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Police on Edge After Baton Rouge Attack; RNC Kicks Off Amid U.S. Tensions, Violence; Trump: Our World Is Spinning Out Of Control. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired July 18, 2016 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:03] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello, live at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio. Thank you so much for joining me this morning.

The Republican National Convention kicks off in Cleveland as the nation faces another senseless act of violence. Police across the country are on edge after three officers were killed and three others wounded in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

The theme at the convention today here in Cleveland, make America safe again. We are on the ground, in Louisiana, in Ohio, we're covering all the angles for you this morning. But let's start in Baton Rouge. That's where Fredricka Whitfield is this morning.

Hi, Fred.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, Carol. This is very complicated here in Baton Rouge. The community still reeling, the police community along with the citizens here, still feeling very pained about what happened yesterday.

The local newspaper, "The Advocate," really says it all. This is how people feel. This was senseless. Prominently displayed the three police officers who were killed, Brad Garafola, Matthew Gerald, Montrell Jackson. Their service with the Baton Rouge police community here ranging from one year to 10 years.

It was just yesterday morning, just down the street on this busy highway here, Airline Highway, where the suspect was seen carrying a long armed rifle. Now we now an AK -- and AR-15. Witnesses called in, police responded. Six officers hit. Three were killed.

This community is trying to resume to some sort of normalcy here. We heard from Baton Rouge police yesterday, saying already police had felt depleted over the last 12 to 14 days, after the police involved shooting of Alton Sterling. And now this. You can hear the road behind me, people are trying to get back to some normalcy about a mile and a half away at the Be-Quick, which is where that shooting took place.

That's where we find our Boris Sanchez. He's there now.

Boris, they're trying to resume to some normalcy, but of course still people are driving by there. They're trying to figure out how this happened, what led up to these events, and if we know anything more about the shooter.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Still, so many questions to be answered Fredricka. You know, it's interesting. You mentioned trying to return normalcy. Our crew actually arrived in Baton Rouge a week ago to cover protests, and at the time, we were stationed where you are now outside Baton Rouge police headquarters. And there were barricades outside. There were SWAT teams in full tactical gear, ready for just about anything.

And then as the week progressed, things seemed to kind of slow down and reach a more even keel. Everything culminating with the funeral of Alton Sterling on Friday. A moment where you felt the city had turned the corner. And then obviously this happened yesterday. As you said, unfolding right behind me at the Be-Quick convenience store and all the businesses around here. These police officers bravely going after this gunman even as he targeted them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: Shots fired. Officer down. Got a city officer down.

SANCHEZ (voice-over): Three officers ambushed and gunned down in Baton Rouge Sunday morning with three other officers wounded. At 8:40 a.m., officers spotting a man dressed in black wearing a mask and holding an AR-15 style semiautomatic rifle near a convenience store.

A law enforcement source says the killer, 29-year-old Gavin Eugene Long, a former Marine, was intentionally trying to lure in police.

UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: I'm hit. Left arm.

SANCHEZ: Two minutes later, gunshots rang out. The killer out- gunning the officers at the scene. In the hail of bullets, three of them lost their lives. 41-year-old Matthew Gerald, 32-year-old Montrell Jackson and 45-year-old Brad Garafola. Police ending the rampage by shooting the gunman.

CHIEF CARL DEBADIE, JR., BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA, POLICE: Don't think that this can't happen in your city. We never would have thought that this could have happened in Baton Rouge, but it has.

SANCHEZ: The attack coming just 10 days after five officers were killed in the Dallas ambush by another former military veteran, 25- year-old Micah Johnson. Gunning down officers protecting a peaceful protest to the police killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile.

COL. MIKE EDMONSON, LOUISIANA STATE POLICE SUPERINTENDENT: We want the prayers from around the country. You know, we are mourning just like Dallas. I mean, my two partners, my two brothers right here, I was in the hospital with them. I saw firsthand the grief on their face as they were trying to talk to the families. You know, this has got to stop.

SANCHEZ: Law enforcement sources tell CNN that the Baton Rouge killer rented a car from his hometown in Kansas City stopping in Dallas where he shot this video on his cell phone before carrying out the attack. The five-year veteran was discharged as a sergeant and spent about six months in Iraq.

[09:05:04] He tweeted about the Dallas killer calling him, quote, "one of us." And in a YouTube video urging viewers --

GAVIN LONG, SUSPECTED GUNMAN: You've got to fight back.

SANCHEZ: Tensions high in Baton Rouge since Alton Sterling's death nearly two weeks ago. Sterling's aunt pleading for peace.

VEDA WASHINGTON-ABUSALEH, ALTON STERLING'S AUNT: These people call these families. They tell them that their daddies and their moms are coming home no more. I know how they feel because I got the same phone call. Stop this killing. Stop this killing.

SANCHEZ: One of the slain Baton Rouge officers posting this plea on Facebook after the Dallas ambush, quote, "Please don't let hate infect your heart." Montrell Jackson wrote, "If you see me or need a hug or want to say a prayer, I got you."

President Obama yet again forced to address a mass killing.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We need to temper our words and open our hearts. All of us.

SHERIFF SID GAUTREAUX, EAST BATON ROUGE POLICE: Until we come together and this madness continues, we will surely perish as a people.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: And though the scene is clear here now this investigation is still very much ongoing. We know officials were interviewing people until 1:00 a.m. this morning. No charges have been filed yet. No arrests have been made. It's also very important to point out, Fred, there is still one sheriff's deputy who's in critical condition. Nicholas Tullier we're told is fighting for his life today .

WHITFIELD: All right, prayers being said for him, of course, and his family.

Boris Sanchez, thank you so much. Just down the street.

I want to bring in now Louisiana congressman, Garret Graves. Good to see you.

REP. GARRET GRAVES (R), LOUISIANA: Good to see you.

WHITFIELD: The community is very much in deep pain. You see it in different ways, whether it is going to the convenient store and, you know, the long faces. I only arrived here yesterday. We saw police officers who were hugging each other, embracing and talking with another officer who had tears in his eyes. You know, this is very deep.

What are you hearing from family members of the officers slain?

GRAVES: Look, everybody we're talking to was talking about just what an awful tragedy this is, how senseless this is. And quite frankly how disgusting it is. This does not represent our community. We have been through Hurricane Katrina, we've been through the nation's worst oil spill. We've been through floods. And this is one of those communities where people would give one another their shirts off their back and to see this type of reaction to the shooting. It just -- it's not indicative of this community. And I think the fact that you saw someone come in from out of state to proliferate this hatred, it's really, you know, somewhat telling that the people here simply wouldn't do this.

WHITFIELD: It is a close-knit community. People feel like this is an assault on that kind of comfort that they felt here.

GRAVES: This is very close to home. Look, this isn't just -- this isn't just three deaths. This is three fathers, three husbands. Three neighbors, three community members, three brave courageous law enforcement officers. It makes it very personal to our community. This was an assault on our community.

WHITFIELD: You were supposed to be on your way to Cleveland for the Republic National Convention. You decided you need to stay here. What do you say to the community here, police community, the citizenry here about what is next?

GRAVES: Look, shame on us if we do not thoroughly investigate this and extract every single lesson learned. Yes, this happened in Baton Rouge yesterday. There is nothing that is going to stop this from happening in New York City, Lincoln, Nebraska, Des Moines, Iowa, Los Angeles, California, wherever. We have got to make sure we understand exactly what happened over the last several days with the shooter, what has he been doing, who has he been talking to. Did he receive support? Where did he get radicalized?

We've got to make sure we understand everything about this and extract lessons learned to prevent it from happening again, and importantly, I think there's some underlying issues in our community that need to be addressed, but really the Alton Sterling shooting served as a catalyst to bring to the forefront.

WHITFIELD: Have you learned anything as to whether he had any particular interaction with anyone here in Baton Rouge, whether he stayed here for a period of days before this happened, whether he sought any sort of refuge here?

GRAVES: Well, look, it appears from initial reports that he did spend a number of days here. Law enforcement tracked him from Missouri to Dallas, Texas, and then to Baton Rouge. They're trying to piece all that together and I think it's important for us to let them do their investigation and see what type of evidence they're able to draw from their investigation.

WHITFIELD: Congressman, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

GRAVES: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right.

So, Carol, of course, the wound is still very much open here. Of course people are praying for the family members of the three police officers that were killed here. And members of the Baton Rouge Police Department as well as the sheriff's office, and of course, prayers are still being said for those who continue to fight for their lives in the hospital -- Carol.

[09:10:02] COSTELLO: All right, Fredricka Whitfield, we'll get back to you. Thanks so much.

Amid all of this, the chilling social media trail left by the gunman and a tragic Facebook post by one of the officers killed.

With me now to talk about the investigation, CNN law enforcement analyst, former Cuyahoga County sheriff, Bob Reed.

Welcome, Bob.

BOB REED, FORMER CUYAHOGA COUNTY, OHIO, SHERIFF: Thank you.

COSTELLO: One of the officers killed, he posted something on his Facebook on July 8th. His name was Officer Montrell Jackson. And this is what he said.

"I swear to God I love this city, but I wonder if the city loves me. In uniform, I get nasty hateful looks. And out of uniform, some consider me a threat. I've experienced so much in my short life, and these last three days have tested me to the core."

Of course, he was talking about what happened in Dallas. He is an African-American man. So you can see that there is a divide in this country. And it's even being felt by police officers, who work every day to save lives.

REED: Yes, they do. And you know, budget cuts throughout the nation has stopped the community policing initiative that really brought law enforcement officers back to the communities where we can walk the streets and we can talk to people and most police departments are no so understaffed, and after this, they're going to be even more understaffed up when you're starting to double up cars, long times on call, call responses. So --

COSTELLO: But do you understand what this officer was trying to say?

REED: Yes, yes.

COSTELLO: Like explain that to us.

REED: Well, he is saying that, you know, part of being a policeman is being part of the community. Wanting to be -- you go into a store, you go into a grocery store and people greet you and say hello. And what he was experiencing, not only through what was happening in Dallas, but what obviously what happened in Baton Rouge, he is experiencing the negative side to people. I mean, we get it. I mean, if you're in this profession, you can't be thin-skinned, but at the end of the day, it's nice to be thanked, it's nice to have people look at you and smile, and -- but when they're concerned about the relationship between policemen and the community, if that person is suspect of you, all of that niceness goes away. And I can understand exactly what he is saying.

COSTELLO: So do you agree that there is a problem in some communities between police and the community? There is a lack of trust there. Is that a true --

REED: Yes.

COSTELLO: Yes?

REED: It is a true statement. It is accurate. And I think it's gotten more over the years where I had said where we no longer are involved inasmuch community policing as we should be. And I -- that builds distrust that they're not out of those cars, they're not out there talking to the public. Now some police departments have more resources than others, and they have a good community policing program. It would be interesting to see, you know, those that have a really ramped-up program and those that don't and the difference in the environment, the police environment.

COSTELLO: And so the mistrust is there and I think that most Americans are sitting back and saying, you know what, the police need protection now. How do we protect our police? I mean, we can send them out in tandem, right? But sometimes even that that doesn't work. So what's the answer here? Because you're not going to -- you're not going to bridge the trust gap in a day or a month or a week, right?

REED: You're not. And look at the resources that we're going to be putting on small departments nationwide. I can see it already here in the city of Cleveland, where they were going to be patrolling with two officers and now they're doing two and three and four.

Now, granted, we have the luxury of having a lot of policemen here, so we can do that. But the policing initiative all through America is going to be tested over the next couple of months, where, you know, all of these resources are going to have to be poured into, putting more officers on the street. And where do they get those resources when many of them are stretched thin right now?

COSTELLO: It takes money, right?

REED: It takes money.

COSTELLO: Bob Reed, thanks for stopping by.

REED: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Appreciate it.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, today's theme at the convention, make America safe again. The lineup, full of celebs, lawmakers and Melania. What you can expected today, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:16:02] COSTELLO: Actors, lawmakers, and Melania Trump, day one of the RNC kicking off here in Cleveland. In less than four hours, the slew of speakers will begin taking the stage inside Quicken Loans Arena with one clear message in mind, Trump is the candidate to make America safe again.

With me now is CNN's Phil Mattingly with a rundown of what we can expect today. Good morning.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. You mentioned, Melania Trump. She will be the headliner tonight and it's a key component every day of this convention, Trump family, trying to give a fuller picture of the candidate.

It may be seems a little bombastic on the campaign trail, but the real focus of today is security. You're going to hear it in speaker after speaker. When it comes to Joni Ernst, the senator from Iowa, a rising star in the Republican Party, a military officer herself.

When it comes to Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, a former Obama administration top intelligence official, he will be speaking as well. You look across the celebrities that will be there. People like Scott (inaudible), all of them will be talking about security.

Whether or not that's in their bailiwick or not. I think one thing you need to note, as you look throughout the course of today and really if you look through the course of the entire convention.

This is an area where Trump aides explicitly feel like Donald Trump can make a move. They look what's been happening, not just internationally, but just inside the country.

Over the last couple of weeks, they sensed uneasiness, a populous that is distracted, unwilling to grasp maybe what is being laid out and they feel like Donald Trump can take advantage of that.

They're not hiding it any more, a law and order candidacy is what Donald Trump is going to be running on, and that harkens back to 1968, Richard Nixon perhaps, openly comparing it to that right now. That's what you're going hear a lot of today and throughout this convention.

[09:20:04]COSTELLO: All right, Phil Mattingly, thanks so much. So safety was a key talking point for Donald Trump last night. Claiming he actually was on "60 Minutes" last night. He was with Mike Pence, his new running mate, and said the world is spinning out of control. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We need toughness. We need strength. Obama is weak. Hillary is weak and part of it is that a big part of it, we need law and order. We need strong borders. Our world is spinning out of control. Our country is spinning out of control. That's what I think about, and I'll stop that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: With me now is Scottie Nell Hughes, political editor at rightalerts.com and a Trump supporter, and Ryan Lizza, CNN political commentator. Welcome to both of you.

So Ryan, I'll start with you. So you heard what Mr. Trump says. He says the world is spinning out of control. Is that what Americans need to hear right at the moment?

RYAN LIZZA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean, look, there is a lot of chaos right now, and people are on edge. They're on edge because of what is going on internationally and domestically and he is trying to take advantage of that obviously.

What I'll be looking for the next few days is does he get specific, right. A lot of the Trump candidacy has been lacking in details, and I think is this is a big opportunity for the Trump campaign to tell the American people specifically what he would do.

What is his view of race relations in America? How would he, when he talks about law and order, what changes would he make to make the country safer? On foreign policy, when he is talking about ISIS.

Last night on "60 Minutes," he was very vague about boots on the ground. What would his actual policy be to stamp out ISIS? How would it actually be different than the Obama administration policy?

And so, you know, those are the things that I think after a year of campaigning, a year of sort of symbolism and slogans, this is the opportunity for him to finally --

COSTELLO: I did want to hear more detail, right, especially about how Mr. Trump used race relations in this country, because clearly we have a problem right now. President Obama spoke about the police shootings in Baton Rouge, and Donald Trump said it was a weak speech, right.

He tweeted that the president doesn't have a clue. He said our country is a divided crime scene, and it will only get worst. He went on Fox News this morning, and he was responding to the Cleveland police union head, saying that President Obama had blood on his hands.

And Donald Trump said that there was something strange about President Obama's body language. I would like our viewers to listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The president sometimes the words are OK, but you just look at the body language. There is something going on. Look, there is something going on. The words are not --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What does that mean, there is something going on?

TRUMP: There is bad feeling, and a lot of bad feeling about him. I see it too. There is a lot of bad feeling about him. We have a country that is --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know --

TRUMP: We have a country that has not been like this since I can remember it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So there is something going on, Scottie. What's going on with President Obama's body language? What did he mean by that?

SCOTTIE NELL HUGHES, POLITICAL EDITOR, RIGHTALERTS.COM: You have to look at it. Look at the past. President Obama actually teared up in a very emotional speech when he talked about Treyvon Martin, some of the victims of police brutality when he's giving his speech.

Yet when it comes down to when he is actually talking, going against any of these officers who have been targeted, it is a very straightforward, very diplomatic speech. You don't see the same emotion. Think that's what he is probably implying. We are a divided country right now.

COSTELLO: I just want to concentrate on what he said before we get into other things. So you say Mr. Trump wanted President Obama to show more emotion when he talked about these dead police officers.

HUGHES: You're sitting there and saying -- the thing is if, you notice, can you name every police officer that has passed away in the past with two weeks because of this. No. But we can name the victims that were originally targeted in Minnesota and now in Baton Rouge. We can name them. President Obama constantly says those names, but he doesn't say the names of the police officers over and over again.

LIZZA: The police officers shootings just happened.

HUGHES: But he still gave a press conference on it. The shootings also happened in Baton Rouge and he said the name over and again so people can remember. We need to remember, their memory, just as much, if not more.

LIZZA: I'm just asking. Is the idea what Trump saying that the president doesn't have the same sympathies for the police officers who were shot as he does for the African-Americans who were shot by the white police officers?

HUGHES: That's a judgment up to President Obama. We need to see more emotional --

LIZZA: It seemed like that is what he was suggesting.

HUGHES: You talk about the emotion. We've seen him tear up. We've seen him cry at the deaths of what they consider to be police brutality.

COSTELLO: You were saying too that the president doesn't care as much that police officers are being killed. HUGHES: I would never sit there and say that the president of the United States regardless of what party doesn't care. I think he cares about the law enforcement. He does not like the targeting going on. But you're just seeing the same emotion that we are seeing the divide when he gives the press conferences.

LIZZA: I think that's really unfair. You are accusing the president, it seems you're suggesting this is what Trump is saying, because it is hard to decipher sometimes, you're accusing the president of not caring as much.

HUGHES: I didn't accuse. I said when you sit there and look at the presentation and talking about body language, there is a distinct difference between the two. There a tears in eyes, and there is a diplomatic, you know, canned response the other way.

It is not -- I'm not saying he is not. What his public perception is, constantly saying the names of the victims on both sides, you don't hear it as much. You don't hear it in other --

COSTELLO: I want to get Ryan's take. What do you think Donald Trump meant by the president's body language?

LIZZA: Look, I've been covering him long enough to know when he starts to go into that gray area and he starts to raise questions, but doesn't quite specifically say what he means. He means something. Scottie I think is helping us here decipher it a little bit.

And it sounds like you're saying, someone who is an expert on Trump too, is that he has less sympathies for dead police officers than the dead victims of the police officers. I think that -- I'm not a body language expert, but I don't think watching President Obama's body language, that that's my take away from his various press conferences.

HUGHES: That's the best part, Carol. That's what Mr. Trump is good for. He is letting you make the decision. He is not telling you how to think.

LIZZA: I mean, to me, it is edging into conspiratorial thinking like there is something going on.

HUGHES: No, not at all. You do see the president did meet with, you know, has brought in Black Lives Matter, their leadership into it.

LIZZA: He talks to law enforcement all the time.

HUGHES: But at the same time, you're looking at these groups that are not publicly out there, they're condemning it, but only in a press release.

LIZZA: What do think he should do?

COSTELLO: What would the president in your mind, what should the president do to -- I mean, to correct his body language?

HUGHES: It is more than words right now. Our law enforcement need to physically feel like they're being backed up by this administration, whether it is by appropriations, by stopping this --

COSTELLO: So had the president said the officer officers' names or had tears in his eyes that would have sent a better message?

LIZZA: When he is on the phone with the folks in Dallas immediately after the incident, right, he was in communication with the governor.

HUGHES: But he also, you know, he has -- he invited the son of Baton Rouge, he invited the son up to the White House. Did he invite the children of the police officers that well slain up to the White House, as well, no --

LIZZA: I would be very surprised --

HUGHES: We live at a PR type world. It needs be to across the board if he wants to restore -- listen, 31 police officers have been shot, up 94 percent. There is something going on in this country in 2016.

COSTELLO: I have to leave it there. Ryan Lizza, Scottie Nell Hughes, thanks to both you of.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Ohio gun owners can wear their weapons in public thanks to the state's open-carry law, but one police union head wants to change that at least during the Republican National Convention. The head of that union tells me why, next.

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