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Source: Ted Cruz to Endorse Donald Trump; Video Shot by Wife of Keith Scott Shows Police Shooting; N.C. Governor Holds Press Conference. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired September 23, 2016 - 14:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:31:08] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: We are following two big breaking news stories this hour. More breaking news just into us here at CNN this afternoon. Sources telling us -- multiple sources telling CNN that Ted Cruz is set to make a key endorsement in the race for the White House.

Our senior political reporter, Manu Raju, joins me from Washington.

Manu, what a dramatic turn of events.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: You wouldn't have expected this a couple months ago. Ted Cruz at the Republican National Convention pointedly declined to endorse Donald Trump so much so he got booed. He walked off the stage. His wife was escorted out by security as the crowd got really angry, all because of the bitter primary battle between him and Donald Trump. But what we're feeling is that Ted Cruz will endorse Donald Trump as soon as today. There was discussion between the Trump camp and the Cruz camp, including a positive meeting between vice presidential nominee, Mike Pence, which Cruz has gotten him to talk about conservative justices. One name is Mike Lee put on the list is the Utah Senator is very close to Ted Cruz. Trump is making some steps to repair those relations. And Ted Cruz has his own political considerations. He's getting a lot of pressure from his own base to support Donald Trump and Ted Cruz himself has a difficult primary challenge in his 2018 reelection race, so perhaps he's doing this to shore up support he's losing for not backing Trump, but he's angering his core supporters who want him to hold firm and not endorse Donald Trump. So this is difficult for Ted Cruz, too -- Poppy?

HARLOW: No question. So, first, was this all on Mike Pence that he was able to seal this deal? This comes after an enormous amount of political baggage between the two. This comes after months and months of Donald Trump calling Ted Cruz lying ted. This coming after Donald Trump pushed the conspiracy theory that Ted Cruz's father was in some way associated with the JFK assassination. This comes after Donald Trump re-tweeted an incredibly insulting thing about Ted Cruz's wife. How is that water under the bridge?

RAJU: That's a great question. It's something Ted Cruz will answer in the coming days. I asked Ted Cruz, "Will you endorse Donald Trump?" And what he said on Tuesday of this week was that he wants to do everything he can to beat Hillary Clinton. So this seems to be, for him, more of an anti-Clinton argument and much less of a pro- Donald Trump that you laid out, Poppy. But I don't want to undersell the point for Ted Cruz's own self politically. He may face a challenge against Congressman Mike McCaul who's running against him in 2018. McCaul is attacking Cruz for not sticking by his pledge to endorse the nominee. So Cruz has his own political considerations here as well.

HARLOW: But the thinking could be in 2018 if Donald Trump doesn't win say, McCaul could look at Cruz and say it's because of people like you that didn't support our candidate, and now we have another Democrat in the White House.

Stay with me, Manu.

Before I bring my panel in to digest, I want to take our viewers back to moments at the RNC, Ted Cruz blasting Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[14:35:00] SEN. TED CRUZ, (R), TEXAS & FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They asked every candidate there, if you don't win, will you support the nominee. I raised my hand and I raised my hand enthusiastically, with full intention of doing exactly that. And I'll tell you the day that pledge was abrogated. The day that was abrogated was the day this became personal. And as I said at the time -- and I'm not going to get into criticizing or attacking Donald Trump, but I'll give you this response. I am not in the habit of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my father.

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Let's talk about this. Manu is still with me in Washington. Also Juana Summers, editor of CNN Politics; and Ryan Williams, former spokesman for Mitt Romney.

Ryan, let me go to you first.

What's your reaction to this?

RYAN WILLIAMS, FORMER SPOKESMAN FOR MITT ROMNEY PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: This is more about Ted Cruz than Donald Trump. It was foolish for Ted Cruz to give the speech at the convention. It angered his base and he realize he is has a primary coming up in 2018 and i4 Trump loses he clearly wants to run again for president in 2020 and he'll need Donald Trump voters if he runs in four years and he's angered them with that speech and I think he had to do Ted Cruz's own political considerations than wanting to see Donald Trump become the next president.

HARLOW: So the other side of it and the more important side in terms of immediacy in this race for the White House. Juana, does it help? What's your take?

JUANA SUMMERS, CNN POLITICS EDITOR: For Donald Trump, he's struggled to unite members of his own party. He's seen a number of public deflections that have gone into the never Trump camp. Some saying they would support Hillary Clinton. So in terms of optics it helps. So this is kind of bringing him into the fold. On that front, it can't help.

But I have to agree with Ryan, this does seem like -- depending on what tone we hear from Ted Cruz, whether this is a full-throated endorsement or not, a move that's less about Donald Trump and more about Ted Cruz and his future.

HARLOW: A surprising announcement, and we'll see what it means ahead, how much it helps Donald Trump and, frankly, if Ted Cruz comes to the camera and gives a ringing endorsement and how enthusiastic he is behind the Republican candidate.

Thank you very much.

I need to get a break in here because we are following the breaking news. The video from the Scott family being released of the moments before and the moment that Keith Scott was killed.

And we're also waiting on a press conference from Governor Pat McCrory of North Carolina. A lot ahead.

Stay with us. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:42:24] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

HARLOW: We are awaiting a news conference from Governor Pat McCrory of Charlotte, North Carolina. Obviously, he is addressing the latest in the shooting death of Keith Lamont Scott.

And also we expect he will likely address the video that was just released in the last hour of the Scott family of the moments before Keith Lamont Scott was shot and killed. And you hear gunfire in the video.

We are following that breaking news, new video from Rakia Scott, the wife of that man shot on Tuesday and killed by Charlotte police. It shows the final moments of his life here it is in its entirety.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAKIA SCOTT, WIFE OF KEITH LAMONT SCOTT: Don't shoot him. Don't shoot him. He has no weapon. He has no weapon. Don't shoot him.

UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Drop the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) gun.

SCOTT: Don't shoot him.

UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Drop the gun.

SCOTT: He didn't do anything.

UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Drop the gun. Drop the gun.

SCOTT: He doesn't have a gun. He has a TBI.

UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Drop the gun.

SCOTT: He's not going to do anything to you guys. He just took his medicine.

UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Drop the gun! I'm getting (EXPLETIVE DELETED) over here.

SCOTT: Keith, don't let them break the windows. Come on out the car.

UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Drop the gun. Do it.

SCOTT: Keith, don't do it.

UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Drop the gun.

SCOTT: Keith, get out the car. Keith, Keith, don't you do it. Don't you do it.

(CROSSTALK)

SCOTT: Keith, Keith, Keith. Don't you do it!

(GUNFIRE)

SCOTT: Did you shoot him? Did you shoot him? Did you shoot him?

He better not be (EXPLETIVE DELETED) dead. He better not be (EXPLETIVE DELETED) dead. I know (EXPLETIVE DELETED) much. I know that much. He better not be dead.

I'm not going to come near you.

(SHOUTING)

SCOTT: I'm going to record, though. I'm not coming near you. I'm going to record, though. He better be alive. He better be alive, how about that?

Yes, we're over here at 50 -- at 9453 Lexington Court. These are the police officers that shot my husband and he better live. He better live because he didn't do nothing to them.

(SHOUTING)

SCOTT: Ain't nobody touching nobody so they all good.

(SHOUTING) SCOTT: I know he better live. I know he better live.

(SHOUTING)

SCOTT: I'm not coming to you guys, but he better live. He better live. Y'all hear this? You see this, right? He better live. He better live. I swear he better live. Yup. He better live. He better (EXPLETIVE DELETED) live. He better live. Where is -- he better live. And I can't even believe this.

(SHOUTING)

SCOTT: I ain't going nowhere! I'm in the same (EXPLETIVE DELETED) spot. (EXPLETIVE DELETED). That's OK. Did y'all call the police? I mean, did ya'll call an ambulance?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:45:20] HARLOW: I want to take you now straight, before I get to Don, to the governor of North Carolina, Pat McCrory, speaking. Let's go there live.

PAT MCCRORY, (D), NORTH CAROLINA GOVERNOR: Good afternoon. I'm Pat McCrory, governor of North Carolina.

On the stage with me today, I would like to recognize the Greensboro Swift Water Rescue Team. I also want to recognize Transportation Secretary Nick Tennyson; Major General Lusk with our N.C. National Guard; Colonel Gray with our State Highway Patrol; Environmental Quality Department Secretary John Evans; and Emergency Management Director Joe Wright -- Wight -- sorry, Wright.

This has been quite a week for the state of North Carolina in several areas of our state. First of all, we've had major flooding in the eastern part of the state. It's received absolutely no national attention partly because of the issues in Charlotte. We have also had a gas shortage due to the pipeline break, which has basically been returned to normal service. And we also, of course, have the ongoing protest situation in the great city of Charlotte.

I very briefly -- do want to briefly talk about to the national audience and to the rest of North Carolina because it's not been in the news but we've had extremely serious flooding conditions in eastern North Carolina, some of the worst flooding conditions we've seen since Hurricane Irene. We've had over 17 inches of rain in some parts of our state. We've had flooding in seven other counties, including Dare, Gates, Halifax, Northampton and several others. Up to seven inches of rain. I declared a state of emergency two days ago to deal with this flooding. And we also have a transportation waiver to deal with some very, very serious issues that are going on. The city of -- the town of Windsor is the city that had been most impacted. It's a town of 3,000 individuals. It's underwater in many areas. We literally have water up to people's waists and above the receding. However, we have had to have to 130 --

HARLOW: We are going to continue monitoring this press conference and bring it to you live when he does address the shooting death in Charlotte of Mr. Scott and also the ensuing investigation and the protests and, frankly, the Scott family has released. We'll get back to him in a moment.

As we wait for that, I want to get more analysis with my colleague and anchor of "CNN Tonight" Don Lemon.

You saw the whole video, the two minutes, Don. A lot of questions here. You got off the phone with the attorney for the family who told you more about the TBI, the traumatic brain injury, Mr. Scott has.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR, CNN TONIGHT: The attorney sent the video to me just shortly -- about the same time we got on the air. I've watched it several times. I asked him how he got the TBI, which is a dramatic brain injury, and he said it was from a motorcycle accident back in October and November of last year. But he was recovering from that. So that's where the TBI came from.

The reason they're releasing this video is that as he said they're putting it out there for the public to observe for themselves. They are not accusing anybody of anything. They are not saying anybody did anything, he said. But they say they want you to look at they area, look around Mr. Scott's body where they say the found the area. And he said look at the area and --

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: Don, I have to break in here.

Let's get back to the governor of North Carolina, Pat McCrory.

[14:39:20] MCCRORY: They did an outstanding job during the last two nights and last night. You couldn't ask for better professionalism from these men and women in blue who did their job. They're under a lot of fatigue and stress right now and I'm proud of the way they did their job and I'm proud of the chief of police also doing his job.

Yesterday, I gave total authority to have the chief of police also coordinate our National Guard. General Lusk, here with me today, has got very little sleep during the past 24 hours, and neither did the men and women of the National Guard. We're talking about hundreds of individuals who traveled overnight, the night before last, on buses, other types of transport, primarily Humvees, and these men and women who primarily have part-time jobs, many were coming to Charlotte for the first time because they come from all over the state. And I got to greet them when they arrived at the guard headquarters yesterday in Charlotte before they were deployed out on the streets of Charlotte. And I just was so impressed with their willingness to do their job and, of course, with their follow through, and I think for the rest of the nation, the rest of the state saw the valuable tool that the National Guard is for our country and for the state of North Carolina. What they did upon extremely short notice last night under very, very trying conditions in supporting the Police Department of Charlotte was I think a role model for guards in all 50 states. And I'd just like to personally thank the general for his outstanding professionalism of his team and your commanders for the work that we've done. Thank you to the National Guard. You saw people hugging them, them hugging back. It was the best of America that we saw. I'm proud of you. I'm very proud of you.

[14:50:] I'd like to thank the highway patrol, our troopers. We're not giving the number of troopers that we sent but we sent a lot, and they're still there. And they're sleeping right now, getting ready for another night. I hope some of them are sleeping. They're all on cots in Charlotte at this point in time. And I again would like to thank Colonel Gray and his team for the incredible work they did last night in protecting the highways, in protecting overpasses, also protecting infrastructure in and around downtown Charlotte and throughout the city. And our men and women in black and gray, I thought, did an outstanding job.

And to you, Colonel Gray and Frank Perry, my secretary, thank you very much for your leadership.

I want to, as the mayor stated earlier today, I want to thank the Charlotte community and the neighborhood leaders. We had member of the community and clergy leaders step in between people not wanting to engage in a peaceful process and wanting to cause trouble. And their defusing, community leaders, defusing the situation also was the best of Charlotte and the best of North Carolina. We need community leaders and more as we need public safety officials. So I want to thank my hometown of Charlotte for helping in that effort.

As the chief of police stated, there are groups coming into our state that that are here for anarchy and to not respect our law, our property or our citizens. I'll say again, as I said the other day, this state, this governor and the city of Charlotte won't tolerate the destruction of property, the harming of individuals, and especially attacks towards the men and women of law enforcement, and the men and women of our National Guard, and our first responders, the firefighters, and the medics. They are putting themselves on the line to deal with a difficult issue. And I say that very strongly to those individuals who are coming in to our state and some who live in our state who want to cause harm to our basic society norms and our democratic process, we won't accept it. And we won't tolerate it. Again, I appreciate those who were stepping in and saying this is not the best of America in those types of behaviors of destruction and hurting other people.

[14:54:40] I'm also very pleased that the police department has made an arrest of a suspect in the shooting death of an individual during the protest two nights ago. I'm very pleased to see someone in custody. There were a lot of false rumors out there regarding an individual in law enforcement being involved in that shooting. Sadly, some of those individuals were interviewed on national broadcasts last night that I saw, and that's irresponsible that you allow such false information to be on the air, which again raises tension in the state and the community and the nation, because I'm convinced and very much trust no one from law enforcement was involved at all. And I'm glad they've arrested a suspect based upon video evidence and other witnesses. And I commend the police department area.

I just want to let you know, based upon the most recent conversations, literally in the last hour, with the chief of police, the chief of police, again, has requested we continue to have the National Guard presence and the presence of ISBI and the presence also of the North Carolina Highway Patrol through Sunday. And if it comes earlier and things calm down, maybe many of these men and women can come back home and also help us and the rest of the state.

We'll do anything we can in the state of North Carolina to support the great city of Charlotte and keep it safe, and we'll fulfill those obligations. I want to let everyone know in the state that this does not come without a cost. We've had a cost due to flooding of $81,000 at this point in time that we're pulling out of emergency funds. We have costs because of the Colonial pipeline rupture of about $185,000.

HARLOW: There you have it, the governor of North Carolina, Pat McCrory, giving a press conference, just talking there about the protests in his city after the shooting death on Tuesday of Keith Lamont Scott by one of the Charlotte police officers. He's now moved on to a flooding update. We'll monitor it.

Back with me is my colleague and anchor of "CNN Tonight," Don Lemon; and David Clinger, a former LAPD police officer and a professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Missouri.

Don Lemon, to you first.

We were speaking before he had his press conference. He talked a lot about the protests and the National Guard who helped and the officers who helped and commended them, and he said the officers last night did a great job. I don't think I heard this and correct me if I'm wrong, he didn't mention Keith Lamont Scott, who was killed, and whose family released the video about an hour ago. What do you make of that?

LEMON: The family is hard broken. Regardless of the circumstances, that is going to be investigated, and we'll find out, and this video helps. But he didn't mention it, and that's the disconnect between the community and how -- you know, the guy didn't want to -- the governor is in a tough position. I'm not here just to be critical of the governor but he could have mentioned the man's name and the name of the man who -- there was Keith Lamont Scott, but Justin Carr was a 26-year-old shot during a protest by another civilian.

HARLOW: By another civilian.

LEMON: By another civilian. I just find it odd that he opened up a press conference about his state, which he could have done after this because national attention is not on the flooding, national attention is on the shooting and lives, rather than flooding. It's sad that there's flooding going on but we have people who have died in this particular situation.

HARLOW: Now two individuals, one shot by police and one in those protests.

LEMON: So let's get to it. We were talking about traumatic brain injury. That was from a motorcycle accident in the fall of 2015, October and November, I'm told, by the attorney. Go ahead.

HARLOW: Stay with us for one minute, Don. We have so much to get to.

We have to get a very quick break in here. We're coming up on the top of the hour. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

[14:58:54]HARLOW: Top of the hour, 3:00 p.m. eastern. I'm Poppy Harlow, in for Brooke Baldwin.

Today, we are back with our breaking news. We have our first look at Keith Lamont Scott's final moments during a fatal encounter with police this week in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Let me be clear. The video you're about to see is not the dash cam video or the body camera video from police. That has not yet been released.