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At This Hour

First Women Graduate from Army Ranger School; Cops: Inspired by Trump, Men Beat Homeless Man; Dow Plummets Almost 300 Points Amid Fears. Aired 11:30-12p ET

Aired August 21, 2015 - 11:30   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[11:30:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just trying to do everything I could. I wish I could have saved her.

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: An officer who tried to save a little girl breaks down over her tragic death.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: At this hour, we're witnessing a truly historic moment -- the graduation of the first women ever from the army's elite ranger school. Take a look. You're looking at some live pictures of the event. Captain Kristen Griest and First Lieutenant Shaye Haver made it through the grueling nine-week training, training through the woods, mountains, and swamps, training that many men have dropped out of through the years.

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FIRST LIEUTENANT SHAYE HAVER, U.S. ARMY: To the other females who plan on coming, I hope they come with a strong mind because that's what it takes to get through here. Just like everyone sitting next to me here had to do.

CAPTAIN KRISTEN GRIEST, U.S. ARMY: I just came here to try to be a better leader and improve myself. And I feel like I did that. And for other women who have that same goal in mind, just keep that goal in mind and just don't lose sight of it and keep reminding yourself of why you're there and they will be fine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: But still, women are not allowed in combat just yet.

Joining me now is marine and Iraq war veteran Jude Eden.

Jude, thanks for coming on and talk with us.

You've had obviously a lot of experience in the military, and you have some concerns about this idea of women in combat. What are they?

JUDE EDEN, MARINE/IRAQ WAR VETERAN: Well, just because some of the females -- and let me say this first, I'm completely proud of those women.

[11:35:05] I respect them. I respect their accomplishments, and when I talk about women in combat and the idea that it's bad to put the women in the units, this is not a reflection of women or individual women or anything like that. It's a bad policy. It's a bad policy because even aside from the physical ability, there are many, many reasons -- there are a lot of high risks that are added when you put women in the mix. We have a lot higher risk. We have higher risk of injury and those are longer term than they tend to be for men.

There are lots of really good reasons aside from those who have been able to say like graduate from ranger school.

BROWN: Well, you know, it was really incredible to hear what the men in the Ranger School with these women had to say because I imagine some of them had their doubts in the beginning, and then really spoke out in support. In fact, several of the men who graduated from the program with these women say they showed more strength than several of the men. So, let's take a listen.

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2ND LT. OFFICER MIKE JENOWSKI, U.S. ARMY: There was one night we were doing a long walk. I was the 320 gunner so I had a lot of weight on me and I was struggling, and I stopped and I asked at a halfway point, hey, can anyone help take some of this weight. I got a lot of deer in the headlight looks, a lot of people were like I can't take any more weight. Shaye was the only one to volunteer to take that weight. She carried it the last half, literally saved me. I probably wouldn't be sitting here right now if it wasn't for Shaye.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: It really shows it's all about teamwork. Why not use that amazing strength, Jude, as part of a fighting force?

EDEN: Because the tip of the spear has to be the best of the best of the very best without a bunch of additional risks that are not present for men.

BROWN: And again, if you would, lay out what those risks are because I imagine these women perhaps would say, you know, what are we talking about? We -- they didn't lower the standards for us. We made it through this grueling course and we're here with these men.

Why are there more risks for us than for them?

EDEN: There are many, many more risks. Women have many times the injuries that men do in the military. That's not fair or equal.

Combat is not a fair thing, so what is governing these decisions is diversity. It's the military diversity commission. It's not combat readiness, and when you have additional risks, OK, all the additional injuries that women get, that is high risk. When you know one group of people gets injured many more times than the other, men and women cease to become interchangeable. When there's a chance of pregnancy, when women are more prone to infections, even if they are taking care of themselves -- it's not that women don't take care of themselves. It's not that birth control is not available, but it still happens.

These are much greater risks for women, so -- and when we talk about opening the combat units to women, that's the only thing standing between women and the draft. So we're not just talking about a few women who want to go there. We're now making it so that all enlisted women whether they want to or not are going to be put in these units. Ninety-two percent of army women said that they do not want to be assigned to direct combat units.

So, we're taking away the choice. We're putting an unfair burden on women because it's the enlisted women who are going to pay for this. They're going to pay for it with their bodies. It's not fair to do to women even if there are some women who want to do it.

BROWN: Even if they make the choice to do that. Jude Eden, thank you for sharing your perspective.

EDEN: Thanks for having me.

BROWN: Really disturbing, two men allegedly beat up a homeless man saying they were inspired by Donald Trump. Trump's response to the incident, ahead.

Plus, you may want to check your 401(k). It probably took a hit after stocks fell to a new low for the year. Will the trend continue? We'll take a look at that right after this break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:42:57] BROWN: Just in to CNN, new details on the shooting of an 18 year old in St. Louis that prompted violent protests after hearing this morning that the victim here was shot in the back. A law enforcement with knowledge of the case tells CNN's Don Lemon that four shots were fired, three of them by one officer. We're also told that police are canceling days off and going to 12-hour shifts this weekend in preparation for community reaction. Of course, we will share any more updates as we get them.

And switching gears to what's going on in the Atlantic. Hurricane Danny strengthens into a category 2 hurricane. I want to bring in Chad Myers for more on this.

Chad, what does this mean for us?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, Pamela, you know, it's still many, many days away from the U.S. if it ever makes it here. It has to go over quite a few islands before it does. It is a small hurricane with a lot of wind in the very middle.

I can draw you a box here. This is one line of latitude and longitude. So, that's about 70 miles by 70 miles. If I box this whole thing in with two, that's 140 by 140. I mean, that's not even the size of Pennsylvania.

So it's a small but exact and mighty little storm and mighty far away yet, too. It is going to travel towards the Leeward Islands, probably close to St. Thomas, maybe the British Virgin Islands, maybe Antigua. We'll see where it goes from here, but the middle of the cone does take it over the islands and maybe even toward Puerto Rico if it turns left or turns right, it misses all the islands but we'll have to watch it from there. When it does hit Haiti and the DR they will tear it up because there are a lot of mountains there.

But the next stop could be Cuba or the U.S. We'll have to see. By then, though, it will be less of a storm. It certainly won't be a cat 2.

BROWN: All right. Chad, I know you will be keeping a close eye on it. Thanks so much.

MYERS: You're welcome.

Well, "Donald Trump was right" police say that's what two men said following their alleged attack on a homeless man. Their reason, according to officials, was because the victim was an illegal immigrant. The pair identified as brothers, Scott and Steve Leader, they face assault and battery charges and are now being held without bond.

The attack comes days after Trump's divisive immigration proposals. Take a listen to what the GOP front-runner said when asked about this incident.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[11:45:05] REPORTER: Two men in Boston, two brothers, were arrested for allegedly beating a Hispanic homeless man, and they told the cops it was OK because you were right on immigration.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I haven't heard about that. I think that would be a shame, but I haven't heard about that.

I will say -- the people that are following are very passionate. They love this country. They want this country to be great again and they are very passionate. I will say that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Joining us now is Maria Sacchetti, "The Boston Globe" reporter who first broke this story.

Maria, thanks for coming on.

First off, it's so horrific, what more do we know about the victim of the attack and how he's doing right now?

MARIA SACCHETTI, REPORTER, THE BOSTON GLOBE: Well, we don't know very much about him. I mean, he is 58 years old. He's a homeless man and he was allegedly attacked while he was sleeping outside of a subway stop.

He was very badly injured according to the Mexican government which has identified him as a Mexican citizen and condemned the attack. His nose is broken. He was apparently hit with a metal pole in the chest, arms, and the head.

BROWN: So much brutality there, and apparently, Maria, this is not the first time the suspects have done something like this, is that right?

SACCHETTI: Right. One of them was convicted of a hate crime after the September 11th attacks. He apparently threw a cup at an immigrant working in Dunkin' Donuts.

BROWN: Wow. And I imagine a lot of people have a strong reaction to this where you are there in Boston. Have you heard from immigrant advocates? What has the response been like?

SACCHETTI: Yes. I mean, there's been widespread condemnation both here in Boston and in Mexico. Last night the Mexican government condemned it and urged people to not -- to really recognize the contributions that immigrants make to the society and to prevent this kind of violence. Advocates have said the same.

And also city officials have been concerned. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and also the police commissioner and others have -- and the prosecutors also, there's been -- these men are now charged with a hate crime, which is -- elevates it and that's making a statement as well.

BROWN: Yes, very serious charge there. Maria Sacchetti, thank you so much.

SACCHETTI: Thank you.

BROWN: Well, it was a brutal day for stocks after the market plunged to a record low for this year. Will we see red again today?

Plus, a little girl who was just sitting in her room shot while doing her homework. The emotional breakdown from the officer who tried to save her life ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:51:21] BROWN: Your 401(k)s, your investments, you may not want to look today. That's because the Dow is down almost 300 points again. It has certainly been a rough week on Wall Street.

And let's bring in CNN Money correspondent Cristina Alesci for more on this.

All right. Cristina, put this in perspective for us. How bad is this? What should we make of this?

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's definitely ugly here on the floor. But in overall context, let's not forget that we are not that far away from the record highs that we saw a couple of months ago. That said, what happened yesterday was pretty compelling and very important and then we had this huge slide yesterday and overnight China comes without some really upsetting -- for investors, that is -- economic numbers, specifically manufacturing being the worst there since the financial crisis. So that really sent a huge ripple affect through the entire world, all the exchanges.

To put this into further context so this is a global story, emerging markets and Asia really feeling, have taken a hit over the last couple of weeks. That has spread to Europe, the U.K. is officially in a correction. That's when you have that 10 percent drop for a sustain period of time. So, you have going on around the world.

The U.S. was kind of resistant to that for a long time. Now, it's coming over here. As the markets get weaker and weaker, oil goes down, dollar goes up, American companies have a harder time selling their goods overseas so now investors are questioning the performance of companies in the future and we're seeing that all play out at the same time. They're trying of weighing what the Federal Reserve is going to do with interest.

BROWN: Right. And it will be interesting this may impact what the Federal Reserve does.

Cristina Alesci, thank you so much.

ALESCI: Exactly. Of course.

BROWN: Well, the Ferguson community is joined together by grief today after a nine-year-old little girl was shot and killed as she laid in her bed doing home work. Police say the bullets came from outside of the home and they are still searching for the suspect. Hundreds gathered to honor Jamila Bolden and they released balloons into the air to celebrate the young girl, as we right here. Everyone there called for an end to senseless violence. And, meanwhile, the officer seen right here who tried to save her life as you can see was very emotional at the vigil when he spoke about the tragedy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POLICE OFFICER: I tried, I did everything I could: I wish I could have saved her. I wish I could have saved her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:57:49] BROWN: One amazing woman is breaking down tough inmate exteriors at one of the world's most notorious state prison, San Quentin. She's forcing prisoners to embrace transformation and end the cycle of incarceration. Meet this week's CNN hero, Colette Carol.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COLLETTE CARROLL, CNN HERO: What I do doesn't give a lot of people the warm fuzzies.

Good morning, guys.

A lot of people don't understand why I do what I do. The reality is, any life is worth helping.

Today we're going to be doing relationships.

I run a pre and post-release program at San Quentin State Prison where the men in our program learn to understand what they did, why they did it, where they need to go and how to stay the course.

So we're going to start with healthy relationships, right?

It is a minimum of 24 months of hard work.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People that want to change the way we've chosen to change.

CARROLL: Supportive people, yes?

They start to care about themselves. They start to care about the people they hurt. And then we move forward with life skills and setting them up to succeed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Driving away from San Quentin. That's amazing. OK.

Hi.

CARROLL: Hi. Welcome home!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome home.

CARROLL: When they get out, we follow them with support and assistance in reentering society.

We have to get you a California ID.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a new man with new thoughts, new beliefs, new goals. This is my second chance. I want to be part of the world.

CARROLL: The hard work paid off, my friend.

If they come out and they're successful, society is safer. If they stayed in touch with us, we've actually had nobody go back to prison. And I like to think that it will continue that way.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: A track record.

And if you know someone like Colette, go to CNNHeroes.com now and tell us about them.

Thank you so much for joining us AT THIS HOUR.

"LEGAL VIEW" with Ashleigh Banfield starts right now.