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FBI Director Softens Remarks; Candidates Show Lighter Side; Rubio Wants Mario Lopez to Play Him on SNL; U.S. to Change Strategy on ISIS; Mets and Royals Meet in World Series Tonight. Aired 9:30-10a ET
Aired October 27, 2015 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:30:00] JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: One line moves away. And each time at someone interprets #policelivesmatter as anti-black, the other line moves away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Comey had previous said police had become gun shy because of viral video and increased scrutiny leading to a spike in crime. That message clashes with the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The evidence that we've seen so far doesn't support the contention that law enforcement officials are somehow shirking their responsibility. And, in fact, you hear law enforcement leaders across the country indicating that that's not what's taking place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So let's talk about this. Joining me now, CNN law enforcement analyst and former FBI assistant director Tom Fuentes. I'm also joined by executive director for colorofchange.org, Rashad Robinson.
Welcome to you both.
RASHAD ROBINSON, EXECUTIVE DIR., COLOROFCHANGE.ORG: Thank you.
TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Thank you, Carol.
COSTELLO: Tom, I want to start with you. Critics argue there's no data that backs up what Comey initially intimated. So why did he say that?
FUENTES: Well, I think, Carol, he's trying to be as fair and down the middle as he could be. He's saying that members of the Black Lives movement -- Black Lives Matter movement need to talk to the police. And members of the police and the law enforcement community need to talk to the members of the Black Lives Matter movement. That both sides need to communicate.
I was at the speech and I thought that, you know, that it was fair- minded and that, you know, he did say, there isn't enough data to support it. He did say it was his theory based on talking to, you know, many executives in law enforcement and all the way down to street police officers. So I think he was trying to be as fair as possible in just saying, both sides need to arc the lines back together and talk and try to solve the problems in these communities experiencing the spike in homicides.
COSTELLO: Still, Rashad, there are incidents that kind of prove there is a "Ferguson Effect." Example, a Birmingham cop was pistol whipped because he hesitated to use force. We hear other stories from police officers like that. So can you totally discount that there is this sort of "Ferguson Effect"?
ROBINSON: The FBI is an agency that absolutely relies on data and there's absolutely no data to support it. So the fact that in this big moment where the FBI director is in front of police chiefs from around the country, that he would start shooting from the hip, I simply don't know what we're paying him for. His responsibility in this moment is to actually walk us through what we can legitimately do.
I understand that it's important to have theories, but right now we actually need accountability. We need solutions. We need public policies. That's what people in government are there to do. That's what we pay them to do. So in this moment, I know it might be comfortable to shoot out theories instead of putting real accountability on the table. But that's not his job. His job is to put real accountability pieces on the table. That's what we need in the FBI. That's what we need from the Justice Department. That's what we need from the White House in this moment.
COSTELLO: So, Tom, did the FBI director do that? Did he offer solutions?
FUENTES: No -- no, I think -- well, he did offer solutions. I think that he wasn't shooting from the hip. He's been talking about this. He's been holding meetings. He's talking to executives. He mentioned meeting with police officers in New York. These are street level police officers who told him that they feel -- and his quote was, they feel under siege because every time they get out of a police car and approach a couple of people on a street corner to engage in, you know, some conversation with them, immediately every single person pulls out their phone camera and starting filming. And in addition, the police are saying, and taunt the police into trying to over react so that they can get it on a video and the video can go viral. And he's saying that the police officers are, you know, unhappy with that situation. They want to have a dialogue. They want to be able to do fair and professional police work without having this constant taunting and lack of cooperation that they have run into lately. And some police officers told him that their commanders are telling him, look, we don't want to see you on the next viral video, so, you know, don't engage. Don't have these situations where that might happen.
COSTELLO: But see -- and I -- and I hear what you're saying but -- and, Rashad, you can address this and I'm sure you're thinking the same thing I am, that that camera video from South Carolina, where that officer grabbed the student and somebody recorded it and you could argue that it was a good things those kids had those cameras.
ROBINSON: You know, I've been doing this work for a number of years. And before we had this video, it was simply our word. We put out, you know, action alerts and calls to action. We raised the voices of everyday people when incidents happened. And now that there's video evidence, video after video, almost weekly of these incidents -- that video of that young girl being thrown out of her desk and onto the floor -- and still no accountability in so many of these situations. And the FIB director has an opportunity not just to stand up and say what we have to do in this moment of black lives, but also what we have to do for the good police officers.
[09:35:11] How come we don't hear from the good police officers? How come we're not hearing from the FBI? We actually need real solutions and we need honest dialogue and conversations and accountability, not shooting from the hip, not theories that are not supported by the fact. We put a lot of our tax dollars into the FBI. They keep a lot of data. And the FBI director stood in front of a group of police officers, police chiefs from around the country, and instead of talking about the path forward, he started shooting from the hip. I hope when the president speaks today --
FUENTES: That's -- that's not true.
ROBINSON: Later today, that he does more.
FUENTES: That's not true.
ROBINSON: That he actually talks about what we can do forward. No, you actually did not mention any public policy, any policy moving forward. You talked about that he's having a lot of conversations. Well, for generations, people in black communities have been having conversations. We need more than conversation. We need relief to the epidemic of police violence in our communities. That's what we need from the FBI chief. That's what we need from the Justice Department. And that's what we need from the White House.
COSTELLO: All right. All right, last word, Tom.
FUENTES: He offered the solutions, they just weren't covered. He did offer solutions and he did propose, besides the dialogue and the discussions in the communities, an advanced system called Nibers (ph) for creating a database of more information about all arrests, all data that's going on that's an improvement over the many decades old uniform crime reports that the police publish -- or the police provide data to the FBI, the FBI publishes.
So he was offering solutions. He was laying the foundation for, that there's a lack of dialogue now, there's a lack of cooperation, on both sides, and that they need to get together and talk. But he offered beyond that increased, you know, information and databases and other things. So there were positive solutions.
COSTELLO: All right.
FUENTES: He wasn't just shooting from the hip. COSTELLO: All right, I got to leave it there. Thanks so much, Tom
Fuentes, Rashad Robinson. I appreciate it.
ROBINSON: Thanks for having me.
FUENTES: You're welcome.
COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, from dancing on "Ellen" to "Saturday Night Lives" skits, will appearances like that pack the most political punch?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:41:33] COSTELLO: An unusual election season just got more unusual. For the first time, Donald Trump does not lead a national poll. Ben Carson does. And for the Democrats, Bernie Sanders is still in the game, but he has yet to explain that socialist thing. For the time being, he's chatting up his folksy side. Here he is on "The View" talking about his uncanny resemblance to Larry David.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of people are claiming on the Internet that they've never seen you and him together in the same room at the same time. So I'm wondering if you can clear the air for us, are you Larry David? Are you him?
BERNIE SANDERS (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Really? I have to tell?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We -- the Internet has to know.
SANDERS: You realize this will destroy my entire campaign.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We wouldn't do that to you.
SANDERS: It's true, I am.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are Larry.
SANDERS: I have to -- you've got to be honest about these things. (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We knew it (ph).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Not to be outdone, Hillary Clinton will drop by Stephen Colbert's late show tonight. And in this election season appearances like that are gold. Comedian Chuck Nice and CNN's senior media correspondent Brian Stelter are here to talk about it.
Welcome to you both.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Thank you. CHUCK NICE, COMEDIAN: Thank you, Carol.
COSTELLO: No, thank you for being here.
Chuck, what's it like as a comedian to have more pull than a Washington pundit?
NICE: Well, just ask -- ask Jimmy Morales down in Guatemala. He's a comedian that is now president because people would rather trust the honesty of a comedian over a politician.
COSTELLO: Oh.
NICE: And let's be honest, I mean comedians tell the truth for a living. Politicians lie for a living. And so, you know, what I'm saying is just like Kanye West, I am running for president.
COSTELLO: You have my vote, Chuck.
Brian, Senator Ted Cruz told C-SPAN he would love to pull a Donald Trump and host "Saturday Night Live."
STELTER: Yes.
COSTELLO: So how do these shows determine who hosts or who's imitated on the air? How do they do that?
STELTER: I guess I should announce that I'm not running from president now that we've heard from Chuck. No such thing.
But you can understand why, if you're a candidate like Donald Trump, you want to be on "SNL." You know, Trump's hosting "SNL" in a couple of weeks. It's going to be a very big deal because we've never seen a leading candidate host a late night, you know, show like "SNL" before. Of course, we saw Ben Carson come out and say, no, I would never do that. That's beneath the presidency or beneath the person that's running for president. But, yes, Ted Cruz did say he would like to do it. I think other candidates will definitely be seeking, you know, cameo appearances. I don't know if we'll ever see another candidate host "SNL" though. That is a huge leap. And only someone like Donald Trump, who's had a decade of experience practicing on "The Apprentice," has the experience for that.
COSTELLO: Interesting.
Chuck, also, Marco Rubio told CNN he's up for a "Saturday Night Live" appearance. Let's listen.
NICE: Yes, I mean, Marco --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump is going to host "Saturday Night Live."
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes. GANGEL: Have you been invited? Do you want to do it?
RUBIO: I don't think so. I don't think I've been invited. I don't know. We'll see if it makes sense. I'm not going to cancel campaign appearances to do it. I'm more curious to see if they're ever going to play me on "Saturday Night Live." I just want to make sure it's the right person.
GANGEL: Who do you want to play you?
RUBIO: I don't know. I have no idea. Maybe, I don't know. I have no idea. Somebody said Mario Lopez the other day. I hope, you know, they bring him on as a guest or something, but I don't -- I don't know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Oh, Chuck, don't you know it, Mario Lopez tweeted he's flattered. He would love to play Marco Rubio on "Saturday Night Live."
NICE: Yes. Mario Lopez. Hey, by the way, Marco Rubio, I'm going to get Idris Elba to play Chuck Nice on "Saturday Night Live," by the way. Keep dreaming. Please, Mario Lopez.
[09:45:12] STELTER: You know, they did get Larry David though. That was such a coup to have Larry David playing Bernie Sanders and I'm curious to see if David will be back in a couple of weeks, resuming the job.
It's interesting that Marco Rubio hasn't actually done many of these talk shows, hasn't done many of the daytime or late night shows. I think he will as the campaign goes on. But he's been rather careful. Others people like Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, they've been much more willing to go on shows. Jeb Bush even went on a Fox Sports show. So there is a lot of willingness to try out these new formats among some candidates but not others.
COSTELLO: Well, you know, I can envision a day, Chuck, where politicians will just skip over the news reporters and then go for the comedians. Why not?
NICE: Well, listen, I'd say that probably makes the best sense that I've heard in a long time. Is, you know, skip over politicians and go straight to comedians. Tha's my new --
STELTER: Don't say that.
NICE: That is my new mantra. Skip the politicians. Go straight to the comedians. You know, we hold the truth and we don't lie. That's we do.
STELTER: And all we got to do is fact check the heck out of what they say on "The Late Show" or say on SNL. That becomes the job of journalists when they're bypassing us and going to the talk shows.
NICE: Well, I'm not -- listen, you do a great job of the fact checking. And let me tell you something. What happens with these candidates is that they go on these shows and they let their guard down. When they talk to you guys, when they talk to you guys, they are expecting a curve ball. They're looking for a slider. When they sit down and talk to a talk show host or a comedian or a Youtuber and one of those people throws in a real question, it becomes something that is significant because they weren't expecting it. So, you know, it does have some merit. I'm just going to say that.
STELTER: Sure does.
COSTELLO: I totally agree with you. I totally agree with Chuck, Brian. Because when you come and you're interviewed by a really hard- nosed reporter, you are your talking points.
STELTER: That's right, you brace yourself. Yes, I think that's true. In the future there is more of everything. You know, they're going to be doing more news interviews but also mmore appearances with the Colbert and with Fallon. These candidates are having to learn from Trump and be on television more than ever.
COSTELLO: Yes, but I still think it's very important to sit down with news people, don't get me wrong. With journalists, because you want to be able to answer those hard nosed questions, Chuck, and answer them in an effective way and being able to take it.
NICE: No, here's the thing. You just follow it up with a joke, see, and then you're fine.
STELTER: This is good practice for Chuck's presidential run actually, wasn't it?
NICE: Yes, you know, I think I handled this whole thing very well. And my handlers are off to the side giving me the thumbs up, so I think this has gone very well.
COSTELLO: I'm going to vote for you, I am.
NICE: As my first presidential appearance.
COSTELLO: Chuck Nice, Brian Stelter, thanks so much.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM. OK, the U.S. is changing its tactics in the fight against ISIS overseas. A major shift in strategy, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:52:22] COSTELLO: All right, the Senate Armed Services Committee is meeting right now to discuss strategy in the Middle East and that includes strategy in Syria and in Iraq. Strategy against ISIS. Secretary of State (sic) Ash Carter just testified on the Hill and he said there's going to be a strange in -- a change in U.S. strategy. And it has to do with the three Rs. Here's what he said moments ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ASH CARTER, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: The changes we're pursuing can be described by what I call the three Rs -- Raqqa, Ramadi and raids. (END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: OK, so the three Rs, Raqqa, Ramadi and raids. Let's bring in CNN military analyst Lieutenant General Mark Hertling. So General Hertling, what does he mean?
LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, couple things, Carol. First of all, Raqqa is the headquarters for ISIS and they have been on the receiving ends of a lot of bombing, but they need some more precision bombings in that area. So I think you're going to see a whole lot more attention paid to the headquarters, the intelligence gathering, and also the revenue factor of ISIS, them generating revenue for oil.
Over the last couple of months, while we've been paying attention to other things, the Iraqi security forces in Ramadi have begun their improvements and they have actually recruited quite a bit of the Sunni tribes. So you'll see the train and equip mission that's been going on in several bases in Iraq are now producing the brigades that can fight. So the key factor there in Ramadi is beginning to take back the key cities and towns in Anbar Province.
The raids piece I think we had an early example of that last week, when you saw the Peshmerga going into Houija (ph), along with Delta Force, our special operating forces. You're going to see probably more and more because of the increased training of not only Peshmerga but also Iraqi counterterrorism experts.
So you're going to see an increase in the campaign across the board. We've anticipated that, I think, ever since the train and equip mission started probably about nine months ago, where you're actually -- on now the Iraqi government is on the receiving end of better trained forces that can go after these terrorists that are occupying the cities and towns of Anbar and Northern Iraq.
COSTELLO: All right, General Hertling, thanks so much. We'll continue to monitor that hearing and get back to the general for any analysis. Thanks so much.
HERTLING: Thanks.
COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Mets or the Royals. Two long-suffering championship-starved fan bases counting down the hours to the start of the Fall Classic next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:59:06] COSTELLO: Taking a look at some top stories at 59 minutes past. The death toll after yesterday's powerful 7.5 earthquake rising this morning. More than 300 people have died across Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan. The quake struck Northeastern Afghanistan but it was felt across the region. The debris now limiting access to many of the hardest hit rural villages. Fatalities are expected to rise.
Wal-Mart wants delivery drones. The mega retailer asking the FAA for permission to test drones to make home deliveries, curbside deliveries, and to check warehouse inventories. The approval process usually takes 120 days. If given the OK, Wal-Mart will join Amazon and Google in testing drones for delivery.
Bring on the World Series. Oh yes. The Mets and Royals meet tonight for game one. The Royals will host the first two games of the series and hope to finish the job left undone last year when they lost to the San Francisco Giants in seven games.
[10:00:01] The Royals have only won the World Series one time in team history. And that was way, way, way back in 1985. The Mets are looking to win the franchise's third world title. This should be a great series with tons of great pitching.
