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Joe Biden Says No to Presidential Run; Interview With Senator Barbara Boxer; Florida Police Officer Killing of Musician Under Investigation. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired October 21, 2015 - 14:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:33:40] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: That's it. Biden watch is over. Vice President Joe Biden announcing a short time ago from the Rose Garden at the White House that he will not be running for president, ending months of speculation with a surprise news conference there from the White House. But that doesn't mean he will remain silent on this race. For the past couple of days, he has been fueling speculation with a series of veiled swipes at his would-be rival Hillary Clinton and her remarks specifically at our debate, the Republicans are her enemies. And today he did it again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't consider Republicans enemies. They're friends. But even Darrell Issa has said, you know, this is how every government program should be administered.

I really respect the members up there, and I still have a lot of Republican friends. I don't think my chief enemy is the Republican Party. This is a matter of making things work.

The other team is not the enemy. If you treat it as the enemy, there is no way we can ever, ever, ever resolve the problems we have to.

I don't believe, like some do, that it's naive to talk to Republicans. I don't think we should look at Republicans as our enemy. They are our opposition. They're not our enemies. And for the sake of the country, we have to work together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Joining me now from Washington, Democratic Senator from California, Barbara Boxer.

Welcome.

SEN. BARBARA BOXER, (D), CALIFORNIA: Thank you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Let me just begin with that mash-up of sound bites we played. I know you can't crawl into the heart and mind of the vice president, but why do you think he's been doing that, these veiled swipes at your friend Hillary Clinton? [14:35:20] BOXER: Well, they're both my friends. They're very dear

friends. I've thought Joe did the right thing for his family, and he's got a lot of work ahead of him in the last 14 months of his being vice president. And I think, you know, if you look at when Hillary said that, she was making kind of a joke because we had just learned that the whole Benghazi Committee charade was about bringing down her numbers. If you look at the tape, it was kind of a joke. I served in the Senate with both Joe and Hillary. Both of them were terrific at working across the aisle. The things that Republicans have said about both of them, and especially when Hillary came, everyone thought, will she be part of that? She was the best. So I don't know why he focused on that so much. But if he can go to the Republicans now and take care of the debt ceiling and make them not shut down the government, all to the good. But I think we all work with the Republicans. I think what she said was kind of a joke and it was an afterthought. You have to look at the tape and put it in context.

BALDWIN: Let's talk about what you just referenced, a shade. I'm sure Republicans would disagree with you.

BOXER: Yeah.

BALDWIN: But tomorrow Hillary Clinton faces the Republican-led house Benghazi Committee. And this as we get another poll in from Monmouth University. Let me just read the showing that most of the American public believes that the committee is not looking for the facts. Senator Boxer, how do you think the Republicans will handle all of this tomorrow, just in terms of tone and public perception?

BOXER: Well, you know the expression the emperor has no clothes? And you find out the real truth? How did we find out the real truth? We guessed and thought this was completely a witch hunt against her. Then Kevin McCarthy their elected leader in the House, look at Benghazi, we brought down her poll numbers. Richard Hanna is a very nice, good man over there representing a district in New York, a house member, said, that's right, it was political. The Republican whistle- blower said he got fired, we found out from him that the staffers actually had glasses made up for their wine evening they had once a week that said "glacial pace" because we all said this committee is moving at a glacial pace. For goodness' sakes it's lasted longer than Watergate, this investigation of Benghazi, Iran-Contra, Hurricane Katrina and the Warren Commission, which looked into the assassination of JFK. This is ridiculous, 800 pages. So what I think is the Republicans have, by mistake I think, frankly, led us to the truth.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: But how will they handle it? Forgive me for interrupting.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: But how will they handle this tomorrow?

BOXER: You know, that's not my problem. What I know is Hillary Clinton knows what the rest of us know, that this is a witch hunt. But, despite that, she lost one of her really dear friend, Ambassador Stevens. She's going to cooperate. She's going to tell the truth. She's going to answer the questions. If they -- you know, they are in a difficult spot. Because if they go after her, everyone is going to say, we thought that was the case. And if they're so soft and they don't really ask anything much, people are going to say, why have you spent more than $4 million of taxpayer money. Frankly, I agree with my leadership. I think that the Republican National Committee ought to pay taxpayers back. This was a political witch hunt, and it's outrageous. I hope it just gets over with --

(CROSSTALK)

BOXER: -- because we know everything there is to know.

And by the way, out of all of the recommendations that came out of the bipartisan commission study, they were all put in place by Hillary Clinton. They were started, most of them put in place, and Kerry is finishing it up. So we're moving forward.

BALDWIN: Senator, I have to get your response to this tweet. This is from Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, as you know, who wants to be the president. He tweet, "Democrats are now left" -- this is on the Biden news -- "with a Socialist or a candidate under FBI investigation" -- Hillary Clinton. "Let's embrace our conservative principles and we will win."

What is your reaction, Senator?

BOXER: Consider the source. How many people are supporting him? Is it 1 percent or less? His own party? He's a very negative force. When you watch that Democratic debate, I'll tell you I was proud to be for Hillary and I was proud to be a Democrat. You know why? We didn't divide the country up. We didn't attack everybody in the country or each other. We all spoke for what we need to do to make sure the middle class in this country has opportunity. And Joe Biden is right. We have seen this country with the leadership of the Obama administration move out of the worst recession since the Great Depression. We have more work to do, but we cannot go backwards. We cannot have these witch Hunts against Hillary Clinton or Cecile Richards, of Planned Parenthood. This is not the way to run a country. We're better than that.

[14:40:27] BALDWIN: OK. Finally and quickly, I have to ask you about Carly Fiorina. You defeated her in the Senate race in 2010. I don't know where she's been recently. She had a tremendous performance at the Reagan Library debate but then she's lost her momentum. When you look at the polls you can see that. Why do you think she has -- I don't know -- dropped so precipitously?

BOXER: Well, I predicted this because I saw it happen in California. She's very appealing and extremely articulate. But what she's selling is not optimistic. She's also someone who goes on the attack. She's the symbol of corporate greed and Wall Street excess. Just look at her campaign. She ran this campaign against me. She lost it by 10 points, a million votes. She didn't even pay her staff before she reimbursed herself over a million dollars. And when you step on people like that, it comes back to haunt you. She did it to them at H.P. She shipped their jobs overseas. In some cases, they were forced to train their replacements. And she climbed up that leader until she got fired. So I just predicted -- there's a song, I think it's the more you see her the more you love her. It's the opposite with Carly Fiorina. More you know, the less you like. I think the Republicans were smart and they saw it.

BALDWIN: Senator Barbara Boxer, thank you so much.

BOXER: Thanks, Brooke.

BALDWIN: We'll see you again. Thank you.

BOXER: OK.

BALDWIN: Coming up next on CNN, a church musician shot and killed by a plain-clothes police officer in an unmarked patrol car. What really happened on that Florida highway in the middle of the night?

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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Last year, was the lowest birthrate ever in Japan, ever. And adult diapers outsell the baby diapers.

We didn't evolve to this. We sort of evolved to just always procreate. There wasn't birth control or anything.

Before the gravity of this will become the issue in the next few decades.

UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Because there are so many of us and so few resources, there aren't always enough to go around. Water covers 71 percent of our planet. But we sometimes forget that 96.5 percent of that has salt in it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first guy to use osmosis was a Frenchman making wine. He found he wanted to dilute his alcohol. It was too strong so people couldn't drink it. He took a pig's bladder, hung that in the rubber, and the osmosis would cause the water to flow through the bladder. 1791, my technology was founded. Seven billion people is just barely OK. Nine billion people are not going to make it. Not enough food or water to sustain a population of 9 million.

UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Desalinated water is quite controversial because typically it's incredibly energy intensive. That's something you're taking on, correct?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Instead of pushing the water with this amount of energy, let's draw it to the membrane with what we call a draw solution.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't get rid of all the electricity. We get rid of say three-quarters of it, which ultimately your water can be 30 percent to 40 percent cheaper. If we can show that, I think the big guys get interested. When the big guys get interested this thing will start taking off.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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[14:48:22] BALDWIN: A south Florida family is calling for justice after their loved one, a well-known local musician, was shot and killed by a police officer. This case is under investigation and the officer involved is now on paid leave.

Here's what we know. Officials are downplaying race as a factor. The victim is 31-year-old Corey Jones, black, and the plain-clothed officer Indian-American.

Alina Machado explains what officials say happened and the backlash from the victim's family.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED UNCLE OF COREY JONES: My nephew is broken down on the side of the road.

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Corey Jones' uncle struggles to tell the story of how his 31-year-old nephew ended up shot and killed by a police officer after his car broke down on a Florida highway.

STEPHEN J. STEPP, CHIEF, PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLORIDA, POLICE DEPARTMENT: I'd like to offer our condolences.

MACHADO: On Tuesday, the Palm Beach Gardens Police chief attempted to explain what happened, saying around 3:00 a.m., Sunday morning, Officer Nouman Raja, who wearing plain clothes and driving an unmarked car, stopped to investigate what he thought was an abandoned vehicle on an exit ramp.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPP: As the officer exited his vehicle, he was suddenly confronted by an armed subject. As a result of the confrontation, the officer discharged his firearm, resulting in the death of Mr. Corey Jones.

MACHADO: Police say they found this handgun near Jones' car. Its serial number matching the gun they say Jones bought three days before the deadly encounter, a purchase his family was surprised to find out about. In fact, family and friends describe the popular drummer who played with a local band and at his church as peaceful and laid-back.

DOROTHY ELLINGTON, COREY JONES' BOSS: In a state of disbelief because, of all people, Corey. Corey is not someone that we would think would be shot by a police officer.

[14:50:12] MACHADO: Now supporters are calling for a peaceful rally Thursday at the police department.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He don't deserve this. He don't. We just need justice. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Here with me now, CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor, Sunny Hostin; and homeland security expert and former DEA agent, David Katz.

So welcome, of course, to both of you.

The family wants transparency from the police department. My first question to you, from a law enforcement perspective, we weren't there, but knowing all the details, what do you think happened?

DAVID KATZ, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY ANALYST: Well, the problem is we don't really know owl the details. This is all surmise. My best guess is Mr. Jones is broken down. An unmarked car pulls behind him. Under the best of circumstances, at that hour, you're a little suspect. A car pulls behind you --

BALDWIN: 3:15 in the morning.

KATZ: 3:15 in the morning. Even if you believe it's an unmarked police car, there's still a little part of you that says, is he really?

BALDWIN: Sure. Apprehension.

KATZ: So perhaps he took his firearm and walked around his car to just see who it was. The officer gets out of the car, may or may not have identified himself properly, we don't know. All he sees is a man with a gun and fires. Awful. Horrible tragedy.

BALDWIN: That would be a problem.

KATZ: At that point, there's no explanation. You're not having a discussion at that point. So the question is, were his actions reasonable and lawful? And we don't -- we know just one side of the story at this point.

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: That's right. Were they justifiable? I think it goes to the bigger issue, and something, Brooke, we talk about all the time, body cameras, body cameras, body cameras.

BALDWIN: There were no body cameras.

HOSTIN: There were no body cameras. There wasn't even a dash cam video there. The bottom line is I think when you're talking about police officers and traffic stops, we know those are the most dangerous for police officers. We know that they are on high alert when that happens. But when you aren't identifiable as a police officer, when you're in an unmarked car and in plainclothes, and approaching someone that has a lawful gun, that is a recipe for disaster. So it sounds to me like this could have been miscommunication on both parts. But again, the police officer is the professional here. Why not announce? Why not do more? Why is the first response to pull your weapon? BALDWIN: Police say he has a clean record. I don't think he's been

on the force for too terribly long.

KATZ: Six months or so.

BALDWIN: Yeah. I also know Ben Crump is jumping in as the lawyer for the family.

What questions would either of you say as far as what evidence would they have, other than the officer's account, forensics?

KATZ: The first thing is you have the officer's statement. You're going to go over that statement it in great detail. You're going to match the -- you're going to have, I don't mean to be unnecessarily sensitive, but the shell casings will land in a certain pattern, the victim's body will land in a certain pattern. You have to make sure that statement is consistent with the facts as you know them. You'll canvass. Maybe somebody saw something, driving by and saw something. In the end, if nothing else happens, you have the victim's statement and the forensics that you can glean from the investigation, and that's about it.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: We were talking here on the commercial. In New York, a police officer was shot in the head and killed last night.

(CROSSTALK)

KATZ: Randolph Holder, yes.

BALDWIN: Randolph Holder. I just wonder if this also speaks to both of your points, the skepticism or paranoia right now.

HOSTIN: Absolutely. We know our officers have a difficult job. I was driving along 1st Avenue and spoke to an officer who said one of his fellow officers had just been shot in the head. I can tell you that I saw officers, seasoned officers, crying on the street.

BALDWIN: Wow.

HOSTIN: We are in this sort of situation now in our society, there's a proliferation of guns. This victim had a lawful gun. And I think one of the bigger discussions that we often need to have is about gun control and about sort of that point of view that people have, if there are more guns, you are safer. Well, that obviously wasn't the case here.

(CROSSTALK)

KATZ: Part of your responsibility as a lawful gun owner -- by the way, as a former law enforcement officer, you're mindful, if you intercede in a crime and take action, will responding a police officers understand who you are?

HOSTIN: Exactly. KATZ: That's always a fear.

BALDWIN: OK.

KATZ: I think people who have a legal right to carry a pistol need to really appreciate that fact.

BALDWIN: I'm sure we'll hear much more as more details emerge.

Sunny and David, thank you both so much.

HOSTIN: You bet.

KATZ: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Next, Joe Biden, the big news. Announcing today from the White House Rose Garden that he will not seek the nomination for president. But did he take a swipe at Hillary Clinton again in his announcement? What's that strategy? We'll be right back.

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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[14:53:] (SINGING)

UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Actress and singer, Caitlin Crosby, says she just wants to help others.

(SINGING)

CAITLYN CROSBY, SINGER & FOUNDER, GIVINGKEYS.COM: I just am obsessed with people and wanting to spread hope and encouragement, whether it be through song or an Instagram post, whatever it is.

UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: Like sharing inspiring words on old keys.

CROSBY: I had an old hotel key from New York that I thought was cool. Then I went to a locksmith and asked him to engrave inspiring words like "love," hope, fearless."

At first, it was just I wanted to create a cool, inspiring product that different people could buy. And these stories started pouring in like so-and-so has cancer. So I gave them a key. I thought, I need to make a website where the stories are being shown. Then I started thegivingkeys.com.

UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: Crosby had no idea this would be the key to opening doors for those without a home.

CROSBY: We now hire people that are trying to transition out of homelessness with engraved keys. I partnered up with Krytalis (ph).