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Republicans in Shutdown Fight; Pope Gives Interview; Piano Man Plays in Flooded Home; McCain Fires Back at Putin; Crazy Toledo Cop Video Goes Viral

Aired September 19, 2013 - 14:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, thank you.

I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Top of the hour, one day closer to the first of October. One day closer to a possible government shutdown. And now something approaching really a civil war has broken out among conservatives about who hates Obamacare the most and who is most willing to shut the government down to keep it from working.

Here's an idea for you as far as what we have been seeing when we talk about disdain for Obamacare. This is an ad out today from a self- describing Libertarian outreach group. Take a listen.

(VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: OK. So those folks don't like Obamacare much. No doubt about that. Neither does House Speaker John Boehner. Today, here he was. He announced that he has scheduled yet another vote to try to quote/unquote defund the law.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: The law is a train wreck. And it's going to raise costs. It's destroying American jobs. And it must go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So that is Speaker Boehner. Clearly, he doesn't like Obamacare. Neither does Republican Ted Cruz of Texas. You see him there today. He has led the Senate's push to defund Obamacare.

But now you've got these House Republicans suggesting that Cruz's disdain for the health care law doesn't run deeply enough. I want you to take a look at this tweet. This is from my colleague, our chief congressional correspondent Dana Bash. This is what she got from a House Republican leadership aide to Texas lawmaker Wendy Davis. This is a quote. "Wendy Davis has more balls than Ted Cruz does." Huh. Suffice to say, that unnamed Republican leadership aide isn't impressed with Cruz's commitment to the anti-Obamacare fight. By the way, Cruz just said he will do anything, anything, to try to shut down Obamacare. Bottom line here, government shutdown looming. And to avoid it, you will eventually need some Republicans working with some Democrats. And, right now, the Republicans are not working among themselves.

So a lot of threads here. Here to help us try to sort them all out is Chris Frates, national correspondent for "The National Journal."

So, Chris, nice to see you. Boy, oh, boy. You know, first of all you have Congress, right? We covered this some time ago. Congress passes a law, in this case Obamacare, and then some of its members turn around and essentially try to sabotage it. Again, I repeat, it's a law. Certainly not the way that the founding fathers maybe drew this thing up.

CHRIS FRATES, NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, "NATIONAL JOURNAL": Well, that's right, Brooke. And you're absolutely correct when you say it's a civil war here, because even though we just saw John Boehner get up and say that this is a terrible law, it's unworkable and they need to take another shot at getting rid of it. This was not a fight he wanted to pick in the context of the fiscal showdown that we have. This is not a fight that House Republican elders believe that they can win.

Now, the conservatives have pushed them into tying the defunding of Obamacare to the continuing funding of the government and to the debt limit and raising that so the government doesn't default on the bills it's already racked up. But all of Washington understands that this is not something that the Senate Democrats are going to allow -

BALDWIN: Right.

FRATES: Or frankly that President Obama wants to see.

BALDWIN: Right.

FRATES: So they're playing a losing hand here.

BALDWIN: But when you listen to the vitriol, to the words, usually harsh words used among Republican, you know, quite a few have said that taking on Obamacare by threatening a shutdown is idiotic, one word. How can two sides, Chris Frates, within the same party view things so differently?

FRATES: Well, that's been the story of this House that's controlled by Republicans. You have a more - you have -- it's a very conservative body all the way around, but you have conservatives, a handful of 24 to 30 conservatives who are just rib-rocked and believe that shutting down the government would be a good thing if it gets you rid of Obamacare.

And this is what House Speaker Boehner has to balance. He needs 217 votes. He needs Republicans to get onboard, and he needs to show them that he is serious about enacting their agenda. And by and large, the very, very conservative members of the House have been able to dictate the agenda and House Speaker Boehner has been unable to control them or to corral them into a more moderate, workable stance. BALDWIN: I believe it was my colleague Dana Bash who said he sort of had to go before everyone kicking and screaming, talking about defunding Obamacare.

FRATES: That's right.

BALDWIN: Chris Frates, "National Journal," thank you so much, sir.

And, you know, amid the threat of a government shutdown, I just want to take a look at the big board. And you can see, it's down just a tick, 42 points down right now. Two hours to go in the trading day. Keep in mind, this is one day after that new record high we saw on Wall Street.

In other news here, three days after a shooting rampage, the Washington Navy Yard getting back to routine operations today. And as workers there try to get back to normal life, more strange details are coming about, about this gunman who terrorized these people. Investigators found that 34-year-old Aaron Alexis had etched some phrases into his shotgun. Phrases such as, quote, "better off this way," and, "my elf weapon." Authorities believe Alexis entered the compound with his Remington 870 disassembled and surveillance video shows Alexis then going into the bathroom and then walking out with a shotgun.

Also new this afternoon, the FBI revealed that as soon as Alexis left the bathroom, he started shooting at random and he went floor to floor to floor. At some point, Alexis reached the cubicle of a man by the name of John Weaver, who hid and later heard his coworker get shot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN WEAVER, SURVIVOR OF NAVY YARD RAMPAGE: The reason that he did not see me was because he was so intent on shooting her. And I spoke with her this morning and she told me the reason that was, was because she was looking him dead in the eye when he shot her.

ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, "AC 360": So this is a coworker who was released last night and she's doing OK?

WEAVER: Yes, she's doing - she's doing very well.

COOPER: OK. That's good.

WEAVER: I mean we spoke with each other this morning. And I was just -- just so glad that she was alive and that nothing else happened to her, and that she got out. And then when he shot her, she told me that the force of the blast was so strong, it drove her into the ground, and now she has a black eye. And bits of her scalp are scattered all over her cubicle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Two other survivors hit with gunfire. A civilian and a police officer are still in the hospital, listed in fair condition. Investigators think the officer, Scott Williams, is the one who shot Alexis.

And now to a quote from the pope, from Pope Francis. "I am a sinner," he says. This is how the pope describes himself in a 12,000-word interview just released a couple hours ago in 16 countries, granted Pope Francis is a Jesuit. His interviewers were Jesuit priest. And the pontiff was able to approve the transcript of the interview. But still, what the pope reveals, according to religious observers we've been in contact with, this is one of the most honest profiles ever given by the leader of the catholic church.

I want to go now to Father Edward Beck, CNN religion commentator.

And, Father Beck, I think one of our belief blog correspondents put it best, talking about this. This is very unpopelike behavior for a pope to sit for an interview like this.

REV. EDWARD BECK, CNN RELIGIOUS COMMENTATOR: Well, indeed. Not only to sit for it, but then to say what he said. Not only does he put himself in the context of sinners, but he says the primary mission of the church is to heal the wounded, heal the sinner. He compared the church, he said, it should be like a field hospital on a battlefield. And so by putting it in that context, he's saying, that is your job, love and mercy. Not condemnation, not judgment, love and mercy. And so, of course, this is embraced widely, this kind of a message, by people who have felt so alienated from the church.

BALDWIN: Speaking of folks who felt alienated, let me read a quote when he talks about gays. Quote, "a person once asked me in a provocative manner if I approved of homosexuality. I replied with another question, tell me, when God looks at a gay person, does he indorse the existence of this person with love or reject and condemn this person? We must always consider the person. Here we enter into the mystery of the human being."

Father Beck, what does he mean by that? I mean it seems to me that is quite a different tone than we've heard from pontiffs past.

BECK: You know what's remarkable about it, Brooke, he's saying you cannot look at people as categories of sin. You have to take people where they are. He says over and over again in this interview, start from experience. Don't theologize up here in the heavens and then tell everybody, this is what you have to conform to. Learn about their lives and then say, OK, this is the church teaching. What does it mean now for you? And so he's taking a very individualistic approach talking about experience rather than this lofty coming down on somebody.

And, by the way, he says the church, interestingly, the infallible church is not the pope of a hierarchy, it's all of the people of God together. That's who's infallible. And so he is -- it's a totally different tone from this top down kind of language.

BALDWIN: It's a stunning interview. Father Beck, thank you. I know a lot of you want to read this. just go to our belief blog. It's cnn.com/belief. Many, many headlines made there.

And now to this. In Colorado, an eerie moment of music in a flood- ruined home.

(VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: It's beautiful, isn't it? Tears for Fears, "Mad World." That's the name of the song, "Mad World."

And look at this. The mud. The muck. This Colorado man who lost nearly everything went home, sat down at his piano, and played this haunting song. His piano, one of the few items not completely ruined by the flooding, the mudslide. This is Mark Changaris. He is playing his piano. And I tell you, this video has gone viral. A moment of solace in the face of disaster. And Mark Changaris is joining me now from Boulder, Colorado.

And, Mark, I have to tell you, I saw this video this morning and I have not been able to get your piano playing out of my head. I mean it's really beautiful. It gave me the chills. Can you just take me back to the moment where you're going back into your home and you're assessing everything and the moment - the decision to sit down and play music?

MARK CHANGARIS, PIANO-PLAYING FLOOD VICTIM: Well, you know, the home was just overtaken. And pretty much the destruction was hard to comprehend. And so we had been moving about 10 hours straight at that time and had just been in reaction mode. And it was just sitting there and it seemed like the right time. It was kind of a combination of exhaustion and just kind of wanting a little bit of a break from a little bit of the chaos that was surrounding all of us.

BALDWIN: And why this song? Why "Mad World"?

CHANGARIS: Well, one, I can play it. Another is, you know, it seemed to capture -- its whimsical, it's beautiful, it's sad and it touches you in a lot of ways. And I think that that's a pretty good explanation of this whole event because this is nature and nature is beautiful in a lot of ways. It's also incredibly destructive and sad and people are suffering right now. And it's -- it's very appropriate, you know, just given what people are going through right now.

BALDWIN: You live in beautiful Boulder. But as you mentioned, people are suffering. I mean how are you? How is your home? Where are you living right now?

CHANGARIS: We're doing relatively well. Our roommates and I are doing really well comparatively. There are a lot of people in the state who are still struggling who may not be able to see their homes for over a month or who have lost loved ones and so, you know, that's why it's great to raise awareness about this. And, you know, people should be donating to Red Cross. It's a -- there's a lot of people suffering worse off than us that could use the assistance.

BALDWIN: Go to cnn.com/impact. We have all the information. As Mark mentioned, the Red Cross. Mark Changaris, keep playing. Thank you so much, Mark, for joining me. And --

CHANGARIS: Thank you. Thanks. BALDWIN: And I should tell you that Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill will be going to Colorado Monday to tour the flood devastated areas. Colorado's recent floods could cost homeowners to up $900 million in damages, expenses. And the thing is, a lot of those homeowners, in fact most of them, do not have flood insurance. Nearly 18,000 homes have been damaged in Colorado.

Coming up, it is safe to say Senator John McCain no fan of Vladimir Putin. The Republican senator writing an op-ed in response to Putin's letter to Americans, and McCain doesn't hold back. That's next.

Plus, the video I'm about to show you, it is called "crazy Toledo cop." And what it shows is a police officer threatening, getting physical with a family, during a traffic stop. You will hear and see why it has so many people furious.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: It is round two of a foreign relations brawl playing out, in of all places, the opinion pages. Just a week after Russian President Vladimir Putin wrote this op-ed in "The New York Times" entitled "A plea for caution from Russia" about U.S. threats to its friend Syria, Senator John McCain is firing back with his own scathing article on the "Pravda" website in Russia. McCain's headline, "Russians deserve better than Putin," with stinging blows like this one. Quote, "they write laws to codify bigotry against people whose sexual orientation they condemn. They throw the members of a punk rock band in jail for the crime of being provocative and vulgar and for having the audacity to protest President Putin's rule."

CNN international's Hala Gorani joins me now.

And, Hala, I remember 18 months ago, Putin accused McCain of being crazy as a result of his time as a POW. Talk to me about the history of these two men.

HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL: Well, certainly there is no love lost. In fact, Vladimir Putin was speaking at a conference today. He was asked about this McCain editorial and he essential answered, look, the man is ignorant. His exact quote was, "it all speaks to the fact that McCain has a deficit of information about Russia." And then he wanted to present himself once more, Vladimir Putin, as the diplomat. As the man who embraces those who oppose him and those who disagree with him, adding, "the more we speak to each other directly, the better it will be." So there you have the reaction to him - from Vladimir Putin saying, on the one hand, you know, sort of - taking sort of a - it was a one-two punch, but then adding the fact that he'd like to be able to discuss these things more openly.

But one of the interesting points, Brooke, is where this editorial was published in Russia, "Pravda" -

BALDWIN: Yes, why "Pravda"? Explain to our viewers.

GORANI: Right. Well, "Pravda," of course, has this history that's deeply steeped in the Cold War. It means "the truth" in Russian. And it was the official sort of newspaper of the Soviet leadership. But then it was closed down. The "Pravda" we're talking about today is not that newspaper from the Cold War years. It's Pravda.ru. It's not something that's widely distributed. And it is not the equivalent of "The New York Times," where, of course, Vladimir Putin wrote that scathing editorial addressed directly to the American people.

Here, John McCain is also addressing the Russian people directly. You mentioned one quote. Another one from John McCain is, "when I criticize your government," speaking to Russians, Brooke, "it is not because I am anti-Russian. It is because I believe you deserve a government that believes in you and answers to you and I long for the day when you have it."

But as we mentioned, you know, some reporters in Moscow, Brooke, went out today trying to find a hard copy of this. This is not "The New York Times." It is perhaps not the audience that John McCain was hoping for, not the wide Russian audience that he was hoping for. This is more for Internet savvy Russians who have access to this website and who read this particular website.

BALDWIN: Hmm, not quite the equivalent of "The New York Times" is what I'm hearing from you, Hala Gorani. Hala, thank you very much.

And now to this horrible traffic stop that goes terribly wrong when a police officer ordered this entire family down on the ground, including this teenager. Whole thing caught on cell phone. You will see that.

Plus, a lawsuit over what happened right after Whitney Houston died. We'll tell you what one police officer is accused of saying and doing to another.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A police officer in Ohio is now on mandatory paid leave after this YouTube video. And I'm quoting the title of this video. It's "Crazy Toledo Cop." This thing went viral over the weekend. A neighbor videotaped part of this encounter in Toledo. You hear the bleeps. This is a lot of colorful language exchanged here. Neighbors say this officer, who you see on the right, went too far after he pulled over this woman for a routine license plate violation. He wound up ordering her family, including her 14-year-old son, to lay on the ground, drawing his gun and Taser. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) stop.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nobody (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just shut up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Call (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nobody touched you!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nobody touched you (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I never (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you're told what to do, you'll do it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, keep that video rolling.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't get up you (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Um, yes, we need Toledo Police here at 165 Pine Ridge (ph) (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Toledo Police here, (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I asked you to get off the phone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get in.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I need -- Toledo Police here at 165 Pine Ridge in Washington Township. We got an officer - we've got an officer in distress right now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He has my phone (ph). (INAUDIBLE) because I tried calling -(INAUDIBLE) (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, he just put her down. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're getting them right now (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is ridiculous.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, he's pushing me up against the truck.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You just keep coming.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, just stop!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE). All right. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) my arms (ph).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The screaming, the cursing. Lynn Berry, HLN, joining me.

Explain to me how a routine stop turns into what we just saw.

LYNN BERRY, HLN ANCHOR: Exactly, Brooke. I watched it and I was sort of like this the whole time. And it really depends on who you ask. OK. So the guy is Aaron Tatkowski. And he says he got home and he saw his daughter being pulled over for a routine traffic stop and he didn't like how the officer was aggressive with her. So he got out of the car and he said to the officer, move your patrol car, you're blocking my driveway and please don't talk to my daughter-in-law like that. The officer orders him back into his truck. He says, when he got back into his truck, the officer dragged him out, cuffed him, cuffed his girlfriend, his daughter-in-law, and put his 14-year-old grandson there on the ground.

BALDWIN: Wow.

BERRY: Now, the officer, we should say, when you look at this police report, he says everyone involved repeatedly disobeyed his orders and they were charging at him. We should note that the video does not show anything that supports the allegations, but he handcuffed these people after they asked him to move the car. We only see what happened after these people were on the ground. We should also note that the officer is there by himself. He reported to the scene by himself and there were a number of people there on the scene.

But, in the police report, it says something interesting. He says Tatkowski asked to be taken to the ER. And when he was put on the cot, this is according to the officer, he looked at me and said, "this act ought to make a good payday for me, thanks." That noted in the police report. So it depends on who you ask in this situation.

BALDWIN: So he's on this mandatory paid leave, but the police department, they're standing by him, aren't they?

BERRY: They are. He's on mandatory paid leave. They've actually turned the investigation over to the sheriff's department because they want this to be, you know, clear - you know, no --

BALDWIN: Clear and separate.

BERRY: Exactly.

BALDWIN: Yes.

BERRY: And they are looking as to whether or not there were any criminal or civil rights violated here with this particular video. But they really said it was important to note the fact that this officer arrived on the scene by himself. He was outnumbered. He felt threatened. The other side of the story is painted much differently. And this video was posted three days ago. It's had hundreds of thousands of hits already.

BALDWIN: It's incredible just the -

BERRY: Yes.

BALDWIN: What's on video, what's on YouTube these days.

BERRY: And, you know, you hear Tatkowski say, start filming this, start filming this, to the witnesses.

BALDWIN: You do.

BERRY: Keep rolling. Keep rolling.

BALDWIN: Wow. Lynn Berry, thank you. Stay on it and let us know what happens to the police officer or the other guy.

BERRY: We will.

BALDWIN: Thank you very much.

Coming up, boy, oh, boy, have you heard this one, hundreds of teens throw a party inside the mansion of a former football player. Turns out this guy was watching this whole party unfold live on Twitter. Now he is hunting these teenagers down. He will join me live.

Plus, a police officer filing a lawsuit against a fellow cop accusing him of quote/unquote gawking at Whitney Houston's body. Those details are next.

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