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New Day

Baltimore Mayor Fires Police Chief; What's Driving Spike In Baltimore Murders?; Lawmakers' Emotional Plea To Remove Confederate Flag. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired July 09, 2015 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:31:53] MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Lawmakers making history in South Carolina. The legislator approving the removal of the Confederate flag from the capitol after an emotional debate that lasted some 13 hours. Governor Nikki Haley calling it, quote, "A new day in South Carolina." She plans to sign it into law. This is three weeks after the Charleston church massacre.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump holding nothing back when it comes to his 2016 rivals. The GOP candidate telling our Anderson Cooper Hillary Clinton is the worst secretary of state in the history of the U.S. Trump also saying Jeb Bush's position on illegal immigration is a likely influence by his Mexican-American wife reaffirming a retweet from his official account that was later taken down.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: More Bill Cosby bombshells could be coming. The woman behind the lawsuit a decade ago has come to light and exposed Cosby admitting he got sedatives to give women. That woman is just filing a motion asking for the entire deposition to be released. According to her lawyer, nine of the 13 other witnesses in the case contacted so far say, they, too, want the documents released.

CUOMO: Big news this morning, the chief of the Baltimore police is out. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake handing him his walking papers after the death of Freddie Gray violent riots and a big spike in the murder rate.

Was Anthony Batts, that was the head or the chief's name, was he really to blame for all of that? Let's discuss with Baltimore City Councilman Nick Mosby. He is joining us now. He represents the district where Freddie Gray was killed and his wife is the Baltimore City state's attorney.

She's of course prosecuting the officers in that case. Councilman, good to see you, as always. Why did the chief have to go? Is this the right move?

NICK MOSBY, COUNCILMAN, BALTIMORE'S 7TH DISTRICT: Well, at the end of the day, I mean, the chief of police is a very tough job. I would like to thank Anthony Batts for his service to the city of Baltimore. However, it is just one variable in a complex equation to solve urban violence. So I think that it's a good turn in the right direction because it's a fresh start, but now it's time for folks to collaborate and come together from the mayor's office to the city council to the rank in file to the community.

It's critically important that we all get on the same page and develop a real plan. I think that that is what was missing, Chris. We never really had a plan to articulate to the citizens on how to really fight crime this particular summer.

You know, a lot of churn has been in the mayor's office of criminal justice. So it's just been a lot of fractured parts this particular summer and is time for us all to get on the same page.

CUOMO: Does the mayor have a plan or is this her plan and does that make Batts a scapegoat?

MOSBY: Well, I would hope that we have a plan. No, I don't think we necessarily have seen a plan yet. And I just think it's completely ridiculous to know the complexity of places like Baltimore that it all falls on the shoulders of one person.

Now leadership is a critically important. He is a critical variable in that equation. However, there are so many other things. Just replacing him with someone else is not necessarily going to impact the changes that we need in the city of Baltimore.

CUOMO: What has to happen?

MOSBY: Again, we have to come together. I think there are a lot of fractured pieces from the mayor's office to the council to the police department.

[07:35:07] One thing that I've been constantly talking about is the critical importance for us to get the body cameras on police officers. You know, it better protects the officers, but it also provides the community with the transparency that they need associated with the stops.

It's a win/win situation across the board. I know the administration is looking to roll it out and fully deploy it by 2019. That's just too far out. We have to get to that as soon as possible.

CUOMO: I hear you on the body cameras, but what does that have to do with the homicide rate? The mayor says she's moving on Batts because of the drug rate. Batts said the drugs on the street heightened a lot of gang activity.

You have a union that weighed in to say they were upset about the police leadership telling them not to engage with people during the riot. But the word is that the word came from the mayor. So what really caused this spike in homicide? What really is the accountability that you need there?

MOSBY: There's really no silver bullet to say what caused the spike. Again, I think, that there are so many different variables, coming out of unrest, knowing that we are going into a summer, having the folks who are kind of developing the crime with the mayor's office and the Department of Criminal Justice not being there.

I mean, there are so many facets of this that, again, that's when it's time to come together to develop a real plan. Obviously, there's not a plan. A plan hasn't been articulated to the citizens of Baltimore. That's why it is critically important we have leadership in place to do so.

CUOMO: What are you hearing from your constituents about Batts being out?

MOSBY: I think it's definitely a mix reaction. Some people feel that maybe it was a scapegoat. Others feel that it was time for him to go. I think he definitely lost, you know, the trust of a lot of the guys on the street, which is problematic in itself.

So that was probably definitely one of the main courses of why, you know, she decided to ultimately let him go. There have been people calling for his resignation for the last three months. There's been a lot of chatter in my colleagues that have done so since then.

The straw that broke the camel's back yesterday was the organization bill that represents over 20,000 members in the city of Baltimore was calling for his resignation today on the cusp of the release of the FOP report yesterday.

So I don't think it wasn't a secret to many folks in the city of Baltimore. We kind of saw it coming and many people thought it was going to happen a lot sooner. For us to rely on the change of the administration from the police department perspective to solve our problems is definitely the wrong path to take at this time, Chris.

CUOMO: The question becomes what is the right path? Where is that plan? The mayor is responsible for that city and what happens in it. This is one step. We'll see what the next one is. Councilman Nick Mosby, always a pleasure. Good luck to you and your wife going forward.

MOSBY: Always a pleasure, Chris. Thanks for having me on.

CUOMO: All right, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Well, Chris, it was an emotional plea to bring down a symbol of the Confederacy. We'll hear the passionate words of State Representative Jenny Horne that helped bring down the Confederate flag next.

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CAMEROTA: Welcome back to NEW DAY. While you were sleeping, South Carolina legislators voting to remove the Confederate flag from capitol grounds. The contentious debate took hours and it got very emotional for some lawmakers.

One of them was South Carolina State Representative Jenny Horne. Her passionate plea on the statehouse floor for the removal of the flag has generated a lot of buzz overnight. Here it is.

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STATE REPRESENTATIVE JENNY HORNE (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: I attended the funeral of Senator Clementa Pinckney and the people of Charleston deserve immediate and swift removal of that flag from this ground. We can say for another day where this flag needs to go.

Where -- which flag needs to fly or where it needs to fly or what museum it needs to be in. This flag offends my friend, Miam McCloud, my friend, John King, my friend, Reverend Neil.

I cannot believe that we do not have the heart in this body to do something meaningful, such as take a symbol of hate off these grounds on Friday! And if any of you vote to amend, you are insuring that this flag will fly beyond Friday.

And for the widow of Senator Pinckney and his two young daughters, that would be adding insult to injury. And I will not be a part of it! And for all of these reasons, I will not vote to amend this bill today.

We may visit this another session, another year, but if we amend this bill, we are telling the people of Charleston weapon don't care about you. We do not care that someone used this symbol of hate to slay eight innocent people who were worshipping their God. I'm sorry, I have heard enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: That was South Carolina state representative last night on the floor, and that Representative Jenny Horne joins us now. Good morning, Representative Horne.

HORNE: Good morning.

CAMEROTA: How are you feeling this morning?

HORNE: I'm feeling great.

CAMEROTA: I bet you are. We have been playing your impassioned plea to your colleagues and fellow lawmakers last night. Just tell us what drove you to be so emotional last night?

[07:45:11] HORNE: Well, this morning in South Carolina I feel like we have a new day and we have a new day because my colleagues in the house did the right thing. And last evening when I gave my speech about we needed to take down the Confederate flag from the state house grounds.

I was speaking from not only the heart but from experience as a lifelong South Carolinian who want what is best for South Carolina. And we cannot move forward if we do not remove a symbol of hatred from a public building that is owned by the people.

And my colleagues in the house, they really -- they rose to the occasion and they got beyond all the rhetoric. And they did the right thing. And I am so proud to be a South Carolinian and proud to be a member of the House of Representatives today.

CAMEROTA: Representative Horne, it is so interesting to hear your still emotional words about this and to see the flag flying over your left shoulder. As we talk to you, when will that flag come down?

HORNE: I believe it will come down tomorrow. I know that the governor is working to get this bill signed as quickly as possible. She has assured the House Republicans caucus that the flag will come down in a very dignified manner and will come down in a -- in a ceremonial manner.

And the House and the Senate of South Carolina General Assembly will provide for the removal of the flag to the South Carolina State Museum Confederate relic --

CAMEROTA: Representative Horne, you know, it took 13 hours, we understand, of this contentious debate. And it seemed like at times, I'm sure you can speak to this, it was not going to happen. When you got up there and made your plea, did you think that your cause of bringing it down was lost?

HORNE: Well, I'll admit, I felt like we were losing the battle. It was -- it was a time of great reflection and a great introspection. And I felt like it needed -- someone needed to change the course of the debate because no one had mentioned the victims of the Charleston nine.

And we're here because of the violence and terrorism. And we owe it to the citizens of Charleston and the victims of Mother Emanuel AME church to act and remove a symbol of hatred from the public grounds of the house that is owned by all of the citizens of South Carolina.

CAMEROTA: So did you feel that it was your speech that tipped the scales, tipped the balance last night?

HORNE: You know, I don't feel -- I don't know what it did. I would like to think my remarks helped to change the course of the debate. To focus on the reason why we were here in the first place, no one mentioned the victims up until that point.

And I was determined to keep us focused on the issue at hand, and that is how can we remove the symbol of hatred from the statehouse grounds in the most expeditious as possible so that we do not have -- we do not have to continue to allow this symbol of racism to stand on the statehouse ground.

I would like to add that last night was the three-week anniversary of the massacre in Charleston. And it was noted last night on the floor after my remarks. I have to tell you, it's the least that we can do as a body to react and to honor the sacrifice that these families have by removing the symbol of hatred and placing it in a museum.

CAMEROTA: Can you believe what has happened in your state in those three painful weeks? Could you ever have imagined this happening ten years ago, five years ago, six months ago?

[07:50:06] HORNE: No. The flag has been flying my whole entire life and if you would have asked me last year if we would ever remove the flag from the state house grounds in my lifetime, I would have said there's no way.

And, you know, it's bittersweet because it took a tragedy to bring this body to this decision. But if there is a silver cloud to the dark lining of the tragedy, we have met tragedy with triumph and defeat with purpose.

And I am so proud to be a South Carolinian and proud of what South Carolina has done to move this state forward so we can become the progressive state that we are.

CAMEROTA: And Representative, I mean, it's so -- you're not the only person who's emotional about this. We also understand that one of your colleagues, a Republican, a descendent of Confederate soldiers, that he helped lead the charge. How do you explain that people with that proud history in their families came around to seeing it your way?

HORNE: Well, you know, I have to commend Representative Rick Quinn who is a friend of mine. He was instrumental in working on the compromise that got us to where we are today. And of course that came hours after my speech and hours into the morning this morning.

And I just want to thank Representative Rick Quinn for his leadership and his foresight and understanding that we needed to move this state forward.

And certainly I look forward to working with him in placing the Confederate flag in a place of honor so that we can honor our heritage and our history, but we can also respect the feelings and the emotions of the people of South Carolina who find the symbol offensive.

CAMEROTA: Well, Representative Jenny Horne, we know it was a late night for you. A late and intense night, we really appreciate you being on NEW DAY. Thank you for sharing your thoughts that you believe that flag behind you may be down by tomorrow. We will follow what is going on in Charleston and Columbia. Thank you so much for being on NEW DAY.

HORNE: Thank you so much. It's my honor to be here.

CAMEROTA: Let's go over to Chris.

CUOMO: Alisyn, it won't change everything, but it does change something in the name of tolerance. Now on the other end of the political spectrum, we have Donald Trump who is pushing intolerance especially about immigration. He talks to our best Anderson Cooper about that issue and the 2016 race, and a lot of other things as well. Anderson is going to take us through the interview. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CUOMO: The show is called NEW DAY of course and it is a new day in South Carolina, the Confederate flag flying high on capital grounds not much longer. The vote to remove it stirring an emotional and fiery debate that we will show you coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: The Confederate flag is coming down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is my sincere desire that this bill does not pass.

HORNE: Take a symbol of hate off these grounds on Friday.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trading came to a stop on the New York Stock Exchange.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: The selloff in China and a bailout bid from Greece.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The music just stopped.

ROMANS: Panic for investors around the world.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As a businessman I could have gotten anything from anybody.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "AC360": Can you guarantee that you don't have illegal or undocumented workers working for you?

TRUMP: I can't guarantee it. How can anyone?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Thursday, July 9th, 8:00 in the east. The Confederate flag that is flown on the ground of the South Carolina statehouse for more than 50 years is about to come down.

[108:00:03] Lawmakers approving a bill to remove a symbol of the state's racist past.

CAMEROTA: The vote is coming after 13 hours of debate including an emotional and tearful plea by one representative.