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Kerry Defends Bergdahl Swap; Most Important Week in Hillary Clinton's Career?; Militants Enter Airport in Pakistan, Kill Military Members; O.J. Simpson Case 20 Years Later; Stopping Crimes of Tomorrow Today; World Cup to Kick Off in Brazil
Aired June 08, 2014 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Poppy Harlow, in today for my good friend Don Lemon.
This hour, we are fast-forwarding, looking to the week ahead. We're going to take a look at story you'll be talking about, hearing about this week.
Let's begin with our five questions ahead for this week.
Question number one, when will Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl come home? And what kind of reception will he get when he eventually gets here? As he recovers in Germany, Bergdahl wants to be called private first class, not sergeant. That is the standard promotion that he was given while being held by the Taliban for nearly five years.
We know why the controversial prisoner swap for Bergdahl was done so quickly. A senior U.S. official tells CNN, after the deal was reached with the Taliban, new intelligence emerged that, quote, "other Taliban elements might kill him."
Critics claim Bergdahl wandered off his Afghan base before his capture nearly five years ago.
Secretary of State John Kerry is defending the swap for Bergdahl. He spoke exclusively to our foreign affairs reporter, Elise Labott.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELISE LABOTT, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS REPORTER: Some people say Bowe Bergdahl is being swift boated. Do you agree with that? Did he serve with honor and distinction as National Security Adviser Rice said?
JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: There's a plenty of time, Elise -- there's plenty of time for people to sort through what happened, what didn't happen. I don't know all of the facts.
LABOTT: Sounds look you're not sure he served with honor.
KERRY: No, no, that's not what I'm saying. That's not what I'm saying, Elise. What I'm saying is, there's plenty of time for people to sort through that, what I know today is what the president of the United States knows, that it would have been offensive and incomprehensible to consciously leave an American behind no matter what, to leave an American behind, in the hands of people who tortured him, cut off his head, any number of things and we would consciously choose decide to do that?
That's the other side of this equation. I don't think anybody would think that is the appropriate thing to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: House members will receive a briefing on that Bergdahl swap tomorrow. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel then set to testify before the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday.
Question number two for the week ahead, will Russia help Ukraine and the separatist battles raging in the east? It's a big, outstanding question.
There's brand-new leadership in Ukraine. The new president inaugurated just yesterday. He and Russian Leader Vladimir Putin informally spoke at D-Day ceremony in France. Western leaders and many others hoping that those two men can find a way to end the fighting and the killing and their territorial dispute.
Again, here's CNN's Elise Labott speaking exclusively with Secretary of State John Kerry about that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LABOTT: It seems like President Putin met with a bunch of leaders, including President Obama, over in Normandy. It seems as if there's a time now for the tension to go down and for things to move forward. Is that true?
KERRY: Well, look, we're all very hopeful. I mean, I'm glad the president had a chance to meet briefly in the context of the luncheon with President Putin and with President Poroshenko. I had an opportunity to meet with Foreign Minister Lavrov and with President Poroshenko and with Angela Merkel. I think drawing from all of those conversations, there's a sense of some steps that could be taken in order to try to de-escalate.
LABOTT: Well, it sounds like you're bringing him back in the fold.
KERRY: No, the key here is we'd like to, but they have to take certain steps to make that possible. And even as we are discussing these possibilities, there's too much violence in the East in Ukraine. There's still Russian support coming across the border.
LABOTT: Is there a danger here we're going to see some insurgency that extremists come in we've seen it happen in Iraq, in Libya, in Syria, and these extremists could come in and threaten even the United States' interests?
KERRY: Well, there is a danger that there already are extremists coming in. I think it's very important, and I believe Russia has an ability to be able to have an impact on this if we get the right ingredients moving the Russians are going to have to make some fundamental decisions.
We have no illusions. We're not naive about it. We know exactly what their input is and we know what has to be done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: To have more of that exclusive, fascinating interview that our Elise Labott did with the Secretary of State John Kerry, go to CNN.com for that.
OK. Question number three: coming up this week, it will be certainly in focus, is this potentially the most important week in Hillary Clinton's potential run for the White House?
Her new memoir "Hard Choices" comes out Tuesday, and from there, she's launching a major PR blitz on her itinerary, interviews with four major networks, including CNN. The exposure will give the former secretary of state a chance to try to shake off all that criticism surrounding Benghazi, also possibly position herself for a presidential bid in 2016.
This all begins with a pre-recorded interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer. It is set to air Monday night. Here's a little bit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DIANE SAWYER, ABC NEWS: I know it's a personal decision, but if you can do that, if you can do it, you see the path and can do it, do you have to do it?
HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: I have to make the decision that's right for me and the country and I have to --
SAWYER: But is the party frozen in place waiting for you to make it?
CLINTON: No. I mean, no. People can do whatever they choose to do on whatever timetable they decide.
SAWYER: But are they disadvantaged waiting for you looking at your eyes every day?
CLINTON: No. I mean, Bill Clinton started running for president officially in like September, October of 1991, so, no. I just don't think that that's a -- you know, a real concern. People will do what they think is best for them and whether they choose to seek the presidency or not is very personal for everybody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Well, Clinton went on to say she will, quote, "be on her way to making a decision" about whether or not to run for president by the end of this year.
Question number four, is it time to change the rules of horse racing? This was a huge upset yesterday at Belmont, as California Chrome not only lost the Triple Crown but came in a distant fourth. There's been no Triple Crown winner in 36 years.
Is it time to change things up? The co-owner certainly thinks so.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE COBURN, CALIFORNIA CHROME CO-OWNER: Our horse had a target on his back. Everyone else lays out one. They won't run in the Kentucky Derby or the Preakness, they'll wait to the Belmont. You know what? If you've got a horse, run them in all three, if you've got a horse that earns points running the Kentucky Derby, those 20 horses to start in Kentucky are the only 20 available -- eligible to run in all three races. This is the coward's way out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: And, of course, this just breaking this evening. Question number five: How will Pakistan react to a deadly attack at Karachi International Airport? That is breaking news, as I said tonight.
Our Sanjay Gupta, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, live right now from Karachi.
What can you tell us? What are the developments, Sanjay?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Just new development just now, Poppy. There's another significant explosion.
We've just learned from commandos on the ground there was a suicide bomber. One of the militants was on the ground on the airport grounds and armored vehicle started to approach that militant and he self- detonated at that point. That was a loud explosion. He died.
We know that no one in the armored vehicle was injured or killed in that explosion, but it gives you a sense, Poppy, this is still an ongoing situation. You remember, it started off with these militants trying to gain access to the airport in three separate locations, prompting these gunfights in which four of the commandos protecting the airport were killed initially. We now know four commandos in addition to six militants have been killed. So, at least 10 people have been killed.
There were grenades being hurled. There was one airplane, a cargo international airplane, that was set ablaze.
This is a little bit of a distance away, Poppy, I should point out from the commercial part of the airport. But the whole airport is on lockdown. Really the whole city seems to be sort of shut down right now, Poppy.
HARLOW: And a few questions for you first here, Sanjay. Do we have any idea who has led this attack or why? Anyone taking responsibility?
GUPTA: There -- there are rumors swirling around, Poppy. It would be too early to sort of speculate on that. There was no -- this was a VIP area of the airport, a private plane. We've been checking to see, was there any particular VIP who was departing. There does not appear to be.
So, it's just really unclear at this point. No one -- we've not been able to confirm someone coming out and taking responsibility right now. But we're obviously monitoring that closely.
HARLOW: And terms of a course, as you just said, this is a little bit of ways away from sort of the main area where passengers would be for commercial travel but I'm also reading here that some passengers are trapped in a lounge area. I mean, we know the airport is shut down.
What is the state of passengers in that airport, this being the biggest airport in all of Pakistan?
GUPTA: Yes, we've been talking to commandos who are on the ground there. And the situation is this -- they have taken the lengths to go ahead and seal off the airport, airplanes that were flying in to Karachi were diverted. Obviously, no airplanes have been taking off. At the time of the attacks, airplanes on the tarmac were brought back and deplaned and many of the passengers sitting in a main sort of lounge area, departure lounge area of the airport.
Rescue operation is under way to escort those passengers out of the airport. The airport is shut down. I should mention here in Karachi, it shut down, but they're also on high alert in Islamabad and Lahore, two of the larger airports in the country as well.
Now, we know that no particular aircraft was -- they weren't able to gain control of any particular aircraft. We don't know whether that was the goal but the passengers themselves do not seem to be in any imminent danger right now, Poppy.
HARLOW: Yes. But as Sanjay has reported, at least 10 people dead in this tragic situation, this ongoing fluid situation in the middle of the night there in Karachi, Pakistan.
Appreciate the reports, Sanjay. We'll get more from you as soon as you have it.
We'll be right back with more on that breaking news and our top stories after a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARLOW: The owner of California Chrome says the horses that didn't race all three races took, quote, "took the coward's way out". But his trainer thinks it was pretty much his emotions talking. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ART SHERMAN, CALIFORNIA CHROME TRAINER: I think Mr. Colburn was mad because the other horses got a break to be away for six weeks and freshening up on their last race, you know what I mean? He says, well, if you want to run in the Triple Crown, you should run in all races like the rest of us.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HARLOW: This brings into the question of the rules of horse racing and a lot of other stuff and also, whether he was being a sore loser or not? Or do these rules need to change?
Andy Serling joins me live. She's right next to me here in New York. He was at the Belmont Stakes. He's been reporting on the sport for years.
Also with us, CNN's sports contributor Terence Moore in Atlanta.
Thank you both for coming in.
Andy, let me start with you. In terms of this, he should be happy that Tonalist didn't run in the derby.
ANDY SERLING, RACING ANALYST, N.Y. RACING ASSOCIATION: Right. I mean, Tonalist is the horse that had run very well in Florida, had gotten sick and had some minor issues. And he wasn't able to run a prep race for the Kentucky Derby. The horse that one that prep race finished behind them all yesterday at the Belmont Stakes, also finished behind Tonalist in that race in Florida.
Well, maybe Tonalist sort of won the race back in April, would have won the Kentucky Derby, maybe he will be going to the Triple Crown.
HARLOW: Do you give any credence to his argument, a lot of people are saying he's being a sore loser, et cetera. OK, I get emotions play into this. But to his point, that these three top races in a span of five weeks and the playing field maybe isn't -- isn't fair. Do you agree or no?
SERLING: Things -- I don't know if it's supposed to be. What is fair? I mean, the point is that it's very difficult achievement and that's why it's such a great achievement.
And so, after the game you're supposed to change the rules because it didn't work out? No, it's gotten very tough to win the Triple Crown, but the owner of Tonalist, his father owned a horse named Pleasant Colony, that went to the Triple Crown in 1981. He lost the Belmont Stakes to a horse that hadn't run the Kentucky Derby.
HARLOW: Right. I mean, this has happened time and time again.
Terence, to you. What do you think -- what do you make of the comments that you heard? And do you think that there's any credence for changing the rules here or this is just someone who's upset about losing?
TERENCE MOORE, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, he's upset and he's a sore loser. But the bottom line is this, the Triple Crown is meant to be difficult. And it's very analogous to what's going on this week in golf. You've got the U.S. Open, the courses for the U.S. Open are just impossible, the high rough, the rough is rougher than rough. You've got the narrow fairways.
You look at Olympics, you got the decathlon. The decathlon is a multiple event sport and at turn of the 20th century, the famous incident, where Jim Thorpe wins the decathlon and the king of Sweden says, you, sir, are the world's greatest athlete. So, you turn to horse racing here. You've go the Kentucky Derby,
which is a sprint. It ends up with the Belmont, which is the marathon. So, if you win that, it shows that you're truly a great horse and that's what it's all about. It's not meant to be something that anybody can do.
HARLOW: Well, you know, what do you think is ahead for California Chrome? I mean, is this a really, really good horse who needs a year or two more to be great and get that Triple Crown?
MOORE: Yes. One of the things that's interesting, the hoof injury it had as soon as it left the gate, that's got to be somewhat troubling. But you got to like the guts of the horse, because even though it got hurt early, it almost -- I wouldn't say it almost won, but it still stayed very comprehensive to the end.
You know, one quick thing I want to point out, back in 1978, I worked at the "Cincinnati Enquirer" and Cincinnati is a very big horse racing area right across from the Ohio River because of Kentucky being right there, and I can remember clearly a lot of old-timers complaining about Affirmed winning the Triple Crown. Talking about how this has gotten so easy because affirm was the third Triple Crown winner of the 1970s.
Well, you know what? Thirty-six years later, I want to hear them in a time tunnel and go back to the old-timers in 1978 and say they owe Affirmed an apology.
(LAUGHTER)
HARLOW: Make sure that horse gets that apology.
To you, Andy, though, you know, there was so much anticipation. I was watching 100,000 people at Belmont yesterday and then you could see it on their face when they didn't win. I mean, there was just so much disappointment. So, my question to you, do you think that you know this hurts the sport in terms of horse racing and the attraction to it? Having the rules in this way, should anything change about horse racing? People keep waiting they say 36 years, how many years is it to get a Triple Crown?
SERLING: No, it's great that so many love California Chrome, he got a lot of people involved. But would these people had become great fans had he won the Belmont Stakes?
HARLOW: Right.
SERLING: Well, if they're such fans, they should be fans now and --
HARLOW: Where were they before?
SERLING: He'll be racing again. He'll never have to run a mile and a half again. He's going have other successes in his career. And they can follow him now, they can follow Tonalist. HARLOW: Do you think this is a horse that can take the Triple Crown
in -- at some point?
SERLING: Well, there's no other triple -- Triple Crown is for 3-year- olds.
HARLOW: Only for 3-year-olds?
SERLING: Right. But a horse will win the Triple Crown.
HARLOW: I'm being schooled in this here as well. But --
SERLING: It will happen. A horse will win the Triple Crown. And you know what? Maybe next year, maybe the year after that, we'll have another big crowd at Belmont, and maybe that horse will win the Triple Crown. We have a lot of great racing at Belmont and horse racing is a very fun and interesting game.
I think a horse like California Chrome gets people involved, tells the story. That's a good thing.
HARLOW: Yes, beautiful day out there. You must have had an amazing time. Thanks for coming in being with us. Appreciate it.
SERLING: Thank you.
HARLOW: Terence, to you, sir, appreciate it as well. Thank you.
In just four days, the eyes of the world would be on Brazil for the largest single sporting event on the planet. We're talking, of course, about the World Cup. We've got everything you need to know, need to sound like a hard core fan, World Cup 101 coming up next.
But it's not all about soccer. Of course, you've got to talk about food. In tonight's brand-new episode of "PARTS UNKNOWN", Anthony Bourdain heads to the beach in search of food and of course a little fun.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTHONY BOURDAIN, PARTS UNKNOWN: What do you need to know about Salvador? What do you need to know about Bahia?
(MUSIC)
BOURDAIN: Well, like (INAUDIBLE), it's a piece of the center. You've got your color, your music, great test. A level of just magic and sensuality, how can I put this, delicately? First time I came here, I thought to myself, looks like everybody in this town is on their way to have sex or coming back from having sex. It's a special place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARLOW: This week, you're going to see an unprecedented view from inside the hunt for those kidnapped school girls in Nigeria. CNN's Arwa Damon is crossing over the porous border into Niger, just across from Boko Haram's stronghold in Nigeria, and not far from the place where the girls were taken. She'll cross Lake Chad, where islands covered in dense vegetation provide ideal hideouts for the militants and where people talk of their own experiences with Boko Haram's brutality.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Before fleeing here, the fisherman Ula Manoma (ph) lived on one of the island's close to Nigeria.
He describes how Boko Haram raided his village, stealing produce, torching homes. So many villagers killed, he says, he lost count.
Here village and terrorist camps are difficult to distinguish from aerial surveillance, especially as widely believed, the girls have been split into smaller groups.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DAMON: So, Poppy, from that small, little clip right there, you begin to get a sense of how terrorized the population is but how difficult the terrain potentially is as well to navigate when it comes to efforts under way to rescue the 200-plus school girls. Lake Chad is one area of interest. We'll get more in depth into the aspect of the search for the missing school girls, the terrain that Boko Haram controls in the upcoming days.
But another important thing, too, and this was one of the other driving factors that really had us decide to go from Nigeria to Niger, was that while we were in Nigeria, in Boko Haram's heartland, in its birthplace, the capital Borno State, Maiduguri, we were hearing countless, horrific stories of people having to flee Boko Haram, an organization that has terrorized people in northeastern Nigeria, well before the kidnapping of the school girls.
And the moment you leave the capital of Borno State, Maiduguri, just 20-minute drive away, you have entire villages that have been emptied of their populations. The only people left behind are the handful that truly had nowhere else to go. And they'll tell you, they're just sitting there, waiting for death to arrive.
And Boko Haram's attacks have continued with even more impunity, with more frequency since those school girls were kidnapped. Attacks happening on a fairly regular basis.
So, we were following the trail of the refugees, following that trail to one of Nigeria's neighbors, Niger, that has seen quite the influx. The border there is effectively nonexistent and villages there have doubled in population because of the sheer numbers coming across from Nigeria, some of them having utterly heartbreaking stories. And we're going to be bringing those as well to our viewers.
It's important, as we focus on the search for the missing school girls, as a lot of attention is being put on that particular aspect of all of this, that we also continue to try to put pressure on the various, different key global players that could help in trying to defeat Boko Haram once and for all, because this not a problem just confined to Nigeria. We're already seeing the ripple on effect and these refugees are fleeing into Nigeria's various neighboring nations.
But in Niger, for example, also ripe recruiting grounds, you have a fairly large, disgruntle population of youth that makes for ideal vulnerable individuals that Boko Haram be exploiting as well. And then you have this refugee population, the young women amongst them, who have fled the horror in Nigeria, who were telling us that they feel just as fearful, even though they are the relative safety of the neighboring Niger. So, it's especially critical that we as the media keep the pressure up in the search for the missing school girls, but also that we continue to try to really look into all of these different aspects of how Boko Haram operates, getting as close as we can to the terrain that they're operating in and really put the pressure on to try to defeat this terrorist organization once and for all, Poppy.
HARLOW: Absolutely. No question. We appreciate you doing that for us, Arwa Damon. Thank you so much.
We look forward to that report on the hunt for those missing school girls. It's a CNN exclusive, as you saw. Our Arwa Damon from Niger, on the hunt for Boko Haram. It is all this week, coming right here on CNN.
This week also marks the 20th anniversary of one of the most publicized murders in American history. Remember this?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to be a lot better tomorrow, believe me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Huh?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please? We'll let you go up to the house but we need you to throw that out the window.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: O.J. Simpson's wild ride was one of the first chapters in this case, leading to a trial that in many ways changed America.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARLOW: Well, a huge Supreme Court ruling on religion, freedom, contraception, and Obamacare may come as early as tomorrow. The case filed by Hobby Lobby Stores focuses on a contraception coverage mandate. Are religious business owners' rights being violated if they're required to pay for their employees' contraception? Can they refuse to pay for that contraception for employees?
We're going to bring you those rulings as soon as they come down this week.
Also, it was the moment the justice system in America really changed in many ways forever and two decades later people are still entranced.
The summer of 1994, beloved football star, actor, pitchman, O.J.Simpson, at the time, became the prime suspect in the brutal murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend, Ron Goldman. Every twist and turn gave the American public a front row seat to history, starting with that infamous slow-speed chase through southern California.
CNN's Kyra Phillips takes a look back at that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 911. What are you reporting?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is O.C. I have O.J. in the car.
KYRA PHILLIPS: O.J. Simpson on the run.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Los Angeles Police Department right now is searching for Mr. Simpson.
PHILLIPS: And on the edge.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's still alive but he's got a gun to his head.
PHILLIPS: Was that gun loaded?
TOM LANGE, FORMER LOS ANGELES POLICE DETECTIVE: Oh, yes. It was a real gun. Real bullets.
PHILLIPS: And real drama.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're going through Orange County.
PHILLIPS: News helicopters hovering above as the Bronco drives past stunned onlookers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People were jamming on their brakes, jumping out of cars, sometimes in the middle of the freeway.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Think about everybody else, all right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the freeway, I can't (INAUDIBLE), I want to do it at her grave, I want to do it at my house.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're not going to do anything. Too many people love you. You've got the whole world, don't throw it away.
PHILLIPS: Two bodies butchered, one of them, O.J.'s ex-wife.
LANGE: Slashed, stabbed, everything else, Nicole was nearly decapitated.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This was deliberate. This was vicious.
PHILLIPS: If you watched the O.J. Simpson case unfold, and I did as a TV reporter for KCBS in L.A., it's a moment in time you could never forget. Two decades later --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I remember as if it was yesterday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a raw and painful as it was 20 years ago.
PHILLIPS: An extraordinary story of celebrity and murder.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We saw perhaps the falling of an American hero.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: Well, that was 20 years ago this week. I want to bring in Richard Gabriel, he's a jury consultant, also author of the new book, "Acquittal." We have it right here, there it is on your screen as well.
Thank you for coming in, I appreciate it.
RICHARD GABRIEL, JURY CONSULTANT: It's good to be here, Poppy.
HARLOW: Richard, you worked on the O.J. Simpson trial along with many other high-profile cases over the years including the case of Phil Spector, also Casey Anthony, and you know, I was reading some of your comments here. It's interesting, you say that the Simpson case really had two juries. How so?
GABRIEL: Well, when 100 million people -- and I remember this very vividly because I was actually sitting right here in the CNN studios at Larry King's show, watching for five hours on that afternoon. We not only became witnesses to this case, we actually became jurors. Usually we watched the news as it happened afterwards. In this case, we were watching it happen and it split the jury because, to a certain extent, some people saw a guilty man running. You know, on the other hand, some people saw a desperate man who was depressed and was going to take his own life. So at that moment we sort of became in the case and we became the jury.
HARLOW: I want to read a quote here from in your book. And let me read this to you. You say, quote, "On a stretch of the 405 Freeway on a sunny June afternoon in 1994, Pandora's Box was opened and the chaotic clash of news media, journalism, and advertising dollar, public cravings, criminal investigation and prosecutions, celebrity culture, and constitutional protections was unleashed on our unwitting justice system. And we are still trying to close that box."
Why did this begin with that trial?
GABRIEL: Well, because for 24/7, seven days a week, for more than a year, people were riveted by this. And what happened is that it became -- it became so encompassing that we saw it on entertainment shows, we saw it in tabloid, we saw it in hard news. And everybody had an opinion. And as a result, witnesses came forward who might have been viable witnesses, sold their stories and then no longer became credible witnesses.
So there was this strange confluence of both the media and the courts and both the prosecution and the defense struggling to figure out what was real evidence, what was sensationalism, and how do we separate it all out?
HARLOW: You know, some people -- you've certainly heard a lot in your years of doing this, and some people have suggested that your work with Simpson, Spector, Casey Anthony, those teams was the reason or part of the reason they walked free. Do you agree with that? Do you think you can buy or create a non-guilty verdict?
GABRIEL: You can't buy or create a non-guilty verdict. However, you can be the best advocate you can be for your client. You can pick a jury that hopefully will give your client the fairest and best listening. You can try and present your case so that you really clearly as possible try to convince that jury that their case is viable and that they are not guilty of the crimes they're accused.
So you can obviously pursue certain strategies. You can try and pick a best jury, you can be your best advocate but you can't buy, you can't choose because the evidence is the evidence.
HARLOW: Fascinating discussion. I'd like to go on a lot longer. Why don't you stay right here? Don't go anywhere.
Coming up next, we're going to talk more about this. O.J. Simpson didn't just leave his mark on the justice system. Also on popular culture. And little did we know it then, but some are saying this was the first reality TV show. What do you think? Let's discuss next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Having a problem putting the glove on his hand.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sustained.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: That moment in the courtroom was one of many that caused life and culture to change in America when it comes to trials and televised trials. Little did we know but the O.J. Simpson trial would really become the birth of reality television.
So let's go back to Richard Gabriel. He's a jury consultant, also author of the new book "Acquittal."
Richard, let's talk about this. Twenty-four-hour cable, CNN, our competitors, news media all the time on the Internet, on television. How you think that has changed public perception of these trials, how they are perceived, and how these people are tried in the court of public opinion before the jury hands down their decision?
GABRIEL: Well, on the one hand, it's very positive thing because for the most part, people know a lot more how the process works. They know about the evidence, they know a lot more about the law. On the other hand, there's a presumption of innocence. And the difficulty is that a lot of the pretrial publicity tends to create certainty. We watch television, we watch news, to want to know.
The defense attorneys, sort of tools of the trade, really not knowing and uncertainty. So it's hard to ask jurors to wait when they've already seen fundamentally a lot of the evidence in the case, they formed opinions about it, they've talked about it with friends and family.
HARLOW: Right.
GABRIEL: And yet they come to the courtroom and then they say, OK, you're now supposed to be fair and impartial as if you're a neutral juror. It makes it very difficult for anybody who has been charged and had the news blasted all over the television to walk into court and have a jury sit there and say, I'm neutral. I have no opinion about this case.
HARLOW: You know, and isn't it one thing to have, say, a trial played out over television like a C-SPAN, for example, if you're something akin to that, and also to have it play out on cable news and other news network with commentary surrounding it? Doesn't that completely change the game?
GABRIEL: Well, it changes it because you're getting the news reporting and you're getting a lot of commentary, you're getting opinions, you're getting experts. I think this came to a big head in the Casey Anthony case, which I also write about in the book. And it was not just the cable news but it's also the social media because people are not just responding and watching and listening. But they're actually participating. They're tweeting, they're Facebooking, they're actually sort of expressing opinions as they're watching the trial.
So it becomes an interactive experience and that's why I think also when they get -- a verdict comes down, which they don't particularly think is the right one, you get so much outrage.
HARLOW: And so our viewers know, people who haven't read your book, I mean, tell us, you worked with the O.J. Simpson team and the Casey Anthony team?
GABRIEL: Worked with the O.J. Simpson team and -- and the Casey Anthony team on the defense side in both those cases, yes.
HARLOW: And tell us a little about your role on each.
GABRIEL: Well, as a trial consultant, what you're trying to do is you're trying to give your client the best listening, you're trying to help them in the jury selection process to choose not only the most neutral jurors but let's face it the best jurors, the jurors that are most favorable and actually give your client the best listening.
The prosecution's doing the same. They have their own consultants. And what you're sometimes doing is actually doing focus groups or mock trials, prosecution does it, too, to try and test basically what they're going to be -- and what the themes are and what jurors are concerned about.
HARLOW: Yes.
GABRIEL: And then you're helping them develop a story to tell to that jury.
HARLOW: The business that a lot of people don't know behind the picking and selection of these juries. Ten seconds or less, are cameras in the courtroom a good thing or a bad thing for justice?
GABRIEL: They're a good thing but they need to be monitored and we all need to get better about understanding the role and the role of the justice system.
HARLOW: Appreciate you coming in today on a Sunday. Thank you so much, sir.
GABRIEL: My pleasure, Poppy.
HARLOW: Well, there's no question, the O.J. Simpson case was one of the most famous trials ever in America. Stay tuned for this.
Coming up, Tuesday night on CNN, fascinating documentary "O.J.'s Wild Ride 20 Years After the Chase." That is 9:00 Eastern, Pacific. Right here, Tuesday night, on CNN.
For many of us, the O.J. Simpson case began with the scenes of the cops following Simpson's white Bronco down that Los Angeles freeway. Flash forward 20 years ahead -- it's been 20 years, I can't believe. The O.J. police chase might be unnecessary.
We're talking about cops in Los Angeles focusing on stopping potential crime before they even come to fruition. All the high-tech technology, what they're using right now. It may sound like the plot of a sci-fi blockbuster.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This way.
TOM CRUISE, ACTOR, "MINORITY REPORT": Look at me. Positive for Howard Marks. I'm placing you under arrest for the future murder of Sarah Marks and Donald Dominos to take place today, April 22nd, at 0800 hours.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Of course that is a movie but our own Rachel Crane explains how L.A. Police are using technology to try to prevent these crimes before they even happen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) RACHEL CRANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Since the early 1990s crime rates have steadily declined across the country. One possible explanation, smarter data driven policing.
(On camera): Here in Los Angeles, the LAPD is embracing new technologies and big data analytics like never before. Changing the way we fight crime.
(Voice-over): Watch Commander Sergeant Kennedy showed us how big data analysis is changing the force.
SGT. SCOTT KENNEDY, LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT: This is our license plate reader. We have three cameras attached to the light bar.
CRANE: License plate readers installed on patrol cars have become commonplace. And they automatically scan every license plate they drive by.
KENNEDY: It goes through the Sacramento database to check for California vehicle systems to see if it's stolen or if there is a warrant on it for some reason. Be on alert. $30,000 warrant. That's on parked car that we just passed. That's right behind us.
CRANE: Over the course of a day the LAPD can scan tens of thousands of license plates across the city. At the LAPD's Real-Time Analysis and Critical Response Division, those license plates scans are fed into a game-changing data mining system called Palantir. A powerful application that can claim the CIA as an early investor.
CAPT. JOHN ROMERO, LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT: Palantir is a better aid in the search system. It combines disparate data sets, allows us to access them very quickly. With a single key stroke, you get the effect of a 38-person task force.
CRANE: After searching over 100 million data points Palantir displayed an impressive web of information on one burglary suspect, creating intuitive graphs linking into cell phone numbers, arrest records, known associates and past addresses. They could even track the suspect's past locations based on previous license plate scans.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we are searching for him, we don't have to search all of L.A. County. We know where he frequents.
CRANE (on camera): Anybody who is a vehicle owner is then in Palantir?
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anybody who is a vehicle owner in a public place and has passed a license plate reader will be in our data set. We cannot just go searching for you or anyone else without a reason because we have a lot of data for people who've done nothing.
CRANE (voice-over): For those people who have done nothing, the ACLU of Southern California believes the LAPD's license plate readers may be violating civil liberties.
PETER BIBRING, ACLU OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: A system of license plate readers that's pervasive enough to really track the movements of every car in the city, reasonable detail, would effectively substitute for GPS trackers for everybody. The public should be the ones deciding what the proper balance is between their privacy rights and their public safety.
CRANE: The LAPD believes the public wants Palantir on its side.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You want to have the effect of 30 detectives working that burglary or that auto theft. It is hugely important to make those cases solvable.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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HARLOW: We're just days away from the start of the World Cup, and if you're not ready -- read up yet, if you don't know what teams are in contention here, we've got what you need to know on the very latest, even if you're not exactly a hard core fan.
Our Shasta Darlington joins us now from Sao Paulo, Brazil.
I have to say, Shasta, first of all, I'm jealous of your assignment. Not a bad assignment to be tracking it. And everyone, of course, is not only talking about Brazil, because that's where it's taking place but are they the favorite again this year?
SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Poppy, I'm a diehard soccer fan, so I'm very happy to be covering this, obviously. But there are a few favorites. The odds are on Spain, they won the World Cup last time. Also, Brazil, they played in every single World Cup. They've won the World Cup five times. But also Germany and Argentina, they after all have Lionel Messy, one of the best players in the world on their side. So there are a few of them.
HARLOW: When you look at Team USA, of course we all want to know, do they have a chance? They're in a pretty tough group from the start. What do you think we can expect from Team USA?
DARLINGTON: Poppy, they really do, they do have a tough game ahead of them. There was a bit of disappointment, I'm sure you may have noticed this when Landen Donovan, arguably the best player to ever come out of the United States, he wasn't called up. So a lot of people will be keeping an eye on Clint Dempsey, he's a Texan forward. They're calling him Captain America. But the fact is, they're in a very tough group. They're going to be playing against Germany.
HARLOW: Yes.
DARLINGTON: One of the favorites, against Portugal and against Ghana. In fact they call it the group of death, not so good -- Poppy.
HARLOW: Very quickly here, on a much lighter note, Mexico's coach, for real, recently came out and said his team is abstaining from sex during the tournament. Is that the norm?
DARLINGTON: You know, different countries have different rules. But luckily for Team USA, the coach Jurgen Klinsmann says he's going to take a more casual approach, families, they're allowed to swing by the hotels whenever they want and they're even going to organize family barbecues -- Poppy.
HARLOW: Well, why no sex during the tournament? Where does that come from?
DARLINGTON: It's -- it's an idea about performance. Is it distracting, does it distract the players? You know, on the other hand, there are other teams that have gotten in trouble because the players sneak off and look for prostitutes. So probably Coach Klinsmann's casual approach will have more benefits. At least they aren't sneaking out at night, right, Poppy?
HARLOW: Yes. We will see. We will be watching. Appreciate the report this evening for us from Sao Paolo, Shasta Darlington. Thank you.
Up next, our top story tonight, breaking news when we're back right after a break.
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