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Ex-Saints Star Killed; Trump Focuses on New York; Brussels Attackers Plans; President Obama Defends Hillary Clinton E-Mail Use; PGA Masters Result Examined. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired April 11, 2016 - 09:30   ET

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


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[09:30:17] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

Saints fans mourning the death -- the shooting death of a Super Bowl champion this morning. Former defensive end Will Smith was shot and killed over the weekend after he was apparently rear ended by the suspect. Smith's wife was also shot and wounded. Smith just recently found out he'd been elected into the Saints Hall of Fame. A Hall of Fame general manager spoke about it this morning on CNN.

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KEN TRAHAN, GENERAL MANAGER, SAINTS HALL OF FAME: He got elected unanimously by our media selection committee and that doesn't happen very often. That spoke volumes about the quality of his play on the field. But what people talk about with Will more than anything else is the way he conducted himself off the field. He was a standup guy with media. He was a model teammate. And he'd do whatever it took for a team to be successful. So this is a real tragedy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: This morning, though, we're learning more about the rather strange connection between the shooting suspect and people close to Smith. CNN Sports correspondent Coy Wire is covering this for us this morning.

Good morning, Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

I've been speaking with Will Smith's former teammates. And last night I spoke to a former NFL player, Tutan Reyes, who was staying with Will Smith in Miami. They were both getting excited about life after football. Tutan told me that they were completing an executive MBA degree there. They were scheduled to walk in graduation in less than a month. He also said as big of a different maker as Will was on the field, he had an even greater impact in the New Orleans community.

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SUPT. MICHAEL C. HARRISON, NEW ORLEANS POLICE: One life is over and another life is ruined.

WIRE (voice-over): New details are emerging over the apparent road rage killing of beloved New Orleans Saints defense end Will Smith. Police say this man, 30-year-old Cardell Hayes, quote, "exchanged words with Smith after rear ending the former NFL player's car at a rural New Orleans intersection late Saturday night. Soon after, Hayes, now charged with second degree murder, pulled out a hand gun, gunning down the 2010 Super Bowl champion and shooting his wife in the leg. Just hours earlier, the couple posting this selfie together, Smith writing, "having a blast."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Racquel is at the hospital recovering and she's surrounded by her family and we're just praying that she has the strength to get through this.

WIRE: Police are now investigating whether the relationship between Smith and a former police officer, Bill Seravalo (ph), who posted this photo on FaceBook dining with Smith an hour before his murder, had anything to do with the shooting. The reason, the former officer was involved in the 2005 killing of the gunman's father. In a decade old federal lawsuit filed by the gunman, Hayes claims Seravalo and five other officers used excessive force when they shot and killed his father after he allegedly lunged at them with a small pocket knife.

HARRISON: We do not have any information to suggest that they knew one another or that this was anything other than an accident that turned into a dispute.

WIRE: Over the weekend, an outpouring of grief over the loss of one of the New Orleans Saints most famous players flooded social media. Smith's former teammate, Reggie Bush, writing, "you were a great man and did so much good for so many people in New Orleans. You will be greatly missed."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WIRE: Players are very emotional over this. One player to whom I spoke last night getting choked up as he was talking about Will Smith. One of his former teammates, a fellow defensive captain with the New Orleans Saints, Curtis Loften, said that he hasn't gotten emotional yet because it just hasn't sunk in. Carol, he said that he has a knot in his stomach because that could have been him in the vehicle with Will Smith. He can't imagine how Smith's wife, Racquel, and their three beautiful children are feeling during this time.

COSTELLO: I don't think anyone can. Coy Wire reporting for us live. Thank you.

After a break from the campaign trail, Donald Trump is back. Hours from now, the GOP frontrunner is expected to hold a rally in Albany, New York. It's all part of the final push to win voters ahead of next week's New York primary. Trump confident as polls show he's leading his rivals in New York by double digits.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I'm telling everybody in New York that the poll -- why wouldn't I? Why wouldn't I? Because these politicians are all talk and then no action. And they'll tell you and they follow what I say. The other day I heard Ted Cruz say, we want a wall and we'll build a wall. I said, where did that come from all of a sudden out of the blue?

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COSTELLO: Trump already playing up his home state ties, but he still appears to be fighting hard for votes. With me now Trump supporter and New York City Councilman Joe Borelli. He's one of the co-chairs of Trump's New York leadership team.

Thanks, Joe, for being here.

JOSEPH BORELLI, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Thank you for having me.

[09:35:01] COSTELLO: So last week Mr. Trump cancel a trip to California so he could campaign in New York. But he's far ahead in the polls. So why -- why -- why is he bothering?

BORELLI: Look, he's consistently been ahead in the polls here in New York, but that gives the campaign a unique opportunity to pick up a large portion if not all 95 delegates that are awarded in the state. I think the Trump campaign did the right thing to come back home and focus on an area where they could have a huge win.

COSTELLO: So, who's he more nervous about, Ted Cruz or John Kasich?

BORELLI: I would say at this point potentially Kasich. You know, Ted Cruz, people seem to focus on his New York values comment. But combine that with his vote against the (INAUDIBLE) Act and his vote against Sandy flooding and it's really a non-starter for most people, at least where I'm from, in the southern portion of New York state.

Kasich is the safe bet. This seems to be a year where voters in New York and elsewhere aren't looking for the safe bet. They're looking for someone loud, bombastic and willing to stand up for the party values.

COSTELLO: Donald Trump often talks about the friends he lost on 9/11. And over the weekend he paid a visit to the 9/11 memorial. He walked through it with his wife, Melania. There are a lot of people critical of that, saying it was not appropriate because he's using the memorial for political purposes. Did you advise him to do that?

BORELLI: No. No, I didn't consult with him on that. I think it's a great idea to visit the 9/11 memorial. You know, I --

COSTELLO: He had never done so before and suddenly he does now.

BORELLI: Well, it sounds like it would be a great time to do so. But the reality is for New Yorkers that things like Hurricane Sandy and things like 9/11 are still very much alive for a lot of New Yorkers. And when you juxtapose Trump's behavior with Ted Cruz, who did almost everything he could to not gain the support of people affected by both of those things, I think Trump is on the right path.

COSTELLO: Let's talk about what happened in Colorado because Mr. Trump is very upset about that. He saying that's not the Democratic way.

BORELLI: Rightfully so.

COSTELLO: But Ted Cruz didn't violate any of the rules. So why is Mr. Trump complaining?

BORELLI: Well, I think -- I think it's a fundamental philosophy of our democracy that at least the voters get to have some say in who we elect as president. And that's why it's so important for the campaign here in New York to almost guarantee not only that we win the state's 14 delegates statewide, but also in these congressional districts --

COSTELLO: Yes, but you say that, but we know Mr. Trump's going to win New York, yet he's here because he's fighting for every single delegate. So he understands the game by now.

BORELLI: Right. Well, the way New York works is that you have to not only win statewide 50 percent but you have to win 50 percent of each of New York state's 27 congressional districts. I think his approach of focusing on upstate might be the best choice right now. Today we'll see him in Albany and he'll probably pack out the Times Union Center. There were 23,000 tickets sold in Rochester. But by what margin can we say that Trump should not really go for all 95 delegates?

COSTELLO: No, no, I understand that, but in light of what he said about Colorado, because each state has different rules, right? Colorado is following the rules. So why complain about it and accuse other camp of gestapo tactics?

BORELLI: Well, Paul Manafort can pick whatever words he wants to use, but people have a right to be offended at the notion that their votes are essentially not mattering. But here in New York it's important not only for the delegates here, but we have a primary one week after the New York primary of northeastern states and by all accounts Donald Trump is leading in those. So I think the better we do here, the more that sort of pivots us to do a better job in the rest of the northeastern states.

COSTELLO: Councilman Borelli, thank you so much for stopping by.

BORELLI: Thank you.

COSTELLO: I appreciate it.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, plotting against Paris. The Brussels attackers originally planning to hit France again. Why they change their plans, next.

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[09:42:32] COSTELLO: No more waterboarding for the CIA. Director John Brennan telling NBC News, enhanced interrogation techniques are a thing of the past no matter who is elected this fall. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BRENNAN, CIA DIRECTOR: I absolutely I would not -- I would not agree to having any CIA officer carrying out waterboarding again.

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COSTELLO: President Obama banned waterboarding in 2009. Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have both suggested they would end that ban if elected. This morning, Trump called Brennan's statement ridiculous.

Belgian prosecutors say the terrorists behind the Brussels attacks originally wanted to strike France again, but they ditched the plan when they saw the fast-moving investigation into the Paris attacks and switched their target to Brussels. This new information comes as prosecutors announced terror charges for the so-called man in the hat. Mohamed Abrini, seen in surveillance video at the Brussels airport before the bombing there. That's him on the ground. He was rounded up along with five other terror suspects in a series of raids on Friday.

CNN's Kellie Morgan live in Brussels with more.

Hi, Kellie.

KELLIE MORGAN, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: Hey, Carol.

Yes, it is quite a development, isn't it, since the arrest of Mohamed Abrini on Friday, along with those five other suspects. We're hear detail now about this French plot. Now, we're hearing about this, apparently it came from a computer that was owned by airport suicide bomber Ibrahim el-Bakroui. That computer, of course, was the same one that was recovered by police outside the Schaerbeek apartment where the Brussels attackers made their bombs.

Now, on that computer, there was a data file, two targets mentioned, the Defrance (ph) business district in Paris. Now this is a center for business for banks, for companies, thousands of people work in that part of Paris. So that was listed as one of the targets. The other one was a Catholic (ph) association in the city.

Now, police have had this computer for almost three weeks ago now. So the timing is interesting that it comes just days after the most wanted man in Europe has -- was rounded up, pounced on by police as he walked casually in plain sight on one of these Brussels streets. Now, we know that Abrini is cooperating with police or at least he is talking to police because he confessed to being the third airport bomber. He then went as far to help police with how he disposed of his disguise. He saying that he threw his white jacket in a bin and also sold his hat. So he is talking to police. Whether or not they believe what he says, it's a different matter.

[09:45:13] COSTELLO: All right, Kellie Morgan reporting live from Brussels for this morning. Thank you.

Still coming at Newsroom, Hillary Clinton taking plenty of heat for her e-mails. Now, is President Obama trying to cool things down?

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COSTELLO: President Obama says he's staying out of the Clinton e-mail scandal. In an interview with Fox News Sunday, Obama saying he guarantees he'll have no influence over the investigations.

[09:50:06] Athena Jones has more from the White House this morning. Hi Athena.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Carol. The President defended Hillary Clinton's use of these e-mails and he also seemed to downplay the e-mail issue altogether. He said that then Secretary Clinton showed some carelessness when it comes to managing her e- mails, he did not believe she put national security at risk. Take a listen to how he put it in that interview.

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PRES. BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I continue to believe that she has not jeopardized America's national security. Now, what I've also said is that -- and she's acknowledged -- that there's a carelessness in terms of managing e-mails that she has owned and she recognizes, but I also think it is important to keep this in perspective. This is somebody who served her country for four years as Secretary of State and did an outstanding job.

JONES: And so, the President is saying that Secretary Clinton did an outstanding job. It's not a full throated endorsement but he clearly does not believe that any of her actions when it comes to those e- mails jeopardized national security. Some might argue he's prejudging this issue at a time when these investigations are still going on. So we'll have to see what the blow back is on that.

But one more interesting point he raised when it comes to these e- mails is that he made this the same point that Clinton folks had been making all along which this is this is the case of classification run amuck. He says that sometimes an e-mail that's labeled top secret for instance may be super sensitive. Other times it might not be so sensitive, it might be something that you can find publically available information. So, interesting to see the President weighing in here on this. Carol?

COSTELLO: All right. Athena Jones reporting live for us this morning. Thank you. Checking some other top stories for you, it's 51 minutes past the hour. America's top diplomat John Kerry made history today of becoming the first active Secretary of State to visit the atomic bomb memorial in Hiroshima, Japan. While he did not apologize for the US using atomic bombs to stop the Second World War, he said the memorial was a stark reminder of the horrors of war.

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: Anybody who's been in war, and I have been in war, knows the insanity of it and knows how complex it is with respect to loss of life and innocent civilians and people caught up in it, and so we all have to work to avoid that.

COSTELLO: Kerry is meeting with G7 foreign minister in advance of the next month's G7 summit in Japan.

The navy revealing one of its senior officers is behind bars in a military brig charged with espionage, adultery and paying for a prostitute. The officer known only by his rank of lieutenant commander was arrested eight months ago while trying to board an international flight. His arrest came to light during a preliminary court hearing a few days ago. The charging papers are heavily redacted and do not reveal exactly what the officer is accused of doing or for whom he was allegedly spying.

More negative fallout on the Mississippi's new religious freedom law. Rock musician Brian Adams says he's cancelling a show in Mississippi on April 14th because the new law discriminates against gay people. He said he'll return to Mississippi to perform only after the state rescinds the new law.

Still to come in the Newsroom, it looked like Jordan Spieth with post back to back Master's victories, but Andy Scholes is telling a very different story this morning.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right Carol. Spieth was so close to back to back green jackets but an epic meltdown on hole number 12 changed everything.

[09:53:53] We'll show you how it all went down when Newsroom continues.

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COSTELLO: At first, Jordan Spieth looked like he had the Master's in the bag, then instead of defending his title, cue the melt down. Speith handing golf's first major to someone who almost skipped the entire tournament. Andy Scholes is in Augusta with Spieth sad story. Good morning.

SCHOLES: Good morning Carol. Boy, did we have some drama in the final round here in Augusta yesterday. As you said, it looked like Spieth, he was rolling. He birdied the last four holes of the front nine, you know, most of your thought he was just going to cruise to back to back green jacket, but things just fell apart on that back nine. Spieth bogeyed 10 then he bogeyed 11 then in the epic melt down on 12. He hit the ball into the water twice then into a bunker. Finished with a quadruple bogey on the hole, was send him just tumbling down the leader board.

Now, he tried to make a comeback but just couldn't make it happen. He ended up finish tied for second and to make it worse for Spieth, as a defending champion, he had to put the green jacket on the winner, Danny Willet.

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JORDAN SPIETH, GOLFER: I can't think of anybody else who may have had a tougher ceremony to experience but yeah, it was very tough given that it's so soon after the finish and it was -- it was tough but I thought that he handled it with extreme class. (END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Now, while Spieth was faltering, Danny Willet was playing the best golf of his life. The 28-year-old Englishman shot a bogey free round to win his first major of his career. Now, Willet was lucky to even be at the Masters. His wife was due to have their first child yesterday and Willett said he was going to miss the tournament to be there for the birth of his baby but lucky for Willett, the baby came early and hey, now the rest is history.

And while Willet was winning the Masters, you got to see this, his older brother, Peter, was busy winning Twitter. When Willett was on the verge of victory, Peter was live tweeting.

[10:00:01] One of his tweets read, Dan, green makes you look fat. Refuse the jacket. And this other one he said -- he said, quote Carol, "If the boy does what he should, I will be able to say I share a bath with a Masters winner," and we --