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Fugitive Cop Killer Frein Captured; Interview with Gov. Tom Corbett; Maine Nurse Defies Quarantine; What to Watch for in Midterm Elections; Cousin of Michael Brown Speaks Out on Grand Jury Watch

Aired October 31, 2014 - 07:00   ET

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

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Governor, thanks for joining us.

GOV. TOM CORBETT (R), PENNSYLVANIA: Thank you for having me today.

CAMEROTA: You must be heaving a huge sigh of relief this morning.

CORBETT: Well, I think everybody in Pennsylvania, any law-abiding people are doing that. We are actually finally caught this individual, it's been a long seven weeks. Particularly long for the people of the community up there who as you know, were in support of law enforcement the entire time. Strong supporters of law enforcement.

A lot of work. A lot of man hours put in there. Law enforcement for around the country, around Pennsylvania, our state troopers and federal law enforcement. We could not have done it without everybody out there. But yes, today is a much better day than we've had in almost seven weeks.

CAMEROTA: Tell us how you got the news last night and your reaction.

CORBETT: The commissioner had agreed that he would call me the minute he received it. He called. I was unavailable at the time of the call. I didn't know that my cell phone was going off. And he had troopers come on my detail to come and get me and bring me out of a meeting that I was in.

We got on the phone, and I think -- you know, I sat down in a chair and just said thank you.

And we arranged to get up there to have our press conference up there. The first thing I asked was, was everybody OK? Did anybody get hurt in taking him down? And as you probably know by now, that was not the case. He was caught out in a field. He wasn't under any cover at that time. He was caught without a weapon. And so what is very good about this is that there was no additional loss of life. There was no gunfire. He was just taken into custody.

CAMEROTA: Can you give as you little more detail about that capture? How did the law enforcement know to look for him right there?

CORBETT; Well, they didn't know to look for him right there. That was part of a grid system of looking for areas. The Marshal Service had been assigned to that grid a day or two before. They got to it yesterday. They were walking through the woods, came out to the field. The hangar was some distance away. I haven't seen it yet myself. And Mr. Frein was caught out in the open in the middle of the field when they came out, 13 people from two different sides. And he nowhere to go. And he did the smart thing; he gave up right then and there.

CAMEROTA: And Governor, you say that he was captured without incident. But maybe we could pull up that picture that we were just looking at on our screen. Something happened to his nose. What happened to his nose?

CORBETT: I don't know exactly what happened. But I've been assured by the state police and the Marshal Service, that when they took him into custody, he already had that on his nose. It looks like a little bit of bruising, a little bit of blood there. But that had already taken place before they had taken him into custody.

CAMEROTA: Governor, did you call Trooper Bryon Dickson's family last night?

CORBETT; No, I left that to the commissioner and actually to the lieutenant in the barracks up there and the staff that was up there. I do plan on talking to the widow today. I want to say, I met her soon after he was killed, a couple of days later before the funeral. One remarkably strong woman, and I look forward to talking to her again here today or tomorrow.

CAMEROTA: You've talked about what a huge relief this is for the community there in Pennsylvania. Let me play for you the response that some residents had last night when they got the news. Listen to this.

CORBETT: Sure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHANNON JUIRAD, COMMUNITY MEMBER: It's just exciting, and we're happy. You know, we didn't go out of school for weeks. For recess.

MARK DENNY, COMMUNITY MEMBER: Actually felt like I was in a war zone a couple of weeks ago and it was hard to sleep for a few nights, worrying about where is he at and, you know, where his whereabouts are. But it actually is a good thing now that he is caught and now we can finally rest again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: People felt as though they were in a war zone. Children couldn't go out to play recess, and they weren't going to be able to trick-or-treat. But now everything has turned around.

CORBETT: Well, it is a dramatic change. I was up there a weekend ago and driving around, going into different stores and so forth, trying to talk to people. And you can see it, because we had state trooper cars moving everywhere. You could see men in uniform with weapons. So I can understand why it would feel like a war zone.

Talking to some people up there, they were sleeping at night. They weren't -- or they had a more difficult time sleeping at night. And you have to understand the area. It is a very heavily-wooded area, mostly secondary roads and small secondary roads. Very dark. Flying up there last night, I can tell you from the air, you can see exactly how dark it was. So I can't blame them for feeling both emotions: the emotion of the war zone while this was going on. But also the relief now that they are having with the ability to get back with their lives; be able to have the children go out and trick-or-treat today.

CAMEROTA: It is going to be a good Halloween there in Pennsylvania. Governor, thanks so much for making time for us this morning. Nice to see you. Congratulations.

CORBETT: Thank you for taking the time. Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Let's go over to Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. And now to another dramatic situation: Kaci Hickox, not backing down. The Maine nurse and the bike ride seen round the world. An act of defiance.

Faced with the state-ordered quarantine due to her work in Africa treating Ebola patients, she was trailed by police and, of course, media the whole way. Hours later, the state's governor vowing to do all he could to keep her off her bicycle and out of the public.

Let's get straight to Jean Casarez, live for us in Fort Kent, Maine. This has gone from a policy dispute to theater of the bizarre and absurd, Jean.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And what will today hold, Chris? You know, as the sun comes up this morning, Kaci Hickox right behind me in that home; the state police right over here.

And you know, the governor has said it's for her protection. Let me explain that a little bit. This town is a wonderful town, but they're a little upset with her. And some people -- and there have been some very rude things and nasty things said. And I think they are concerned for her safety. That someone could just not be too nice to her if she veered out of the house.

But here's the reality. The governor came out yesterday saying that they had had hours of negotiations, attorneys on both sides, to try to reach a resolution. In that same statement he said, and he wasn't specifically talking about her, but he said "Those that pose some risk, we will allow to come within three feet of someone. But we don't want (AUDIO GAP) place. We don't want them on commercial air travel or public transportation in the community." And then the next sentence is, "But all of these negotiations have broken down."

So the reality is, there is no resolution. She is in her home. Will she come out today? What will she do? Because if you don't agree to those conditions, that means you (AUDIO GAP) can be in close contact with people. So Michaela. MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: We're having difficulty with Jean's

transmission of her signal. We'll get back to her. Obviously, this is a story we're going to follow as the battle and the struggle for power, if you will, continues there in Maine.

Let's give you a look at your headlines right now at six minutes past the hour.

Tensions remain high in the Middle East as Israel partially reopens the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Muslim men under 50 will still be kept out, authorities say, to limit the potential for violent demonstrations. Israel barred access Thursday following the shooting of an activist rabbi. The move ramped up the rhetoric from the Palestinians, who called it a declaration of war. We'll bring you a live report from Jerusalem later this hour.

Jesse Matthew, the prime suspect in the disappearance of Virginia college student Hannah Graham, has a court appearance today. He faces charges in a 2005 rape case, including attempted capital murder. Matthew has not yet appeared in court on charges connected to charges on Graham's disappearance and death.

Breaking in the last hour, CNN has learned that a D.C. police officer was injured this morning when he was attacked by a man with an axe. That officer was trying to disarm this man. A struggle ensued. We're told the officer was not struck by the axe. The suspect, however, remains at large. Now all of this comes just a week after two members of the New York Police Department were injured by a man who attacked them with an axe. That incident was later labeled a terror attack.

A Dallas nurse who survived Ebola, Nina Pham, she will soon be reunited with her dog. Nina Pham's dog Bentley has become kind of famous. He's been in quarantine at an abandoned Navy base since she contracted the virus. Bentley, meanwhile, has tested negative for Ebola, and his 21-day quarantine ends Saturday. Pham was diagnosed with the disease earlier this month, of course, after treating Liberian national Thomas Eric Duncan, who later died. Pham was declared Ebola-free last week. She was released from the hospital, and the reunion with her dog is set for this weekend.

CAMEROTA: I hope we capture that on video.

PEREIRA: I hope so, too.

CAMEROTA: And I hope I have a box of Kleenex nearby.

CUOMO: Bentley took a very different course of action than Kaci Hickox when faced with a quarantine.

PEREIRA: Bentley -- yes.

CAMEROTA: Stayed inside.

PEREIRA: I'm not sure how he is on a bike.

CAMEROTA: You make a good point. CUOMO: Strong point.

All right. So when I say mid-terms, did you just yawn, and not because of the hour? You are making a mistake, my friend, and here's why: So many races are so close, and the stakes are high. It's control of your government. There's so many different ways this can go that we literally need Tom Foreman to give you a virtual look at what to look for come Tuesday. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are three key things we're watching in this mid-term, and the first is right here in the U.S. Senate.

The Democrats have been in charge. We're showing them here in blue, along with the two independents who caucus with them in purple. The Republicans are expected to gain some seats here. The Democrats are expected to lose some. But control of this chamber is going to come down to nine or ten very close races, and the Democrats have to win six or more of them if they want to remain in power here.

On the other side of the Rotunda, the second thing we're looking at, which is the U.S. House of Representatives. The Republicans have had the majority here. That is not expected to change. The question is: will they lose some seats or, more likely, will they pick up some? And if so, how?

If they do it with Tea Party help, that could set up divisions within the Republican Party that the Democrats might be able to exploit, even from their minority position.

Which brings us to the third thing we're looking at, which is the White House reaction to all of this. If the president comes out swinging over a big loss, and he completely alienates the Republicans, they have a perfect excuse then to say, "We're going to make you the lamest of lame duck presidents with control of both chambers."

If, however, he's too conciliatory toward the Republicans, he could dispirit his own party, and that could make it very tough for any other Democrat who wants to win the White House in 2016.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: That was some cool stuff.

CUOMO: Right? I told you.

CAMEROTA: Is Tom Foreman real or is he a video game character? I don't know any more.

CUOMO: Tom Foreman, that's one of the funny things: he does not exist.

CAMEROTA: And it's possible.

CUOMO: There is no Tom Foreman.

PEREIRA: I've never been in the same room as him. Could be actually a fair point.

CAMEROTA: That is fascinating. We'll show...

PEREIRA: Good break-down of what's happening.

CAMEROTA: It was great. And we'll talk more about the drama of the mid-terms, coming up.

Meanwhile, the police chief of Ferguson, Missouri, says he is not going anywhere as the town waits for the grand jury to decide on whether to charge Officer Darren Wilson. We will ask the slain teenager, Michael Brown's cousin what he thinks is going to happen.

CUOMO: And speaking of the unknown, it bears repeating. These midterms, you just saw Tom Foreman taking us through all the different permutations. These Senate races alone have photo finishes in big, big races. There could be one specifically that could determine, just one race, who controls the U.S. Senate. John King has the latest insight for you on that in "Inside Politics." You'll want to see it.

CAMEROTA: I do.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: Days will be critical as the community waits if are grand jury decision whether or not to indict Officer Darren Wilson. Wanted a conversation with Ty Pruitt. He's the cousin of Michael Brown, and he -- he joins me now.

Ty, I'm really happy that you're here to talk to us. Frist and foremost, it's important to recognize that your family lost a loved one. How are you all doing? How is the family doing?

TY PRUITT, COUSIN OF MICHAEL BROWN: Well, it's touch and go. The fact remains that we still don't have justice, and that's what we're waiting on. The situation with the grand jury is pretty much putting us in the same state of mind as it did when our little cousin, our family member was laying in the middle of the street for 4 1/2 hours.

PEREIRA: And I imagine that's the part that makes this so painful, is that there is no measure of closure for you until you see justice served.

I want to talk about a few things that are coming up in the news right now. Among them, Chief Jackson. He has been vocal in saying that he is not going resign as sources reveal to us that he was set to do. I want to quote you what he said: "This happened on my watch, and I intend to see it through." What are your reactions to those words, Ty?

PRUITT: Well, what also happened on his watch was a video surveillance tape that he claimed the media asked for that was released that no one was looking for. What also happened on his watch is that my little cousin was left in

the middle of the street to bleed to death.

What also has happened on his watch is Officer Darren Wilson, after he murdered my cousin, was put on a paid leave. So as of right now, this guy is a nonfactor.

PEREIRA: You've been pretty vocal about the fact that you don't have a lot of faith in the justice system in this case.

PRUITT: Well, here's my thing about that. Where you got to look at the situation and where we're still living in a country that where, about 40 to 50 years ago, a young boy named Emmett Till was dragged from his cousin's house, beat to death, stabbed, shot, wrapped in barbed wire, tied to a weight, and dropped in a swamp. And we still don't have any arrests for that.

PEREIRA: Yes. You've also gone to say, Ty, that you don't believe this is a black/white thing. You say this is a human being thing. I want you to explain that, because in light of what you just said referencing the death, the murder of Emmett Till, that might not square with a lot of folks.

PRUITT: It's -- I believe that Emmett Till was -- this entire -- let me explain it to you like this.

PEREIRA: OK.

PRUITT: What we need to step away from in this country is every time something happens we separated. We split as a country on one side or the other. Blacks and whites. And that's why our country is going in the direction that it's going.

This is absolutely a human rights situation. Because when you hit a deer in the middle of the street, you have the common decency to drag the deer from the middle of the street and take him in the woods where he belongs. But we left a human in the middle of the streets to sit and stew in the hot sun for 4 1/2 hours.

PEREIRA: To that end about the human beings, because I'm with you all the way. A human being -- human beings were involved in this.

Human beings also reside in Ferguson. Human beings are also waiting the decision of the grand jury, whether or not to indict Officer Wilson. How do we keep what we saw happen before from happening again? Because we know people feel very wrapped up and very passionate about what happened to your cousin, about what this represents for America, they believe. How do we prevent that from happening again?

PRUITT: Well, let me -- let me first explain this. And I want to say that I live in L.A. I don't live in St. Louis. So a lot of what I get, I get from talking to my family and I get off of social media. So -- and I don't want to veer from what you just asked me, but I feel that I have to make a statement...

PEREIRA: Fair enough...

PRUITT: ... and say that I've been seeing a lot of chatter and a lot of posts coming from an organization that I believe calls themselves Anonymous. And let me just go on the record by saying that there should never ever be any death threats against Darren Wilson. And there should never, ever, ever be any harm threats against his family.

PEREIRA: Thank you.

PRUITT: That is not the way our country works. That's not the way this family works.

PEREIRA: Right.

PRUITT: That is still -- and this is why I say this is not a black and white thing. This is not us against the police force thing.

And I also want to go on record for thanking and commending the job that Officer Ron Johnson has been doing in Ferguson and trying to keep the peace.

Here's what I want. I want a special prosecutor.

PEREIRA: OK.

PRUITT: I feel that the defense attorney, Bob McCullough, and yes, I said that right, the defense attorney, because as of now, the only thing I've been seeing him do is defend Officer Darren Wilson.

PEREIRA: You want him gone?

PRUITT: He needs to step down. I don't care about the police chief.

PEREIRA: Ty -- you don't care about the police chief. Ty, you know, you're a very passionate and you're very clear about what you and the family do not want to happen. And we hope that, you know, these outside forces that come in and try to stir up trouble, that they won't.

And we also hope that tension will remain calm and that community leaders and police can work together in Ferguson to maintain calm there.

Ty, thank you so much. Please send our best to the family. And thank you so much for joining us today. OK?

PRUITT: Absolutely.

PEREIRA: Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Michaela. Thanks for that.

It's the final stretch to election day. Will there be upsets this weekend as both parties struggle for control of the Senate? John King will have the key 11th hour details, "Inside Politics."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: All right. Welcome back to NEW DAY. Here's a look at your headlines.

In just a few hours, suspected cop killer Eric Frein will be in court for his arraignment. Frein was captured Thursday night after 48 days on the run in rural Pennsylvania. He was placed in handcuffs belonging to the state trooper that he is accused of fatally shooting. Prosecutors say they intend to seek the death penalty for Frein.

Four people have been killed after a small plane came crashing down into a flight training building at a Kansas airport. The pilot was killed, along with three people in that building. You can see the crash caused a massive fire. Parts of the building remain closed over concerns that it could collapse. The FAA says the pilot reported losing engine power and was trying to return to the airport.

The former Navy SEAL who wrote a best-seller about the raid that killed Osama bin Laden is reportedly under criminal investigation for possibly disclosing classified material. In the book, titled "No Easy Day," Matt Bissonnette says he was one of the Team -- SEAL Team 6 members who shot bin Laden. His attorney tells "The New York Times" the investigation is focused on revelations in the books. Others, though, say that the feds are more interested in information that he has shared during paid speaking engagements.

All right. So it is Halloween. We thought we'd take a look at some of the top searched Halloween costumes on the old Interwebs this year. Check it out. No. 3, a ninja. No. 2, a zombie. The top searched Halloween costume of 2004 [SIC] -- any parent can tell all of the characters from the Disney movie, "Frozen."

CAMEROTA: Of course.

PEREIRA: Others that made the list and sometimes, I think, a perennial favorite: a clown, a witch, a vampire, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, characters from "The Book of Life," and a flapper.

CAMEROTA: A flapper!

PEREIRA: I went as a flapper once. It was good; easy.

CAMEROTA: I go as a flapper every year.

CUOMO: No idea what that was.

CAMEROTA: It's a go-to.

PEREIRA: It's your go-to. So easy.

CUOMO: No idea what it was. Alisyn told me yesterday.

CAMEROTA: Chris goes, "What are you going as?"

CUOMO: I thought it was dirty.

CAMEROTA: You wish.

PEREIRA: You know everything. How do you not know...

CAMEROTA: He said to me, he goes, "What are you going as?"

And I said, "A flapper."

PEREIRA: A flapper.

CAMEROTA: He goes, "What's that?"

PEREIRA: You don't know what -- did you ever do the Charleston?

CUOMO: I didn't -- of course not. Of course I didn't. Charleston Chew I did. I'll be doing that.

PEREIRA: You did not know what a flapper was?

CAMEROTA: He did not know.

CUOMO: I didn't know. Did you know what a flapper was?

CAMEROTA: He learns something every day.

PEREIRA: Mark this day down, October 31, 2014.

CAMEROTA: He did not know.

PEREIRA: Chris did not know something.

CUOMO: Unlike some people on this set, unlike them, you know, I had no problem admitting error when I don't know things.

CAMEROTA: I'm ignoring him.

Let's get to "Inside Politics" now with John.

CUOMO: That was my read.

CAMEROTA: I know. Hi, John!

JOHN KING, CNN HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": Are you excited to get to me or just determined to get away from him? That's what I can't figure out here at the moment.

CUOMO: Thanks, John. Heh, heh.

KING: Four days. Four days to a big midterm election, and we're going to go through this. And trust me, folks, if you're not excited about this you should pay attention. We've got a lot of close races.