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Alabama Police Admit To Killing Wrong Man In Mall Shooting; CNN Reality Check: Trump Administration Tries To Bury Damning Climate Report; U.K. Parliament Obtains Documents Facebook Fought To Hide. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired November 26, 2018 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00] SEN. BEN CARDIN (D-MD), MEMBER, SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE: -- that the individual knows before they travel. I think asking Mexico to take on those issues, that's something that needs to be negotiated.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Ben Cardin, senator from Maryland. Thanks so much for being with us, Senator.

CARDIN: Thank you.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, now to this incredible story.

Alabama police now admit that they shot and killed the wrong man after that Thanksgiving shooting inside a shopping mall that we've reported on. This man's family is now demanding justice. We will speak to them live, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Police in Hoover, Alabama admit they killed the wrong man in the minutes after a gunman opened fire inside a shopping mall on Thanksgiving. It now appears that shooter got away and remains on the loose this morning. And the family of the man who was killed -- that family wants justice.

CNN's Ed Lavandera live in Alabama with the very latest -- Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

Well, it was just about 10:00 on Thursday night -- Thanksgiving night -- when police say -- originally said that 21-year-old E.J. Bradford was involved in an altercation that led to the shooting of an 18-year- old male and a 12-year-old female bystander.

[07:35:04] But over the weekend, that story dramatically changed and now police here in Hoover, Alabama, just south of Birmingham, say they do not believe that it's likely that Bradford fired those shots at all and that the shooter is still here on the loose.

TEXT: "We extend sympathy to the family of Emantic J. Bradford of Hueytown, who was shot and killed during Hoover police efforts to secure the scene. We can say with certainty Mr. Bradford brandished a gun during the seconds following the gunshots, which instantly heightened the sense of threat to approaching police officers responding to the chaotic scene."

LAVANDERA: Now, Hoover police released a new statement here this morning saying that they're extending their condolences and their thoughts and prayers to the family of E.J. Bradford. But they also say that they have clear evidence that suggests that Bradford brandished a weapon in the seconds after the shooting erupted there inside the mall and that that led to that chaotic situation.

However, the family of Bradford has hired civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump. The family and attorneys saying over the weekend that this is clearly a situation where if you are a good guy with a gun and you happen to be black, the police will shoot and kill you.

The family of 21-year-old E.J. Bradford says that he was legally allowed to carry a weapon -- had a permit to carry that weapon inside the gun (sic). And that the family also says that they have witnesses from that scene who say that they believe Bradford was actually trying to wave people away from the chaotic shooting scene -- John and Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Oh my gosh, Ed. Thank you very much for all of the background here.

Joining us now are E.J. parents. We have April Pipkins and Emantic Bradford Sr. We also have civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump who is representing the family now.

Ms. Pipkins, Mr. Bradford, we're so sorry for your loss and how it had to happen this way and how you had to find out about this.

Mr. Bradford, we, here on NEW DAY, on Friday, reported on this as though the gunman had been shot and killed by police. That's what the police statement said, that's what our police sources said.

And then, the story changed and it turned out that your son -- your 21-year-old son who has no criminal record was the person who was shot --

EMANTIC BRADFORD SR., FATHER OF MAN KILLED BY POLICE IN ALABAMA MALL: Yes.

CAMEROTA: -- and killed and the gunman is still on the loose.

What have police told you about this horrible mistake?

BRADFORD: They haven't told me anything yet. Nobody has responded. We haven't gotten no calls and no apology. Nothing has been told to us what happened -- what transpired and led up to this point.

CAMEROTA: Mr. Bradford, the police, in this horrible tragic case of mistaken identity, have not reached out to you, his family?

BRADFORD: No, not at all.

CAMEROTA: Ms. Pipkins, how do you feel -- you're holding a picture there of your son. We've seen him. We've seen how handsome he was. Obviously, he went into the Army. He was described by everybody as

just being a helpful person, wanting to help others.

How do you explain what happened in that mall?

APRIL PIPKINS, MOTHER OF MAN KILLED BY POLICE IN ALABAMA MALL: I know that was the thing that they took my son from me and my Thanksgiving will never be the same. I'll never be able to see my son's face again or to look into his eyes or to hear him say mom, I love you. Love you, mom -- love you -- and hug on me and kiss on me, you know.

And like his father has said, no one has even reached out to us in any type of way. So my Thanksgiving will never be the same --

CAMEROTA: Of course.

PIPKINS: -- because this is the -- you know --

CAMEROTA: Yes.

PIPKINS: -- when I lost my son and --

CAMEROTA: Yes. Mr. Crump --

PIPKINS: -- you know, not knowing -- not even knowing if I'll be able to have an open casket to see him again. I'm just at a loss of words right now.

CAMEROTA: Understood.

Mr. Crump, this is horrible. I mean, this is just a horrible tragedy and the idea that the police wouldn't reach out to the family to try to explain themselves.

But maybe it's that in the seconds -- in the chaotic seconds after a gunman opened fire on shoppers on a crowded -- at a crowded mall, they showed up. And I think that what their story is now was that E.J. had a gun himself and they thought that he was brandishing a gun and that he was the gunman.

Can it be an innocent case of mistaken identity?

BENJAMIN CRUMP, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY FOR FAMILY OF MAN KILLED BY POLICE IN ALABAMA MALL: Well, it's awfully ironic that they're asking for this family to give them the benefit of the doubt -- the benefit of consideration, Alisyn, even though they didn't give E.J. Bradford the benefit of the doubt and consideration when this off-duty police officer who was doing private security for the Galleria Mall pulled the trigger, we believe, unjustifiably.

Several witnesses have reached out to us and said it was in milliseconds. He offered no verbal commands. He didn't say freeze, police, anything. He just saw a young black man with a gun and he shot.

[07:40:09] Witnesses say E.J. was helping them. A young lady said E.J. saved her life and helped several others -- reached out to the family. So he was a good guy with a gun.

But this notion of a good guy with a gun trying to stop the bad guys with guns doing these mass shootings where if you happen to be black the police see you as a criminal and they shoot and kill you.

That has been shown in Jamel Robinson in Chicago, now here in Birmingham, Alabama, which is the epicenter of the civil rights movement, that is doesn't matter if you're a good guy with a gun. If you're black, the police shoot and kill you and ask questions later.

CAMEROTA: Mr. Crump, is it your understanding from what you've been able to find out about what happened during that chaotic moment that many people in the mall were carrying guns that day and took their guns out as the good guys to try to stop the bad guy or was it just E.J.?

CRUMP: Well, we understand now that there was a shooting before this and after they shot E.J., witnesses have said there was more shooting. So this would have suggested to the police that E.J. was not the person who shot the gun if there's still shooting afterwards.

But very important, the video tells us everything, Alisyn. To heal this community and give trust to this family and several in the community, what the police should do and what the family's demanding is release the video. You don't need to say no more.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

CRUMP: Release the video because they don't trust the police department because they've already lied to them and pulled the trigger. And the Hoover Police Department pulled the trigger --

CAMEROTA: Yes.

CRUMP: -- and released his picture all over the world saying that he was a shooter --

CAMEROTA: Yes.

CRUMP: -- and they said the officer was a hero. Can you imagine how that made these parents feel?

CAMEROTA: No --

CRUMP: They knew their child --

CAMEROTA: -- I can't.

CRUMP: -- who they raised.

CAMEROTA: And so, Mr. Bradford, you also, it should be said, are 25 years a correctional officer. You're in law enforcement. You know police and are friends with them in this area.

So have you asked them for the video and have you asked them why they're not reaching out to your family and making some sort of compensation to you?

CRUMP: You called them (ph).

BRADFORD: No, I haven't because I think that's just so unrespectful of another person regardless of where I worked or how long I worked there. You should just obviously do that to a parent and let that parent know, hey, my condolences, I'm sorry -- we made a mistake.

That's all I'm wanting them to say. You know, just come out and call me and his mother and say hey, Mr. Bradford, can we sit down and have a talk. You know, we -- I'll talk to you.

But my thing is you showed me lack of respect, his mother a lack of respect, my son a lack of respect because you allowed him to lay there in the mall bleeding out and you never covered him up.

You've got people putting stuff all on Facebook -- you know, social media -- my son's brains blowed out. And his grandmother couldn't take it. She almost passed out yesterday.

And, you know, cover my son's body up. You just let him lay there in the open and everybody was just taking pictures and video. So, you know, that's disrespectful --

CRUMP: It's disrespectful.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

BRADFORD: -- and it hurts me as a father and it hurts me as a person that worked so long for law enforcement and just to get that disrespect. That's disrespect, totally, across the board.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

Well, Mr. Bradford and Ms. Pipkins, Benjamin Crump, you are not asking for anything unreasonable. You are asking for the common decency of a phone call to understand what happened in that mall and why your 21- year-old son was killed.

Obviously, we will stay on the story. We will wait for the video to be released and the rest of the pieces to come together here.

We're so sorry for your loss. Thank you for joining us.

CRUMP: Thank you. Thank you, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: John --

BERMAN: All right. So did the Trump administration bury a damning government report on climate change? A CNN reality check is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:47:52] BERMAN: Just another Cyber Monday, as The Bangles never said. It is expected to be the biggest online shopping day in history. This one will be a big deal. CNN's Alison Kosik live -- is not live at an Amazon fulfillment center in Robbinsville, New Jersey. We're going to get ourselves a reporter and give you a live report to see just how frantic Amazon is this morning.

Oh, here's Alison. Alison Kosik is there ready for us. Hey, Alison.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I cannot hear.

BERMAN: All right. We'll get ourselves -- we'll get our technology together and we'll get you a report from the Amazon fulfillment center just as soon as we can.

CAMEROTA: OK. Meanwhile, there was a vitally important and very troubling climate report released on Friday. Why did the Trump administration pick that day to release it?

CNN senior political analyst John Avlon joins us now with a reality check. Hi, John.

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hey, Ali.

So, guys, tryptophan is a hell of a drug, and while you were working off that food coma and gearing up to bum-rush the stores, you might have missed this bit of news. The climate is galloping towards catastrophe.

In the afternoon of Black Friday, the Trump administration released a 1,600-page report produced by a dozen federal departments and hundreds of scientists. It wasn't supposed to come out until December but that's what's known as a classic Friday news dump when the information gets released that powerful people don't want to you to see or pay attention to.

And what's surreal about this massive congressionally-mandated report is that it completely contradicts the science challenge beliefs of our commander in chief.

Here's a quick refresher. Trump has called climate change a hoax and a canard created by the Chinese and fault -- based on faulty science and manipulated data.

And just last Wednesday, he repeated one of his favorite riffs, confusing climate with weather while looking at record cold temperatures across the U.S., tweeting, "Whatever happened to global warming?"

But, Trump's own agencies and scientists disagree with him completely on this.

The report concludes that some of the worst affects from climate change are already beginning in the form of sharply-rising sea levels, destructive heat waves, and wildfires. This is the new normal with, quote, "growing challenges to human health and safety, quality of life, and the rate of economic growth." [07:50:02] Now, it's that last bit that might get Trump's attention -- money. The report says the cost of climate change could hit hundreds of billions of dollars annually by the end of the century. The worst effects will be seen in lost labor, extreme temperatures, and crumbling infrastructure.

Worst case, climate change could strip away 10 percent of the nation's GDP over the next 80 years. That's a powerful message for a president obsessed with economic growth.

And from floods in the southeast to threatened crops in the Midwest, to rising ozone levels in the Upper Plains, some of the areas that the report say could be hardest hit are in the heart of Trump's red-state base. You can't spin your way out of science, folks.

One more thing to file under Black Friday news dumps, follow the money, specifically a financial disclosure showing that Bill Shine, the former co-president of Fox News and now communications chief for the White House, received an $8.4 million severance package.

But that's not all. He's going to receive $7 million more over the next two years while working at the Trump White House, according to CNBC. That's right, the White House communications director is receiving millions from Fox while also working for the American people.

And don't forget that his predecessor, Hope Hicks, is now working as communications director at Fox.

It's a revolving door and a cozy relationship unlike any other in the modern history of the presidency and the press. So keep that in mind when you watch rallies where the president appears with Fox News opinion anchors and calls real reporters fake news.

And that's your reality check.

BERMAN: You know, John, you might call that blurred lines. I ask you what lines because they're not even blurred at this point.

AVLON: No, it's all pretty much out in the open.

CAMEROTA: And as far as the climate stuff, John, sometimes it's just so overwhelming. I mean, it's truly such an existential threat that it makes you want to turn away from the news because what can you do? But we can't do that. I mean, we actually have to keep covering it.

AVLON: We have to keep covering it. We have to confront reality. And this is what leadership in government is for, dealing with big problems that individuals can't deal with and solve on their own.

BERMAN: All right, John. Thanks for doing that.

CAMEROTA: Thank you, John.

BERMAN: I appreciate it. So, they are the documents that Facebook did not want you to see and now, they're out in the open in the hand of British lawmakers. What they could reveal, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:56:10] CAMEROTA: British lawmakers now have in their hands a set of internal documents that Facebook never wanted the public to see. The documents are from a lawsuit accusing Facebook of having little regard for user privacy and of trying to force rivals out of business.

BERMAN: CNN senior technology correspondent Laurie Segall here. She interviewed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg last week.

This continues sort of a month of pain for Facebook, Laurie. So what could be in these documents?

LAURIE SEGALL, CNN SENIOR TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: You know, we don't know for sure but we know that they might include internal communications between Mark Zuckerberg and his executive team over data user privacy. They could shed some light on what happened with Cambridge Analytica.

So obviously, this is something that Facebook hasn't wanted to get out there. And actually, a California judge ruled that they had to remain sealed. CNN, amongst other news organizations, tried to get them unsealed this summer. They said no go.

Fast-forward until last week. You had the plaintiff out in the U.K. and you had the British Parliament essentially send a note to his hotel and try to get those documents. He was able to obtain those documents, this ahead of a huge hearing coming this week on disinformation.

So now, it's anyone's game. Will they actually put these out there? We're waiting to hear from the California court.

Obviously, Facebook has a lot to say about this. So it will be interesting to see if they do come out and what they'll say.

CAMEROTA: So, Facebook also admitted that they hired that P.R. firm that had gone after George Soros. What did they tell you about that?

SEGALL: Yes. Well, we heard John Avlon talk about this -- like this Friday news dump.

Well, there was a Thanksgiving-eve news dump from Facebook's former head of communications and policy who is still at the company. He took responsibility for hiring the Definers -- this P.R. firm.

And he also said yes, he asked them to look in to George Soros. He said this stemmed from George Soros saying something about Facebook being a menace to society at Davos.

I mean, by the way, this is a really unflattering look at the company and what happens behind the scenes. You know, you could say in Washington at some of these lobbying firms this happens quite a bit, but kind of pulling back the curtain on how Facebook has done business here doesn't look good.

He accepted responsibility and he said -- I thought this was really interesting. He says many times, we move too quickly. You know, we go too fast.

You're hearing this narrative from Facebook that we move fast and break things and I think this is beginning to catch up. It's already caught up with Facebook in a pretty big way.

BERMAN: Yes, just wait and see if these other documents they want private go public.

SEGALL: Sure.

BERMAN: Some irony and Facebook wanted to keep things private.

CAMEROTA: Yes, there is -- irony alert.

BERMAN: All right, Laurie, appreciate it. Thanks very much.

SEGALL: Thank you.

BERMAN: Don't miss Laurie's new series, "THE HUMAN CODE," featuring the most influential leaders in Silicon Valley. She has an exclusive interview with Uber's CEO tomorrow.

CAMEROTA: All right.

Meanwhile, border agents take action against migrants at the border, so let's get right to it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These protesters starting rushing our border and overpowered the police in Mexico.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The U.S. Border Patrol responded by firing off (INAUDIBLE) and then the tear gas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The reality is that the American people are looking for compassion.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will close the border. We're either going to have a border or we're not.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Russia has fired on and seized several Ukrainian Navy vessels.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have seen escalating tensions all this past 12 to 18 months.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Ukrainian president calling for a state of emergency to be declared.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The key question now is how the United States will respond.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

BERMAN: All right, good morning and welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Monday, November 26th, 6:00 (sic) in the east.

Tensions boiling over at the U.S-Mexico border. U.S. Border Patrol agents deployed tear gas on Central Americans seeking asylum -- this does include women and children -- during an incident near one of the world's busiest border crossings.

Mexico says that 39 people were arrested after a peaceful march devolved into chaos. Some officials say that 500 migrants rushed the border from the Mexican side in Tijuana, overwhelming police blockades.

The San Ysidro port is back open after being shut down for hours on Sunday.

CAMEROTA: So the unrest at the border providing new fuel for President Trump. Over the weekend --