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Border Battle: Are U.S. Marshals the Answer?; Blogger for the Redskins Resigns; Legalized Pot Sales Begin in Washington State; When Kisses Become Misses

Aired July 08, 2014 - 10:30   ET

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

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Detective Stoddard had also questioned Harris' reaction to hearing her son had died after her husband Ross had left their 22-year-old strapped in the car's child seat on a sweltering hot day for seven hours.

PHIL STODDARD, POLICE DETECTIVE: She didn't show any emotion when they asked her or actually when they notified her of Cooper's death.

CARROLL: Is this a sign of guilt.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: We all have a script in our head of what's the appropriate way for someone to react when confronted with a tragedy. People react all sorts of ways and that doesn't make them guilty of anything.

CARROLL: While in police custody, Leanna Harris seemed very concerned about her husband speaking with detectives, specifically what he had told them.

STODDARD: She had him sit down and he starts going through this. She looks at him and she's like "Well, did you say too much?"

CARROLL: Harris continues to stand by her husband of eight years, who told police they are happily married. Despite allegations he was sexting with six women while his son was dying inside their car.

During funeral services, Harris referred to him as a wonderful father and began her eulogy by thanking him, saying quote, "First of all, Ross, I love you and I'm doing this for you." She spoke of Cooper, saying she was happy he will never have to face his first heartbreak or awkward middle school years, saying quote, "I miss him with all of my heart. Would I bring him back, no. To bring him back into this broken world would be selfish."

Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Now, still to come, riders are stuck on a roller coaster for hours after it suddenly derailed. What the park is saying about the cause of this accident, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Good morning. I'm Brianna Keilar, in for Carol Costello. Thank you for joining me.

As the Obama administration faces growing pressure to solve the immigration crisis along the nation's southwest border, we are hearing more from those people directly impacted by the problem.

One of them is Jose Luis Zelaya, he's a current Texas A&M student who fled Honduras for the U.S. about 14 years ago. His trip took 45 days over land and into Texas, where he was detained for two months before being released to his mother.

Earlier, I spoke with Jose about his journey and the horrific conditions that pushed him to leave Honduras despite an uncertain future in the United States.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSE LUIS ZELAYA, IMMIGRANT FROM HONDURAS: I completely remember the journey. I remember the desperation, the anxiety of living in Honduras, in a country where my mother was beaten by my father because he was an alcoholic, in a country where poverty is so rampant that my younger brother passed away in my mother's arms because we didn't have money to take him to the hospital.

And it just becomes a desperation -- a daily desperation where gang violence is so strong and even in 1998, a hurricane destroyed our home -- a hurricane and we were homeless. The desperation is horrible. Sometimes there's no water, there's no food, there's no security. The lack of education is enormous and for a child to grow up in these circumstances, for me it was very difficult but also very painful.

That's the reason why I came to the U.S., to be able to reunite with my mother and escape the violence and escape the poverty because I just could no longer resist it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: On the other side of the issue, frustrated officials, local and state, who are struggling to contain the flood of immigrants coming into their town. Towns like Murrieta, California where protesters have forced busloads of immigrants to turn around, preventing them from being processed by border patrol.

Alan Long, the mayor of Murrieta, talked to CNN about possible solutions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ALAN LONG, MURRIETA, CALIFORNIA: What really needs to happen is a fix in the policy. And I followed his plan, we did see some movement on that over the weekend. And just yesterday, I understand that part of that $2 billion plan is to send the resources needed to the border. I think that's a fix temporarily. I think a long-term fix needs to be immigration reform.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KEILAR: Joining me now to delve into this more, Ruben Navarrette, a commentator for CNN.com as well as William Sanchez, an immigration attorney. Good morning to both of you. Thanks for being with us. And Ruben, in a piece for CNN.com --

WILLIAM SANCHEZ, IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY: Good morning. Happy to be here.

KEILAR: -- yes, thank you for being here. You write about the clashes there in California. You say it is time for U.S. marshals to be sent in. Part of what you write. You say "The federal government's job is to protect its personnel and the people being transported and to ensure that this operation is not sidetracked by mob rule even if that means arresting those who get in the way."

Let me play devil's advocate to you on that. What if this inflames tensions? I mean you can kind of see where that would happen, right?

RUBEN NAVARRETTE, CNN COMMENTATOR: Yes, I can. It happened in the 1960s when Robert Kennedy as attorney general sent 500 marshals to the University of Mississippi to help admit one James Meredith but those flames, looking back, those flames would have erupted even if Robert Kennedy hadn't sent the marshals.

It seems to me pretty cut and dry that if you have a federal operation, federal personnel, federal vehicles, it's really wrong to leave it up to local officials and local police to keep the peace and to ensure that the mission is completed, so to speak.

And that's what happened in Murrieta. It didn't happen, well the first day they tried it, local police really shamed themselves and neglected their duties and failed to keep the peace and ensure that the mission was completed. It's really not their job to do that.

So I think it makes perfect sense to send the marshals to California and every other place, in fact, where this situation is happening. It's not right for the federal government to outsource this basic job to local officials.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: Let me say this. Let me ask you this, though. Beyond the first day, we looked at the pictures coming in the second day and they were able to keep the road clear and they were able to do a better job of separating the sides. Were you happier with that?

NAVARRETTE: I was. And on that second day, it was actually the Fourth of July --

KEILAR: Yes.

NAVARRETTE: -- that Friday was the second day that people arrived, arrests were made. So the very folks who said you can't arrest people because that will inflame things, actually when you start arresting people, any cop will tell you, it has the opposite effect. It cools things down. KEILAR: They did keep the peace, certainly, better after that first

day which was very, you know, that was very testy to watch.

William, this is an election year, obviously. It's not really a surprise that immigration reform, I mean it's dead for this Congress. That's the expectation. What are the other options that can be done here to help solve this crisis?

SANCHEZ: Yes, that's a great question. Unfortunately, having followed this issue for over 20 years now, Congress has just never really seriously -- the Senate I would agree has taken the issue seriously and passed a bill but the House was just completely dropping the ball and not thinking that this is a serious issue and that they don't come up with a bill.

So the executive branch has to act independently. I kind of like the idea that Mr. Navarrette is mentioning as far as sending U.S. Marshals because it will keep some peace. We have been involved in litigating these cases from Riverside, New Jersey to Oklahoma to Arizona. And at times they are very volatile issues and bringing in some federal marshals would help in order to keep the peace.

But as far as solving the problem long-term, right now, we are looking at about 40,000 children that are in the country. If you look back historically in the 1960s, there were over 250,000 children at a time when the U.S. had much less resources. They came from Cuba. They were fleeing communist Cuba. That was known as the Peter Pan Project.

The government worked together with churches and nonprofits and found ways to place these children in foster homes. We are talking about 250,000 children. Some of those children have risen to the level of U.S. Senator such as senator -- boy, now -- Martinez, who was a Republican senator.

KEILAR: From Florida. Yes.

SANCHEZ: He came from Peter Pan. As well as -- yes, from Florida, exactly; as well as high-ranking, very successful individuals in this country like the young man that was speaking right now just a few moments ago.

If the federal government reaches out to the private sector, to the nonprofit sector in order to try to find ways to best place these children, I think the problem with these children can be resolved in a few months. It's not a problem for a country as strong, as powerful, as resourceful as ours.

KEILAR: Yes.

SANCHEZ: Now, of course, we have to keep the pressure on the house to come up with reform. If not, this problem -- it will be a problem now in July and we will have another one coming up in three or four months and another one coming up next year, yes.

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: I'm sorry.

KEILAR: We will certainly be waiting to see, it seems like it's done for this year -- perhaps next year. Ruben Navarrette, William Sanchez, thank you to both of you.

We're back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Well, just when you think it couldn't get worse, more controversy for the Washington Redskins this morning. Ben Tribbett announced on Twitter that he's quitting. He was hired to defend the Redskins name on social media but he himself has had a few bumps in the road. You may remember he was the progressive blogger who helped bring down Virginia senator George Allen for his use of a racial slur. And at a campaign rally during Allen's failed 2006 re-election bid, the senator pointed out a Democratic staffer hired to follow him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. GEORGE ALLEN (R), VIRGINIA: It's important that we motivate and inspire people for something. This fellow over here with the yellow shirt, Macaca (ph) whatever his name is, he's with my opponent. He's following us around everywhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Allen later said that word "Macaca" was just gibberish but Tribbett attacked Allen's use of the word on his blog arguing that it was a prejudice term used in Tunisia for blacks and dark-skinned people.

Tribbett himself came under fire for a 2010 tweet in which he said "Just took chief for his last 300. I'd call it a scalping but that seems uncalled for." Indian country today reported that Tribbett made the comment about an older Native American who accused him of cheating at a Las Vegas casino.

Joining me now to talk about this, CNN Sports' Laura Rutledge -- Laura, Tribbett he was only on this Redskins job for two weeks. Is this really that big of a surprise?

LAURA RUTLEDGE, CNN SPORTS: Well, Brianna, the Redskins hired a huge P.R. firm out of D.C. And they also hired Tribbett to basically convince America that their name was not racist. Now, as you mentioned, Tribbett is a progressive blogger so it was a little bit of a weird hire at first. A few people called it bizarre because they said why would this progressive blogger be on the side of keeping the Redskins name, especially since in his past, he had a history of being against racial slurs.

So people were worried about it a little bit originally, and now here we are, like you said, just two weeks later and he's announcing his resignation on Twitter. Let's see what he said here. It's pretty interesting. He said "Obviously this issue with the Redskins is one where I don't see eye-to-eye with some friends. I just don't agree with the attacks on the team name." Then he went on to say, "Don't want to be a distraction for this team, as the political attacks have shifted to being personal to me." Now, he also then said he would resign and also included a tweet that said "P.S., all hail the Redskins."

So this continues to develop and at this point we don't know exactly why he did have such a quick change of heart, but we do think that it has something to do with a number of issues that you brought up, Brianna. And the Oneida Indian Nation has responded saying, you know, this is a lot more than about just one man and deciding to resign, this is a human rights and civil rights issue.

KEILAR: All right. Well, pretty interesting stuff -- a weird twist in this story that already has so many. Laura Rutledge, thank you very much.

And still to come, today Washington State becomes the second state with legalized sales of recreational marijuana. But it may actually be a slow day and we'll tell you why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Open for business. In less than an hour, the first retail marijuana shops will open in Washington State; might be a shaky start though for places like Cannabis City in Seattle because of a shortage of pot. Washington State voters approved recreational marijuana sales back in 2012, making it the second state to legalize the drug after Colorado.

There have been thousands of marijuana retail applications so far but only 24 licenses have been granted and about a half dozen stores are expected to open today. One of those stores as we mentioned is Cannabis City in Seattle and store owner James Lathrop joining me now along with Dominic Corva, who is the executive director of the Center for the Study of Cannabis and Social Policy.

I'm going to start with you, James. What are you expecting here today, a slow start?

JAMES LATHROP, OWNER, CANNABIS CITY: It is not going to be a slow start.

KEILAR: No?

LATHROP: We actually have a line developing at the store already. There have been people who have been waiting in line since last night. We had ten pounds of marijuana delivered this morning. That's 2,200 individual two-gram packages so we have plenty, plenty for today.

KEILAR: So there is plenty for today but I just mean that you are probably going to run out, right?

LATHROP: Well, in reality --

KEILAR: The demand isn't quite where the supply is.

LATHROP: Eventually, but we are actually not going to run out today.

KEILAR: OK.

LATHROP: Because there are so many packages, it's going to take most of the day to get through much of it.

KEILAR: OK. I meant the supply isn't where the demand is because I know that there may be a little bit of a shortage.

Dominic, this is interesting. So many folks have applied but only 24 licenses. Why is that?

DOMINIC CORVA, CENTER FOR STUDY OF CANNABIS AND SOCIAL POLICY: With respect to the retail geography, I mean that's really not part of the shortage. The producer application shortage is sort of the issue here. But with respect to the retailers, there's not enough product, people don't have -- don't find it sensible business-wise to open up, if they can't be open all week selling cannabis instead of running out of cannabis after three days and selling glass instead.

KEILAR: OK. And James, I mean what are some of the considerations for you as this is, you know, this is basically kind of a startup for you in a way. Have there been difficulties in some of the, I guess hurdles that you need to overcome in order to set this up? How has it been?

LATHROP: There have been a lot of hurdles, but we have just kind of moved through and moved along, but this has been a very, very difficult project to put together.

KEILAR: And Dominic, to you, Colorado obviously, we saw the kickoff here. There were some issues. Are you expecting that in Washington State?

CORVA: Well, absolutely it will mirror the launch of the Colorado market, for sure. There will be shortages, there won't be enough supply for a little bit but that will be ironed out a lot sooner than people think.

KEILAR: You know, you don't have to reinvent the wheel. You have watched another state do it as well, I guess. James Lathrop and Dominic Corva -- thanks to both of you.

LATHROP: Thank you.

CORVA: Thank you.

KEILAR: And you know, New York is joining -- yes, thanks guys. New York is joining the list of states where medical marijuana is now legal, but patients won't be able to smoke there right away. It will actually take a year and a half to hammer out the regulations before medical marijuana can be sold. 22 other states allow medical marijuana use.

The stakes for medical marijuana are only getting higher. Dr. Sanjay Gupta tonight will take a closer look at some of the families who are faced with really tough decisions when it comes to medical marijuana. "WEED 2: CANNABIS MADNESS" -- that's tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern as well as 9:00 p.m. Pacific.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: All right. Now, in California, some scary moments for riders of the Ninja Roller Coaster at Magic Mountain -- 22 people were left hanging on the ride for hours after it hit a tree and derailed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We saw the Ninja go into the trees and it was just a lot of leaves, noise, and then cracking noises and crashing noises, a lot of screaming.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The car came around the corner and it hit the tree.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It just fell. Like there was something that was just like a loud boom.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The people that were on the ride, like their family and friends were kind of freaking out a little bit. That's why we were kind of like "What happened?"

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: You see rescuers there lowering people. Today, the ride is closed while it's still being inspected.

A New York Yankees fan caught sleeping during the game is suing ESPN for $10 million for defamation. ESPN cameras captured video of Andrew Rector (ph) asleep during a Yankees-Red Sox game back in April but it wasn't just that image that upset Rector. It's what he claims the broadcasters said about him.

Rector says they made fun of him using such words as "stupor, fatty, unintelligent and stupid". Rector also claims he suffered substantial injury to his character and reputation, and loss of future income. ESPN is not commenting on the suit.

It's the story of a kiss gone amiss -- a celebratory moment when an athlete puckered up only to look like a sucker. CNN's Jeanne Moos has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kissing should be like riding a bike. You never forget how, but instead, it can get so awkward.

Watch where the Italian who won stage two of the Tour de France angles for the traditional kisses from the podium girls. The first one goes fine, but the second girl leaves him hanging, stuck pretending to fix his own collar. It's being analyzed in slow motion, looped in a six- second vine. (on camera): But the cyclist is in good company when it comes to having his lips left in limbo. Even former presidents end up in puckered up purgatory.

(voice-over): The intended target was Hillary, but Bill ended up kissing air while Hillary wound up being kissed by then-presidential nominee Barack Obama -- who has himself had his share of kissing mishaps, including the time he accidentally kissed his vice president's wife right on the smacker. And the vice president has found himself in a three-way kissing muddle.

Talk about having your kiss dissed, singer Erykah Badu was inexplicably clowning around in a WPIX reporter's live shot and then she tried to kiss him.

REPORTER: And LaBeouf obviously --

MOOS: Badu eventually tweeted, "Sorry, Mario" to the reporter. Miley Cyrus' kiss was dissed by none other than Katy Perry when Miley went a little too far with her tongue. Of course, a lot of kissing confusion can be blamed on the age-old angle dilemma.

(on camera): A German researcher concluded after spying on 124 couples that 65 percent of people tend to tilt their heads to the right rather than to the left when going in for a kiss.

(voice-over): President Obama was in the minority with his left tilt approach to kissing Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, but don't blame his left-handedness.

Many famous movie kisses start with a right tilt -- Though Carey Grant plays it both ways in "Notorious".

The German researcher thinks it's a womb thing. Babies in their last few weeks in the womb tend to turn their heads to the right.

When it comes to rejecting affection, U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard is still blocking, in this case blocking a fan's hug. It's no fun being rejected all puckered up with no place to go.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Thank you for joining me today. I'm Brianna Keilar, in for Carol Costello.

"@THIS HOUR WITH BERMAN AND MICHAELA" starts now.