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Senate Bill to Challenge Obama on Iran Deal; Hillary Clinton to Hold First Campaign Events; Marco Rubio Enters Crowded GOP Field; Ramp Agent Trapped in Plane's Cargo Hold; Excessive Forces Cases in Spotlight. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired April 14, 2015 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: We have two and a half months more to negotiate, which has high stakes for our country.

[05:58:41] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At some point, Congress is going to have to lift these sanctions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's that attitude of get a deal at all costs that I think has lots of countries around the world concerned.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think she'd be an excellent president.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If she wants to be different, she's going to have to prove it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is about everyday Americans. It's not about Hillary.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I announce my candidacy for president of the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His policies really are taking us back.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Underestimating Marco Rubio is a mistake.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a person in there, so we're going to have to come back around.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Started hearing voices underneath us and pounding.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He just kept banging. He kept banging.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY, with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota and Michaela Pereira.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, good morning. Good morning and welcome to you and your NEW DAY. It's Tuesday, April 14, 6 a.m. in the East. Alisyn is off. J.B. is here, and we have a lot of news. A big vote on the Iran deal could come today. A Senate committee is trying to pass a bill to have a final say on any deal. President Obama's deputies are saying if you don't have any better ideas, just give us more time to negotiate, as they head back to Capitol Hill to brief members of the Senate once again.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All of this, no doubt, of great interest to the newly-minted presidential candidates. Hillary Clinton kicking off her first campaign even in Iowa. Meanwhile, Senator Marco Rubio, who could have to vote on Iran legislation jumping into a crowded GOP field.

We have every angle covered only the way CNN can. To begin with, Michelle Kosinski, live at the White House -- Michelle.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Michaela. Congress is very close to acting in a way that could substantially change a nuclear deal with Iran or derail it entirely.

Today, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee could vote on this bill that would give Congress an up or down vote, could prevent the president from removing sanctions imposed by Congress. While Congress considers this others could add other provisions. The Senate is close to a veto-proof majority, so now is the administration's time to try to convince members of Congress otherwise.

And they held a closed-door classified briefing with the House. They met with American Jewish leaders today. A classified briefing with the Senate. The White House basically says they need two things, time and space to fully hammer out the details of a deal without Congress acting, at least not for now.

This has turned into a real battle, though. The White House saying that Republicans are mired in rigid partisanship. But keep in mind some of those who want Congress to have a vote are Democrats. And those are the votes the White House is going to be fighting for now -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: All right, Michelle. Later this morning we're going to talk to Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Senator Bob Corker about the Iran bill he has co-authored. And Congressman Jim Himes, a Democrat from Connecticut on the House Intelligence Committee. Stay tuned for all that.

CUOMO: So if you were president what would you do about Iran?

[06:00:00] The expanded field of candidates for the 2016 race, which is literally growing by the day they're going to have to answer this. Hillary Clinton will get her chance today at her first campaign event in Iowa. That's where we find senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar, live in Cedar Rapids with more. What do you have, Brianna?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Chris.

We wouldn't be surprised if she doesn't talk about it, because we're expecting her to do a lot more listening than talking. Hillary Clinton wakes up here in Iowa this morning. I'm in Cedar Rapids, where her first event will be. This is in eastern Iowa. Key not just in the caucuses but also in the general election, this part of Iowa for Democrats.

But she comes here from this road trip, sort of a unique start to her campaign, with an unexpected appearance yesterday at a Chipotle in Ohio. In case you're wondering, she ordered a chicken burrito bowl with black beans and guacamole and an iced tea. That's what her aides tell us. Now we're not really even privy to these sightings. She just kind of pops up, and she has traveled from New York to Iowa in what she has dubbed her Scooby van.

Republicans even pouncing on that. They have found reference to the Scooby van that she used in 2000 when she was running for Senate, and they're making the point she's recycling even the ideas for her van here. But this is part of her show of humility here in Iowa. Part of her campaign message that this campaign isn't about her, it's about everyday Americans. And expect to hear that phrase a lot. Everyday Americans, Michaela.

PEREIRA: Especially when you say Scooby van. That feels every day to me. All right, Brianna, thanks so much for that.

In the meantime, Senator Marco Rubio enters a crowded field of Republican candidates, saying it's time for the party's next generation of leaders to move the nation forward. The Florida senator wasting no time taking direct aim at Hillary Clinton at his announcement speech.

CNN's chief Congressional correspondent, Dana Bash, live in Miami, the site of that historic speech last night.

Hey, Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Michaela. Well, what I'm about to say is certainly not what Marco Rubio was going for. But in many ways being in that room, it was reminiscent of Barack Obama eight years ago, when he was running first against Hillary Clinton and then against John McCain. A first-term senator talking about hope and change and the need to move to a new generation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BASH (voice-over): Forty-three-year-old Marco Rubio tried to turn his youth and relative inexperience, compared to older candidates, into a plus.

RUBIO: This election is not just about what laws are going to pass. This election is a generational choice about what kind of country we will be.

BASH: It's a theme the Florida Republican returned to time and again, drawing a contrast with Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton.

RUBIO: Just yesterday, a leader from yesterday -- began a campaign for president by promising to take us back to yesterday.

BASH: But Rubio is also drawing a contrast with a Republican name from the past, Jeb Bush, Florida's former governor and Rubio's long- time mentor. Some mutual friends are upset Rubio isn't waiting his turn, which he addressed head-on.

RUBIO: I've heard some suggest that I should step aside and wait my turn. But I cannot.

BASH: In an interview with ABC News, Rubio said his candidacy should not be seen as an insult to Bush.

[06:05:04] RUBIO: I'm not running against Jeb Bush. And I hope he's not running against me. We are competing for the same job.

BASH: CNN has told Rubio told Bush he's running, because no one else has the story to tell he does. A son of Cuban immigrants with a palpable sense of the American dream, which shaves his hawkish world view and small-government, low-taxes conservative ideals.

RUBIO: I live in an exceptional country, where the son of a bartender and a maid can have the same dreams and the same future as those who come from power and privilege.

BASH: Still, Rubio has to overcome some GOP concerns that his government experience is similar to Barack Obama's...

OBAMA: I don't pay much attention to the pundits claiming that I need more experience.

BASH: ... when he became president.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: Now, last week, Chris, when Rand Paul announced, he barnstormed all of the early primary states. That's not what Marco Rubio is going to do. Today, he is heading back to Washington, because his aides say one of his calling cards is his foreign policy. He's on the Foreign Relations Committee, so they say he needs to be in the Senate for a big hearing today on the Iran deal, Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Dana, let's discuss. CNN political analyst and editor in chief of "The Daily Beast," Mr. John Avlon; and CNN political commentator and Republican consultant Margaret Hoover.

So, first, who gives a thumbs up to what Marco Rubio did last night? Three thumbs up among two people. Always good. Why impressed, Hooves?

MARGARET HOOVER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: More than any other candidate on the Republican side of the aisle Marco Rubio has it. He has that ability to connect with people to speak in an aspirational way that is positive and affirmative authentically and that can actually enroll individuals into his world view, as opposed to being anti-Hillary, anti-Democrat, anti-Obama negative. He's offering an alternative that is affirmative and, frankly, can capture the imagination of people because he speaks eloquently and authentically.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: It, as you put it, is worth 7 percent in the polls right now for Marco Rubio. He's, what, sixth or seventh on the polls right now, according to our latest version here. I know what you're going to tell me: it's because it's early. He's going to be out there. He's campaigning. He's not known. But he has got real challenges here just because of who is in this field.

HOOVER: He does have challenges. And it is -- first of all, none of this is a cake walk. And the person who's the presumptive nominee is never going to actually end up getting it. I mean, maybe Jeb Bush does, but Hillary Clinton was the presumptive nominee four years ago -- eight years ago. What I have learned in my experience with presidential campaigns, and I've been on two of them, is that the thing that matters the most is whether somebody has a fire in the belly to actually win.

And what you saw with Marco Rubio is that he actually cares and wants to do it. John McCain also was down and out in 2007. Remember he had no money and he had no way of getting there, and he got there. But I've worked for candidates that don't have it when they were going to be the presumptive nominee.

PEREIRA: So John, fire in the belly only gets you so far, because you look at the fact that a lot of people were saying last night's speech was awfully familiar to somebody else we saw who had a whole lot of hope back in 2008. And that's what's going to frustrate a lot of people in the GOP. They're going to say we need somebody who's got more than just a narrative; he's got to have some experience.

JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, that experience is kind of lacking in this field. First of all, let's be real. I mean, right now it's laden with first-term senators.

What is significant about that speech, first of all, is a great speech. Second of all, the contrast, the generational change call is very powerful both as an implicit dis to Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush.

And then finally, it's the personal narrative. It's the biography which makes them really relatable in America that's increasingly diverse. But there are a couple of chinks in the armor, potentially, and here's where they are.

You're running as a candidate of generational change, but you oppose marriage equality, which the majority of millennials do. That's tough. If you're running as a candidate of generational change, but you say that climate change is not manmade and you're not a scientist, that's a tough sell.

So there are a couple hurdles there. He's incredibly hawkish on foreign policy. That will make him very popular in the GOP, particularly with the donor class. He is going to be a player. He is going to be a contender. He is a huge natural talent.

CUOMO: J.B. keeps turning to the page with the poll numbers, though, because it is early. But he's not unknown. I mean, he got known for the wrong reason when it came to his rebuttal to the State of the Union, when he did the whole reach and grab thing.

AVLON: Oh, yes.

CUOMO: He's recovered nicely from that. We were talking about it before the show. This was a polished speech last night. I think he sounded as good or better than Senator Obama did back in 2008. We interviewed him back then. He certainly has a better feel of the field than that. But on the numbers he's not doing that well. Doesn't that matter?

AVLON: But look, I mean, this is -- right now, the person leading the field is only at 16 percent. So you're talking 7 percent is within striking distance. I mean, to the extent that this is all really low based numbers compared to the Democratic field where Hillary Clinton leads by 50 percent.

CUOMO: You just think that a guy who's got talent would be able to pop.

AVLON: He'd be better than Ben Carson. That's a fair point.

HOOVER: He also hasn't been working the circuit the way Ben Carson has. I mean, he didn't go to the Iowa Freedom Summit. He didn't go to many of this really early cattle calls, because he has a job. Right?

Scott Walker is well-known, because he actually had essentially a national campaign when he was fighting off the unions. He got to know all of the national donors. Marco Rubio's only sort of made that much progress with national donors, really because he was an insurgent Tea Party candidate, not the establishment pick in 2010.

[06:10:12] BERMAN: John, you brought up a point, which is that the generational message, which is a good word, "generational," when I say it correctly, the message there plays not just in the general election against Hillary Clinton, who's 67 years old, but in the primary, too. Do we have that sound bite when he said yesterday's over from the speech yesterday? I thought that was sort of the strongest moment from the event. Let's play that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUBIO: A leader from yesterday began a campaign for president by promising to take us back to yesterday. Yesterday is over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: I mean, that's a strong line there. He was specifically talking about Hillary Clinton, but not really just about Hillary Clinton. You put in the name "Jeb Bush" every time he says "Hillary," and he makes the same argument. That could be effective in a primary.

HOOVER: And he also talked about political -- and he referred to political dynasties.

PEREIRA: Dynasties, yes. HOOVER: And that's not about -- that's Hillary Clinton as much as it

is Jeb Bush.

I think what's also interesting -- sorry to cut you off.

AVLON: Happens all the time.

HOOVER: ... is that...

AVLON: It's called dinner.

HOOVER: He's also answering these -- he answers Hillary in other ways. You know, she wants to represent the middle class. She's going on a listening tour of the middle class in Iowa right now. But guess what? He told a beautiful allegorical story about how he actually is from the middle class.

PEREIRA: Son of a bartender and the son of a maid.

HOOVER: And in addition, the historic argument for Hillary Clinton, being part of something that's larger than yourself if you vote for her candidacy, guess what? He has that, too. First Hispanic family in the White House, I mean, that's pretty historic.

PEREIRA: Can I ask quickly before we run out of time about the Jeb Bush thing? Because he's been a mentor to Marco Rubio. How do they navigate this moving forward? I am so curious about how that's going to play out.

AVLON: That is going to be one of the most fascinating relationships to watch, because they are tight. You know, Rubio was very much mentored into power in Tallahassee and Florida state government by Jeb Bush. They apparently flew back from the NRA convention together. So you're going to see, I mean, whether you want to call it a frenemy status or not, there is going to be very complicated relationship. My guess is, it's not going to be as negative as one would assume on the surface.

CUOMO: Where's the Constitution on it, whether or not they can be on the ticket together.

BERMAN: No.

CUOMO: Even though they're not -- even though Jeb's not in office?

BERMAN: He's a Florida resident. You can't have two people from the same state.

HOOVER: One of them has got to move to Washington.

AVLON: Cheney had to move from Texas back to Wyoming back in 2000.

BERMAN: But these guys are both -- it would be very dicey for them to do that.

HOOVER: But Marco Rubio has been elected statewide way more recently than Jeb Bush has. He is actually the more recent sort of Florida candidate. Some people don't remember when Jeb Bush was governor.

AVLON: Look, he might not be ready to be president. He's 43, same age as JFK, first-time senator, sure, but he's the Democrats' worst- case scenario if he gets the nomination.

CUOMO: Well, he does -- that's his best poll number is against Hillary by the way. I think it's, like, 52-43. His challenge, his next step is "I'm from the middle class. This is who I am." He's going to have to show it in what his policy positions are, because it's not exactly a complete match there right now.

BERMAN: It will be fascinating, though.

PEREIRA: Great conversation, guys.

HOOVER: Thanks, guys.

BERMAN: Margaret, John, great to have you here.

AVLON: Take care, guys.

BERMAN: All right. We have some new audio emerging from immediately after the South Carolina police shooting that left Walter Scott dead. All this developing as Scott's passenger during that traffic stop that started it all breaks his silence.

CNN's Nick Valencia is live in South Carolina with all the latest. Good morning, Nick.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. For the first time publicly, we are hearing from the so-called mystery passenger who was in the car with Walter Scott right leading up to his shooting death.

In a statement obtained by ABC news, Pierre Fulton said, quote, "Walter was a dear friend, and I miss him every day. Over the past five years, he helped me to become a better man and showed me the value of hard work. I'll never know why he ran, but I know he didn't deserve to die."

Meanwhile, audio has emerged of Officer Slager in the immediate aftermath of the shooting death of Walter Scott.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By the time you get home, it'd probably be a good idea to kind of jot down your thoughts of what happened. And then once the adrenaline quits pumping and stuff.

MICHAEL SLAGER, FORMER POLICE OFFICER: It's pumping.

Hey, hey, everything's OK, OK? I just shot somebody. Yes. Everything's OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP) VALENCIA: Now perhaps shedding more light into the past history of Officer Slager, 2014 dashcam video from an alleged victim who says Slager used excessive force. He's filed a lawsuit as of Friday against the city of North Charleston, as well as Officer Slager, saying that the story of Walter Scott emboldened him to come forward.

We've reached out to the city of North Charleston, as well as the attorney of Officer Slager, but we've yet to hear back -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: All right, Nick.

Meanwhile in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the deadly police-involved shooting of an unarmed suspect is raising major questions this morning.

Robert Bates is now charged with manslaughter after his body camera captured the moment that he fatally shot Eric Harris. Many are asking and wondering how a volunteer deputy could mistake a gun for a Taser. Bates is a 73-year-old insurance company CEO who has donated equipment to the police force.

[06:15:04] CUOMO: Four former Blackwater security guards finally sentenced for killing more than a dozen unarmed Iraqis in 2007. Three of the defendants got 30 years; the other got life. All four of the former contractors claim they acted in self-defense. They promise to appeal what they're quoting as a perversion of justice.

BERMAN: Alaska Airlines jet forced to make an emergency landing after the pilot heard unusual banging from the plane's cargo hold shortly after takeoff. He made a shocking discovery upon landing.

CNN aviation reporter Rene Marsh live at Reagan National Airport with more on this absolutely bizarre story -- Rene.

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, you are right. Stunning discovery indeed. For 14 minutes as this plane was in the air, this man was trapped inside of the cargo hold of the passenger plane, banging and screaming, hoping to get someone's attention. He eventually did.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we have a noise from the baggage compartment.

MARSH (voice-over): A frightening and unexpected disturbance onboard Alaska Airlines Flight 448 Monday afternoon. The pilot telling the control tower he hears someone screaming and banging inside the cargo hold.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Could be a person in there, so we're going to have to come back around.

MARSH: Turns out the ramp agent handling the luggage for the flight fell asleep in the cargo hold.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of a sudden we just hear some banging right underneath our feet.

MARSH: In this cell phone video obtained by CNN affiliate KIRO, a passenger says you can hear the ramp agent's desperate knocks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two of us thought something was stuck in the wheel, because that's kind of the sound of it. And then we started hearing voices underneath us and pounding significantly louder and louder.

MARSH: The plane in the air for 14 minutes before the captain declared an emergency landing. Another passenger says that an air marshal onboard kept the panicked ramp agent calm.

TROI GE, FLIGHT 448 PASSENGER: At some point the marshal kind of made himself known. He started banging back, and he yelled really loud and said, "We're getting ready to land. Hold onto something."

MARSH: The flight carrying 176 passengers and crew en route to Los Angeles from Seattle.

On the tarmac the employee, who was part of a four-person ramp team, could be seen sliding out of the Alaska Airlines flight cargo area. He was taken to the hospital as a precaution and later discharged.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARSH: Well, the saving grace here: that portion of the aircraft is pressurized as well as temperature controlled, likely why this person was able to walk off without any issues.

We do know that Alaska Airlines, they say they are actively investigating. Again, 14 minutes trapped inside that cargo hold must have been the longest 14 minutes of his life.

Back to you guys.

PEREIRA: I have so many questions about how one falls -- I have taken some naps in some places, but that's not my first choice ever. Ever.

CUOMO: He's lucky he got a temperature- and pressure-controlled cargo cabin.

PEREIRA: There's got to be more to the story.

BERMAN: I wonder if the 14-minute nap was satisfying? I doubt it.

PEREIRA: Yes, I'm thinking it probably wasn't.

CUOMO: And you don't usually examine your life in 14-minute increments.

PEREIRA: Thank goodness they heard him. Thank goodness, because we could have been talking about a very different story this morning.

CUOMO: Sure. PEREIRA: All right. Ahead, how can a volunteer deputy mistake his handgun for a Taser? That man now facing manslaughter charges in the death of an unarmed black man in Oklahoma. There are new concerns about the growing number of excessive force cases at the hands of police.

Cuomo: Marco Rubio says yesterday is over, except when it comes to Republicans attacking Hillary Clinton. Private e-mail servers, the Benghazi attack, the candidate's past is being brought into sharp focus. Is there "there" there? We'll examine next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:22:50] PEREIRA: Two cases of alleged excess -- excessive force by police are igniting that debate over the need for police reform in Tulsa. A reserve deputy is now facing manslaughter charges after shooting and killing a man after a chase. Perhaps the larger issue: why was this reserve deputy, by all measures not a formal member of the force, allowed on an undercover operation?

And in South Carolina, the passenger in Walter Scott's car before he was gunned down has been identified. He is now speaking out. He says his friend did not deserve to die.

We're going to talk about all of this with Cedric Alexander. He is the president of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives; also a member of the president's Task Force on 21st Century Policing. Just the man to talk to about this.

Good to see you, Cedric.

CEDRIC ALEXANDER, PRESIDENT, NOBLE: Good morning. How are you, Michaela?

PEREIRA: I'm doing well. You know, this is another situation we've got to look at and turn over. We know that one of Robert Bates, the deputy in Tulsa, he was on -- the attorney was on CNN last night and asked about the deputy, the reserve deputy's qualifications. I want to play this sound and then get your reaction on the other end.

ALEXANDER: OK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLARK BREWSTER, ATTORNEY FOR ROBERT BATES: Mr. Bates is a former Tulsa police officer. He's CLEET certified, highly trained in addition to being CLEET certified has been through hundreds of hours of training, and certainly would have the training to equip him and to qualify him for the position he held that day. But he's been out on a number of missions usually as a containment officer or a person bringing equipment or as a scribe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: So I want to unpack this a little bit. I understand that CLEET is the Council on Law Enforcement, Education and Training. Basically, they're an agency that regulates and trains and licenses private security in the state of Oklahoma. And they only get something like 97 hours of training. In your estimation, Cedric, is that enough for a reserve deputy to be involved in an undercover sting operation?

ALEXANDER: Well, most law enforcement officials across the country such as myself will probably tell you no.

PEREIRA: OK.

ALEXANDER: However, that is a decision that particular sheriff's department felt comfortable with. And of course, they're going to need to answer for whatever training he may or may not have had. That's not, of course, I think, for any of us to judge. They have their own laws and regulations there within their state.

[06:25:12] However, I think in light of everything that we see going on in the country and particularly when we talk about training, we all are talking about more training, not less training.

We also have to take into account -- and you've heard this before, as well -- when you start talking about undercover operations such as that, certainly can turn very dangerous very quickly.

PEREIRA: Yes, sure.

ALEXANDER: You certainly have to have people who are -- who are very well-trained...

PEREIRA: Well, and you've talked about, Cedric...

ALEXANDER: ... who are able to engage those type of situations.

PEREIRA: On our air, you've talked about how training, training, training. And look at how firefighters do it. They train on procedures...

ALEXANDER: Right.

PEREIRA: ... over and over again so that, in the thick of it when stress happens, you fall back on that training. If you've only got 97 hours, how are you going to be able to tell the difference between a Taser and a gun?

ALEXANDER: Well, it's not so much the hours, Michaela, as much as it is, I think here again, the overall training, the familiarity with your weaponry and where it is located on your hip, on your gun belt. But in a stressful situation -- of course, I was not there. We weren't there.

PEREIRA: Right.

ALEXANDER: We don't know the intensity of what the experience, in all fairness to them.

However, when you have an event such as this occur and someone loses their life, when you were intending to use one particular weapon and you end up using something far more deadly, it certainly does cast a great deal of question around training and procedure.

PEREIRA: Yes. Well, it certain makes you wonder why he was there in the first place.

Hey, I want to pivot a little bit here to the South Carolina incident. Officer Michael Slager, we understand there's new video coming up from an incident where he was involved in a stop where he Tases a suspect who is already subdued. That man is now filing a lawsuit against Slager and the other officers involved, accusing them of forcibly pulling him out of the vehicle and restraining him.

You see this video. Do you think it warrants further investigation? Or are you concerned that maybe this is just piling on?

ALEXANDER: Well, it very well could be piling on. It could be somewhat opportunistic. But also, as well, too, I think in light of this officer, his involvement in what we saw occur on that day in the loss of that gentleman's life, certainly does create some pause. So anything that that officer that has been involved in in the past now is going to be held and be seen as very suspicious.

PEREIRA: Right.

ALEXANDER: Even though you have to separate each one of these incidents from each other.

PEREIRA: Yes.

ALEXANDER: It does create some pause. And American public want to know more answers. And I think as this investigation continues to evolve more and more information will be revealed as it relates to those involved.

PEREIRA: You make a very good point. It is very important not to sort of paint these all with a broad brush.

ALEXANDER: Absolutely.

PEREIRA: Really quickly, that is a challenge. And I know you and black law enforcement look to try and find that balance and strike that balance. How we take these claims seriously of excessive force, but then also entrust in our men and women in uniform.

ALEXANDER: Well, absolutely. You know, regardless of who the victims are, whether they're black or white. We can go to the San Bernardino case for an example where you had a white victim there. When we have abuse it doesn't matter who commits it. The fact of the matter is we have to take a look at ourselves. We've got to look at our training. We've got to look at supervision, and we've got to look at accountability. There are a great number of men and women in this country who do this job very well every day.

PEREIRA: Absolutely. ALEXANDER: It's that few that we have to separate out, Michaela, and

make sure that they are dealt with appropriately, either through training, through discipline, through termination or through court action, whatever the case may have to be. But we have to look at each one of these...

PEREIRA: Individually.

ALEXANDER: ... cases very separate from each other.

PEREIRA: And that's an important thing to do. And we appreciate you reminding us of that. We try to stay true to that, as well. Cedric Alexander, always a pleasure to have you on our air.

ALEXANDER: Thank you. Thank you, Michaela.

PEREIRA: Make sure you let us know what you think about these excessive forces cases. You can tweet us. You can go to our Facebook page, leave a comment there -- John.

BERMAN: Thanks so much, Michaela.

She is the only Democrat to declare so far. Hillary Clinton, of course. But besides the Scooby van breaking down somewhere in eastern Iowa, what are the biggest obstacles that stand in her way? Joe Biden? Martin O'Malley? Or TBD? Stay with us.

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