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U.S. Warships Move to Block Iranian Weapons; What Happened inside the Van During Baltimore Police Arrest; Deal Reached on Human Trafficking Bill; Reserve Deputy Pleads Not Guilty; Death Penalty Phase Begins at the Boston Bombing Trial. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired April 21, 2015 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:00] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: As U.S. warships are deployed to Yemen with a clear message for Tehran -- we're watching you. But will the move derail nuke talks?

Plus, Hillary Clinton's campaign blitz takes her to New Hampshire. We're minutes away from her next event. Can she win over this crucial state?

And a listeria outbreak forcing Blue Bell to pull all of its products from store shelves. What you need to know about this recall.

Let's talk. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. We begin this hour with troubling developments in the Middle East. A standoff taking shape between the United States and Iran. At least nine U.S. warships are now positioned off the coast of Yemen along with naval vessels from key U.S. allies.

Now this coalition is mobilizing to block Iranian ships from delivering weapons to rebel fighters in Yemen.

We have a lot to cover. Elise Labott is our global affairs correspondent. Michelle Kosinski live at the White House for us.

But, Elise, let's begin with you and the situation off the coast of Yemen.

ELISE LABOTT, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS REPORTER: Well, Carol, that crisis in Yemen taking a dramatic new turn this morning as U.S. warships joining those other nations off the coast in a rapidly escalating situation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LABOTT (voice-over): The Obama administration deploying an aircraft carrier and guided missile destroyer in Yemeni water to join nine other ships in the region in a strong signal to Iran, all prepared to intercept Iranian vessels if they proceed into Yemeni waters where countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other partner nations have a presence.

The U.S. fearing the Iranian ships may be carrying arms for Houthi rebels fighting U.S. allies in Yemen. The heightened military response comes at a sensitive time in U.S.-Iran relations, with delicate nuclear negotiations set to resume Wednesday and as Iran's foreign minister is calling for a diplomatic situation in Yemen in a "New York Times" op-ed.

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It's a little ironic for the Iranian foreign minister to be calling for a diplomatic resolution to that situation while at the same time his country continues to supply arms to one party that dispute.

LABOTT: All of this less than a week after the United Nations Security Council approved a resolution to choke off weapon flow to Houthi fighters.

Yemen continuing to descend into chaos. The scale of destruction widening as Saudi-led airstrikes on a Houthi weapons depot tear through the country's rebel-held capital of Sana'a. The explosions that killed dozens of people and wounding nearly 300, flattening homes, gutting buildings and sending plumes of thick smoke hundreds of feet in the air.

A humanitarian crisis at the epicenter of the raging conflict. Thousands fleeing the country as seen in this exclusive CNN video.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LABOTT: Carol, obviously the Iranians not taking the show of force very well. Take a listen to the head of the Iranian -- the commander of the Iranian Navy speaking to CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REAR ADM. HABIBOLLAH SAYYARI, IRANIAN NAVY COMMANDER (Through Translator): We don't let anyone give us warnings and threats because we are working to international law and regulations, and we work for the security of our country and other countries.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LABOTT: And I think in addition to trying to keep the -- waters off Yemen calm is also with the show of force to reassure gulf allies the U.S. will have their back when it comes to Iran and the region. Very concerned about this nuclear deal will give Iran a green light for Iran to flex its muscle and cause more instability.

So in a way, the U.S. is saying here, don't worry, we are negotiating with Iran but we're not taking our eye off the ball in relation to all this other behavior including in Yemen -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Elise Labott reporting live for us this morning.

Some Republicans say this latest tension in the Middle East is the symptom of failed policies. Clearly the White House is in a tough position.

So let's go back to the White House and Michelle Kosinski. Tell us more.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol, right. You know, it's disturbing to see this happening especially now while the U.S. and allies are trying to negotiate this nuclear deal with Iran. But the White House hasn't really wanted to say that much about it on details about moving ships to that area. They referred us generally to the Department of Defense.

This morning, though, they put out a pretty long statement from the president's National Security team, in part saying, "While we have no comment on specific reports of Iranian activities, we've long made clear our concern about Iranian support to the Houthis including weapons. The international community came together and imposed an arms embargo on the Houthis in a recent Security Council resolution. Any effort by Iran to provide weapons to the Houthis would violate not only this recent U.N. Security Council resolution but also the longstanding U.N. Security Council weapons related sanctions on Iran."

The statement goes on to say that there's also this national interest in maintaining free commerce and free navigation in that area and that Iran, you know, potentially supplying more weapons to the Houthis could endanger that. Ending by saying that, "Escalation takes us in the wrong direction. As we've said before there is no military solution to the Yemeni crisis."

[10:05:11] Of course some could say well, isn't our positioning of more ships there an escalation or hasn't that escalation already happened to make us be at the point where we are now. But the White House has made it very clear that -- they say that there is evidence and there has been evidence that Iran is supplying weapons to the Houthis and they say that right there is the danger and that is the escalation -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Michelle Kosinski, Elise Labott, thanks to both of you. I appreciate it.

In other news this morning, in Baltimore, new protests planned today in the case of Freddie Gray. Outrage growing as police investigate how Gray died following injuries suffered in police custody. Autopsy reports show he had severe spinal cord injuries. Six officers have now been suspended and we're expecting to learn more about them today.

CNN's Miguel Marquez has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Witnesses say from the very beginning Freddie Gray asked for medical attention.

WILLIE ROOKS, SAYS HE WITNESSED ARREST: They flipped him over and they put both knees on his back and held him there until the cruiser came to pick him up. He was hollering that the handcuffs was too tight. The handcuffs too tight. I got asthma. I got asthma.

MARQUEZ: Today Baltimore Police said six of its officers are suspended with pay after 25-year-old Freddie Gray fell into a coma and never recovered, dying Sunday seven days after being arrested by police.

JERRY RODRIGUEZ, BALTIMORE DEPUTY POLICE COMMISSIONER: There was no physical bodily injury that we saw nor was it evident in the autopsy of Mr. Gray. None of his limbs were broken. He did suffer a very tragic injury to his spinal cord, which resulted in his death.

MARQUEZ: Cell phone video captured by a witness just after his arrest shows Gray's limp body being carried by police as he shouts in pain.

Witnesses say what happened before the cell phone started recording amounted to abuse. His family lawyer says his spine was nearly severed.

DUANE DAY, SAYS WITNESSED FREDDIE GRAY ARREST: He put his hands up like this. The officer walked straight to him. Hit him in his mouth. Slammed him on his head. Put the cuffs on him.

MARQUEZ: But police disagree saying Gray was arrested without force or incident. He has a history of prior drug arrests and lived in one of west Baltimore's toughest neighborhoods. The family lawyer say Gray got coffee that Sunday morning, saw police officers he feared and ran.

(On camera): As soon as he saw police, he took off running zigzagging through the alleyways there, came down that alleyway across this little green patch here and then across this street and down this little alleyway here.

Police say it took all of two minutes from when they first saw him to the time that they arrested him which is hard to believe because it is several blocks away.

(Voice-over): The Gray family lawyer contests information police have so far put out saying it is critical to know when Freddie Gray was seriously injured and how long it took to actually get him help.

(On camera): This where witnesses say where he was first taken by police. Other witnesses told his attorney he was dragged then about 20 feet up the sidewalk here. This is the Bruce Court housing project in Baltimore. He was dragged to this area, and that part where you see the video, that's where this was taken here.

MARQUEZ: One of many police surveillance cameras on this block. Baltimore Police say only one picked up a tiny bit of the incident and it didn't show any of their officers doing anything wrong.

The Baltimore Police initially said Gray was arrested for carrying a knife. Today Baltimore's mayor went out of her way to make clear that carrying a knife is not grounds for arrest.

Miguel Marquez, CNN, Baltimore, Maryland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: All right. So why is it so hard to figure out how a man's spine was nearly severed? Shouldn't it be obvious? So let's talk about that with Jonathan Gilliam, a former Navy SEAL and

police officer. He also worked for the FBI.

Thank you so much for being here.

JONATHAN GILLIAM, FORMER NAVY SEAL: Good to be here.

COSTELLO: So the mayor said something must have happened inside that police van. So I'm just wondering -- I mean, initially Mr. Gray was handcuffed, right? And he was thrown into the back of that police paddy wagon in essence, right?

GILLIAM: Right. Right.

COSTELLO: And they were going to take him to the station. Are there police officers in the back with them? Because doesn't it usually work where the police officers are in the cab and the prisoner is in the back?

GILLIAM: Well, I don't know if there's any set, you know, federal standard for the way that law enforcement has to treat somebody when they're in the back of the van as far as putting another officer in there. I think that goes department to the department in how their standards are, and how they work it. I don't know if there was somebody back there. It appears as though there was not.

COSTELLO: At some point they hear Mr. Gray in the back and he's causing a ruckus, and they put leg irons on him. They go back, they put leg irons, and then I assume they put him back inside the van. At that point wouldn't they notice there was something terribly wrong if he suffered a spinal cord injury earlier?

[10:10:00] GILLIAM: Well, it seems as though -- you know, the point where he was -- that we're seeing here where he was being picked up and carried to the van, he already was having some issues of spinal cord injury and --

COSTELLO: You think so?

GILLIAM: Well, when I -- the way his leg -- I mean, you know, I'm no doctor. But if somebody is complaining about -- that they have certain pains and then they can't move their legs, I would take it seriously. I don't know if that's a typical thing for criminals --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: It's like he's standing on one leg.

GILLIAM: Right.

COSTELLO: But, you know, we talked earlier about him saying, you know, I have asthma, I have asthma, and police ignored that. And you're saying that's expected because it's often prisoners will yell, they have some malady when they don't.

GILLIAM: Right. And I think that really is the problem here is that, you know, officers see this stuff day in and day out for eight, 12 hours spending on their shift. I think what the real problem that we're seeing is a lack of training and the standards, and standards being set and then either enforced or followed. But if you don't tell an officer this is the way you will react, then an officer has to interpret how he's going to react, he or she, and when that interpretation is left up to the officer, you may have certain injuries because they're not doctors. That they ignore.

And I think that is a problem that we're seeing beyond brutality. I don't think this necessarily, from what I saw here, was brutality. What I see is a lack of standards telling them when somebody says they have a certain injury that you have to treat it a certain way.

COSTELLO: OK. So let's examine more of what you're saying. So the suspect ran away and police chased him. They tackled him to the ground and they cuffed him.

GILLIAM: Right.

COSTELLO: So what should they have done at that point? Should they -- should have they left him lying there until they figured out whether he had asthma or not?

GILLIAM: Well, you know, it's interesting because this, again, this happened so much on a daily basis and some of these arrests and cops face this on a daily basis but you have to be able to take it seriously and look at it and a lot of times when somebody is screaming I have asthma, the fact that they're screaming I have asthma tells you that they're OK.

You know, but he wasn't saying just that I have asthma. You know, his legs weren't moving properly. Had he taken a fall -- there was something unusual that I saw there and perhaps the officers that were on the scene didn't see that. But I think standards need to be set where they react a certain way when medical things are involved.

If somebody says they have asthma, the department should have certain standards that they ask questions. They monitor to see if it's a certain thing that's happening and then they respond to that in a standard fashion. If you don't have the standards, you can't measure the appropriate behavior of the law enforcement officers.

COSTELLO: Well, six officers have now been suspended.

GILLIAM: Right.

COSTELLO: I guess we'll just have to see what happens as the investigation continues.

GILLIAM: Body cameras are going to start playing a bigger and bigger part of this.

COSTELLO: OK. A lot of people agree with you. Thank you so much, Jonathan Gilliam.

GILLIAM: Right. Right. COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, life or death. The

sentencing phase is underway for the Boston bomber. What do Americans think should happen? Results of a new poll next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

[10:16:37] COSTELLO: Sit back in your seats. Some major breakthrough in the Senate. It looks like lawmakers are one step closer to confirming attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch.

Athena Jones tracking the story from Capitol Hill.

Actually the major breakthrough is they've come to an agreement on this human trafficking bill. Tell us about that, Athena.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Well, as we've been talking about for several weeks now, the human trafficking bill has to be dealt with by the Senate before they move to a confirmation vote for attorney general nominee, Loretta Lynch.

That is the parameter -- those were the parameters laid out by Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell. And so after several attempts to move forward on this bill finally there is a bipartisan agreement that was just announced on the Senate floor, and there are senators right now talking it up.

This deal would basically get rid of or it would remove a major problem the Democrats had with the language in this bill which restricted the use of the funds for victims -- kept them from using that to pay for abortions. This deal would remove the problem that Democrats have with the language. It tweaks the language.

I don't want to get into the weeds but the important thing here is that this will allow a vote on the human trafficking bill which had a lot of bipartisan support. We expect that deal -- this deal to bring the bill to a vote in the next several days and then after that they will move on to the confirmation vote for Loretta Lynch who has enough support from the Republican side to win confirmation.

This is someone who has been waiting 165 days since she was nominated for a confirmation vote. She's waited much longer than all of the past -- seven of the past several attorney general nominees combined. And so this deal signifies a big breakthrough. Once they move -- once they've dealt on this human trafficking bill they'll be able to move on to Loretta Lynch and that's really been the important -- the linchpin in all of this moving on to Loretta Lynch -- Carol.

COSTELLO: The human trafficking bill is quite important, too. I'm just wondering about something because Democrats are certainly doing the happy dance. Senator Harry Reid tweeting, "After weeks of pointless stalling on the bipartisan human trafficking bill, our Republican colleagues have finally agreed to a path forward."

That's why I was wondering about this anti-abortion provision and whether it was completely taken out because Republicans felt very strongly about that."

JONES: Well, it wasn't completely taken out. I don't -- getting to some of the specifics here, the issue was that there was a victims compensation fund set up by this bill where the offenders, the criminals who victimize these victims have to pay into this fund and that's then used all on behalf of the victims.

And so there was language inserted in the bill that said that money, which was not taxpayer money, could not be used to pay for abortions. That's a reference to the so-called Hyde Amendments. It's language that's been put in appropriations bills for the past four decades. Democrats had a problem with that. They felt that this was an expansion of those restrictions because it related to money that wasn't taxpayer money.

It wasn't taxpayer funds. And so this agreement deals with that. It says that resources into this fund will come not just from fines assessed to the criminal perpetrators but also money from the general -- money from the general treasury so public money. Therefore, that means that the money will be able to be subject to these restrictions on anti -- on abortions and so it's a little bit technical but the idea here is that Democrats did not want to expand that so-called Hyde Amendment of anti-abortion restrictions to money that wasn't taxpayer money. This deals with that.

COSTELLO: Gotcha.

JONES: I should mention these details we're getting are from the Republican side so it's a Republican source. We're still working to find out exactly what the Democrats are saying. It of course should be the same thing since this is a deal that both sides have been working on and have reached. But we'll have more on that as we get it, Carol.

[10:20:11] COSTELLO: All right. Athena Jones, thanks so much. I appreciate the explanation.

Also this just into CNN, the reserve deputy who shot and killed a man in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has just pleaded not guilty. Robert Bates showing up for an initial court arraignment after all this happened moments ago. He's currently free on $25,000 bond. That's obviously not him. That's the incident that took him to court. The judge also granted Bates permission to go to the Bahamas for a family vacation.

So let's get some reaction from CNN legal analyst Sunny Hostin.

Mr. Bates didn't have to show up today but he did.

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes. And I think it's not unexpected quite frankly that he pled not guilty. This is the very beginning of the process for him when you get arraigned. And so he has his attorney. And this is not a clear cut case. I mean, second- degree manslaughter, while it exposes him, Carol, to four years in prison, we're talking about a negligence crime.

And so you may have a couple of people on a jury assuming that this doesn't plead out which I think this is a case that's ripe for a plea, talking about a 73-year-old man who clearly made a -- you know, a mistake and this was an accidental shooting. I think that you get a couple people on the jury that sort of feel sympathy for him, perhaps empathy. He's 73 years old. Was sort of this deputy reserve.

I think it's quite possible that it's -- you know, it's not the easiest case for a prosecutor. So a not guilty plea pretty expected at this stage.

COSTELLO: All right. Sunny, thanks so much. I want you to stick around because I want to talk to you about another trial that's now under way.

The Boston bombing trial second phase as I said now under way. The same jury that convicted Dzhokhar Tsarnaev two weeks ago will now decide if he should live or die.

Deborah Feyerick live in Boston with more for us this morning.

Good morning, Deborah.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. And the judge right now is giving instructions to both sides and to the jury as well. The opening statement by prosecution has not yet begun but really what jumped out of me during the opening today, even though there's a short delay, was really the demeanor of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

He was flanked by both of his lawyers, both of his female lawyers. He looked comfortable. He was smiling. He was chatting. Remember, this is the first time he's been back in this court since he was found guilty of those 30 counts including using a weapon of mass destruction to kill people. He looked comfortable and relaxed.

And the jury is going to have a very interesting time during deliberations deciding which is the worst penalty, whether it's death or life in prison. Because watching his human interaction between Tsarnaev and his two lawyers, you know, it became very apparent that he's going to lose all human interaction if he does -- or if he is sentenced to life in prison.

And I spoke to a very close friend of his who said, you know, the Tsarnaev she knew was a lifeguard, was reliable, was friendly. Always the one you would go to if you needed to talk about something. And she actually told me that the more humane thing would actually be to put him to death.

She can't imagine him living his life out in that jail, that super max facility where he gets one hour of free time and where he's in solitary the rest of the time. So all of the time is going to come into play. And this case very likely to focus on Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the brother, and his role in all of this, Carol.

And the fact that Dzhokhar may have just been sort of a pawn brainwashed by this very dominant figure in his life -- Carol. COSTELLO: All right. Deborah Feyerick, thank you so much. I want to

turn back to Sunny Hostin, CNN legal analyst. So if you're Judy Clarke, who do you put on the stand?

(LAUGHTER)

HOSTIN: You know, I think she has a lot to work with at this point. And I think the jury doesn't know Tsarnaev at all. And that was I'm sure by design. She said from the very beginning that he was guilty of these crimes. The only job is to save his life. So I think you've put on people that know him, people that knew him in college. People that can somehow humanize Tsarnaev.

I think that's the first step. I think what will be interesting, though, is it has to sort of be a two prong defense because you have so many of the survivors saying, I don't want him put to death. I want him to spend the rest of his life in prison. And when he was found in that boat, when he was captured, he seemed to indicate with his scrawlings on the side of the boat that he regretted and almost admired his brother for dying and becoming a martyr.

COSTELLO: He ran over his brother.

HOSTIN: That's right. So he wants to be a martyr. And so what do you do to a man that wants to die? You don't put him to death. You make him live the rest of his life in prison and so I think that's got to be sort of the two-prong defense that we may see from Judy Clarke.

COSTELLO: So, you know, by law are jurors supposed to consider that if the defendant -- what the defendant wants?

HOSTIN: It's an argument, it's an argument, quite frankly, that we hear from defense attorneys in death penalty cases very often. It's a much more difficult thing for this defendant to spend the rest of his life in prison than be put to death.

[10:25:09] And so you do hear that argument often. And again, I think it's an argument that may be persuasive because we're talking about Massachusetts here. We're talking about a state that isn't necessarily favorable to the death penalty and so some of the jurors during their voir dire when they were becoming death qualified, they admitted that they had some trouble with the death penalty.

And so you get one or two jurors that think, you know what? It's probably better to put him in prison for the rest of his life and there are survivors that are also arguing for that, that could be something that Judy Clarke uses. I know it sounds a little strange. But I suspect that that's what we're going to hear from her.

COSTELLO: All right. Sunny Hostin, thanks as always. I appreciate it.

HOSTIN: You bet.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the U.S. economy getting its highest ratings of the Obama presidency. We'll break down the latest numbers next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

COSTELLO: All right. A little more information in the case of Robert Bates. I want to take you briefly to Tulsa, Oklahoma. We just got this video into CNN. This is Robert Bates in court at his initial appearance. He pleaded not guilty to charges in the manslaughter case. He's charged with manslaughter in the death of Eric Harris as you know. He's the reserve deputy who supposedly mistook his handgun for his taser and accidentally shot and killed Eric Harris.

[10:30:09] Mr. Bates appeared with his daughter and his lawyer.