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Biden Takes on Trump with Plan to Restore Government Ethics; Hours Later, Trump Has Not Denounced Fake Video Shown at His Resort Showing Him Shooting Media and Critics; Cop Who Killed Woman in Her Home Resigns and May Face Charges. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired October 14, 2019 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: -- this presidential debate Joe Biden makes a move to mute criticism of his son's foreign business ties. The former Vice President is unveiling a new ethics plan that directly takes on the criticism President Trump has waged at his son, Hunter. For Hunter's dealings with company's dealings in Ukraine and China. And Mr. Biden took a swipe at President Trump when explaining his plan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No one in my family will have an office in the White House. Will sit at meetings as if they're a cabinet member. Will in fact have any business relationship with anyone that relates to a foreign corporation or a foreign country. Period, period. End of story. And what I'm not going to let you all do is take the focus off the problem. No one, no one has asserted my son did a single thing wrong. No one has asserted that I have done anything wrong. Except the lying President. That's the only thing. That's the focus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: CNN's Jeff Zeleny is live in Ohio where CNN is hosting the Democratic debate tomorrow night. And so Jeff, once again, sounds like the former Vice President is looking right past the field of Democrats and taking Trump head on.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Brooke, good afternoon. That's certainly what Biden is trying to do. He's trying to again make the case that he's the strongest Democrat to win back the White House by essentially trying to compare himself into a head to head race with the President. Of course, he does still have a very competitive Democratic primary process. But as interesting how he's trying to, you know, shift this argument. He has been in this

controversy for the last three weeks or so, that the President has been leading. You know, making all of these accusations without evidence that Hunter Biden, you know, was involved in wrongdoing.

But Joe Biden, the former Vice President, is releasing this new ethics plan. Saying that look, no one in his family is going to profit off of being in the White House if he were, you know, allowed to win. But Brooke, he's trying to do a couple things. A, he's trying to move it beyond this controversy. Because some of his fellow Democratic presidential candidates have, you know, certainly shied away from saying anything negative about Joe Biden. But they said that their family members would not serve in any administration here. So Joe Biden trying to move beyond that controversy and refocus the debate on President Trump. He believes he's the strongest when he's taking on President Trump head to head. He hopes to do that here in battleground Ohio a year from now, Brooke, but a lot has to happen between now and then.

BALDWIN: Yes, it does. Jeff Zeleny, thank you, we'll see you of course all evening and into tomorrow ahead of the big debate. Let me remind everyone, do not forget to watch the big debate night here on CNN, 8:00 Eastern.

A fake video shown at a pro Trump conference at one of his resorts depicts the President killing political opponents and news outlets inside of a church of all places. And President Trump still has not directly condemned it. What's he waiting for?

[15:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: "The New York Times" has gotten their hands on an extremely violent and disturbing video that was shown at a pro Trump political conference just last week and the video depicts a killing spree inside of all places, a church. It has a scene cut from a 2014 film, the video has been manipulated and it features a fake Donald Trump. And to quote "The New York Times," when you watch this, Mr. Trump stops in the middle of the church, pulls a gun out of his suit pocket and begins a graphic rampage. As the parishioners try to flee, the President fires at them. He shoots Black Lives Matter in the head. And also shoot "Vice News."

And the clip ends with Mr. Trump putting a stake through the head of a person with a CNN logo for a face. This fake president also attacks, not just members of the media, but Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, shoots Hillary Clinton in the neck and pistol whips the late John McCain.

The video was played at Trump Doral in Miami as in the President's own property during a private event. The campaign says it was not produced by them. The organizer of the American Priority Conference said in statement that, quote, the

video was not approved, seen or sanctioned by the festival's organizers. That the video, quote, was shown in a side room. The group also said they reject all political violence.

But CNN is calling on the President to condemn the video. Quote, sadly, this is not the first time that supporters of the President have promoted violence against the media in a video they apparently find entertaining, but it is by far and away the worst. The images depicted are vile and horrific. The President and his family, the White House and the Trump campaign need to denounce it immediately in the strongest possible terms. Anything less equates to a tacit endorsement of violence and should not be tolerated by anyone, end quote.

Trump has condoned violence against his own critics. He's called the media the enemy of the people form the podium of his own rallies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you, seriously. OK, just knock the hell -- I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees, I promise. I promise.

They are the enemy of the people.

I would never kill them, but I do hate them, and some of them are such lying disgusting people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:40:00]

BALDWIN: And the President's messaging has had an impact. When I first read about this story and saw this video, I couldn't help but think of my next guest. Reverend Sharon Risher lost her mother and two cousins in the 2015 massacre at Mother Emmanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina. And Sharon Risher, I will never forget the first time I interviewed you after you lost your family members in that church, never forget it. And thank you so much for joining me today. And just to hear about this video and this violence in a place of worship. How does it sit with you?

REV. SHARON RISHER, MOTHER AND COUSINS KILLED IN 2015 CHARLESTON CHURCH SHOOTING: Well, Brooke, when I first saw the picture of this video on social media, I swiped by it real quick, because I didn't want to look at it. And then I said to myself, I need to know what's happening. When I finally did see this video, it just made my stomach hurt. It just made me feel like there is no sanctity. There is no sacredness from this administration. How could such a thing be put out there and even though his people have denounced this, but this lets you know the kind of people that follow him and vote for him. And this kind of violence is just reprehensible.

And to have such a thing in a church. Gun violence is deadly. There are so many of us like me that have had family members killed by this kind of violence. And to see this thing just hurts my heart.

BALDWIN: It hurt mine too. It hurt mine too. And the President does need to condemn it himself. His White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham tweeted this this morning. Regarding the video played over the weekend, the President has not seen the video. He will see it shortly but based upon everything he has heard he strongly condemns the video.

You know, we still have not heard from him. He has a microphone to some 65.7 million followers. What do you make of the fact that he has been tweeting but has not said a darn thing about this video and what would you want him to say? RISHER: Well, you know, it's par for the course for him. You know, he puts out on social media what he wants. But when it comes to something reprehensible like this, then he's slow at responding, because then that makes me feel like -- he says he condemns it, but it's not something that's important to him. And it should be important to him. Gun violence is a crisis in America and he needs to denounce this because I just don't believe that he didn't know that this thing was going to go on and for his folks to put that out there. This is not a joke. People's lives are at stake.

This could trigger PTSD in people. And seeing that church, it just brought back flashes of what happened in my mother's church in Charleston when they were slaughtered. Trump needs to do better. We understand that he really doesn't represent all of America. But he needs to come out and say something because this isn't what we need to see at a time like this. It's just -- I just really don't know what else to say. And our lawmakers, they need to do better. They need to decide whether they're constituents are more important than their Republican Party.

BALDWIN: Reverend Sharon Risher, thank you. We'll be right back.

[15:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Breaking news, a white Fort Worth police officer who shot and killed a black woman inside her own home has resigned, before he was about to get fired. The news coming moments ago from the Interim Police Chief in Forth Worth.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

INTERIM CHIEF ED KRAUS, FORT WORTH POLICE: My intent was to meet with him to terminate his employment with the Fort Worth Police Department. However, the officer tendered his resignation this morning before we met. Even though he no longer works for the city, we will continue the administrative investigation as if he did. The case will be completed and reviewed by the chain of command. Had the officer not resigned I would have fired him for violations of several policies including our use of force policy, our de-escalation policy and unprofessional conduct.

Despite his resignation, the officer still faces criminal charges from the major case investigation, additionally, we have also presented a preliminary case to the FBI to review the officer's actions for possible civil rights violations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Family members say Atatiana Jefferson was playing video games with her 8-year old nephew and the shooting happened, the whole thing was captured on the police officer's body camera.

[15:50:40]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: Put your hands up. Show me your hands.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Authorities say former officer -- now former officer Aaron Dean was responding to a welfare check at Jefferson's home. A neighbor had called police to check on her and her nephew because their front door was left open overnight. Jefferson's death has ignited anger in the Fort Worth community. And local leaders are demanding justice.

Kelly Allen Gray is a Fort Worth City Council Member, she joins me. You know, we just heard from the Police Chief, the Mayor also expressed her dismay and apologized to the family. I'm wondering, Kelly, if you have spoken with the family. I'm wondering about this 8-year-old nephew who was witness to all of it. How are they holding up?

KELLY ALLEN GRAY, FORT WORTH CITY COUNCIL MEMBER: So I have not had an opportunity to speak with the family. We were here at the house at the family's home last night for the vigil and talked to several family members. And the family came much later during the vigil so I have not had an opportunity to speak with them. I did leave my card and my number should they need anything. We are here to help however we can assist.

BALDWIN: We did hear from some of Atatiana's sisters including the one whose son was witness to this shooting. Here they were. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMBER CARR, SISTER OF ATATIANA JEFFERSON, HER SON WITNESSED SHOOTING: My son, who was there to witness the event. You would think that he would show some type of sadness or emotions. But the first time I actually got to see him and pick him up from a facility for children, the first thing he told me was he was sad. And I asked him why was he sad, and he told me because the police had killed his -- had shot his aunt.

ASHLEY CARR, SISTER OF ATATIANA JEFFERSON: We demand justice for Atatiana through an independent, thorough and transparent process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So Kelly, the family wants a special prosecutor, the chief said that he wants a thorough, speedy investigation. Will the city agree to this demand?

GRAY: Absolutely. If you listened to the press conference, what you heard the chief say was he had reached out to the Texas Rangers. The Texas Rangers had declined to take the investigation because it was so far along. Additionally, we have reached out to the FBI and the FBI has not confirmed nor denied their desire to be a part of this investigation. So absolutely, I agree wholeheartedly with the family, that we should have as many independent eyes looking at this investigation as we most possibly can.

BALDWIN: What about the question of how, you know, this neighbor, and you feel for this neighbor because the neighbor was just concerned about Atatiana and the nephew and then the door being open in the wee hours of Saturday morning. But how does a phone call to some nonemergency number turn into police showing up, guns drawn, shooting into a bedroom window.

GRAY: So I think we're all baffled by the whole chain of incidents. One of the things that I have said continuously is I live in a neighborhood very much like the neighborhood that Atatiana and Jane Smith live in. Where we know our neighbors. We know each other. We check on each other, and it never in my wildest imagination would it be for me to call the non-emergency number or 911 for that matter and say, I have a concern about something that is happening at my neighbor's house and it turns tragic.

I think we are all trying to wrap our heads around how that happened. How this is the end result of neighbors caring about neighbors. That just makes absolutely no sense. We say all of the time, when you see something, say something. And there is never the thought that the end result is going to be in death.

BALDWIN: Never in a million years. Thank you, councilwoman Kelly Allen Gray --

GRAY: Never in a million years.

BALDWIN: -- for coming on and just this family and this community, just gut-wrenching. We'll continue to tell the story and demand answers as well. Thank you and we'll be right back.

[15:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: It's the week that could decide whether the President is impeached. THE LEAD starts right now.

She was President Trump's Russia adviser and today she's testifying on the Ukraine scandal and an alleged shadow policy to benefit the President.

New carnage in Syria after President Trump's retreat. Now key U.S. allies are opening the door for Russian and Iran to fill the power vacuum.

Plus the countdown is on to the biggest debate literally ever and today we are getting a preview of how Joe Biden plans to respond to President Trump and the Ukraine scandal.

Welcome to THE LEAD, I'm Brianna Keilar in for Jake Tapper and we start today with the politics lead. Right now the woman who spent 2 years as President Trump's top Russia adviser is nearing her eighth hour testifying behind closed -- END