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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Report: Multiple Women Secretly Recorded Roger Ailes During Private Encounters With Him; According To Report, Gretchen Carlson Settlement Could Reach Eight Figures; GOP Senator Susan Collins States She Won't Support Trump, Citing A "Lack Of Restraint And Judgment To Lead"; Girls Injured After Falling From Ferris Wheel; Boy Dies From Neck Injury On Water Slide. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired August 09, 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] ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: If this thing goes to trial and we get to hear all of the allegations actually play out on member x.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN HOST, RELIABLE SOURCES: And that probably goes a long way to explain why Vanity Fair says settlement talks are now under way. I have a source also confirming the same thing that 21st century fox and Carlson are in talks about a settlement. Now why would Fox be involved in the settlement I wonder --

BANFIELD: They weren't sued --

STELTER: They weren't sued. Carlson only sued Ailes. This report from Vanity Fair says that Fox would pay some of the settlement and Ailes would also pay some of the settlement. I would suspect like Fox was going to be involved in this and so the tapes don't come out. So it doesn't go to trial, so this gets cleaned up quicker -- more quickly than it would otherwise.

BANFIELD: So typically speaking, you know, that there is always the argument about the dangerous precedent, loads of people including Donald Trump and Stealth had said I don't settle because this sets a dangerous presence. People come out of the wood work and they sue me. And if this is true that there are so many of these women with similar complaints spoken to investigators and maybe crafting their own complaint as we speak, Joey, doesn't that open the door to basically say bring your wheelbarrow and we'll fill it up and please leave us alone?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It could, but I think there's a lot to be said for perhaps reaching a global resolution. There are a number of allegations that are out there. Could we for public relations purposes and there are a lot of reasons I should say the people settle oftentimes having nothing to do with the merits. It's a public relations nightmare. Do we want tapes out there? Do we want to implicate the company? Do we want to speak to perhaps a culture which could be a lot more expansive than this? And so, there may be a lot to be said for nipping it in the bud, getting everybody to come forward to the table and resolving everyone's quickly and expeditiously to that this doesn't see the further light in day. BANFIELD: I think we met you past the bud stage. I think this one is out of the bag.

JACKSON: Yes it is.

BANFIELD: All right, well we'll continue to watch to see where this goes from here but, man, eight figures. That is some coin. Brian thank you, Joey, thank you I appreciate it. Still ahead, a leading Republican senator saying that she can't vote for her party's presidential candidate Donald Trump. This really doesn't happen often folks, but it's starting to. Next, CNN's exclusive interview with senator Susan Collins.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:36:26] BANFIELD: So, the hits just keep coming for Donald Trump. Try as they might to turn the page after a very rough week, there are more influential Americans saying that they've heard enough and they just cannot support him. And the latest of those influential ones, Senator Susan Collins.

Yes, that senator of Maine. A moderate Republican, the most senior member of the Congress to come out against her party's presidential candidate and she did so by writing in the "Washington Post" that her decision is, quote, based on his disregard for the precept of treating others with respect. An idea that shouldn't transcend politics, end quote. Senator Collins also sat down for an exclusive interview with CNN's own Jamie Gangel, a short time ago. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS, (R), MAINE: He simply does not have the restraint and the consideration and the judgment and the knowledge to handle those dangerous events with which presidents are inevitably confronted.

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Let me just ask in you the last couple of days, there's been a line of Republicans, both elected officials, unelected officials, most recently these 50 Republicans who come from the national security world, people like Michael Chertoff who was director of Homeland Security, John Negroponte who is the director of the intelligence, did that -- I know you used to talk about the came Khan family and these other incidents, but did that group because you served on the intelligence committee, you were on Homeland Security, did those 50 Republicans also have an impact on your decision?

COLLINS: I certainly respect and worked closely with many of the 50 intelligence defense and Homeland Security officials who signed that letter. But my decision was my own. It certainly was informed by the many years that I'd served as the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security as well as the regular briefings that I receive now as a member of the intelligence committee. But the conclusion that I drew was based more on my own experience than listening to those experts much as I respect them.

GANGEL: So the $64,000-question that you didn't answer in the op-ed is, who are you going for vote for?

COLLINS: I truly don't know. I have a lot of concerns about Hillary Clinton. And I'm not going to support her. If the Libertarian ticket were reversed with Governor Bill Weld, a former governor of Massachusetts leading that ticket, then I would vote for the Libertarian ticket. Because I know Bill Weld well and I respect him a great deal.

I do not know Gary Johnson. I'm concerned about some of his views on drug use. And I will have to take a hard look at that. I may well end up writing in a name for president. Something I've never done before.

GANGEL: I was going to ask you, have you ever not voted for the Republican candidate for president?

[12:40:02] COLLINS: I have always supported my party's nominee. That's what made this decision so difficult. But in the end, I just cannot support Donald Trump. I do not believe that he is the president that we need at this time in our country's history. And I believe that in many ways he is antithetical to the values of the Republican Party.

The Republican Party believes in the dignity and worth of the individual. Based on what I've seen Donald Trump say over and over and over and over again, that is not his style.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Well, that was huge. In so many ways, I guess interesting to hear her say I'm not going to vote for Hillary Clinton. And we've heard other say this as well, that they're torn, that they can't vote for their guy, they can't vote for the other guy and aren't quite sure what to do next.

I'm more curious about their influence with their colleagues and Senator Susan Collins is very close with one John McCain, other senior senators, other people on committees. Do we get a sense of how she is going to sort of behave with them, whether she's going to cajole, influence, effect?

GANGEL: So, she said she makes no judgment about what her colleagues do, this weird strangulation of support but not endorse. John McCain is one of her closest friends. We're going to have more of the interview later in which she talks about him and says that he feels very much the way she does about Donald Trump. And I think she hopes that she is giving room and space for other Republicans, senators and other elected officials, to be able to follow in her foot steps.

But she understands some -- she's not up if re-election right now.

BANFIELD: A little easier.

GANGEL: A little bit easier for her. Also easier for her not to vote for Hillary Clinton because Maine is likely to go for Hillary. So it's not like Florida or Ohio a battleground state where her vote could make a difference. BANFIELD: But I think for many of those others who are so torn and don't the endorse but say they will vote, if that's right. There is this very important issue of the justices on the Supreme Court and how many terms the next president could affect the outcome of the president for generations.

GANGLE: So she made it very clear, she says we have to worry about down ballot races, we have to worry about the Congress. I asked her straight out, is it okay to lose the White House rather than have Donald Trump be president? And she said that's not the race we need to worry about, we need to worry about the Congress. That's how strongly she feels about it.

BANFIELD: So, when it comes to strong feelings, one Donald Trump has very strong ready fire aim feelings when people speak of him ill. But radio silence it seems.

GANGLE: So, there was a Tweet, but it did not mention her. It just talked about that he is against outsiders and that outsiders have made the U.S. a mess, so maybe someone, Paul Manafort comes to mind is sitting on him and preventing it. But I asked her if she was expecting a Tweet storm from Donald Trump and she said I'm just waiting to see, I'm very curious to see what name he's going to come up with.

BANFIELD: Before I let you go, I'm just curious about why now, what was the catalyst for making this announcement becoming public with it? Was it a contemplation all along, was there a tipping point? Was there something that just became so, you know, unpalatable?

GANGEL: So, there's no question she's been talking about this for a long time. I've had multiple conversations with her over the last couple of weeks and months about it. She was very uncomfortable with him, but she says that the tipping point was the Khan family. The gold star parents of the Muslim-American soldier who was killed in Iraq. She just did not have the time of day. She said that is it, it's over.

BANFIELD: That was that. All right. Well, great work and congratulations on the exclusive.

GANGEL: Thank you.

BANFIELD: More coming up in the next couple of shows as well.

GANGEL: Yes.

BANFIELD: Especially that John McCain info. Sit on that for a moment and keep it. Jamie Gangel, thank you.

GANGEL: Thank you.

BANFIELD: Coming up next, a Ferris wheel tragedy at a county fair in Tennessee just coming one day after that deadly accident on a Kansas water slide. The investigation, who is liable, what's ahead for families involved and your safety as this summer continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [12:48:39] BANFIELD: As many of us spend time this summer at the fair or at an amusement park, there have been two terrifying accident ms in two states hitting very close to home for us. We've learned that a 10- year old boy who was killed riding on the world's tallest water slide in Kansas City, Kansas apparently died from a neck injury. Caleb Schwab, the son of a Kansas state legislator was found in the pool at the end of the Verruckt ride on Sunday at the Schlitterbahn water park.

And then in Eastern Tennessee, three girls were injured after they fell from a Ferris wheel at a county fair in Greenville yesterday. The basket reportedly overturned dumping those girls out. They then dropped about 35 to 45 feet. One of the girls is in an ICU with a head injury.

Our Jean Casarez has been following this story and others as she joins us now along with CNN Legal Analyst Joey Jackson. So Jean, just about the reporting and I think many people have been so astounded by both of these incidents. We don't much about the water park and how this boy died other than neck injury. They're really not the same.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are a lot of unanswered questions, so they're really looking at that in the investigation. Now the investigation is going full force but you're right, neck injury, we know they're calling it a boat, it was sort of a raft. And three people were in it and the minimum weight was 400 pounds. You had to have 400 pounds. And this was a little 10 year old boy and we don't know anything about the two other people except they were adult women. But we do know, it was the tallest water slide in the world and tragically there has been a death.

[12:50:18] BANFIELD: So as we continue to work the story, the Ferris wheel story came along from Tennessee and it just makes us all stop in our tracks like who is watching over us, like who is making sure we're ok when we go to the ...

CASAREZ: Right. Well, this was just last night and this happened. And actually, they're all three young girls, 16-year-olds and two sisters, a 10-year-old and a 6-year-old. The 16-year-old is still in critical condition. She should be downgraded to stable. But we just got this information from a press conference, the 6-year-old actually, traumatic brain injury of the 6-yearold. She is intubated right now in intensive care.

We want you to listen to some dispatch that came out last night as it was unfolding. Listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Rescue command, we've had a major incident at the fair grounds at the Ferris wheel. There's been at least three fall out of the Ferris wheel, one is unresponsive suffer. Y'all need to get somebody started that way and we'll get EMS in route.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Request to launch two helicopters to the fair ground and have the med unit come to the back gate. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Got a Ferris wheel accident. Three fell from a high height from the Ferris wheel. They are assigned one, they have also called for two helicopters, two med units.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to be putting it all right, in operation. We're also going to need engine one to set up a ladder. We've got, I don't know how many people in a car that's sideways on top.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've got three kids that fell from the Ferris wheel, three kids.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

CASAREZ: And we do want to show you a letter that was sent from the state of Tennessee just days ago, two amusement parks all over the state. It says "Due to the fact that there have been four reported amusement device accidents in Tennessee since July 1, 2016, the department would like to provide amusement device owners and operators additional information and accident reporting guidelines in order to prevent future accidents."

And Ashleigh, of course inspections are required. Are they done? We don't know. That's part of the investigation.

BANFIELD: I want to talk a little bit more about that in a second. But first about these families, I mean you can't put a price on your babies, but you sure can try to stop this from happening again with a price and that's called the liability factor.

JACKSON: It is.

BANFIELD: What is it exactly for this amusement park?

JACKSON: Well, what happens is and of course everyone who goes to a park wants to have a good time. It's about entertainment. But in that entertainment, we need to keep in mind that the amusement park has an absolute duty, a responsibility, an obligation to provide for people's safety. And oftentimes you'll see disclaimers and other things on tickets. That notwithstanding, there's a few things that we looked into for liability purposes.

Number one, the operators of this machinery, what's the extent of their training? Worse, did they have any failure ion their training? Number two, Jean talks about the inspection of the equipment. How often, how frequently is the equipment inspected and is it up to par? And along those same lines number three, the maintenance of the equipment itself. And so those are questions that are critical that are going to be asked. And there's also another component of liability and that's called product liability.

Is there any product within this equipment that could potentially be defective? And so those are really the issues and of course any amusement park in some regard will sometimes defend on the ground of, you know, were they using it in an adequate way, you now, it's so often told to keep your hands inside of wherever it tends to ... (CROSSTALK)

JACKSON: Exactly. Yeah.

BANFIELD: Jean just quickly, there is the issue of punitive and then there's the pain and suffering. And I'm not sure how they play in on any of these but I'm sure there is a massive difference when you have a person who is afflicted for life versus someone who has died. I mean, these are different kinds of cases. And they're going to have to face the amusement committee.

CASAREZ: Right and let's think about criminal responsibility. Ashleigh, you and I covered together on court T.V. in 2005 a case in Tennessee, it was an amusement park, it was a Ferris wheel, the bucket turned upside down. I just looked back on this case. The woman fell to her death. The manager of the amusement park who also conducted daily inspections of that ride, charged with second-degree murder, convicted of reckless homicide.

BANFIELD: Listen, there's a great deal of care that people are owed even when they buy that ticket and have small prints on the back. I'm sure many of us don't even look at that. Thank you both. Jen Casarez, Joey Jackson.

JACKSON: Thank you Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Appreciate it.

Long time Republican Senator Susan Collins says that she cannot support her leader, Donald Trump, for president. We're going to have a lot more of CNN's exclusive interview with the senator including details on Senator Collins conversation with her dear friend once Senator John McCain about Donald Trump. That's coming up on Wolf. And that gets going right after this break. Thanks for the (inaudible).

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