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Nugent's Anti-Obama Slam Tests GOP; Under Armour Extends Speedskating Deal; Dunn Trial Juror Speaks; Peace Deal in Ukraine; Nugent's Anti-Obama Slam

Aired February 21, 2014 - 09:30   ET

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

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CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me.

Wild deliberations, shouting, but in the end they could not agree whether Michael Dunn was guilty of first degree murder in the death of Jordan Davis. That's what juror number eight says it was like during deliberations in the loud music murder trial. Now she's speaking exclusively to CNN about what happened behind closed door. Alina Machado has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CRESHUNA MILES, JUROR #8, DUNN MURDER TRIAL: I never once thought about, oh, this was a black kid, this was a white guy, because that was - that wasn't the case.

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So the people who say, you know, here's another white guy who got away with shooting and killing a black kid, what would you tell them?

MILES: I would tell them that they really should knowledge theirself on the law.

MACHADO (voice-over): Creshuna Miles is setting the record straight.

MACHADO (on camera): If this case wasn't about race, then what was it about for you?

MILES: It was about justice. Um, I --

MACHADO: Justice?

MILES: When I walked into it, I just wanted to bring justice to whoever it was. If it was Michael Dunn, I wanted to bring justice to him. If it was Leland, Tevin, Tommy, or Jordan, I wanted to bring justice to them.

MACHADO (voice-over): The 21-year-old was juror number eight in the Michael Dunn murder trial. She sat down exclusively with CNN to talk about the case and the heated deliberations.

MACHADO (on camera): What was it like inside that deliberation room?

MILES: It was wild.

MACHADO: Wild as --

MILES: Like there was shouting. There was a lot of yelling.

MACHADO (voice-over): Miles even shared her impressions about Michael Dunn and explained the partial verdict the jury returned.

MACHADO (on camera): What did you think of Michael Dunn?

MILES: I honestly think he was a good guy. I think he is a good guy. I don't think he hates everybody. I don't think he walks around wanting to shoot everybody. I think that he made that decision.

MACHADO: You still think he's guilty of murder though?

MILES: Yes. I really think he's guilty of murder, but not the guilty as charged.

MACHADO: First degree. You don't think he's guilty of first degree?

MILES: I think he's guilty of second degree.

MACHADO: How difficult was it for you to come back into that courtroom knowing that Jordan Davis' parents were there and that you couldn't agree on a charge related to his death?

MILES: It was hard. It was -- we were confident and cool with it. But when he sent us back, it was just like, OK, this is a decision we have to make. But when he sent us back, we got nervous. We got really nervous because we didn't know, oh, does (ph) this mean this throws out the whole case, or is she going to retry him, or is Corey satisfied with just what happened, is she going to do more, is Jordan ever going to get justice? We did not know. And walking back into there, I got so nervous because I'm just like, what do we -- what if we completely messed up?

MACHADO: Do you feel like you messed up?

MILES: No.

MACHADO: Do you feel like the jury messed up?

MILES: No. I feel like we did what we were supposed to.

MACHADO: The mixed verdict, a lot of people were confused by it. There was a sense of injustice. Some people said it wasn't fair or just because how could you convict him on attempted second degree murder.

MILES: We could not agree. We just could not agree. It was one way or the other. We -- nobody was willing to move. We could not agree. So hopefully the next group agrees.

MACHADO: What would you tell Jordan's family? MILES: I would tell them that, from my end, I tried. I really did try. I tried to fight for their son. We -- everyone that felt he was guilty, we fought and we fought and we fought. And I saw the look on his dad's face when we came to nothing. I saw the look on his dad's face when we were on the stand. And I know it hurts. And it's like, oh, thinking you got this wound healed, and then somebody slices it open again because now they've got to go through that whole process all over again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACHADO: Now, if there is a retrial, Miles says she hopes the next jury will be able to come back with an agreement on that murder charge.

Carol.

COSTELLO: Alina Machado reporting live for us. Thank you.

Joining me now, CNN legal analyst Paul Callan.

Good morning.

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: In listening to the juror kind of makes me feel good about our justice system. How about you?

CALLAN: Well, actually, no, it makes me feel bad about our justice system. And I'll tell you why. Watching jurors explain how they came to their decision is like watching sausage being made. I mean it's kind of an ugly process regardless of whether you agree or do not agree with the outcome. She said a couple of things there that really mystify me. She said, number one, that he was essentially not guilty of murder in the first degree because he was defending himself, and then she later says he was guilty of murder in the second degree. Well, self-defense is a defense to murder in the second degree.

And what it's telling me is something that I've seen in focus groups that I've done in cases I've handled in the past and it's that jurors decide cases on whether they like people and they don't like people and a lot of factors that aren't presented to them by the judge or the lawyers in the case. And I think, in the end, that green sweater that softened Dunn may have helped him more than a lot of other things in the case.

COSTELLO: Well, and to be frank, prosecutors didn't introduce a lot of evidence making him look like a really bad guy. Like - like --

CALLAN: Mo, they didn't.

COSTELLO: What I heard from her is, we didn't believe it was premeditated murder, but we do believe he made a bad choice. And I wish I could have convicted him on first degree murder, but I couldn't. CALLAN: Well, that's exactly what she said. And I thought the most interesting question is the race question. Whenever the jurors are asked, did race play a factor, they all say no. Well, I think the wrong question is being asked because a jury is going to think, when you ask that question, did you convict or acquit Dunn because of his race, and of course they're all going to say no to that. But if you say to them, do you think his fear was a greater fear because there were black kids in the next car as opposed to if there were white kids, how did that factor in, then I think a juror may give you a more honest answer. But when you say --

COSTELLO: But surely -- but surely Creshuna is attuned to that. She's African-American.

CALLAN: Well, she's tuned into it, but the question of, did you decide it based on race sounds almost like an accusation that, well, you must be deciding your case based on the color of skin. And, of course, no juror is going to say that. But I think a juror might say, you know, a lot of white people have this unreasonable, irrational fear of black adolescent kids dressed up like rappers. And, you know, if you pursued that line of questioning, I think you might ultimately discover that African-American jurors think this kid got shot because he was black.

COSTELLO: Well, isn't the bottom line here is it's this stand your ground law and this muddies the water and confuses jurors so much that they really don't know what conclusion to draw?

CALLAN: Well, you know, I think stand your ground factors in, but I don't think it's necessarily, you know, the deciding factor in the case. I think it creates a mindset in people like Dunn that, you know, you can pull out a gun and defend yourself, you don't have to step on the gas and try to get away. I mean she sort of alluded to that a little bit in part of her answer. So, yes, it does come into play in the case.

But, of course, self-defense exists even in states that don't have stand your ground. If somebody is going to use deadly force on you, you have the right to shoot back. So a lot of times it comes down in the end to what was happening the moment before the shot was fired, was it legitimate fear. And, obviously, the jury was hung on that issue, at least with respect to the Jordan Davis killing.

COSTELLO: Paul Callan, many thanks for your insight, as usual.

CALLAN: Always nice being with you.

COSTELLO: And we do have word of breaking news out of Ukraine. Some sort of agreement has been reached. Let's head to Kiev and Nick Paton Walsh to -- so we can find out more about this deal.

Good morning.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Carol, we've learned from opposition leaders, from the German and Polish foreign ministries and from the Ukrainian presidency that they have signed this deal. Most importantly, we know what's in the deal now. Now, there's a complex timetable ahead to diffuse this very dangerous crisis behind me. Remember, just 24 hours ago, we were having dozens of people shot dead to my left here seemingly by Ukrainian police.

This complex timetable says that within two days, by Sunday 4:00, they will have signed - they will have implemented a new law and put within that law changes to the constitution, effectively weaken the powers of the presidency back to where it was about 10 years ago. Then, within 12 days from now, there should be a national unity government. It's not clear who's in that and a lot of opposition members want to see some of the key police chiefs and prosecutors here lose their jobs.

The key issue though, there's a process (ph) of constitution reform that will have to win by September. But most importantly, presidential elections don't have to happen until December 2012. And that's a key issue, Carol, because a lot of the protesters behind me want to see Viktor Yanukovych go. They think he has blood on his hands after yesterday and the days before that and they want to be clear that any deal they sign that makes them leave the square means he's no longer in power.

There must be fears amongst some of them that a continued government that's been persecuting them with force in the past may continue to do that in the nine months ahead until those elections may actually happen. So we have to see if this deal's enough for them. It does contain clauses too, which will have some worried about why some points on Monday the need for protesters to have handed over their illegal arms or face prosecution if they're found on them and, most importantly, that they should do their best to pull out of the squares. Long hours ahead, though, working out how they feel about this deal.

Carol.

COSTELLO: Nick Paton Walsh, many things.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, gun rights activist Ted Nugent shooting from the lip, taking aim at the president. Many Republicans now shying away from him. CNN's political director Mark Preston has more on that.

Good morning.

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Hey, good morning, Carol.

Nugent himself is now coming under fire from conservatives and Republicans for these very strong comments he's made about the president. More coming up after the break.

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COSTELLO: There are calls for Ted Nugent to apologize for calling the president of the United States a subhuman mongrel and they're coming from Republicans. Senator Rand Paul tweeted, quote, "Ted Nugent's derogatory description of President Obama is offensive, has no place in politics. He should apologize." And for those who say Nugent is just a rocker who's provocative, that's not all he is. Nugent is also - he also sits on the board of the National Rifle Association. And we all know the NRA has huge political pull. Nugent is also campaigning for Greg Abbott, a Republican, who is running for the governor in Texas. Mark Preston is our political director. He's here with more because Senator Paul isn't the only Republican condemning Nugent's remarks.

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: No, he's not. And we're starting to hear from other Republicans who probably don't want to be asked by Ted Nugent, including John McCain, Ted Cruz, Rick Perry, all who have appeared on CNN's air in the past couple days, and including, you know, many others that will start appearing on other outlets. But let's hear what John McCain, Ted Cruz, and Rick Perry have had to say in the last couple days about Ted Nugent's remarks.

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SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: It's a free country, but that kind of language really doesn't have any place in our political dialogue. It harms the Republican Party. I'm sure that it harmed that candidate there. And it should be, obviously, repudiated.

I am a severe critic of President Obama, particularly on national security, but that kind of language, he's the president of the United States, he's been elected and reelected, and I believe we should treat him respectfully.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: Those sentiments there, of course I don't agree with them. You've never heard me say such a thing and nor would I.

GOV. RICK PERRY (R), TEXAS: He shouldn't have said that about the president of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PRESTON: So Carol, I mean let's talk about the political reality of the situation right now. None of these gentlemen said this. They don't want to be asked this question. Ted Nugent made these comments. Ted Nugent shouldn't have made these comments, they were absolutely offensive.

He also described President Obama as a chimpanzee, which isn't getting a whole lot of play. And these politicians just really don't want to have to deal with Ted Nugent, who as you said you know speaks about gun rights, so seriously a serious situation right now for conservatives who don't want to have to be talking about this.

COSTELLO: So he -- so Ted Nugent makes racist remarks about President Obama because that's what happens when you call someone a chimpanzee. And he's an African-American, that's clearly a racist comment. Still, Ted Nugent does have supporters right like Sarah Palin?

PRESTON: Correct, because there is a segment of the Republican Party or not even the Republican Party, because we can't say the Republican Party, but conservatives who are going to be backing him. And Sarah Palin came out on her Facebook page and was supportive of Ted Nugent. And she put a statement up that reads along the lines of "If he is good enough -- if he's good enough for Ted Nugent, he is good enough for me."

So Sarah Palin is of course going to be someone is supportive of Ted Nugent and others are supportive of Ted Nugent, but if you're an elected official right now, you do not want to be close to Ted Nugent at least very publicly because Ted Nugent right now is very radioactive.

COSTELLO: Toxic would be the word. CNN political director Mark Preston, thanks so much.

PRESTON: Thanks.

COSTELLO: What would Francis Underwood do about Ted Nugent? Still (inaudible) right it maybe but don't be surprised if some real life politicians take a cue from "House of Cards". I say that because some of them actually are taking a cue from Francis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN SPACEY, ACTOR: A lot like real estate this is all about location, location, location. The closer you are to the source, the higher your property value.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: That prime real estate being attached to the "House of Cards" story lines earlier this week, Representative Louise Slaughter of New York noted that her efforts to prevent sexual assaults in the military turned into a story line involving Claire Underwood.

And another lawmaker invited "House of Cards" producers to his state in order to sample local wines that had been mentioned and slammed in the show. You remember, what's that about the lines from Long Island, well that played into the world of real politics, too.

Still ahead, the CEO of Under Armour defending his company's speed skating suit and is announcing plans to double the company's team sponsorship for eight years. No apologies from him. We'll talk to him next.

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COSTELLO: Under Armour tracksuit may have divided the U.S. speed skating team in Sochi shouldering some of the blame for the lack of medals at this year's winter games. Now the company is fighting back extending its sponsorship of the Olympics speed skating team by eight years and proclaiming the Mach 39 skin-type suits winners. CEO of Under Armour, Kevin Plank, joins me now. Welcome, sir.

KEVIN PLANK, CEO, UNDER ARMOUR: Hi, Carol. Thanks for having us.

COSTELLO: Thanks for being here. We really appreciate it. So some of the speed skaters say that the Mach 39 cost them the gold medal. In your mind did it?

PLANK: No I don't think anyone have said that, I think what happened is you had athletes that were out there training for four years and ready to compete on the biggest stage and when things don't -- it didn't go exactly the way that we planned, I think everybody was looking for answers.

And frankly, in the middle of the competition, from the time the games start to the time they end, there's only so many variables. And so you know a couple of different directions you go with A, continuity and stick in the road and you know staying consistent and the other road is shuffling the deck a little bit. And so one of the alternatives that these skaters had to do was in the team was to make the decision to try a different suit and so, look, whether it's the Mach 39 you know bells and whistles suit that we built in partnership with Lockheed Martin or the suit that we had an incredible amount of innovative technology in before, our goal was to put these athletes in the best position to win and anything we can do to help them that that didn't happen.

COSTELLO: Well and you guys didn't just design these suits in like a month. I mean this took years of high-tech design. You put everything into this. So when you heard the criticism of the Mach 39, what went through your mind?

PLANK: Well, I think we were all surprised by you know the fact that we weren't hitting the podium as often as I think we'd all planned to. And that all played into the pitch and the presentation that we had with the product. And there's two years of development going into this product from the final prototypes we delivered in November that the athletes had a chance to get on the ice with and then all the way to the final suits themselves delivered in January 1st with a few tweaks and the full having the suit by the second week of January.

So there were times for these suits to get tested and worn. And you know unfortunately, it didn't work out. And so much of you know any athlete's performance is how they feel about something. And so you know when they weren't -- I think when the athletes didn't have the results that they wanted, I think one of the things that we -- we offered and we were completely in support of, was you know let's change the suits and try the suits that they won world cups and championships in. So --

COSTELLO: Let me ask you a question about that. So some of the speed skaters switched out the suits, they competed and they still didn't do very well. So was a part of you kind of secretly saying, I told you so?

PLANK: No. I think first and foremost, look, we're a global brand but we're an American-based company. And I think it's really important that, you know -- I would never find ourselves in a position rooting against our athletes. And so myself and, frankly, all 8,000 of our teammates around the world, you know, at least the ones based in the U.S. were wearing red, white, and blue and waving flags and hoping that our athletes were going to do as best they could to compete. All we want is for them to hit the podium and we stand there today which comes back to the commitment that we have in doubling down with this. I don't know what happened over the last four years. This relationship didn't work out the way we wanted. But we want to make a big statement of coming back and saying we're going to put an eight- year commitment for two more Olympics to have athletes wearing and competing in Under Armour and hopefully win lots and lots of medals.

COSTELLO: OK. So just one last question. Under Armour is such a great brand. It's got such a good reputation. What has this done to your brand name?

PLANK: You know, I'd like to say trust is built with drops and is lost in buckets. And so I don't know if we lost a bucket and I don't know how much we were really starting with. But personally it was a very difficult week where you know, there are a lot of shots being taken at the brand. And, again, this wasn't the athletes. This was a lot of noise around it that just started building about what was happening with our company.

At the end of the day, you know, we've got a great brand. We make a good product. It's the same message that I told my company. And I love this message.

We got knocked down, maybe got a little bruised last week but we're coming back bigger and stronger than ever and that's why this message of having the chance to go out and outfit these athletes and put them in a position to win in the next four and eight years is something that we're really excited to do.

COSTELLO: Well, I know many, many people I love your brand. Thank you for speaking out on NEWSROOM today. We appreciate it.

PLANK: Thank you Carol.

COSTELLO: Thanks Kevin Plank.

The next hour "CNN NEWSROOM" after a break.

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