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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Cruz Speaks To Reporters In North Carolina; Officer Must Testify In Freddie Gray Trials; Hulk Hogan Faces Cross-Examination On Stand Today In Sex Tape Lawsuit. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired March 08, 2016 - 12:30   ET

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

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[12:30:24] ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: I want to get you right now to Raleigh, North Carolina, because Donald -- well, Donald Trump has been saying a lot about Ted Cruz and Ted Cruz is now talking to reporters.

He's at the Calvary Baptist Church where he is about to hold a big rally, but not before having a full-on press gaggle and responding to some of these things.

Let's listen to what he is having to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As Senator Mitt Romney has said anybody but Trump and he's done robocalls for Rubio and Kasich, but not you. And why is that? And are you disappointed?

TED CRUZ, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well listen, I'm encouraged that more and more we are seeing Republicans uniting behind our campaign. And what is becoming apparent coming out in Super Tuesday. What's compelling apparent coming out of Super Saturday is that ours is the only campaign that has beaten Donald Trump repeatedly. And that can and will beat Donald Trump.

We've been in conversations with Governor Romney. He's very graciously reached out to our campaign. And I talked with him on the phone and we've been trading e-mails with him. And I'm grateful for the support we're receiving from leaders all across the country.

But what I'm really grateful is the incredible passion and energy that we are seeing from the grassroots. That's really the basis of our support. It is why we are surging nationwide. It is why we are winning primary after primary after primary because the conservative grassroots are coming together and unifying.

CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Senator, Donald Trump was here yesterday and he said Ted Cruz likes to wave his bible high and then lie to you. Do you think he's gone too far by impugning your religion here?

CRUZ: Oh, listen. Donald says a different entertaining thing every day. And you can usually tell how dismayed he is by his volume, by the level of insults.

And typically when he goes down to attacking people's faith that it's a sign that Donald is really, really worried.

I understand. The last election day, Super Saturday was a very bad day for Donald. He came in proudly expecting to sweep all four contests. Instead he got clobbered. He got clobbered on Election Day.

In Kansas, he and I campaigned side by side. We're at the same caucus site in Kansas. We spoke back to back.

In Kansas, he was anticipated to win. Polling said he was going to win. Not only did we win Kansas, we won Kansas overwhelming with, you know, nearly 50 percent of the vote but roughly doubled the vote of Donald Trump in the state of Kansas.

And then in Maine, Maine like wise. Donald trump was convinced he was going to win in Maine. The one thing he didn't count on was the actual voters and we won a decisive victory in Maine again on Super Saturday and by the way Donald and others have been pitching that a conservative couldn't win in New England. Well, Maine proved them wrong.

And then Louisiana, Louisiana Donald had a decisive lead. Was convinced he was unbeatable. We ended up effectively tying him. We split the delegates evenly in Louisiana.

And in fact, on voting day we beat Donald Trump. The only reason he came out slightly ahead in the total vote was because he had a higher total in the early vote before his numbers started dropping and our numbers started surging. And even Kentucky, where he had maintained a large lead for a long time. He barely edged us out. We ended up taking considerably more delegates on Super Saturday than he did.

So of course, Donald is upset and I will predict he will engage in more attacks. There will be more personal, there will be more nasty. And we're going to continue not to respond in kind but instead to focus on issues and substance and policy because that's what the voters expect and demand.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Senator what is Donald Trump was asking Maine with foreign policy advisors and he couldn't. We also know that some foreign diplomats to show the illegal alarm bells about Donald Trump as a potential nominee as president. Could you respond to those foreign diplomats and see who would be your top foreign policy adviser who he couldn't even name?

CRUZ: Well, listen, on the question of foreign policy, I think we have seen throughout the course of this campaign a demonstration of the relative level of experience of each of the candidates.

And one of the reasons why we are seeing so much support coalescing behind our campaign is because people are looking for a commander in chief who understands our enemies, understands the nature of our enemies, understands our friends. You know, Donald Trump's foreign policy in experience is demonstrated

by his statement two debates ago that he intends to be neutral between Israel and the Palestinians. Nobody who understands foreign affairs would say that unless perhaps you were a Liberal Democrat.

And the reason is, Israel and the Palestinians are not standing on equal footing. Israel is a long-standing ally. Israel is our strongest ally in the Middle East. Israel shares our values. It is a liberal democracy.

[12:35:18] Israel is tremendous military ally. Israel's intelligence and military benefits the United States enormously in the Middle East.

On the other hand, the Palestinians, the P.A. has formed a unity government with Hamas, a terrorist organization, that celebrates the murder of women and children, that celebrates terrorist acts.

And so for anyone to say, as Donald Trump did, that he would be neutral between terrorists and our strongest military ally in the Middle East demonstrates that he does not understand foreign policy or national security.

That like wise was evident at a previous debate when he was asked about the nuclear triad. Which leg of the nuclear triad was most in need of rebuilding? As anyone familiar with military affairs or foreign policy is aware. The nuclear triad is how we defend ourselves. It's our nuclear deterrent system. It consists of three legs, the submarines, the long-range bombers and the missiles.

Now, all three of them need rebuilding. By the way, the right answer to that question should have been the submarines because of all them, it's the hardest leg to take out, it's the most important for deterrents.

But Donald it became evident when he was asked in that question had no idea what the nuclear triad was. And so when Donald questioned, when you would press him up which of the three legs, Donald response was, well, the nuclear part.

Now that that does not suggest an individual with the experience, with the knowledge to be commander in chief, and I would note finely when it comes to foreign policy. You need ...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Taking a huge shot at Donald Trump in Raleigh, North Carolina ahead of his rally there. Ted Cruz with the courageous conservative banner behind him doing his level best to set the stage in that state which by the way doesn't vote, doesn't go to polls in the primaries until March 15th.

But today, again, it is Super Tuesday, just not in North Carolina. For the Republicans they are looking a Michigan, Mississippi, Idaho and Hawaii. And for complete coverage for all of these political races with all of our live ballot cams in all of the states, stick with CNN.

Of course we're going to have full coverage of today's four contests for the Republicans and two for the Dems in Michigan and Mississippi.

Tomorrow night, 9:00 p.m. Eastern time CNN will simulcast the Democratic presidential debate hosted by Univision and the Washington Post. And it will be live right here starting at 9:00.

And then on Thursday, it's time for the GOP again. CNN holding another presidential debate in hot Miami, Florida. You thought you had seen hot air, wait until they get to Miami. Just five days ahead of that gigantic primary contest there. Ninety-nine delegates in state with GOP and its winner take all.

This could really be where the rubber hits the road.

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[12:42:26] BANFIELD: Have breaking news to report to you now in the Freddie Gray case. The Maryland Court of Appeals ruling that Officer William Porter can be forced to testify against five fellow police officers who were also charged in the Freddie Gray case.

You will remember that Porter's December trial ended with a hanged jury. So he needs to be retried. But then those five others do too.

I want to discuss this major development with Miguel Marquez. He's been following the case and also with me CNN Legal Analyst Joey Jackson.

All right first to you Miguel. Just to sort of help me get my head around the scheduling that this is going to create. That the scheduling mess is the least of Porter's worries.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is the least of his worries. Now he is -- could testify against five other police officers, certainly in two cases. There were two separate rulings in this from the Court of Appeals today, in one of them, the one dealing with Officer Goodson and Alicia White.

BANFIELD: He worked with them.

MARQUEZ: He worked with them on that day that Freddie Gray was arrested. He came across them specifically. He had interactions with them. And that's where his testimony could be most damaging to those other officers.

With regard to the other three officers, he could testify in those cases. It's not clear what the prosecution would do. Clearly though this does strengthens the prosecutions hand enormously in getting him to testify and possibly testifying against other officers.

BANFIELD: How they're going to retry him, whether is it the front of the line so he gets the first crack at the case again ...

MARQUEZ: That's the big question. The court will probably by beginning today or very soon the court in Baltimore will have to revisit that and have a schedule. BANFIELD: So this is where I have the issue Joey Jackson because there's this little thing called your Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination. That little tiny thing that's constitutional and if he testified five times in other cases before he's tried how on earth can even use immunity to protect him in his own trial?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well let's break that down. The first thing is, think about of the implication of this. This is a court ordering a defendant, who has a pending case, who's going to be retried to testify.

So his attorneys are arguing it implicates the right that you talked about against self incrimination. What's the response by the prosecution and what did the court say that they have it released of formal opinion they said it's to come but here's their thinking, if you're offered immunity to the extent that anything you can't say cannot be used against you, it does not implicate your right against incrimination.

Now we can argue that point. And here's what the argument would be. Think about how it would impair his right to a fair trial. These trials of every public and you mentioned testifying five times. If he testifies one time against Officer Sergeant White who was the supervisor, if he testifies against one time against Officer Goodson who was the driver, what does that do to public perception? What does that do to when a jury pool would view and evaluate him?

[12:45:11] And you can argue that he testified for four hours in his trial already and he gave a lot of statements already. But still to the extent that he'll be viewed and potentially could viewed by a jury in a different way it implicates his right to a fair trial. I think it is a problematic ruling but it's a ruling by the highest court in Maryland.

BANFIELD: I'm very uncomfortable only because look, he's not Joe Schmo off the street, it is televised. So offensively it's going to be televised. And I hope they will at least consider putting that in front of the queue and retrying him first before he testifies ...

MARQUEZ: That maybe what happens.

BANFIELD: Yeah, we'll keep an eye on him.

JACKSON: And they have discretion not to go forward again with him either. That will be up to them, the prosecution.

BANFIELD: Well, all right, there's a lot more reporting that we still have to get on this.

So Miguel and Joey, thank you to both of you.

JACKSON: Thank you.

BANFIELD: And then there this other case that's hanging out there as well. Hulk Hogan, perhaps the biggest wrestling star in WWE history. But now in the courtroom and on the stand for a second day in a sex tape trial, he is suing the website Gawker and just like in the ring he is promising to slam his competitor.

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[12:50:16] BANFIELD: Hulk Hogan, yes, Hulk Hogan is facing cross- examination on the second day of his sex tape trial. The former pro wrestler is suing Gawker media for $100 million.

Gawker is arguing that Hulk Hogan often discussed his sex life on the radio, out publicly and that that is why it was newsworthy. That the sex tape they publicized was newsworthy. But Hulk Hogan claims he was instead a character in those interviews, what he called protection mode.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TERRY BOLLEA, FORMER PRO WRESTLER "HULK HOGAN": All the person sitting here today under ought and I don't lie under oath as Terry Bollea. I was the character, we can talk about (inaudible) we can talk about like I said, I body slammed elephants, you know, I have surfed on tiger sharks and those are all lies. I pulled bumpers off of Cadillac jack those are all lies that that's Hulk Hogan saying in character driven.

So to answer your question, I was there and I didn't want to talk about Terry Bollea in my experience on the radio. It was, you know, if there were stills out there. I would -- the media was attacking us and I was actually using this show to, you know, just try to stop things from going forward.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In protection mode, right?

BOLLEA: Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I take it, you can do what is -- whatever is necessary to protect yourself, right?

BOLLEA: Well, yeah, especially when someone is trying to talk about your personal privacy and an invasion of your privacy as Terry Bollea, the man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Speaking in third person. And this is critical to the case, so the man versus the character. Can you separate them in a court of law? And I just want to let you to know that Terry Bollea's attorney David Houston has just sent CNN this statement after today's appearance on the stand. And here's how it reads. "Terry Bollea as Hulk Hogan has clearly set forth that Gawker has violated the rights of the private person Terry Bollea. After today's cross-examination it is clear though he is a celebrity playing certain roles, he is deserving of privacy in his personal life. It would seem Gawker is suggesting if a celebrity plays a sexual role in a movie it would then be appropriate to post a sexual video of that celebrity taken in their private life. Being a celebrity in no way, shape or form occasions the loss of right to personal privacy." Again, this is just sent to CNN from David Houston who is representing Terry Bollea/Hulk Hogan in court. I want to discuss these masteries of statement and the veracity of it, of that in fact.

CNN's Legal Analyst, Danny Cevallos is here and CNN's Senior Media Correspondent, Brian Stelter is here as well.

I'm going to talk with you in just a moment, but first you. I get it. That sounds interesting. But when we go off the air and then we do radio interviews or we do reality T.V. shows, ostensibly we are still in character but we are also our personal side because otherwise they wouldn't book us. They wouldn't book us to just to get what they get on our shows. They book us to get something more. So how can he argue that he isn't also Terry Bollea when he goes to speak to Howard Stern?

DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Let me to try take the other side. I mean wrestlers occupy a very unusual position as Hulk walks around on the street as Terry Bollea, he looks like Hulk Hogan, he appears to be Hulk Hogan.

This is not a mask that he puts on. He keeps those handlebar mustaches. That is his character. But this is ultimately a very clever strategy for humanizing Terry Bollea to this jury and saying all of the stuff that is my character, whatever it is, is to be over here.

Private Terry Bollea never intended for this to get out and your analogy of say news anchors or other people is not exactly the same as a professional wrestler. There's nothing quite like professional wrestling where you are expected to inhabit a ...

BANFIELD: Anyway.

CEVALLOS: Possibly. But you never have something exactly like professional wrestling where you have these characters that sort of limit (ph) these characters in one sense. But otherwise have these private names and expect to live privately.

BANFIELD: So if that's the case, Brian Stelter with your media eye I'm sure that you notice, can we run any of the pictures from the courtroom right now where Terry Bollea was on the stand.

He was asserting his right to be a private person. Yet, look what he's wearing. He's wearing his Hulk Hogan head scarf.

[12:55:00] BRIAN STELTER, CNN'S SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Right, right.

BANFIELD: And I'm wondering, well first of all, I can't understand why the judge would allow a non-religious head scarf in a courtroom, yet take your baseball hat off. But obviously that wasn't a battle they wanted to fight. Why then if he's trying to assert that he is not Hulk Hogan on that stand, would he dress the part of Hulk Hogan on that stand?

STELTER: Yeah, it certainly feels a little odd. It looks like Hulk Hogan when I see him on the stand testifying being cross-examined ... BANFIELD: ... another in front of the jury.

STELTER: You know, after the word of the sex tape leaked in 2012, TMZ wrote about it, and he talk to TMZ about it. He seemed to be joking about the tape at various points.

Now, this morning, Hogan as Terry Bollea is saying, "Well that was just me in character, I was being in character," it's different when the tape is actually shown on the web.

Only a few seconds of the actual sex act were shown on the web. We should point that out. Gawker says it was showing editorial restraint, just showing a small portion in order to report this. Gawker is going to continue to say this was newsworthy. Hogan's going to continue to say he has a right to privacy that is ...

BANFIELD: OK.

STELTER: ... gosh, and all the tough, tough argument.

BANFIELD: Danny, I want to go back to the issue of the character because when he's on the radio show talking about his sex life he was actually making references to his best friend's wife, with whom he was caught in this sex act ...

CEVALLOS: Oh, yeah.

BANFIELD: Wednesday, Angelina Jolie is performing a sex scene in a movie. She's not performing as Angelina Jolie and she sure as heck isn't talking about it as real. He was referring to it as real because he then not cross the rubicund.

CEVALLOS: It's again, it's -- there's no analogy, you can talk about Angelina Jolie, you can talk about virtually any other celebrity. But it sort of belies his own argument when he says I'm Terry Bollea and he sits their on the witness stand and he looks exactly like Hulk Hogan, if replete with bandanna, replete with necklace, the entire look.

So I think this is an interesting case. It's seminal first amendment type case because the job of professional wrestler is unlike any other job in the public eye.

BANFIELD: It is indeed. All right, I got to leave it there. But there's obviously more to come in this one ...

STELTER: There will be.

BANFIELD: ... Brian, thank you Danny, I appreciate it. And thank you everyone for watching.

Wolf starts right after this quick break.

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