained on how to respond to these situations. I'm not sure what it is. All I know is right now two innocent people are dead because an officer made a decision that was not the right one.

And I do this interview and the lawsuit so no one can just walk away and sweep it under the rug because my son's life will not be in vain. I need the nation to know that I, Antonio LeGrier, father of Quintonio LeGrier, raised a good son that went to school, had provided good grades and had a beautiful future in front of him, that was snuffed out by inexperienced officers that is obviously running rampant throughout the United States. And we need to put a hold on this. And it's not our place to do it.

All we can do is work within the household and teach our children to obey authority and hopefully they won't get shot. I mean, I can only say that this time because this is my case. It's what my son did. He got shot.

Now I wasn't there when the firing was done, but I was there after. And I saw the officer response that he was, in fact, sorry. And I'd like this time to say my condolence to go out to his family, Ms. Jones' family and my family because this don't just affect one side of it. It affects everyone. That officer knew he was wrong. He knows he was wrong and he had -- he showed emotion about that.

And I can't put myself in a state of mind at this moment, but I'm sure he's hurting as well, because he has to live with the fact that he shot blindly into a doorway without thinking about who or what he would hit.

You know, I hear this comment about Ms. Jones all over the place as a victim and I do understand and I respect it, wholeheartedly, but I'm the father. I'm a victim. My son is a victim of someone that made a mistake from the Chicago Police Department that just shot wildly into a doorway. And no matter which way it turns out, we can never bring Ms. Jones nor Quintonio LeGrier back, but I want to be the first one to say, I am now his voice. I'm his voice. I'm all he got to tell his story. And I called the police department because I wanted someone to try to help him with whatever he was going through because I was not trained. But I never once thought that once he entered that staircase that his life would be ended by someone who didn't know what to do.

Now in this case, my only son is gone and I don't know what to do. Tell me what to do. I'm doing the best I can.

FOUTRIS: I think, I think we -- Brooke, I think Antonio has had enough.

BALDWIN: I think he has. I appreciate your voice. There are no words, just I'm sorry. Antonio LeGrier, thank you. Bill Foutris, thank you so much.

FOUTRIS: Thank you for having us.

LEGRIER: Thank you, Ms. Brooke.

BALDWIN: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:48:17] BALDWIN: With that, now to the "War on Terror." And a troubling development in Afghanistan, the resurgence of two terror groups not named ISIS, first, the Taliban claiming responsibility for this car bombing near the Kabul Airport yesterday.

And then there is this "New York Times" report that an old enemy, al Qaeda, is now showing a comeback with camps sprouting up in Afghanistan.

Why is this important? There's a quote from Michael Morell, the former deputy director of the CIA.

Morell tells the "Times," quote, "I do worry about the rebirth of al Qaeda in Afghanistan because of what their target list will be -- us. It is why we need to worry about the resurgence of the Taliban because just like before the Taliban will give al Qaeda a safe haven."

BALDWIN: So let's talk more about this.

David Rohde, our CNN global affairs analyst who was held captive by Taliban for seven months and escaped captivity in 2009.

Good to see you, sir.

You know, when I first read this, I thought, of course, you know, U.S. Intel never would keep their eyes off the ball, but is al Qaeda. But to hear, you know, Morell's words, your response to that.

DAVID ROHDE, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I'm surprised. This was this huge camp in a very remote part of Southern Afghanistan. It was 30 miles wide and it was an attack that went on for several days and there were 200 fighters killed in the attacks. So it's surprising to me. It's a real setback. And it's this problem where there are these ungoverned spaces as the U.S. has left Afghanistan and these groups move right back into that vacuum.

BALDWIN: The word vacuum. We have used it many times when it comes to this.

Here's my question. Afghanistan and this is sort of as we talked about al Qaeda. It's almost like the devil we know. We have been talking so much, though, about ISIS. And I've even lost track of time, a year, a year and a half.

Is there any kind of advantage if you are al Qaeda not, you know, making massive headlines globally for them -- back home for them.

[14:50:12] ROHDE: I think so, yes. And I think it's just a victory for them to be active again in Afghanistan because they were so publicly humiliated in 2001.

So I do think they are working locally. I think they are being very clever. I don't think it's completely hopeless. There are some good news against ISIS in terms of Iraqi forces trained by the U.S., retaking Ramadi, this large town.

The lesson here is I think we have to have small amounts of troops, probably Special Forces training local forces, carrying out raids in these countries for a long time, for year. Not 100,000 ground troops as we did in Iraq and Afghanistan. But we can't just leave because these local forces are not holding this crime.

BALDWIN: There's a vacuum where it's coming back.

ROHDE: Yes.

BALDWIN: Pertaining to that point. Final question, I know there was an al Qaeda off chute that was created at the time of the October raid to rival ISIS. Why we've talked a lot about this sort of competition between these terror groups.

How would ISIS then respond to this victory in Afghanistan, this re- emergence, you think?

ROHDE: They would want to carry out their own sort of spectacular attack in Afghanistan. There was a suicide bombing in Pakistan today that could have been carried out by this new affiliate of al Qaeda.

So it's the same problem. Whether it's attacks in Paris, where they are trying to one up each other or attacks in Afghanistan with this competition, it continues. And that's why, we have to sort of be patient, stay in these places.

There's no quick solutions. A lot of the rhetoric you hear in a political campaign. We can pull out. It's not our problem. That's not true. And we can't just, you know, put 100,000 troops and have them sit there.

BALDWIN: Yes. ROHDE: We have to work with local allies, and I do think slowly that could be a strategy that will succeed.

BALDWIN: David Rohde, good to see you. Thank you so much.

ROHDE: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, Donald Trump stepping up attacks on Bill Clinton. But it turns out he has not always felt this way about the former president. Will his words come back to haunt him?

Plus, that teenager who escaped jail time by using his so called Affluenza defense is captured. They're going on the run with his mother to Mexico. Heard about the going away party they apparently threw and how authorities managed to track him down. Stay right here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:55:37] BALDWIN: And we are back. Donald Trump is ratcheting up his attacks on Bill Clinton. And the former president even -- isn't quite on the campaign trail just yet. Trump, today, as you would expect, not at all mincing words.

They're not just referring to Bill Clinton's, quote, "abuse of women," but name dropping specifically Monica Lewinsky and Paula Jones and saying those scandals would be fair game.

Let's rewind for just a second. That is not what Mr. Trump said back in 2008 when he sat down with Wolf Blitzer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Look at the trouble Bill Clinton got into with something that was totally unimportant. And they tried to impeach him, which was nonsense. And yet Bush got us into this horrible war with lies, by lying, by saying they had weapons of mass destruction, by saying all sorts of things that turned out not to be true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let's bring in our CNN chief political correspondent Dana Bash. And so it's the then versus the now.

What is the now saying about the then? With regard to Donald Trump?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, it's an interesting explanation. And it's basically, OK, so I said it, but that's because I am and was a billionaire and businessman and it was my obligation to make nice with politicians. He was asked about it on the "Today" show.

Listen to him in his own words this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP (via telephone): I got along with the Clintons. I got along with the Republicans, the Democrats, the liberals, the conservatives, that was my obligation as a businessman. I had to get along with everybody and I'll be able to do that as president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: So his basic answer was I was playing the game. I scratch your back, you scratch my back, and that's how the game of politics is played if you are somebody with a lot of money and the politicians or maybe in this case a former politician, somebody with a foundation wants the money.

In fact, you were just showing some pictures of the two men on the golf course. It's hard to see that it was kind of a typical politician and rich guy relationship because they did play golf quite frequently together. And there are other points in their pasts where they each called one another a friend.

BALDWIN: With that said, flipping the script, what about Bill Clinton? Because, what, we're days from him emerging as truly a force on the campaign trail for his wife. You know, how do you think Bill Clinton will address Donald Trump moving forward having, you know, heard what Donald Trump has now said? Does he get down into third grade name calling or does he sort of rise above it and move on?

BASH: My guess is it's going to be somewhere in between. That he's going to address it in a way not only Bill Clinton can do, but frankly only the man who is accused of doing all these things can do it, because so far, Hillary Clinton is mum about it.

Her campaign put out a statement basically saying she's not going to let a bully like Donald Trump run her over whether he's saying things about her or her husband. But she just moments ago, Brooke, finished up a campaign event in New Hampshire. She didn't mention it. She wasn't asked about it by the voters, but she was asked about this by our Dan Merica on the rope line, when she was shaking hands with voters. And she clearly heard him and decided not to answer. So she's trying to stay above it. That's controversial in Democratic circles, but that's her M.O. so far.

BALDWIN: OK, Dana Bash, thank you.

BASH: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE ANNOUNCER: This is CNN "Breaking News."

BALDWIN: All right, here we go. Top of the hour. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. There you have it, breaking news.

We are one day after tornadoes and monster storms devastating large sections of this country. Now the governor of Missouri has activated the National Guard as one town right now is on the verge of actually going under water.

I'm talking about Union, Missouri. Here are the pictures.

They are now clearly warning folks to get out of town because these access roads will be flooded in just a couple of hours. The floods there, they are already covering cars and restaurants and homes. But really truly the race is on to get these folks out before it's too late.

So let's go live to the CNN weather center, to meteorologist Tom Sater, who is from Missouri, who knows about this all too well.

Talk to me about what towns are in, you know, most sort of danger zones. Where do we stand at this hour?

(WEATHER REPORT)