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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Clinton's First National Interview of Campaign; Cosby Mum On Drug Testimony In Unsealed Document; 30 Years Later, Nightmare Memories; Source: Gun Used In Pier Killing Belonged to a Federal Agent; Trump Controversy: Mexican Immigrants Working At Trump Construction Site. Aired 9:00-10:00p ET.

Aired July 07, 2015 - 21:00   ET

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

[21:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON COOPER, AC 360 HOST: Thanks for joining us. It's 9:00 P.M. Eastern here on the East Coast. And two big stories ahead tonight at CNN exclusive, Hillary Clinton's first national interview since entering the 2016 presidential race.

Also tonight, new developments in the Bill Cosby story including how he's damaging sworn testimony about obtaining drugs for women whom he planned to have sex with actually came to light.

Not only that, late today, the Los Angeles police reaffirmed they have at least one criminal investigation still ongoing in connection with allegations against Mr. Cosby.

A lot to talk about tonight starting with the very latest from CNN's Jean Casarez. So can you explain or what -- first of all, this LAPD investigation, do we know more about it?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's very interesting. Here's what we know, here are the facts. Two women, Judy Huth and also Chloe Goins, both went to the Los Angeles Police Department, one late last year, one early this year she met them, for a criminal investigation. And we do know the district attorney's office, late 2014, said Judy Huth that the statute of limitation had run.

COOPER: Right.

CASAREZ: And you know California has an exception, especially for child sexual assault because sometimes the brain takes awhile to assimilate what really happened to you, so there's an extension of the statute of limitations. Well, if they're not going to pursue charges against Cosby, Judy Huth maybe even Chloe Goins, but they do confirm one ongoing investigation with the LAPD.

COOPER: And do we know why the judge now decided to release this deposition, because it took place back in 2005 and the -- Cosby's attorneys have been fighting its release for a while. CASAREZ: And it's been sealed for all those years. Well, the media went to a judge saying, "We believe this should be unsealed." But the judge in his ruling is just so creative because he says that Bill Cosby had a right to privacy, even as a big television star. But when he started talking about morals and values and preaching about how to lead your life, that that right to privacy narrowed itself.

And then when women -- and by the way, CNN has sided in his opinion quite a bit because we've done so much journalism on it -- that when women started to coming forward and Bill Cosby then said, "No, you're lying, I didn't do anything to you," that that right of privacy narrowed even more, and at that point, the public had a right to know.

COOPER: But the revelations in these depositions, I mean, they don't show -- they don't prove that Bill Cosby actually broke any laws.

CASAREZ: No, they really don't. I mean, I think it's the first time that drugs are equated with women and sex, but you don't know if it's consensual or voluntary, and you don't really know how it happened. His attorney was either brilliant or you could say was not following the law when it comes to deposition by refusing him to answer the most critical questions of all.

COOPER: And in fact, Mark Geragos, on the last hour, said that he thinks that his attorney allowed him to answer too many questions, gave too much information away in terms of acting for his client. Cosby, his representative, they aren't really saying anything right now.

CASAREZ: Well, this is sort of interesting because ABC News released a statement today by the Cosby camp, saying in part, really going to the merits of this case in 2005, that the only reason he settled was because it would have been embarrassing for all that his family didn't know and to put the women on the stand would have hurt them.

Marty Singer told CNN he has no idea where that statement came from, that it wasn't from any authorized person -- very important for him to say because this was a settlement of confidentiality.

COOPER: Right.

CASAREZ: And that ABC statement right there sort of breaks that confidentiality if it is to be believed.

COOPER: Right. Jean Casarez, appreciate it. Thank you very much.

Coming up now, the accusers whose allegations instantly gain credence when the deposition was unsealed. In 1984, Heidi Thomas was a model, aspiring actor, that's when she got a call from the agent for her modeling company in Denver. They said, "We'll fly you to Reno. Bill Cosby wants to work with you, to mentor and coach you." She went. 30 years later she's telling her story and joins us tonight.

Heidi, when you first heard the news about what Bill Cosby had said under oath in his deposition, what went through your mind?

[21:05:03]

HEIDI THOMAS, BILL COSBY ACCUSER: The first thing I thought was finally. And then after that, I really thought, I hope this will bring some closure for a lot of women who have been waiting to be believed.

COOPER: Can you tell me what happened to you? Because you're saying that Cosby raped you more than 30 years ago.

THOMAS: I was. And thinking about pursuing a career in acting, my agent here in Denver told me that someone very big in the business was interested in being a mentor, being a coach. I was flown to Reno, Nevada by the agency. I was -- my hotel room was paid for by the agency. And it was my understanding I was going to do a monologue and I was going to be receiving acting coaching from Bill Cosby whom we were supposed to refer to as Mr. C.

COOPER: And you got to Reno and what happened?

THOMAS: I was picked up at the airport. I was driven, which was -- that's what I was expecting. But we kept driving out of the city, and I knew that the hotel where I was supposedly getting this coaching and supposedly staying was in the city of Reno.

And I asked the driver and he said, "Oh. Well, Mr. Cosby -- there's been a change of plans. He was offered a ranch house by a friend of his, this gives him privacy."

Again, no one thought at the time, this was Mr. Jell-O Pudding Pop, no one thought anything funky about this. He had called our home, spoken with myself, with my parents, we had no idea. There wasn't anything to be the least bit concerned about.

COOPER: And when you got and you finally saw him, what happened?

THOMAS: He answered the door in casual clothes, his sweats and everything, and just as friendly as he had been on the phone. And I had prepared a monologue which all actresses do, and I did my monologue for him, and thought I did an OK job. He wasn't too impressed. He said, "Let's try a cold read." So he gave me a script and I read through it, and this was a scene in a bar, and clearly, the role I was to read was an intoxicated woman.

And he said, "Heidi, have you ever been drunk?" And I said, "No, not really." He said, "Well, then how do you expect to play a role if you have no idea what you're doing?" And I said, "Well, I saw plenty of friends who have had plenty to drink and I'm drawing from that experience."

He said, "Well, that's not going to do." So he poured a glass of white wine. He said, "All right. This is a prop. You're in the bar, sip on it, it's just your prop." I said, "OK," took a sip and I literally -- that's what it's -- I have no memory of getting passed, maybe the first three lines.

I have four days I spent in Reno. And my memory of the fours day I have about -- I have little snapshots, I have little pictures in time.

COOPER: But you do specifically remember sexual assault?

THOMAS: Absolutely. That's emblazoned in my memory.

COOPER: You sought him, Bill Cosby, out months after the alleged incident. Why was that?

THOMAS: I did call him. And I said, "I do have questions and I'd like some clarification on some things." He wasn't terribly keen to meet with me again. I wanted to ask him what happened back there in Reno. I'm still thinking this is the only person.

So I really wanted to see, did I dream it up and could I have professionally not had it go this way. But when I got to St. Louis he had a new young lady du jour for the weekend, and really, all I ever got to do was say, "Hi. Good to see you. I hope we'll have a chance to chat," which we never did.

COOPER: When you first went public with your story back in March, you said that you had one question for Cosby, and that question was, "Do you remember me?"

THOMAS: I guess all of us would like to believe that we're not just a number, that we're not just in this case yet another, a blank notch. Although we know that rape is not a sexual thing, it's a control thing, it's a power thing, it's an anger thing, but there's something about all of us that doesn't want to just be another anonymous nothing.

COOPER: Well, Heidi, I appreciate you talking to us tonight. Thank you so much.

THOMAS: Thank you for your time.

COOPER: Well, joining us now is the Philadelphia area district attorney, who declined to prosecute Bill Cosby on sexual assault allegations 10 years ago, is running again for district attorney. Mr. Castor, I appreciate you being with us again tonight.

This admission from 2005, when you and I talked last night, you were unaware of it really until yesterday.

[21:10:05] You're unaware of this deposition. Is that something that you should -- somebody should have made you aware of or is it because it was a, you know, a civil case and they settled that -- is that why you were not made aware of it?

BRUCE CASTOR, PHILADELPHIA DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Well, no, Anderson, I assumed is that there will be a deposition under oath. In fact, the entire thing that we did after we determined that there was not going to be criminal charges brought was to try and funnel it so that Ms. Constand that have the best opportunity to prevail civilly when we couldn't prevail criminally.

I knew there will be a deposition under oath. And I hoped the deposition under oath will be significant enough to require a resolution of the case in the form of a settlement. So I wouldn't expect to hear any of these things. I did in fact know there would be civil deposition because we calculated everything we did based on that precise outcome.

COOPER: You spoke to Bill Cosby I believe at the time. What was your perception of him and the information that he was telling you? Did you believe his account of things?

CASTOR: Understand that my -- people working directly for me would interview him not me personally otherwise I would end up...

COOPER: Sure.

CASTOR: ... being a witness in a case I would prosecute. They reported back to me that the detectives thought he was evasive, that he did his best to dissemble, and was doing everything he could try to avoid to answer the question. Those things -- current investigators are that he is lying. The fact that he is lying doesn't necessarily give us evidence concerning the elements of the offense. And when this comes that didn't have suspicion recollection, I was left with suspicions and a theory, but no facts and no forensic.

So at that point, I decided that I would make a decision in public that we wouldn't prosecute him. That would therefore eliminate the Fifth Amendment argument in a civil case because up to that point, Cosby simply at the civil deposition where we started the Fifth Amendment and we would have none of this. You take away the possibility of prosecution you no longer can incriminate himself. And on that point, he has to answer questions under oath. Those answers were obviously sufficient to settlement in the case because I wanted Ms. Constand to have some measure of justice.

COOPER: Right.

CASTOR: And...

COOPER: And have there been...

CASTOR: ... that's really what happened.

COOPER: .... Right. Had there been a criminal case, he could have played defeat and we wouldn't even know what we now know from this 2005 deposition.

Bruce Castor, I appreciate you being with us. Thank you to -- it's obviously a case that goes back many, many years, decades in fact.

A closer look coming up. The one woman who has remained by Bill Cosby's side through all of these, his wife, Camille.

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[21:15:00]

COOPER: Been reporting of course on Bill Cosby, journey from America's dad to something far different. Today, the Bounce T.V. Network stopped airing episodes of "Cosby" show. Yet more one-time supporters have backed away.

Whoopi Goldberg though remains a defender saying to an interview that she doesn't like snap judgments. As well, the woman closes to Cosby, his wife Camille -- Alexandra Field investigates.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Camille Cosby, seven years younger than the comedian Chenery (ph) but a commanding presence in her own right. Here, praising civil rights activist Dorothy Height at her funeral in 2010.

CAMILLE COSBY, BILL COSBY'S WIFE: Her clear determination and strong positive self-perception did not allow several men who acted out egregious sexist behaviors to push her to the background...

FIELD: Last November, she sat quietly by her husband's side as Bill Cosby declined comments on allegations he sexually assaulted women asking the "Associated Press" not to air his on-camera answer.

BILL COSBY, COMEDIAN: Now, can I get something from you?

UNIDENTIFED MALE: What's that?

B. COSBY: That none of that will be shown.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: I can't promise that myself but you didn't say anything.

B. COSBY: I know I didn't say anything but I'm asking your integrity that since I didn't want to say anything but I did answer you in terms of I don't want to say anything or what value would it have.

FIELD: He made people laugh for years with his hit, "The Cosby Show", his T.V. wife, Claire Huxtable is said to be based on Camille who even made a guest appearance. Married over 51 years, Camille was only 19 when they tied the knot. Meeting on a blind date, she dropped out of college but in her 30's she went on to earn her PhD.

His career took off with "I Spy", the first American T.V. drama to star a black man in a leading role. It was the height of the civil rights era. Together they have five children. Their son, Ennis, murdered in 1997. Around that time, Cosby first faced public allegations of infidelity. Autumn Jackson was convicted of trying to extort $40 million from the comedian after threatening to tell tabloids she was his out of wedlock daughter.

In court, Cosby admitted to an affair and payments to Autumn's mother but denied he was her father. Back then, the family's publicist read a statement on Camille's behalf.

DAVID BROKAW, BILL COSBY'S PUBLICIST: All old personal negative issues between Bill and me are resolved years ago. FIELD: He's never been charged with a crime and never publicly admitted any sexual assault. Today, more than 25 women say Cosby sexually assaulted them dating back to the 60's.

[21:20:01] Mrs. Cosby for the most part has remained silent except for a statement she released last fall.

"The man I met, and fell in love with, and whom I continue to love, is the man you all knew through his work. He is a kind man, a generous man, a funny man, and a wonderful husband, father, and friend. He is the man you thought you knew."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: And Alexandra joins us now. We just heard from that statement she made, she's made more recent statement though, yes?

FIELD: That's the last that we've heard from her actually. And she not only came to her husband's defense at the time but she made some pretty point of remarks about the press the way the media has been covering this story saying that the portrait of the man that emerge was someone that she didn't know.

You have this torrent of women coming forward at the same time sharing these allegations and Mrs. Cosby back in December suggested that these women were not being properly vetted. These women are now saying they feel vindicated, validated that the remarks made have been made public from that petition that Mrs. Cosby not saying anything in response now.

COOPER: And there now some suits against Cosby because of some of the statements Cosby's camp made about some of these women.

Alexandra thanks so much for the reporting. Alex Field. Again, bearing in mind that Bill Cosby's neither been charged with nor convicted of anything. We do want to dig deep into some of the forces that pull a person into our predators or better keep them there.

Leslie Morgan Steiner is the Author of Crazy Love and a domestic violence survivor, she joins me now. Leslie, it's great to have you on the program. Again, it's obviously very difficult to look at someone's marriage from the outside.

But if these allegations are true and Camille Cosby was aware of them, why does a person stay married to somebody in a situation like this?

LESLIE MORGAN STEINER, AUTHOR "CRAZY LOVE": Well, I would never claim to be able to go inside another woman's head especially somebody of Camille Cosby's stature and intelligence and life experience. But based on my own experience as a victim, and from talking to hundreds of other victims of abuse of all races and ages and education levels, I feel like her situation has all the hallmarks of emotional abuse, in particular, a form of abuse that is known as Gas-lighting.

And Gas-lighting is a term that was coined based on an Alfred Hitchcock psychological thriller where a charming charismatic seductive husband in order to coverup his own very serious problems blames his beautiful intelligent wife. And in fact, cunningly convinces her that it's all in her head and then she becomes his staunchest defender.

And obviously there are a lot of parallels to the Cosby situation. They were married when she was only 19. He is in so many ways what she says the man, the wonderful man that we all knew.

But I suspected that there could be a very different side of him too that in some ways Camille Cosby may be in complete denial about.

COOPER: You know, when you're in a relationship with somebody, I mean, you say, you know, she could be in complete denial about. Do you actually see it? Do you actually see the issues and you just choose not to see them or are you actually unaware?

STEINER: You know it's so hard to explain to somebody on the outside. But, I believe that this is what happens. Your denial is so strong and that the trap has been very carefully laid so that the more the accusations come in, the more strongly you defend the person who you trust and love.

And also, what could have happened in this case, what has happened in a lot of cases that I'm familiar with is that the Gas-lighter is so very skilled and it's easy for them to stay one step ahead, so it could be that things were said such as, "You know, there are all of these women out there who are making these crazy accusations about me. You know what women are like. And one day, the media is going to catch on and they're going to believe some of them."

So, it could be that she already -- the pump was already primed. And when you're in this situation, you're so vulnerable but you don't feel that way.

You feel like you are the one person on earth who understands your beloved and that is your job to defend them against all comers. And it's hard to understand from the outside but I know from for myself from being on the inside of this that I didn't know I was being abused until many years after the marriage had ended.

Denial is a very strong psychological force.

COOPER: Leslie Morgan Steiner, I appreciate you being on. Thank you very much.

STEINER: Thank you very much Anderson.

COOPER: Coming up next, we're going to have more Hillary Clinton's exclusive interview with CNN's Brianna Keiler including her take on the e-mail controversy in questions about the Clinton Foundation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[21:28:18]

COOPER: Today, Hillary Clinton gave her first national TV interview since announcing her campaign, the first one in the wide range of conversation with CNN's Brianna Keiler.

In Iowa, Clinton spoke about the perception among some Americans, according polls that she is not trustworthy. She said that's largely the fault of a constant barrage of attacks from the right.

And Brianna asked her about the controversy surrounding her e-mail accounts. Thank a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIANNA KEILER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: One of the issues that has eroded some trust that we've seen is the issue of your e-mail practices while you're Secretary of State. I think there's a lot of people who don't understand what your thought process was on that. So can you tell me the story of how you decided to delete 33,000 e-mails and how that deletion was executed?

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well let's start from the beginning. Everything I did was permitted. There was no law, there was no regulation. There was nothing that did not give me the full authority to decide how I was going to communicate.

Previous Secretaries of State have said they did the same thing. And people across the government knew that I use one device, maybe it was because I am not the most technically capable person and wanted to make it as easy as possible.

KEILER: But you said that they did the same thing that they used a personal server and...

CLINTON: Well, a personal e-mail.

KEILER: ...while facing a subpoena, deleted e-mails from them?

CLINTON: You know you're starting with so many assumptions that are -- I've never had a subpoena. There is not -- again, lets take a deep breath here.

Everything I did was permitted by law and regulation. I had one device. When I mailed anybody in the government, it would go into the government system.

[21:30:00] Now, I didn't have to turn over anything.

I chose to turn over 55,000 pages because I wanted to go above and beyond what was expected of me because I knew the vast majority of everything that was official already was in the state department system.

And now, I think it's kind of fun. People get a real time behind the scenes look at, you know, what I was e-mailing about and what I was communicating about.

KEILAR: Wearing warm socks...

CLINTON: Yeah. KEILAR: ... which you said to John...

CLINTON: Exactly and or, you know...

KEILAR: Working a fax machine.

CLINTON: Yeah. Secure a fax machine which is harder to work than the regular.

KEILAR: Different, yes.

CLINTON: So, yes, this is being blown up with no basis in law or in fact. That's fine, I get it. This is being, in effect, used by the Republicans in the Congress. OK. But I want people to understand what the truth is. And the truth is everything I did was permitted and I went above and beyond what anybody could've expected in making sure that if the state department didn't capture something, I made a real effort to get it to them. And I had no obligation to do any of that.

So, let's set the record straight. And those 55,000 pages, they will be released over the course of this year. People can again make their own judgment.

KEILAR: There has been a lot of controversies surrounding your family's foundation the Clinton Foundation, corporate and foreign donations that have gone to the foundation and the work that it does. Has it made you think -- seeing this controversy that has come about, has it made you think about, if you are president what will happen to the Clinton Foundation? Have you thought about perhaps shutting it down?

CLINTON: Well, let me start by saying, I am so proud of the Clinton Foundation. I am proud of the work that my husband started that my daughter continued. I'm proud of the very small role I played in being there for about a year and a half.

I'll give you an example of why and what the Clinton Foundation has done is so critical. When I became secretary of state, the United States government was using our tax dollars to treat 1.7 million people around the world with HIV-AIDS. I looked at the contracts of the Clinton Foundation had been negotiating to buy medicine and pass it through, working with foreign governments who provided the funding to buy the medicine to treat more people. So, we negotiated lower prices. By the time I left, thanks to contracts and work that the Clinton Foundation had done, the United States was treating 5.1 million people.

KEILAR: Let's talk now about Republicans. There are so many, but right now the front runner...

CLINTON: That's a big crew.

KEILAR: It is a big crew. Right now, the front runner is Jeb Bush. Can you believe that a quarter-century, after your husband was elected, there could be another Bush-Clinton race? CLINTON: Well, we'll see. That's up to, first the Republicans on his side, the Democrats on my side.

What's great about America is anybody can run for president. That is literally true. And you have to go out and you have to do what everybody else does. You have to make your case. You have to have your agenda. You have to raise the money. You have to work really hard.

So, whoever is nominated by their respective parties will be the nominee. And then, we'll see who's on the other side.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: I would like to talk about it. With me again, Chief National Correspondent John King, anchor of Inside Politics and CNN political analysis and New York Times' presidential campaign correspondent Maggie Haberman.

Maggie, just overall what do you -- how do you think she did in this? How do you think she comes across?

MAGGIE HABERMAN, NEW YORK TIMES PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN CORRESPONDENT: I think it was uneven. There were parts where she seemed very comfortable and parts where she did very well. There were parts where she seemed very uncomfortable specifically talking about the e-mails let's -- less so, the foundation actually. But talking about the e- mails that is clearly still the topic she is not really enjoying discussing.

And she said a couple of things that I was a little surprised, that I wondered there was no subpoena. There was a subpoena. But now, she may not consider it legitimate. She may not consider it -- she may consider it a political imagination but there was a subpoena.

She also said I didn't have to turnover anything. That did surprise me because it is technically true. There's no law, there's no anything but she was doing all of her business on this private e-mail and there certainly was some government business, some of these records are supposed to kept. There were regulations to that effect. They became much stronger after she left the state department. But there was some form of regulations in effect.

I think that Hillary Clinton is somebody who tends to get better over time. She is not a natural campaigner. She does not like doing these interviews typically. And so, she tends to need a while to get used to doing them again. And this reminded me why.

COOPER: Do you think that's why she is being kind of not doing any interviews for now that there -- this is kind of her getting her engine started?

HABERMAN: Sort of. I mean, I think that -- I think it's a couple of things. But I think primarily, look, when she says I wanted to run a campaign early on that was small where I can interact directly with voters. That is definitely true. And part of the campaigns aim was really sort of bringing this person who had been secretary of state, had been traveling around the world for four years, down to earth for a lack of a better way of putting it.

[21:35:03] It was about creating sort of a comfort zone for her. But at this point, what we saw over the weekend at this parade in New Hampshire where she was being screamed at by protesters that was out of her comfort zone. It was an uncontrolled event and the first one.

A national interview like this, this is out of her comfort zone historically. She's much better with the local press, always has been.

COOPER: John, if -- to Maggie's point, she needs kind of, you know, a time to kind of get up to speed as a candidate, the fact that she doesn't really have a lot of opponents is not then necessarily, you know, a positive for her.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's one way to look at it. A lot of people think that, you know, if you have much more competitive campaign, you'd come out of it a much more seasoned candidate.

She does say she will do some debates on the democratic side. We'll see how this one plays out. She, in the earlier part of the interview, she sort of just deflected or ducked the question about Bernie Sanders. Saying, you know, "Yeah, I guess he's running. I guess he's out there somewhere. Oh boy. I'm going to do what I'm doing."

Sanders is a, you know, a threat right now. Should Hillary Clinton be worried? Should her campaign be panicking? Absolutely not. If she handles this right, she can actually turn the Sanders campaign and the new voters and the energy it's bringing to process to her advantage if she handles it right.

But to Maggie's point though, look, you view this to the prism of some of the baggage, some of the untrustworthy numbers comes from memories of husband. Some of it is about her. Some of it is about him. Some of her animosity toward Republicans and the news media that comes from the investigation of the Bill Clinton days, it is so clear they've done this. They've attacked us forever. This is what they do. Now, this goes back to the '90s but she does not have Bill Clinton's political skills.

And I think, that doesn't mean she's not a presence. It doesn't mean she's not formidable. But she's not a visceral politician like he is. And we saw this in 2008. And we're seeing, as much as she is trying, as much as she is doing some things better, a better staff, a stronger staff, a leaner more aggressive staff this time, and she herself, I think to Maggie's point, is trying to take it slow and be cautious to get up to speed. She is who she is.

COOPER: It's interesting, you know, Maggie? Because I mean, the people who like her are fierce and know her are fiercely loyal to her and say that in small groups she is incredibly impressive. And yet on television, to your point earlier at least early on, that doesn't necessarily come across.

HABERMAN: When she is feeling the burden of sort of a political campaign, she tends to be very different. When she did her interviews with a couple of exceptions, for her book last year, she actually was pretty good. She made a couple of very high profile mistakes but generally speaking, she handled them well.

When there is pressure, she was good in the fall campaigning for other people. But doing for your self is very different. It is true that in smaller setting, she tends to be warm, engaging, funny. When she does off the record encounters with press which she really hasn't done this cycle, she tends to be much better.

The one thing she said that I was very struck by is essentially she said, and John kind of pointed to it, is character campaigns had been run against me and husband for years. And she made the point that this has been done against her in New York twice and she won as Senator. That is true.

Essentially, if she doesn't have any issues problem which she has is character problem, she's willing to make this about the Republican issues. And that is what you're going to see this race shooting it forward.

COOPER: Maggie, thank you, John King as well. Remember for all the latest political news, analysis, and opinion, go to CNNPolitics.com.

Just ahead, we have breaking news. The shooting death of the woman in San Francisco new details about the weapon used as the alleged killer who is in this country illegally enters a plea. And how the case is drawing fresh attention to so called Sanctuary Cities where federal immigration matters are not strictly enforced.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[21: 42:14]

COOPER: An undocumented immigrant pleaded not guilty the murder today in the shooting death of a woman on a San Francisco Pier. We're just getting words tonight about the gun used in that killing.

Sara Sidner joins me now live from San Francisco with the breaking news. So, what did you learned Sarah?

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, this case keeps getting more and more complicated or interesting if you will. A jog rapper today, a source with knowledge of the investigation told me that the gun that was used in this case actually trace back to a federal agency. The gun was owned by a federal agent. We don't know which agency yet, but it's certainly sparking a lot of talk in this town. This as, the suspect made his first appearance in court today.

Facing more to charges undocumented immigrant Juan Francisco Lopez- Sanchez told the judge he was not guilty in the killing of 32-year-old Kate Steinle. Even with the Spanish translator he didn't seemed to understand what was going on in court and answer the judge's questions about court date with the same answer, not guilty in Spanish.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUAN FRANCISCO LOPEZ-SANCHEZ, SUSPECT IN KILLING KATE STEINLE: (Speaking in Foreign Language).

SIDNER: Wednesday, Steinle was enjoying a walk along San Francisco Pier 14 with her father when she was suddenly struck with a bullet. As she lay in the ground, she pleaded with her father to help her. He tried. But she died at the hospital.

It was a random encounter but the details have sparked up political firestorm because Lopez-Sanchez was an undocumented immigrant, allowed out of jail just three months ago even after his record showed several felony convictions and five deportations to Mexico.

As a so-called Sanctuary City, San Francisco said it was following its own policy that prevented from holding non-violent offenders for immigrations and customs enforcement unless it has a court order.

ICE blames the local government for failing to notify it about Sanchez's released. But the local government says, ICE, didn't do what it was suppose to do.

SIDNER: Are you sort of saying that the Feds made a blunder here?

ROSS MIRKARIMI, SHERIFF OF SAN FRANCISCO: What I'm saying is that the laws are changing in municipalities throughout the state and throughout this country and I feel that the Feds need to really catch up and this was affirmed even in a meeting that I had with Homeland Security, Cabinet Secretary Johnson and their deputy director earlier this year we met with myself and other Bay Area Sheriffs to suggest our laws are changing.

What is it that the Feds are going to do in order to concert with our requirements because ultimately they still need an order from a judge in order to facilitate the deportation of somebody who had been incarcerated or once incarcerated.

SIDNER: ICE did not get a judges order. No matter who drop the ball in this case a family must mourn a daughter's life, and to their dismay, the case has become farther for yet another debate about a broken immigration system.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[21:45:04]

COOPER: Sara, the information you just reported at the top about this gun being a link to a federal agent, do we have any idea how a federal agents gun would have ended up in the hands of this guy?

SIDNER: You know, all we know is what we been hearing from him. He's been talking in a couple of different jailhouse interviews with some local stations here. He had said a few different stories. One of which about the gun that he found it when he stepped down and there was something under his foot, it was wrapped in a t-shirt and a gun was inside and he pick it up and it went off, in his words.

But he has told few variations of a story. We really don't know how this gun which authorities and a source has told me it's trace back to a federal agent ended up where he said he found it which was literally lying somewhere on the ground in San Francisco.

COOPER: And the defense attorneys, what did they say?

SIDNER: They had a little conference after this court appearance. He has got a couple of defense attorneys using the public defenders office because he said he cannot afford his own attorney.

They talked about the fact that they did not see him as a violent person that he has no prior violent convictions thought he does have a felony convictions. They also talked about his demeanor and his education saying that he has only what equates to about a second year education.

So, only from the second grade saying that, you know, he was having difficult understanding although they were asked directly "Did he understand the charges against him" and his attorney said "Yes, he did." But clearly in court, Anderson, watching his behavior, he did not quite understand some of the questions, very simple questions that the judge was asking him about court dates. He just kept saying, not guilty. Anderson.

COOPER: Sara Sidner, I appreciate the reporting.

Donald Trump says the case in San Francisco proves his point as, you know, when he announced, he was running for president, some describe illegal immigrants coming over for Mexico is killers and rapist and he hasn't stop describing them like that since.

He'd been a lot of repercussions, a lot of anger including on one of the Trump's own construction sites for Mexican immigrants are helping to build one of his luxury hotels, Joe Johns reports.

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JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just blocks from the White House in Downtown, Washington. Real state mogul Donald Trump is turning the old post-office pavilion into a luxury hotel that will bear his name.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It will be perhaps the most luxurious hotel when we finished anywhere in the world

JOHNS: Trump has touted the $20 million construction project on the campaign trail.

TRUMP: Well, I got it for two reasons. Number one, we're really good. Number two, we had a really good plan. And a lot in the third, we had a great financial segment.

JOHNS: That construction site has now become ground zero in the debate over illegal immigration, support by Trump's comments about Mexican immigrants last month. TRUMP: They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapist, and some I assumed are good people.

JOHNS: The "Washington Post" interviewed about 15 laborers at the D.C. hotel site reporting that many revealed they had entered the U.S. illegally. CNN spoke the four workers of Hispanic descent, none of whom would speak on camera for fear of losing their jobs and none would say whether they're legally resided in the U.S.

But they did express outrage over what they said where Trump's offensive remarks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking in Foreign Language).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking in Foreign Language).

JOHNS: One of their colleagues told CNN, he didn't know anyone on the project who was undocumented, while other said they were focused on the job, not the controversy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I don't give (inaudible) and, you know, I'm just out here and make me some money. That's it.

JOHNS: And a statement of Trump's spokesperson said, "The obligation to check all workers on site in exclusive to Lend Lease. The contractor on the project adding this of course assumes that the assertion regarding the employees' status is accurate."

So far, the controversy hasn't hurt Trump in the poles but it has affected his bottom line.

TRUMP: You're fired.

JOHNS: NBC dropped Trump's hit show, "The Apprentice." That network and Univision hold out of the Ms. USA and Ms. Universe pageant co- owned by Trump. Serta and Macy's also cut ties with the brash billionaire.

TRUMP: I'm really big on dressing for success.

For the people that say I'm doing it for my brand. This isn't good for my brand. I think it's bad for my brand. I don't care, you know, maybe I'm leading in polls but this is certainly not good. I lose customers. I lose people.

JOHNS: And tonight a list of those distancing themselves from Trump is growing the PGA announcing it will not hold it grand slam of golf tournament at Trump National and Los Angeles this year and it's looking for another venue.

Joe John, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Reminder, tomorrow I sit down with Donald Trump. Tune in for that. Interview tomorrow night on the 360, 8:00 P.M. Eastern right here on CNN.

Just to end tonight, a college quarterback kicked off his team facing criminal charges after he's caught in camera punching a young woman in the face.

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[21:53:44]

COOPER: Tonight, a college quarterback is facing criminal charges after he was caught in camera punching women in the face is also been kicked off his team. The incident happened two weeks ago but the surveillance video just been released, Coy Wire has details.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COY WIRE, CNN REPORTER: The video is shocking, Florida State Freshman Quarterback De'Andre Johnson seen here violently punching a young woman in a night club in Tallahassee, Florida. The fight caught on a night club surveillance camera shows Johnson bumping into a woman at the bar. Seconds later she raises her fist. He grabs her arm and she takes a swing of him. He responds with a swift blow to her face.

Court record say the victim suffered swelling of her left cheek and lip, bruising around her left eye and a cut on her nose. Johnson is now charged with misdemeanor battery.

Hours after the video became public, Florida State Head Football Coach Jimbo Fisher dismissed Johnson from the team. Today, FSU President John Thrasher supported the decision saying "While it is always important to adhere to due process, having now seen the physical altercation captured on video, there is no question in my mind that Coach Fisher made the correct decisions."

Student on campus were shocked when they saw the video of Johnson throwing a punch at the woman.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know why he would do that, especially when it's a woman, it's just like definitely not acceptable.

[21:55:01]

WIRE: Johnson's attorney Jose Baez says "Johnson reacted after the young woman yelled "racial epithets" at him. He says his clients is embarrassed and apologizes for his behavior. The 19-year-old is not the first FSU quarterback to make headlines off the field.

The team started last year Jameis Winston who became a number one NFL draft pick was accused of rape in 2012 but no charges were ever brought against him. The university investigated but didn't take any other action. The Johnson video is similar to the one shown by TMZ Sports of NFL Running Back Ray Rice.

In 2014, he viscously knocks out his then fiancee in a casino elevator in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Rice was let go by the Baltimore Ravens and has yet to find the team that wants to sign him. As for Johnson, his once promising career maybe over before it even begins.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: And Coy Wire joins us now. What's next for De'Andre Johnson?

WIRE: Good evening Anderson. So, Johnson is facing that misdemeanor battery charge in Florida which can get someone up to a year and jail up to a thousand dollar fine up to a year probation.

I spoke to an attorney today who says that Johnson's lucky is only be in charge with the misdemeanor and some state, he could have face much stiffer charges, maybe an aggravated assault.

Now Johnson's attorney Jose Baez says his now participating in faith- based service progress specifically those focus on battered women.

We'll see if that community work has enough impact when he faces the judge, Anderson, hearing scheduled for July 22nd. Now, as for this kid's football career, we don't know if Johnson is going to get a second chance to play college ball. He'd have to transfer, go to a different school, and it's possible and we'll keep you up to date on that story. Anderson.

COOPER: All right, Coy Wire, I appreciate it. Thank you very much. We'll be right back.

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