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DOJ Watchdog: FBI Still Fails Child Sex Abuse Victims Despite Reforms; Gov. Whitmer: Michigan Voters say No, Thank you to Trump on Economy; Quadruple Murder Suspect Wants Trial Moved, Claiming Bias. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired August 29, 2024 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: A critical report is out about the FBI and how it handles child sex abuse cases. An audit done by the Justice Department's Inspector General states this, despite reforms put in place after the botched investigation of disgraced USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, the FBI is still mishandling allegations of child sexual abuse.

We have CNN's Senior Justice Correspondent Evan Perez on this story. This is pretty stunning because they should have cleaned up their act after that giant, giant failure. What are the key failures mentioned in this audit?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Inspector General for the Justice Department went back and looked at a subset of cases, right? They looked at 327 cases and what they found was really concerning. They found that some of the same problems that happened in -- that they found after examining the Nassar case were happening again.

And among the problems that they found, they found that the FBI, that agents were not reporting some cases of abuse to local authorities. They were supposed to do that within 24 hours. That was not happening.

They found that in some cases, there was no indication or no record of investigative activity happening. Again, quickly, that it's supposed to happen quickly and they found repeatedly that that didn't happen.

And they also found that in some cases, you have agents that were juggling too many cases. And that's one reason why it appears that, you know, the investigations were not being handled the proper manner. And so one of the things that, you know, obviously that comes out of this is how do you respond after, especially after you've found the same problems back in 2021? Here's the FBI director back in 2021, after the Nassar investigation, responding to those victims in that case. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER WRAY, FBI DIRECTOR: I'm sorry for what you and your families have been through. I'm sorry that so many different people let you down over and over again. And I'm especially sorry that there were people at the FBI who had their own chance to stop this monster back in 2015 and failed.

And that is inexcusable. It never should have happened. And we're doing everything in our power to make sure it never happens again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREZ: And what the FBI -- what the FBI director there promised was this would never happen again.

[15:35:00]

They paid $138 million to settle with those athletes that were abused by Larry Nassar, while the FBI didn't really do much to investigate those.

KEILAR: And so you mentioned that it was a delay in some of these cases of checking in on things. There was one case where the FBI didn't follow up on a tip for more than a year?

PEREZ: For more than a year. And you know, again, this is what we asked this of the FBI officials. We had a call with the FBI officials who were responding to this.

And you know, they said that these were anomalies. They said in the vast majority of these cases, they did do investigative work. There were some paperwork issues, essentially, where they didn't document what they had done.

But that's a problem. Because if you pass on an investigation, for instance, to your local police, what they need to see is what the FBI did. And so that's a big, big part of this problem.

They also say that they're going to do some more training. They're going to launch some new training for the FBI agents around the country to make sure that this problem is fixed. Brianna, the issue is that they said this before.

And so it appears they're going to make sure this time that agents are trained and that they are doing the right thing with these cases. These are obviously the most vulnerable people that the FBI has to deal with and protect. And so they need to do better.

KEILAR: Yes, it's heartbreaking, truly. Evan, thank you. Great reporting. We appreciate it -- Boris.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Now to some of the other headlines we're watching this hour. A Florida man is scheduled to be put to death tonight after the Supreme Court declined to halt his execution. Loran Cole was convicted of murdering an 18-year-old man and then raping the victim's sister while the pair were camping.

Cole had argued that Florida's lethal injection procedure would cause him needless pain because he has Parkinson's disease.

And bad news for anyone planning to spend Labor Day at the Grand Canyon. The only water pipeline into Grand Canyon National Park has failed. Now all overnight hotel stays in the park are canceled through the holiday weekend, one of its busiest times of the year.

Also, Dollar General is warning that its shoppers are not spending as much as it was expecting. Its CEO says low-income Americans have to cut back on necessities and it faces stiff competition as other stores cut prices.

Any minute, former President Donald Trump is expected to speak in Michigan. The Republican recently sent out mailers there trying to distance Trump from the controversial Project 2025 conservative doctrine. But our next guest, a Michigan state senator, wants to make sure that doesn't happen.

You might recognize her from the Democratic National Convention. We'll be speaking with her live in just moments.

[15:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Happening right now, you're taking a live look at Potterville, Michigan. That's where we expect former President Trump to deliver remarks on the economy in just a few moments. Trump is back on the campaign trail for the first time this week, stopping by key swing states.

Later tonight, he travels to nearby Wisconsin, where he's hosting a town hall. And as we wait for Trump to take the podium in Michigan, the state's Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, is trying to cast the former president as a threat to the economy. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER, (D) MICHIGAN: Michiganders already know what Donald Trump would do to our economy, and it's a no thank you from us. When I came into office, Donald Trump had shipped Michigan jobs overseas, including thousands of auto jobs. He tried to undermine our unions every way that he could.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: That was during a call yesterday where Whitmer also tried to link Trump to Project 2025, a proposal that Democrats say is the conservative playbook for a second Trump term. We should note, publicly, Trump has disavowed Project 2025, but that hasn't stopped Democrats from keeping it in the spotlight like our next guest. You might remember Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow from the Democratic National Convention when she held up that giant copy of Project 2025. She joins us now live.

Mallory, thank you so much for being with us. I want to ask you about what Governor Whitmer said on that call, saying that Michiganders want to say no thank you to Donald Trump when it comes to the economy, because polls, including a new one from Quinnipiac, which was conducted entirely after the DNC, shows that the vice president lags behind Trump on who voters trust to handle the economy.

I'm wondering what you make of what the governor said versus what you're seeing in polling.

MALLORY MCMORROW, (D) MICHIGAN STATE SENATE: Look, I think the governor is right. And what's important to point out is that since Kamala Harris became the nominee, the gap between the Democratic candidate and Trump has closed. So when we saw polling from President Biden, we know there was a larger gap on the economy.

And the more that the vice president gets out there and talks about her message of affordable housing, new home buyer credits, rent issues, as well as really what Project 2025 does, which for a middle class family would result in a $3,900 tax increase annually. But if you're a multimillionaire, you could expect to see more than $300,000 in a tax cut. So there's more education to be done.

A lot of people are optimistic about Kamala Harris. But we know that Trump is going to favor his millionaire and billionaire friends, and it's going to hurt working class Michiganders.

[15:45:00]

SANCHEZ: It stands out to me that you sort of delve into some policy there. And yet some congressional Democrats, including Michigan Congressman Dan Kildee, have urged Harris to sort of stay vague on policy, to not get into the weeds, but to make this election a referendum on character. I'm wondering what you think of that.

MCMORROW: I think that it's a combination of both. You know, I'll be the first to say that in the 2020 primary, I was an Elizabeth Warren supporter. Nobody had more plans than Elizabeth Warren. And we saw that that wasn't enough for a lot of voters.

So what I'm telling voters is to pay attention to what each of the candidates focus on. Vice President Harris is talking about the things that matter, cost of living, our fundamental rights, our reproductive rights, our LGBTQ rights, water quality, climate change, the care economy, something that she is centering about child care and families.

And Donald Trump right now is all about grievance. He is still relitigating the 2020 election four years later. He is making this really a referendum on himself. He wants to get back into the White House to avoid jail time, to get out of lawsuits and to weaponize the government in a way that we would pay for.

So you've got to strike the right balance. I do believe, I agree with Congressman Kildee, this is about character, and it's about the issues that we will focus on as they matter to Michiganders and the American people.

SANCHEZ: Mallory, I want to ask you quickly about RFK because he suspended his campaign last week. He endorsed Donald Trump. But we found out earlier that he's not going to be able to take himself off the ballot in Michigan. How much support do you think he could pull from Vice President Harris?

MCMORROW: I think he pulls more support from Donald Trump. And I took a lot of heat months ago. I was on a call that the DNC had put together when RFK announced his running mate.

And I said then that RFK Jr. is just Donald Trump with a Kennedy name slapped on him. People told me that I was crazy, I was out of my mind. And you look at where we are months later, and he's falling in line.

He's endorsed Donald Trump. He is promoting dangerous conspiracy theories. The more that we learn about him as it relates to dropping a dead bear off in Central Park or apparently cutting a whale head off, it's just, you talk about character. It's not quality character. And I think that we see who he is, and I'm not worried about him pulling support from the vice president.

SANCHEZ: Some bizarre anecdotes in his background. Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow, we've got to leave the conversation there. Appreciate your perspective. Thanks for being with us.

MCMORROW: Thanks, Boris.

SANCHEZ: And we want to share this update with our viewers just into CNN.

Dana Bash saying that's a wrap. The first clip rolling out minutes from now from her interview with Vice President Kamala Harris and her VP nominee, Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota. Obviously a highly anticipated interview.

Again, the first clips are set to start coming out just moments from now. And, of course, be sure to tune in to the full interview tonight at 9 p.m. right here on CNN. NEWS CENTRAL continues in just a moment.

[15:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: We've been following a hearing about moving the quadruple murder trial of Brian Kohberger, the man accused of killing four University of Idaho students, from the town where it happened two years ago to the state capital of Boise, some 300 miles away. Kohberger's attorneys claim that he can't get a fair trial because the county jury pool is biased. They say there is a mob mentality in the community, and that a phone survey revealed residents are threatening to burn down the courthouse if Kohberger is not convicted.

CNN's Jean Casarez has been following the hearing for us. Jean, what is the update here?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the update is the hearing is continuing, and the second witness just got off the stand. Fascinating, a professor that specializes in human bias.

And what she said about people is that we form biases, and we don't even know we do, and it's very hard to change them. And she went to this case talking about that when Brian Kohberger was arrested, the police chief of Latah County, Moscow, said he was sure he has arrested the right person. And then the university president said, we've got the right man. And that was the beginning of the formation of bias in that county, the witness said. And then once people attend the vigils for the victims, they have those emotions. They don't want to let their community down.

And so then the defense said, so if we've got a room of people here, potential jurors for jury selection in Moscow, and all of a sudden Brian Kohberger enters the room, are people immediately going to have bias from this community? And she said, yes, they are.

Now, here is what's interesting, because the survey the defense expert did showed the following, what people are actually saying about Brian Kohberger.

They said they'd burn the courthouse down. Outrage would be a mild description. And this is if he's not convicted.

They would probably find and kill him. There would likely be a riot. And he wouldn't last long outside because someone would do the good old boy justice.

So that's what this expert in bias is saying.

But then on the other hand, the prosecution can cross-examine these witnesses. And they pointed out that in Boise, which is where the defense wants his trial, it's a state capital, largest city in the state, that for the first six months on a particular chart by the defense expert, that more media coverage was actually in the Boise area than Moscow.

[15:55:04]

And so it's going to be a very hard decision for the judge because a fair and impartial trial, especially this death penalty trial, is critical, especially for appellate reasons.

KEILAR: All right, Jean Casarez, watching this case carefully all along. Thank you for the update. And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Bark in the Park meet Hound on the Mound. Last night's Dodgers game was completely sold out. Fans coming in droves to get their hands on a bobblehead of their superstar, Shohei Ohtani.

[16:00:02]

And honestly, who can blame them? The bobblehead giveaway featured Ohtani holding his trusty dog, Decoy.

KEILAR: But that wasn't the only treat for fans. Decoy got to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. I mean, kind of here. Sort of carried it there. It was a rough night for the visiting Orioles, by the way, who fell 6-4 to the Dodgers.

Afterwards, Ohtani said it took him about three weeks to train Decoy to do that first pitch thing. You think your dog Harley could do that?

SANCHEZ: Absolutely not. Yes, she's very stubborn. She's not.

KEILAR: Three weeks? I believe in her.

SANCHEZ: Yes, I don't know about that. "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.

END