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Charlotte Braces for More Unrest After Deadly Shooting; Obama, Netanyahu Meet in New York; Presidential Candidates React to Officer Shootings of Black Men. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired September 21, 2016 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: A quick question, Congresswoman. The police chief, Kerr Putney -- I assume you know the police chief. We just heard what he had to say. Do you have confidence in him?

ALMA ADAMS, (D), NORTH CAROLINA: I do have confidence in the police chief. I respect him a lot. As a matter of fact, just a couple of months ago, I did a town hall with the police chief talking to the community and interacting with the community about community-police relationships. So we are working together, and we're going to continue to do that, because our citizens deserve it. And we are very, very concerned about the happenings in our community and the happenings across this country.

BLITZER: Representative Alma Adams, representing Charlotte, North Carolina. Thanks for joining us.

ADAMS: Thank you very much for having me.

BLITZER: Let's bring in our panel once again, our senior law enforcement analyst, Tom Fuentes, former assistant director of the FBI; and former Chicago police officer, Dimitri Roberts, now president and founder of Seven Star Consulting.

Tom, get your reaction. You saw at least some of the video. You saw the pictures. What's your reaction to what happened in Charlotte?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: First of all, my heart goes out to the Scott family and loved one. This has to be and will be thoroughly investigated. We don't have enough to say whether the officer was justified homicide on the part of police. We just don't know that yet.

BLITZER: What about you, Dimitri? What do you think?

DIMITRI ROBERTS, PRESIDENT & FOUND, SEVEN STAR CONSULTING & FORMER CHICAGO POLICE OFFICER: And as a community member, I'm pissed. As a former cop, I get it. But here's the solution. We have to bridge this cultural divide in the country between law enforcement and the community. Law enforcement officers have a real cultural problem dealing with the community in this part of the country and it has to be fixed.

BLITZER: So how do you do that?

ROBERTS: Cultural awareness training, sensitivity training, bridging a divide where there are cultural differences. I said this, I've built a platform and I'm ready to implement it. Cultural doesn't have a color. There was a black man shot, a black officer shot him. There was a black officer that got shot, there was a white man that shot him. This underscores my point that the cultural differences are at play but also biases have to be addressed as well.

BLITZER: So cultural differences, Dimitri, between law enforcement authorities and the community, especially the African-American community? Is that what you're saying?

ROBERTS: Absolutely. And those cultural differences are what is causing -- is leading to these issues. The community doesn't have a voice. That's why they're taking to the streets, that's why they're rioting, that's why police officers are getting hurt. Until the police departments are willing to stand in the gap, step up, be the leadership and be the leaders they are know to be and stand side by side with these community members, we'll continue to see them take to the streets and deal with the police in the ways they have. It's us, former law enforcement officers, as well as active police officers that have to take a bet are approach, be leaders, stand up with the community, and step forward with solutions, and not continue to have press conferences talking about what we can't say.

BLITZER: Let's turn to Tulsa, Oklahoma, for a moment, another deadly police shooting there.

Tom, look at the police helicopter video. We'll show it to our viewers. You can see Terence Crutcher, had his hands up, walking back towards his SUV. What is in dispute is what happened once he got to his vehicle. The police officer, who fired the lethal shot, says he was reaching into the SUV window.

Now let's take a look at the dash cam video. Once again, you can see his hands are up in the air, but it's hard to see what happened next because of the officer's position.

The family the attorney argues the window was rolled up so Crutcher could not have been reaching for anything.

What do you see, Tom, as you watch this video and look at the picture?

FUENTES: First of all, I see he's behind that vehicle in-between the squad car and his personal vehicle and his hands up in the air. We presume the officer is trying to get him on the ground, surrender, be taken into custody. He refuses, walks back to his car. Notice from the dash cam, what you see from the helicopter is not what her angle of vision would have been. Behind that car, she's not able to see if that window's open or not. Right there, that angle. So when he walks back to the driver's side door and his hands come down, she doesn't know if he's pulling a gun, opening the door, reaching in the window, and it's a much different view of what she has than what the helicopter has. Secondly, it's a possibility, we don't know that either, because we

don't have the audio, did the officer with the taser fire first, and then she's reacting to shots fired, and begins shooting? That could happen. So we could have the taser being shot and she is just reacting to that and firing shots on her own. We don't know that yet. It needs to be investigated thoroughly. We need her camera, dash cam, audio. We have audio from the helicopter pilots, but what do they know? They're circling around -- the helicopter angle does not show the driver's side at the time his hands come down. They show it later. And you see, yes, his window was up back and it appears the back window up also. But she doesn't have that angle of view and a split second to decide if his movements of aggressive.

[13:35:21] BLITZER: We probably won't get the video.

Dimitri, you were a Chicago police officer for a long time. What's your analysis?

ROBERTS: Listen, I've had to pull my gun on most evenings that I worked in the city of Chicago and worked in Inglewood. Regardless of the angle and approach, this man was unarmed. He had his hands up. That officer, when she closed the distance between him, had an opportunity to put her gun away and to address him using a less than lethal force. Period. I don't care what the procedures are or what other departments say. As an officer, you have to take a different approach when dealing with situations. And somebody said earlier, well, maybe this officer choked? Well, well-trained police don't choke. They effectively deal with situations and they efficiently get suspects in custody or deal with it with less than lethal force. That's my thoughts.

And this is -- again, underscores my point that there needs to be better police training around these issues. There was some biases at play in this situation. And I think this officer and this department is going to be very hard-pressed to come up with some responses that is going to meet the community where they need to and address these issues at the root of it.

BLITZER: Dimitri Roberts, Tom Fuentes, thank you very much.

There's other news we're following. Donald Trump says African- American communities are in the worst shape -- quoting him now -- "ever, ever, ever." Do the facts support that? Will it help him win over African-American voters? We'll discuss. Our panel is standing by.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:41:20] BLITZER: Only moments, ago President Barack Obama and the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began what's expected to be their last meeting as the president of the United States for Barack Obama. The two had a sometimes rocky relationship, as all viewers know. Today's talks centers on a lot of effort to try to revive some Israeli/Palestinian peace process, and tension and trouble in the region. Before the actual meeting got started, they invited reporter into their session, and this is what they said. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: As you conclude your presidency, I know you're going to be busy with many, many things, much more than improving what I hear is a terrific golf game.

(LAUGHTER)

Your voice, your influential voice will be heard for many decades and I know you'll continue to support Israel's right to defend itself and it's right to thrive as a Jewish state. So I want you to know, Barack, that you'll always be a welcome guest in Israel.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: These are challenging times. One thing I can say about Prime Minister Netanyahu is he has always been candid with us and his team has cooperated very effectively with ours. We very much appreciate it. And I guarantee you that I will visit Israel often, because it is a beautiful country with beautiful people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: David Gregory, our political analyst, is with us.

Carefully crafted words. It comes a day after the president and his U.N. General Assembly speech spoke of the need for a two-state solution, a new state of Palestine living along Israel.

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: A goal since President Bush, who I covered before then -- before then as well, working on that diplomacy without any success. This was notable because such a strained relationship poor the whole course of the Obama presidency. These were eloquent words aforesaid they couldn't get also, especially on the issue of Iran and the nuclear program.

What is interesting is a huge aid deal the U.S. has given to Israel. Agreed to, by Israel, in part, because I think they are hedging bets about the potential for a Trump presidency. And let's also remember that Hillary Clinton never got along with Benjamin Netanyahu back in the day of the Clinton administration. So politics is complicated. The politics of international relations, just as much.

BLITZER: 10-year military assistance agreement with Israel that the president announced just the other day.

Everyone stand by.

There's other news we're following, including the politics of race relations here in United States. And why Donald Trump is facing new criticism for his response to two deadly police shootings involving African-American men.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He is unqualified to be president -- DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hillary Clinton lacks the

judgment --

CLINTON: The scams, the frauds --

TRUMP: Hillary Clinton has evaded justice!

CLINTON: He clearly has something to hide.

TRUMP: Her conduct is disqualifying.

ANNOUNCER: Clinton, Trump, head to head for the first time on the same stage. The first presidential debate live coverage starts Monday at 4:00 p.n. on CNN.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:48:47] BLITZER: Right now, CNN cameras staked out on the campaign trail. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump expected to speak within the hour. Trump is holding a rally in Toledo, Ohio. Clinton will give an economic speech in Orlando, Florida.

Their events come as real tensions escalate following those police shootings of black men in Oklahoma and North Carolina.

Just a few hours ago, Trump spoke as a predominantly African-American church in Cleveland and addressed the shooting in Tulsa.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: To me, it looked like, you know, somebody that was doing what they were asking him to do. And this young officer, I don't know what she was thinking. I don't know what she was thinking. But I'm very, very troubled by that. I'm very, very troubled by that.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: The police are troubled by it, too. They look at it. Now, did she get scared? Was she choking? What happened? But maybe people like that, people that choke, people that do that, maybe they can't be doing what they're doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton tweeted, quote, "Keith Lamont Scott, Terence Crutcher, too many others, this has got to end."

So will either candidate expand on this issue at their rallies upcoming in just a little while?

Let's bring in our political panel to discuss. With me, Gloria Borger, CNN chief political analyst; CNN political analyst, author of "How's Your Faith," David Gregory; and Abby Phillip, a reporter for the "The Washington Post." So Donald Trump's response to the shootings, how will they play out on

the campaign trail?

[13:50:20] GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, let me say this is a different response from what we the past. It's subdued. And there's a couple things that come to mind. He's always aware of his audience. He's a showman, as we know, he's speaking to a predominantly black audience and he understands his audience. This is somebody who didn't want to get booed in front of this audience. Second thing, of course, is that he is trying to appeal to a broader range of voters, including African-Americans and including white suburban voters who don't want to vote for somebody whom they consider to be intolerant and/or intemperate or even a racist. He's at 1 percent to 3 percent in the polls with African-Americans. Mitt Romney got I think 6 percent. But you know I think this is a different Trump in front of a different audience at a different time in the campaign.

BLITZER: Abby, listen to what he said last night at a rally in North Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Our African-American communities are absolutely in the worst shape that they've ever been in before, ever, ever, ever. I mean, honestly, places like Afghanistan are safer than some of our inner cities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: How's that playing?

ABBY PHILLIP, REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Well, you know, the two kind of side by side really illustrate both I think a problem for Trump and a problem for Hillary Clinton, which is that Trump has trouble being consistent and, as a result, nobody knows where he stands on anything. But for the Clinton campaign, they can't pin him down because one day he says one thing and the next day he says another. So this is a common theme that's going to continue throughout this campaign.

And in that second clip, I mean, a couple weeks ago, Donald Trump was saying "what do you have to lose?" And everyone pointed out pretty clearly that for African-American people in this country, where they are today is definitely an improvement on where they were 50 years ago in a state like North Carolina, to name one.

BLITZER: Recent polls, David, show he's getting about, what, 3 percent nationally, of the African-American vote. That's less than John McCain, less than Mitt Romney. You can see Hillary Clinton gets 93 percent, according to that ABC News/"Washington Post" poll. He's got a lot of work to do.

GREGORY: Yeah. Any Republican has a lot of work to do that we've seen in our modern political history. He's not going to do a lot better, given the statements he's made. But I think what he's doing is however hewing to a larger strategy, which is to depress her turnout. She is underperforming with younger voters, potentially, with African-American voters. There's a lack of enthusiasm for Hillary Clinton, which he has to turn around. That's the ultimate goal, if you're Donald Trump. He's not going to make much headway.

And I think it's really important for both these candidates, on a big complex discussion like the relationship between the African-American community and the police, the shorthand of the campaign is a tough time to do it responsibly and constructively, so they should try. And compassion is important. But this becomes a big topic to use the presidential megaphone for once we have a new president.

BORGER: And this is where the debates are going to be important because you're not playing to an audience in front of you. You're playing to the American people. Ad if there are questions directed about changing positions -- you know, the convention was all about blue lives matter and now Donald Trump is saying something else. He's nuanced it. This is where the debate moderators can ask the question, who is at fault? What do you believe? What should be done? And to try to pin down Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton for these important issues, for the entire country to watch.

BLITZER: What the president of the United States can do and the first lady of the United States can do is help generate the support that Hillary Clinton needs to get out the vote. Because turnout in the African-American community, turnout in general, will be critically important.

ABBY: When I talk to people who are close to the White House they say the president and the first lady are pretty sure that they're going to have to take this on themselves. They'll have to be out there in Philadelphia and the suburbs and North Carolina and other places where she needs African-American turnout to be close to the levels he had them at in 2012 in order to compensate for what is likely to be a loss among white voters going into this election. The president -- we saw that from him in the last week. He is fired up about this because he knows that his entire legacy is on Hillary Clinton's shoulders right now.

BLITZER: And if he can recreate that base of support he had that got him twice elected president of the United States that will go a long way to helping her.

[13:55:10] GREGORY: It will go a long way, but it will be difficult. She's at something like 68 percent negative ratings. It's difficult. On these kinds of issues, whether it's the issues of race and policing or the issues of terrorism, the obvious question in a presidential race is, well, what is your plan to fix this? In many cases, there is very little the federal government can do. But who they are as people, what they care about, how they can inspire the country can do a long way to reaching into communities.

BLITZER: And these shooting incidents of the black men will have a pact a well.

BORGER: Certainly. And I think the Democrats hope that if this race is about mobilization, much less persuasion, then it will help mobilize Democratic voters to the polls. She can be at 95 percent with African-Americans but if they don't vote, it's still a problem for her.

BLITZER: We have to leave it there but the news will continue.

That's it for me. Thanks for watching.

The news continues right here right now on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:02] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you so much for being with me.

We begin with the shooting of another African-American --