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Arrests in Brussels Terror Attacks; Bill Clinton's Angry Exchange with Black Lives Matter; Democratic Candidates Fight for N.Y.; Interview with NWA's Ice Cube. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired April 08, 2016 - 14:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:31:] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Bottom of the hour. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

We're back with our breaking news. Two of Europe's most-wanted terrorists including the last-named Paris attack suspect have just been caught alive in Belgium. We're waiting for a news conference that should happen during this show. We'll take it.

Meantime, let me go straight to our justice correspondent, Pamela Brown, who's been covering this.

Let's just begin with these two men. What do we know about them?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, these arrests are very significant. Particularly, Mohamed Abrini is someone officials have been searching for ever since the surveillance video. He was seen two days before the attacks. He's been on the run ever since. So it is a huge deal that Belgian officials have been able to track him down in Brussels and make this arrest. Also arrested was Osama Krayem who was believed to have had interaction with one of the Bakraoui brothers. Officials are trying to learn more about what their involvement was. There is believed to be a connection. And some officials, Brooke, believe that Mohamed Abrini may be the man in that surveillance video at the airport, the third bomber, who has been on the run who we saw in that surveillance video yesterday, walking for two hours after the attack. There is belief it could be him. I should caveat that with the fact there are two other people officials thought was the man in white. Turned out they weren't. So people are cautious to make that connection, but there's certainly good reason to believe it -- Brooke?

BALDWIN: Pamela Brown, thank you.

Back to politics now. A 1994 crime bill once again plaguing the Clinton campaign. Black Lives Matter protesters interrupted former President Bill Clinton at a rally for his wife's presidential campaign. They're arguing that bill, which Clinton signed as president, led to the disproportionate incarceration of African- Americans. President Clinton was visibly frustrated in this confrontation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't know how you would characterize the gang leaders who got 13-year-old kids hooked on crack and sent them out on to the street to murder other African-American children, maybe you thought they were good citizens, she didn't. She didn't. You are defending the people who kill the lives you say matter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Well, today, Bill Clinton is back on the trail and he is, quote, "almost apologizing for that reaction."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: I like and believe in protests. I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't because I engaged in some when I was a kid. But I never thought I should drown anybody else out. I confess, maybe it's just a sign of old age, but it bothers me now when that happens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:35:00] BALDWIN: This is all in the context ahead of this crucial upcoming primary in the state of New York. Hillary Clinton is in Buffalo today. Sanders will be in his birth place in Brooklyn. Both candidates are hoping for a home state advantage.

Let me bring in someone who has unique perspective on Clinton's strategy in New York. Howard Wolfson served in the campaign as well as her Senate bids and he was deputy mayor under Mayor Bloomberg.

You saw President Clinton responding to protesters in the crowd. What did you make of how he responded?

HOWARD WOLFSON, FORMER COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR, 2008 HILLARY CLINTON PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN & FORMER NEW YORK CITY DEPUTY MAYOR: I think we're at the point in the campaign where people are beginning to get tired.

BALDWIN: Nerves are getting frayed?

WOLFSON: Yes, people are getting a little frustrated. People say things that a day later they regret. You've seen that I think with Bernie Sanders. You've seen that with President Clinton. You've seen that on the Republican side. A very long process. It is a very demanding process. And I give the candidates an enormous amount of credit. Most of the time they're at their best. But they're not always at their best.

BALDWIN: You were saying in the commercial break we have to remember they're humans. In terms of your involvement in '08, there was a thought at the time with regard to Hillary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama not to go negative, not to go personal. Eventually it did. What do you make of the new tone on the Democratic side?

WOLFSON: The trajectory in '08 was the campaign started out very positive for most of the campaign in 2007, then it became pretty negative in the early part of 2008. And then by sort of the spring, both campaigns had kind of decided to pull back a little bit. There wasn't a lot of negativity for the final I'd say month or two before the convention. It was kind of something of a stated agreement that the time for negativity passed and people were beginning to reconcile. I think we're now in the intense phase where there's still negative going on. Bernie Sanders calling her unqualified I thought was a pretty poor attack on his part, not really a credible attack on his part. Again, candidates improvise. They are tired. They say things that a day later they regret they obviously have to live with them because there are cameras everywhere.

BALDWIN: It gets looped. What do you think looking from a far, what could Secretary Clinton be doing better on the trail?

WOLFSON: I actually think she's doing very well. She's ahead. She has a larger margin of earned delegates against Bernie Sanders then Barack Obama had.

BALDWIN: Everyone talks about his momentum.

WOLFSON: He has run a great campaign. I give him and his campaign an enormous amount of credit. He has come further than anyone assumed he could at the beginning of his campaign. But I think Hillary Clinton has run a very good campaign.

BALDWIN: Give me something, one thing.

WOLFSON: That she could be doing differently?

BALDWIN: Yes.

WOLFSON: I give her a lot of advice in 2008 and she wound up as secretary of state and not president. So I think she's doing just fine.

BALDWIN: As a New Yorker, native New Yorker, and of course not just on the Democratic side but on the Republican side, we're seeing all these candidates out and about in the city and elsewhere. Ted Cruz coming in, doubling down on his New York values comments. We can't crawl into his brain. Don't know exactly what he's meant by that. What do you think he means by that?

WOLFSON: I assume he was calling New Yorkers liberals, and attacking our sort of social values. Look, I think Donald Trump is poised to do very well in New York. He is -- whatever you think of him, and I don't think very much of him, he I a born and bred New Yorker.

BALDWIN: His name's everywhere.

WOLFSON: Hometown boy. No one has a better understanding and precious for the New York media market than Donald Trump. He has played the tabloids in like a maestro. He'll do well here. I don't think Ted Cruz will. Insulting your voters is not generally a way to get them to vote for you.

BALDWIN: Just sort of -- (CROSSTALK)

WOLFSON: As a rule of thumb.

BALDWIN: Maybe 101 there.

WOLFSON: Yes, it won't be the recommendation you'd make.

BALDWIN: From a campaign strategy perspective, overall, not just New York, what do you make -- what do you think is the best thing he' done strategy-wise?

WOLFSON: I think he has mastered the use of social media to drive mainstream media coverage better than any candidate in the history of America. Obviously social media has not been with us for very long. But no one has used it as effectively as Donald Trump has.

BALDWIN: Do you think, then, that has forever changed how candidates could use social media moving forward?

WOLFSON: Yes.

BALDWIN: That's significant.

WOLFSON: Historians now look back and they say Roosevelt understood uniquely the value and importance of radio, as a new medium in 1932. Kennedy understood the value and importance of television in 1960. Donald Trump has understood the value and importance of social media in 2016 in a way that will forever transform American politics.

BALDWIN: From the best to the worst, what's the worst move he's made?

WOLFSON: Oh, I think --

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[14:40:09] BALDWIN: I know, I'm looking at your eyes. Just give me one.

WOLFSON: His comments on abortion were horrible because they offended both people who were pro-life and pro-choice. They appeared ignorant, appeared insensitive. They were devastatingly unfortunate for him.

BALDWIN: Howard, if there is an open convention in Cleveland, how crazy will that be?

WOLFSON: Could be pretty crazy. We have had open conventions before in our history, but we've had them in the age of social media. So you will have people tweeting and posting what's going on be in the back room as it's happening. We didn't have that in 1932 or 1960 or even obviously in 1976 in the last sort of open convention with Reagan and Ford.

BALDWIN: Obviously, Trump wants to hit the magic number, doesn't want to deal with a contested convention. It would behoove him to just win outright. As the hours tick on, do you -- what do you make of the move now that they're adding on, within the inner circle?

WOLFSON: Smart. I think sort of long overdue. But smart. I mean --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Too late?

WOLFSON: Perhaps. I mean, every campaign needs to expand as it moves forward. These are enormous endeavors. I think one of the challenges that Donald Trump has faced is his own reluctance to rely on other people in a more conventional way. He would argue it's worked for him. He's the front-runner. But it may not work for him to the extend he gets the nomination.

BALDWIN: Last question on Hillary Clinton. What is the biggest difference you've noted between Hillary Clinton as a candidate in 2008 versus 2016?

WOLFSON: She seems to be a bit more comfortable now. I don't think we'll ever see another race like 2008 where you had two people like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. You know, the - as intense as this campaign has been, that campaign was more intense. And it was -- it was more acrimonious at times, than this one. Although who knows, there's more time for more acrimony I suspect.

BALDWIN: Howard Wolfson, come back.

WOLFSON: Thank you.

BALDWIN: I want to pick your brain some more.

WOLFSON: Thank you very much.

BALDWIN: Thank you so much.

And a reminder, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders will face off in the Democratic presidential debate next thursday night, Brooklyn, New York, 9:00 p.m. eastern. Tune in on CNN.

Coming up next, Ice Cube, the legendary rap group NWA joins me. We talk about everything from politics to his $160 million gross film, "Straight Outta Compton," to his induction tonight in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Do not miss this conversation.

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[14:46:46] BALDWIN: It is a big day for the iconic west coast rap group NWA. About to be inducted into the Rock and Roll hall fame. The ceremony is set to take place in New York. This honor comes after nearly 30 years after the release of NWA's debut album "Straight Outta Compton."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ICE CUBE, NWA MEMBER: You're now about to witness the strength of street knowledge.

(SINGING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The honor for NWA come on the heels of last year's blockbuster bio pic about the group, also titled "Straight Outta Compton." The film grossed more than $160 million at the box office and it helped to revitalize interest in NWA's brash political gangster rap.

And I had a chat with Cube all about it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: How are you? Good to see you, Cube.

ICE CUBE, NWA MEMBER: Good. How you doing?

BALDWIN: Thank you for doing this. Congratulations.

ICE CUBE: Thank you.

BALDWIN: You guys are the what, fifth rap group to be inducted. Take me back to when you got the call.

ICE CUBE: I learned from my manager. He just -- I guess it hit the news earlier that day. Just let us know, yo, we made it. It's a great feeling. I called the other guys, you know, said what's up, Hall of Famer, it's jus a great, great achievement, you know, after all these years, and we humble, proud and grateful.

BALDWIN: What do you say to the people who say a rap group in the rock hall?

ICE CUBE: Well, they don't know Rock and Roll. Rock and Roll is not an instrument. It's not a style. It's not, you know, of course, it's form of music but I think it's a spirit, it's an attitude. I think -- and it's been since music's began, it's been these pioneers, it's been these mavericks.

BALDWIN: Like you.

ICE CUBE: Hey.

BALDWIN: You're a pioneer, my friend.

ICE CUBE: Without a doubt. Look at all the people who have come before me, the blues singers, the jazz singers. You know, the people who, you know, took gospel music and turned it into soul music. These are -- that's Rock and Roll to me. And of course the Rock and Roll is. But the punk rockers, you know, and like even the grunge -- I think anybody who goes outside the box, you know, outside the standards of music, outside the standards of even the music industry. Definitely, Rock and Roll.

BALDWIN: The last time we talked, you mentioned at the very end you're shooting this little movie called "Straight Outta Compton."

ICE CUBE: Oh, yeah.

BALDWIN: Last numbers I saw was $160 million grossing for this film, which is massive.

ICE CUBE: Oh, yeah.

[14:50:04] BALDWIN: Why do you think in 2015, 2016, your story resonated so much?

ICE CUBE: Because it's a classic to me American story. It's a story about brotherhood. It's a story about break up to make up, rags to riches, freedom of speech story, so to me these are all American themes that resonate and just the fact that, you know, we had the backdrop of L.A. at the time, all these issues going on in the late '80s, early '90s, and then this great music that was pure honesty. You know, to me it all makes for a great movie.

BALDWIN: You know, I thought about NWA when we saw all of the uprisings with Black Lives Matter. I was covering in t wake of what happened with Eric Garner a number of young people were walking around Manhattan, across the bridge into Brooklyn, and I'm hearing the same words chanted from "'F' the police song" from back in the day, but to see young people, so many years later, invoking your same words, what was that like?

ICE CUBE: The bad part of it is the fact that they have to go through the same things that we were going through and that, you know, little has changed or not enough has changed. You know, what's good is the fact that people, you know, did what we did, you know, they used their voice as their way to protest, as their so-called weapon, and not sticks, rocks, bottles. You know, when you start going there, it's a whole other level. I just think it's a thing that people can say and protest without being physically violent.

BALDWIN: What do you think has really changed since -- between your generation and, say, your son's generation?

ICE CUBE: Well, police are a little more scrutinized. You know, when I -- before we did the music, before we did that song, you know, police could do no wrong in the eye of the courts, in the eye of the media. It was just a thing where, you know, if you're in that uniform, you must have been right and that the guy you dealt with must have been wrong or the person you arrested or physically confronted must have been wrong. But that's changed now, you know, police are held accountable, you know, to a certain degree. At least they're, you know, at least mentioned. At least they're, you know, if not, you know, publicly shamed for their actions, you know, at the very least, you know, that's the difference, you know, police are being held more accountable for what they're doing to the citizens.

BALDWIN: "Barber Shop," next one is coming out, tax day, April 15th. Makes everyone laugh. But you take on south side of Chicago, serious issue of gang violence. We have a clip. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ICE CUBE: This neighborhood was always rough.

(SHOUTING)

ICE CUBE: But there's something different going on.

(GUNFIRE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They shooting out there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

ICE CUBE: Get your old ass down, man.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't mean down there. It'll take me too long to get back up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Meanwhile, we got to raise Jalen in this mess.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't understand how dangerous it is.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ya'll need anything? Ya'll straight?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got to take our streets back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Why do you want to take this on in this film?

ICE CUBE: I didn't think we could do an authentic movie about a barber shop on the south side of Chicago without dealing with what's really going on outside the barber shop, you know, right there in the streets. We want our movie to be real. We want our movie to be authentic. We want our movie to hopefully make people think and inspire. It was just the right thing to do was to try to rap this funny, funny movie in this real-life subject. Because, y| know, people walk in the barber shop, they're not only roasting their favorite celebrities and politicians or whatever, they're also talking about the real issues that's dealing with their lives and Calvin having a 14-year-old son, trying to keep him off the street, we felt like that was a universal story, universal message for everybody.

BALDWIN: You mentioned politicians. We're at CNN. We've been nonstop covering this presidential race. Are you following it?

ICE CUBE: Yes.

BALDWIN: Thoughts? Care to --

(CROSSTALK)

ICE CUBE: It's a circus. It's pretty wild, u know, it's pretty interesting. And I --

(CROSSTALK) BALDWIN: Have you ever met Trump?

ICE CUBE: Yeah, I met him once.

BALDWIN: How did that go?

ICE CUBE: He was cool to me.

BALDWIN: I was look at lyrics from 2008 "Stand Tall" on the Democratic side, then on top, never put your trust in Hillary Rodham, because I can tell you now it's going to turn out rotten, keep on pushing, get them till we got them.

How do you feel about Hillary Clinton now because a lot of entertainers are feeling the burn?

ICE CUBE: I feel the same way. All of them got work to do to get my vote. All of them have their good points. All of them have their faults. You know so we'll see what they do. I'm not feeling any of them yet. But, you know, it's a long time. We still got a few months.

[14:55:11] BALDWIN: Easy E.

ICE CUBE: Yes.

BALDWIN: Passed away in 1995. What would he think knowing NWA is getting inducted? What would he say?

ICE CUBE: What he would say to us as a group?

BALDWIN: What would he say?

ICE CUBE: Told you. I told you. That was his thing. He was the champion for this style of music. He was the champion for putting Compton on the map. Trying to put his city, you know, on the map, a city that very few people knew about, heard about. And, you know, he was able to accomplish that. And also, you know, in a lot of ways wake the world up to what was really going on in the streets of Los Angeles which is happening pretty much in the streets of every kind of neighborhood or every hood in America.

BALDWIN: Cube, thank you.

ICE CUBE: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Thank you.

ICE CUBE: Always good to talk to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Ice Cube, thank you so much.

He is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Kendrick Lamar. That ceremony, watch the entire thing play out April 30th on HBO. Coming up next, we're learning more about the terror suspects arrested

in Belgium today. How they could be connected to the attacks at the Brussels airport and the subway. Stay here.

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