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Obama Welcomes Seattle Seahawks; Clay Aiken Talks Congressional Race; 6 Iranians Arrested for Posting Music Video; Investigation of Chicago Police for Misconduct; Protests at McDonald's Illinois Headquarters

Aired May 21, 2014 - 14:30   ET

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

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Congratulations to the Seattle Seahawks and the whole city for an outstanding season.

(APPLAUSE)

PETE CARROLL, COACH, SEATTLE SEAHAWKS: Thank you, Mr. President. I can't believe I'm saying that.

(LAUGHTER)

Thank you, Mr. President, for all the guys here that represent this football team that represent so much more than just ourselves, Our owner, Paul Allen, this tremendous following that we have. The 12s are here again. It's a very, very special opportunity for us. We're very thankful and grateful to be part of it.

This is a bunch of guys that came together. We were looking to celebrate uniqueness and differences. This is a different bunch of guys, I want to tell you. They've got a way about them that's very, very special and they've come together and shared a unique mission and goal to do something really special that we're really proud of. I hope we can continue to demonstrate that. These guys are that kind of people. We are very proud to be here.

I do know you have access to some of the great special force units anywhere and you can do whatever you need to do, but I want you to know just a phone call away is the boom.

(CROSSTALK)

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: In case we need for some sort of special mission. You never know.

CARROLL: You never know. They will be just a phone call away.

(LAUGHTER)

We're grateful to be here. Thank you very much and we're very proud.

OBAMA: Congratulations.

CARROLL: Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: All right. You guys want to --

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Let's take this down and get a good picture.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: It's picture time. Maybe a selfie. Who knows? Remember, when those two different games, when that stadium was so loud, as the president mentioned, it registered on the scale. That was the loudest crowd noise ever. And as the president said, history is an awful long time. There you have your 2014 Super Bowl champions, the Seattle Seahawks.

As they take pictures, let's pop outside and take a look at live pictures. These are crowds outside of McDonald's headquarters in oak brook, Illinois, where protesters traveled from three states to demand higher pay. Their message to McDonald's is this, give us $15 an hour. They're saying they're not backing down. We will take you out there live.

First, nearly two weeks after Clay Aiken was declared winner of his primary race in North Carolina, after his opponent died, he's taking a moment to join me live. His next opponent, a Republican opponent heavily favored to win. We will discuss Mr. Clay Aiken, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Just past the bottom of the hour. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

A lot of talk about the primary elections. The tea party Republicans got spanked by Mitch McConnell and his GOP establishment.

Let's move on, shall we, and talk about November and in particular a marquis race for Congress.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SINGING)

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BALDWIN: Singer Clay Aiken, of "American Idol" fame, has shocked the political world, first, by tossing his hat in the ring, and then by winning his primary race. Clay Aiken will be in a battle against two- term incumbent, Renee Ellmers. A lot of folks talking about Clay Aiken.

Clay Aiken joining me live from Raleigh, North Carolina.

Welcome back to the show, Mr. Aiken.

CLAY AIKEN, (R), CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Thank you for having me.

BALDWIN: We'll talk about your race straight away. But first, I have to ask about the news coming out of Washington today. You have, as you are well aware, American war veterans dying awaiting treatment at V.A. hospitals. We talked you being pro military, your brother who served in Iraq. Are you angry about this, these deadly delays facing war veterans?

AIKEN: I think people should all be very frustrated with the disorganization, to put it lightly, of the V.A. The V.A. is an unwieldy, difficult organization. I think some of the mismanagement that it's had over the past several years has started to show itself. Obviously, we see what's happened in Phoenix. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw some of these issues were popping up in other places in the country. The V.A. is unwieldy, very mismanaged. I think we have to do better for veterans.

You're right, my brother is a vet. And there are many, many veterans in this district. This is a very military heavy district. A lot of people who served our country, we aren't serving them well at all and we certainly aren't serving --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Clay, whose fault do you think it is? Do you think the president needs to be more hands on?

AIKEN: I think there needs to be more supervision. We certainly need to make sure that we're digging into investigating what we've seen. I think the president is responsible for it at the end of the day. He is the commander in chief of the military. He is the executive. The buck has to stop with him. I know he has spoken up today and said he was going to be looking into it and digging into it quite a bit along with the secretary of Veterans Affairs, and I think they need to dig down. At the end of the day, we're spending a lot of money on the V.A. and it's not being used responsibly. We all need to be paying attention to that. Congress needs to be paying closer attention to it and the executive branch does as well.

BALDWIN: We'll continue to hold them accountable here at CNN. I wanted to ask you about that, as it's news of the day.

Let's talk about you. You won your election. What a shock. Your opponent, Keith Crisco, died on a fall on his home hours before he planned to concede. Where did you get the word? What were your first thoughts?

AIKEN: You know, it's been a very difficult week for a lot of people here in North Carolina. Keith was a lifelong public servant and was always a gentleman to me when I saw him. I was at lunch the day that he passed away and was told. I'm not often speechless. That was one situation that left me speechless. I've certainly -- it's been a very difficult week to say the very least.

BALDWIN: I can't imagine. Here you are though, now, going forward. You face Renee Ellmers, a tough cookie, from everything I've seen. Let me play this for our viewers. This is Renee Ellmers with Anderson Cooper talking about religion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RENEE ELLMERS, (R), NORTH CAROLINA: -- about religion.

ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, A.C. 360: Well, yes or no.

ELLMERS: I am Catholic. Yes, I am.

No, you're wrong in your assumptions.

COOPER: Wait, wait. I'm wrong --

(CROSSTALK)

ELLMERS: I guess what I could ask you is, are you anti religion? Are you anti Christian?

COOPER: That's like the lowest response I've ever heard from a candidate, I've got to tell you.

ELLMERS: Really?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Clay Aiken, will you challenge Renee Ellmers to a debate?

AIKEN: I would love to debate her. I know one of the reasons I jumped into this race is because I think all congressional -- sitting congressmen and women need to be held accountable for what they've done while they've been in office. We've gerrymandered a lot of these districts around the country to the point where a lot of people feel they don't have to answer to people that elected them. That's one of the reasons I wanted to get involved and throw my hat in the ring. I do want to hold her accountable. I would be happy to debate with her. I look forward to the opportunity. I hope she'll give it to me.

BALDWIN: We'll look forward to it as well and follow up with you if it happens.

And here you are. Politics has not exactly been in your wheelhouse in your lifetime thus far. Here you are, running to be a member of Congress. I'm sure you've hired very smart people to be around you. What do they say as to how you, a novice, can win this race against a heavily favored incumbent in a red state in a red district?

AIKEN: You know, people talk about red and blue on TV a lot. But when I go around the country, people don't pay attention to the "R" or "D" behind someone's name. They pay attention to the person --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Not always. Not always. AIKEN: People on the ground don't always pay attention to the "R" or the "D." They pay attention to the issues. They pay attention to the person who is going to listen to them. They vote for the person who they know they can trust to have their best interest at heart. That's not necessarily happened in this district.

I am not a politician by trade necessarily, but I've always been an advocate and I've always tried to use my voice, so to speak, to speak up for people who have not had a voice through my work with children with disabilities, my work with UNICEF. I was a special educator before I did "Idol." I try to make sure I speak up for people who aren't being heard. This is an extension about that. It's not about -- things shouldn't about politics, about party. That's what's frustrated me, and it's what's frustrated people all across the country. People spend too much time talking about Republican and Democrat and too much time talking about winning and losing. The people who are losing are the people who are voting because they're not being listened to at all.

BALDWIN: Clay Aiken, good luck. We'll see if that debate happens. Thank you so much for joining me, live. I appreciate it.

AIKEN: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, six people in Iran arrested simply for posting a music video to the song "Happy." Their story apparently caused so much controversy all around the world that even Iran's president has weighed in. We have a huge development on this. We'll share it coming up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SINGING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SINGING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I know you know that song, Pharrell's "Happy." Did you know doing this in Iran could land you in jail? Six people, three men, three women, were arrested and forced to apologize on TV for posting their take of the song on YouTube. #freehappyiranians is trending today. Pharrell even tweeted his support for the six Iranians.

Reza Sayah joins us live from Cairo.

The development in this, Reza, all six people, they are free?

REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Almost. That's the good news. Six of the performers in the video on free on bail. The director is still in custody. They've been told by authorities not to talk to the media. So still not out of the woods yet.

We should point out that, several hours ago, the Twitter account belonging to the Rouhani, the Iranian president, tweeted this message, "That happiness is our peoples' rights. We shouldn't be hard on behaviors caused by joy." Seemingly a message of support for these individuals. It's not clear if that tweet persuaded authorities to release these individuals -- Brooke?

BALDWIN: Do you think Rouhani's views on the dancing, the video uploaded to YouTube, signify a big shift from, say, Ahmadinejad?

SAYAH: Certainly what's happening in Iran is this clash between the moderates and the hard liners. There's no question that since Rouhani took office, he's been trying to establish more social freedoms, ease restrictions. The morality police that was roaming the streets is gone. He's calling for more Internet access. At the same time, you have these hard liners who say this activity invites what they see as immoral and bad behavior. That's where things stand.

BALDWIN: Reza Sayah, on the state of affairs in Iran and dancing, thank you so much.

Now take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SCREAMING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Not as much what you're seeing, but what you're hearing. This video is at the center of the federal lawsuit accusing Chicago police officers of excessive force, a hate crime and a cover-up. You will hear what the officers said and why they were there in the first place.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: This is a Chicago police raid aimed to bust prostitutes. It ended with officers accused of a hate crime. A naturalized U.S. citizen from China, Jianqing "Jessica" Klyzek, is suing the Chicago Police Department and the city after she says several officers physically and verbally abused her while others just stood around and watched. This photo here shows an injury on her forehead. This is what she said she received during the incident. This happened back in July of last year at a massage place that she had managed. She never before had been arrested, according to her lawyers.

But there's surveillance video showing she was not cooperating, she was screaming for at least three minutes. At one point, an officer hit her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SCREAMING)

OFFICER: You're like an animal. Stop!

JIANQING "JESSICA"" KLYZEK, CHINESE AMERICAN CITIZEN ALLEGES POLICE ABUSE: I didn't do nothing wrong. I have right. I didn't do nothing wrong.

(SCREAMING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: But then came this. I want you to listen to the officer's words.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OFFICER: You're not (EXPLETIVE DELETED) American! I'll put you in a UPS box and send you back to whenever the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) you came from!

(CROSSTALK)

OFFICER: No, you're not! No, you're not a citizen!

(CROSSTALK)

OFFICER: No, you're not! No you're not! You're here on our borrowed time. So mind your (EXPLETIVE DELETED) business before I shut this whole (EXPLETIVE DELETED) place down. And I'll take this place and then whoever owns it will (EXPLETIVE DELETED) kill you because they don't care about you, OK?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: "The Chicago Tribune" is reporting a veteran officer has been put on desk duty. It's not clear which officer.

But Gil Alba, a former detective with the New York Police Department.

I have to bring you in here, when you hear the words, "Put you in a UPS box, you don't belong here," I know police are not polite when they're doing a raid, but was this officer yelling at her out of line?

GIL ALBA, FORMER DETECTIVE, NEW YORK POLICE DEPARTMENT: I would like to put a balance to that whole video. Really, if there was no words to it or anything else and no audio, maybe he had a case as far as her fighting, her biting, her hitting him. But we see the actions. We see what they're doing to her and then put those words on top of that. I don't believe the Chicago Police Department is too happy with that. I'm sure they don't condone anything like that. And I'm sure they'll have some retraining after an incident like that. They're really going to look into it. But I'm sure they're waiting for their due process. Let them investigate it first and then they'll take care of the officer.

BALDWIN: Speaking of the due process, we know the Chicago Police Department says an independent police authority is investigating. This is from police, a statement. Quote, "The alleged conduct and comments are reprehensible and completely intolerable in our police department. We have codes of conduct that apply to officers, and if the allegations are proven accurate, appropriate action will be taken."

What rights, on behalf of this woman or any woman who may be is the subject or the target of a raid, what rights does that individual really have? Just curious.

ALBA: The rights as far as what? How she can act?

BALDWIN: How she can act? What she can say?

ALBA: Right. When you first see a video and you look at it from that standpoint, you don't know what preceded that, what were they doing in there? They came in there and they raided -- had a lot of officers come in there. When you have a lot of officers, there's a reason why they came in here. Was there a one-time thing, a one-time act where somebody propositioned one of the police officers? You had to have more than one act. So maybe she knew what was going on at the time with the raid and she became hysterical. But as a police officer, of course, you should know how to handle a situation like that.

BALDWIN: Gil Alba, thank you.

ALBA: Thank you for having me.

BALDWIN: Let me show you some live pictures once again at McDonald's headquarters in Illinois. We're hearing hundreds of protesters demanding higher pay for fast-food workers. Their message for McDonald's, we want $15 an hour. Apparently, it's getting pretty heated out there. We're back in 90 seconds with that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Fast-food workers and union activists are gathering right now near a McDonald's headquarters in Chicago. They want higher wages, a right to join a union. This follows protests in 230 cities around the world last week and comes one day before the company's annual shareholder's meeting.

Ted Rowlands joins us live here.

Tell me how many people you've seen so far. And the fact they want 15 bucks an hour is not new. What more are they asking for?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they want $15 an hour and they want to be able to unionize without retribution. There are about 2,000 people total here. We're at the headquarters at McDonald's in Oak Park, Illinois. They marched up to the police barricade. A few people got arrested. About 100 people here in McDonald's uniforms prepared to get arrested. Most of the people here don't want to get arrested and are here to make a statement.

Here is a young woman who came in from Milwaukee, Tomaia Clark (ph). She works at McDonald's.

You're not going to work there your whole life?

TOMAIA CLARK (ph), MCDONALD'S EMPLOYEE: No, I'm not. (INAUDIBLE).

ROWLANDS: You say you are here because you feel bad for people that are trying to support families, et cetera. Why should somebody be paid $15 an hour when the minimum wage is less than that? And McDonald's is paying people and people agreed to take those jobs. Why do you think there should be a higher base salary even for the lowest employees?

CLARK: We are so much than $7.75. We should be paid $15 an hour. A lot of us have children. We need to be able to provide for our children. A lot -- we are not able to pay rent as far as phone bills and such in that order. And $7.25 isn't cutting it.

We're often that hear that those mouths can't be fed. So, that's why we're all here from Saint Louis, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from California, to speak up for those that are making $7.25. A lot of these people are -- make $7.25, but they're living in shelters.

We need to be able to -- be able to have houses and homes to be able to provide for our families. So, that's why we're here today, to make a movement, to make a stand, because we're worth $15 an hour.

ROWLANDS: All right, and, Brooke, they do make a point, the organizers, that it isn't just McDonald's. It's all fast-food workers that are hoping that this will make a difference. We will have to wait and see.

BALDWIN: As we mentioned, the timing not -- not coincidental, tomorrow, McDonald's annual shareholders meeting.

Ted Rowlands, thank you.