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New Day

No Civil Rights Charges in Ferguson Case; Interview with Sir Peter Westmacott; NFL Investigating Deflate-Gate; Race Against Time to Free ISIS Hostages

Aired January 22, 2015 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: A development out of Ferguson, Missouri, this morning -- the FBI wrapping up its investigation of the Michael Brown shooting. Will former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson be charged with violating Michael Brown's civil rights?

Let's get right to CNN's Sara Sidner. She's live for us in Ferguson.

What have we learned, Sara?

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, you know, the FBI we're told has completed its investigation into that part of whether or not civil rights violations occurred when it comes to the shooting death of unarmed teenager, Michael Brown, at the hands of police officer Darren Wilson.

And we're told by our sources, both a law enforcement source and also a U.S. official and basically they have said there's not enough evidence to charge Wilson with any kind of civil rights violations. We have not seen the completed report. That report has not been fully completed. And ultimately the decision is up to the attorney general.

We are also hearing about the separate investigation because there are two -- the separate investigation into the practices of the Ferguson Police Department itself. That investigation is still ongoing. But when it comes to Officer Wilson and the shooting death of Michael Brown, it looks like not only will he not face criminal charges because a grand jury decided that he should not face criminal charges and did not indict him. But he will not face federal charges.

So, basically, he's out of the woods when it comes to being charged, either by the feds or by the state -- Michaela.

CAMEROTA: Sorry. I was just going to ask you, Sara, if there had been any response in Ferguson to this news?

SIDNER: Yes, I mean, we've talked to some of the protesters. Officials have kind of stepped back and said, look, until we see this put down on paper from officials from the Justice Department, we are not going to make any kind of comment.

We also heard from Benjamin Crump, the attorney for Michael Brown's parents, he had said I'm not going to speculate until I see it and hear it myself. But certainly, the protesters here are disappointed. They have been out still, they are still protesting, not every single night. But they're still out doing actions, so there's quite a bit of disappointment on their part -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK. Thanks so much, Sara.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Let's look at the headlines, 34 minutes past the hour.

The fate of two Japanese men held captive by ISIS is hanging in the balance if Tokyo does not pay the $200 million ransom, the extremists are threatening to kill these men in less than 24 hours. Japan is furiously working to get in touch with ISIS. All of this as a team of diplomats including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, meet in London to discuss ways to combat ISIS.

In Yemen, the government and rebels appear to have a deal in place to stave off a coup that's been threatening to destabilize that country. The rebels will withdraw from key government buildings. The government will rewrite parts of Yemen's constitution. The U.S. has yet to evacuate its embassy, though, in Yemen's capital.

Back here at home, an abrupt about-face by House Republicans, dropping plans to debate a bill that would ban virtually all abortions after 20 weeks. Objections from female lawmakers and others left the GOP short of votes to pass it. This comes as thousands of anti-abortion activists are scheduled to march in Washington, D.C. today to mark the anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision that legalized abortion.

I have to show you some chilling new video this morning of a deadly shooting, a police shooting that was captured on dash cam in Bridgeton, New Jersey. Officers pulled over a Jaguar for running a stop sign. One officer yells to his partner he saw a gun in the glove compartment, the other officer appears to remove it. Those officers tell the passenger Jerame Reid to stop reaching for something. Reid suddenly steps out of the car with his hands raised. At his shoulders, and that's when shots ring out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OFFICER: He's reaching, he's reaching. Show me your hands. No, you're not, don't move, don't you (EXPLETIVE DELETED) move.

(GUN SHOTS)

OFFICER: Don't you (EXPLETIVE DELETED) move. Don't you (EXPLETIVE DELETED) move.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: Reed was killed by the officers. That shooting is now being investigated by county prosecutors.

CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh. That is sickening to just watch.

PEREIRA: Sickening to see, yes.

CAMEROTA: I mean, that just shows how dangerous police officers' jobs are every night and how dangerous it is --

PEREIRA: And how things -- apparently the stop started friendly enough.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: He was told not to get out of the car. He was told not to move his hands. There was a gun found in the car. He has shot at cops before this guy.

They didn't know any of that when they're going through the movements. But again -- these situations, they can always look one of two ways -- the guy was told not to move. He got out of the car and approached the officer.

CAMEROTA: I wonder why he did that. We'll never know.

CUOMO: So the big game is just ten days away. What's all the buzz about? Deflate-gate. How much does it really matter? Does it deserve punishment? If so, what should the punishment be?

And we're going to tell but the hashtag tweeted round the world.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Secretary of State John Kerry and his counterparts from 20 nations are meeting in London about ISIS. The nation's leaders stand united against the terror threat. What can they actually do to change what we're dealing with?

Here to discuss it is Sir Peter Westmacott, the British ambassador to the United States.

Thank you, sir, for joining us.

Let's discuss first before we get to the meeting itself the issue of the meeting, which is ISIS. We know part of the surge is taking place in your country, for Jihadi John, seen in the video threatening the lives of the two Japanese hostages.

Any words on his whereabouts or his connections to others?

SIR PETER WESTMACOTT, BRITISH AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES: Well, good morning. Thank you for having me.

At the moment, there's nothing that I can say about the search for Jihadi John. We've put a lot of resource into this, it's an investigation which is continuing and I hope you'll understand while that is the case, it really isn't something on which I can comment publicly.

CUOMO: Understood, but it is also good to know that it is a robust search for him, how we have heard all along that you, key authorities, do they believe you do know the identity of him and they're making inroads. So, we keep on that. Also what's happening with Japan? Do you fear in your country because of the losses you've suffered at the hands of these murderers, that you may be asked for a ransom demand? And if you were, what would be your country's decision?

WESTMACOTT: Well, this issue has come up. Now, again, we've had British subjects, unfortunately tragically beheaded, and I'm sorry there seem to be British subjects involved in the beheading process.

But my government's position on this is actually the same is that of the United States. We do not pay hostage ransoms. We believe that if you do give these terrorists money, it encourages them to take more hostages and it also provides large sums of money to finance their terrorist activities. So, we don't do that.

CUOMO: We'll have to wait to see what the fruit of the meetings are today. The supposition is that it's about how to better coordinate the war against ISIS and largely on a military front. But what are your thoughts about how the military aspect won't be the key to defeating the idea of radicalization? What else needs to be done?

WESTMACOTT: Chris, we think that there's been quite good progress made on the military front, there have been air strikes taking place inside Iraq and you inside Syria, against ISIL. The United Kingdom has been the second most important in the airstrikes against the terrorist groups.

I think we have probably stopped the advance. We need to work militarily on rooting them back. But you're quite right, it's not just about military action. It is about cutting off the financing. It is about dealing with the threat to all of our homeland securities from the foreign fighters, it's about supporting the new, more inclusive government of Iraq and helping them to get the job right and engage with the local partners, because it is not something which seems to be solved entirely by people from the other side of the world.

So, there are several different elements -- standing up the Iraqi government, countering the narrative, dealing with the financing and pushing back the military. We're making some progress in that area.

CUOMO: Let's unpack a little bit of that because the military has two sides to it, right? It enhances recruitment. It plays on the extremist's narrative that they're victims of the rest of the world. So, there's an up and down on the measuring of the success.

But when you get to the other issue, the narrative of why this is happening, why radicalization is spreading, there will be members in attendance at this meeting today that are some of the sovereign states that oppress their own people. And create extreme poverty and allow extremism to take root and sometimes fund it.

What do you do in terms of shifting responsibility on to those nations?

WESTMACOTT: This is part of the agenda. That's why we've got 22 different governments, all of which have an interest in trying to deal with this brutal, appalling poisonous ideology and the horrible things they're doing to their people.

You're right this has to be dealt with in terms of the breeding ground that allows people to think that this is somehow what Islam dictates or requires. And it's also something you've got to address in terms of the broader socioeconomic and government conditions in which people have been brought up. The reality is there are hundreds, in some cases thousands of people who have joined ISIL from our own countries, they have been born and brought up and educated and given decent jobs and got families and prosperity in our own countries and still take part in this dreadful terrorist activity.

So we have to try to deal with our communities, we have to deal with the leaders of Islam, we have to try to discourage families from letting their people go out to this region and we have to try stop them from coming back radicalized and with an intention to wreak slaughter within our own countries. So, this is a complex series of objectives, but part of it is indeed trying to insure there are is good governance and economic prosperity and something which encourages people to believe in their own government and in their own country, rather than to try to destroy everything around them.

CUOMO: Well said, Sir Peter, but very tough to achieve. The ambassador to the U.S. from the U.K. -- thank you for joining us on NEW DAY, sir.

WESTMACOTT: Thank you.

CUOMO: Mick?

PEREIRA: All right. We'll change directions here a little bit. Just ten days until Super Bowl XLIX. Where's all the hype, where's all the excitement?

Oh, right. It's all about deflate-gate that controversy is not going away. We'll talk about it all with ESPN's Mike Greenberg, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: Yes, there's the music, we're ten days and counting until Super Bowl XLIX and all the talk is about footballs, instead of the game of the football. Specifically accusations that the New England used deflated footballs in their AFC championship win against the Colts. The Patriots have set to face off against Seattle in the Super Bowl.

CNN's Rachel Nichols asked the Seahawks about all the scandal?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS: How significant is it if the Patriots are found to have participated in cheating the rules?

PETE CARROLL, SEAHAWKS HEAD COACH: Well, I don't know -- I don't know all of that answer right now. And I don't know about the circumstances. So it would be crazy for me to comment on it.

But we're trying to do things right, we want to do things the right way. I'm sure that that pervades the league and all of that. We'll see what happens with that. I don't have a big comment about that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: Joining us to discuss the latest on deflate-gate is Mike Greenberg, co-host of "Mike & Mike" on ESPN Radio. His new novel "My Father's Wives" is on sale now. We'll talk about the new novel in a second.

What a shame, I was thinking of the fact that we're ten days to the Super Bowl there should be hype and excitement and we're talking about deflated balls.

MIKE GREENBERG, ESPN RADIO: Well, and that's obviously something that a 12-year-old boy in all of us has a very difficult time saying with a straight face.

Here's the really unbelievable thing, could you imagine a circumstance where the NFL completes an investigation in short order, determines that the coach of the Patriots willfully and knowingly violated competitive rules and decides to suspend Bill Belichick for the Super Bowl?

Do I think there's any real chance that will happen? I do not. But I suppose it is not beyond the realm of possibility. And if it happened, it would be within the framework of sports probably the biggest story of all time.

CUOMO: Because of the stuff we do at CNN, this is relatively low on our priority list, I'm not letting go of the 12-year-old boy thing just yet. I want to talk about the hash tag you started on your show with mike the other day. That wound up making it not only number one in the U.S., but number one worldwide. Tell us what that hashtag was and how much you enjoyed it as an achievement.

(LAUGHTER)

GREENBERG: Well, all of us who consider ourselves "Seinfeldians" at heart would be proud to know that I had the #shrinkage trending all over the world it seemed like an appropriate term under the circumstances. The balls, they shrink, at least a little bit. You know, we know what that's about.

I mean, all kidding aside, I mean, you can call it whatever you want. At the end of the day, I don't think that this is the reason the Patriots are successful. But at the same time, they wouldn't be doing it if it wasn't helping. They're not doing it for their health. So, there's something nefarious going on here.

I think ultimately it does become at least a little bit of a black mark on the all-time resume of a guy in bill Belichick who may otherwise be considered the greatest coach awful time. CAMEROTA: So, Mike, help me understand it. Did balls were checked

before the game? Two hours 15 minutes as we've read before the game and they were found to be fine. Then at halftime, the Pats' balls were found to be deflated. So, how is that not --

GREENBERG: And that's happened to a lot of teams at halftime over the years.

CAMEROTA: I'm inviting it. How is that not cheating?

GREENBERG: OK, it is cheating. There's no way that it isn't cheating.

The question is just how significant the cheating is. Can they prove that someone did it on purpose? Can they prove they did it to gain a competitive advantage? And how soon can they do so?

There's no question there will be some punishment, some discipline involved here. The question is, can they do it quickly enough that it will actually have some impact on the Super Bowl? If not, they'll do something more commonplace like dock the team a draft pick or something like that, going to next year, which is meaningful, but not nearly as significant. If they were to do something that directly involved the Super Bowl, that would be to my knowledge unprecedented and obviously a much bigger story.

PEREIRA: Indulge Alisyn and I being football widows, our better halves spend Sunday and the rest of the week indulging in the great sport of football. But I don't have the knowledge that you have obviously. But to me it seems like there's a quick fix here, why not just have the league take care of the balls the same way they do in the Major League Baseball world? The umpires are in charge of the balls, there's no room for -- well, little room one would argue, for cheating.

GREENBERG: You're exactly right and it just makes too much sense for them to have done it all these years.

PEREIRA: Touchdown.

GREENBERG: It's the only explanation I have for you, because you are right, in any other sport, in tennis, in basketball, in baseball, the teams themselves don't get control of the equipment they're going to use to play the game ahead of time, particularly when there are these very strict regulations.

That's the one thing that is a lack to come out of this. There's no way in the world teams are going to be able to -- excuse me language, there's no way teams are going to be able to handle their own balls before or during the games anymore going forward. That's something that the league is definitely going to have to oversee. They say you can't do it.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: Just to put some nails in the coffin of whether or not this mattered, the game was close at the half, OK. They killed them in the second half. After the balls had been checked and presumably, unless you know differently, re-inflated. And also, you have said you don't think the difference in square-inch poundage would have made a difference. Although you and I have both heard men who have thrown balls in the NFL and caught them say they think it would make a difference, what's your take in all that?

GREENBERG: Yes, it makes a difference, there's no question it makes a difference. As I said before, they're not doing it for fun, they're doing it because they think it's helping them. That said, if the game had been 45-44, or 8-7, I would have been a whole lot more interested in the conversation as it pertained to that particular game than when it was 45-7. There's no way in the world to make 38 point difference.

That said, the rules are the rules. You're supposed to play by them. But if they're breaking them, they deserve whatever it is they have come canning to them.

PEREIRA: The head, do you think this is an asterisk by his name in the history books of the NFL?

GREENBERG: Yes, there's no question. One of the things we're debating on our show this morning, on "Mike and Mike", is whether or not it's going to keep him out of the hall of fame or at minimum, whether it's going to keep him from going into the hall of fame the first year that he's eligible. I think it's a very legitimate question.

CAMEROTA: Tell us about "My Father's Wives" your new book.

PEREIRA: I've been digging through it.

GREENBERG: It's my new novel. It's about fathers and sons, which is a topic that's very important, particularly amongst those of us who grew up with a dad who led them into sports. My dad is 82. I still talk to him every single day.

So, in very brief fashion, that's about a guy whose life is falling apart. He feels he needs to rediscover the father he hasn't known since he was nine years old and he goes on a journey to try to do that that's what the book is about. It's called "My Father's Wives."

PEREIRA: Mike Greenberg, real pleasure to have you talk to us. Congratulations on the book, we'll talk with you again very soon.

CAMEROTA: Thanks, Mike.

PEREIRA: A whole lot of news to get to this morning.

GREENBERG: The pleasure is mine. Thank you, guys. Thanks very much.

PEREIRA: Let's get to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Time running out for two hostages held by ISIS. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm with you and everybody is with you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Japan is trying to open a line of communication with ISIS.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't give up. I know you are not giving up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Crisis in Yemen that could derail the war on terror.

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: Our personnel are well protected.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we ought to get our people out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we're going to see a state where there is no central government.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Segments of the Russian missiles which are hitting my people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Russia continues to move tanks, armored vehicles.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because of Putin we are so strong, we are so united and nobody can stop us.

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY, with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota and Michaela Pereira.

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

Down to the wire, if Japan does not pay a $200 million ransom in just hours, ISIS could kill two of its citizens. The Japanese government is working furiously to establish contact with the terrorists. But so far, at this hour, no luck.

CUOMO: Japan's prime minister making it clear he will not give in to the terrorists' demands. This morning, 21 foreign ministers, including Secretary of State John Kerry are in London.

Now, they're going to meet about how to wipe the terror group off the map. And that is going to be harder to do than was first expected. That's for sure.

We have all angles covered. Let's get right to Will Ripley live in Tokyo.

Will, any contact made yet with ISIS by the authorities there?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Still no contact in spite of a now-public plea on the part of Japanese officials here in Tokyo and also reaching out. They've reached out to Jordan. They've reached out to Turkey. They're trying to establish a line of communication and they have not been able to talk to ISIS.

Two names on the top of everybody's minds here in Japan right now, Kenji Goto and Haruna Yukawa, these are two mean who are facing a deadline 18 hours away, 18 hours before ISIS threatens to murder these innocent men who they captured last year.

The question also on a lot of people's minds, will Japan pay a ransom? Is Japan willing to negotiate and to hand over money to the terror group ISIS? People are torn here, Chris. Because in one school of thought, if you give money, even if it's a smaller sum than $200 million, if you're giving millions of dollars to a terror group, does that just give them more tools, more ammunition to hurt more people?

But on the other hand, there are a lot of people in this pacifist country who very much want to see these two men come home safely. But none of that can happen if there's not a line of communication open. That's not been able to be accomplished yet, Chris.

CUOMO: You're asking all the right questions, so difficult to answer, Will. Thank you. We'll check back in with you.

And, of course, this isn't the first time ISIS has demanded millions for a hostage. Just last August, the terror group wanted 100 million euros, that's about $132 million, before killing American journalist James Foley. Are their demands signaling financial desperation or is this just about showing their power?

Let's go to Barbara Starr. She's joining us from the Pentagon with more on the reign of terror that we're seeing in ISIS.