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New Day

"Rolling Stone" Clarifies Apology About Article; U.S. Troops to Shift Roles in Afghanistan; New Polls Reflect State of Race Relations in America

Aired December 08, 2014 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: "Rolling Stone" magazine is clarifying it's apology over their explosive story detailing that alleged gang rape at the University of Virginia. On Friday, the magazine seemed to be backing away from the story after discrepancies in the alleged victim's account began surfacing. Well, now, "Rolling Stone" is telling readers that the mistakes in the article are the magazine's fault, not the alleged victim's. CNN's Sara Ganim is live in Charlottesville, Virginia, with more. What do we know, Sara?

SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Alisyn, in response to that apology, national Greek organizations have called on UVA to reinstate fraternity activities. They had been cancelled after that "Rolling Stone" article came out. Today is the start of finals week here on campus. There's only a few more days left in that ban, and students that we have talked to here say they want the focus to remain on the broader issue of campus sexual assault.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): "Rolling Stone" magazine now says they are to blame for their unraveling story about an alleged gang rape inside a University of Virginia fraternity house, asking the public to avoid criticizing Jackie, the unidentified accuser at the center of the explosive article, saying in a statement these mistakes are on "Rolling Stone," not on Jackie. The attorney for UVA's Phi Kappa Psi fraternity tells CNN several details in the article are just wrong. He says records show there was no party the night that Jackie claims she was attacked. There also no side staircase inside the frat house, which the article states Jackie walked down after the attack. And the fraternity brother who allegedly brought her there was never even a member of Phi Kappa Psi.

The article originally spurred an outpouring of protests. Now many urging students to keep focus on a larger problem, how the university and its students react to reports of sexual assault.

EMILY POWELL, CLAIMS ASSAULT AT UVA: remember crying when it happened, and I remember saying no, and I remember pushing him off of me.

GANIM: Emily Powell says she was assaulted last year at UVA by a following student following a first date. (on camera): Why didn't you go to the hospital the next day?

POWELL: I asked a person who also happened to be a friend of the person who had assaulted me to take me to the hospital because she had a car. She told me that she would take me in a week, once I had calmed down, which very much felt to me like, you know, she thought I was making this up. They threatened that they would tell the police that I was obsessed with the idea of rape, I would accuse anyone of rape, and they would say that I was mentally unstable.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GANIM: Now, police are still investigating that alleged gang rape of Jackie, the girl in "Rolling Stone." In the meantime, we've talked to some of her friends, Alisyn, and they say it's clear to them that she did suffer some kind of trauma. Something bad happened to her, but they do acknowledge that it's very clear some of the details in "Rolling Stone" may not be accurate. That's now for police to sort out. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: It's so confusing and so troubling as well. Sara Ganim, thanks so much for the update. We will be talking more about this in this program later.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: We sure will. Al l right, can I look at some headlines for you this morning? Good morning, everyone. Protests over a grand jury's decision in the Eric Garner chokehold case again turning violent in Berkley, California. Protestors there shattering store windows, looting businesses, blocking freeway traffic. At least eight arrests have been made in clashes with police in Oakland. Meanwhile, in New York, demonstrators staged a series of die-ins, some sang so-called justice carols, inserting Garner's last words, I can't breathe, into the lyrics of popular Christmas songs.

Six men who were detained for more than a decade at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are now in South America. Four Syrians, a Tunisian, and a Palestinian all being transferred to Uruguay for resettlement. U.S. officials say it's the largest group to leave Guantanamo since 2009. It's also the latest move in a slow footed effort by the Obama administration to close that facility.

The family of a "Washington Post Reporter" detained in Iran says a judge has now charged him with crimes and denied him bail. It's not clear, however, what those alleged crimes are. Jason Rezaian was arrested over the summer. He was held for months without being charged. His family says he hasn't had access to an attorney. Secretary of State John Kerry called on Iran to drop those charges and release him.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are stateside this week. Prince William and Kate arriving Sunday in New York to screaming fans and flashing cameras. Later this morning, William heads to Washington. He will meet with President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. Meanwhile, a glowing Kate, who of course in five months pregnant, will stay in New York for several luncheons and appearances. They'll watch the Brooklyn Nets take on LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. They will also reportedly meet Beyonce and Jay-Z. Royalty and royalty.

CAMEROTA: Exactly, our version of royalty and their version of royalty. You're right.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: It might make me see the British royals a little differently. I'm always kind of like an eye roll when they come, but if that's who you're setting them up against, maybe I'll have to pay a little bit more of attention to the Brits. All right, we have made history, all right? This is a good kind of history if you like football. After months of debate, we finally know which four teams will play in the first ever college football playoff. We have Laura Rutledge showing us who's in, who's out. We have this morning's Bleacher Report. And let's start with this, do you think there's going to be a lot of stink on this, or do you think people will be okay with the choices?

LAURA RUTLEDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, six teams definitely worthy, Chris, but only four can be invited. So, of course, as you said, the second guessing is going to happen no matter what. Let's start with this, top seed Alabama will play number four, Ohio State, in the Sugar Bowl on New Year's Day. And in the other semi final, number two Oregon takes on the defending national champion, number three Florida State in the Rose Bowl. The winners of those games meet in the national title game on January 12th in Arlington, Texas. Now, the co-champions of the Big 12 conference, Baylor and TCU, left out by the selection committee. They're the one that probably will have something to say about this, and they've already started talking about it on Twitter and everywhere else.

With home field advantage in the NFL playoffs on the line, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots came up big on Sunday night, but it wasn't easy. They had to rally from an 11 point deficit, scoring the game's final 20 points. Brady 69-yeard TD pass to Julian Edelman in the fourth quarter sealed the deal in New Englands 23-14 win.

All right, and emotions ran high in the game between the Panthers and the Saints. Things got out of control quickly after Cam Newton broke out his Superman celebration after a short TD. Pushing and shoving led to a huge fight behind the end zone. Surprisingly, only one player ejected and the Panthers went on to win in a blowout 41-10. Just wild there.

Vikings, Jets goes to overtime, but Minnesota didn't want to disappoint the home crowd. Jarius Wright off to the races. An 87-yard reception from Teddy Bridgewater. That's the second longest overtime passing touchdown in NFL history. And his Viking teammate, Everson Griffen, had something to say about it.

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EVERSON GRIFFEN, FOOTBALL PLAYER FOR THE MINNESOTA VIKINGS: You look at the play right there. Oh. Teddy's back, he drops, to J. Wright. There he goes.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

RUTLEDGE: Pretty good play by play right there. He may have a future in that.

CAMEROTA: He was excited.

CUOMO: I hear that on instant replay, the Vikings player actually stepped out of bounds and the Jets win the game is what I heard.

RUTLEDGE: Is that right?

CAMEROTA: You never know.

CUOMO: As a Jets fan, that's what's going on right now.

CAMEROTA: In your head.

RUTLEDGE: Right.

CUOMO: The league has it under review, said nobody ever with any credibility. All right, thank you very much Ms. Rutledge. I think people are going to be okay with those college football - - it's the first time, it's history. It's a big deal. Every year everybody gripes about what bowl you're in, and what it means, and then you have BCS which, you know, you had to have the math major to understand and it still didn't make sense. So, this is it. This is the beginning of a new era.

CAMEROTA: Fun. All right.

CUOMO: I take it you guys were okay with the picks.

PEREIRA: Totally fine.

CUOMO: That's good to know.

CAMEROTA: I'm going to go with that as well, fine. Okay. Meanwhile, one on one with Chuck Hagel. CNN speaks exclusively with the outgoing defense secretary about the role of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and the circumstances that lead to Hagel's departure. That's next.

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CAMEROTA: Now to a CNN exclusive. Our chief national security correspondent, Jim Sciutto, traveling with Chuck Hagel on his surprise trip to Afghanistan to visit U.S. troops. This is Hagel's final time there as defense secretary. He announced his resignation last month. Let's go live to Jim Sciutto in Kuwait City. Good morning, Jim.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. Something of a farewell tour for Secretary of Defense Hagel. Of course this the first one coming, his last trip after his announced departure, but also a farewell for U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The draw down beginning, the transition from a combat role to a training role, although we learned this weekend, Secretary Hagel announcing that 1,000 more U.S. troops will be remaining in Afghanistan in the next year. 10,800 instead of the originally announced 9,800 to help secure the place in a country that Secretary Hagel said is still a very dangerous place. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): This is Chuck Hagel's fourth trip to Afghanistan, but his last as secretary of defense. We traveled with him to tactical base Gamberi in eastern Afghanistan where he met with troops, sharing his own experience as the first enlisted combat veteran to serve as defense secretary.

(on camera): Do you think it will be a loss for the defense secretary position to have someone who didn't have that experience and the role?

CHUCK HAGEL, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: That's not for me to decide. Everybody brings to their positions their own set of experiences and their own strengths. And I believe my set of experiences fit me very well, but that's Chuck Hagel. I don't ever judge anybody else.

(voice-over): At the end of this month, U.S. forces will give up their training role for training, advising, and assisting Afghan forces, a new mission as the U.S. prepares for a complete withdrawal in two years.

(on camera): The U.S. made similar investment -- blood and treasure ,training, advising, assisting Iraqi forces. We saw how they dissolved with the advance of ISIS. Why are you confident that Afghan forces will perform better?

HAGEL: They want us here. They want us to help them assist, advise, train. How we left Iraq was totally different. The Iraqi government did not want us there. There the Iraqi people did not want us there.

SCIUTTO: It is train, advise, and assist. But U.S. forces will still be able to do force protection if there's a threat to U.S. forces, go out and neutralize that threat. And, in addition, you mentioned combat enabling. That speaks to -- close ears reported. How much danger will U.S. troops be in even as they transition out of an official combat role?

HAGEL: This is totally different from where we've been the 13 years, what we have ahead for the next two years. But I think bottom line is we've got to realize, this is still a war zone. This is still a war. And so you put men and women in a war zone, they're still in a war zone

SCIUTTO (voice-over)r: Taliban attacks are down this year from2013. But Secretary Hagel's visit comes during a new wave of Taliban violence in the capital, Kabul.

(on camera): What's the most concerning thing you've heard from commanders, the thing that scares you the most?

HAGEL: I think this country, first of all, has made tremendous progress. Where Afghanistan was five years ago, two or three years ago, there is hardly any comparison. But it still has threats -- Al Qaeda, Taliban. They have built the Afghan security forces a very security force institution. So, yes, still challenges ahead but I think every sign is that they can do this, but it's still a dangerous place.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO (on camera): One thing that's clear from our visit there is that, yes, U.S. forces, international forces, transitioning to training role, but they're going to be sitting behind their desks. They're still going to go on missions to attack remnants of Al Qaeda under the president's orders; they're still going to be flying close air support to Afghan forces on their own combat missions; and also they'll be able to go out and attack the Taliban when it is believed that the Taliban presents a direct threat to U.S. forces.

That does, as the Secretary Hagel said, very clearly there, does present danger to he U.S. forces that are going to remain there, 10,800 into 2015.

Alisyn, a reminder that tomorrow we're going to sit down again with Secretary Hagel, a longer interview with him in, again, his first sit down since his announced departure from the Defense Department.

CAMEROTA: Good. We will look forward to that, Jim. So interesting to get the Defense Secretary's take on everything as he heads out. Thanks so much.

CUOMO: All right, we're going to stay on the story here of distrust between the police and the communities they serve. How bad is it, exactly? And do blacks and whites see it the me way? We have new poll numbers that will give you a better idea of what is going on in America today. Stay with us.

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CUOMO: Welcome back to NEW DAY. We have new polls and they're very interesting. They reveal just how bad the racial divide is when it comes to trust in police. According to a NBC News/Marist poll, 70 percent of African-Americans say their confidence in the legal system has fallen after the grand jury decisions in Ferguson and Staten Island. This as police in Berkeley, California, use tear gas on protesters and also hit concert-goers who are leaving at the same time. Of course, they were taking pipes and bottles and rocks being thrown in their direction.

So the question is, what do we about these poll numbers? What do they mean about what's going on in the country and how do we move forward from here? Tara Setmayer, contributor to Real News on the Blaze TV; she's also a Repbulican streatgist. And Mr. Charles Blow, you know him, CNN political commentator, op-ed commentator for "The New York Times". Good to see both of you here this morning.

So let's start with the first number that we have here. Have the recent decisions increased or decreased? White people, 35 percent say it decreased. Only 35 percent. African-Americans, black people, 70 percent. Surprised?

CHARLES BLOW, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, I'm not surprised by it. I mean I think that what we've seen is that people have responded to these decisions in very different ways. I think that a lot of African-Americans see this, the decisions themselves, as not just about those particular cases but outgrowth of either decades or generations of inequity.

CUOMO: That's what gets me about the number, though, Tara, is that I would think that African-Americans, and black people say, well I knew this already. You're now getting to see what I have felt as a black person. But, no, 70 percent say they were actually affected by these decisions. How do you read that and why are the whites so much lower?

TARA SETMAYER, CONTRIBUTOR, REAL NEWS ON THE BLAZE TV: Well, I thikn it also comes from experience. I think where, unfortunately, there's more interaction with African-Americans with the police because of higher crime, socioeconomic issues, so the interactions initially with the police are just different than what most of white America experiences. So that contributes to part of that.

But I also think that the media plays a larger role in bringing these a certain -- framing these issues in a certain way -- that have now, now that we're kind of beating the drum, you're doing polling and you're looking at things now where black folks would say, OK, we feel this way. And now they have an opportunity to express it. And you have riots and protests and all these things, it becomes a national story, so then more people are going to feel as though they can speak on the issue. I just think it's in how we frame it.

CUOMO: Next poll number for you. Do you agree or disagree that law enforcement applies different standards to whites and blacks? This really goes to the heart of the issue, OK? And you see the numbers up there. On the second poll, said that whites strongly agree, is 39 percent. African-Americans, 82. You have a divide here on color. It's not a surprise but it's probably deeper than most would suspect, so what does it suggest in terms of where we go in terms of consensus, Charles?

BLOW: Well, I mean --

CUOMO: Because you're not going to get any chance if you just have blacks feeling one way and whites feeling another. So what do you do?

BLOW: Well, I think part of this poll question, but also the larger debate, is that we have to see each other. I mean, I think that small groups of people can have huge effects both materially and perceptually. And so you could have small groups of flagrantly bad police officers who have -- present -- make perception of all police officers being somehow corrupt. You can also have small groups of criminals who make whole communities feel unsafe. All of that goes into the perception of how people are treated and then how we interact with each other.

CUOMO: But they're probably the reality also, though, Tara. You can't demonize the police. By and large, they are people who are incredibly committed to helping their communities, specifically keeping down the death of young black males. That's the reality, no matter what numbers you look at.

SETMAYER: Well, sure.

CUOMO: But same thing with these communities. The poorest, you know, worst, if you want to identify problems which is a uniquely American phenomenon, but the most minority filled, the poorest group, you're still dealing with a small number of people that wind up creating that element.

SETMAYER: And they're the ones that also want the police in their neighborhoods.

CUOMO: Of course they do.

SETMAYER: Right, because --

CUOMO: They want to be safe.

SETMAYER: -- they're high crime neighborhoods. Why that is is a different discussion, but that's the reality. And they want the police there, but there has to be 50-50 give and take here. Yes, there is that feeling of -- that perception and feeling of mistrust. But why is that? Community policing is so important and that -- establishing that relationship is crucial. But that is a two-way street.

I mean Malika Zees (ph), who is the president of the National Black Policeman's (ph) Association, he was very open on that as well. You can't put onus entirely on all the policing. The community plays a role in that too. So I think, moving forward, we need to start having more discussions on what brings us together instead of what divides us. And I think the way the narrative has gone right now, it has been a wedge issue and it has -- it has -- it has black folks going one way and white folks going another way, retreating to their respective corners because of how inflammatory the discussions have been, where we haven't been able to find common ground to acknowledge certain things and then move forward. There has to be some self reflection as well, and -- both on the part of the community and on the part of the police.

CUOMO: One of the outspoken -- unspoken things here, that just go to the nuts and bolts of change, so many police officers are reaching out to me from positions of control, saying, they're going to tell us to do all this extra stuff now, to get more involved with the community, and by the way, we used to do it and they cut our budgets, and that's what they told us to cut. And now they're going to say to do it again and they're not going to give us any money. So that's something we'll have to watch down the line.

One last number to just look at quickly, Charles, about whether or not things have gotten or better or worse since Presidnet Obama came in. You would've thought it would've helped. They say that theey don't like the way he's handling the situation, but more importantly that things have gotten worse with him.

BLOW: Well, I don't know why we would've thought it would've gotten better though? I mean, I think there is -- this idea that somehow silence was harmony. That is not the way it was. I mean, there was a lot -- what we are seeing with President Obama is in part reaction to him, but not only to him, but also in a reaction to dragging the race discussion out of the shadows and out of academia and having it all the time in our faces. And it is very uncomfortable to have.

No one -- these race conversations are very difficult because it challenges us to look at our own biases, to examine our motives. He is a Democratic president. If you're conservatives, you're very likely to have always -- would have disagreed with him anyway. But now you have to examine, on top of that, whether or not you -- there is anything else happening. And other people are asking whether or not there's something else happening. That's a very uncomfortable situation.

So I think that that, six years of us dealing with that, means that complicates that conversation.

SETMAYER: That's one aspect. Another aspect is that the president ran on the fact that this was be -- he was going to rise above race, it was supposed to be a post-racial presidency. And --

BLOW: I don't think he ever said that.

SETMAYER: Well, it was portrayed that way. And then when you come in, you have Eric Holder coming in, saying that -- calling the nation cowards, because they don't want to have an honest discussion on race, and some of the racial issues that have come up since President Obama became president, the way he's handled it has made people kind of go, I don't know. Interestingly enough, the polling shows that actually people thought race relations were better under President Bush.

Black folks by 12 percent actually thought that race relations were better under President Bush compared to now in Gallup. Even last year, whenever these racial discussions come up, people are forced to think about them and they look at this, and they go, wait a minute. We're -- you have a president saying that this is a deeply racial country, but yet he's a black president who was elected twice by a majority white country. So that kind of brings a certain tension to the conversation as well.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: Tara and Charles, look, we're going to have this conversation a lot and we need to keep it going. Not just when we are in crisis. I think that's one of the big problems we've observed in the media over the years, trying to fix it this time.

Thank you very much for being with us. This is one of the stories we are following, but there is lot of news for you this morning. So let's get to it.

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