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Police Release Dramatic Bodycam Video Of Response To Bank Attack; House GOP Rolls Out First Bill Tied To Trump's Legal Woes; Trump Asks To Delay Sexual Assault Trial Following Historic Indictment; GOP Sen. Tim Scott Launches Presidential Exploratory Committee; Second Ousted Tennessee Rep Reinstated After Expulsion. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired April 12, 2023 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: And she said to me she wasn't at all surprised when he came to her and said, I want to be a police officer.

She said, this is exactly who he is. It is in his nature. It is in his DNA that he wanted to serve.

And she said, you'll always have a home here if you ever want to come back. But that I fully support you and what you're doing. And so she was, you know, both so proud of him, understandably. But it's heart wrenching to see what -- what is now, you know, people

waiting on word of his condition.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST: Yes, the police chief said, what, if not us, then who?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME & JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, if not us, who? You need these officers. You know, if they don't do it, who will do it, right?

I mean, these officers show you exactly what courageous and tough and really officers who are willing to put their life on the line to save others. And this is a really good example of that.

GOLODRYGA: You've got punch after gut punch after gut punch in this country.

Shimon Prokupecz, thank you.

HILL: And the last thing trauma for so many.

GOLODRYGA: Yes.

HILL: The first responders, the woman who made that call, so many people.

GOLODRYGA: Well, tonight on CNN, Katelyn Polantz is going to be joined by Kentucky Governor Andy Bashir for his first interview since the bank shooting in Louisville, which resulted in the loss of one of his best friends. That starts at 9:00 p.m. right here on CNN. We'll be right back.

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[14:35:37]

GOLODRYGA: House Republicans just rolled out their first bill stemming from Donald Trump's mounting legal troubles.

The legislation introduced by South Carolina Congressman Russell Fry would afford current and former presidents and vice presidents the option to move their own criminal or civil cases from state court to federal court.

Fry is a member of both the Oversight and Judiciary Committees.

His bill comes on the heels of Trump's historic indictment and as the ex-president seeks to delay a sexual assault trial against him.

HILL: So where could this bill actually go? How would that work?

Joining us now, CNN legal analyst, Elliot Williams, who's also a former federal prosecutor.

So, Elliot, when we look at this, Fry says that this bill was needed because, in his words, presidents and vice presidents are the most visible politicians in the U.S. government. And that makes them, he believes, a target for, quote, "rogue prosecutors."

But he says the benefit here would be that if you could move any sort of civil or criminal case to a federal court, that those judges, who are confirmed in the Senate, they're not elected -- he's implying they're free from politics -- that's a safer space.

How do you read all of this?

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Look, you can have rogue prosecutors at the federal level, too. So I mean, the reasoning is a little spotty there.

But look, let's be clear. Congress does have the power to decide what, when and where federal courts will have jurisdiction. And that could include maybe crafting a manner to put only cases involving presidents or vice presidents or former presidents into the federal courts.

The problem is that that creates a bunch of legal issues down the road. For instance, what if a president -- just take a hypothetical. What if a president sues somebody in state court over some minor state law matter, but that -- but that isn't illegal at the federal level.

Like what, which law governs? And how would it be handled? And it would just create any number of possible conflicts in law down the road that I think courts would have to sort out.

HILL: So it raises all these questions. One of the other questions I had was, what's the advantage here? Why would somebody want to move their case to a federal court?

WILLIAMS: There really is no advantage here. And I think -- you know, I don't want to divine what the motives of a member of Congress was. But you know, a lot of this is simply responding to one case involving the former president. There simply is no advantage here.

And we have a long tradition in this country, going back, frankly, to the 10th Amendment, which lays out the fact that states oversee state law and matters of state jurisdiction.

And even taking the former President Trump former President Trump's matter, it is distinct -- regardless of what you think of the merits of the lawsuit or of the prosecution, it is a distinct state law matter, happening in state court by a former resident of New York, who chose to do business there.

That's very straightforward. Nothing really is changed by moving things into federal court. And this idea that somehow the federal courts are insulated from politics in a way that state courts or not, it's just simply just simply not accurate.

HILL: Before I let you go, when we speak of legal issues and former presidents, Donald Trump's attorneys have just asked the federal judge who's assigned to this civil trial, which involves allegations of rape in the mid '90, asking that judge for a cooling off period once about a month.

Because there are concerns that the indictment by the Manhattan D.A. for the former president may be top of mind for potential jurors and that these cases have perhaps some similarity in nature.

How common is that type of request?

WILLIAMS: That's not particularly common for a number of reasons. Now courts and judges presume that jurors can set aside what they've heard about the case and judge a case fairly.

And it would be, it would be pretty uncommon for a court to outright just postpone a trial date simply because of other events that are going on.

Imagine, if you were to move this forward in time four weeks or six weeks, the former president will still be facing an indictment in New York. So the idea that this thing that is consuming the news would somehow go away simply isn't accurate.

Now of what the judge would do is instruct the jurors that they have to put aside anything they know about the case or the trial.

And also, maybe even restrict the amount of media access or directors not to take him news about the trial.

[14:40:02]

But it would be highly unlikely to postpone a trial, quite frankly, simply because of another event that was going on. HILL: Elliot Williams, always appreciate it. Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: Well, yet another South Carolina lawmaker may throw their hat in the 2024 ring. Republican Senator Tim Scott launches an exploratory committee. And his first stop is Iowa. We'll go there next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GOLODRYGA: South Carolina Republican Senator Tim Scott just took a big step towards running for president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TIM SCOTT (R-SC): I will never back down in defense of the conservative values that makes America exceptional. And that's why I'm announcing my exploratory committee for president of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:45:08]

GOLODRYGA: Scott, the only black Republican in the Senate, is in Iowa today, but he has been testing the waters for months now.

CNN chief national affairs correspondent, Jeff Zeleny, is in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

So, Jeff, you have made many visits to Iowa recently. How, in your opinion, would a Scott candidacy be received by voters there?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's no doubt that Senator Tim Scott is viewed very favorably by many Republicans. Many of them like his -- his strong faith connection. They like his deeply conservative voting record.

And the fact that he speaks with an optimistic tone, calling for more unity than divisiveness. That rings true to many Republicans who are looking for a change, to turn the page from the former president.

But it's far from certain whether this is the majority or the base of the party. And we've seen the base of this party react again and again to Donald Trump. And he has consolidated the base of the party.

So in some respects, they liked Senator Scott, but they're not yet seen him as a presidential candidate. So the big question here, is the Senator really going to draw a distinction with the front runner, who is unquestionably Donald Trump?

So, yes, there's respect and admiration but, quite frankly, they don't know all that much about him yet. That's why he's here, beginning to campaign against the rest of the Republican field.

And ironically,, Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor, who appointed Senator Scott to the Senate, first of all, before he was elected in his own right, she's also running for president. And she, too, is in Iowa also this week.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, the field is getting bigger. Obviously, you have Trump, you had Nikki Haley, you have Asa Hutchinson, likely to have Ron DeSantis as well.

So what, if anything, would a Tim Scott candidacy bring to the table? What makes him stand out?

ZELENY: Well, he's certainly stands out in terms of his biography. He is the only black Republican in the Senate, only the second African- American elected to the Senate from the south since Reconstruction. So his biography, his roots tells an American story that he really leans into.

And we could see that in the video that he released this morning. And he's doing it today for a reason. This is the day, April 12th, that the first shots were fired of the Civil War in his native South Carolina in Charleston Harbor.

So he uses that as a metaphor to tell the story of all the opportunities he has been given and afforded in this country.

And he really also uses it to speak out against Democrats. He believes the Democratic party has been more divisive.

So the short answer is he's different than every other Republican candidate in the race. He has deep respect.

He also, though, has some more than $20 million in his federal campaign accounts from his Senate races. No other candidates had that. So it certainly gives him a leg up.

So biographically, he's very different. But again, the question is over all of this, how much room is there inside this Republican party for a candidate not named Trump or perhaps DeSantis -- Bianna?

GOLODRYGA: Interesting that he has a $20 million financial cushion. At least, that's the benefit that he has as many others don't.

Jeff Zeleny, thank you.

HILL: Today, another blow to FOX News. Why the judge overseeing the defamation case is now appointing a special master to investigate the company.

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[14:52:57]

GOLODRYGA: All right, we're going to go back to Tennessee, where Shelby County commissioners just voted to reinstate State Representative Justin Pearson.

Now this reinstatement was expected, but you can still see the outpouring of support there. Obviously, this coming on the heels of Justin Pearson and Justin

Jones, two state representatives, being ousted and expelled last week following a protest about gun violence on the House floor.

Ryan Young joins us now from Memphis.

Ryan, again, this was anticipated. But the moment's finally here and official.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is in anticipating this. After a long march, you can feel the energy in this crowd.

If you look here, we're in the back of the county commission, all these people have lined up. And you see the question cameras right here. That's Justin as he's walking this direction. And we're going to hopefully try to join them as they make this walk.

But this is what's been going on all day. This pressure, this relief from this crowd who was super excited for this to happen.

So they wanted to make sure -- you can see just in there talking to the people as he walks out. And this has just been a big moment.

Justin, as you walk it out --

STATE REP. JUSTIN PEARSON (D-TN): It feels great. Democracy will win in the end. And truth crushed to earth will rise again.

YOUNG: As you heard as he walked out there. They're going to be another news conference outside, so we're going to join that in a second. But we wanted to make sure we were able to bring you this.

Let's look back at this crowd. You can see this direction, every single seat in this room was full. People were screaming and chanting the whole way! That's after that mile-long march.

This has been going on for over a week. I don't think anybody in Tennessee expected what has happened here.

We're going to walk you out into the atrium. And there are hundreds of other people who could not get into this location because of this.

I don't think the Republican party knew that they were going to start this new star, Justin j. Pearson, because these people want to -- be careful there.

So we're going to go down the stairs here. This is all started because once they were thrown out this city, this county, even national has been galvanized behind the Tennessee Three. And we've seen this.

[14:55:06]

And all three members are here right now. Not only is Ms. Johnson here and Jones is here. But this is Shelby County, this is Memphis, and they're rallying behind him.

One thing that stood out to us that Justin did today was he had a woman so up whose son was lost to gun violence. It's a friend of his.

And he wanted him to be here and the mom will be here so they can talk about how gun violence is affecting this community. We know Memphis has been hit particularly hard with gun violence.

And so, as we move out this way, you can see another stage that set up within the address the public.

This has galvanized his community in a very different way. Even the commissioners in there were talking about passing the baton onto Justin J. Pearson, something that they haven't had to do before.

But they believe he speaks for them now and they can't wait for them to go.

How excited are you about what's happening?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm supper excited. That means we have a voice now. Finally, we've got somebody to speak up for us. And our voices are being heard, unlike other people that let them hush them.

But just came up there and said we needed action, we need it now. I'm tired of these kids being killed. I'm tired of the kids being killed. And we need to do better with gun control and saving the lives of our children.

YOUNG: Especially in Memphis. It's been a tough time over the last year.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

YOUNG: How heartfelt has that been to have him stand there and say he wants to fight for gun justice?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, I'm in tears because we've been trying to get this passed for years. Even with others, representatives, we've been trying to get them to go down there and make some noise about it. But they didn't do anything.

But now we have Justin. And Justin said, well, I'm not going to stand for this. No more. We need -- we need to make changes to make change now. And so that's what he did. And that was the result.

Even the governor is now changing what he said quiet, too, because he don't want opened up this gone about where we can have for permitless carry.

He did this last year and July 1st. He opened for permitless carry. This is the result of permitless carry.

YOUNG: Do you think anyone knew what they were doing when they kicked these two men out last week?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They had no idea who they were kicking out. No idea who they was kicking out at that time. Because Justin is not going to stand down. In fact, he's one of the young men here that stopped the pipeline from

coming through here. So if he can stop the pipeline, I'm guarantee you he can stop some laws from being passed and to change some laws.

Thank you so much.

YOUNG: Thank you.

So that's how it happens. You feel people's energy as they're walking through.

Just I'll ask you one quick question as we're going outside because you got to talk.

What does it feel like to see that powerful moment and him get his seat back?

REV. WALTER WOMACK, MEMPHIS CHAPTER PRESIDENT, SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE: I mean, it was awesome. We see a young man that's destined for greatness that has the pf spirit of Dr Martin Luther King upon him.

I'm the Memphis chapter president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. And I've never seen such power.

This was moved -- in history hit this was paradigm shift of what happened today. We see that justice, that the people stood together from this young man who's a voice and an ear for the people who stands for justice.

And the commission, the county commission did the right thing on today.

YOUNG: Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Now, look, there's a press conference going on outside. I believe we have another camera out there as well, if you guys want to cut to that.

But we're going to walk through this security portal right here to get there. So we'll see what happens when we get outside there.

But they're getting ready to address the crowd about what's happened today -- guys?

GOLODRYGA: Ryan, such a great reporting. Thank you so much for keeping up to speed on all of this, for getting us that perspective as well from folks.

And as we see the crowds, as you showed us, in the streets earlier, so animated.

This is Steve Cohen, Congressman Steve Cohen, speaking now. Justin Pearson was his intern.

And now you have him here supporting him and being one of the many, many fans of Justin Pearson's for no other reason than what he has been able to do and to galvanize this community on this important issue.

HILL: It's interesting how much we've heard, Bianna, in the last week. Democrats saying Republicans really misjudged this moment, and this is what they're getting, and they're getting voices.

It will be interesting to see. As we heard from Ryan, they believe this is a movement. What that movement means.

We're going to stay on this, fitting in a quick break here. Stay with us.

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