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New Day
Alabama Officer Killed In The Line Of Duty; Democratic Senator Kamala Harris Announces Run For President; Washington Post Reporter's Unexpected Phone Call With President Trump; Teen Shares His Side Of Viral Encounter With Native American Elder. Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired January 21, 2019 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:31:03] ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: A police officer in Alabama shot and killed in the line of duty. Authorities say 30-year-old officer Sean Tuder was gunned down while attempting to serve an arrest warrant.
The police chief called him a true leader. The Web site for the Mobile Police Department lists Tuder as Officer of the Month for July 2017.
The suspect, who had prior local and federal warrants, is in custody facing capital murder charges.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Tallahassee police now giving their side of the story after this video showing a toddler walking toward them with her hands up went viral. They released this body cam footage where an officer can be heard telling the 2-year-old, "Sweetie, put your hands down, you're fine."
They say the toddler got out of the truck unexpectedly and imitated a man who was taken into custody. A 1-year-old was still strapped to a car seat. Two men were arrested and later charged with theft.
The officer allowed the children's mother to take them.
HILL: British police say they have given Prince Philip suitable words of advice after he was spotted driving without his seat belt. This, of course, was just 48 hours after the crash that flipped his Land Rover.
New pictures show the 97-year-old Royal wearing dark glasses and no seat belt. This is near the Queen's Sandringham Estate in Norfolk.
The Duke of Edinburgh was not injured in Thursday's crash. Two people who were in the car he collided with, though, did suffer minor injuries.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
BERMAN: All right, breaking news. A big move for 2020. Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris of California just announced her candidacy for president. CNN's Kyung Lah joins us now live in Washington with the very latest -- Kyung.
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: She just made that announcement on "GOOD MORNING AMERICA," John.
And we are anticipating shortly that she'll be posting a video to her social media accounts. It will officially announce that she is, indeed, going to be running for president. And in that video, she'll be calling on her supporters, saying that now is the time to fight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That's why I'm running for President of the United States.
LAH (voice-over): Senator Kamala Harris announcing her presidential campaign's core principles on Martin Luther King Day.
HARRIS: Truth, justice, decency, equality, freedom, democracy -- these aren't just words. They're the values we as Americans cherish and they're all on the line now.
I intend to fight for truth, and transparency, and trust. I intend to fight.
LAH: California's junior senator is notable, both in biography --
JOSEPH BIDEN, THEN-VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So help you, God.
HARRIS: I do.
LAH: -- and her 2-year tenure in the Senate.
Supporters hail Harris's rapid-fire questioning in the Senate, from Supreme Court nominees --
HARRIS: Can you think of any laws that give the government the power to make decisions about the male body?
BRETT KAVANAUGH, THEN-CANDIDATE FOR SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm not aware -- I'm not thinking of any right now, Senator.
LAH: -- to Justice Department officials --
ROD ROSENSTEIN, DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL: He is -- he has the --
HARRIS: Yes or no, sir?
ROSENSTEIN: He has the full independence and is authorized by those regulations. And, Senator, like I said --
HARRIS: Are you willing to do, as has been done before --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would the -- would the senator suspend -- LAH: -- making more than one of them squirm.
JEFF SESSIONS, FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm not able to be rushed this fast. It makes me nervous.
HARRIS: A lot of the work I've done has been inspired --
LAH: The native of Oakland says she embodies everything California stands for and what the president is against.
She is the daughter of immigrants -- a father from Jamaica and a mother from southern India, both active in the civil rights era.
HARRIS: And so, it was about fighting for justice. It was about fighting to make sure that all people had a say in their future.
LAH: Harris graduated from Howard University, returning to Oakland to become a prosecutor. As a San Francisco district attorney, Harris crafted innovative programs to reform the criminal justice system at a time when other prosecutors were taking a tough on crime approach.
And despite political pressure from her own party, she refused to seek the death penalty against the killer of a police officer, sticking to a core campaign pledge and personal belief.
[07:35:10] HARRIS: I am humbled to be chosen to be the next attorney general of the state of California.
LAH: But she would defend the death penalty as California's first black woman attorney general -- still personally opposed but upholding state law, coming under fire from activists.
HARRIS: I now declare you spouses for life.
LAH: When the Supreme Court allowed marriage equality to stand in California, she officiated the first legal same-sex marriages in 2013 --
HARRIS: Any day that justice is delayed, I would suggest justice is denied.
LAH: -- all part of her pledge to be a progressive prosecutor.
HARRIS: It is a false choice to suggest that one is either in favor of the Second Amendment or in favor of reasonable gun safety rules. We can be both.
LAH: That history is both an asset and an opening for attack.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What about black people? What about us? What about black people, Kamala?
HARRIS: We, ourselves --
LAH: A question that may follow her to the campaign as it did on her book tour. Is it possible to be both a top cop and a reformer for progressives?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you say to those who hear that and read that and still say well, you're anti-police?
HARRIS: Well, it's just not true.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, I had to ask.
HARRIS: That's why I say we've got to talk truth. It's just not true -- it's not true. It's not true, period.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAH: Now, this week, Sen. Harris heads to campaign in South Carolina and then this Sunday, she returns to Oakland. It is her birthplace and it is there that she will kick off officially her presidential campaign.
She unveiled her core staff today. And she also revealed her campaign slogan, John. It will be "Kamala Harris: For the People" and these are the words that she spoke in the courtroom as a prosecutor -- John.
BERMAN: All right, Kyung Lah for us in Washington. Thank you so much.
This was the announcement just moments ago. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: -- for President of the United States and --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yay.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ANCHOR, ABC "GOOD MORNING AMERICA": Well, that's a great --
(LAUGHING)
HARRIS: -- and I'm very excited about it. I'm very excited about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: You heard her say President of the United States. I'm assuming the words she spoke before that were "I am running" to be President of the United States.
Joining us now is CNN national politics reporter Maeve Reston, who covers Kamala Harris out in California and knows so much about her and this decision.
One housekeeping note here. I noticed she announced she's running for president, not an exploratory committee. I take that to mean she wants to prove how serious she is?
MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER: Yes, they -- her staff decided that she was ready John to just jump right in. They didn't want to go the route of the exploratory committee the way that Kirsten Gillibrand and Elizabeth Warren has. She's been gearing up for this for a long time and she was just ready to go.
BERMAN: Two other things I noticed. Number one, the timing of the announcement today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Kamala Harris, an African American woman running to be president.
What symbolism are they trying to hit there?
RESTON: Well, obviously, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has been a huge hero of Kamala Harris's for a long time and she talks about his never resting in terms of his path -- trying to reach a path toward justice.
But also, today it is, I think, 47 years to the week when Shirley Chisholm announced --
BERMAN: Yes.
RESTON: -- her announcement that she was going to run as the first black woman to run for president.
So, another one of Kamala Harris's heroes there and she actually has incorporated Chisholm's colors from her campaign back in the 70s into her own logo, "Kamala Harris: For the People."
BERMAN: Shirley Chisholm raised a groundbreaking race. Forty years later now touching back on that history.
I also took note Kyung Lah told us the slogan "For the People." Kamala Harris, I think, intentionally -- it seems to me at least -- trying to focus on her legal background here.
RESTON: Yes, absolutely. And, of course, her legal background as a prosecutor, then later as D.A. of San Francisco, and then attorney general of California, a huge asset for her in this campaign. It is not something that you would expect from an African American woman to pursue a career as a prosecutor.
But also, kind of a double-edged sword for her. Parts of her record because it is so long and complex have come under fire from criminal justice advocates even though she has been working on reforms like recidivism since back in 2003 and 2004 when not as many people are talking about it.
And it's also key to her path going forward. She is going to try to do decently well in Iowa and New Hampshire but really make a strong launch in South Carolina. And then, John, when you look at the calendar beyond that --
[07:40:08] BERMAN: Yes.
RESTON: -- you have all of those states in the Southeast where the African American vote dominates the Democratic primary electorate -- Alabama, Louisiana -- all of those states. And she hopes to be able to consolidate that African American vote, start racking up those delegate wins and get enough momentum to push through to the nomination.
BERMAN: Mark your calendar what today is -- January 21st -- and we just had a discussion about delegates --
RESTON: Yes.
BERMAN: -- in the Democratic primary.
Maeve, I have to let you go but just biggest of big pictures here, this is really in some ways the most major announcement we have seen to date.
RESTON: Yes.
BERMAN: This shakes up the Democratic race at a very early stage. We knew it was coming but now that it's there it's a big deal.
RESTON: It is a big deal. Obviously, Kamala Harris has had a series of firsts throughout her career but she is leaning -- she's leaning heavily into this historic moment.
She sees the opportunity to galvanize African American voters and really, voters of all races. We saw that in her visits in Iowa last year. And she did foster, also, the strong connection with women in the Brett Kavanaugh hearings last year.
BERMAN: All right, Maeve Reston. Thanks so much for being with us this morning -- appreciate it.
RESTON: Thank you.
BERMAN: Erica --
HILL: So, imagine you're sitting in a restaurant and someone hands you a phone and says the president is on the line. You take the phone, right, and are probably surprised to find out that yes, it is, in fact, President Trump on the other end of the line. That's exactly what happened to one reporter and that story's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:45:20] HILL: Add this to the list of sort of random moments in your life. A "Washington Post" reporter sharing the story of his totally unexpected phone conversation with President Trump. Here's the best part. The president seemed rather surprised by it as well.
Joining us now, Dan Balz, chief political correspondent from "The Washington Post." Dan, great to have you with us.
DAN BALZ, CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, THE WASHINGTON POST (via telephone): Thank you, Erica.
HILL: So, all of this transpired Friday night. You're having dinner in a cafe in Paris and all of a sudden someone hands you the phone and says, "Would you like to talk to the president?" Did you think it was a joke? BALZ: Well, I was -- I mean, I didn't know whether it was a joke or exactly what was going on. I mean, it was -- you know, it was the last thing you would expect to hear sitting in a restaurant in Paris with another American who I didn't recognize saying do you want to speak to the President of the United States?
And so, my first inclination was well, is he talking about President Macron of France? And then I thought, no, he's an American. And I could see from the telephone -- the caller I.D. did not have a name or a number on it. And I thought hmm, White House calls do come in --
HILL: Yes.
BALZ: -- with that lack of identification. So I said sure, I'll take the phone, and it turned out to be the president.
HILL: It was -- it was a good decision on your part because we're all enjoying the story too, I have to say selfishly.
So, you know, as you are talking to the president in the first couple of minutes he, at one point, asks you whether you're Hillary or Trump. And that's when you revealed your true identity.
BALZ: Yes. I mean, when I -- when I originally said hello, I just said, "Hello, Mr. President." And the fellow who handed me the phone turned out to be Joe Kernen from CNBC, who I -- you know, I would recognize watching T.V. but I didn't recognize him in a -- you know, in a restaurant in Paris.
HILL: Sure.
BALZ: He had been talking to the president because the president had called to express regret that he couldn't do an interview with Mr. Kernen at Davos at the World Economic summit this week.
And, Joe apparently said you know, even here in Paris everybody is talking about you. There are two -- you know, there are two gentlemen next to me at the table and they are -- they're talking about you. And the president apparently said are they still there? Let me speak to them.
So, Joe didn't -- I -- Joe didn't recognize me. I don't think he really knows me. And so, he thought, you know, just these are two Americans talking about the president.
So, he handed me the phone and I said, "Hello, Mr. President." You know, I could instantly tell that it was him. His voice was clear and I thought I'm a reporter. I ought to try to get -- you know, get some news out of him.
So, I tried to ask him a few questions and I didn't get very far. And that's when he said, at one point, are you Hillary or are you Trump? And I said well, I'm a reporter.
HILL: And that sort of stopped him short? It takes a lot for the president to have a moment of silence like that but you did kind of stop him short when you said that. You weren't what he was expecting.
BALZ: No, I think he just thought we were two sympathetic Americans who were talking about him in Paris. So, when I said I'm a reporter -- and there was -- you know, there was silence on the other end of the line and at that point, I think he was probably as surprised about this telephone call as I had been when I picked up the phone.
So, then I said to him, "Mr. President, do you know who you're speaking with?" And he said no. And I -- so I said it's Dan Balz from "The Washington Post." I don't have a real relationship with the president but I --
HILL: Sure.
BALZ: -- interviewed him a few times during the campaign.
So, you know, once that happened then it was kind of everybody's cards are on the table.
HILL: I loved that in the piece that you wrote you said you tried a couple of questions about the shutdown. You wrote that you didn't think your questions were working -- that they need some work -- and wrote "Suggestions, Josh?" rather -- referencing Josh Dawsey. Has Josh offered any pointers?
BALZ: Josh has not, unfortunately. He's keeping -- he's keeping his secrets to himself as I suppose any good, smart reporter would do. They will never reveal the things that really work. But, as you all know, he's one of your contributors --
HILL: Yes.
BALZ: -- and he's a fabulous reporter and part of our terrific White House team.
And he had -- you know, he had taken a call from the president -- not an unexpected call but he hadn't gotten much notice -- and he got a few things out of the president in that telephone call. So I was thinking well, geez, I've got to do as well as Josh.
But -- so, when I get -- when I get back to Washington I'm going to make sure he tells me his secrets.
HILL: All right, well, sounds good. Dan, really appreciate you taking a moment to join us this morning. Thank you.
BALZ: Thanks, Erica.
BERMAN: I love the false modesty of Dan Balz right there --
HILL: Right.
BERMAN: He is one of the greatest political reporters in the country. A mentor, I think, to generations of campaign reporters like me there.
The idea that Dan could be on the phone with the president and the president not know he's talking to Dan just ripe with so many possibilities.
[07:50:02] HILL: Right, it is -- it's great. Although, you know, as Dan points out, too, he said Mr. President, do you know who this is? And then he said well, I kind of felt bad because then I realized --
BERMAN: Right.
HILL: -- he -- how would he know at this point? But it's a fun read, so --
BERMAN: It's not a knock on Josh Dawsey, by the way. Josh can teach us all a lot of things. But we've all learned, including Josh, from Dan Balz there. What a great story that is.
So, their faces are plastered all over social media after this encounter between a teenager and a Native American elder went viral. What really happened here?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HILL: The Kentucky teen caught on video facing off with a Native American elder in a march Friday now claims he was trying to diffuse a situation. He says a look at all of the video tells a different story.
CNN's Sara Sidner joins us now live with more. Sara, you've been on this story basically from the beginning.
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not quite the beginning but certainly very early on. And we did take a look at an hour and half-long video that shows the lead-up to this face-to-face confrontation between an elder from the Omaha tribe and these Catholic students, including one that sort of stood there and neither of them moved.
[07:55:10] And what we found is that it was some adults hurling nasty comments at these kids beforehand that ended up creating this tension.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SIDNER (voice-over): The Catholic high school student who comes face- to-face with a Native America elder in a viral video is now responding. In a statement, student Nick Sandmann says the viral video does not reflect the true nature of events when the students arrived at the Lincoln Memorial.
"When we arrived, we noticed four African American protesters who were also on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial," he said. "The protesters said hateful things."
Indeed, a small group of black men who identify as Hebrew Israelites did say hateful things to seemingly everyone around them, including a priest --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's make American great again. A bunch of child molesting f****ts."
SIDNER: -- and the students.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: See how you got these pompous bastards come down here in the middle of a native rally with they dirty ass hat on?
SIDNER: When a black visitor tries to stand up against their rhetoric he faces hate, too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got all these dirty ass crackers behind you with a red -- with a red make America great hat again on and your coon ass -- you want to fight your brother.
SIDNER: At first, the Catholic students, there for the March for Life, are still in small numbers, but more and more show up, watching but not engaging. The small group of men continue taunting them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A bunch of incest babies. A bunch of babies made out of incest.
SINDER: Sandmann says the rhetoric was startling. "Because we were being loudly attacked and taunted in public a student asked one of our teacher chaperones for permission to begin school spirit chants to counter the hateful things that were being shouted at our group."
And they do. At one point, a student removes his shirt and the chants drown everything out.
Two minutes later, you hear a drumbeat. That is Nathan Phillips, an Omaha tribe elder, and another drummer. Phillips says it was their attempt to thwart potential violence.
The kids danced to it. They began chanting along.
NATHAN PHILLIPS, OMAHA NATION ELDER, VIETNAM VETERAN: I realized I had put myself in a really dangerous situation, you know. It was like here is a group of people who were angry at somebody else and I put myself in front of that.
SIDNER: Phillips, a Vietnam veteran, walks around. Other students avoid him until you see him come face-to-face with a student who has now gone viral. In his statement, the student says he was the one trying to deescalate the situation, not Phillips.
"I believed that by remaining motionless and calm, I was helping to diffuse the situation. I realized everyone had cameras and that perhaps a group of adults was trying to provoke a group of teenagers into a larger conflict."
Sandmann has every opportunity to move back; so does Phillips. Neither do. While they faced off, the kids faced more taunting from the Hebrew Israelite men.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a bunch of future school shooters.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right.
STUDENTS: Whoa. SIDNER: Phillips maintains he felt the kids were mocking him and being rude. Sandmann says it was the adults using hateful words and trying to provoke the kids, not the other way around.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SIDNER: Now, Phillips says he still felt as if he were being mocked. There was a point at which the kids used a tomahawk chop, which was considered a mocking gesture during that time.
But we should also mention the diocese that oversees the Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky did condemn the students' behavior towards Native Americans, saying that they would be investigating. We are still waiting to see what they say now that this other video has surfaced and that they could go through it and see it.
The mayor of their city also condemned the kids' behavior vis a viz the Native Americans from that first viral video.
But I do want to mention this, that the Congressman from their district, Thomas -- excuse me, Thomas Massie -- he basically came out in support of these kids.
He talked about the fact that "In the face of racist comments, homosexual slurs, that the young boys refused to reciprocate or disrespect anyone even when taunted by homophobic bigots, which was obviously bewildering to them, they insulted no one." And he, lastly, says, "I am proud. It is an honor to represent them."
And so, you know, you have a congressman standing up for these kids, you have folks from the indigenous community still saying look, we feel like he -- they were being disrespectful and mocking. And they believe that they, too, were trying to calm the situation between the kids and those group of four black men who were yelling racist threats at them.
BERMAN: What a weekend. Sara Sidner, thanks for laying out the facts for us and the video so people can see for themselves. Appreciate it.
There's been a big announcement in the race for 2020. Let's get to it.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
