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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Robert Durst Arrested; CNN/ORC Poll: Trustworthiness Down 6 Percent From Year Ago; Blackberry Unveils New Porsche-Designed Smartphone; Cyclone Flattens Homes On Pacific Island. Aired 4:30- 5:00p ET

Aired March 16, 2015 - 16:30   ET

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

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16:34:00

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

In other national news today, a trail of bloody corpses and strange disappearances seemed to follow him for over 30 years, but law enforcement was never able to make anything stick. But now the bizarre tale of itinerant cross-dressing millionaire Robert Durst may end with a surprising twist.

Durst, of course, is the eldest son of New York real estate royalty. He appeared in a New Orleans courtroom today. Prosecutors in Los Angeles want him back in California to face charges for one of the cases, an execution-style murder of his best friend 15 years ago.

And just last night, as you likely know, a jaw-dropping moment in an HBO documentary in which Durst was seemingly caught confessing to all the murders, muttering to himself in the bathroom on a hot mike.

<16:35:10:> (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT DURST, SUSPECT: What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Want to get to CNN's Miguel Marquez.

Miguel, that incredibly creepy moment captured on tape, just stunning, and just the latest turn in this very, very strange story. Police have been trying to put him away for decades.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The twists do not stop in this one. By the way, that strange noise he made just before he said "I killed them all, of course" was him burping. He had done it on camera earlier as he got more and more nervous, that interview actually shot about two years ago. The filmmakers didn't realize until several months ago that he had actually made that admission on tape and now facing charges again. This time, though, his legal woes seem self-inflicted. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DURST: There it is. You're caught.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Robert Durst mumbling to himself in the bathroom, seemingly admitting to murder.

DURST: Killed them all, of course.

MARQUEZ: All of them could be a reference to the death or disappearance of three people close to Durst, the scion of a multimillionaire New York City real estate magnate.

First, his young wife Kathy disappeared in 1982 after arguing with Durst, her body never found. When investigators reopened that case in 2000 and requested an interview with Durst's friend Susan Berman, she was then murdered execution-style inside her L.A. home on Christmas Eve.

Soon after, Durst moved to far-off Galveston, Texas, claiming he wanted to escape his New York notoriety. He went so far as to pose as a woman, masquerading in a wig and pretending to be mute to hide his husky voice. But the shadow of death followed him to Texas and he was soon arrested for the murder of his neighbor, Morris Black, whose dismembered body was found floating in pieces in Galveston Bay.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not guilty.

MARQUEZ: Unbelievably, Durst beat the charges by claiming self- defense, even though he admitted to cutting the body into pieces.

All three cases back in the spotlight after Durst agreed to talk to filmmaker Andrew Jarecki for his new HBO series. During their interview, Jarecki confronts Durst with a letter telling police back in 2000 the location of the body of his longtime friend Susan Berman. The filmmakers in their exhaustive research found another letter Durst had previously sent to Berman, the address on both envelopes written in near identical block letters and the same misspelling of the word Beverly.

When confronted, Durst becomes nervous, even burping uncomfortably on camera.

DURST: Would conclude they were both written by the same person.

MARQUEZ: Durst's lawyer calls the bathroom admissions ramblings and that his client admitted nothing.

DICK DEGUERIN, ATTORNEY FOR ROBERT DURST: Bob Durst didn't kill Susan Berman. He's ready to end all the rumor and speculation and have a trial.

MARQUEZ: Filmmaker told Andrew Jarecki "GMA" the critical interview was done over two years ago, but didn't realize Durst's off- camera admission until more recently. Long before Durst's arrests, he went to police and said, you might want to hear this. ANDREW JARECKI, DIRECTOR: It was so chilling to hear it. It was

disturbing to hear it. It makes you very uncomfortable to hear it. That's probably where...

(CROSSTALK)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: Now, you would think that all this was going to be simple, as Mr. Durst was in a Louisiana court this morning and said -- waived his rights to extradition, said he will go right out to Los Angeles and face charges there. But, of course, it's not that simple.

The authorities there found a .38 pistol in his hotel room, so they may hold him there on charges in Louisiana until that is dealt with. Then he can go to California and deal with the murder charges -- Jake.

TAPPER: Miguel Marquez, thank you so much.

Let's bring in Anne Bremner. She's a criminal defense attorney and a former prosecutor. She has closely followed the Durst case for more than a decade.

Anne, this on-mike moment, is it admissible in court?

ANNE BREMNER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I think it well can be. This case has had so many weird twists and turns. It's just stranger than fiction, of course.

So it's a live mike. We all know, I have got a mike on, mikes are live. And the fact of the matter is, the question is does he have a reasonable expectation of privacy in what he said under those circumstances? You could say he's in a bathroom, he has a right to privacy, but on the other hand he has a live mike.

I would argue that it comes in, and I think the prosecutors can get that into evidence. And that's why they're using it now to charge him.

TAPPER: Let's talk about that other key piece of evidence that Miguel just described. It has to do with this anonymous tip letter to police that led them to Susan Berman's body, and the handwriting and misspelling of the word Beverly matching identically with a letter that Durst wrote to Berman.

<16:40:05> How would Durst's defense dispute this?

BREMNER: Well, I know. It's going to be near impossible. He misspells Beverly in both of them.

And the fact of the matter is that that was a relatively strong case back over a decade ago. It was arguably so. And it's like there are three things in life that are certain, death, taxes and karma. Is this karma now coming back to Bobby, or Robert, Durst after these decades of corpses left behind him? This has now become what looks like a relatively strong case, especially with those two notes.

TAPPER: Let's assume that there is enough new evidence to charge Durst. Is there enough to convict?

BREMNER: Well, prosecutors charge on probable cause, plus. It's basically, would a jury be justified in convicting based on the beyond a reasonable doubt standard and based on looking at the admissible defenses? That's how they charge. That really gets you closer to beyond a reasonable doubt than probable cause.

So the fact is I think this kind of a case could really convince a jury, especially if they bring in the fact that she was ready to talk to the authorities, Ms. Berman, about the disappearance of his ex-wife, Kathy, in New York when she was shot in the back of the head. Keep in mind, that note talked about her being dead, a cadaver would be found in her house, and it was.

TAPPER: You were a commentator for both CNN and Court TV on that 2003 case that seems in retrospect an open-and-shut case. He admits to killing his neighbor. He said it was an accident, but then he dismembers his body. What more do we know about that? Why was he acquitted?

BREMNER: Well, he relied on self-defense. He had a great line, not a great line, but a really interesting one. He said I didn't mean to kill my friend, but I did mean to dismember my friend.

That's what he said. He confessed. He talked to the jury about having done this. But he argued self-defense. It defies reason that he was acquitted. And, remember, when that verdict came in, the jaw that dropped the farthest was his. Everyone in the courtroom was astonished. He was the most astonished.

The fact is, that was a gift. He had a great lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, a great jury consultant, Robert Hirschhorn, both of whom I know and respect, and that's what happened in that case. But he also argued and there was an argument about some Asperger's syndrome that he had and some other issues that might have led him to act as he did claiming self-defense.

TAPPER: Guy has more lives than a cat.

BREMNER: Yes.

TAPPER: Attorney Anne Bremner, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

BREMNER: My pleasure.

TAPPER: The politics lead now.

A new poll on Hillary Clinton's e-mail debacle. Are voters satisfied with her explanation about why she kept a private e-mail account during her public days as secretary of state? We will share some brand-new polling results next. And the money lead, can we call it a comeback? BlackBerry's new

design going after the trendier, more lavish consumer, but is it worth $2,000?

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16:46:41

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. Our Politics Lead, happening now, as they say, a new CNN poll out right now finds the public's perception of Hillary Clinton's honesty and trustworthiness has dropped after it was revealed she used a personal e-mail account to conduct official business while serving as secretary of state.

There is some good news for Hillary Clinton as well. Let's talk about it all and the story behind the numbers with CNN chief national correspondent, John King, and CNN senior political correspondent, Brianna Keilar. Thank you both for being here.

So John, Democrats say this is all silly stuff and voters don't care. That is true according to the poll?

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No, they do care. Majority voters in this poll, 51 percent say her use of personal e- mail is a serious problem. Now 48 percent say it's not so Hillary Clinton evenly dividing the American people. We should get used to that.

Fifty one percent say it's a serious problem, Jake, 51 percent also think she did something wrong. She is taking a hit. How lasting will it be? Will be politically hurtful? We'll see.

TAPPER: Brianna, she may announce her candidacy as soon as next month, we are told. As she gears up and gets the campaign going, where are her favorability ratings?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: They are pretty good right now, 53 percent according to this new CNN/ORC poll. The thing is, look at that compared to a year ago. It's dropped from 59 percent, but she after leaving the State Department, it was really considered that her favorability was pretty sky-high as she became more political, it was going to come down.

But also look at her unfavorability right now, it's 44 percent. That's actually the highest unfavorable ranking she has had since she was campaigning for president the last time.

TAPPER: Wow. That's pretty high considering the 2008, the bruising they took. John, what do Americans think about her explanation as to why she used this private personal server instead of the State Department account?

KING: In the view of a majority of Americans, she's not done explaining is the best way to put it. If you look at the numbers, has she explained it, 46 percent say, yes, and 51 percent say no. Again, close evenly divide right there. But clearly, we know

that Benghazi Select Committee wants to bring her up at least twice they say. Speaker John Boehner on the Republican side is considering some other investigation. She will give interviews when she announces, we assume. So she has more explaining to do.

TAPPER: What about Democrats? What do they think?

KING: That's the interesting thing. If you look at the partisan break down, 68 percent of Democrats say yes, she has done enough, but 30 percent say no. If there were a credible challenger to Hillary Clinton, that 30 percent saying no, she hasn't done enough would be an opening.

That challenger just isn't on the field right now. We don't see that challenger out there. If you look at the Republicans, 19 percent of Republicans say she has done enough. Eight in ten say she has not. Independents evenly split.

If you look deep into the poll she does very well with Democrats. She does pretty well with independents and of course, Republicans don't like her.

TAPPER: Brianna, the issue with this e-mail problem is that Democrats fear it will feed into this issue that some people have with her trustworthiness. Where is her trustworthiness on the poll? What do people think about it?

KEILAR: It's at 50 percent right now and that is down six points from a year ago. So this may be the e-mail controversy, this could also be the fact that she's becoming more of a political figure, but we look at these dips in poll numbers.

And I think what's also interesting is take a look at this one question that really sticks out to us. What would people surveyed say they are proud to have her as their president, 57 percent say yes and 42 percent say no. But that 57 percent is up from 50 percent a year ago.

<16:50:08> So I think that speaks right now to the kind of historic nature that if she were to be the first female president, that's something that she certainly I think agrees with, we keep hearing her very much --

TAPPER: The weird numbers to reconcile because most people saying they don't accept her explanation, she needs to explain more, and yet, 57 percent would be proud to call her madam president.

KING: She is viewed as somebody of great stature and somebody of gravitas. You get that without a doubt. You make a key point, whenever you read a poll about Hillary Clinton. There are some numbers that just seem contradictory.

People view her stature, but they have doubts about her honesty. Democrats love her. Independents aren't so sure they go back and worth. So I would say the best thing about this poll is it's a great benchmark and great beginning line as she begins to run.

Let's look back at six and nine months as she goes through this campaign to see if the honesty and trustworthy numbers change. If that unfavorable keeps going up or if she is static.

Most people think they know Hillary Clinton. So my big question is do her numbers move that much, does she go up a little bit and down with the daily news story or can you move her a lot? I don't know.

TAPPER: Do the people in her orbit look at how they handled the two weeks of post-story about the e-mail as boy, we really blew it? Even just last week, a bunch of us including me were reporting that she did not individually review the personal e-mails she deleted.

That she just went through the e-mails, did search words, found words and assumed which ones were personal and which one weren't, and then deleted the ones that didn't crop up with --

KEILAR: And that they weren't reviewing everything.

TAPPER: Over the weekend they called me and said, no, that's not right.

KEILAR: I think, yes. They said actually we took for granted, right, is what we were told, that people realized that they reviewed every e- mail. I think what they would say is they are sort of a small shop doing a big shop's work and they are not fully equipped as a campaign.

This is a complaint I have been hearing from her circle for a long time now, but we are expecting that the campaign could be launching here in the next few weeks and then we will really, they will be tested.

TAPPER: Brianna Keilar, John King, thank you. Great work. Appreciate it as always.

Coming up next, a chain of islands slammed by a wall of water, most homes and buildings wiped out. Authorities call it the worst disaster to ever hit the pacific. Could the death toll rise as aid workers reach the country's far-flung corners? That's next.

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16:56:39

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. Time now for our Money Lead, there is no substitute for a Porsche, but if you don't have a spare $50,000 just sitting in your bank account, maybe you can scrounge up $2,000 for a Porsche phone?

Former world heavyweight smartphone champ, Blackberry is out with a new device designed to buy the car makers. It's got that classic keyboard you fell in love with all those years ago back in 2007.

It also has some leather like a steering wheel, but its engine is a little lacking. The phone holds only 64 gigs and its battery life will struggle to get you from zero to 60.

In other money news, the media capital of the world is probably New York, tech, Silicon Valley, music, maybe L.A. or Nashville. But this week, all three worlds make for a hipstery marriage in Austin, Texas. South by Southwest is under way.

This year more than ever, innovators are trying to bring science fiction to the real world and hope investors take notice. There are drones with tasers. There are motorcycle helmets with heads up displays even a robot petting zoo.

But the frontrunner to turn buzz into bundles of cash is Meercat. It's an app that lets you livestream your life, your own personal version of the "Truman Show."

The app's developers, though, are already facing a new hurdle. Twitter, which got its first 140 character taste of success at that festival, blocked some of the Meercat's functionality.

In world news, death and destruction swept through the remote island nation of Vanuatu this weekend as Tropical Cyclone Pam made landfall. CNN's Bill Weir recently visited the pristine coast line for his show "THE WONDER LIST" and captured these pre-storm breathtaking images.

Now sadly, that paradise is barely recognizable. Eleven people have been confirmed dead, thousands are now homeless and displaced as the urgent humanitarian effort continues.

CNN senior international correspondent, Ivan Watson, is in Vanuatu. He got an up close look at the incredible devastation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It takes a view like this to give you a sense of the sheer power of the wind of Cyclone Pam when she ripped through here on Friday night. Tearing trees in half and damaging nearly every building in this area.

Some houses were quite simply flattened. Fortunately, residents tell me nobody in this neighborhood was hurt in this terrible storm and that's due in large part to training and preparation.

Where was everybody on the night of the storm?

THOMAS NANGUI, COMMUNITY DISASTER COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: Everybody was inside the evacuation center.

WATSON: This church right here.

NANGUI: This church.

WATSON: That was part of the plan?

NANGUI: Of course, that was part of the plan. The church is the main evacuation center due to cyclones.

WATSON: Do you think that saved lives?

NANGUI: Of course, it did.

WATSON: The church is still serving as a temporary shelter for dozens of people from this community. There is still no electricity three days after the storm. There is still no running water and untold thousands and thousands of people made homeless.

A bigger problem is nobody really knows the extent of the damage or the potential loss of life on dozens of other islands of Vanuatu, one of the poorest countries in the Pacific. Ivan Watson, CNN, in Port Vila, Vanuatu.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: Our thanks to Ivan Watson for that report. Make sure to follow me on Twitter @jaketapper and @theleadcnn, also have a Facebook page. That's it for THE LEAD today. I'm Jake Tapper. Turning you over right now to one Mr. Wolf Blitzer, who is right next door in "THE SITUATION ROOM" -- Wolf.