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New Day

Should the President Visit Ferguson?; Growing Concern Over Football and Concussions; Rescuing the Rhinos

Aired December 01, 2014 - 07:30   ET

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

JOHN KING, CNN HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": Now, there are some substantive things, Julie, the president can do, maybe stop transfers of military equipment to police departments, maybe have some federal rule about training or some civil rights rules in these cases.

And then there's the symbolic question. Many people have been wondering will the president go out to Ferguson? Will he address the community? Will he meet with the Brown family?

Listen to the Massachusetts governor. I almost called him former governor. He is still the governor for a few more weeks. Deval Patrick, in Massachusetts, saying the president here has an interesting delicate balance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. DEVAL PATRICK (D), MASSACHUSETTS: I think he wants to go, by the way, that's not because I know that, I just sense that knowing the man, I think also the president is in a really tough place trying to be and having been elected to serve as president of the whole country and having higher expectations on issues related to race.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: What do we expect from the president? Do you expect anything quickly or is this more meet, think, plan and have the reaction?

JULIE PACE, "ASSOCIATED PRESS": Well, if you look at the approach that the White House has been taking to Ferguson over the past weeks or so, they've been trying to put this in a larger context.

Not just focus on what's happening in Ferguson, but say this is a larger issue of the way law enforcement interacts with communities of color, the distrust that can exist there.

So let's not focus on this one town, let's focus on the broader issue. I think one of the tricky things is he takes this 30,000 view of this, you maybe look as though you are not addressing this example where we have a problem happening right now in this community.

KING: Things are still raw, so the challenges, does the president show up and bring all that wit, attention and focus. There is still an ongoing federal civil rights investigation even though the grand jury, the local grand jury declined to press charges. JONATHAN MARTIN, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": That may keep them out, one step on that investigation. But you know he has to want to get out there, John. This is who this president is. He is someone who cares about conciliation. I'm sure he is equipped to go out there.

My guess with President Obama and how he thinks is his play would be to go to that church that was burned down the stepfather of Michael Brown, go out there with blacks and whites there, and make a statement about that, some kind of a unifying moment of bringing folks of both races together.

KING: We will watch that. In the holiday season so the president might be looking to try to do something near the end of the year, around the holidays. We'll watch that. The other thing the president has on his plate is pretty important, especially given the military strikes against the ISIS and the likes because he needs a new defense secretary.

And Julie, I was flying home yesterday. I read a great article you wrote with your colleague, Bob Burns, about that apparently nobody wants this job. And one of the reasons is that people who've had the job say that they are trying to manage the Pentagon.

But the generals are getting phone calls from the national security at the White House, you quote Bob Gates, the carryover, he was the first defense secretary, carryover from the Bush administration.

You quote him as saying when the president wants highly centralized control in the White House at the degree of a micromanagement that I'm describing, that's not bureaucratic, that's political.

Bob Gates was a Republican. Many Democrats will say, well, he's just complaining, but Leon Panetta said the very same things publicly. Plus they have the timing issue.

The president I think has a problem that a lot of Democrats think that Hillary Clinton is going to win the next election. So why take a job in the last two years of this administration. Why not wait?

PACE: This is a really tough time to find somebody to take this job for a couple of reasons, one, as you said, the Pentagon relationship with the White House, while Obama has been president has been really uneasy.

There's been a lot of people at the Pentagon, who said that the president just doesn't respect what the military is bringing forward in terms of options, then in terms of timing, this is a presidency that's going into a seventh year.

The president's approval ratings are down. He is under a lot of criticism for his foreign policy, national security strategy right now. So someone who takes this job is going to be coming into an environment where they think they maybe, you know, under the White House' thumb and working for an administration that's not very popular. It's not really appealing. MARTIN: It's going to be hard for this White House and frankly future White Houses to recruit top tier talent to serve in the cabinet if this pattern of White House centralization keeps up. It didn't start with the Obama folks, but certainly, it has increased under them.

Where you have a handful of White House aides and the president who effectively run everything in the government, you have senior respected officials in these cabinet posts who are taking orders from people that in the White House.

It's very tough to convince people at the peak of their careers or towards the end of their careers to take these jobs if they won't be in power to do the jobs.

KING: Watch the president get someone to take that job. The president calls, it's also hard to say no even people say they don't want it. Now let's move on to the Congress, Congress will be back in session today. Remember, this is still the old Congress, Democrats still control the Senate.

Republicans control the House until January, when you get full Republican control. We will be talking a lot about this over the next ten days because there is a looming possibility of a government shutdown. The government runs out of money in December 11th.

Look at these brand new poll numbers we have this morning. The American people just voted for this, right? Yet a majority think we will get more gridlock next year when Republicans control both chambers of Congress add in the no difference, 52-plus 37, that is amazing.

Nearly 90 percent of the American people think it's going to get worse or not change at all from pretty bad. That's bleak. Should the president cooperate more with Republicans in Congress, 57 percent say yes and 41 percent say no.

Here's an interesting number, should Republicans cooperate more with the president? Look at that, big numbers, 68 percent, are they cooperating enough? I'm sorry, 68 percent say no, 29 percent say yes. So they want more cooperation.

Here's one more as we discuss the dynamics. The Republican victories in 2014 are mostly a mandate for Republicans? No. Rejection of the Democrats? That's a lot of Republicans saying that. This is not the Republicans saying we have some great mandate here.

MARTIN: These numbers speak of the continuing challenges the GOP faces, John, their victories last month were much more a reflection of unhappiness of President Obama and the new formula for success. They have to find their way back before the next national election.

The fact is, they're still less popular than Democrats. The poll numbers, the Democratic Party suffered a terrible review last month. It's still more popular than the folks that won in their sweep.

KING: And it's very clear the voters say they will blame the Republicans if the government shut down. The voters get the fact that Republicans have a higher bar of responsibility now especially beginning in January.

But how does Speaker Boehner or eventually Leader McConnell deal with this, a lot of people angry over the immigration policy. They are angry about other presidential policies. They want to do something to vent their frustration and their anger.

But if they shut down the government, the Republicans will lose, whatever air is in their balloon will be gone.

PACE: A huge challenge for Boehner and McConnell, they weren't able to fend this off from members of their party. Can they go back and say, look, remember how it happened last year? The president's health care law kind of overshadowed a little bit of the fallout from the shutdown.

It was bad for Republicans. There are a lot of people in that party, not just in leadership, but other rank and file members who do not want to go through that again.

MARTIN: The key for John Boehner is can he find ways to modify hard liners in his caucus, finding some sort of narrow spending bills that they can seize on, try to block the president's action on immigration without some kind of a whole sale meat cleaver that can shut down the government. Can they pull that off in the next two weeks?

KING: We will watch the next ten days and see how he handles it. Alisyn, get back to New York. Is this a good hair day or a bad hair day? Anne Romney tweeted this out. This is Mitt Romney on Thanksgiving weekend. It looks like a guy wrestling on the carpet either with the grandkids or the dogs or something.

Jonathan Martin, a regular guy, maybe he's had a little too much pass, I'm not sure what that is.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: He has really let his hair down since the election. Wow, that is quite a photo.

KING: Mr. Cuomo is leaning in, trying to figure out exactly what happened there.

CAMEROTA: You should see Chris before all the moose, very similar.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: I never had moose in my head since 1986.

CAMEROTA: Thanks, John. Great to see you. All right, this sad story, an Ohio State football player found dead. Could a history of concussions have played role in his death? We have a former NFL star who will weigh in.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Current concern this morning about football and concussions. We've had this discussion here on NEW DAY before, but it is renewed again after the apparent suicide of Ohio State football player, Kosta Karageorge, the 22-year-old athlete was found dead in a dumpster Sunday. Apparently a self-inflicted gunshot wound ended his life.

Karageorge's mother is telling police that her son had been complaining about bouts with confusion after suffering at least four or five head injuries.

I want to talk about it all with former NFL wide receiver, Dante Stallworth, he joins me this morning. Dante, first of all, I know you join me mourning the loss of a very young man, prime of his life, starting out, or a potentially career in football.

We don't know, but first of all, your thoughts upon learning about the 22-year-old's death.

DANTE STALLWORTH, FORMER NFL WIDE RECEIVER: Whenever someone loses a life. It's always a very sad thing, but especially this young man. He had such a bright future. Ohio State was playing really well. He was a fifth year senior so that means he was close to graduating. It's very sad to hear the news and I'm really sorry for his family. I send my deepest condolences.

PEREIRA: And we all do. You know, I think we all struggle to understand and that's why we are bringing up this conversation with you. When we hear those words like concussion and head injury and confusion, we are usually hearing about slightly older players, guys in the NFL, former play, guys out of the league, not someone in college, is that concerning to you?

STALLWORTH: I think any types of brain injuries are always concerning. The brain is a very, very -- it's an organ in your body that you can't come back from when you sustained injuries of two concussions. You give him a lot. In football, it's unfortunate.

I see it happen all the time. Those are very scary, now it's happening in college and even some high school in pop warner leaks, usually become concerned. You want to do the research and try to figure out exactly what it is that's happening to these kids.

PEREIRA: Have your own run-ins with concussions, Dante? You had a long football history?

STALLWORTH: You know what? Thank God I haven't. I haven't had concussions officially I can say that.

PEREIRA: Good point.

STALLWORTH: Yes, there have been instances I have been in a pile or something, you know, it was a mentality where you get back up and play, that's something I have become concerned with over the past couple of years. You know, I was blessed to play ten years, but it enabled me to be able to walk away from the game without really having any effects up to this point? Who knows, ten, 15 years down the road?

PEREIRA: That's a good point. We don't know the long-term effects of those hits. Those hits are hard. I want to talk about a point you just made. I think it's really key to this discussion is that that mentality, right, you are warriors.

You are on the gridiron. You are there for the big hits, the big tackles, the big saves. Is there a stigma within the organizations within the teams, the leagues, that if you just shake it off?

STALLWORTH: I think it used to be.

PEREIRA: You think it's changing?

STALLWORTH: Yes, for sure, it's definitely changing, I mean, the culture around the NFL especially with concussions, in particular, has changed from the time that I first was drafted in the NFL in 2002 up until my last year in the NFL in 2012.

The culture has definitely changed. There are procedures now that the players and the coaching staff or the training staff must take when it gets dinged up. He has to come out. You know he is out for at least 15 minutes undergoing that concussion test. It's been taken seriously and the circumstances around the players former and present that will be brought this to light.

PEREIRA: Here's the question. Again, we don't know all of the details about this young man and what led him to take his life. Are you feeling that these efforts are enough or do you think more needs to be done from the teams, pop warner all the way up?

STALLWORTH: I think initially the NFL is trying to do a good thing with their heads-up program. It's teaching young kids how to tackle, how to reduce injuries and spinal injuries and make injuries and trying to do. You can't really stop concussions in the NFL.

You can do, you can take all the protective measures from safety gear and protective measures from actual play and ruling that you can try to change and the NFL is trying to do that, sustain a level of keeping guys in tune with what's going on and passing that down to high schools and colleges. I think there needs to be more done.

PEREIRA: More conversations like this had because we want to keep the in the light, if you will, because again the young man dead at 22 is cause for concern. Dante Stallworth, always a pleasure to have you with us. Thank you.

Up ahead here, rhinos slaughter, their horns fetching a fortune on the black market. What is being done to save them from poachers?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Welcome back to NEW DAY. Park rangers and veterinarians in South Africa say they're waging a war to save the rhinos. They're trying to tag, track, and relocate them before poachers take their deadly aim. Hunters kill rhinos for horns, which are more valuable than gold on the black markets. Diana Magnay has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Above the poaching hot spot, a veterinarian takes aim. This is a dart gun. His goal is save not to slaughter. A flash of pink on the rump. Hit is good. On the ground a veterinary team stands by weary around the stunned animal ready with a blind fold as the drugs kick in.

(on camera): So the rhino is darted with a mix of immobilizer and tranquilizer. It takes about three to five minutes from the time its hit to get on the ground and from that moment on the process is incredibly fast. Oxygen helps with breathing. The horn is micro chipped for poaching endeavors. DNA samples are taken.

MARKUS HOFMEYR, HEAD OF VETERINARY SERVICES: If a rhino gets poached you can take a piece of the horn and link it to a carcass.

MAGNAY (voice-over): And then another shot to partially reverse the anesthetic.

(on camera): This is clearly one of the most critical moments to get the rhino up using its own body force having given it a partial reversal of tranquilizer. We have to make sure we don't get in the way.

(voice-over): The team haul the rhino to its feet. It takes a few steps toward the trail their will carry it to safer ground in the protected zone in the national park. This is why. Just a few miles further north, a rhino carcass lies where it was shot ten days ago.

They have such a backlog of cases it's taken them now to get here. The national park shares a 350 kilometer border. This is right beside the caucus, all that separates the countries. It's no deterrent when rhino horn can fetch $100,000 per kilogram on the black market.

Fueled by demand from Asia where they wrongly believe that rhino horns can cure diseases like cancer. The park operation estimates there are 15 poaching groups in the park at any one time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If I give you a particular month, we know for a fact 600 poachers infiltrated.

MAGNAY: This new push to relocate the rhinos helps, but South Africa has lost a record 120,000 rhinos so far this year. Diana Magnay, CNN, South Africa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Tough work.

CUOMO: It's a tough reality. At least they're trying to do something. We have to boost those efforts.

All right, Ferguson, Missouri at the top of the president's agenda as he calls for changes to law enforcement across the country. What are they going to do in Ferguson? The mayor joining us and says he has answers, coming up.

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