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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Working to Register Voters; SeaWorld and Killer Whales; Bowe Bergdahl Update; Cuba Tourism Increasing; Wonder List Preview. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired March 17, 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] RAUL REYES, ATTORNEY, COMMENTATOR: One is obviously the Trump phenomenon. As you mentioned your reporter mentioned that things are up 14 percent -- up 14 percent this year. That's on top of an 11 percent increase last year.

And a second factor driving this increase in people seeking full naturalization and citizenship is that now for the first time, you can do this, you can pay by credit card. And you can pay online.

In the past -- yes, in the past, you had to go to the immigration office. You had to have all of the money in advance. And this is really a phenomenon that we're seeing with Trump mobilizing Latinos to vote. because for all of the discussions we've had and that we've seen about the power of the Latino vote, growing Latino vote in both of the last two election cycles, the fact is, in the last elections, more Latinos did not vote than actually turned out.

So this is a real -- this is a real thing. And there are groups all over the country like Mi Familia, both unions STIU unite here both are Latino. They are mobilizing and signing people up and getting them through the process. And one big difference between the work the campaigns do and the work they do is the campaigns, once the primary is over, once the caucus is over, they're on to the next state.

These groups are staying there in places like Nevada, Florida, Colorado and continuing to sign people up, reminding them of the deadlines and getting them into the system to vote.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: And those are critical states.

REYES: Yes, yes.

BANFIELD: Paul Reyes, thank you for that. I appreciate it. We'll continue to watch, it takes about five months or so on average, it took me a couple years because I'm not that clearly. But thank you.

REYES: Thank you.

BANFIELD: Coming up next. Huge news coming out of SeaWorld today about the future of its killer whale shows and the Orcas living there, most of whom have never known any other home.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [12:36:02] BANFIELD: Very big news today out of SeaWorld. The killer whale that live there now will be the last ones ever at the park. No more Orcas coming to SeaWorld.

Remember, the park has been in under the magnifying glass ever since the CNN documentary called "Black Fish" aired, particularly about the way the animals are treated there and how the killer whales have been involved in the deaths of three people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you look into their eyes, you know somebody is home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are an animal that possesses great spiritual power and not to be meddled with.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dawn is the senior trainer here at Shamu Stadium.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She captured what it means to be a SeaWorld trainer. That it made me realize what happened to her really could have happen to anyone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Martin Savidge is keeping an eye on this story for us.

Martin, it's not as though SeaWorld is shutting down the operations or the Orca program. There are whales that are still going to be there for many years to come but it's effectively the breeding program which has stopped. Which means this is the last generation. How big a deal is this for SeaWorld, and also for the people who are friends of the killer whale?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's huge. I mean, it's as big as, of course, the creature we are talking about here, which is gigantic.

SeaWorld has essentially announced three things. Number one, it is phasing out the Orca breeding program. That is good.

Two, it is also saying that it's phasing out the theoretical shows that involves the Orcas. In other words, they're going to put on shows that are more speaking about the environment and educating people about Orcas.

And then lastly, you have this partnership between SeaWorld and the Humane Society which itself is just an incredible achievement because these are two organizations that were at logger heads for so long. And now literally keeping with the animal theme, it's like the lion laying down with the lamb. It is all very, very good for Orcas, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: And I want to read this tweet that came out this morning from, in fact, the makers of the documentary "Black Fish." The quote is, SeaWorld to end the breeding program, but still holds 29 Orcas in captivity, followed by the word "Progress."

Martin Savidge, thank you for your reporting.

I want to bring in Wayne Pacelle who is the president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States.

First of all, it should be acknowledged that you're having a banner year. You have waged a campaign to try to change things at SeaWorld. You've also benn able to fight Ringling Brothers. And they have ended their elephant performances in their shows.

I want to talk about SeaWorld for a moment. And the negotiation that it took between you and SeaWorld to get to this stage today.

WAYNE PACELLE, PRESIDENT & CEO HUMANE SOCIETY OF THE UNITED STATES: We had three months of private conversations, me and the new CEO of SeaWorld. He came in about ten months ago, and a congressman, friends to both of us, pulled us together and said maybe you two want to talk.

I think my friend, Congressman John Campbell, retired house member from Orange County, California, thought that SeaWorld needed to change. So I started with Joel Manby, the new CEO and I was skeptical and I think he was feeling awkward with me because we were adversaries, we were critics. But we really began to talk and I felt like he needed to address the issue of Orcas and stop the breeding.

He recognized that that was really stepping on the larger work that SeaWorld was doing. That he had to clear that out. "Black Fish" was a watershed and CNN's serial rebroadcast of this really changed the optics on this issue in the country. It was a tough negotiation but here we are today with really a series of elements and a plan that I think really is positive for the American people. It's going to be good for SeaWorld and certainly good for animals.

BANFIELD: One question for you. SeaWorld often defended itself by saying "Look, the money that we bring in from ticket sales is not just profit. We do a lot of good in the environment. We do a lot of good for the health and well-being and the viability of Orcas in the wild, as well.

[12:40:09] Those ticket sales, I think you can attest, will likely change if the Orca program goes away. This is why people go to SeaWorld. They go to see the Orcas jumping out and doing tricks and flips. Is that a concern to you, that it's almost biting the hand that feeds you in a very odd way?

PACELLE: You know, I think that the use of Orcas is actually a drag on their ticket sales. After "Black Fish" came out, sales declined by more than a million in terms of the gate receipts. People were really skeptical, they were critical of keeping these big, long-lived animals in relatively small pools, because these animals live with their families their whole lives. They swim for tens of miles every day. They did this in part because the public attitude were shifting in our direction at the Humane Society of the United States. I think this is going to actually enable them to sell more tickets.

I mean, frankly, you know, you can entertain people by doing things other than with animals. BANFIELD: Ask you that the -- as I read through all of the details, I'm not sure if I missed one. This is clearly the United States. But there are plenty of marine parks all around the world that have questionable practices and how, I mean much worse than things we witnessed in "Black Fish." How much is SeaWorld, you know, going to be a domino effect all around the globe? How much of their operation is international that will also be affected and other parks thereafter?

PACELLE: SeaWorld has a little more than half of all the Orcas in the world. So that is a big step with no more breeding.

And SeaWorld, I believe, is going to expand internationally and there will be no Orcas at its new foreign-based park.

So I think that's significant. I think it's kind of like with Ringling and so many other industries we've been talking to, working with, pressuring. They've got to do better when it comes to animals.

You know, it the last ...

BANFIELD: Doesn't it push people, though, that want to operate these parks anyway? If they can't get them through a breeding program, they're going to go out into the wild and they're going to steal them from their family pods. You don't think that will happen?

PACELLE: No, that would, no it will never be acceptable.

BANFIELD: How about the dolphins?

PACELLE: We won't let it happened with Orcas we're fighting it with dolphins, you know, the Taiji slaughter of off Japan, I mean there's global outrage about that.

So we're going to keep the pressure on, this is the beginning of the discussion, not the end of it. And, you know, for us, this is a big moment. So many issues are changing. You know, I think a food policy in the last six months, 75 of the biggest food retailers, McDonald's, Cracker Barrel, Kroger, they said we're going to source our animal products from more humane farms. This humane economy, the notion that businesses need to abide by animal welfare is growing and surging.

BANFIELD: I appreciate you taking the time to come in. And I thought it was a big surprise and that you scrambled to get here and lo and behold, you've been in these meetings, these secret meetings for a long time and this has been a negotiation that you knew was coming for us, you know, to fruition today.

Thank you so much for being here.

PACELLE: Ashleigh, thank you.

BANFIELD: Wayne Pacelle, with us here live on the set.

And coming up next, have you ever heard of schizotypal personality disorder? Because the chances are you're going to hear a lot more about it coming up after the court martial of Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, after his defense in that court martial released information in this case that elucidates what his mental thinking was at the time he walked off of his base in Afghanistan and then ultimately ended up a POW for five years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: When you watch Charlotte Brown, it's hard to believe she can't see.

CHRIS HUFFINS, ASST. TRACK AND FIELD COACH PURDUE UNIVERSITY: She does live so seamlessly that often people don't know she's blind.

GUPTA: The Purdue University freshman developed cataracts in both eyes at 16 weeks old and had surgery to remove them.

CHARLOTTE BROWN, BLIND POLE VAULTER: I can see colors and I can see shapes and people. But I will always read large print and I can never see really well.

GUPTA: In sixth grade, Charlotte's vision got worse, and she was declared legally blind.

BROWN: We just kind of hiccupped over it. My parents, they never said, can you do that? It's just how are you going to do that?

GUPTA: A question they asked, when she wanted to pole vault on seventh grade.

BROWN: No one on my team was doing it and it seemed dangerous. And I was like, ah, I wanted to do something dangerous.

GUPTA: Charlotte and her coaches came up with a strategy. She places a beeper above the box where plants her pole and then counts the steps on her approach.

BROWN: I have very sensitive hearing. So, essentially, when I vault, I really don't hear anything except for the beeper.

GUPTA: In her senior year, Charlotte won bronze at the Texas state high school championships.

BROWN: I had a lot of kids come up to me and just think you're the world. That's really cool, just to know what you're doing is going to have an impact on them.

GUPTA: Now in college, the 18-year-old says the sky is the limit.

BROWN: I'm scared of a lot of things, I just chose to do it anyway. You just have to stare fear in the face and you just have to smile even if you can't see it.

[12:44:48] GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Bowe Bergdahl, the American soldier who endured nearly five years of Taliban captivity has a diagnosed personality disorder and PTSD, as well. And that is according to his defense team which just released a pile of legal documents saying they want the public to know more about the whole truth. By the way, the reason Bergdahl has a defense team is because he's facing court martial for desertion which is why the Taliban had him in the first place.

Joey Jackson, want to bring you in on this defense tactic. But also, the bigger notion that they're saying this illness actually existed before he walked off the base. It didn't happen because he was a POW for five years. It's not an after the fact thing. It's a very much before the fact thing.

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: That's big.

BANFIELD: And that's going to be huge for his defense.

JACKSON: It absolutely is, because in any defense, obviously, you have to point to it being relevant. And obviously, it would be relevant if he had this disorder, this, you know, psychic episode or what would be known as something that would make him somewhat paranoid.

[12:49:59] Now, moving further than that, obviously, this goes to negate and intent because the big issue in the case is what was he intending to do? Of course, if you speak to his defense team, his intent was to talk about the things that were going on in his command that put his fellow soldiers in danger. I think they'll paint him as a very patriotic and sympathetic figure who wanted nothing but the best for the people he worked with.

BANFIELD: Patriotic.

JACKSON: If you add that, sure, if you add that to this illness that they're alleging he has. It makes him more sympathetic.

BANFIELD: Patriotic, sympathic, OK. I want you to listen to Donald Trump, right, Donald on the campaign trail had said this kind of thing over and over and over about Bergdahl, have a look.

JACKSON: Very harsh.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're tired of Sergeant Bergdahl, who is a traitor, he's a traitor, a no-good traitor, who should have been executed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: OK, executed. I'm not sure that that's something that's really on the table right now. That stuff has mattered. That may be political, but now their lawyers are almost sending him a cease and desist letter, saying there's a jury that might be ... JACKSON: Absolutely. And think about the context of this Ashleigh. The investigator who investigated this, if you look at Major General Dahl, and investigating it, 57 witnesses, including Bergdahl himself over the course of 59 days. And what was his recommendation? That it not be a felony, that he be charged AWOL and related minor offenses. They went to a hearing. And the lieutenant following that hearing had the same recommendation. It was only General Abrams after the fact who said, "No, we're going to put this in a general court martial and you're going to face life in prison."

So I think there is a significant political element to this too. And I think in the political season, that's what you're seeing with Donald Trump.

BANFIELD: Yeah, but let's just be clear. I don't think anyone within the service is calling right now for his -- legally calling for his execution.

JACKSON: No.

BANFIELD: Joey Jackson, thank you for that. Appreciate it.

JACKSON: Thank you.

BANFIELD: Coming up next, could a tourism boom brought by Cuba's warming relations with the United States actually have a bad effect? Could it threaten the tropical marine life and the island's pristine waters? We're going to dive head-first into this potential undersea dilemma in the "Wonder List."

Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:56:15] BANFIELD: Cuba is preparing for a tourism boom as the United States opens up diplomatic relations there. But it could come at a cost, to Cuba's nearly untouched pristine marine life. In the premier episode of "The Wonder List" on Sunday, Bill Weir, the awesome Bill Weir is going to explore the issues truly under the surface of Cuba.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL WEIR, CNN HOST, THE WONDER LIST: Fish know no politics, right?

FERNANDO BRETOS, CURATOR, FROST MUSEUM OF SCIENCE: Yeah, Exactly. They don't have borders.

ERIK GARCIA-MACHADO, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF HAVANA: No borders.

The anecdote is beyond fish. It's migratory birds, it's even manatees.

BRETOS: Exactly. The manatees.

JESSY CASTELLANOS GELL: Sharks.

WEIR: Larvae that are passive migrators.

MACHADO: It's a nice awesome ...

WEIR: Jessy and Erik are Cuban marine biologists. Fernando is a Cuban-American devoted to using science to trump ideology. He used Castro's love of marine life to open a dialogue years before the politicians so he credits manatee diplomacy with the change in cold war tone.

BRETOS: I think we have a lot to do with that. Our science diplomacy, breaking down barriers, from my perspective, I'm a Florida resident. So my work here in Cuba is selfish as well.

WEIR: You're downstream.

BRETOS: I'm downstream. So whatever happens -- if Cuban reefs aren't well protected, if it we lose this crown jewel of the Caribbean, Florida suffers, the Gulf of Mexico suffers, New Jersey suffers.

WEIR: Florida is just 90 miles away, but reefs this healthy are impossible to find there any more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: What a difference a few decades can make, Bill Weir that was the Bay of Pigs.

WEIR: Exactly. Isn't that incredible? As a Cold War kid, you know, I grow up at the end of the Cold War it's still mind-blowing to think we can surf Vietnam and we can go on shopping sprees in Moscow and dive in the Bay of Pigs and stay in these unbelievable little fishing villages that are right at the Hemingway it is like a time warp.

BANFIELD: I was on the beach of Gaza, but I don't recommend that for tourists.

WEIR: No, no. But who knows, hopefully in 50 years, you never know.

BANFIELD: So tell me a little bit about it. Like I have envisioned loads of 1950, you know, style Chevys all over the road in Cuba that are exactly the same.

WEIR: Right.

BANFIELD: But, you know, missing a lot of parts, et cetera. But they have had a robust tourism industry from other countries. So I would imagine that it's actually clicking along pretty well there.

WEIR: Well it's in pockets. It's really in pockets. But the thing -- I went down there with all these preconceived notions. I was picturing "Godfather Part II" and there's 10 million pent up small Democrats and Capitalists just waiting for Castro's to die.

I had my mind blown, because first of all, the place is so broken. It is -- Havana is one of the loveliest ruins in the world.

BANFIELD: Really?

WEIR: And anecdote, we go to this bar, guys mixing drinks, up pulls an antique water truck and they bring in a hose and fill up -- why are they trucking water into the tropic? It's because the infrastructure, the pipes are so leaky in old Havana that if they turn the water on full pressure, it creates this massive puddles and there is mosquitoes.

So that is one thing. But then the attitude of the Cubans, they're so -- I didn't expect to see this. They're critical of their government a little bit. But fiercely proud of the ideals of the revolution, and sort of have an aversion to the American dream. As they perceive it.

BANFIELD: Yeah, interesting. Well, maybe they won't feel that way when they see all those American dreamy people coming down and loading a lot of money into their potential infrastructure.

WEIR: And that's going to happen, yeah.

BANFIELD: Oh, Bill, you have the greatest job ever. Can you take me with you? I want to ...

WEIR: Come along, absolutely. You've got to carry a tripod, but you can come along.

BANFIELD: No worries. I've done that for years. Be sure to check out Bill's awesome program, "The Wonder List," with Bill Weir coming up on Sunday, 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time, right here on CNN.

Thanks, Bill. Appreciate it.

[13:00:00] WEIR: Thanks.

BANFIELD: Thank you, everyone, for watching. Wolf starts right now.