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New Day

Buffalo Residents in Some Areas Being Urged to Evacuate; Mixed GOP Reaction to House Benghazi Report; UVA Students Speaking Out About Rape; Ferguson Grand Jury to Reconvene Today

Aired November 24, 2014 - 06:30   ET

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

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: He says he said he made payments of thousands of dollars over the years, mostly for consensual relationships. Well, that was his argument.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: But it just -- it shows this dynamic. Because you're never going to get that -- a prosecution of Bill Cosby on things past the statute of limitations.

MICHAELA PEREIRA: I like the way each of these women are saying, I'm coming forward to support those other women in that. You know? That's really a powerful statement.

CAMEROTA: Let us know what you think. We will read all of your comments. You can tweet us each individually, and use #newday. You can also tweet us @newday.

CUOMO: All right. We said we were going back to Buffalo. We are, because if they haven't been through enough after that monster snowstorm, now the temperatures are rising, and they're bracing for potentially deadly flooding. How bad could it get? We'll take you live to Buffalo.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: The snow is done for now in Buffalo, New York, and yet the situation maybe more dangerous than ever, from flash whiteout to flash flooding.

Now that all that snow is starting to melt, because temperatures are starting to rise. So, imagine being snowed in for days only to have to flee from your home because of the threat of flash flooding.

CNN's Alexandra Field is live with us in Buffalo right now. What's the situation?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Chris

As the temperature continues to rise, concerns will continue to mount, people in Buffalo have been through a lot. They hope the worst is behind them. But a flood warning does remain in effect for most of the day. Look, they have been working round the clock to clear the snow here in Buffalo. They've been doing a pretty good job at it. But we are seeing some snow start to melt and there is still a lot of

water locked in these snow packs. That's why people that live out here near the creeks and rivers in Buffalo are being warned about the possibility of flooding. There are also concerns about snow-packed storm drains. That's why the state has marshaled so many resources to this area.

We took a tour of the state stockpile in western New York with Governor Andrew Cuomo. He showed us more than 55 boats that have been brought to the area, 180,000 sand backs, there are national guardsmen and women in place ready to respond if needed. On top of that, swift water rescue teams and helicopter rescue teams. We'll see over the course of the day, if the temperature rides, people here are being warned, being told to pack a bag, be ready, clean out your basement. This could happen and they got to be ready for it -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: They do have to be ready for it. We are glad those preparations are under way.

Alexandra, thanks for that.

Here's a look at your headlines, meanwhile:

A grand jury in Ferguson, Missouri, is set to reconvene to consider whether to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown. We have been told the decision could be announced quickly, rather than a standard 48-hour wait. We are also learning, the evidence being considered may not be released, even if the panel decides against an indictment.

Breaking news talks on Iran's nuclear program have been extended now into next month. Tehran and a group of six world powers are citing good progress. It has been a battle to find common ground on this continuous issue. The so-called P-5-plus-1 wants Iran to scale back its nuclear ambitions in exchange for lifting economic sanctions.

New details are emerging in the arrest of a gay activist and a major Democratic fundraiser accused of having sex with a 15-year-old boy in Oregon. Sixty-six-year-old Terry Bean, seen on the left, and his 25- year-old ex-boyfriend Kiah Lawson are accused of having sex with the boy who they allegedly met through a dating app. Bean was indicted on two felony charges, of sodomy and misdemeanor count of sexual abuse. He is due back in court next month. Lawson for his part had pleaded not guilty to sodomy and sex abuse charges.

Some very alert cyclists in Australia made the save of a lifetime near a highway outside the city. A father and daughter were out cycling, they heard the cries of an infant. They investigated and discovered a newborn baby boy dumped in a storm drain. Police say the baby had been abandoned nearly five days earlier. Rescuers managed to reach that baby. They found him more than 8-feet underground.

That baby has been hospitalized in serious condition a. A 30-year-old woman has now been charged with attempted murder.

CAMEROTA: Thank good they found him. PEREIRA: Angels on bicycles.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

All right. Thanks, Michaela.

Well, no intelligence lapses and no cover-up. A House GOP-led report clears the intelligence community for the attack in Benghazi that killed Americans. But some in the GOP, including a prominent senator, are blasting this report. Our political panel weighs in.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Welcome back to NEW DAY: the notion that Benghazi was a massive cover-up was dealt a major blow by the Republican-led committee. A new report released from the House Intelligence Committee exposes some troubling flaws in what happened and how it was responded to in Benghazi, but no deception from the White House in the response to the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.

But that is not enough for some Republicans who say they still feel the intelligence community deceived the American public.

So, Republicans are now in a conspiracy that the Republicans don't like? Is that what's going on here?

We're going to bring in our political panel: John Avlon, CNN political analyst and editor-in-chief for "The Daily Beast", and a bitter Margaret Hoover, CNN political commentator and Republican consultant. Pleasant woman, one of my favorites, but you've got anger. Let's play with Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican, says about this Republican- led intelligence committee report on Benghazi.

Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: I think the report's full of crap.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: So the report says no one lied, period, that they were receiving bad information but no --

GRAHAM: That's a bunch of garbage. That's a complete bunch of garbage.

BORGER: So, why is the Republican --

GRAHAM: Who told Susan Rice --

BORGER: Why is the Republican chairman of House Intelligence Committee --

GRAHAM: Well, this is why, that's why you --

BORGER: -- buying a bunch of garbage? GRAHAM: Good question.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Mike Rogers, secret, secret friend of Hillary Clinton covering up about Benghazi. What's Senator Graham talking about?

MARGARET HOOVER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You want to know where you're going wrong here?

CUOMO: Please? Always, by the way.

HOOVER: You are doing this, Republicans versus Democrats, Republicans are on the Benghazi bandwagon.

This is actually not a left/right divide here. This is a Republican/Republican divide about the role of --

CUOMO: Your husband is choking.

HOOVER: I know. He's mocking me out. That's fine.

Let's be very clear about what this is. This is a risk on the intelligence community how they police themselves, what Lindsey Graham is saying is that this report does not admit that the number two at the CIA, who is one of the chief witnesses for this intelligence report, nowhere in this report does it admit he lied to senators about who changed the talking points. First, he said it was the FBI, threw the FBI under the bus, it turns out it was he, himself. He got caught lying to senators. That's what Lindsey Graham was calling out.

CUOMO: Why would Mike Rogers would also --

(CROSSTALK)

HOOVER: Let me tell you -- I'm so grad you asked. Mike Rogers is actually an individual who has spent his entire career in intelligence gathering. He is from the FBI. He's now head of the intelligence.

CUOMO: Oh, he's one of them you're saying?

HOOVER: So, there's actually -- what (INAUDIBLE) -- and I'm not indicting Mike Rogers.

CUOMO: Well, it sound like you are, a little -- a little bit, you're indicting him.

(CROSSTALK)

HOOVER: What I'm trying to do is explain to you a nuance in this report that is about a listening intelligence committee rather than a Republican versus Democrat Benghazi crazy town people pointing fingers at each other. It's just about crazy Republicans in Benghazi. It's more nuance than that.

CAMEROTA: OK. Go ahead, John.

JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: OK. So what you got here is thoughtful, responsible Republicans, my wife, trying to figure out a way --

HOOVER: Trying to make up for it.

AVLON: -- to push out Mike Rogers. Throw Mike Rogers under the bus, right?

Let's pull back for a second. So many of the conservative agencia have been so invested in Benghazi conspiracy theories, in politicizing a tragedy, that when the sixth committee report comes down, and it's the intelligence committee, and they don't back all committees, all of a sudden, the RINO hunting begins. Why Lindsey Graham has shown political courage sometimes, but sometimes overreaches and shows how a tough guy he can be, when Lindsey Graham says this report is full of crap, it's because he has been full of crap for so long.

CAMEROTA: Hold on, John, hold on one second, because everybody says while it is the sixth government report on Benghazi, it really dealt with the intelligence community. But there were other issues, such as State Department, how they handled it. The White House, how the president handled it. This report did not address those things.

(CROSSTALK)

AVLON: It's not true. That's not true.

CAMEROTA: They didn't interview Hillary Clinton.

AVLON: This report did focus on the intelligence committee, but it did say that the State Department was to blame.

CUOMO: That's right.

AVLON: It did say mistakes were made. What it didn't say is there was a massive conspiracy. It said, obviously, deep mistakes were made. But this was not a conspiracy. It was not a cover-up.

HOOVER: What we need to do, and Alisyn makes a point, what we need to do is wait for the bipartisan committee of the House, led by Trey Gowdy and Elijah Cummings, a Democrat and a Republican, that is going to be the -- it is a bipartisan committee. And it is going to be the definitive.

CAMEROTA: That's the final word. That's the final word. When Try Gowdy comes out with his --

CUOMO: It will never be the final word.

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: Because you think Republicans will be satisfied with what happens when that report comes out? HOOVER: I think there's an enormous amount of pressure on Trey Gowdy

and Elijah Cummings for that to be the final.

CUOMO: It will never be good enough.

HOOVER: That may be true.

CUOMO: That's the problem with open-ended conspiracy theories.

AVLON: That's correct.

HOOVER: You're exactly right about that, Cuomo. I'm going to give you that. It's not this is -- but what I'm just saying here's a nuance here in this intelligence report. The intelligence committee is supposed to police -- the intelligence committee in the House of Representatives is supposed to police and keep our intelligence agencies accountable. And Lindsey Graham is saying that they didn't do their job here because they're too close to the intelligence committee.

CAMEROTA: John, last word.

AVLON: One more committee, $3 million more dollars, finally we will get to the bottom of this. I'm convinced. That's all we need. That's sarcasm people.

CAMEROTA: I'm taking that up.

Margaret Hoover, John Avlon --

CUOMO: I want to watch you guys fight over the wishbone on Thanksgiving.

(LAUGHTER)

HOOVER: I'm going to win.

CUOMO: I think you will, by the way. He's a smart man.

CAMEROTA: Yes. It's great to see you guys, as always.

All right. Coming him up, this important story: student leaders will speak out this morning about rape allegations at the University of Virginia. Fraternities are now suspended there. Was the university doing enough to address these allegations?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Rape allegations are shaking the University of Virginia community. The alleged culture of abuse there broken wide open by an article in "Rolling Stone."

The article describes a lax attitude when it comes to student complaints.

Joe Johns is live with Charlottesville more. Good morning, Joe.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris.

Student organization will respond later today on campus to the university president's decision to suspend fraternity activities until January 9th giving people at the University of Virginia chance to physical out where to go from here.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PROTESTERS: Not one more!

JOHNS (voice-over): More protests over the weekend at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house, the scene of an alleged gang rape of a first year student by seven men described in graphic detail in an article in "Rolling Stone" magazine. No one has been criminally charged in the incident, which allegedly took place about two years ago.

The female victim says she did not go to police but did report the incident to the school's sexual misconduct board.

PROTESTERS: Not one more!

JOHNS: The frat house was recently vandalized with anonymous writings, including "UVA Center for Rape Study".

In the continuing campus uproar, UVA's president took heat for her initial response that was called tepid by some, though she did call on local police to investigate. Then, decisive action over the weekend, including suspending activities of all UVA's fraternities for the rest of the year. She showed outrage in a written statement.

"Rape is an abhorrent crime that has no place in the world, let alone on the campuses and grounds of our nation's colleges and universities."

The school says last year, 38 students went to the dean to talk about sexual assault allegations, nine filed complaints. No UVA student has been expelled for sexual misconduct in the last decade.

A friend of the accuser in the alleged gang rape telling CNN the attention to this issue is welcome news.

ANNIE FOREST, STUDENT: Absolutely. And for us vulnerable, as she is probably feeling, I'm sure she's also feeling very liberated.

And I know that all survivors here are feeling almost that same of feeling of, yes, finally, this is happening and this is big.

JOHNS: It's not just a UVA problem. Eighty-eight colleges and universities, including Harvard and Ohio State are under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education for the way they handle sexual assault allegations, one disturbing question is how schools like UVA are more likely to expel students for cheating but keep them on campus after perpetrating an alleged rape. (END VIDEOTAPE)

PEREIRA: Our Joe Johns reporting there.

Joining me now are two students from the University of Virginia. They have been very involved on campus following the publishment of that "Rolling Stone's" article. That prompted this very important discussion.

I want to introduce you to Muskan Mumtaz. She's a third year history and pre-law undergraduate at UVA. Also, with her, Sara Surface, she's also a third year student. She's the chair of UVA Sexual Violence Prevention Coalition.

Ladies, I'm so proud of you, first of all, for all you are doing and for being brave enough to join me on CNN. I'm sure this is a little outside your comfort zone. So, thank you first of all very much.

Muskan, I want to ask you. You after reading the "Rolling Stone" article felt compelled to organize a rally. Share with me the process of what made you want to do that?

MUSKAN MUMTAZ, STUDENT, UVA: I was compelled to organize the rally because, for me, reading the article wasn't anything shocking, but I was shocked by how many of my fellow peers and how many people outside my campus were shocked. So, I really wanted to bring attention to the sustainable dialogue based on the article and to kind of not let it fizzle just out after its two minutes of fame.

PEREIRA: We have been hearing a lot about this culture of sexual violence on campus at UVA and, Sara, even hearing Muskan talk about the fact that she wasn't shocked by this, yet, I think many people outside of your university campus are. Is there with a culture of sexual violence at your school?

SARA SURFACE, STUDENT, UVA: I think there is a culture of sexual violence nationally and internationally. I think that this is not just a UVA issue. It resonates with students at all campuses across the United States and so I think it's important that we're giving survivors a voice and allowing them to speak up individually on their campuses.

PEREIRA: Absolutely. I'm curious, though, prior to this, before this article that appeared in "Rolling Stone," Muskan, what was the attitude about this on campus? Did you see a lot of support for the victims of sexual violence? Was it sort of a taboo subject to begin with? Give us a sense of the culture prior to the article.

MUMTAZ: The culture prior to the article was not it was not a taboo subject, but it wasn't mentioned or talked about a lot.

Michaela, we live in a society in which the song "Blurred Lines" referring to blurred lines of consent topped U.S. Billboard carts for three months in a row. So, what we are seeing on campus wide is the mentality we have been perpetuating through the media. What we are seeing is an after math of that. PEREIRA: Sara, I know you had a chance to speak with survivors on

your campus, you have been active. Is there a common thread when you talk to these young women about why they don't feel that they can speak up?

SURFACE: I think we saw in the article that sometimes the first person you go to and tell that you have been sexually assaulted isn't supportive and studies show that that first person is crucial in how you will heal for the rest of your life and so, you know, like we saw in the article, Jackie's friends were not supportive when she first came out of that fraternity house. And then you know it was months later that she first told her story and some people leave.

So, I think that those kind of things promote a culture of silence around sexual assault and how we can help end it, to support survivors and say that we won't tolerate a culture that supports them.

PEREIRA: It sets the tone, doesn't it? I am curious, Muskan, what you think of your president, Teresa Sullivan, shutting down temporarily, suspending activities at your college? Do you think that's a step in the right direction?

MUMTAZ: I definitely think it's a step in the right direction. But, again, it's one step. It's the first step. This isn't an issue limited to PATS (ph). It isn't an issue limited to UVA. It's something that occurs on every campus every weekend and all students know about it.

And again, as I said, I'm shocked that the outside world I guess was just hearing about the rape culture so deeply entrenched in every campus.

PEREIRA: And oftentimes, it's because people don't want to know the truth. They turn a blind eye to it.

Muskan Mumtaz and Sara Surface, thank you so much for your work. Strident young women not shy about speaking up about this important issue. Thank you very much.

We are following a whole lot of news this morning, let's get to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tension and anxiety about reaction as the decision looms.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Using any event as an excuse for violence is contrary to who we are.

MICHAEL BROWN, SR., MICHAEL BROWN'S FATHER: No matter what the grand jury decides, I do not want my son's death to be in vain.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't remember a thing. It went blank. It never occurred to me to go to the police.

CAMEROTA: Do you think it's time for Bill Cosby to come forward and say something?

BORGER: This report says no one lied?

GRAHAM: That's a bunch of garbage. I think the report is full of crap.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone. Welcome back to NEW DAY.

Ferguson, Missouri is on edge waiting to find out if the grand jury will indict Officer Wilson in the shooting of unarmed teenage Michael Brown. The grand jurors are expected to reconvene today and a decision could come at any time we are told.

CUOMO: So we have the decision to watch and of course the reaction. Protests have been steady from the beginning of august 9th. There with has been a shift reported, more roughness. For example, a reporter was injured Sunday. Barriers are up around the courthouse, police in the region and the National Guard are on high alert to be sure.

So, the question is, what will happen next?

We have CNN's Ana Cabrera live in Clayton, Missouri. That's where the grand jury is deliberating.

Ana, what is the feel there this morning?

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is quiet. It's chilly. It is damp here this morning.

We are just outside the justice center where this grand jury is expected to begin or continue their deliberations. They left Friday without a decision.

So, when will their announcement be? What will they make a decision? What will that be? These are lingering questions that have a lot of people here and around the country on edge.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA (voice-over): Overnight, protesters marched, blocking traffic in Ferguson. Relatively calm, but for this incident.

DRIVER: I'm just trying to go home bro!

PROTESTER: I know, but you're going to be here a minute, bro!

CABRERA: While shooting this video, "L.A. Times" reporter Matt Pearce was rushed to the hospital after being struck in the head by a small object.

MATT PEARCE, L.A. TIMES REPORTER: I didn't see anybody throw any. I didn't see what it was. I felt a conk on the head. CABRERA: The fire still burning in the hearts of protesters awaiting

the decision from the St. Louis County grand jury. The group of 12 made up of five women, and seven men, nine white, three black, is expected to meet again today after ending the day Friday with no decision.