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Outrage and Fever Pitch Surrounding 49ers Quarterback Colin Kaepernick's Refusal to Stand During National Anthem; Police Looking for Suspect that Murdered Ithaca College Student. Aired 9:30-10p ET

Aired August 29, 2016 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:02] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk about this with Joshua Clinton, no relation, political science professor at Vanderbilt University and Maria Cardona, a Hillary Clinton support and CNN commentator. Welcome to both of you.

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning, Carol.

JOSHUA CLINTON, POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSOR: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning. So, Maria, should David Plouffe have gone there?

CARDONA: Well, look, I think the matter here is that these are serious times, Carol, and I do think that voters deserve a serious conversation ...

COSTELLO: But come on. Deserve a serious conversation ...

CARDONA: Yes, right now I'm -- exactly, that they deserve a serious conversation about the health of the candidates. And so I think if you look at what the candidates have released so far, you have a medical letter, a genuine medical letter from Hillary Clinton's doctor that is very detailed.

So some of the ...

COSTELLO: But before we get into that, Maria.

CARDONA: Sure.

COSTELLO: Going back to what David Plouffe said, should he have said that or not?

CARDONA: Well, I don't think it adds to the seriousness of the conversation. And I do think that voters deserve seriousness when it comes to the health of their candidates, and that's what we should be focusing on.

Having said that, I do think there are a lot of people because of Trump's own, you know, the way that he has acted, the way he's flip- flopped, the way he focuses on his narcissistic behavior, they kind of do question whether he's all there.

COSTELLO: You're going down the same road David Plouffe did, you just said we shouldn't go there.

CARDONA: Well, you know, you asked me about that specifically. I'm focusing on that voters should understand the health condition of both of their candidates. That is what they deserve. That is what Hillary Clinton has put forth. And we have yet to see a serious medical diagnosis from a doctor who has actually examined Donald Trump, who has actually put forward information like cholesterol, EKG, respiratory rate, the medications they have taken. That still remains to be seen and Donald Trump has the gal to challenge her on actual medical records when he hasn't released anything?

COSTELLO: Well, let's talk, Joshua, about what's normal. What would they -- if this were a normal election and a normal campaign.

CLINTON: That'd be a good one.

COSTELLO: What would be the protocol here as far as medical records are concerned?

CLINTON: Well, typically the candidates have done what's been historically done which is kind of release a statement from their doctors of varying degrees. But and then again you recall in 2008, John McCain under some pressure released nearly a 1000 -- more than a 1000 pages of detailed medical records when some were raising concerns about whether or not he would be fit to president given how old he was. So, I mean there is historical variability in terms of how much detailed the candidates are willing or -- and able to kind of release when they're running for president.

COSTELLO: Right, so usually, normally, the candidates, letters from their doctors and then do they ever at any time release some more detailed account of their medical history?

CLINTON: Well, sometimes, again, when it becomes a prominent issue in the campaign. So, for example again, in 2008, when John McCain -- this was a big issue in the campaign, his health given his age. So he was under some pressure, so he went forward and kind of released, you know, more than a 1000 pages of detailed medical records that kind of show that he was, you know, fit and able to serve as president of the United States. So if it becomes an issue, candidates will sometimes go above and beyond and release more than what's customary to do so to kind of get the issue off of the table and move on to other debates.

COSTELLO: So| why doesn't Hillary Clinton throw down the gauntlet then? Why not say, sure, here they are and see what Donald Trump does?

CARDONA: Well, because why don't we first start with focusing on what Donald Trump hasn't shared with voters, that 40 years of presidential candidates have shared with voters and that Hillary Clinton has shared 37 years of, which is their taxes. That's why I'm talking about the gal of this presidential candidate who is focusing on medical records when he hasn't even released a credible medical letter, our own Sanjay Gupta could hardly keep from laughing at the ridiculousness of the letter that he did put out. So show us a real medical letter and then show us your taxes and then let's talk about medical records. COSTELLO: OK. So Joshua, when all is said and done, and put this in context for us. We're talking about things during this election that are just -- I mean, I do think the physical condition of candidates are really important, it's important for voters to know given the age of the two candidates but we're talking about it in such a, I don't know, not a very helpful way, are we?

CLINTON: I mean this is an issue that's being driven by the candidates and the candidates are trying to make their own points and kind of shape the narrative of what's going on in the campaign. So, now you have, you know, a gauntlet being thrown down, as you said and now that makes it a highly partisan issue. So instead of the candidates kind of being able to -- or be willing to kind of offer up unequal terms, now it looks like, if she releases her health records she's giving into Trump's, you know, threat or, you know, living up to the -- his challenge that he threw down.

[09:35:02] So in this kind of hyper partisan rhetoric, it's kind of and somewhat hard to be forthcoming because if you're forthcoming then are you portrayed as being a loser or kind of giving in. So it's a really unhelpful and I think not really great environment that we're working in and living in right now in terms of where do the candidates are and where is the state of debate is and discussion in the politics debate.

CARDONA: Except for I want to be very clear that the person who has been more forthcoming than anyone in this presidential campaign has been Hillary Clinton. Not seen anything as forthcoming as what she has put forward from Donald Trump.

COSTELLO: All right, I have to leave it there. Maria Cardona, Joshua Clinton, thanks to both of you.

Still to come in the "Newsroom" ...

CARDONA: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: You're welcome. Still to come in the "Newsroom," quarterback Colin Kaepernick sits down, refuses to stand up during the national anthem. Now critics are fired up and I mean that literally.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Outrage and fever pitch surrounding 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick's refusal to stand during the national anthem.

[09:40:07] Some San Francisco fans are now burning their Kaepernick jersey, one playing the national anthem and calling him -- well, I can't exactly say what he called him on the air, but watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Listen, you ignorant son of a (inaudible). You should never play another down in the NFL again. Move to Canada.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: Kaepernick remains defiant, so now saying he plans to stay seated for the national anthem moving forward.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN KAEPERNICK, 49ERS QUARTERBACK: I'll continue to sit. I'm going to continue to stand with the people that are being oppressed. To me, this is something that has to change and when there's significant change and I feel like that flag represents what it's supposed to represent and this country is representing people the way that it's supposed to, I'll stand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: CNN correspondent Sara Sidner has more from us from Los Angeles. Good morning.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. You know, Colin Kaepernick is -- has started a firestorm, people are outraged in some camps but there's also a lot of support for him as well. I know we haven't shown that yet but there is support for him from some folks on social media and we have seen this before with athletes taking a stand on issues. He's clearly talking about the Black Lives Matter movement. He's clearly talking about what is happening to black folks when it comes to their relationship with police and you can hear him talking in those terms talking about bodies in the streets and talk about oppression.

His teammates, however, were not harsh. In fact, it seems they have supported him and the NFL has a rule, you do not have to stand for the national anthem. You can sit, you can do whatever you want, it is not required and the NFL came out and said that. Here's what his teammates had to say about his actions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NAVORRO BOWMAN, SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS: It all comes down to, you know, Colin doing what he believes in and want to break it down even more, Colin has a right, you know, to do whatever he wants to do and is valued to his opinion. You know, what we're focused on here is keeping this team together, not letting any type of cancer or anything get in between us.

BRUCE MILLER, SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS: We're a family and we're not always going to agree in the locker room, outside the locker room, fans, players, so we're not always going to agree or disagree but we're a family in here and we're going to support every guy just the same.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: So you hear them talking about family, you have black players, you have white players who have basically said, look, we support him, he has an opinion and he is free to express it. The NFL has said the same thing and we've seen this before. Just two years ago, we saw four players for the St. Louis Rams who came out on the field with their hands up, with the hands up, don't shoot signs on. And they were talking about the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and what has transpired since then is of course, protests across the nation from mostly African-American folks who believe that the relationship with the police has to be fixed.

So you're hearing this now from Kaepernick but he's also said he was ready for the backlash. He knew that there would be backlash and we have certainly seen it on social media, people burning his jerseys, as you showed earlier, people telling him to get out of the country. But part of the thing that he was talking about is, look, this is an American -- this is his right as an American to protest. He is someone who is famous and he is trying to put forth his ideas on what needs to change in this country. Carol?

COSTELLO: All right, Sara Sidner reporting live for us from Los Angeles.

Let's talk about this now. With me now, Chris Draft, the former linebacker for the Atlanta Falcons, Chicago Bears and the 49ers. Welcome, sir.

CHRIS DRAFT, FORMER NFL PLAYER: Welcome. Thank you.

COSTELLO: What do you think that Colin Kaepernick's action is really doing to his team?

DRAFT: Well, I think when you saw those interviews. I think that the team has to, you know, really look at him and say, you know, are we going to support him, that's our guy. And I think all of them realize that he has the right to stand up. And so I think they're going to rally around him and they'll be stronger as a team.

COSTELLO: You think so? There won't be any internal strife?

DRAFT: There can be, there can be. But I think, based on what you saw, everyone has to ask themselves very clearly, does he have the right to do what he wants and I think he does. I mean they might disagree with him. You can absolutely disagree with him not standing but he has the right to do that.

COSTELLO: You know, because players outside of the 49ers have spoken out and they say, look, there are people who have fought for this country and by standing for the national anthem, you're honoring them. By sitting, you're not honoring these people who have fought for your right to free speech.

DRAFT: It's -- that's -- I can understand what they are saying but what you're actually fighting for is his right to express himself in that way. I mean I can disagree with it. I, you know, will I stand for the national anthem? Yes. If I'm in that situation, you know, he has to decide how he wants to stand for, you know, for what he believes in. But because he's an American, he has that right.

COSTELLO: He also in an extended interview brought politics into the equation and I'd like to -- I'd like you to listen to that and then comment on the other side.

[09:45:05] Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAEPERNICK: I think the two presidential candidates that we currently have also represent the issue that we have in this country right now. You have Hillary, who's called black teens or black kids super predators. You have Donald Trump who's openly racist. I mean, we have a presidential candidate who's deleted e-mails and done things illegally and is a presidential candidate. That doesn't make sense to me because if that was any other person, you'd be in prison. So, what is this country really standing for?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK. So, and, you know, I'm just playing devil's advocate here.

DRAFT: Yes.

COSTELLO: There are many fans who watch football who say, you know what, I don't want to think about politics. This is one of the few things that draws America together, the football games ...

DRAFT: Yes.

COSTELLO: ... on a Sunday. Like, please, stop.

DRAFT: They absolutely don't want to hear it but at the end of the day it's a bunch of men. Its men that are playing this game and regardless if they agree with what he's saying. I know, you can see it right now, there are a lot of people who don't agree with it, there are people who do agree with it. He has the right to say it and I think that's really what it comes down to. He has a tremendous platform for being in the NFL and if he chooses to stand up, now the key when he has to do is he has to accept what the costs of standing up are. You know, there's going to be a backlash and he said that he is ready for it, but it is different. It's different now with social media because ...

COSTELLO: But what -- here's the thing, you talk about backlash and I just harken back to Chris Kluwe, you know, he played on Minnesota, right? He came out strongly in favor of gay rights, he complained, he's now no longer playing. He has said in the past that he thinks that he stand on gay rights had an impact on, you know, on whether he could continue to play for Minnesota. Do you think that might happen to Colin Kaepernick in this instance?

DRAFT: Yeah, there can be. I mean a backlash doesn't have to just be because you taking a stand on a particular issue, but if you being a distraction to your team then they really have to think about do they want you around. And that's -- by him standing up, that's, you know, that's what happens. He's now become a distraction, so the 49ers have a choice, do they -- is his distraction bigger than his worth as a football player, and if for some reason he's not with the 49ers, now when he looks around at other teams, they're going to have to ask themselves that same question.

COSTELLO: I guess it depends on whether he's playing well or not.

DRAFT: That definitely goes into it. So it's part of the parchment.

COSTELLO: I know it's cynical.

DRAFT: But he has a, you know, he has a huge platform and again, you don't have to agree with him but what's great about America is we're allowed to have freedom of speech. And so he can stand up and say what he believes but he does have to -- there are going to be consequences.

COSTELLO: Chris Draft, thank you so much for being with me this morning.

Still to come in the "Newsroom," a huge fight on a college campus ends in a deadly stabbing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:52:23] COSTELLO: Police now looking for the suspect that murdered an Ithaca college student at Upstate New York. The victim, 19-year- old Anthony Navar was at nearby Cornell when authority says a huge fight broke out Sunday morning. CNN's Brynn Gingras joins us now. She's following that story. Good morning.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. This is when people are going back to school, students and it was just a week ago that these parents sent this year back to Ithaca College to go to class to start his sophomore year. He's just 19 years old. And what we know from police is he and another person were attending a student- run organization meeting at Cornell University, even though they go to Ithaca College, of course those two campuses not far apart.

And something happened after that organization. A fight broke out on the college campus. Police were called there on Sunday at about 2:00 in the morning. One of the students have serious injuries but of course, Anthony Navar died from his injuries, a stabbing. We also know police at this point they don't have a suspect in custody. They do have the weapon in custody. And at this point right now, they're also looking for cell phone video. They said that a lot of people might have recorded this incident, Carol, and they're trying to get all that cellphone video together to figure out this investigation.

COSTELLO: No word on how fight started? What was the word?

GINGRAS: No word. And no word about exactly what this organization meeting was, nothing organized through campus sort of events so it's really unclear at this point.

COSTELLO: Brynn Gingras, thank you so much.

It's hard to believe but it is been 11 years since hurricane Katrina devastated parts of the south including of course New Orleans and Louisiana. At this hour, the city of New Orleans is remembering the victims. As you know, 2000 people were killed. More than 1 million people were displaced.

The city has come a long way since august 29th when hurricane Katrina made its second and third landfalls leaving feet of water in parts of New Orleans. Evacuation orders were in placed but of course not everyone left.

Many of those who stayed were forced to seek refuge on rooftops. I remember it clearly, I reported from New Orleans in the days after the storm. Here's what I saw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Night is falling on Bourbon Street and this is really the only thing you see, military trucks going up and down the streets. There are no rebels here. Trying to let this truck go by so you can continue to hear me. Take a look over here at this sign. This is a real concern because it says, please stay for bio hazard, mold and mildew. That's a big problem within the city. In fact the federal government is warning you come here at your own risk.

Take a look at the streets. They're pretty clean of debris. And that's because all of the debris are in those big bins right across the street.

[09:55:04] It's pan over there. All that garbage is causing a headache because they simply do not know where to put it and let me tell you the smell is not pretty either. In fact, it's outrageous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK. So that was the better parts of New Orleans at that time. 11 years later, it is business as usual on Bourbon Street. Here's a look at just how far the area has come. On the left is a photo of the Super Dome from August to 2005. On the right, an image from 2015.

Here's a picture of flooded out neighborhoods and streets. Those neighborhoods and streets now rebuilt. Yet despite the progress, there are also scars in some parts of the city. Well, some parts of the city, they're still rebuilding. The next hour CNN "Newsroom" after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Happening now in the "Newsroom," chaos at one of the nation's busiest airports.

Passengers at LAX running past security onto the tarmac all for nothing.