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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Ferguson Police Chief Resigns; Racist Chant; SAE Alumni: Song Going On For Years; Desperate Search for 11 Service Members

Aired March 11, 2015 - 16:00   ET

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

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Protesters said hey, hey, ho, ho, the Ferguson police chief had to go. And it looks like he's gone.

I'm Jake Tapper. This is THE LEAD.

The national lead. He said he would take action as necessary to fix the problems within Ferguson's police department, now CNN learning that apparently means giving up his shield, sources telling us he could formally announce this at any moment.

Also in national, two white frat boys caught on video chanting the N- word, they now admit they screwed up. The University of Oklahoma told them they need to find a new school to call home and now today SAE admitting that song and its vile lyrics have been chanted and taught at the fraternity for years.

The money lead. It was a catchy tune, but the court now saying that Robin Thicke and Pharrell, they stole it from Marvin Gaye, and it's going to cost them a pretty penny. But will music lovers everywhere end up being the ones who pay an even greater price? Oh, mercy, mercy me.

Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Jake Tapper.

Breaking news in our national lead. The Ferguson police chief, Thomas Jackson, has stepped down. This comes a day after the city's manager removed himself from office and a week after the Department of Justice berated Jackson's police officers.

In that report, the DOJ said that Ferguson police unfairly targeted African-Americans and found them guilty of systemic racial bias, essentially accusing the department of using black suspects as human ATMs to fill the city's coffers.

Jackson, of course, oversaw all of this, on top of the initial reaction to a wave of violence that gripped Ferguson after one of his police officers shot and killed Michael Brown last summer.

Let's get right to CNN's Sara Sidner.

Sara, these new details breaking over the past hour. Do we know right now what led Jackson to make this decision, and did he in fact resign already?

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I am told that he has resigned. We have not seen the paperwork yet. We have not seen the physical proof.

But I asked, has he resigned and is it effective immediately? In other words, is he saying I'm leaving today or I'm leaving but that will be next week or next month or six months from now? And I'm told that it is immediate. And so we are waiting to hear. We expect to hear from Ferguson officials shortly.

We were told potentially in the next half-hour or so that we will hear something official. But my sources have been saying that, yes, indeed he was -- told them he was going to resign earlier today. We held that information, waiting to hear from Thomas Jackson himself, from the police chief. He did not respond to our many calls and texts, so we don't have a response from him yet.

But we do know that he is expected to be out today of the department. And, as you mentioned, he was -- not just his officers, but he himself was mentioned in that DOJ report, as well as Judge Brockmeyer and the city manager.

And what have we noticed about this? That all three of them have left within this past week. We saw the city manager resign, to some people's surprise, by the way, yesterday. Today, we are seeing the police chief resign and a couple of days ago, we saw Judge Brockmeyer resign, all of their names in the police report, all of their positions in that DOJ report.

And so I think what you are seeing is a reaction to the DOJ report, because, as you know, for months now, there has been a lot of folks who have been protesting the Ferguson Police Department, saying they want to see the police chief resign. To be fair, there are people in that community who I have spoken with myself who do not want to see the police chief resign, nor do they want to see the police department completely dissolved.

And one of the things we are told by my source is that the police chief wanted to resign on his own terms because he wanted to try to make sure that the police department stayed intact, in other words, that it was not taken over or just completely dissolved and then -- or run by the DOJ. He wanted to try to make sure of that.

You know that he cannot make sure of that. That is something that has to happen in the future and it is whether or not the department and city of Ferguson actually does and works with the DOJ, which they have said they will -- Jake.

TAPPER: And just to remind our viewers, Ferguson is within Saint Louis County, and it would not be unprecedented for a town like Ferguson to dissolve its police department and just have the Saint Louis County police take over that area. That happened, in fact, to the former force where Darren Wilson used to be a police officer, right, Sara?

SIDNER: In Jennings, that's correct, right next door, walking distance from Ferguson. That did happen. You will see the Saint Louis County police that are now patrolling that city. So it is not unprecedented, and there has been a political push, by

the way, to bring all these very small departments under one big umbrella. That's been going on for a long time. It's called the Better Together initiative. So there is some political maneuvering going on behind the scenes, behind -- long before there was an incident with Michael Brown, that they have been looking at these small departments and saying, do we really need all these departments? Should we not have this taken over by one bigger umbrella, Jake?

TAPPER: All right, Sara Sidner, thank you so much.

What does the resignation of the police chief mean for this community, which is still very divided?

Let's go live now to Redditt Hudson. He's a former Saint Louis police officer.

Redditt, thanks for joining us.

Do you think Chief Jackson needed to do what he apparently is doing today, resign?

REDDITT HUDSON, FORMER SAINT LOUIS POLICE OFFICER: Yes. I think the chief needed to go. I think the mayor needs to go. And what it's doing for the community, the part of the community that I have been in touch with, is lifting it.

There have been months and months of protests on the streets describing the lived realities of people on the ground who had contact with Ferguson police over the years. And there was a culture of institutional racism and a lack of accountability that was made clear in the Department of Justice report. And I think it was incumbent upon Chief Jackson to leave.

TAPPER: All right, so we have the Ferguson city manager, the police chief pending and then, of course, this judge also mentioned in the DOJ report, a scathing report about Ferguson.

Is that going to be enough to restore the trust that the people of Ferguson want to have in law enforcement and the city?

HUDSON: No. Not even close.

You're talking about a culture and a history that's shaped the relationship that you saw blow up last August on the streets in front of the country. There has to be systemic change, deep-rooted change, not just in Ferguson, but across the country. We have to come to grips as a nation with the impact that institutional racism and lack of accountability has on interactions between the police and the communities that they serve.

And I don't think anyone in Ferguson that I know is going to be satisfied with Chief Jackson's departure, the city manager's departure, the judge's departure. Those things should have happened, necessarily, but deeper change is what's required here. And that's going to take officers on the departments around the country to really address the issues that have plagued police culture for years.

I don't know that the officers on Ferguson's police department are capable of it.

TAPPER: And what do you think should be the most important consideration when it comes to finding a replacement for Chief Jackson?

HUDSON: Someone who understands the history of our country, of police-community relations in the country and the importance of building a relationship with the community that you serve ahead of crises like the ones we saw over the last several months.

You want to build a relationship and build trust with people before you have a negative encounter. Every encounter between police and community members doesn't have to be punitive. It doesn't have to be about punishment. It can be about a regard for building a connection that is vital to both sides going forward.

We need the community. The community needs us. Why wouldn't you work on building a relationship there based on trust, transparency, honesty and respect, all of which were lacking in Ferguson and so many departments around the country?

TAPPER: Redditt Hudson, thank you so much, as always.

HUDSON: Thank you.

TAPPER: Nearly 400 miles away from Ferguson in Madison, Wisconsin, a rally is just now getting under way to protest the police shooting that killed an unarmed man in that community and what some call a desperate need for criminal justice reform nationwide.

Tony Robinson, who is biracial, was shot and killed on Friday by a white police officer. The officer says he was assaulted just before he fired his weapon. A spokesperson for Robinson's family came out this week saying this was not about mistrusting the police department. They just want the facts.

But that's not exactly the sentiment of many in the hundreds of protesters who have been taking to the streets.

CNN's Ryan Young is now live for us in Madison, Wisconsin.

Ryan, the crowd expected to be as big today as we have seen in recent days, where it numbered in the hundreds?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They were expecting that.

Of course, we were there Monday with them as 1,000 or so marched into the capital and they are still gathering at this point. You can see behind me and hear the noise they are making. They want to make sure that everyone knows about Tony Robinson.

In fact, family members have shown up with shirts just like this one to make sure that people remember what the focus is here. On Monday, we watched them march into the capital. They want to do the same thing. So they have organized this completely, with having everyone coming into this basketball court area and they're telling them exactly kind of what coordinated march steps they want them to take.

They even have refreshments out here. But what you will notice is a lot of the people who have showed up to march are young people. In fact, we have seen tons of young people getting off the buses, because they want to make sure they tell us their voices are heard. They are out there practicing their chants and they're walking now out to start this protest as we speak.

TAPPER: Ryan Young, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

In our national lead: Two students expelled from school after playing -- quote -- "a leadership role" in the singing of a racist song are speaking out. And now the fraternity is admitting that song, that horrendous song, has been sung at that fraternity for years -- all that next.

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TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD.

The national lead now: Sigma Alpha Epsilon says it is now looking into whether a racist chant that got two members kicked off the campus of the University of Oklahoma is being used at other chapters across the country. This comes as the board of trustees and alumni of SAE's chapter at the school released a new apology today acknowledging that the chant has been going on for years and was, quote, "not immediately stopped".

The national fraternity has said all along the chant which includes the "N" word and mocking references to lynching is not part of the fraternity's tradition but in a nine-second video released online, a busload of members of the fraternity can be heard singing the disgraceful lyrics in unison. They don't appear to be holding lyrics sheets.

The two expelled students have now apologized. One of them saying the chant was taught to them.

Let's go to CNN's Miguel Marquez, who's in Norman, Oklahoma.

Miguel, what can you tell us about these new investigations?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There is a lot going on. The national chapter of the SAE clearly laying blame at the feet of the chapter itself, saying that they are the ones that taught it and now, the attorney general of Oklahoma saying that he is on standby waiting to hear from the University of Oklahoma here for any possible criminal charges. This as the two individuals have already been expelled and are asking, begging, for forgiveness.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CROWD: Not on our campus! Not on our campus! MARQUEZ (voice-over): "Not on our campus," chants OU students of all races, descending on the now shuttered SAE fraternity house.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Deal with racism and confront it. This is what I want Norman, Oklahoma, to be able to do. Do you all hear me?

MARQUEZ: The fallout from this video, gathering steam as students or their parents apologizing, begging forgiveness in separate statements. Nineteen-year-old Parker Rice told the "Dallas Morning News", "I admit it likely was fueled by alcohol consumed at the house before the bus trip but that's not an excuse. Yes, the song was taught to us but that, too, doesn't work as an explanation."

SAE's national leadership reiterated it does not teach or use the song in any way, adding, "Our investigation has found very likely that the men learned the song from the fellow chapter members."

The controversy reaching Rice's Dallas home as signs placed in their front yard saying, "Racism is taught". The family now in hiding due to threats.

The parents of Levi Pettit, the other student expelled, called their son's behavior a horrible mistake, adding, "We know his heart and he's not a racist. We raised him to be loving and inclusive and we all remain surrounded by a diverse, close-knit group of friends."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: Now, there are other reports out there of this song or something similar to it being used at other SAE chapters outside of Oklahoma in other states. There was one at the University of Texas in Austin. That fraternity has come out very strongly to say it was never used there, that it was a mistaken identity, that it was them that claimed it was done.

So, fraternities now stepping up out into the light, disavowing any connection to this song or this chant, literally saying it's only happening here at Oklahoma -- Jake.

TAPPER: Miguel, it's still so stunning to watch this video. I mean, especially with the anniversary, 50th anniversary of Selma occurring over the weekend. More than two people were singing that song, yet as far as I can tell, there have only been disciplinary actions against two of them.

Is there going to be more action against others?

MARQUEZ: That is the expectation, that the university being very, very tight-lipped and keeping that very close to the vest right now. They are only saying that the investigation is ongoing. More disciplinary actions are possible, including more expulsions -- Jake.

TAPPER: Miguel Marquez, thank you so much.

When we come back, a desperate search for 11 service members missing after their Black Hawk helicopter crashed. The latest on the rescue efforts, next.

Plus, they argued Marvin Gaye was inspiration for their hit song "Blurred Lines". But now, Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke have been ordered to pay his family $7 million. Insiders in the music industry say the jury is dead wrong. Why? That's ahead.

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TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

We have some other national news right now. A desperate search is on for 11 service members missing and presumed dead after their Black Hawk helicopter crashed during a nighttime training exercise off the Florida Panhandle. Seven Special Operations, Marines, and four soldiers were on board when the chopper went down near Eglin Air Force Base.

Human remains and debris have regrettably washed ashore.

Let's go right to CNN's Victor Blackwell who is live from Hammond, Louisiana, from where the helicopter took off.

Victor, do we know what might have caused this crash yet?

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Well, we are told that Army safety inspectors at Fort Rucker in Alabama will make the final decision but the discussion now is the weather. We have reported that there was really thick fog near Eglin Air Force Base when these training missions were happening. In fact, the fog was so thick the major general at Louisiana Army National Guard who spoke just a moment ago, Major General Glenn Curtis, says that the second Black Hawk that was attempting to engage in these training missions determined not to take off and turned back because the fog was just too thick.

Now, there will be an inspection of the wreckage and the records, but that will be, we are told, a very lengthy process to determine exactly what caused this accident -- Jake.

TAPPER: Other than the fog, do we have any other details about the training exercise that was being conducted?

BLACKWELL: Well, I spoke with the spokesperson at Camp Lejeune, Captain Barry Morris, and he says this was a seven-day training exercise involving amphibious operations. Basically these marines would be dropped into the water and then extracted by helicopter. He would not say specifically in which phase of the training they were on Tuesday night.

But in the relationship, the conversation about the fog, the major general here says that these pilots have to train in fog and they are trained in many ways to, at some point, not to fly visually but to fly using the technology and the men, we know that all 11 people on board this chopper, they were all men, that they have thousands of hours in conditions like this and in clear conditions as well, Jake.

TAPPER: Anything else we know about these 11 service members, seven marines, four soldiers, not inexperienced. What else?

BLACKWELL: Well, we know about the members of the Louisiana Army National Guard. The marines, they are not saying much yet about those seven men. But we know that the members of the 1244th Assault Helicopter Battalion -- they were deployed back in 2004, 2005, 2008 and '09 into the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Also, three of the men from this battalion were involved in the rescues back in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina, literally plucking people off the rooftops as we watched of course the city of New Orleans and the flood there involved an oil spill on the Mississippi.

So, this is a group with heroic past and they are hurting today. The hundreds of members of the 1244th now have lost four of their own. We are told the major general will be sitting with these four families in person as they wait for this now search and rescue effort to continue, hoping for a miracle that one of them will be found alive.

TAPPER: Victor Blackwell, reporting live from Louisiana, thank you so much.

Joining me on the phone to talk more about this crash is Jasmine Porterfield, spokeswoman for Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, where the Black Hawk took off from.

Jasmine, thanks for being with us.

Can you give us the latest on the investigation into what may have caused this tragedy?

JASMINE PORTERFIELD, SPOKESWOMAN, EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE (via telephone): Well, right now, we do have investigation teams on the ground looking at site area where the helo potentially went down. Unfortunately, with the investigation process, that will take some time before any assumptions are made as to what was the cause of the accident.

As of now, our main focus is performing an active search and rescue mission and until that is complete, then we'll move on to the investigation aspect of this incident.

TAPPER: There apparently was a second helicopter involved in the same training mission last night, but it returned safely to base, thankfully. Are you hearing anything from that crew?

PORTERFIELD: Not yet. No. No. Like I said, our focus right now is just on search and rescue. We are out there. We have approximately more than 100 folks canvassing the ground, the waters, looking for debris. We solicited the aid of local area residences to also assist in the event that they discover or come across something on their own personal property.

We are looking at a 51 square mile radius. So this is canvassed quite a bit across the water and land. So, it's a huge effort under way.

TAPPER: This is still being called a search and rescue mission, not search and recovery, meaning the military is still holding out hope there may be a survivor?

PORTERFIELD: Yes. Yes, we are.

TAPPER: There obviously was fog last night as well. Is that still hampering the search and rescue effort?

PORTERFIELD: At this point, it was this morning. It cleared up for a short while, while search and rescue efforts were still under way. The fog is currently creeping back in, so we are waiting to hear how that will affect or not affect the current efforts out there.

So, at this point, it could remain a factor later into the evening as to how this continues.

TAPPER: Jasmine Porterfield, spokeswoman for Eglin Air Force Base, thank you so much. Our thoughts with the military and family members of those affected by this.

The world lead now: just as Iraqi troops seem to be making gains against ISIS in one key city, another city, one much closer to American troops, is under attack from all directions by ISIS terrorists. This as President Obama's plan to fight the terrorist group comes under attack rhetorically at home. And that's next.

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