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New Day

Michael Brown's Stepfather being Investigated; Charles Barkley Criticizes Ferguson Rioters; Interview with U.S. Congressman Ted Yoho of Florida

Aired December 03, 2014 - 08:00   ET

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

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Courting controversy. Charles Barkley calls rioters scumbags, defends police and the grand jury decision to exonerate Michael Brown's killer. The opinionated former NBA star now under fire, but should he be?

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Another woman comes forward claiming Bill Cosby sexually assaulted her. What she says happens when she was just 15 years old and why she's coming forward now?

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Living longer. New diet could slow the aging progress and keep us younger longer. Does it really work though and does it raise more questions than it answers?

CUOMO: Your NEW DAY continues right now.

Good morning, welcome back to NEW DAY. It is Wednesday, December 3rd, and in three seconds it will be 8:00 in the east. There we go. Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota here. Could Michael Brown's stepfather face criminal charges? It is a real question. Police are investigating whether his words to burn the blank down after the grand jury decision incited a riot. His lawyer claims he was just overcome with emotion.

CAMEROTA: And the people of Ferguson will see less of the National Guard as things calm down and the residents will try to rebuild. CNN's Ed Lavandera is live in Ferguson for us. Good morning, Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. The building you see behind me, this was one of the first businesses that was torched in the moments after the announcement was made that a grand jury would not be indicting Darren Wilson. And now the question is, is Michael Brown's stepfather partly responsible for what happened here?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LOUIS HEAD, STEPFATHER OF MICHAEL BROWN: Burn this -- down! Burn this -- down!

(SHOUTING)

LAVANDERA: This explosive reaction to the non-indictment of former police officer Darren Wilson is now under investigation. Police want to know if Michael Brown's stepfather Louis Head possibly incited the crowd to riot with these words. Michael Brown's mother explained the emotion behind the outburst in an interview with CNN legal analyst Sunny Hostin.

LESLIE MCSPADDEN, MICHAEL BROWN'S MOTHER: He just spoke out of anger. It's one thing to speak and it's a different thing to act. He did not act.

LAVANDERA: Investigators have not yet spoken to Head and no charges have been filed.

JEFF ROORDA, (D) MISSOURI STATE HOUSE: Remember there's people in the crowd that decided to burn down those buildings, and I'm not so sure they wouldn't have burned down those buildings without urging from Mr. Head or others.

LAVANDERA: The National Guard is scaling back its presence in Ferguson since protests have gotten smaller, but businesses are still reeling from their losses.

How angry are you?

MUMTAZ LALANI, BUSINESS OWNER: Well, it doesn't help, you know? I'm mostly disappointed by the authority because last twice, two times the governor said that we'll take care of that, and the third time, they said we'll really have the National Guard here and there's nothing to worry about, and they didn't do their job.

LAVANDERA: The destruction prompted this response from former NBA player Charles Barkley.

CHARLES BARKLEY, FORMER NBA PLAYER: It's like them jackasses who are looting. Those aren't real black people. Those are scumbags. Real black people, they're not out there looting.

LAVANDERA: There's also a dispute as to whether officials from the St. Louis Rams apologized to local police following the "hands up, don't shoot" demonstration by several players at Sunday's game. St. Louis County Police Chief John Belmar sent an email to his staff saying the Rams chief operating officer called him Monday to apologize. The Rams say that's not the case. However, talks between police and the team are scheduled to continue.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: And one other thing to keep in mind, those comments that Louis Head made in the moments last Monday night was about two miles away from this location, and this is the stretch of road where most of the buildings were burned down, and several miles away, it all started happening about the same time. And another point to remember, as investigators kind of look into this idea whether or not Louis Head was inciting a riot, could he be held responsible for what happened several miles away at the same time. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: Ed, that context might make the case against him tougher. Thanks so much for that reporting.

Well, Charles Barkley is no shrinking violet. As you know the former NBA great is often outspoken and often on the subject of race, and now he's defending those comments that you heard on the situation in Ferguson. He sat down with CNN's Brooke Baldwin. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's just begin with the news of the day, that Michael Brown's stepdad is being investigated for saying eight different times "burn this "b" down" the night the grand jury decision was made public.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HEAD: Burn this -- down!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And he's being investigated for inciting a riot. Do you think that is fair, should police be pursuing that?

BARKLEY: No, I think under the circumstances this has been an awful incident for everybody, and I just think they're just clouds the discussion.

BALDWIN: What about all the walkouts and the protests, and you've definitely caught some, you know, slack for call some people --

BARKLEY: Number one, I haven't gotten any slack. I don't do social media and I don't sit around and watch what everybody thinks about me.

BALDWIN: The "scumbag" comment?

BARKLEY: When you loot people's property that's what you are. That's against the law. It's not your property. You wouldn't want people to do it to your house.

BALDWIN: Do you think that we would be seeing all of that had this been a black police officer, had Darren Wilson been black and all the facts remaining the same, we would still have a slain 18-year-old, would the outrage be there?

BARKLEY: No, because we have a racial issue in this country. We've always had a racial issue in this country, and the biggest problem with it is we never discuss race until something bad happens. We never have meaningful dialogue over a cold beer when things are going good. But what happens is, everybody, when something bad happens everybody has a tribe mentality, everybody wants to protect their own tribe whether they're right or wrong.

BALDWIN: What do you mean when they're right and wrong?

BARKLEY: We all got bad characters in our group, we all got bad characters. So my grandmother told me you judge everybody on their own individual merit. You don't care what any other jackass has to say. You don't put everybody together. Black is not always right and white is not always wrong.

But let me say this. The notion that white cops are out there just killing black people, that's ridiculous. That's just flat out ridiculous. And I challenge any black person to try to make that point. This notion that cops -- cops are actually awesome. They're the only thing in the ghetto between this place being the wild, wild west.

BALDWIN: Let me go back to the notion of white cops killing black people. What about the case we're waiting for the results to come down from the grand jury for Eric Garner.

BARKLEY: Sure.

BALDWIN: It's one thing in Ferguson there's some audio. But you see the video, you see these cops surround him.

BARKLEY: Yes.

BALDWIN: And he ultimately, it was a homicide. He dies.

BARKLEY: I don't think that was a homicide. I don't think that was a homicide.

BALDWIN: What was that? The chokehold, you see it.

BARKLEY: I think the cops were trying to arrest him and they got a little aggressive. I think excessive force, you know, something like that, but to go right to murder -- Brooke, when the cops are trying to arrest you, if you fight back, things go wrong. That doesn't mean -- I don't think they were trying to kill Mr. Garner. You know, he was a big man and they tried to get him down.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Let's get some perspective here, we'll bring in CNN's Don Lemon, host of "CNN Tonight," Sally Jenkins, sports columnist for "The Washington Post." Let's start with the big global issue, Sally. I'll start with you because Don and I are family here at CNN, so we'll go with the guest. I didn't even know he was going to be here. Should we be hearing from Charles Barkley on this issue at all?

SALLY JENKINS, SPORTS COLUMNIST, "WASHINGTON POST": Why not? I mean, people love to hear him talk about basketball. He's renowned for saying absolutely what he thinks on every issue. Yes, why not? Why should he have to shut up? What is this shut up and play thing?

CUOMO: He's not playing anymore. Ao he's out there and giving his opinion, and does he deserve criticism for what he said specifically from or to the black community?

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Well, does he deserve it? Who knows? But are people going to criticize him, yes, and he does not care. And that's what I like about him. Do I always agree with him? No.

CUOMO: What do you take issue with here?

LEMON: I don't know if I take issue with anything here. I think that -- and Charles and I, I know Charles. We've been texting about this particular story, and he says "Don, I'm not going to shut up. I'm going to keep saying -- and I want you," we talked about this, he said "You did a great job at Ferguson, keep doing what you're doing."

But I don't think, I think you have to always be careful about what you say. We are judged on every word, as I know this week and last, every single word that comes out of your mouth. I think Charles is a role model whether he likes it or not. But I also think people don't like to hear what Charles has to say, many people, but he speaks the unvarnished truth.

CUOMO: His truth.

LEMON: His truth. He says it like he means it, whether you agree with him or not, and that's what I like about him.

CUOMO: If he was a white guy, could he say these things?

JENKINS: Sure.

CUOMO: What? Hold on a second.

JENKINS: Angelina Jolie, George Clooney.

CUOMO: If they came out and said the looters were scumbags, all the cops are awesome, Michael Brown did the wrong thing, Eric Garner is too big, you don't think there would be outrage?

JENKINS: Listen, the spokesman for the St. Louis Police Officers Association said very much the same thing in his statement protesting what the St. Louis Rams did. He called them thugs, violent thugs, suggested that if it weren't for the cops in that football stadium on Sunday there would be nothing standing between the St. Louis Rams and the mob.

LEMON: Are you really asking that? Don't you remember last week?

CUOMO: Yes.

LEMON: You interviewed Rudy Giuliani And he said the exact same thing.

CUOMO: And he -- well, no, he didn't say the same things Charles is saying. Charles is able to criticize the black community directly and I think he's covered in part because he's a member.

LEMON: You don't think they're saying the same thing?

CUOMO: I think what Rudy was talking about, and I think there are equal problems with it as we discussed in our nice time in Ferguson together, is about what the perceptions of us versus them. And I think, look, all of these are important because they coax the conversation. The question is, in what direction? Is any of it moving us forward? That's my question.

JENKINS: It moves us into a conversation about race which needs to happen.

LEMON: Yes. CUOMO: What was he emphasizing, what conversation isn't happening?

JENKINS: But you have to have the conversation in order to emphasize what isn't happening. You can't talk about what's not happening if you're not even talking.

LEMON: Right. And we have to stop demonizing people just for being honest. And if you say something wrong or if you misspeak, you have to stop doing that, because then you halt the conversation, because no one is perfect. No one's words are perfect. If you have good intentions, and I'm sure Charles' intentions are good, why not allow him to say that? Why do you put certain parameters on Charles Barkley because he's black that you don't put on other people?

CUOMO: Obviously the media doesn't accept any limitation on him because any time he wants to sit down and talk we'll interview him.

JENKINS: Yes, but it's also to me a little bit of the black quarterback syndrome. Like you're not allowed to make a mistake or misspeak or to say something unpopular if you're a black man on television?

CUOMO: So let's talk about how things are playing out.

LEMON: Not ready to talk about that a little bit more.

CUOMO: The Rams, OK, the "hands up, don't shoot." People dismiss it as, one, you're a football player, don't do it. There's a new narrative coming out, which is that this is a lie, that this is a brand that is based on a lie. Do you find that to be intellectually dishonest or do you think that is accurate?

JENKINS: I find it to be un-nuanced. I find it to be a very broad, clumsy take on what is something going on there that's much more subtle. The "hands up, don't shoot" thing has gone way beyond Ferguson. I think most people would agree. When I see that gesture by the St. Louis Rams I didn't immediately refer to Michael Brown and only Michael Brown.

LEMON: And you didn't immediately think about police, right?

JENKINS: No.

LEMON: You didn't think of police in Ferguson as bad police. You just thought they recognized what was happening in their community.

JENKINS: It was an expression by a bunch of guys who live in gated tax havens saying hey, we're part of this community, too.

CUOMO: But they're young black men in the helmets and who knows what their experiences were growing up. Most didn't come from gated communities.

JENKINS: A couple of them actually have police records, as it turns out. Kenny Britt.

CUOMO: Wasn't that like DUI or something, and then he beat the case? Does that disqualify him?

JENKINS: No, it doesn't, but a lot of people are attacking him for it.

LEMON: I'm surprised that they didn't get disciplined.

CUOMO: Why? Because of the constitution? You didn't think they have a constitutional right?

LEMON: I do think they have a constitutional right, but I keep this on my desk and refer to it, as we can see. It's falling apart because I do.

CUOMO: Obviously don't like that part of the constitution.

LEMON: But I think that we have this whole idea about it's perfect, the First Amendment is perfect, your right to free speech. You and I know we work for a company and if we say something, we can be fired for it. I think people have the wrong idea about what free speech is. I think they have every right to do what they did, but we also work for companies and we can't just do anything that we want.

CUOMO: Right, but I don't think they fall into that category, do you, in terms of they were making a statement and the police saying they apologized and they didn't. Don't you think that's all counterproductive?

JENKINS: I think there's a huge misunderstanding about what the First Amendment actually protects. The only thing it protects you from is the government. The government can't interfere with your speech, which means cops can't tell those guys to shut up. Your employer can in many circumstances. Actually speech in the workplace is not protected particularly.

CUOMO: Now, we're talking about how all of this is playing out coming out of Ferguson as if there were nothing else going on. The Eric Garner case in New York City checks just about every box that that case did.

LEMON: It's overshadowed.

CUOMO: Except that was a handgun and the shooting of the unarmed black man, that does touch certain notes. The case could come down today. What do you think happens in the Eric Garner case if there is no indictment, which is likely?

LEMON: Well, I think it adds fuel to what's happened in Ferguson and what's happening across the country. I don't know if there will be unrest. I don't think there will be unrest as there was in Ferguson. I think, as you know, New York City is a much different place. We deal with things differently here. And I think it will be handled differently. But I just, I'm waiting to see because this is, as you said, one that has been overshadowed by Ferguson. And if there's not -- man, I don't know what's going to happen.

CUOMO: We'll see what happens. Again, not an easy case to make, and again, it's the prosecutor from there looking at his own police.

LEMON: Can I just say, though. I think what you said, when we talked about nuance, nuance, it's very, very important. Most people read the headlines or they'll take away what we said today and say, oh, my gosh, they're against the players, the Rams players or they're against this. It's not that. We're having a conversation. I think she's exactly right, this is what we need to do is to have these nuanced conversations and not, you know, yell at each other and beat each other up.

JENKINS: I think there are plenty of people that saw the Rams do this and they didn't immediately think the rams were saying cops are killers.

CUOMO: Right.

LEMON: Right.

CUOMO: Sally Jenkins, thank you very much. Don Lemon, always a pleasure.

LEMON: Thank you, sir. See you later.

CUOMO: Michaela, over to you for the news.

PEREIRA: All right, here are your headlines. It's 14 past the hour. Bill Cosby facing a lawsuit now from a woman who claims he sexually assaulted her in 1974. According to Radar Online do, Judy Huth said the comedian molested her at the Playboy mansion when she just 15- year-old. Huth and her attorney say the statute the limitations does not apply because she only came to realize the extent of psychological damage in the past few years. Cosby's attorney has repeatedly denied claims of abuse.

Police in Abu Dhabi released the name of the person who killed an American teacher at a mall. The person dressed in black, is seen walking in calmly, then disappearing out of camera sight before running to the elevator and leaving the mall, that suspect has not been apprehended.

Officials in Abu Dhabi say the teacher was killed Monday in the mall's restroom, her 11-year-old twins are in the custody of police until their father arrives.

A controversial law in Ft. Lauderdale banning people from feeding the homeless in certain public places is on hold now for 30 days. Judge has ordered mediation on the issue after a 90-year-old defied the measure several times. We've told you about Arnold Abbott and his non-profit Serve the Homeless there here on NEW DAY.

The measure was approved after local residents pressured officials to help get the homeless off the streets and other public spaces.

You've probably seen this online of a man who posed as an army ranger, exposed as an apparent fraud in a viral video is now being investigated. He may face federal charges. Veteran and Purple Heart recipient Ryan Burke approached the man at a mall on Black Friday noticing something off about his uniform. He peppered the man with questions before calling him out. It's believed the man may have been trying to use the uniform to get military discounts.

I got to show you this crazy video, a woman in China had to be rescued after she lost control of her car, crashed into a lamp post and plunged into a river. You see the surveillance camera capturing this hair raising moment. Witnesses rushed to the scene but they had trouble trying to get to her. One man cleverly used his jacket for her to grab onto and pulled her out of the sinking car moments before it went under the water.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Wow!

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Yikes!

CUOMO: Just got to keep watching.

PEREIRA: I know, you really do.

CAMEROTA: OK, she made it.

PEREIRA: She made it.

CUOMO: That is impressive.

CAMEROTA: And I worry -- this is just so troublesome to watch that.

CUOMO: What a great ending.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

CUOMO: What a great ending.

CAMEROTA: Thank you for that.

PEREIRA: You're welcome.

CUOMO: Best kind of problem is one that has a good ending.

CAMEROTA: Indeed.

We'll see if this one does, countdown to a shutdown? Gridlock in Washington over Obama's executive action on immigration, prompting talk of another government shutdown. We're speaking live with a Republican leader who is spear-heading a proposal that could help avoid that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: A showdown looming on Capitol Hill over President Obama's executive action on immigration. This comes as a potential government shutdown looms, if Congress cannot pass a spending bill by next week.

Let's bring in Republican Congressman Ted Yoho. He's introduced a proposal challenging the president's right to use executive action on immigration.

Good morning, Congressman.

REP. TED YOHO (R), FLORIDA: Good morning, Alisyn. How are you doing?

CAMEROTA: Doing well, thank you.

YOHO: That's good.

CAMEROTA: So, what exactly would your bill do to reverse the executive action on immigration?

YOHO: The bill, the purpose of the bill was to stop the executive action and it goes back to November 20th when he wrote the executive order. The whole purpose is to stop this so that we can fix immigration the way it's supposed to be.

CAMEROTA: And what does that look like? I mean, it would just stop it dead in its tracks or how would you suggest fixing immigration in that case?

YOHO: Well, the important thing is to stop it, so that we can fix it. His action is not going to fix immigration. In fact, it's going to drive a wedge in this country and divide the country and it's going to make the current situation worse. And so, we want to stop that.

The American people spoke loud and clear in November that they don't like the direction of the country, they don't like unilateral action, they don't like the dysfunction of Congress. And so, waiting for the new Congress to come in is what we need to do.

And, you know, this system is broken for over 30 years. A couple more weeks is not going to make a difference, and we need to do it properly if we're going to do it.

CAMEROTA: OK. We've had some pundits on this morning who say that your bill is basically an exercise in futility because while you may be able to get the votes for it in the House, it would never pass the Democratically-led Senate. And so, they're wondering if this is just political theater or is it some sort of political therapy to make Republicans feel better or what are you doing?

YOHO: No, it's not. We don't introduce bills for political theater or symbolic measures. I mean, we could say that, heck, over the last two years that everything was done symbolically if you look at what was passed.

But I guess there is some symbolism in this, because this is about preserving the Constitution. You know, Article 1 Section 8 clause says that Congress has the sole authority for naturalization, and that is symbolic to preserve the Constitution because that Constitution is a symbol around the world of what freedom really looks like.

And I think this is not a partisan issue. This is something Republicans, Democrats, need to come together and this is a time to be Americans and do what's best for our country, not to unilaterally try to do an immigration reform that's not going to make the situation better.

CAMEROTA: And do you think that your bill could really pass the Senate?

YOHO: I do. You know, when I look at things, we look at what we want to accomplish. We're going to pass it in the House. Harry Reid is going to have to decide if he wants to let the president trample on the Constitution, and not follow the rule of law.

And if that's what we're going to do as a nation, why have a Constitution? Why have Congress here? We have a country and we go by the rule of law. It's time we start following that.

And Harry Reid will have to make that decision. No, I'm not going to bring this bill, we're going to do executive amnesty and it's going to make the situation worse.

CAMEROTA: Democratic Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez says that you are misinterpreting the president's executive action. Here is her response to your bill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. LORETTA SANCHEZ (D), CALIFORNIA: The president did not change the law. The current law exists. What he did was say, you know, there are limited resources and I want to use those resources on getting the bad guys out of our country first, and for those who have families, real family ties to this country, we're not going to go after you.

He just prioritized what he wants to do, and he's allowed to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Congressman, why not start with the criminals, as she is suggesting rather than the families?

YOHO: Ms. Sanchez is wrong. The current law says that if you're here illegally, if you're a person that's in the United States illegally, you are supposed to be deported. It says that. I mean that's what the law says.

Now, there's been individual cases of prosecutorial discretion that the president can use at his will or the attorney general or the secretary of homeland security. You can't do it for whole groups of people like he wants to do. So, he, in essence, is rewriting the law with his pen and our goal is to take the ink out of his pen.

CAMEROTA: So, Congressman, is the government going to shut down?

YOHO: No, and that's the beauty of this bill is, it's not tied with any funding mechanism. This is a standalone bill that will stop this executive action, so again that the new Congress when they get sworn in, we can address responsible immigration reform in this country the way it needs to be, so that we don't have this discussion in another five, 10, 15 years. And then there will be a separate bill on the funding, and that's something that we'll bring up this week.

And, you know, the sentiment up here is nobody wants the government to shut down. We want to do, do -- pass a spending bill so that the government stays functional, and that's what the American people expect and they spoke again loud and clear in November.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

YOHO: And we're here, this is a new Congress. It's a new way of doing business. It's a new day and this is a day to rebuild America. This starts now.

CAMEROTA: Congressman, while we have you, we want to ask you about another story in the news and something that happened on Capitol Hill. Some of your colleagues were expressing their frustration with the situation in Ferguson, and what has gone on with the grand jury's decision and they did so by striking the "hands up, don't shoot" posture, perhaps we can show you a little montage of what some of your colleagues did on the floor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hands up. Don't shoot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a movement that will not dissipate. It will not evaporate.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If we don't affirm knob violence, then who will?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Congressman, how do you feel about that? Do you feel it's appropriate to express that frustration?

YOHO: You know, people have the right of free speech in this country and they're going to do what they feel in their heart they need to do.

What happened in Ferguson was a tragedy, and it comes down to rule of law. We have to follow the rule of law and that's why this immigration bill is so important. This goes back to the rule of law and following the Constitution and the president's job is to follow the Constitution, Article 2, Section 3, that says he should take care and faithfully executing the law of the land and we're going to hold him accountable for that.

CAMEROTA: OK. Congressman Ted Yoho, thanks so much for joining us on NEW DAY. Nice to see you.

YOHO: Appreciate the opportunity. Thank you, ma'am.

CAMEROTA: Sure. Let's go over to Chris.

CUOMO: Bill Cosby facing a new lawsuit, a woman claims the comedian molested her in the '70s when she was just a teenager. That will be a key factor. Lawyers say in California the case can still be brought. Are they right? We have a district attorney specializing in these cases weighing in.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)