Return to Transcripts main page

Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Harvard Republicans Not Endorsing Donald Trump; Hillary Clinton News Conference; FBI Releases Arial Video of Freddie Gray Protests; Chicago Police Video of Shooting of Unarmed Black Teenager Released. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired August 05, 2016 - 12:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:30:44] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: All right, welcome back. You could see the podium. We expect to hear from Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton taking a few questions from reporters at a conference in Washington. We're going to bring you those comments when she steps out on to the stage.

Meantime, turning to the GOP nominee, schools out on Donald Trump. Harvard University's Republican Club pulling off a first in its 128- year history. It will not endorse the party's nominee. 128-year history. The group released a scathing statement in which it says, "Donald Trump is a threat to the survival of the Republic. His authoritarian tendencies and filtrations with fascism are unparalleled in the history of our democracy." Goes on to say, "We will not stand for this vitriolic rhetoric that it's poisoning our country and our children, says that his policies will raise prices for consumers and hurt the American economy."

Joining us now to talk more about this is the president of the Harvard Republican Club, Declan Garvey. Declan, wow, this is a big move, why did you and a majority of your members break with your own party's nominee?

DECLAN GARVEY, PRESIDENT, HARVARD REPUBLICANS: Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for having me on, Christine. It's great to be here. We had -- as a club that mowing releasing a statement like this for quite some time. But what really spurred us to expedite the process was the past week post-convention comments about Captain Khan really ...

ROMANS: That was the tipping point.

GARVEY: ... Donald Trump becoming someone that we could not stand by and say nothing about.

So, what we did was on Tuesday evening, the executive board and I, we sent an e-mail to all of our members asking them to respond whether they, where they were on the state of the 2016 race. And what they wanted the club to represent moving forward and the results of that survey cemented for us that this was the correct path to take.

ROMANS: I got to tell you, Declan. I think about, you know, being a young Republican in college, for many of you, this is the first presidential vote you will ever cast. You started in a primary season with so many names. I mean you probably had the, I heart Rubio crowd, and the Jeb is the best crowd. And all of these, all of these people excited about the primary season in the race to come. And in the end, you can't stand by your candidate.

Tell me a little bit about that roller coaster.

GARVEY: Yeah, I mean it's been a bumpy ride. I voted for the first time in the 2014 in the mid-terms. This will be my first presidential election as it will be for probably majority of our club's members. We did hold the strap poll, we followed the primary very closely and in the poll in November our members when pulled, half of us where for Jeb Bush, half for Marco Rubio with a few votes for Carly Fiorina thrown in.

So, between those three candidates when they dropped out, we really started to question what we were going to do moving forward and how we were going to, how we're going to address this.

ROMANS: So what kind of -- I don't know moral pretzel making are you going to have to do to vote for Hillary Clinton. Will you as a young Republican cast your first presidential ballot for a Democrat?

GARVEY: I -- speaking for myself, I have not made that decision yet. I don't know how I'm going to vote in the presidential race this year. I do know that I and the Harvard Republican Club will be focusing our efforts on down ballot races particularly Kelly Ayotte in New Hampshire, always upon a Harvard alum in New York. What we're go on be very active getting our members out to campaign events and door knocking, and things like that.

ROMANS: And that's an important part of democracy. No question getting people turned out and getting people engaged in the process, and we thank you for that. Declan Garvey, best of luck to you. Thank you so much.

ROMANS: Up next ...

GARVEY: Thanks so much for having me.

ROMANS: You're welcome. Up next, all charges against the officers in the Freddie Gray case dropped, case closed right? Then why the officers' lawyers still on the job? We'll hear from them next.

[12:34:32] Plus, we'll show newly revealed secret FBI footage of the Baltimore protest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: All right, we're going live now, Democratic President of candidate Hillary Clinton speaking live to a conference of journalists gathered in Washington D.C. Let's listen in for a bit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: ... how hard it's been to get back on their feet in an economy that it's still not working the way we all want to see it and barriers of systemic racism makes that even harder.

Now, I believe that President Obama does not get the credit he deserves for leading us out of the great recession. And I'd like to remind people he had nothing to do with creating it in the first place. He came into office in this worst of all financial crises since the great depression was handed to him. And I think if you fairly look at the record, you have to conclude that his leadership saved us from a great depression.

So, as bad as things became, 9 million jobs lost, 5 million homes lost, $13 trillion in family wealth wiped out as bad as it was. There's no telling how far down we would have gone without his leadership.

[12:40:12] So we are out of the ditch that we were in and now we've got to do even more. We've got to build on the progress we've made. 15 million new jobs in the last seven and a half years, 20 million people now have health insurance who did not have it before he became president.

So we've got to have the will and the plans together to move forward. That's why I proposed a comprehensive new commitment to African- American and Latino communities to make serious sustained investments to create more good paying jobs, to help families build and rebuild wealth, to support black and Latino owned small businesses.

For me, these aren't just economic issues. They're a part of a long continuing struggle for civil rights. Rosa Parks opened up every seat on the bus, now we've got to expand economic opportunities so everyone can afford the fare. And we have to make sure the bus route reaches every neighborhood and connects families with safe affordable housing and good jobs.

Sylvia Mendez and Ruby Bridges helped desegregate our schools, now we've to help every family afford the books, computers and internet access that our kids need to learn in the 21st century.

And so in my first 100 days as president, we will work with both parties to pass the biggest investment in new, good paying jobs since World War II. That includes jobs and manufacturing clean energies, technology and innovation, small businesses and infrastructure. If we invest in infrastructure now, we will not only create jobs today, we will lay the foundation for the jobs of the future. We're going to also ...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: That's Hillary Clinton at the National Association of Black Journalist, National Association of Hispanic Journalist Convention in Washington, D.C. She's talking about infrastructure, interestingly Donald Trump also pushing an infrastructure plan. We expect to hear more about that on Monday. We're going back to Hillary Clinton when she makes more news.

And we had to get a quick break right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:46:26] ROMANS: You are about to see some video footage that the FBI has kept secret for more than a year. This is it, Arial video shot from a drawn. This is a crowd of angry protesters marching in Baltimore, May, 2015, after the police custody death of Freddie Grey. And that some were recorded in day time like this one you're seeing here. Others were shot at night using infrared night vision technology.

The FBI, civil liberties advocates are concerned about privacy and about the FBI using sophisticated spy equipment to keep government eyes on a public protest that's protected under the first amendment. The FBI says it was watching the protest for signs of violence and rioting.

Meanwhile, we're hearing today from the lawyers of some of the police officers cleared of wrong doing in the Freddie Gray case. Six Baltimore cops faced a variety of charges in Gray's death of those that are speaking say they want to get back on the job that they have concerns. CNN's Jean Casarez has closely watched this case since day one, what are the concerns these officers have going forward Jean?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well they have concerns for their safety, they also have concerns for their families but they want to stay police officers with the Baltimore Police Department.

Now, as it stands now, all charges have been dismissed. There have been acquittals, they are currently goes still in administrative review that the Montgomery County Police Department that could result in sanctions or even firings from the police department. But their attorneys say now that the gag order is lifted, they want to speak out. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CIP)

CATHERINE FLYNN, ATTORNEY FOR OFFICER GARRETT MILLER: And quite frankly at the beginning of this incident, none of us were speaking to the press despite numerous requests, because we had no intention of trying our case in the press. It would have been wildly inappropriate. But we have lots to say and we knew lots of information that we couldn't disclose, we couldn't discuss and of course I understand that, but it was frustrating to watch the coverage when only one side was providing information.

And we knew that, you know, our jobs were going to be to win this case on the courtroom and that's the way it should be. But it is a lesson learned that there's always more to this story.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: And the defense attorneys say they learned about so much information. They said potentially exculpatory, that the prosecution wasn't handing over. An example they tell me is that there was a meeting between the detective and Freddie Gray months before he died, where it was obvious that Freddie Gray had a medical issue. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL BEISKY, ATTORNEY FOR LT. BRIAN RICE: That his back appeared to be giving him problems and he was slouched over in a chair that he apparently was having back problems. The officer in that case when he realized what had happened to Mr. Gray in April of 2015 were to report. And he gave that report to the states attorney. That report made its way up the chain in the states attorneys' office all the way to at least the deputy level.

We don't know how far that report made its way. But it certainly made its way up to the top. That report was never given to us. We never saw that report. And we found ultimately that report, ourselves through the course of our own investigation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: And I was in court and I did hear prosecutors finally say they did have that report and it would be given to the defense. Now, while the attorneys say they were going through this, we asked for a comment from the state attorney's office. They said at this point, they do have no comment, but the officers themselves, they say they went through lot, too, listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARC ZAYON, ATTORNEY FOR OFFICER EDWARD NERO: I can tell you walking in the court without sending our people its scream killer cop, out their windows, people yelled at us yelled at him. So, its concerning of course. It's scary for him.

[12:50:08] That being said, he's obviously wants to continue policing in Baltimore City. And he's hopeful that he can get back on the street and do the job that he loves, but, yeah, now it's concerning, of course.

CASAREZ: So, what now the attorneys tell me this is not over? And they do say that at least one complaint has been filed with the attorney grievance committee on Marilyn Mosby. CNN has confirmed that. It could amount to nothing or it could amount to sanctions or even disbarment. So, we'll see of what happens. Marilyn Mosby still firm in her support of Freddie Grey that he was a victim if her mind and that the prosecution was very warranted.

ROMANS: All right, Jean Casarez, for helping us from the beginning, thank you for that.

All right, breaking news right now on CNN, police officers all over the country are being warned that it just released police video might trigger a violent public reaction. Now, this warning comes from Chicago. The video is of a shooing. A fatal police shooting of an unarmed black teenager that law enforcement admit was against department policy. This shooting I think happened just about eight days ago. So a swift release of this video and a warning that it is troubling and could cause protests. CNN's Rosa Flores is here. Rosa, you have seen that video. We've not aired that video. But, can you describe for me what is in this video and why this very unusual warning from police about what it might prompt?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christine, I've got to tell you that I have not seen all of the videos because this is not just one video. It is several videos that have been released by Chicago authorities.

Now, what I can tell you is that it is very intense and it is very shocking, the videos that I have seen so far.

You see, police officers drawing their weapons, firing their weapons, multiple times in the middle of a neighborhood in broad daylight. So, that's very shocking as you're watching this, because you see the weapons being discharged over and over at a black car.

Now, Paul O'Neal, the 18-year-old in this case was inside that vehicle.

Now, we don't see the fatal shot that is not caught on video. It's what we're told by authorities and we've not seen that on video so far. That is probably the most shocking part of this entire exchange, but that was not caught on video.

Now, according to police, they say that the officer's body cam was either not working, it was not turned off or somehow out of commission at that point in time. That's one of the big controversies of this particular case. So, it's another big controversy. And that is, that according to the police superintended here, department policy was also violated. And I'll get to that in just a moment. But, let me take you through the chain of the events what lead up to that fatal shot. But again, it's not caught on video.

But, here is what we know from police. So, according to police, they recognized a black jaguar as the car that had been stolen. O'Neal was inside that vehicle. Now, what you see in these videos and in these body cams and dash cams is that this black car is approaching police officers.

Now, as he's approaching those police officers that's when you see those police officers discharging their weapons.

According to police, they discharged their weapon six to seven times on the first range of fire being discharged and about five times the second time that police officers discharged their weapons. Again, that fatal shot is not caught on camera.

Now, I want to bring in Jamal Green. He is the spokesperson for the family. And first of all, Jamal, thank you so much for talking to us and let me start with the family, how is the family doing? They just viewed this shocking video. What was their reaction?

JAMAL GREEN, O'NEAL SPOKESMAN: When the family first came to me, they were already hurt. I mean, they wanted help on what to do with the case and help on hiring legal council and talking to the city to see how they can get justice for Paul O'Neal.

Today, we were here to watch the video. His mother along with his sister was with us as well as his lawyer Michael Oppenheimer. When we sat their and watched the graphic video and they can only take so much.

Once the gunshots started, they immediately left the room, were crying, breaking down, saying they can't be here. They can't watch it. They have to leave. And so, we had to take them out and get them home so that they can get themselves together, because this is very heart breaking for them to see their son and their brother.

FLORES: And it's all this way. Now, this is not the first time that Chicago goes through this. Of course, we had the Lacquan McDonald shooting and the shocking video of the 16 shots that were fired by a police officer.

[12:55:05] Now, we see this, again as a local activist, bringing attention to these cases, do you see some progress within the Chicago police department? Assign that things or going to get better?

GREEN: Well, you know what, they're still getting wins. And the community is not getting what they want. We asked for body cameras they got body cameras but when they shoot us, the body cameras aren't working.

And so, we still have a lot of work to do. I am very upset and continuing to pressure that Chicago police as well as the city to get this training in order, to use this equipment properly, to make sure that these officers make it through their learning curve and start using their body cameras and making sure that they're at all times because we want some wins.

FLORES: Jamal, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. And Christine, just to wrap up, the body camera of the police officer that was not functioning, that is the police officer who was inside a vehicle that was rammed by the black jaguar that Paul O'Neal was driving. So, police are saying, we don't know if he didn't turn the camera on or something malfunctioned because that car hit the police cruiser.

ROMANS: All right, Rosa Flores, thank you for that. We're going to continue to sift through all of that video and we'll bring it to our viewers what went and if it's appropriate. Thank your for that Rosa.

And now, I want to go back to that Hillary Clinton event in Washington, D.C. Let's listen into the Democratic presidential candidate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All these steps to help mobilize the Latino community to the polls, many who still believe that their vote was taken for granted in 2008, 2012 and then we have the e-mails from WikiLeaks that say that they are the loyalty brand of the party. CLINTON: Well, look, I think that the president was committed to immigration reform. It's one of the reasons we got the bipartisan bill passed in the senate. And what we didn't get, though, was enough political pressure to turn that bill into a voting issue in the 2010 mid-term election. And here's one of my frustrations, people turned out to vote for the presidential elections and then often don't for midterm elections.

So, we lost. We lost a lot of the leverage, because we lost the House of Representatives. So, nothing happens easily or quickly in modern politics in America. But, here is what I know, as I have said, we are not going to be deporting hard working people and break up families. I've been on record for a year and a half about this. And that will be how I direct the Department of Homeland Security to act.

We are going to push on immigration reform and I will need not only a considerable vote in November, but I will need people across our country to make it clear to their elected representatives that they are going to be held accountable for how they are going to act on immigration reform.

If we put enough organizing and political effort into this, I am optimistic and I believe we can get this done. But it won't happen simply because we want it. And I can only say that I will give you my very best efforts. And I will do everything I can to help elect a Democratic Senate and I've already talked to some of my former colleagues in the senate. This will be fast tracked. We already know what can pass the senate because it happened just a few years ago.

And if we then put enough pressure on the house and do everything we can to, you know, really force them to have to take what the senate passes. I think the outcome will be very different this time. And that's my goal. And that's what I'm going to do, every thing I can to achieve.

UNIDENTIFED FEMALE: Thank you Madam Secretary ...

UNIDENTIFED FEMALE: Madam Secretary your poll numbers went way up this week and yet the e-mail controversy was still in the headlines. So, I want to give you the opportunity to respond.

This week you told two separate news organizations that FBI Director James Comey said "My answers were truthful and that what I said is consistent with what I have told the American people."

That assertion as you know has been debunked by multiple news organizations which point out that Director Comey did say there is no indication that you lied to the FBI. But he didn't weigh in on whether or not you were truthful to the American people.

So, my question for you is, are you mischaracterizing Director Comey's testimony and is this not undercutting your efforts to rebuild trust with the American people?

[12:59:55] CLINTON: Look, Christine, I appreciate you're asking that because I was pointing out on in both of those instances that Director Comey had said that my answers in my FBI interview were truthful. That's really the bottom line here.

And I have said on --