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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Zika Virus Update; Clinton and Sanders Debating Tonight; Lawsuit Against University of Tennessee; Royal Caribbean Cruise Ship Hit by Storm. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired February 11, 2016 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:01] DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: ... that led to her death.

BANFIELD: OK.

GUPTA: For sure, was this another infectious disease? And it speaks to the capability of the testing right now, Ashleigh. It's not perfect testing by any means. So they don't know for sure if, in fact, Zika is what led to her death.

BANFIELD: OK, Sanjay. There are now 20 United States -- states within the U.S. that have reported the presence of Zika. And you just heard that testimony on Capitol Hill saying tens of thousands of people are going to and from infected areas all of the time.

We may not have mosquitoes because it's winter now in a lot of the U.S, but that's going to change. And with 20 states affected right now, and almost certainly more states are going to be affected with those kinds of travel, how concerned should Americans be, and not just for pregnant women, for everybody?

GUPTA: Well, you know, as you might imagine, Ashleigh. I've been thinking about this issue almost nonstop for a few weeks now. And, you know, Tom Frieden, the Head of CDC, says 40 million, I think, people go back and forth to these infected countries, areas that have Zika that is spreading.

Here is what I would tell you, is that I think we're going to see cases of Zika probably in every state in the country for that very reason.

But those are people, most of them, are people who are going to these countries where Zika is spreading and bringing it back into their system, bringing it back in the United States.

What the real question is, and what we're really going to be looking for, is it starting to spread now within the United States? Local transmission, local spread. You've heard those terms, is it happening? That's the question.

What we know is that other similar viruses that are spread the same way, like dengue fever, for example, has spread within the United States. But is typically been small spreads and confined to areas like South Florida and South Texas, areas that the climate is very similar to the countries where Zika is now spreading.

So you're right. We do have some of these mosquitoes in the United States. We will probably see a spread, but I think it's going to be limited. And that's just based on what we already know.

BANFIELD: God, I hope so. I mean, because, you know, if you're pregnant or thinking of getting pregnant, you've got nine months, and a very warm season that's coming up where that could be a risk.

We'll have to talk more about this as we continue to, you know, learn more details in the information evolves, as well. Thank you, Sanjay.

GUPTA: Thank you, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Dr. Gupta joining us live from Atlanta to today.

Coming up next. How are senators Clinton and Sanders preparing for this big head-to-head battle tonight in Wisconsin? And will all that money pouring into Bernie after his New Hampshire win making a big difference for him as he heads to South Carolina?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:36:53] Live pictures. That's going to be a pretty exciting place in a matter of hours, folks. The countdown clock is on, just a little over eight hours to tonight's big PBS Presidential Debate.

The Democratic Presidential Debate simulcast here on CNN as well, 9o' clock, folks, it's going to be another exciting match-up. Trust me.

These things rate really high. Who knew? Debate after debate after debate, the numbers are amazing.

So let's talk a little bit about what's going to be different between these two. Is there will be something very significant? This is the first one since Bernie Sanders beat Hillary Clinton by 22 points in this week's New Hampshire Primary, first head-to-head since that.

Of course, afterwards, Sanders was able to flex some pretty big fund- raising muscles and pull in $6 million online. Can I repeat that because it's that's a big figure, $6 million, a little over 24 hours.

Wow. Forty-eight state primaries and caucuses still lie ahead. And they're all tough, as my next guests are quick to remind me.

Bob Beckel is here, CNN's political commentator and democratic strategist and awesome suspenders wearer. Larry, St. Larry King (ph).

Nomiki Konst is democratic strategist and head of the Accountability Project. She supports Bernie Sanders.

And Bernard Whitman, democratic strategist who support Hillary Clinton. All right. So as we head into this next match-up, I think the big

question on everyone's mind is, they've been so polite, relatively polite, you know, other than that whole artful smear business that went on the last they were head to head.

Is that about to change? Because when we moved to South Carolina in every campaign, it starts to get kind of bloody. Bob, start.

BOB BECKEL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, it is. I mean, South Carolina has notoriously been that way. I've done six presidentials down there and it's just mean.

BANFIELD: Why?

BECKEL: Well, because it's in the water, or something. I don't know. I mean, it's just - there's a lot of dirty tricks played down there. And -- but I'll tell you, from the democrats' standpoint, Bernie Sanders has got a real big problem now which is that almost half that electorate is going to be black.

And he's not had any black votes. Now, I'll say this. Hillary Clinton, when she ran in 2008 against Barack Obama, was carrying the South Carolina black vote, 60 percent of the vote.

Then Obama wins Iowa, and she loses 77 to something. So whether Sanders could pull that off, that is big difference because he was a black candidate. But it's its a tough haul. It's a brand-new electorate.

BANFIELD: Nomiki just had the finger pause. Full -- full finger pause, yeah.

NOMIKI KONST, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: To be fair there's only been one poll in the past year in South Carolina. So the numbers are -- we have no idea. You know, she's going ...

BANFIELD: I wouldn't say, we have no idea.

KONST: Yeah.

BANFIELD: Look, we've got at least this from NBC/Wall Street Journal latest poll, Clinton polling 74 percent of African-American voters in South Carolina to Sander, 17.

KONST: Right.

BANFIELD: So, she's well above about polls, sometimes they're crazy. And they just work spot-on in New Hampshire.

KONST: So, if you think about it, in this -- in what happened in New Hampshire, He won them among African-American millennials. So anybody under the age of 44, in South Carolina, you know, even Jim Clyburn's grandson was quoted saying, "All my friends are supporting Bernie Sanders."

BANFIELD: And he hasn't declared yet. KONST: And he hasn't declared yet, you know. She is going to get this

nomination or this endorsement from the congressional black caucus.

That will indeed hurts Bernie Sanders. But when it comes to the record, there's been some amazing pieces today in the nation. There is an incredible piece about why Hillary and Sanders has not been good for Blacks. And I encourage ...

BANFIELD: Wait, wait, why Bernie Sanders ...

KONST: I'm sorry. Excuse me. Hillary Clinton has not been ...

[12:4008] BANFIELD: There is this grassroots movement. I'm not going to lie. I'm hearing more and more about it. People coming out of the Woodwork to send e-mails and tell me, she shouldn't expect that South Carolina is going to be lucky (ph) on a black vote.

And the black vote is everything. I mean, if we thought that youth and women were important to Hillary before Bernard, the black vote is critical.

And Bernie Sanders may not be known to them yet. But there is time to get known and there is also this whole issue of income inequality, which Bernie Sanders has been nailing from the very beginning.

BERNARD WHITMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I think it's absolutely essential. And Hillary Clinton is no way she had performed. I'm going to take for granted the African- American vote or any vote.

But if I am Bernie Sanders, not Hillary Clinton, I would definitely favor the electoral map for Hillary Clinton. Why? You have South Carolina. She got the congressional black caucus PAC endorsement.

We have Nevada which she already won eight years ago. You have states, a couple days later in Super Tuesday, Georgia, my home state of Virginia, Texas. These are all states that are going to be disproportionately favor her message, disproportionately made up of people of color with whom she has a long record of actually delivering real results for.

And so, I think Bernie got to look to them, and say, thank God, I raise six million out of New Hampshire because they may not have another win for a quite a long time.

BANFIELD: When we talk about things from eight years ago, and I know we're as guilty as everybody. We quote all sorts of things that happened eight years ago.

And along comes 2016, Bob. And nothing makes sense any more. And 2008 seems like it could be the Reagan era. It just seems so long ago in terms of the rules of the game and the numbers that existed back then, and how great she was up in the Northern States.

BECKEL: I know. You know, in a strange way, Hillary Clinton runs better as an underdog, you know. I mean, she gets passionate in her message. She -- that's one of her problems now. It's too much lacking passion. And the other thing about it ...

BANFIELD: But she gets criticized for having too much passion. You know, they always say, when a woman is enthusiastic, she's yelling.

When a man is enthusiastic, it's a movement.

BECKEL: I don't know. Bernie can -- I've known him for a long time. He can sound yelling to me. But, you know, here's the difference. You say that he carried votes in New Hampshire. But what percentage was -- of color in that state, percent?

BANFIELD: No, much lower, about three ...

KONST: No, absolutely. You're correct sir.

BECKEL: But listen, here's the problem. He carried white voters up there, 60/40, right? If he's not probably not going to do that this time, down in South Carolina. So, that's means whoever wins the Black vote most likely is going to win South Carolina.

BANFIELD: So, I have to wrap it there, unfortunately. Because I could go -- I could do this numbers game all day. And just sort of try to demystify what's happening everywhere as we go state to state.

I think it's why there are so many T.V ratings. Everyone is sort of flummoxed by both sides of the rates. Guys, thank you very much. We'll let you all three back any time. Clear your calendars. It's a busy time.

Again, since I can't stress enough. This is going to be great programming. Note. CNN simulcasting with PBS News Hour, Democratic Presidential Debate. Live from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I know you expect it to be in South Carolina.

But it's in Milwaukee, folks. 9:00 p.m. Eastern time, you're find it on CNN and your local PBS station.

Back in a moment

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:447:04] ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everyone. This is "Legal View," I'm Ashleigh Banfield.

Six women have filed a Title IX federal lawsuit against the University of Tennessee. That lawsuit claims that the university, "created a student culture that enables sexual assaults by student athletes, especially football players, and then uses an unusual legalistic adjudication process that is biased against victims who step forward".

These are the allegations in the suit. Also accuses four former Tennessee athletes and one current football player of sexual assault.

It's very complicated and CNN's Nick Valencia has been looking into the story and reading through the court documents as well. And that's what we have Nick, right now. Let's be clear. We have court documents, we have allegations. What

more do we know about this lawsuit and about these case?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, These six women, Ashleigh, claim they didn't get justice.

Each was a student at the University of Tennessee, each saying they were sexually assaulted or raped by a student athlete between the years of 2012 and 2014. In the cases of two athletes, they are currently awaiting trial on rape charges. But in the other cases, nothing ever happened.

I spoke earlier with one of the victims who is being identified only as Jane Doe number one in the lawsuit. She has asked us to with hold her identity. Of course, it is CNN's policy not to name a victim or alleged victim of a sexual assault or rape.

But Ashleigh, she did explain exactly what happened that day in February of 2013. She says she was raped by a University of Tennessee basketball player and immediately afterwards went to the police and also to the hospital where she had a rape kit conducted. She says the results of that rape kit were never tested. I spoke to her by phone a little while ago. Here she is in her own words.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

VOICED OF ALLEGED RAPE VICTIM, FILED TITLE IX LAWSUIT: I just want people to know that me and these other girls did not know each other before this. We came together to change the environment to change what is done about sexual assault. And I don't understand why people think that we're lying about it.

I tried to press criminal charges with the district attorney, and she told me that there was not enough physical evidence, and that the rape kit wouldn't be tested unless I could pursue criminal charges so it was never tested.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

VALENCIA: You could hear the terror in that young woman's voice.

Now, we did reach out to the assistant district attorney who was involved in this case. And they told us there was variety of reasons that they decided not to pursue criminal charges in the case of Jane Doe number one, but decided to not elaborate further. They said they aren't going to comment on ongoing litigation.

Now, as far as the University of Tennessee is concerned, we have also reached out to them. And they did send us a statement which read in part.

"In the situations identified in the lawsuit filed, the University acted lawfully and in good faith. And we expect a court to degree. Any assertion we do not take sexual assault seriously enough is simply not true. To claim we have allowed a culture to exist contrary to our institutional commitment to providing a safe environment for our students or that we do not support those who report sexual assault is just false".

[12:50:00] I did speak to the attorney of these plaintiffs, listed as Jane Doe number one to six. David Smith tells CNN, he's looking forward to this litigation. He says the truth will come out in court. Ashleigh?

BANFIELD: That's just perplexing to know. And the D.A. saying I don't have enough physical evidence to go forward, but I've gotten an untested rape kit. This makes no sense.

Nick, continue to look into this.

VALENCIA: We will.

BANFIELD: And let us know what come up. This is unbelievable. Thank you.

Nick Valencia reporting live for us.

VALENCIA: OK.

BANFIELD: Some other top news stories were working on here at CNN as well.

Cliven Bundy now in FBI custody. He's, of course, the father of the man who once led the armed occupation of a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon.

Word from the ground, is the occupation itself is almost over. The few remaining activists reportedly say they will pack it in before today is over. There is no confirmation yet of that happening.

The family of Tamir Rice says they have been sent a bill, a $500 bill for an ambulance ride after that 12-year-old boy was shot dead by a Cleveland police officer. But the city is denying that any such bill was sent.

Police officers shot the boy, saying he mistook a toy pellet gun for the real thing. The Rice family is outraged over the alleged bill, even though the police union, fighting to clear the officer's name said it's a bad move.

Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton tweeting today, "Asking Tamir's family to pay for his ambulance is heartless. Cleveland should drop this fee". The city says the reported bill is either a mistake or it's a misunderstanding.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHARON DUMAS, CITY OF CLEVELAND: We have not in the past or intended to in the future, bill the Tamir Rice family for transport services. There has never been a direct bill to the family for transport services.

As this body people probably know, we transport and collect between $12 and $15 million a year in EMS transport services. So we have processes in place in order to collect from insurance companies for those transport costs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Of course, there's been a lot of litigation in the Tamir Rice case. We're going to continue to follow that story for you and update you as we learn more.

We do have other news, as well. The Justice Department suing the City of Ferguson, Missouri, after the city council there refused to ratify an agreement to reform that city's police department. The feds intervened in this stormy aftermath of the shooting death of Michael Brown by a Ferguson police officer.

There was a lengthy investigation that turned out what they say is a pattern and practice of unconstitutional police misconduct. City leaders say they wanted to amend the agreement that they make as a fed, not scrap it completely, out of concerns that that agreement was going cost them too much to implement. But the fed said they knew what they had, and any vote no wasn't overall, vote no. So, now there is a lawsuit from the feds.

It was the vacation from hell. People on board a cruise ship really thought they might die. And why not when you look at these pictures? Holy cow. This is Royal Caribbean, and the cruise line now is saying to those people that they're safe and there is a lot more that they have to say back. You'll hear, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:52:50] The Royal Caribbean cruise line is basically saying, oops, I'm sorry. And that basically they screwed up. After a nice, relaxing seven-day trip, what was supposed to be, anyway, turned into this, a messy topsy-turvy nightmare on the high seas.

Look at the videos that the passengers were able to get. The ship sailed right into a major storm, hurricane-force winds. And thousands of passengers were forced to hunker down to keep from flying across the deck, even going overboard.

They were actually told, get in your cabins. There were a few people who were hurt, but thankfully the ship did make it back to dry land. And now Royal Caribbean has some explaining to do.

CNN's Alina Machado is in Miami. I know Alina, that a lot of the know passengers were saying why were we even in that weather to start with. What is the cruise line saying?

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ashleigh, a senior vice president from Royal Caribbean says captains typically have a number of forecast and weather tools available to them.

In this particular case, the cruise line says they saw a storm forecast in the area they were headed to, and that forecast was predicting an intensity of 55 to 65 knots, not something they like to sail into, but conditions they say their ships can easily handle. We're told the captain, a 15-year veteran, plotted a course to avoid

the worst of the storm. But the weather turned out to be much worse than what they had anticipated. Royal Caribbean now saying they simply did not expect wind speeds to be at 125-miles an hour.

The company told us last night that the captain makes the ultimate decision on whether they will sail, because the captain is ultimately responsible for the safety of those on board. Moving forward, they are conducting a review of what happened, and they say they hope to use what they learned from this incident to enhance their storm avoidance policies, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Just real quickly. Here's a quick interview with one of the passengers. Have a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAUREEN PETERS, CRUISE SHIP PASSANGER: At one point I thought I wasn't going to see my family again. I held on to the mattress so I wouldn't fall off the bed. I was with two teenage boys. And it was just horrendous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Wow. Alina, thanks so much for the reporting. Keep us posted, especially if anybody launches any litigation after all of this. Because I'm sure that they -- once they get past to being scared, they may get a little more angry.

Alina Machado, reporting live for us. Thanks.

[13:00:09] And thank you everyone for watching. Stay tuned, my colleague Wolf Blitzer, is going to take over the helm right now.