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Thousands Gather at Maya Angelou's Memorial Service; President Bill Clinton Speaks at Maya Angelou's Memorial Service; Girls Attack Friend Due to Fictional Character; Actor Tracy Morgan Hospitalized after Car Crash; Hometown of Bowe Bergdahl Delaying Celebration of his Release; Hillary Clinton's Possible Presidential Bid Examined

Aired June 07, 2014 - 10:00   ET

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

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: I hope Saturday has been good to you so far. I'm Christie Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. It's 10:00 on the east coast, 7:00 out west. You're in the CNN Newsroom. And we're going to start this hour with live pictures of the private memorial service that's beginning now for poet, singer, dancer, Maya Angelou.

PAUL: Family and friends and some of whom as you know are famous figures, first lady Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, all gathering at Wake Forest University here in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, so they can say their farewells to the legendary literary voice. We're going to obviously continue to watch the proceedings here and we'll have more for you from the memorial in just a moment.

BLACKWELL: But breaking news we've been following all morning. The comedian and actor Tracy Morgan is in a New Jersey hospital this morning.

PAUL: He was critically injured in a multicar crash. This is an accident that happened really in the wee hours of the morning along the New Jersey Turnpike in Robbinsville we've now learned. Morgan was riding inside that limo bus. State police say we do know at least one person was killed. They believe the limo bus was hit from behind by a tractor trailer.

CNN's Alexandra Field is live outside the hospital in New Jersey. CNN national reporter Nick Valencia is gathering reactions from Morgan's fans on social media. He joins us as well. Let's start with Alexandra. Is there any update on his condition this morning?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Victor. What we know is that Tracy Morgan is still in critical condition along with two other patients who were involved in the crash. In total four people were taken to this hospital, Robert Wood Johnson Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey. It's about 20 minutes or a half-an-hour from where the crash happened.

Seven people were rushed to hospitals, one person killed in the crash. Police are telling us that Tracy Morgan was on board a limo bus that overturned on the New Jersey Turnpike. The investigation has started preliminarily. Police are saying it appears that that limo bus was hit from behind by a tractor trailer. In total, six different vehicles involved in this crash, two tractor trailers, an SUV, the limo bus, and two other cars. We're also learning from state police the person killed in the crash was a passenger on board Morgan's limo bus, his name is James McNair, a 63-year-old man from New York. We don't know what his relationship to Morgan was, just that he was on board that bus.

Police are still trying to determine exactly the circumstances that caused this accident, but again, seven people hurt, including Tracy Morgan, who remains today in critical condition at this hospital. We have reached out to reps for Morgan. We have not heard back from them at this time. Christie and Victor?

PAUL: Alexandra, I just want to ask you real quickly, on those limo busses, people are not normally wearing seatbelts, are they? Do we know if there were any and if they were wearing any when that bus flipped over?

FIELD: Police again saying that they are still looking into first the cause of the crash, which again preliminary appears to be a rear- ending by another car, but they are also looking in some of the circumstances at this point, how these passengers were hurt where they were. We don't know how many people were in that limo bus. Police are expecting to brief us later today, so we do hope to learn an answer to that, Christi.

PAUL: All right, Alexandra, thank you. We appreciate it.

BLACKWELL: Let's bring in Nick Valencia now. Obviously there's been outpouring when you have someone, especially on social media, he's got nearly 3 million followers.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, tons of fans.

BLACKWELL: What are they saying?

VALENCIA: Reaction from everywhere, from fans to friends, we've just confirmed, in fact our Alexandra Field confirmed the comedian was on board that limo bus and coincidently Artie Fuqua posted a photo of Tracy Morgan at the Dover Downs Comedy Club. You see him here. This is just hours before, just right before the accident. They performed in front of a crowd of about 1,500 people. Artie Fuqua now confirmed to be on the limo bus with Tracy Morgan last night about 1:00 a.m. when that accident happened. We don't know Fuqua's condition right now, but of course we hope the safe recovery for all of those involved.

Also we're getting in tweets from some of Tracy Morgan's colleagues on "30 Rock," this tweet from Griz Chapman, Griz was on "30 rock" from 2006 to 2013, "Pray for my brother, real Tracy Morgan." This one from Malik who played Jonathan on "30 Rock," from 2006 to 2013, "Please get better soon. We're all pulling for you." Montel Williams, shocked at the news waking up this morning. He tweeted "Wake up to find out Tracy Morgan is in critical condition. Has a young kid. Thoughts and prayers, my friend." Also musician Ray Quan weighing in with his prayers and support, saying "Hope my brother, the real Tracy Morgan, is well and makes a safe recovery." As you mention Victor and Christi, lots of fans, more than 3 million fans, funny guy, probably one of the funniest on "Saturday Night Live," a lot with say that, known for his impressions and really just kind of off the wall humor. This guy is something special.

PAUL: Talented.

VALENCIA: Very talented. We hope for his safe recovery.

BLACKWELL: A lot of the humor comes from a difficult start. Born in the Bronx, and he talks about financially some tough times, and he battled with alcoholism for a while, and he talks about that. But, of course, this we learned from New Jersey state police, they don't believe that alcohol was a factor in this crash. We hear from Alexandra Field that likely it was a rear-ending. Of course, we'll stay on top of it. You'll tell us the last, we'll get to Alexandra when there's more as well.

VALENCIA: Absolutely. Thanks.

PAUL: Nick, thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: Let's go back to Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Friends and family are saying goodbye to the legend, I could say legendary poet, I could say legendary dancer, writer, singer, all of it, Maya Angelou.

PAUL: She died last week at age 86, as you know. These are some live pictures coming from that memorial. President Obama has praised her as, I'm quoting here, "a brilliant writer, a fierce friend, and a truly phenomenal woman." The first lady is expected to speak at the service today. Let's go there when CNN correspondent Polo Sandoval. Hello. Thanks for being with us. Who are the other speakers going to be on hand today?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Christie, Victor, good morning. Most notably former president Bill Clinton. We all know he has a special bond with Maya Angelou. He asked that she write a poem for his first inauguration. As you see behind me here, the doors have been closed. You say a live shot inside just a few moments ago. Inside Wake Chapel here at Wake Forest University, up to 2,200 people, everyone here this morning, to pay tribute to the legacy of Maya Angelou.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAYA ANGELOU, POET: I'll see what the end is going to be.

(APPLAUSE)

SANDOVAL: Throughout her life Maya Angelou played many roles -- singer, actor, writer, civil rights activist, and globally celebrated poet.

ANGELOU: Lift up your eyes upon this day breaking for you, give birth again to the dream. SANDOVAL: Angelou's writing tells a story of her varied struggles and

many triumphs. Today people from all walks of life descend on Wake Forest University where Angelou taught and inspired as a professor. First lady Michelle Obama, Oprah, they're two key figures expected to speak at today's memorial.

ANGELOU: Leaving behind nights of terror and fear, I rise.

SANDOVAL: Angelou's incredible life and career came to an end when she died at the age of 86. But her soul lives on in every word she left behind.

ANGELOU: And so naturally there I go rising.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And of course those words and those poems still serving as a source of inspiration for many. Everybody inside the memorial right now handed a program. They open it up and you see a collage that really offers a glimpse, a window into Maya Angelou of her early years to the most recent pictures with her and her family, and right in the middle there, a photograph of her with first lady Michelle Obama, again one of several key speakers that are inside right now as the memorial begins.

Really perhaps the most significant bonds that she formed was here on Wake Forest University. This is when she met with so many students. She taught here for almost 30 years, and really, what we're told, she even opened her private home to students. She held courses there, classes, poetry, literature, you name it. Talk to anybody on this campus and they will tell you a large piece of this campus is missing today. Really the focus is not so much on what's missing but really on a celebration of rising joy, and that's the story that they want to share not only with the community in North Carolina but with the world. Guys?

BLACKWELL: Yes. It's not difficult when you have someone who touched so many lives to fill a private ceremony with 2,200 people there. And you know, we know that in lieu of flowers which you may not see many there, they have been asked, the people who are there today, contribute to the Maya Angelou Center for Health Equity. You see the people here as the ceremony begins. We'll continue to follow this throughout the morning. Polo Sandoval, thanks so much.

We've got some stunning new details about what Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl went through when he was held hostage by the Taliban.

PAUL: We've learned that he was locked in a cage, that he was physically abused. We're going to talk more about his condition and have a live report from his hometown, next. Stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: For five long years the small town of Hailey, Idaho, held vigil for Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl while the Taliban held him captive. PAUL: When that news broke that he had been freed, Hailey were

overjoyed, signs like this one went up all over town. As the controversy, though, over Bergdahl's release deepens, Hailey has been caught in the middle at this point.

BLACKWELL: CNN's Ed Lavandera is in Hailey and joins us live now. What is the mood like there now? There was a homecoming celebration planned but that's been canceled. How is it like now?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, last year they had done a big commemoration on the fourth anniversary of Bowe Bergdahl's capture. Several thousand people turned out for an event here in a park where he used to play as a young boy with where his parents would bring him. So many people around here are stunned as they've watched this saga unfold.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: This moment was supposed to be an emotional triumph for Bowe Bergdahl's hometown of Hailey, Idaho. It has spiraled into a nightmare, and Stefanie O'Neil is heartbroken.

STEFANIE O'NEIL: It's a feeling of extreme sadness that we're not allowed or able to have this event for Bowe to welcome him back to the community. This is something to honor him, and we can't do that now, not at this time.

LAVANDERA: O'Neil and her family organized what was supposed to be called the "Bowe is Back" celebration in the park where Bowe Bergdahl played as a child. Last year on the fourth anniversary of Sergeant Bergdahl's capture, O'Neil organized the bring Bowe back rally. Bergdahl's parents were overwhelmed by the support.

BOB BERGDAHL, BOWE BERGDAHL'S FATHER: It's my privilege to know him I think better than anyone else. As a father and as a man I will defend his character until the day I die.

LAVANDERA: O'Neil says the town of Hailey was flooded with more than 3,000 requests for protester permits for the celebration as well as nasty threats and e-mails. The event was canceled because of security concerns, and Bowe Bergdahl's parents have remained out of sight.

How are his parents?

O'NEIL: I think they were upset. I mean, I think in a way it was shocking to them that we weren't able to do this for their son. Again, he hasn't been able to talk, and so I think they're pretty saddened by it all.

LAVANDERA: While the yellow ribbons and banners declaring "Bowe is free at last" still line the streets and storefronts, inside city hall the angry e-mails and phone calls pour in. One woman wrote "If your town can still welcome this traitor home you're not part of the U.S. I know. An army veteran e-mailed to tell city leaders that ceremonies honoring Bergdahl would be a grave insult as well as a stain upon the reputation of our community. An editorial in the town's newspaper lashed out at those critics.

GREG FOLEY, "IDAHO MOUNTAIN EXPRESS": Five years of captivity is enough, bring him home. Leave him along and let him heal.

LAVANDERA: The "Idaho Mountain Express" editor Greg Foley says the backlash against Bowe Bergdahl has surprised many.

What kind of reaction have you gotten to that editorial?

FOLEY: We had a lot of positive reaction locally, but certainly outside of our immediate area, there have been people who think that we're casting a blind eye on what they believe to be facts, where in our mind the facts of his capture really haven't been established.

LAVANDERA: Bowe Bergdahl's family friends say the homecoming celebration has only been canceled for now. They're not giving up on Bowe yet.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: And Christy and Victor, the overwhelming sense here from a lot of people that you hear form is that, until Bowe Bergdahl's side of the story is publicized and gets out there, they wish that many more people would kind of reserve judgment on the whole situation. But clearly a sense of sadness and shock by just how quickly this story turned so negative. Christie and Victor?

PAUL: You can understand why they would want to celebrate him. Ed, real quickly, I know you said that the majority of people support him. Are there people in that community, though, who, too, question what other communities are questioning about Bergdahl? Do they feel like they need some answers as well or no?

LAVANDERA: You know, I think just like in many other places around the country there are those people who have those very same questions and those very same reservations, and they're worried about the details that have started to emerge so far. But I think people around here have lived this story far differently. These are people who have known Bowe Bergdahl's parents personally for many decades here in this community, so for them it's always going to be different. It's really just the story of a mother and a father who had to wait five years to get their son back, and everything else in a lot of ways for many people is extra.

PAUL: Just a good way to characterize it, people live it there differently and you get that. That's true.

BLACKWELL: Ed Lavandera, in Hailey, Idaho, thank you so much.

PAUL: So it's -- this is a fictional character, but it's linked to a real life horror story. Police believe Slender Man was this inspiration behind a brutal attack on a 12-year-old girl by two of her 12-year-old friends.

BLACKWELL: I can hear you asking, who -- what is Slender Man? Well, we'll get an answer for you. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: The 12-year-old Wisconsin girl who was stabbed 19 times, she's out of the hospital this morning. Her family released a statement that called her a strong, brave girl. They also expressed gratitude for all the support the daughter has received at home and around the world.

PAUL: People just cannot wrap their heads around this story. Two other 12-year-old girls are accused of attacking her. A criminal complaint says it was all to impress a fictional online monster called Slender Man. Now, all right, let's dig deeper into this, shall we?

BLACKWELL: Because I'm sure a lot of people have never heard of this Slender Man. Let's invite in A.J. Meadows, joins us live from St. Louis. He produced an online independent film about Slender Man called "X." So he's appeared in fan art, short stories, video games, online, but who or what is this Slender Man, A.J.?

A.J. MEADOWS, DIRECTOR, "X": Right. So the Slender Man is a fictional character who was created as part of a photo shop contest in 2009 on a place called the "Something Awful" forums. I think people are just kind of attracted to its like simplistic but iconic figure, and so other people started making their own artwork related to the Slender Man. And then it eventually migrated over to a place called "Creepy Pasta" and other websites where people wrote short stories based on the Slender Man. Essentially the story of the character is that he kidnaps children and he hides in the woods and is just generally very creepy.

PAUL: OK, so part of this story is that perhaps the 12-year-old girls didn't understand that he wasn't real. You know, I mean you've been involved with Slender Man in terms of everything that's going on on- line. Do you think there's actually a community of people or that people believe Slender Man exists?

MEADOWS: Well, if you asked me last week I would have said no. After this situation here, this tragedy, you know, I just really hope that with all the media coverage that the story is getting that anyone who might still believe that he might be real gets educated about it, because I don't think I've seen anyone personally who believes that he's real. I just hope that that's not the case anymore.

BLACKWELL: So investigators say that these girls likely stabbed this third 12-year-old because they wanted to impress Slender Man. Are there any points in these stories, these videos that he urges other people, other children, to hurt someone else?

MEADOWS: So sometimes in the stories themselves, the Slender Man will ask a character maybe to do something like that, but not really in the explicit sense. So like the Slender Man will get into your head and kind of make you do strange and weird things. As for any type of fiction specifically asking a reader or a viewer to go out and act upon what he wants you to do, I've never seen anything like that personally. PAUL: Now, I understand the girls' Wisconsin school banned websites

that are home to Slender Man stories, but I think as we sit here and look at this, parents are going, how concerned do I need to be about this Slender Man? Is there a concern that parents should have for their kids who are on the internet on any level when it comes to Slender Man?

MEADOWS: I think that's just good parenting in general. I mean, any type of media I think I think it's smart for parents to be aware of what their kids are looking at, what they're reading, what they're watching. As for the school banning it, I don't know if that's necessarily something that they needed to do. To me it sounds like it was a more complicated situation, that it was a combination of the girls' home lives, just kind of how susceptible they were to believing this sort of thing in general.

PAUL: Yes. We don't know any of that. Do you know -- real quickly, do you know is it more popular with girls, boys, what age group?

MEADOWS: Well, that's kind of the interesting thing about the Slender Man is that he's popular with boys and girls, teens, 20 somethings. I know a couple 30-year-olds that are into Slender Man stories. So it kind of depends. He's kind of transcended a lot of different demographics.

BLACKWELL: Wow.

PAUL: Interesting. All right, A.J. Meadows, we appreciate your insight. Thank you so much for taking some time for us.

MEADOWS: No problem, guys. Thanks for having me.

BLACKWELL: Thank you, A.J.

This morning, fans are sending up prayers and well wishes for actor and comedian Tracy Morgan.

PAUL: The "SNL" alum was critically injured in an early morning crash just hours ago. We're going to have more for you on what's happened. Stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: It's 28 minutes past the hour. I hope that Saturday has been good to you thus far. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell.

This morning we're starting with the tragedy surrounding Tracy Morgan, actor, comedian. He was on a limo bus on the New Jersey Turnpike. It overturned and a serious car accident this morning in New Jersey. At least one person died. Morgan is in critical condition at a hospital in New Brunswick.

PAUL: Number two, right now, at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, live pictures for you, as so many people have gathered, 2,200 in fact, to say good-bye to legendary poet, author, actress, activist Maya Angelou. She died last week at age 86. President Obama praised her as a, quote, "brilliant writer, a fierce friend, and a truly phenomenal lady." We do know that first lady Michelle Obama is expected to speak at that service that you're watching today as well.

BLACKWELL: Number three, the man accused of opening fire at Seattle Pacific University Thursday had an obsession with school shootings. That's what a police source tells ours affiliate KIRO. And 26-year- old Aaron Ybarra was accused of killing one person, injuring two others. His attorney says he has significant and long-standing mental health issues. Charges against him are spending.

PAUL: Number four, candy tycoon Petro Poroshenko is now president of Ukraine. He was sworn in earlier today. And he had a warning and an olive branch for neighboring Russia, which, remember, annexed Crimea. He said Ukraine will defend its sovereignty against Moscow and pro- Russia separatists, but he also said he hopes talks with Russia to defuse tensions can begin as early as tomorrow.

BLACKWELL: Number five, loved ones of iconic radio host Casey Kasem are gathering by his side as family representatives say that he won't be with us much longer. The ailing 82-year-old is in critical condition at a hospital in Washington state. The family has been in this ongoing dispute over control of Casey's health. Yesterday a judge declared his daughter Kerri in charge of medical care and not her stepmother.

Back now to our breaking news, we go live to New Brunswick in New Jersey. CNN's Alexandra Field is in there where actor, comedian Tracy Morgan is in critical condition at a hospital.

PAUL: He was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University where she is right now. Alexandra, what have you learned this morning so far?

FIELD: Good morning, Christi, Victor. We don't know about the extent of Tracy Morgan's injuries, but we do know that he is in critical condition. He was taken here to Robert Wood Johns with three other patients who were involved in this crash. Two others are also here in critical condition in total. We know that seven people were rushed to hospitals, one person killed. That was a passenger aboard Tracy Morgan's limo bus. His name is James McNair, a 63-year-old who was a passenger on the bus. New Jersey state police say that he was killed in the accident.

It happened when this limo bus overturned on the New Jersey Turnpike. Police are still investigating why, but preliminary they say it appears that the bus was rear-ended by a tractor trailer. Six vehicles were involved in the overnight crash, two tractor trailers, an SUV, the bus, and at least two other cars. Police had to shut down that part of the roadway. That part of the roadway is back open, but, of course, all of the focus is on these seven people hurt in the crash. Tracy Morgan again, still hospitalized this morning in critical condition.

PAUL: All right, Alexandra Field, thank you so much for the update. We'll keep you updated obviously as we get more information throughout the day.

BLACKWELL: Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton beams on the cover of "People" magazine, but her detractors are anything but pleased.

PAUL: The former secretary of state being attacked over everything from her age to the way she does her hair. We're going to talk about it all with our political panel next.

But first, take a look as Sicily Tyson is speaking at the memorial service for Maya Angelou.

CICELY TYSON, ACTRESS: I heard this booming voice who was challenging someone about something. It scared the daylights out of me.

(LAUGHTER)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I think this was a very hard choice, which is why I think my book is so aptly named. If you look at what the factors were going into the decision, of course there are competing interests and values. And one of our values is we bring everybody home off the battlefield the best we can. It doesn't matter how they ended up in a prisoner of war situation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It doesn't matter?

CLINTON: It does not matter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: That was former secretary of state Hillary Clinton touting some of the hard choices that she says that the president has to be aware of. She's promoting her new book out on Tuesday. But if you want your dose of Hillary Clinton now, all you have to do is grab "People" magazine.

PAUL: I know. She gave "People" the first interview around the release of her book, and they gave her the cover. Look at that. She opens up from everything from Monica Lewinsky, to 2016, to becoming a grandma.

BLACKWELL: And it's the final point there that her conservative critics want to focus on. After "People" released the cover, "Drudge Report" tweeted out "Is Clinton holding a walker." "The Wall Street Journal" followed suit and said it isn't a walker, just a patio chair. Of course they knew that.

Joining us to talk about this and a lot more, CNN political analyst Ron Brownstein and political commentator Maria Cardona. Good to have you both. Maria I want to start with you. Of course the walker comment was, you know, smug and it was a swipe, but as we head into 2016, if Secretary Clinton runs, will age be a serious topic? I mean, will it be something she has to talk about?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You know, it all depends on how it's brought up. I think health will be a serious topic and should be a topic for anybody who's running for president. But the way that her opposition has brought up her age I think is not only despicable, it's laughable, and it's, frankly, sad, and I think it underscores just how afraid they are of her.

Victor, if this is what they have to go up against her if she does run in 2016, because clearly nothing substantive has stuck -- the jacked- up Benghazi scandal hasn't stuck, they clearly haven't found anything else to go after her on from a substantive point of view, this is all they have, I think it's sad. And it's not going to work frankly for a party if they really want to vie credibly for the White House in 2016.

PAUL: Ron, go ahead and respond to that, because I think a lot of people would say, I don't think they would be talking to a man necessarily about his age or maybe his health, but certainly not his hair, as she also was talking about in the "people" magazine article.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, you're certainly seeing some shifts on both sides. Ronald Reagan was this age when elected and Republicans were certainly happy with that. On the other hand, Hillary Clinton being on the cover of "People" magazine shows that she's more comfortable displaying a soft side than in 2008 when the big concern was showing she was tough enough as a woman to be president. I think this is an indication they feel they have crossed that threshold.

I think the big issue is not going to be age. It's going to be relevance, whether she can convince Americans as she has solutions relevant to today's problems, and in that sense, age is part of the backbeat, but not really front and center.

BLACKWELL: So Maria, when asked about Monica Lewinsky in that "Vanity Fair" essay, specifically about her regretting possibly calling Lewinsky a "narcissistic loony toon," Clinton responded, this is a quote, "I'm not going to comment on what did or didn't happen. I think everybody needs to look to the future." She also said she didn't read the "Vanity Fair" article last month. Is that going to be enough?

CARDONA: I think it will be. And it doesn't mean that she won't -- that it won't be asked and she won't get that question probably over and over, but I think that is absolutely enough of an answer and I think it's enough of an answer for the American people.

I mean, we saw when this whole Lewinsky thing was trying to get dredged up again by her opposition and, frankly, when Monica Lewinsky herself wrote the "Vanity Fair" article, there were a lot of people out there who were rolling their eyes saying, come on, can we just get on with it?

And to Ron's point, I think what she is really wanting to talk about and what the American people would want to hear from her if she does choose to run is, what does she have to offer? What is she going to do to make sure that we continue to solve the real problems that we have as a country here at home, make sure that middle-class families are able to continue to have a chance at the American dream, and what we're doing from a foreign policy standpoint. That is what should be the real focus. And clearly right now Republicans and her opposition have nothing to go up against her on that.

PAUL: OK. Let's talk about foreign policy to some degree here, because I want to get both of your reactions regarding comments that Russian President Vladimir Putin made about Hillary Clinton this week in an interview. I want to read this to you. It says, "It's better not to argue with women, but Miss Clinton has never been too graceful in her statements. When people push boundaries too far, it's not because they're strong but because they're weak. But maybe weakness is not the worst quality for a woman." There's a lot of things that will offend women any way you cut it, but he was responding specifically to a question about Clinton's remarks in March likening his aggression in Ukraine to the actions of Hitler. Maria, let's get your reaction first here.

CARDONA: Well, I think it underscores how Secretary Clinton reacted by essentially proving that he does have a thin skin. And again, to point out her gender, says to me that he is not somebody who is used to having a woman ask questions about his credibility or about anything that he has done, and it also says to me that, again, should she run in 2016 and if he is still the leader of Russia, he's going to have to man-up in a big way to go up against a woman like Hillary Clinton.

PAUL: Ron?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Well first of all, I mean you compare people to Hitler they get annoyed. So in that sense, you know, what Putin said isn't terribly surprising, and he's not, you know, the most sensitive to kind of gender politics that we've seen. Russian politics don't follow American politics.

But it is an indication I think of some of the issues that may arise if she does in fact run in 2016. We talk about the gender gap, but the fact is Barack Obama lost white women by 14 points in 2012, the biggest deficit for any Democrat since Walter Mondale in 1984, and he still won. That's the real challenge for Republicans. It's hard to imagine that Hillary Clinton making this historic run if she does it would not do better among white women than Barack Obama did, which forces them to do better among some other portion of the electorate to close that gap. And I think that, you know, the opportunity to kind of make a cultural as well as political statement is something that is important to Democrats in 2016 because, frankly, Americans are not sure that the agenda of the last eight years if you look at the poll have made their daily lives better.

So this is, you know, it's an indication of one place where she would be very strong, the opportunity to improve on what was a deficit for Obama that he was still able to win despite.

BLACKWELL: All right. Maria Cardona --

CARDONA: Which, again, all of that really scares her opposition, including all Republicans.

BLACKWELL: Maria, thank you very much, Ron Brownstein. Now we just have to wait for the announcement.

PAUL: Right.

BLACKWELL: Are you running? Are you not running?

PAUL: We'll be talking up until then.

BLACKWELL: Yes, we will be. Thank you, both.

CARDONA: Thank you.

PAUL: All right let's take you back to the campus of Wake Forest University right now for the memorial service of Maya Angelou. It is under way with some singing, something that she herself is known for.

BLACKWELL: We heard from actress Cicely Tyson. We saw former ambassador Andrew Young, Dr. Bobby Jones, a gospel singer, is performing now. We'll continue to dip into this private ceremony. And 2,200 people there on the campus of Wake Forest University.

PAUL: And we expect next to hear from Bill Clinton. Stay close.

(SINGING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: -- anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act. And they had an all-day conference. And I gave my little talk and we went into this lunch, and it was like a political version of the Antiques Road Show.

(LAUGHTER)

CLINTON: The old Bill Russell came up and hugged me and reminded me how short I was. And I looked over and there was Maya. And I went over to her and I hugged her and I said, I cannot believe that you have gotten yourself here. And she said, just because I am wheelchair bound, doesn't mean I don't get around.

(LAUGHTER)

CLINTON: So that's the first thing I want to say, that girl got around.

(LAUGHTER)

CLINTON: Let me tell you how this all started. I first encountered Maya as a young man when I read "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings." It was written in 1970 about the time I started law school, and shortly after it came out, I read it, and I was the one who was struck dumb. I thought first of all, Arkansas, where it's set, is about 25 miles from where I was born. I got a lot of relatives there. I knew the people she was talking about, the problems she was documenting. But the thing that struck me about the book, even more than the

horrible abuse she endured and the five years of silence that followed, was that this little kid, the whole time all this was going on, was paying attention. She may have stopped talking, but she never stopped looking. She was paying attention and absorbing the people she saw, the patterns of life she experienced, and trying to make sense of it.

She had enough experiences for five lifetimes. We could all just show up here and talk about a piece of her life. Think about that. She moved from being a mute child to being reunited with her mother to being in a school of dance and drama, to being the first African- American woman to be a street car director in San Francisco, to having a baby, to having to be a short order cook and other stuff to feed the baby and keep body and soul together, and that was all when she was a teenager. She wasn't even 20 years old. All that happened to her.

Then in her 20s she was singing and dancing and acting in the U.S. and Europe. In her 30s she became a member of the Harlem Writers Guild. By 32 she had moved to Egypt to run a newspaper, and by 33 she was living in Ghana. By then she mastered five languages, went through your horrible accident with you, and how you both would control the rest of your life. And I admire you and I'm grateful to you for the life you have lived.

(APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: I thank you for that.

(APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: And she meets Malcolm X and comes back here to work for him and he gets killed. She goes to work for Martin Luther King, and on her 40th birthday, he gets killed. We could all just be up here talking about how Maya Angelou represented a big piece of America's history, and triumphed over adversity and proved how dumb racism was.

But her great gift in her action-packed life was she was always paying attention. And by the time she started writing her books and her poetry, what she was basically doing was calling our attention to the things she had been paying attention to. And she did it with a clarity and power that will wash over people as long as there is a written and spoken word.

"The Caged Bird" was the first manifestation of her great gift. Otherwise, somebody else would have written it and what happened to her and how she couldn't talk and why she didn't talk. And she just kept calling our attention to things.

I often thought of her gigantic figure as like a little fire flies we used to catch in the summertime and put in jars. They just come on at unpredictable times and make you see something you otherwise would have missed, something right before your nose that you had been overlooking, something in your mind you had been burying, something in your heart you were afraid to face. She called our attention in thousands of ways to her belief that life

is a gift manifest in each new day. She called our attention to the fact that things that really matter, dignity, work, love and kindness, are things we can all share and don't cost anything. And they matter more than the differences of wealth and power, of strength and beauty, of intellect. All that's nice if you put it to the right use, but nothing is more powerful than giving honor to the things we share.

She also taught us through all those decades of challenges that life is a constant choice. Every day you have to get up and make a choice. Will you choose light or darkness? Choose to reach out or draw in? Choose to speak out or shut up? Will you be paralyzed by your past and your failures or will you forgive yourself enough to be unchanged?

History, despite its wrenching pain, need not be lived again. That's what she taught me and millions of others. Here's why I think she died when she did. It was her voice. She was without a voice for five years, and then she developed the greatest voice on the planet. God loaned her his voice. She had the voice of god. And then he decided he wanted it back from her.

(APPLAUSE)

PAUL: Really poignant words there from former president Bill Clinton about Maya Angelou and the lessons and the gifts she's left behind.

BLACKWELL: So many people touched by her command of and craft of the English language, but Maya Angelou was also fluid in French and Spanish and Arabic and Italian and the West African language. We're learning more about her remarkable life. We'll take a quick break and continue with CNN's Newsroom right after this.

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