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Bill Clinton's Role in the Campaign; Russia's Hacking of the DNC; Charges Dropped in Freddie Gray Case; Reagan Shooter Hinckley to be Released; Tim Kaine's Speech. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired July 27, 2016 - 09:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:30:05] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We are live outside the Wells Fargo Center, the site of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Good morning, everyone. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

Any moment now, DNC officials will begin holding their daily media briefing. We're expecting senior Clinton leaders and convention officials to start speaking soon. Of course, we're going to monitor that and we'll bring you any new developments.

But, history has already been made here in Philadelphia. For the first time a woman, Hillary Clinton, is nominated for president of the United States by a major political party. The glass ceiling, shattered.

For younger peopled unphased by Clinton's accomplishment, consider this, 96 years ago, women could not even vote. And try to wrap your mind around a first man. It sounds weird, right? It sounds so weird that no one can quite figure out what exactly -- what -- like, what would a first man's role be?

[09:35:16] With me now to talk about this is presidential historian Allan Lichtman. He's also a professor at American University. And Jane Hampton Cook, she's the author of "The Burning of the White House."

Welcome to both of you.

ALLAN LICHTMAN, PROFESSOR, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: Thank you.

COSTELLO: So, Alan, first of all, do we call the -- do we call him a first man if Bill Clinton becomes the vice -- or the -- see, I can't even say it.

LICHTMAN: He's not the vice president. You called him --

COSTELLO: I know, but some people think that.

LICHTMAN: The first gentlemen. The advisor in chief. The good buddy. Whatever you want to call him, it doesn't matter. It's still historic. As you say, the glass ceiling has been shattered nearly 100 years after universal suffrage. But let me say this, it's not going to mean all that much for women, unless women flood into the edifice of politics, and that is start to win other offices. Women are still completely underrepresented in the Congress, in the Senate, in governorships, in state legislatures. These are the recruitment areas for presidents of the United States. So my advice to American women, take it over. Run, run, run or this won't matter as much as you might think.

COSTELLO: Yes, Jane, well, I don't know how many sane people would really run -- would want to run for public office. I hear a lot of people say that. But that's a whole nother topic. Let's focus on the first man's role. You know, I slipped and said vice president, but some people do think, Jane, that Bill Clinton will be more of a partner than a first man if Hillary Clinton is elected president.

JANE HAMPTON COOK, AUTHOR, "THE BURNING OF THE WHITE HOUSE": Well, sure. I mean in 1992, when Bill Clinton ran for president, he told Americans that they were getting two for one, because he was so proud of his successful wife, Hillary Clinton. So, you know, who knows. And it really, you know, the Constitution does not dictate what the president's spouse does. It's not in law. It's cultural. So this is breaking new ground for sure. And I'm sure it will be up to the Clintons, and Bill Clinton, kind of how he wants to carve that role. And he had such a successful presidency when it came to the economy, with 4 percent economic growth average, that I wouldn't be surprised if she gave him something like that to be a focal point for him. I don't know, but that just seems like a logical thing to do.

COSTELLO: So, you see, that's kind of the strange thing, you know, we're talking about -- and I know Bill Clinton was a former president and all of that -- but we're not talking about the first man lighting the Christmas tree or picking the White House china, or redecorating the white House. Who the heck is going to do all that stuff, Allan?

LICHTMAN: Well, maybe Bill Clinton will. You know, it's time to shake up gender roles. Gender roles are socially conditioned. They're not fixed. Let Bill Clinton bake some chocolate chip cookies for a change and maybe set up the china. But let it be more of a partnership. That really is what modern marriage represents. The old patriotic ideal, as much as some would like to restore it, perhaps Donald Trump, really is no longer viable in the modern world.

COOK: Well, they do have a social secretary --

COSTELLO: But that is such a contrast between the -- they do, but it's such a contrast between, you know, with the Republicans, right? Because Melania Trump will likely be a traditional first lady. And she'll adopt something like, you know, she says she wants to help children, right? So how different between the two parties, Jane?

COOK: Well, there is a difference because there is a gender difference and there's an experience difference. I mean if Geraldine Ferraro, who was the first vice presidential nominee for a major party, if she'd become president, her husband wasn't a former president. So that makes Hillary Clinton much -- situation much different than it would be if someone had come through with a partner who wasn't in politics. So that's one reason why we're having this conversation. We don't quite know what to do it. I mean the White House has had social secretaries and staff to handle

all of the flowers and the cookies and there's a lot -- been a lot of signoff from the first lady. But, you know, so it will shake up the gender roles a little bit, but it will also bring in some partnership, especially, I think, when it comes to diplomacy to world leaders that the Clinton's both know, that type of thing.

COSTELLO: All right, I have to leave it there. Jane Hampton Cook, Allan Lichtman, thank you so much. I'll be right back.

COOK: Thanks.

LICHTMAN: Thank you.

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[09:43:45] COSTELLO: Was Russia behind that DNC e-mail hack? Well, President Obama says anything is possible. The scandal still rocking the convention here in Philadelphia. Now, President Obama and the vice president, Joe Biden, are both weighing in. CNN's Barbara Starr live at the Pentagon with more.

Hi, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

U.S. officials are now telling CNN there is what they say strong evidence that the hacking into the DNC e-mails was conducted by hackers doing it on behalf of Russian intelligence, strong evidence. This is really breathtaking.

What the Russian motivations were, was it just routine hacking, if you will? They do engage in that type of activity, the U.S. says, or were they, in fact, trying to disrupt the presidential election by embarrassing the Democratic National Committee and therefore supporting Donald Trump? That is unknown. But the president and the vice president weighing in with their thoughts on the matter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Russians hack our systems. Not just government systems, but private systems. What the motives were in terms of the leak, all that, I can't say directly. What I do know is that Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed admiration for Vladimir Putin.

[09:45:06] JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't know about this particular dump with e-mails, but we do know that this is the modus vivendi of Russia.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC ANCHOR: What would it say if they were trying to influence our election?

BIDEN: Well, I would say it's totally consistent with who Putin is.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you think he wants Trump to win? BIDEN: I think he doesn't want Hillary to win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: So, what was the detective trail here, the cyber detective trail that is making U.S. officials say Russian intelligence was behind it? The U.S. was already tracking some cyber intrusions into White House and State Department e-mails. There was even an intrusion here at the Pentagon into the unclassified e-mail of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The cyber signature, if you will, from those hacking events took them to the DNC, and it appeared to begin to match some of the more official, if you will, Russian hacking events that took place on behalf of Russian intelligence.

Now, the Trump campaign is saying that he and his campaign have no affiliation with Russia, with any of this.

Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Barbara Starr reporting live from the Pentagon this morning. Thank you.

Breaking news to tell you about. There will be no more trials -- no more trials for the Baltimore police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray. The cases have been dismissed.

Miguel Marquez on the phone with more on this story.

Hi, Miguel.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Good morning there, Carol.

This is an enormous change in the situation in Baltimore. The cases against Garrett Miller, who was due to be tried today, Alicia White, who was on scene when Freddie Gray was arrested as well, and during the time that he was being transported, and Officer Porter, who was going to be retried. All the charges against those officers have been dropped by the prosecution. Those cases will now go away. The prosecutor herself has a press conference scheduled for 10:30 a.m. in Baltimore.

All of this happening against the backdrop of what we see not only here in Philadelphia, but in Baltimore and other places. It is very unclear how this will seen, but the prosecution has failed to make their case in three of these trials so far, and it did not look well going into this fourth trial, and here we have the results. The charges against all three of the remaining officers in connection to the death of Freddie Gray will now be dropped and it is unclear where Baltimore goes from here.

The Baltimore mayor was in Philadelphia serving as secretary of the DNC just last night. She may be headed back to Baltimore. We know that Marilyn Mosby, the state's attorney, will have a -- hold a press conference shortly in Baltimore. And I am sure that the officers involved in this case and their attorneys are glad this has happened because the gag order, the protective order that was on this case, will now be lifted and they will most likely be speaking very shortly as well.

Carol.

COSTELLO: Interesting. So we'll check back if that happens. Miguel Marquez reporting live for us this morning on this breaking news, shocking news out of the city of Baltimore.

With me now, CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson.

Joey, what do you make of this?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST (via telephone): Good morning, Carol.

I make of it that the prosecution had to make a decision based upon what's happened in the case so far. And, clearly, the judge, Williams, has rejected the theory that they've advanced (ph).

You know, at the outset, we should say, that it's very difficult to get a conviction based upon inactivity. Generally, whenever you see cases, you know, you talk about the mental state of a perpetrator, the person -- that is the person accused of a crime. They're doing something. In this particular case, the theory is, you didn't seat belt, you didn't take proper precautions, you didn't provide medical attention, things that you didn't do.

And so the question then becomes, not that it makes inaction right, but if it makes it, for example, negligent, that matter has, of course, been resolved inasmuch as the civil settlement with the family, but the judge in his skepticism of the cases so far, Carol, has been, it could be criminally negligent but is it -- excuse me, it could be negligent civilly, but is it criminal. And so I think the prosecutor, based upon the -- of course, the acquittal of three officers, in addition to the bench trial of Porter where there was a hung jury, had to make a calculated decision. And that is, should we move forward knowing the judge is skeptical of our theory, knowing that there are facts in dispute in the case in terms of whether the department regulations required seat belting, was it discretionary, you know, did they have time to seat belt because the crowd was milling around.

The judge has been very skeptical not only of their theory but of the facts that they've advanced in terms of reviewing them from the prosecutor's perspective. And so they decided that it was time. It was time to move forward. They attempted to get convictions. That was not happening. And so do you have two or three other acquittals that are in the queue. And they've opted to say, you know what, we're going to cut our losses here and we did the best we can on behalf of the community.

[09:50:20] And finally I would say is that the prosecution has a responsibility, and that is only to move forward in the event that they believe they can prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. In the event you do not believe that you can meet that standard, then ethically, properly and legally it's time to move on. And I think that they evaluated and said, look, these are our facts, this is what we've advanced, this is our theory, we don't believe we can prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt and therefore it's time to turn the page, heal the city and move on to other matters.

COSTELLO: All right, Joey Jackson, thanks for your insight. Thank you very much.

We understand the state's attorney in the city of Baltimore, Marilyn Mosby, will be holding a news conference in just about an hour and 10 minutes. Of course, we'll monitor that for you.

But right now I have to tell you we have more breaking news. It's a busy morning this morning in the NEWSROOM. Brian Todd is here to tell us about the assassin of President Reagan and what's happening with him.

Brian, take it away.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, Carol.

The U.S. district judge, Paul Freedman (ph), in Washington, D.C., has just handed down a ruling this morning saying that John Hinckley, he's now 61 years old, who attempted to assassinate President Reagan 35 years ago, can be released to live with his mother. There are a lot of restrictions that Judge Freedman handed down here, but some of those restrictions, including consistent mental health monitoring at St. Elizabeth's Hospital here in Washington, and some other restrictions, especially on his mobile phones and on his computers. Some of those restrictions, many of them, Carol, can be phased out after about a year to 18 months and that would pretty much remove John Hinckley from the control of the courts for the first time since the assassination attempt of President Reagan in 1981.

John Hinckley now 61 years old and he's been staying at St. Elizabeth's Hospital here in Washington. That is a hospital for the mentally ill, which also has a detention facility attached to it. He's been there for, as we said, 35 years, since the attempted assassination of President Reagan in March of 1981.

He will be free to live with his 90-year-old mother in a gated community in Williamsburg, Virginia. But, again, a lot of restrictions placed on his movements. He will be monitored constantly. But many of those restrictions, Carol, will start to fade away if he adheres to them in 12 to 18 months. So in about a year and a half, John Hinckley could be basically a completely free man.

COSTELLO: Astounding developments this morning. Brian Todd reporting live for us on this breaking news. Thanks so much.

I'll be right back.

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[09:56:16] COSTELLO: All right, I want to take you live to the convention floor. That is Tim Kaine. Of course, he's Hillary Clinton's VP pick. He's going through his run-through because he'll be speaking tonight. And you might say it's the speech of his life tonight. So he's going through a run through of his speech. He pointed to the cameras and waved. He's talking right now, but we'll let him get right back to it.

With me now is Robert Wolf, outside economic advisor to President Obama. He's also the former president of UBS Investment Bank.

Welcome.

ROBERT WOLF, OUTSIDE ECONOMIC ADVISER TO PRES. OBAMA: Thank you, Carol. Great to be here.

COSTELLO: So as you -- as you look at Tim Kaine, what goes through your mind?

WOLF: Well, I've known him for a long time, when he was actually lieutenant governor under Mark Warner (ph). And a big fan of his. I think he'll help very much in Virginia. He'll -- I think he'll help in Florida. I think he's someone really strong for the swing states and just a good person all around and well respected by both sides, which we don't have too often anymore.

COSTELLO: Well, progressives, you know, of the Bernie Sanders stripes, they're not so happy with the Tim Kaine pick.

WOLF: Yes, I'm not surprised. I mean I think very --

COSTELLO: They don't think he's tough enough on Wall Street.

WOLF: Yes, I know.

COSTELLO: Yes, Mr. Banker.

WOLF: Well, I -- yes, I think -- well, it seems like no one seems anyone's tough enough on Wall Street nowadays, actually for the last five years.

Listen, the far left and the far right is never too happy with someone that is probably center left or center right. But if you look at where the election's going to be won or lost, it's going to be center left and center right. I believe irrespective of how much I like Secretary Clinton, the far right Tea Party is voting for Donald Trump and the far left is going to be voting for Secretary Clinton, because at the end of the day, you cannot have more of a differential option than Donald Trump or Secretary Clinton.

COSTELLO: But this Wall Street thing isn't going away. And, you know, I was looking at donations.

WOLF: Yes.

COSTELLO: Hillary Clinton got a lot of money from Wall Street somewhat, $41 million.

WOLF: Yes.

COSTELLO: Donald Trump's gotten very little money from Wall Street. So I'm sure Donald Trump will point that out.

WOLF: I like to tell people, Wall Street, when I was on it for 30 years, I'm not on it anymore. It was just a job. I had my family. I have my thoughts. I have my reasons to vote for someone. It was not about what my job was. It's not about where regulation was, is going or was going. We all know regulation's coming. It's about Supreme Court. It's about where we are socially. It's where we are fiscally. And in my opinion, the secretary, when I look at some of the most important book ends being our next Supreme Court justice choices and where we need the economy to go and foreign policy, there's no question to me that she's the right option for the country.

COSTELLO: But you know it's goo -- you know her Wall Street speeches are going to come again, right, and what's in them and what did she say, right?

WOLF: As someone who has heard many, many speeches, OK, people -- when you listen to Secretary Clinton, or whoever the speech is, we want to hear about their thoughts. Most of her speeches I guarantee was much more about foreign policy and what she did as secretary of state. And then I think that what people fail to realize is, at the end of the day, it's not going to be a choice of whether she did Wall Street speeches or Donald Trump has Trump University and has not shown his taxes. It's going to be about who keeps our country more safe and who's better for the economy. The two book ends don't change.

COSTELLO: OK, so another big issue are -- are America's trade policies, right?

WOLF: Yes.

COSTELLO: TPP in particular, right.

WOLF: TPP.

COSTELLO: So Tim Kaine, just last week, was singing its praises, and now all of a sudden he's against it. So -- so for these voters who don't like these trade deals, what are they to think?

WOLF: Yes. Well, you have the right person on stage, because as a Hillary supporter, I am on the president's export council and I am a staunch supporter of TPP. I have had conversations with the secretary and John Podesta and Jake Solomon (ph) going back to September and October of 2015. They could not have been more adamant where they are against TPP. So there's no question to me. I know there's a lot of people who want to make it that she's for trade or she's for that.

[10:00:10] Businesspeople, elected officials need to be for smart trade, OK, when it's fair and balanced.