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Nepal Devastated by 7.8 Magnitude Earthquake; Freddie Gray Protesters Take to Streets; Bruce Jenner's Admits Being a Woman; NBC Probe Finds 10 Misstatements by Brian Williams; Thousands Evacuate as Chile's Volcano Erupts; Obama Takes Jabs at Press Tonight. Aired 1-2p ET

Aired April 25, 2015 - 13:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello again everyone and thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. We continue to follow breaking news from Nepal. A devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake has hit that country. More than 1,400 people have died. The earthquake hit around mid-day local time. The epicenter was less than 50 miles from the capital of Kathmandu. And there have been more than a dozen aftershocks.

[13:00:05] And we're also getting some new video from a surveillance camera that shows the strength of that earthquake right there. The city has been hit with widespread power failures and the airport remains closed there. The tremors also triggering landslides on nearby Mount Everest. And rescuers are going through crumbled buildings looking for any survivors.

Let's get more on this devastating earthquake, CNN's Sumnima Udas is in Delhi, India for us.

So what more do you know about the rescue attempts? It's after 10:00 -- 10:00 time, local time there.

SUMNIMA UDAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fredricka. Nepal has declared a state of emergency. It's dark now, but about 10,000 police and army personnel are still on the ground trying to rescue as many people as they can from underneath the rubble. That's according to the Ministry of Home in Nepal. Night vision helicopters have also been sent to the Lamjung area, which is the epicenter where this earthquake took place about 60 kilometers from Kathmandu Valley, to see if they can find anything to rescue anyone there in the Lamjung and Gorkha area.

And according to some locals there we spoke to a little while ago, entire villages have actually collapsed in that area, but very little information is coming in from these parts, a lot of the numbers that we're getting, a lot of information we're getting is from the Kathmandu Valley and around that area. Just the Kathmandu Valley, the capitol alone, 600 people have died. The rest in the neighboring areas.

So really, it's still very difficult to get a sense of how big this tragedy is. Officials still can't confirm or even estimate what this -- what, you know, the death toll right now beyond the 1400 number they're giving. They expect it to rise very, very quickly -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Gosh. All right, Sumnima, thank you so much. Keep us posted.

Meantime, right now, I'm joined on the phone with American Rob Stiles who is in Kathmandu right now with his wife.

So, Rob, tell me about exactly where you are and what you have experienced.

ROB STILES, AMERICAN TOURIST IN KATHMANDU: OK. Right now we are near -- we are in Kathmandu, we're near the Thamel area, which is sort of like the big tourist area. And it's been quite a day so far. Currently we're in -- we're in some sort of field that some sort of government building. We're here with a lot of travelers, as well as locals. Everybody just sort of waiting out the night here in an open space, kind of away from all the buildings here in Kathmandu. They're like all brick, very old and very sort of brittle.

WHITFIELD: So when the earthquake hit, exactly where were you and how, you know, worried were you about your safety? How did you try to keep yourself safe?

STILES: Well, my wife and I actually had gotten to our hotel room. We had to change guest houses, we checked in, we put our bags in our room, we were going to grab a camera so we can go out and take some photographs of Kathmandu which is already a very -- I mean, an eye- opening city, and right as we were literally walking out the door, things starting to shake. And we're both from California and we knew immediately that what was happening.

We jumped in the doorway and just sort of hung on to each other. And then some other travelers started coming out of the rooms, like what's going on, what's going on. And we were shouting at everyone, stay in the doorway, stay in the doorway. And I looked down the hallway and there were people running out of the guest house and the ground literally was like tossing these people.

And then just literally across the alley, there is an eight-foot high brick wall and about 60-meter section of it just toppled over, crushing motorcycles and a car and everything. And I mean, it felt like it went on forever, but as soon as -- things sort of settled down, we came outside, we looked down the alleyway where this wall had come down. There were several Nepalese construction workers just racing down the alleyway trying to get away from these construction sites.

We went outside and we just sort of -- everyone sort of gathered together on the main street, sort of away from all the buildings. And once we got out to the main street, we could see that several power lines had come down. One had smashed and fallen on top of a car. Another one was laying in the street. Everyone stayed there, and the first, I don't know, 10, 15, 20 minutes, must have been three or four aftershocks that were pretty sizable. And every time one popped up, people were screaming and looking around. There were lots of people clearly shaken, upset, crying. We stayed in that area for about 45 minutes and then we just started

kind of walking through the city. And as we went through the city, every intersection we hit, every place we hit, there were very large, you know, sections of buildings. You know, everything in Kathmandu is made of brick it seems like. And large sections had come off these buildings, and -- by this time we had made it down there, some military, some law enforcement, people were trying to move rubble to get people out of -- out from underneath these collapsed portions of the building.

[13:05:27] WHITFIELD: So people are using their bare hands, aren't they, to try to, you know, rescue anyone? Are you seeing any signs? And I realize it's 10:30 at night there. Any signs of anymore sophisticated equipment that is being used to help move rubble, try to rescue people?

STILES: We went to the Dharahara -- now pardon me if I'm mispronouncing that. Dharahara Tower, which is a big landmark here. And that was an area that's very heavily populated with tourists during the day, and that actually collapsed and fell over. And we went down to that area and they were -- they just had basic, like one basic earth mover that's being -- moving some rubble and stuff, and that was around 6:30 local time. And they were still clearing rubble and just in about 30 minutes that we were there before they -- before authorities cleared the area, they pulled two bodies out on stretchers.

And they were continuing to do that, but for the most part, that's the only real area where we've seen any heavy equipment being used. Otherwise, it's just, you know, people using their hands and doing what they can.

WHITFIELD: Oh my goodness. And 10:30 at night there, clearly earthquake of this magnitude, there's no power. There isn't running water in places. So with people still trying to help one another, what are they doing for light? If many people are standing outside, or still in the main street, how are they illuminating? What are you seeing?

STILES: I mean, I'm standing in darkness across -- I think, for some reason, I can't be sure where I'm at. Some sort of government building and across the street, there's another government building. I can hear generators running in the areas that we were just as it turned into dusk over by the Dharahara Tower, they were -- authorities were bringing in some generators, but not very many, like one, just to get like a big floodlight going.

Otherwise the city is pretty much dark. And from all we can tell just walking around, being on the streets and stuff, a lot of people have just been directed to go to these open fields, and there's a national stadium that's -- I don't know, I would guess, I don't know, 600 or 700 yards long of just a wide, open field. And I think a lot of people are spending the night there.

WHITFIELD: Wow. And I realize you just got there. I mean, you describe how you put your bags in your room and, you know, you and your wife were -- you know, when the tremors start, when the earthquake started, you're standing in the doorway, you know that instinctively because of your experience as a Californian. But now what? And I realized it's all just happened. But now what? Where are you going to stay? What are you going to do?

STILES: Well, we sort of opted to stay here tonight in this open area because we weren't 100 percent keen on the idea of staying in the area. I mean, the buildings are stacked so closely together here, I don't know. It just wasn't a good idea. So for us, I mean, you know, a million things have run through our heads. You know, we've been traveling for a while now, and we're always trying to make the most of our time, but we're not quite sure.

We thought maybe we'll go to a different area, maybe of Nepal that is not so affected. We also thought maybe we'll just walk over to the embassy in the morning and see if there's anything we can do to help. Try to hook up with the Red Cross or something. I mean, since we're here and able bodied, maybe that's just the best thing to do.

WHITFIELD: That's so generous. All right, Rob Stiles, keep in touch with us if you could. And all the best to you and your wife, continue to be safe and of course we're wishing the best for everyone who is there and having to endure that devastation.

Thanks so much, Rob.

We'll have much more on this breaking news and other news right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:10:20] WHITFIELD: All right. Getting under way this hour, the first of two expected rallies today in Baltimore. Protesters are outraged over the death of Freddie Gray, an unarmed black man who died after suffering a severe spinal cord injury while in police custody. The police department now admitting that its officers made inexcusable mistakes during Gray's arrest.

CNN's Miguel Marquez is in Baltimore where one of the marches is expected to get started.

Lots of police presence there, barricades, but, are there a lot of demonstrators?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No demonstrators yet, but police are certainly bracing for it.

This is the Western District police station of Baltimore P.D. You can see there's about -- about 100 officers out here. And we believe that people are starting to gather in the neighborhood. It is very busy here.

The police commissioner speaking yesterday, as you said, talking about some of the concerns that he already has with this situation, that Mr. Gray was taken to several different locations. There is one location in particular they are focusing on, he said. And all but said some officers, they can't say that much about the case because some officers may be charged.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANTHONY BATTS, COMMISSIONER, BALTIMORE PD: Well, we're focusing in. There is -- and I'm not going to give you all our information, there's an incident -- not incident, I'll get you on the right path. There's something that we have to look at that we have to have further investigation on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: And that specifically, that's the first time that specific a reference to an incident that happened during Mr. Gray's transport from, about six blocks that way, then he was taken about eight or 10 blocks that way. And then he was taken back all the way over there to pick up another prisoner, and then brought here, and before he was even processed into Western District, they had called 911, put him in an ambulance and took him off. He suffered three vertebrae that were broken and a crushed -- crushed throat basically.

Big, big questions as to how that happened. People here saying they want to get 10,000 people out on the street of Baltimore starting here to city hall later. They said they want to take over the city and basically show the police and the mayor who is boss.

WHITFIELD: Right. OK. Miguel Marquez, thanks so much. Keep us posted.

Of course a lot of people wanting to know about the gap the commissioner talked about. He said there was a gap between Freddie Gray running and his actual apprehension. So many are wondering exactly what took place, if that injury that ultimately led to a coma then death, could have happened somewhere in there.

All right. Well, did you watch last night? Bruce Jenner, telling the world that he will become a woman. But some are saying this was a publicity stunt or at least the question was asked to him, was this a publicity stunt for the reality TV show? His response --

[13:15:16]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRUCE JENNER, FORMER OLYMPIAN/REALITY TV STAR: Are you telling me, I'm going to go through a complete gender change, OK, and go through everything you need to do that for the show? Sorry, Diane, it ain't happening.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: OK. We're going to talk more about the impact of his honesty.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Now to the person that everyone is talking about today, Olympic gold medalist and reality star, Bruce Jenner. He is now confirming that he is indeed transitioning into a woman. Jenner came out publicly as transgender in a lengthy interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer that aired last night.

CNN's Dan Simon has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JENNER: My brain is much more female than it is male. It's hard for people to understand that. But that's what my soul is.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bruce Jenner, the Olympic gold medalist turned reality star confirming the tabloid speculation that he's transitioning from a man to a woman. Speaking openly to Diane Sawyer in a highly publicized ABC special.

DIANE SAWYER, ABC NEWS: Are you a woman?

[13:20:02] JENNER: Yes, for all intents and purposes, I am a woman. People look at me differently. They see you as this macho male, but my heart and my soul and everything that I do in life, it is part of me. That female side is part of me. That's who I am.

SIMON: Jenner firmly dismissing skeptics that this is some sort of stunt to promote another reality show documenting his change. He said he knew he was different at 8 years old when he began trying on his mother's dresses.

JENNER: Are you telling me I'm going to go through a complete gender change, OK, and go through everything you need to do that, for the show. Sorry, Diane, it ain't happening. OK. Yes, we're doing this for publicity, yes, right.

SIMON: The 65-year-old whose been married three times says his former spouses knew about his issues. Sawyer asking the obvious question.

SAWYER: Are you gay?

JENNER: No, I'm not gay. I am not gay. I am, as far as I know, heterosexual.

SAWYER: You don't know?

JENNER: It's not, as far --

SAWYER: What do you mean as far as you know?

JENNER: As far as I know, I've never been with a guy. I've always been married, raising kids.

SAWYER: Right. And you can desire a woman every bit as much?

JENNER: Yes, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wheaties is the breakfast of champions.

SIMON: For children of the '70s and '80s, Bruce Jenner was the guy on the Wheaties box, the greatest athlete on the planet.

JENNER: OK, here we go.

SIMON: For millennials, he's been more reality star as this steady male presence on "Keeping Up With the Kardashians." He joked that his secret was the one story that truly mattered.

JENNER: And the entire run, I kept thinking to myself, oh my god, this whole thing, the one real, true story in the family was the one I was hiding and nobody knew about it. The one thing that could really make a difference in people's lives was right here in my soul and I could not tell that story.

SIMON: He says he hasn't decided whether to do a sex change. For now, it's been cosmetic surgery combined with female hormones. Jenner says his children, 10 of them between his biological and stepchildren have largely been supportive. Several appearing by his side.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just held his hand and I cried with him and I just told him how proud of him I was and how inspired I was.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first thing I thought was just like, oh, it finally makes sense.

SIMON: As for why go through this change now, when most his age are looking forward to a less stressful, less dramatic life --

JENNER: I couldn't take the walls constantly closing in on me. If I die, which I could be diagnosed next week with cancer and boom, you're gone, I'd be so mad at myself that I didn't explore that side of me. You know, I don't want that to happen.

SIMON (on camera): Now with this revelation, Jenner is now certainly the most famous transgender person on the planet. And he says he wants to be an inspiration to others going through similar identity issues. And he says he wants to change the world by speaking openly about his transformation.

Dan Simon, CNN, San Francisco.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Let's talk more about this with CNN senior media correspondent, host of "RELIABLE SOURCES," Brian Stelter.

So, Brian, this -- you've heard all kinds of words, you know, courageous, this was brave, you know, this really was, you know, earth shaking. He has done a lot, not just for himself, by helping to kind of fill in a lot of blanks. People have only been, you know, seeing tabloids and pictures, but he spoke a little bit to the pain and agony that came behind the paparazzi following him, but he also is opening a door for so many people. And he's aware of that. He said that, didn't he?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: He did. And repeatedly actually in the interview. You know, people refer to this as America's transgender moment. We see more transgender characters on television and in movies and in media, but this was a moment 65 years in the making.

Bruce Jenner described living a lie, keeping a secret his entire life. And even people that have never even thought about this issue of gender identity, I think can relate to the idea of keeping a secret, holding something back, and finally being able to come out and share it with people.

You know, Diane Sawyer said this is going to be the last TV interview that Bruce Jenner does as Bruce. That implies to me that in his E! reality show this summer, we will start to hear about a new Bruce Jenner, perhaps a different first name, and he'll identify as a woman to the point where he'll ask the media to start using the word she. I think we should tell the viewers the reason why we are saying he is because right now --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: He refers --

STELTER: -- that's still Bruce's preference.

WHITFIELD: Yes, right.

STELTER: Yes. And journalists generally want to go with the preference of the transgender individual, but it seems like over the next months and perhaps year, Bruce Jenner will take the steps in this transition to get to the point where he will ask us to say she.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Even though he has said in his soul is a woman and his brain is a woman.

STELTER: You know what I thought was most striking?

WHITFIELD: Yes.

STELTER: He said that -- he dreams as a woman.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

[13:25:02] STELTER: That was the most profound thought to me. I think we all go to sleep, we have dreams, we imagine ourselves dreaming. The idea that he has dreamed as a woman for so long really struck me.

WHITFIELD: Yes. It was really striking. And then ABC has said that it's been very impressed with the real-time tweets. More positive than expected.

STELTER: Yes, that's right.

WHITFIELD: And I think a lot of people weren't really sure how people would accept this.

STELTER: Yes, no doubt. It doesn't take a lot of searching to find some intolerance and negativity under the surface, but overall, more positive than ABC expected. You know, Diane Sawyer and the head of the news division were all in her office last night watching this premier and refreshing Twitter and Facebook to see the reactions, and I would say the reactions have been overwhelmingly positive.

Like I said, no doubt, some negativity out there. Some people just don't want to hear about this, and that's something that's going to be with us for a long time, I think unfortunately. But overall, this was a really educational moment, and like you said, a real ground breaking moment.

WHITFIELD: Yes, and I think he used such powerful words when he said, you know, he's been living a lie all of this time, and it was time now to pull back the curtain because he just couldn't see, you know, living any longer that way.

STELTER: You could see relief and you could also see a person who --

WHITFIELD: He seems happy.

STELTER: -- has plans to talk about this for a long time.

WHITFIELD: Right. Relief is a great word because I think we really did see that.

Now let's talk about another very familiar face on television, but now we're talking about NBC anchor Brian Williams and the battle that he is now enduring to keep his job. There is an internal investigation that continues to carry on, and now apparently reportedly, turning up at least 10 instances so far in which Brian Williams embellished details of his reporting.

So, Brian, what are you hearing about what this means for his fate at that network?

STELTER: Yes, this news began to come out overnight and I've been able to confirm this afternoon that there are number of instances of embellishments beyond the ones that we heard about back in February. You remember he was suspended for six months back in February, an unpaid suspension because of an embellishments about an Iraq war mission in 2003. It was really a shocking downfall of a legendary television news anchor.

The question now is whether NBC is going to bring him back or not. They've been doing this internal investigation. And the fact that there are now these leaks coming out in "The New York Times" and the "Washington Post" and elsewhere, that this investigation has found a number of discrepancies, a number of exaggerations, it suggests to me that NBC's nearing a decision point. Nearing a point where they're going to decide whether to bring him back or not.

WHITFIELD: And I guess they -- the network has to also weigh if they do indeed bring him back, what baggage does that bring with it? Will the network be forever saddled with this investigation regardless of the outcome? STELTER: It is a very much lose, lose, lose scenario. They have

Lester Holt filling in, doing a very good job, holding on to most of the audience, not all of them, most of the audience Brian Williams had. If they decide to bring Brian Williams back, that's going to create drama. On the other hand, there are a lot of fans of Brian Williams out there. I'm hearing from them on Facebook and Twitter as we're talking here. There are a lot of fans of Brian Williams that want to the see him given a second chance.

My thought for a while has been that he will get a second chance, but maybe not at the "NBC Nightly News" anchor chair where he's been for the past 10 years.

WHITFIELD: Really?

STELTER: There are certainly --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: But isn't there also kind of the feeling if you're going to get a second chance, that will be the only place in which you would get a second chance because it would seem difficult for any other network to want to touch him, regardless of the outcome, just simply by the association with stories not being accurate?

STELTER: Well, yes, that's been the speculation in the TV business.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

STELTER: Where else could he go? Where else could Brian Williams restart his career? My sources say he wants to come back to NBC, he wants to get back in the chair.

WHITFIELD: Of course.

STELTER: And he wants to re-earn and regain people's trust. That makes a lot sense.

WHITFIELD: Sure.

STELTER: Question is whether for NBC that's the right business calculation. And the fact that this internal investigation has gone on for almost three months now, and the fact that leaks are now coming out of it, and it suggests to me that every day the investigation goes on is a bad day for Brian Williams. I mean, imagine any of us watching at home, you know, if we were being investigated by our boss and it takes months, obviously not a good sign.

WHITFIELD: Right. All right. Brian Stelter, thank you so much. And tomorrow of course we're going to be watching because you have a guest with new information, more information, on the Brian Williams saga. We'll be watching that, Brian. Thank you so much.

Don't miss "RELIABLE SOURCES" tomorrow, 11:00 a.m. Eastern.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [13:31:15] WHITFIELD: All right. Mortgage rates inching up this week. Have a look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. We're following breaking news from Nepal. More than 1400 people have died following a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake. The epicenter was less than 50 miles from the capital of Kathmandu causing widespread power blackouts and closing the city's airport.

New video from a surveillance camera showing just how hard that earthquake hit. The tremors also triggered landslides on nearby Mount Everest.

It is now nighttime there and rescuers continue to comb through crumbled buildings looking for any survivors.

Let's get more now on the devastating earthquake, CNN's Sumnima Udas is in Delhi, India.

So what more do we know about the rescue attempts now that it is, you know, after 11:00 p.m.?

UDAS: That's right, it is dark, Fredricka, but the rescue operations still very much under way. Some 10,000 police and army personnel there on the ground, especially around Kathmandu, sifting through the rubble, trying to pull out as many people as they can.

According to the Home Ministry, they've also sent some night vision helicopters to Lamjung area which is the epicenter of where this earthquake happened to see if they can find anyone there to rescue. This is a tourist area so presumably there are some climbers in that area, but according to local reports, entire villages have collapsed in and around that epicenter and around that area in Kathmandu. Of course we've seen many historic buildings, many UNESCO heritage sites, completely collapsed.

Right now I mean we're getting messages, text messages, constantly people -- a lot of people just outside in Kathmandu, too scared to go back into their homes right now, according to the government. They expect these aftershocks to continue until noon tomorrow, so a lot of people expected to camp out in whatever open space they can find in Kathmandu Valley. It's a very densely populated capitol, so open spaces are difficult to find, but from the messages I've been getting from family members, from friends, everyone is outside right now, trying to -- just too scared to go back in -- Fredricka.

[13:35:13] WHITFIELD: All right, Sumnima Udas, thank you so much. Keep us posted, appreciate that from New Delhi.

All right. Jamie McGoldrick, U.N. country coordinator in Nepal, is heading the U.N.'s humanitarian aid effort, and earlier he told me about the many challenges.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JAMIE MCGOLDRICK, UN RESIDENT COORDINATOR FOR NEPAL: We're going to need to have some sort of capacity to actually get there. Most importantly get to the spaces that much needed assistance. And since it's required, this is quite (INAUDIBLE). And I will do it by helicopter. So having the heavy equipment there and get that done in repairing that may have been damaged ultimately is something we have to after the fact that it's a response equation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And if you're interested in helping the victims of today's earthquake, head to our Web site at CNN.com/impact.

All right. Coming up, another natural disaster, we'll go live to Chile where thousands anxiously await to see if a long dormant volcano will erupt for a third time this week.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:40:15] WHITFIELD: New details coming out of southern Chile today where the Calbuco volcano near a popular tourist destination has erupted twice already, spewing ash for miles.

CNN's Shasta Darlington is in Chile, just a few miles from the volcano. And they're trying to clean up that ash but where can they put it?

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're trying to get it out of here, Fred, that's the main -- that's the main issue. They've got to get this ash, get it off of the roofs, get it out of the roads so that they can get trucks and vehicles back and forth. And they really only have a few hours during the day to do it because we're in Ensenada, one of the first towns that was evacuated. Almost 2,000 people were evacuated from this town. And so they are only allowed in for a short period of time.

You can see right behind me, there's some emergency workers, they're busy with bulldozers, with the shovels, the hose, the rakes, and that's because that may look like cement or gravel, but that's the ash. That's how heavy it is. They've got to do this at the same time that they're worried there could be a third eruption from the volcano, which is also right behind us, but it's covered by clouds right now.

So this is a rush job. They've got to do the best they can in the short period of time and at the same time, get these trucks in to get livestock out. This is a very rural area. So they've got to get the cattle, the horses, the sheep, out of here. They've even brought in water trucks so they can get the salmon out of the river, there are a lot of fisheries around here, salmon fisheries.

So getting from here for the eventuality that we could have a third eruption and also just to make sure there's something to come back to, Fred, even if nothing happens going forward.

WHITFIELD: Wow. What an incredible undertaking. Thank you so much, Shasta Darlington. All right. Last night CNN's Anderson Cooper faced off with the lawyer

for Tulsa reserve deputy Robert Bates. Bates' attorney disputing a 2009 report that found Bates got special treatment and skirted training rules. The fiery exchange straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:45:56] WHITFIELD: All right. Explosive new details about the Tulsa County reserve deputy charged in the deadly shooting of an unarmed fleeing suspect this month. A 2009 internal inquiry found that the sheriff's office violated training policies and gave Robert Bates special treatment with some supervisors intimidating officers to disregard policies to favor him.

In an exclusive interview last night, Bates' attorney talked to CNN's Anderson Cooper about the report.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Clark, the details of this report are pretty stunning. I mean, the multiple officers, police officers and employees with Tulsa County Sheriff's Office were intimidated into giving your client special treatment and even falsifying his training records. Do you dispute that?

CLARK O. BREWSTER, ATTORNEY FOR ROBERT BATES: Yes. Yes, the report speaks for itself, but this was after a few months that he'd been on the job. Keep in mind, that reserve officers come in different varieties of experience. Some of them come directly from the police department that have had a number of years of experience and into retirement become a reserve officer. Some come from public life that have no police experience at all.

Mr. Bates was a former police officer, but 30 years earlier. He was CLEAT certified and authorized to be a police officer in Oklahoma --

COOPER: From 30 years ago.

BREWSTER: Yes. But lacked the training. So he was in a different category and when he was received into the department, there was some level of concern and some jealousy, I think, and that was voiced to the superiors. And it was reviewed. I think the institution responded appropriately, did interviews, did an investigation, and took corrective action.

COOPER: I feel like we haven't read the same report. Because I've read now multiple police officers who gave testimony in this report here saying that they were pressured because of your client's friendship with the guy who ran the department, pressured repeatedly to initial documents that they hadn't even written, but made it seem as if they had written saying he doesn't need to get the full, you know, hundreds of hours of training, basically pressuring the timeline of the training.

You say it was kind of petty jealousies, these are seasoned police officers who have given testimony saying, and are quoted in this report saying time and time again, we're talking about sergeants and corporals who are saying time and time again, your client didn't have the training.

BREWSTER: That's just a flat-out misstatement of the report. I know the individuals involved. And I've spoken to them currently. And the one person --

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: Well, Corporal Warren --

BREWSTER: Hold on now. Let me --

COOPER: Was asked to initial documents that Bates didn't --

BREWSTER: Anderson.

COOPER: That Bates -- you know, hadn't done enough training. Documents he didn't write.

BREWSTER: Yes. Corporate Crittenden was terminated a year later for improper conduct as a result of Mr. Bates' report. He is now standing for first-degree murder in another county, represented by the lawyers of this family. And what you just quoted is just a misinterpretation and a misquoting of that report. There weren't numerous seasoned officers saying that. There was one officer and one officer that said that he felt that Mr. Bates was getting special treatment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. So Bates maintains that he shot Eric Harris by accident, mistaking his handgun for a taser.

So joining me now, retired LAPD police sergeant Sheryl Dorsey and criminal defense attorney Joey Jackson.

All right. Good to see you back. So, now, the attorney maintaining that Robert Bates did indeed have sufficient training, had the credentials to be in a position in which he was in.

So, Joey, how might this impact the case against him because he is looking at charges as it relates to this man's death, at the same time, Mr. Bates is being allowed to vacation in the Bahamas while this case continues. He got permission from the judge in which to carry on with the -- with a trip to the Bahamas while this investigation continues, and while he is now facing time in trial to defend his case.

[13:50:07] JOEY JACKSON, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: Sure.

WHITFIELD: So how is all of this, you know, kind of impacting the case?

JACKSON: Fredricka, let's address it in four different parts. Let's first start what you talked about which is the vacation. Now let's put this in perspective. I've represented a law enforcement officer in New York last year and his father died out of the country. He was not permitted, based upon him facing charges, to leave to go to his father's funeral. So here we're talking about someone who is permitted to go to vacation.

Should people be outraged? Well, they should be. Based upon my experience as a prosecutor and a defense attorney, I haven't seen that. And for people to have confidence in the system, they have to feel that the system applies to everyone.

Step two regarding inadequate training. Obviously it's important, it's relevant. What training did he receive. When did he receive it. And if anybody forced, coerced or otherwise pressured someone to change anything, if that happened, then there should be consequences for the people who had that happen.

Step three, in the event that he had proper training, but there apparently are complaints about his performance, that also affects the case because someone who could be properly trained can still be not competent to be out there. So that's relevant.

Final step. Let's say, Fredricka, that he's found to have all the training imaginable, that he couldn't have had any more training than he had, it still does not address the underlying issue of how you mistake a taser for -- or a gun for a taser, one being on your chest and one being at your sidearm. And so still if he had all the training in the world, we have to still examine and say you can still be culpably negligent.

WHITFIELD: OK.

JACKSON: That is so careless in regard to the standards that you use. That no reasonable person under your circumstances would exercise that care and still criminally responsible. So even if he did have the training but he acted negligently that doesn't bode well for his criminal case and it certainly doesn't bode well for the civil case.

So in conclusion, training very important, very relevant, very significant. But even if he had the training, you still have to be held to a standard of reasonable care.

WHITFIELD: Right.

JACKSON: When you're dealing with people's lives.

WHITFIELD: So then I wonder, Cheryl, where do you see the importance of training here, whether it was 30 years ago because he was an officer or whether it was recent training and to Joey's point whether it was inadvertent, a mistake or simply rusty to not be able to discern the location of a taser on the chest and a pistol at the hip.

CHERYL DORSEY, RETIRED LAPD POLICE SERGEANT: Well, let me say this about training, Fredricka, because, first of all, he was a police officer in 1964 and he left the department in 1965. So I'm wondering if they didn't discover something back then 30 years ago that let them know that he was not properly situated to be in law enforcement and so he leaves. And then he comes back 30 years later. And let's understand that the force that was used was only exacerbated

by his own poor training, by his own admission. He uses his personal vehicle for traffic stops, he issues citations, he's using a gun that he's not allowed to use and trained with properly. And so understand this. And let me put this myth to bed. That when a suspect runs, as Mr. Harris did, that the force that was used was excessive because it was not about controlling him. It was not about him resisting arrest.

It was about punishment. That's what happened in the case of Freddie Gray, that's what happened in the case of Walter Scott, and that's what happened here. They wanted to punish these people because they ran from the police. Contempt of cop. There's a penalty when you run. And it's been death.

WHITFIELD: All right. Cheryl Dorsey, we'll leave it right there.

Joey Jackson, thanks to both of you, I appreciate it.

And again of course we are watching the protests that will unfold later on today in Baltimore as it pertains to the death of Freddie Gray.

All right. It is called the nerd prom. You've heard of it. President Obama, he's actually going on the comedy offensive tonight at the White House Correspondents Ball.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:55:48] WHITFIELD: All right. We're now just a few hours away from the so-called nerd prom, also known as the White House Correspondents Dinner. The president will take to the podium and crack a few jokes and everyone is fair game.

CNN's Stephen Collinson is joining us now from Washington.

All right. So what do you know about his script tonight? Who is he targeting or who is he not targeting? Maybe that's the best question.

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: Right. Right, Fredricka. Well, I think you're going to see the president in a very good mood tonight.

WHITFIELD: Yes?

COLLINSON: He's in pretty -- he feels his presidency is in pretty good shape. I think he'll rip the journalists for declaring him a lame duck at -- after the midterm elections last year. I've also been told that the president has been taking a rather bemused look of some of the media coverage of the 2016 campaign that's already unfolding.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

COLLINSON: You'll remember Hillary Clinton's trip to Chipotle, and that stampede of journalists the other day after her Scooby van in Iowa. So, you know, he's fairly scathing about the media at the best of times in D.C. He thinks we concentrate too much on trivialities and the absurdities of Washington. So I would expect some pretty scathing media critiques from the president tonight.

WHITFIELD: My goodness.

COLLINSON: The other thing -- and the other thing is that, you know, he's been sitting there for three or four weeks as the Republican campaign has started to unfold, watching these Republican candidates take shots at his legacy. I think it will be too much for him to sort of resist the temptation tonight to have a bit of a crack at the Republican field as well.

WHITFIELD: All right, yes. In the past we've seen him really take, you know, kind of direct jabs at Donald Trump and even, you know, John Boehner, and so something tells me, we may see a little bit more of that, too, in the spirit of things?

COLLINSON: Definitely. And this dinner is not just a night out for the press and the president, it's a real political opportunity. The president can make cracks here. He's made some pretty jokes, pretty close to the edge against people like John Boehner and Mitch McConnell in the past. So --

WHITFIELD: Right. The orange is the new black.

COLLINSON: Right. He can make the kind of jokes that if he made them at the podium at the White House may seem inappropriate. But if everyone is out having a good time, there's a certain sort of way that he can tell these jokes and not pay much of a political price himself but really get across a political point.

WHITFIELD: Right. All right. Stephen Collinson, thanks so much. It will be a fun night.

COLLINSON: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: We'll be watching.

Don't forget, everybody at home, to check out the White House Correspondents Dinner tonight. Live coverage right here on CNN. It all begins at 7:00 p.m. Eastern time.

[14:00:07] So much more straight ahead in the NEWSROOM, and it all begins right now.