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Judge Criticizes Trump's Attacks on Juror in Roger Stone Case; White House Weighing More Travel Restrictions over Coronavirus; Body Cam Shows Arrest of Sobbing Six-Year-Old Girl by Police; Singer Reveals She Left Public Eye Because of Rape. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired February 26, 2020 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

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BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: We are still waiting to hear if the federal judge in the Roger Stone case will grant him a new trial. But in the meantime, President Trump has continued his social media attacks against that jury forewoman. Stone's lawyers are arguing that the jury forewoman in his case was biased against him and that she hid that in her initial questioning.

CNN political correspondent Sara Murray is following this one for us. We know that the judge did call this forewoman in for additional questioning. What happened?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, and you know, they basically wanted to get to the bottom of some of the social media posts that the foreperson had put on Twitter and on Facebook. It was a very unusual situation because we could hear this playing out. There was audio, but there were no visuals of the courtroom because the judge wanted to protect the identities of the jurors, even though the foreperson in this case, Tomika Hart has posted publicly and has gotten a lot of attention for her role.

But she was basically grilled about a number of her posts on social media, what she meant by them, whether she may have been commenting on the case. And she was careful to maintain, you know, that she felt like she answered her juror questionnaire honestly and she wrote that she couldn't remember in the questionnaire if she had posted before about Roger Stone and about various other things related to the Mueller investigation.

And essentially at the end of her turn on the stand yesterday, she said she absolutely stood by everything she wrote in her juror questionnaire, that she was not trying to lie. She was not trying to mislead either party. But it was a very unusual thing to be playing out in this courtroom -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Also, in addition to the foreperson, the judge said that Stone's requests of the court may be more publicity stunts, the legal proceedings, including his attempt to get the judge to recuse herself. Is there any sense of where this goes next?

MURRAY: Well, she ruled pretty quickly on recusing herself and said she was not going to do that. But I think you know from the hearing yesterday, she is taking Roger Stone's request for a new trial seriously. I mean, this is a hearing that stretched more than four hours.

She brought 11 members of the jury back as potential people she could call to testify about how their deliberation proceedings went. I there only the really cold And now we're essentially waiting for the judge to make her ruling. That's probably something she's going to do in writing. We don't have any idea when that's going to come.

But I certainly think that you know no judge likes to have their case turned over on appeal. And I'm sure part of the reason that she's going through this so fastidiously is she wants to make sure that whatever decision she makes doesn't have anything to do with the broader political climate that's playing out but has to do with the facts of the case and the facts in front of her.

[15:35:00]

And again, I think that's why the hearing yesterday stretched for more than four hours. And she's taking her time to decide how she wants to rule on Stone's request for a new trial -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: We know you're keeping a close eye on it for us. Sara Murray, thank you so much for now there in DC on all things Roger Stone.

Coming up next, the Trump administration is considering new travel restrictions as fears around the world of coronavirus grow, especially here in the U.S. what you need to know to prepare.

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BALDWIN: The coronavirus has now spread to every single continent except for Antarctica. And while U.S. officials haven't declared a pandemic here, they say now is the time to prepare. It's not going on And so many people with international travel plans may be considering if they should cancel their trips, take extra precautions while abroad.

So Tariro Mzezewa is a travel reporter for "The New York Times" who has been answering all these questions from so many readers. And so it's a pleasure to have you. Let's just jump right in on you know it is nearly spring break season. A lot of people will be jumping on planes, heading to places that maybe will be no go zones. Like where would you definitely tell people do not go? And that also includes cruises.

TARIRO MZEZEWA, TRAVEL REPORTER, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": OK, so don't go to China right now, mainland China. Don't go to South Korea right now. Those are two places that the CDC, the World Health Organization, the State Department have all said do not go there unless you absolutely, absolutely must.

And even with airlines it's going to be hard for you to find an easy flight to do it. That's something to definitely think about. But there are still lots of places you can travel to. And in terms of cruises, if you had a cruise that was going to go to China, it's not going anymore most likely. A lot of cruise lines are trying to figure out alternative destinations for their travelers.

BALDWIN: What about Italy?

MZEZEWA: Italy's authorities are saying people can still come. The north in the Lombardy region, there are 11 towns there that are currently on lockdown and some like 50,000 people who are quarantined, so if you had a trip to that region you can't do that.

You know, museums in Milan are shut down, clubs, some restaurants, things like that. So you've really got to check and the key is you've got to check like day to day. Because things are moving really quickly. But if you're trying to go somewhere else in Italy, I don't think you need to cancel your trip right now.

BALDWIN: One of the questions you were getting over at "The New York Times" is how do I properly scrub down my airplane seats? Is that -- how helpful is that?

MZEZEWA: You know, a few months ago there was this video of Naomi Campbell scrubbing down her flight with a mask on and everything, and we all laughed about it.

But it turns that's really what you should be doing. Of course the airlines have different rules for how often they're cleaning the planes and all of that type of stuff, but they are cleaning the planes. They're cleaning floors, they are scrubbing down tray tables, but you should be going that extra measure. Do it yourself, like --

BALDWIN: Bring those disinfectant wipes.

MZEZEWA: Bring those wipes. Wipe down the tray table, like it's not going to hurt you to wipe down your seat. But the one thing is masks. Everyone's like I should be wearing a mask.

BALDWIN: What do you tell people?

MZEZEWA: You know, if you're not interacting with somebody's who's sick or if you're not the person who's sick. You don't really need a mask. Like the people who are sick need those, and you know, there are various kinds of masks. And the CDC actually has a whole guide on it site that's breaking down the differences between the type of masks and so on. But the main thing is if you're not the sick one, you probably don't really need it.

BALDWIN: If you want to check it out, again, that is cdc.gov. Last question, because your point is if you do have upcoming travel or you're thinking about it, it's moving and changing so quickly. You do need to check day to day. For people who do have vacations viewed X beautiful place and they're sort of worried maybe that shut down as an option for me, what do you tell people about travel insurance?

MZEZEWA: So travel insurance you would think would kick in right now because you're like you know the World Health Organization has said this is a global emergency, like why isn't my insurance kicking in? And that's the case for a lot of people.

So your best option right now is to upgrade your insurance to what's called cancel-for-any-reason insurance, and I'll tell you straight up like it costs more and you actually will -- the most you'd get back from a trip even with cancel-for-any-reason insurance is 50 to 75 percent of what you paid. So it's less than ideal, but that's your best option right now.

BALDWIN: One more quick question. I'm also thinking of Asia and I hear you saying don't go to mainland China or South Korea. But what about Japan? The Olympics are coming up this summer. So far no one has adjusted anything, so for an American who wants to bring their family and pony up all the money to have this extraordinary experience, would you tell them to do so?

MZEZEWA: It's a tricky, tricky question. I think check to see if you can get your flights reimbursed. If you have a trip that's coming up right now, I think that's something worth considering. A lot of people have been saying I just don't know if I feel safe doing, but it's such a personal decision, right.

Like I can't tell you not to go on your trip and there isn't like a ban from the World Health Organization or the CDC or the State Department saying don't go to Japan, so you have to keep an eye on it. And like you said, as it relates to the Olympics things are still on. So we'll see how things change. It could be a different story tomorrow or it could be the same.

BALDWIN: Tariro, you are a wealth of information. And we should have you back because these are great, great questions. And I know so many viewers have.

Thank you very much and by the way, if you are watching, you can ask questions here at CNN. Go to cnn.com/coronavirus/questions and we're answering those.

Police video captures the heart wrenching moment that this 6-year-old girl is arrested at school. And now at least one officer has been fired. A live update next.

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BALDWIN: Please give me a second chance. Those were the words of a sobbing 6-year-old girl in Florida as she was arrested at school. We first told you a couple of months ago about this young woman, this little girl, school officials called the police after she allegedly became aggressive and hit a staff member. And now the family has decided to show the world what happened.

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KAIA ROLLE, 6-YEAR-OLD ARRESTED BY POLICE: Help me. Please, help me. I don't want to go in the police car.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE OFFICER: You don't want to?

ROLLE: Please. Please. Please. Please. Please just let me go. No, no, please, please, no.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE OFFICER: OK

UNIDENTIFIED MALE OFFICER: Appreciate it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE OFFICER: All right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE OFFICER: Call me if you need something.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I know. Her name is Kaia Rolle. Rosa Flores is on this incredibly disturbing story today. And so this arrest happened I know back in September, but CNN obtained the body camera video earlier this week, why are they releasing the video just now?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know this is according to the family and their attorney. There are several reasons, Brooke. First of all the family wanted to make sure that the public saw the severity of that arrest. And also, they want to rally support behind a bill that's going through the Florida legislature that would up the arrest age for certain crimes to 12.

Because here is the deal. This family wants to send out the message that children should not be arrested for temper tantrums and they actually point out to a portion of the video where the officer mentions that this particular arrest broke a record. Take a listen.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE OFFICER: 6,000 people I've arrested over the 28 years. A lot of people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But that young? Seven is your youngest

UNIDENTIFIED MALE OFFICER: Seven is the youngest. And she's eight, isn't she?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Six.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE OFFICER: She's six? Now she has broken the record. She broke a record.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: Now Kaia Rolle according to her grandmother was suffering from sleep apnea at that point in time, Brooke, so she was having some outbursts. And I should mention that the actual temper tantrum was not caught on the body camera video, but CNN was able to obtain written statements from the people at the school that described the temper tantrum.

The fact that they called the Resource Officer and the Resource Officer tried to calm her down, those exchanges were also not caught on the body camera video, so we were not able to see those ourselves.

I should mention that Orlando P.D. back in September terminated the Resource Officer, that second officer that you can see in the video, Brooke, he was exonerated after an investigation was made -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Arrested at 6. Rosa, thank you for the update. Let us know if anything moves on that.

Coming up next, a juror in the high-profile rape trial for Hollywood mogul, disgraced Hollywood mogul, Harvey Weinstein speaks out.

Plus, quick check of the big board, we are eight minutes away from closing bell, the Dow down about 43 points right now, as the nation waits to hear from the President in just two hours about how the U.S. is planning to battle coronavirus.

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[15:55:00]

BALDWIN: One of the jurors in the Harvey Weinstein sex assault trial is speaking out. In an interview with "Inside Edition" this juror identified only as juror number two said she did not know who Harvey Weinstein was before the case. But she said, she is confident in her decision to convict Weinstein of rape and sexual assault but acquitted him on the more serious charges. She also had kind words for actress Annabella Sciorra who testified in this case.

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JUROR #2, HARVEY WEINSTEIN TRIAL: It was very much so, convincing to a lot of the jurors. I feel like the way that things went for her, it was wrong. It was very much so wrong. And I just feel like hopefully with the verdict that we gave, she feels and she has some type of closure. Every last woman that took the stand, I wish them the best. I hope that this is now a chapter that they could close and move forward with their lives now.

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BALDWIN: Weinstein is currently at a New York hospital undergoing medical treatment before being transferred to Rikers Island. He will be sentenced March 11th.

And lastly here, a Grammy Award winning singer is coming out for the first time as a survivor of sexual assaults. Pop artist Duffy had a hit album in 2009 and released a second album in 2010 and then largely vanished from the music scene for a decade. She is now explaining why. And let me just read part of her deeply personal post on Instagram, so

quoting Duffy here, she wrote -- many of you wonder what happened to me, where did I disappear to and why. She goes on -- the truth is, and please trust me I am OK and safe now, but I was raped and drugged and held captive over some days. Of course, I survived. The recovery took time. There's no light way to say it, but I can tell you in the last decade the thousands and thousands of days I committed to wanting to feel the sunshine in my heart again, the sun does now shine.

You wonder why I did not choose to use my voice to express my pain. I did not want to show the world the sadness in my eyes. I asked myself, how can I sing from the heart if it is broken and slowly it unbroke.

Before we go, I just wanted to share the number for the National Sexual Assault Hotline.