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New Developments on the Dashcam of Bland's Arrest; Donald Trump Files Financial Disclosure Form. Aired 6:00-6:30a ET.

Aired July 23, 2015 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:00] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Also there are more developments on the dashcam video of Bland's arrest. Many in the community remain outraged by what they see. And this morning we hear Sandra Bland herself in a phone message to a friend from jail.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is live in Hempstead, Texas to give us all the developments, Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. Well, the district attorney here in Hempstead tells us that the autopsy report also revealed that Sandra Bland had high amounts of marijuana in her system. But also showed indications that she had tried to harm herself. But despite all of this, the question surrounding her death still continues to swirl.

Details about Sandra's Bland's condition have been revealed by local law enforcement.

ELTON MATHIS, WALLER COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: We have an initial report that she did have quantity of marijuana in her system. However, we are waiting to make any kind of formal determination of that.

LAVANDERA: The Waller County District Attorney also says the preliminary autopsy result shows some scars on her arm.

MATHIS: Yes. Opinion from the medical examiner it appears to be cutting, scars on the arm was like where someone has been cut over time. Some of those actually appeared to be fresher and that they were scabbed.

LAVANDERA: On this police intake questionnaire, Bland notes a previous suicide attempt by way of pills after a miscarriage in 2014. But on the other page the answer to the question of attempted suicide is no. Conflicting information leaving her family with continued doubts.

SHARON COOPER, SISTER OF SANDRA BLAND: I have a hard time dealing with inconsistency. And that seems to have happened over the last couple of days here. So I don't have a problem still asking questions.

LAVANDERA: Investigators are now analyzing DNA evidence on the trash bag allegedly used in Sandra Bland's hanging. And on Wednesday police released another version of the dashcam video of Bland's arrest but this one, three minute shorter than the original.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out of the car. Get out, now.

LAVANDERA: Attempting to clear up the visible anomalies in the footage where cars and people disappear and reappear chalking it up to glitches to an error in uploading. And for the first time, we are hearing from Sandra Bland while in police custody. A haunting voice message to her friend the day after her arrest.

SANDRA BLAND, VOICEMAIL MESSAGE TO A FRIEND: Honestly, I'm just at a loss of words about this whole process. How did switching lanes with no signal turn into all of this, I don't even know. But I'm still here so I guess call me back when you can.

LAVANDERA: And Chris, you know, Sandra Bland family has ordered its own independent autopsy. Those results are expected to have been back by now and it is not clear yet whether or not they will release any of those details from their own independent autopsy report.

Chris?

CUOMO: All right Ed, thank you very much for tracking that part down. Let's bring in Reverend Jamal Bryant, he's a pastor at a Baltimore Empowerment Church, he also recently spent time with Sandra Bland's family in Texas.

Rev, thank you very much for joining us this morning. The police findings about what happened in the cell. And then you have why any of this happened in the first place, which goes to the stop, the two competing issues here that have the family's attention.

Let's deal with the death, obviously, which they believe to be a homicide. They believe to be a murder. This is the first time we get to hear from Sandra in this moment. We just heard a part of it. There's more to that voice mail. I think we'll be instructed to the audience to give a flavor of where her heart and head were when she was in that cell. Let's play all of it.

BLAND: Hey, this is me. I just was able to see the judge. I don't really know - they have me at a $5,000 bond. I'm just at you know, just a loss of words honestly about this whole process. Switching lanes with no signal turn into all of this, I don't even know. But I'm still here. So I guess call me back when you can.

CUOMO: From the family's perspective, this voice identifies a person who was where in their life right now?

REV. JAMAL BRYANT, PASTOR EMPOWERMENT TEMPLE CHURCH: I don't hear anywhere in her voice or a sentiment that this is my last call. It's not a good-bye. It's saying, call me back. That I'm frustrated as anybody would be three days in jail for a turn signal, when she's supposed to start a new job in 24 hours.

So all of us would be perplexed as to how this is to happen and where is in the great in equity that takes place. Those three minutes that are missing from that video, how it got shorter, still raises the whole lot of questions.

And Chris, here's the real interesting issue. Where would this be if it didn't get all of this national attention? It would have been swept under the rug. They seem to be in a familiar place of practicing inequity that none of us are able to digest.

CUOMO: Well, certainly, when questions are raised, they need to be asked and they need to be answered and that's certainly our job, part of our job as well. You refer to the three minutes, there was video that had obvious up-cuts or some type of uploading error in them.

[06:05:00] The police say that's what they were, simple errors. They released the tape that do not have those errors but the tape does have less duration, about three minutes as you point out. There's a question in itself the different duration.

BRYANT: That's the question. And Chris, when you get a chance, pull up the mug shot of Sandra Bland. And I want to show you some critical things that causes us some pause.

One, you'll note how in a mug shot do you already have on a prison uniform? It's in the middle of process. The other thing I want you to be aware of, Chris, is that the backdrop of that mug shot is the exact same backdrop of the floor of the cell. It is not the same as a wall. We have a contrast analysis of what a mug shot looks like and there's a cinder block. But when you look at here, you'll notice that it's the exact same duplicate of what the floor of the cell looks like.

CUOMO: Which makes you think what?

BRYANT: And secondly - say it again?

CUOMO: Which makes you think what, reverend?

BRYANT: That it was taken laying down. And it brings us questionable causes as to when that mug shot was taken place. Was it taken place during processing? Or was it, in fact, taking place after death. Look at where the lighting is that, there is no shadow coming from above her head, but it is in fact something that raises some questions that are going to have to be answered about that police department. Because we're seeing consistencies of inconsistency of how railroaded of injustice is taking place right there in that county.

CUOMO: The biggest question of course, goes to how she died.

BRYANT: Yes.

CUOMO: Police say we found marijuana in her system. Somewhat immaterial to the idea of suicide. There were cuts on her, which could be a reference to some type of self-injury. And then, of course, the big offer from the authorities, which is that she herself marked on a form that she had tried to kill herself before in 2014 because she lost a child. And did so with pills. Does the family accept that type of depiction?

BRYANT: They vehemently reject it. And notice, Chris, it is answered on two different ways. One is the one of the allegation of it was attempted because of a lost pregnancy. Then on the next page it says, no. I don't know how you're able to fill that wedge. This police department needs a complete overhaul and makeover. And the justice department has to in fact intervene because it is clear that they are incompetent and not able to meet its needs.

CUOMO: It's - the one question that is in the air right now is, what would have been the motive for a homicide in a situation like this? Yes, it was a traffic stop that went wrong. Yes, the officer was out of line. The police say that. They have taken him off the street. What to the family's thinking, to your thinking, what have been the motive for someone to kill?

BRYANT: I think it's asked wrong, Chris. What would be the motive of suicide? What would be the motive of suicide knowing that after a protracted season of unemployment, you're able to go back to your alma mater, you're finally able to get your life back on track. You called your friend you didn't say, this is it, this is the end. It says, call me back. This is not a swan song. We are not hearing the violence on the Titanic, here's somebody who is optimistic about life and ready to move forward but frustrated with a broken system.

CUOMO: Reverend, thank you very much. There are more questions and answers that remain and we'll stay on this story. Thank you for helping us understand the family's perspective.

BRYANT: Thank you.

CUOMO: Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Chris, Donald Trump is heading to the border. He's expected to tour the U.S./Mexico border following the firestorm he set off with his remarks about Mexican immigrants. But this morning, a possible wrinkle in his plans. A new report that local border patrols agents may no longer be involved in today's tour.

Chief Congressional Correspondent Dana Dash has been tracking Trump and is been digging out and finding the latest for us. She's in Laredo, Texas, what are we learning, Dana?

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Michaela. Well, we're trying to track down whether or not it is accurate that Donald Trump will not be able to take the tour that he was supposed to take with the local border patrol union because the parent union, AFLCIO, allegedly said no, you cannot do that.

But in the meantime, as far as we know, all systems are go. He's heading down here later today. And - and the reason he picked where we are now, Laredo, is because it's one of the most active parts of the border between the United States and Mexico. So that's why he picked this part. Why he picked this issue to talk about is perhaps for anybody who covered politics, a bit obvious because this is the issue that he believes and polling pretty much will back him up on this, helped him rise in the polls.

[06:10:00] Because illegal immigration and fighting for doing more for the border and fighting illegal immigration was something that was a vacuum within big Republican presidential field that he helped to fill for a pretty significant part of the Republican electorate, the base and voters in some of the early primary states.

So he's going to be talking about that. And Alisyn and Michaela, he's not going to be talking about John McCain or Lindsey Graham or any of the other things that may have been a distraction to him. He didn't back down from, but this is the issue that he clearly wants to get back to talking about.

CAMEROTA: OK. Dana. We will get more content from you in all of this and see if this is really going to happen this morning in a few minutes. Thank you so much.

Donald Trump is also speaking out in a new interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper. The candidate weighs in on Sandra Bland's arrest and whether he thinks the officer went too far.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sandra Bland is an African- American woman who was pulled over in Texas.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I saw that.

COOPER: I'm not asking you specifics because I can't be expected to look over everything, but pulled over for allegedly not changing signals, dashcam video has been released. A lot of African-Americans, a lot of people are upset about that. To African-Americans in this country, and there's a lot of people who believe that they are treated differently by police. Do you believe that there's a problem with that?

TRUMP: I hope not. But I will tell you, I saw that clip on your show, by the way, and I thought it was terrible. And I thought he was so aggressive. It was a traffic signal as I understand it, and you know, who gets out of a car for a traffic signal? I haven't been pulled over in a while, actually, but seriously, you know, he just was very aggressive. I didn't like his demeanor and I thought it was terrible, to be honest with you, and I'm a huge fan of the police. I think the police have to be given back power, but this guy was overly aggressive. Terribly aggressive.

COOPER: Do you think that happens to African-Americans more than it does to you or I?

TRUMP: I hope it doesn't but it might. And, you know, I have a great relationship with African-Americans as you possibly have heard. I just have great respect for them. And - and I - you know, they like me, I like them. The answer is, it possibly does, it shouldn't, and it's very sad if the cases - I would say though in this case, I watched that so close, I watched it a few times, he was - he was terrible. CUOMO: We're not going to get a lot of dispute from that in

terms of people who watched the altercation. It was obvious that the officer didn't even do secondary investigation and remove the officer right from there.

CAMEROTA: No, but that's what people like about Donald Trump is that doesn't seem like a poll tested response. That's a visceral reaction. He doesn't know all the facts but that seems horrible. And that's how people feel about it.

CUOMO: It's also not a poll test to say when asked whether or not there's a pattern of discrimination, he says no but he's good with the Blacks and the Blacks like him, too. You get the vote from the entire community at once which is nice. Trump's strategy for dealing with attacks is also on display here when it comes to rivals. And it seems to be give twice what you get. He got called a jackass by Lindsey Graham, Rick Perry says he is a cancer on conservativism. So Trump decides to take the high road. Take a look.

TRUMP: I get called all the horrible names by Lindsey Graham, who I don't even know, I didn't start it with Lindsey Graham. I couldn't care less about Lindsey Graham. He's registered, I think zero in the polls. But by Rick Perry from Texas who was up in my office a few years ago just posted a picture of him shaking my hand and looking for money and looking for support.

He was up - you know, people would say, you know, I call it a hypocrite, but they are saying horrible things like, I don't even know these people and they are saying these - now, am I supposed to just say, oh, it's OK for them to say, one guy, I guess it was Lindsey Graham who called me jackass, so am I supposed to say, oh, it's OK if I'm called a jackass. I've called a jackass. You have to fight back. The country has to fight back. Everyone's pushing our country around. We can't allow that, Anderson.

COOPER: Is it presidential, though?

TRUMP: I think it is presidential to fight back.

COOPER: To give out somebody's phone - to give out somebody's personal phone number?

TRUMP: Well, that was a long story. I mean, you have to see the whole story the way it morphed. OK. That was a whole story where he wanted to get on "Fox & Friends." And he called me up out of the blue, I never met the guy, that he wanted to come in for campaign contributions. He gave me his personal number and then he starts hitting me years later. And I happened to have this crazy phone number and I held it up and I said, this guy was over here. And actually, as you probably know, the room was packed, it was standing room only. In fact, they had other theaters that was overflowed, they had all sorts of closed circuits televisions into other rooms, the place went wild. We all had a good time.

COOPER: But is that presidential?

TRUMP: I think so. I think it's fine.

COOPER: When you became the president, when you put somebody in congress, you will give out their personal phone number?

TRUMP: I was hit by somebody unfairly. I was called names by somebody. So he was up to somebody that's hitting me what a bad guy I am. So I was up in my office and asking for money and asking if I can get him on television and I don't even know.

COOPER: When you are president of the United States, you are going to be hit by half the country.

TRUMP: That's true. That's true.

COOPER: Are you going to call them dumb?

TRUMP: No. I think it's a little bit different. Right now I'm trying to do something to make the country great again. Politicians will never make this country great again. Now...

COOPER: As president, you would change your tone?

TRUMP: I think so.

[06:15:00] PEREIRA: If you play in the world of politics and you're running for political office, does that not make you a politician?

CAMEROTA: I don't know. I don't know about that. I mean, I think that he's not a career politician.

PEREIRA: He's not a career politician.

CAMEROTA: Yes. I think that he does see himself in that way, but I don't know that wanting to be president makes you a politician.

CUOMO: I think critics would say his behavior also distinguishes him being a politician. I mean, he seems almost incapable of rising above anything that happens. And other than establishing a perceive connection with "Fox And Friends," the interview is very valuable which is that Anderson Cooper is gifting you with a chance to see what is actually behind Trump's promises and criticisms.

Is he telling the truth that he says politicians will not? Or is he setting the new standard for pandering? We'll play you the Q&A, he gets pushed by Anderson and then you judge. And Mr. Cooper himself will be here in eight o'clock hour to describe the Donald experience.

PEREIRA: All right. Other important stories again too, there is breaking news this morning that we're watching a 16-year-old and 18- year-old have been taken into custody after five people were found dead inside a home in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Police say the teen suspects are related to the victims two children were found alive on the scene. One is in critical condition and the other unharmed. We'll keep you updated as the story develops. CAMEROTA: What a story. Well, overnight defense secretary Ash

Carter making a surprise visit to Baghdad he's meeting with U.S. commanders and Iraqi officials. The trip is part of his Middle East tour to reassure allies about the Iran nuclear deal. This as tough questioning is expected on Capitol Hill later this morning about that deal. Three cabinet members including Secretary of State John Kerry will go before the senate foreign relations committee.

CUOMO: Bill Cosby not out of the legal woods yet. A sex assault suit is going forward this morning in a California Supreme Court rejecting the request of the embattled comedian to throw out a civil claim from a woman who accuses Cosby of assaulting her back in 1974 when she was just 15 years old.

CNN's Jean Casarez is here with the very latest and her age at the time is relevant to bringing the suit today.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very relevant. And you just said something very relevant. This is a sexual assault suit. Civil. It's sexual assault, not defamation which is interesting. So the case against Bill Cosby brought by accuser Judith Huff, can now proceed. The California Supreme Court denied a review of the case and that was requested by Cosby. Huff says that when she was 15 years old Cosby allegedly molested her at the playboy mansion after meeting a star to park when he was filming a movie.

Now, according to the complaint, Cosby invited Huff and her 16- year-old friend to his tennis club for the following weekend where he serve them alcoholic beverages. After that, Huff said, it was on to the playboy club where he assaulted her in the bedroom after she had gone in there to use the restroom.

Cosby in a legal response, said the allegations are absolutely false and that Huff tried to extort him for money. The year was 1974 but Huff as Chris said is now allowed to bring the case because of California law allowing for a possible extension of the statute of limitations for child sex abuse victims. Next Huff's attorney Gloria Allred said she wants to take the deposition of Bill Cosby.

CAMEROTA: Interesting development.

CASAREZ: We'll see if he will do that.

CAMEROTA: Right. That's supposed to happen next month. And we will ask his attorney about that because in our 8:00 A.M. hour, Bill Cosby's attorney will be here for the first time and I will ask her about the accusations and what is next for Bill Cosby.

Jean, thank you so much.

PEREIRA: All right. So what can we expect from Donald Trump when he tours the U.S./Mexico border today? What is going to happen there? Is he going to ramp up his fight against undocumented immigrants or will he make some efforts to try to woo the Latinos?

We'll take a look at that, next. [06:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TRUMP: Mexico's leaders are much sharper and smarter and more cunning than our leaders. They are doing things that we don't even know about. Let's see what happens. I'm going to speak to a lot of people, a lot of people who are excited I'm going to the border tomorrow. I may never see you again, but these are minor details.

CAMEROTA: That was Donald Trump telling our Anderson Cooper about his plan to visit the U.S./Mexico border today. The trip comes a few weeks after he referred to undocumented Mexican immigrants as criminals and rapists.

So joining us now from Laredo, Texas is CNN Chief Congressional Correspondent Dana Hash here in studio is CNN's Politics Correspondent M.J. Lee. Ladies, great to have you with us. Dana, I want to start with you, because I know that you're trying to - you're waiting to hear if this trip to the border is really going to happen. What is the AFL-CIO's problem possibly with this?

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the problem with it, possibly, would be the fact that he is a polarizing political figure. And if it is accurate, wouldn't be the first group to try to separate themselves from Donald Trump. And of course, AFLCIO does traditionally back democratic candidates in general, but assuming that he finds a way to come here and to go to the border, I think what you have heard from what he said to Anderson is very telling.

That his whole message has been that Mexico has been trying to push immigrants, illegal immigrants, across the border. And they are trying to send the worst in society. And that he can prove that when he comes down here. So that's obviously going to be a question that we'll ask is, are you asking that question and are you finding evidence of that claim?

CUOMO: He actually says he has proof, he's just not going to tell Anderson what it was his response. It will be interesting to see what develops down there. M.J., you're down in South Carolina there was an expectation that his comments about religion might not play well with the devout, but you're saying, they were upset about something else.

M.J. LEE, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, people weren't actually talking a lot about the fact that he said a week ago he's never asked for forgiveness from God. That was a comment that should Have blown up but didn't because he said that John McCain was not a war hero. There were a lot of veterans here in the retirement community in South Carolina who took issue with that.

[06:25:00] I spoke to someone who is a veteran in the Korean war and he said, I was a Trump supporter but after those comments about McCain he's now on probation. I'm going to have to consider what he says and how he handles this issue going forward.

CAMEROTA: Dana, let's talk about some other news that has come out on Donald Trump and that is that his financials - 92-page financial disclosure came out. That he - as Chris has pored through it he has it here on the set. So it doesn't say he's worth $10 billion but it says he's worth $1.4 billion in assets. $265 million in liabilities. That's still a huge amount. He's wildly wealthy but does this discrepancy matter?

BASH: You know, maybe ultimately it will, but the problem with the financial disclosures. It's that first of all it relies on the - the - the candidates to give the information and then to sign something swearing that it is accurate. But it is very difficult to square what he said, that over $10 billion figure with what he actually has based on the information in that very large - huge as you would say, 92-page document he put out there.

So I'm not sure if we'll ever know the truth. That's the fact of the matter. But the idea that he actually put this out there, you know, he likes to say and he's actually right, that everybody thought he never would do that. But he did. And so this does show somebody who is very protective of what he has. The fact that he put it out there does show that he seems to be serious about this run this time.

CUOMO: Well, not us. We were saying from the beginning that he wouldn't be scared away from this because the FEC is only worried about you underreporting, not over reporting. So if you want to pump up what you are worth, have it and a lot of the boxes. He checked and said he couldn't get his number to what it really is. So another bit of news that came out.

CAMEROTA: That's his stated wealth.

CUOMO: His stated wealth. The Lindsey Graham retort, he seems to be matching tactics a little bit with the new video he brought out. When Trump tells about it in a show.

LEE: So when Trump was in South Carolina earlier this week, he was obviously very angry. Lindsey Graham said earlier this week on CNN and called Trump a jackass. That's for his comment about McCain. Trump was not happy about that and went after him and said, look, I have his phone number. This guy says he doesn't like me now but here's his cell phone and here's the number he gave me when asking me for favors a few years ago.

So everyone in the audience said, let's try this out, why don't you give this number a call and it turns out it might be his real number. And it was his. So Graham decided to destroy his phone in a very fun way.

CUOMO: Let's see it. Still had a flip phone, by the way. That was nice.

CAMEROTA: Wow.

PEREIRA: Oh.

CAMEROTA: Dana, he's blending his phone, he's barbecuing his phone, he is entailing his phone, I mean, in the age of viral videos, what do you think that this says about you know, Lindsey Graham? BASH: Look, touche. It actually makes him look a little bit

more, a lot more social media literate than he actually is in real life.

CUOMO: It was a flip phone.

BASH: That was a flip phone. And he's now - and he was holding on to that for dear life. I can tell you, I know that for a fact. And the problem is he's going to have to get a Smartphone because as somebody posted said to me, the only place you can now find a flip phone is an antique store.

CAMEROTA: It's funny.

CUOMO: Maybe he has more campaign money than we thought he did because that couldn't have been cheap.

CAMEROTA: That video is so true. Dana Bash and M.J. Lee, thank you so much for the political information this morning. Let's go over to Michaela.

PEREIRA: I'd argue excellent use of a toaster oven as well.

All right. Ahead here, imagine this. What do you think the FBI Director James Comey says keeps him up at night? What he calls the biggest threat to the U.S. homeland it is not Al Qaeda. His one-on- one interview with Wolf Blitzer that's next.

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