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Shootings Mark Anniversary of Brown's Death; FBI Investigating Unarmed College Student's Killing; Trump Defends Megyn Kelly 'Blood' Comment; Frank Gifford Dead at 84. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired August 10, 2015 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shots fired in Ferguson, Missouri, a year to the day after Michael Brown was shot and killed.

[05:58:51] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everyone in the streets started running. Two distinct and different shooting scenes here.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Donald Trump on the offensive.

TRUMP: You think I'd make a stupid statement like that? Who would make a statement like that? Only a sick person would even think about it.

CARLY FIORINA (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They were completely inappropriate and offensive comments.

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE; We want to win. Do we want to insult 53 percent of all voters?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Monday, August 10, 6 a.m. in the east. You've got me, Mick and Ana Cabrera here this morning, and we have important news overnight. While you were sleeping, multiple shootings broke out on the first anniversary of Michael Brown's death. There were no riots. This was nothing like the past. After a peaceful protest all day long, night brought gunfire to the streets again.

MICHAEL PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Reports of at least two rounds of gunfire. One of them, in fact, involving plainclothes officers responding after police say they came under heavy fire. The alleged shooter is in critical condition and undergoing surgery.

Let me get the very latest from Sara Sidner. She has been on scene all night, and I understand, Sara, you witnessed some of that gunfire. SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I did; sort of got caught in the

middle of it, though. As protesters squared up with police, who were standing across West Florissant, and those conversations going back and forth, with protesters chanting and police standing in their riot gear, hundreds of yards away from where they were, we suddenly heard gunshots ring out.

We were just in the middle of talking with the new interim police chief when those shots were fired.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(GUNFIRE)

SIDNER (voice-over): Gunshots ring out on the streets of Ferguson on the one-year anniversary of Michael Brown's death. Erupting into chaos overnight when gunfire sent protesters and police running for cover.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The suspect engages them with gunfire. The plainclothes detectives returned fire from the inside of the vans.

SIDNER: St. Louis County police say officers were involved in heavy gunfire in two shootings Sunday night. In one incident, police say a suspect shot directly at plainclothes officers with a stolen .9 millimeter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There were four officers who were in that van. All four fired at the suspect, and the suspect fell there. He is in critical, unstable condition.

SIDNER: We captured some gunshots on camera as I interviewed Ferguson's interim police chief.

(GUNFIRE)

SIDNER: Angry protesters clashing with police, hurtling bottles and bricks at officers. Police deploying tear gas to disperse the crowds.

Two businesses were damaged and looted. These images capture bullet holes in unmarked police cruisers caught in the crossfire.

The night of unrest following a day of peaceful vigils to remember Brown's death and the movement it started.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... two, one!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... two, one!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... two, one!

SIDNER: Demonstrators marched and observed four-and-a-half minutes of silence, the amount of time [SIC] Brown's body lay on the street after he was shot. Brown's killing sparked outrage and protests nationwide. Though

the officer was later cleared by both a grand jury and the Department of Justice investigation, anger bubbled over. Violence then...

(GUNSHOT)

SIDNER: ... mirroring violence now, one year later.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: And the person who was shot, we are told by police, is in unstable and critical condition at this time. They have not released his name.

We also understand that there are two police officers who were pepper-sprayed -- we're just getting this information now -- pepper- sprayed by protesters; two unmarked police cruisers that were hit with gunfire; and one officer who had had lacerations to her face because someone threw a rock or a brick towards her.

And that's the scene right now. Everything has really calmed down. People have dispersed, but you know, the protesters saying that this wasn't anything to do with them and pretty upset about the fact that there was a shooting tonight.

CUOMO: There's been that tension since the beginning about who's doing it, why they're doing it. And one thing we know for sure, and you know very well, Sara, at night things tend to change there.

So let's now get some perspective from someone who's been on the ground there living it, knowing the situation. His name is Chris King. He is the editorial director for "The St. Louis American." And he's very involved in that community. Chris, what's your take?

CHRIS KING, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, "THE ST. LOUIS AMERICAN": Well, we only have the police version of events. This man was shot behind a building that he ran behind on this foot pursuit.

But one thing I was heartened by hearing from the police chief, Jon Belmar, I just left his press conference, was he insisted these couldn't be protesters, because protesters come out to seek positive change. They don't pull guns on people.

CUOMO: Right, but it's always been a mixed population there about who is doing what. You helped us navigate that situation many a night down there. What do you believe about the status there now? How are the tensions? Has anything gotten better?

KING: Well, Chris, what you kind of have here is one problem encroaching upon another. We have a problem of gun violence. We have a real problem with gun violence in the city of St. Louis and in our ring suburbs. And we have a problem with the disparate impact of law enforcement on African-Americans.

The protesters are out to address one problem, which is this violently disparate impact of law enforcement on African-Americans. But tonight, I would say, or early this morning, they stumbled upon another problem, which is that too many people have guns and aren't afraid to use them for no good reason.

CUOMO: All right. But you do not see this as a suggestion that things are going to blow up there again. Do you see any systemic changes in the works? Do you see any attitude changes in the communities?

KING: Well, I see a national movement that started in Ferguson. And it's one year on, and it's been an exciting time to be here the last few days. I've gone to organizer meetings and church services; and it's been a really thrilling time to be here. And it's going to be a thrilling time to be here.

But we have people with guns in these communities, and some of them showed up on the fringe of the protest tonight.

[06:05:11] CUOMO: But is it getting any better? I mean, you know, do you see more police presence in a positive way in the neighborhoods? Are there more people on the street? Have you heard about the budgeting for it? You know, we know what the hard changes are that lead to the soft changes of attitude and emotion towards the police and vice versa with the community. Where is that, in your opinion?

KING: Ferguson is still in damage control mode with this police department. They don't have a deal with the Department of Justice. They have an interim chief. Until they have a permanent chief and a deal with the Department of Justice, a consent decree, you're not going to see any big change in Ferguson. You haven't seen any big change in Ferguson.

Now Belmar, the county police chief, I've seen an arc in him. For him to talk about protestors -- he talked to me about a civil rights movement that started in Ferguson -- that's not the man that we heard last August. So he's learned he has to know the community, and he has to seek community trust to police it.

And I think Belmar has grown. And I think the way he spoke about the shooting reflects real growth. Because he assumed, if they were pulling guns on his officers, as this person allegedly did, that they weren't protesters, because he see what protesters do: they protest.

CUOMO: Do people accept the police version of what happened there, that -- why this happened and why the guy had the gun, which was supposedly a stolen weapon?

KING: I would say probably not.

CUOMO: Probably not?

KING: I mean, the people that trust law enforcement, probably not. I mean, the people that trust law enforcement, trust law enforcement opinion and evidence. And the people that distrust law enforcement, they distrust law enforcement statements and evidence. That's just the reality we're in here. CUOMO: All right. Well, the biggest question of the moment will

be what's the word on the street about whether or not this first anniversary is going to be used as a precipitating moment for more violence? Are you hearing anything that concerns you? You had been -- you had a pretty good finger on the pulse of the anarchists and people who were coming in from outside to use the opportunity a year ago. What are you hearing now?

KING: Well, I mean, they have more opportunity today than they had yesterday because of what happened last night. And today will be a critical day. If there are more people that want to come out and create mayhem and make it difficult to move forward constructively, then they have an opportunity, much more than they did a day before, when we had a beautiful, peaceful commemoration weekend going. I mean, there was grief, and there was anger and people need positive change; but there was also a coming together of a national movement that started here and that came back to the origin.

CUOMO: All right, Chris, you have been very helpful to us in understanding the situation on the ground. Let us know what you find out. And as you know, we're going to stay on this story. Be safe and thank you.

KING: Thanks, Chris.

CUOMO: Ana.

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: Now to Texas, where the FBI is joining the investigation into an officer-involved shooting death of an unarmed black college football player.

Christian Taylor was shot multiple times by an officer in training. And this morning newly-released edited surveillance video showing the moments before the fatal shots were fired.

CNN correspondent Ed Lavandera is live in Arlington with the very latest -- Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Ana.

Well, all this coming on the heels of the anniversary there in Ferguson, but this was video shot at 1 a.m. in the morning, Friday morning. Nineteen-year-old Christian Taylor seen acting erratically at a car dealership here in the city of Arlington, at one point jumping up and vandalizing one of the vehicles out in the parking lot of the car dealership. And then police say he drove a Jeep inside through the glass walls and into the showroom floor.

When officers arrived on the scene, police say here they instructed Taylor to lay down on the floor; and they say that's when he took off running through -- tried to escape through a back door and was shot four times -- or was shot at four times by a 49-year-old rookie police officer who was just ending his training period here with the Arlington Police officer.

Ironically enough, it was the other officer that was responding with him, his training officer, that used a Taser in all of this.

Christian Taylor's father told a local station here in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area that he understands that his son wasn't doing the right thing at the time but doesn't understand why his son had to die.

Arlington Police have asked the FBI to come in and look at the shooting. They say it's still too early to lay out all of the facts that led up to this altercation, but they are taking a close look. They say there was an altercation between Taylor and the officers. They won't say if that was physical or verbal. But that's one of the things they're taking a very close look at -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: Ed Lavandera, our thanks to you.

Turmoil in the Trump camp. The front-running Republican defiant and unapologetic for what many consider a crude remark about debate moderator Megyn Kelly. The Donald, meanwhile, says he did nothing wrong, insisting that he cherishes women.

Let's get the latest from someone we cherish, Athena Jones in Washington.

Good morning and a happy Monday to you.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Michaela. Happy Monday.

Donald Trump has offended Hispanics immigrants. He's offended veterans and former prisoners of war, all without hurting his standing in the polls. So the question now is whether these latest remarks will do any lasting damage to his candidacy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[06:10:11] JONES (voice-over): Donald Trump on the offensive.

TRUMP: All I was doing was referring to her anger. I said nothing wrong whatsoever.

JONES: The latest controversy surrounding the billionaire erupted after he said this about FOX anchor Megyn Kelly, one of moderators of Thursday's debate, to CNN's Don Lemon.

TRUMP: She starts asking me all sorts of ridiculous questions; and, you know, you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.

JONES: Trump was upset with what he calls unfair questioning from her during the Republican primary debate.

MEGYN KELLY, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: You've called women you don't like fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals.

JONES: The GOP frontrunner appeared on four Sunday shows to defend himself, including CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION," saying he never intended to suggest Kelly was having her period, as many interpreted his comment.

TRUMP: I was going to say nose and/or ears, because that's a very common statement, blood pouring out of somebody's nose. It's a statement showing anger. Do you think I'd make a stupid statement like that? Who would make a statement like that? Only a sick person would even think about it.

JONES: In a sign of growing concern in some GOP quarters, Trump was disinvited from a conservative Republican gathering over the weekend after the comments about Kelly.

Many, but not all of Trump's GOP rivals, criticized the remarks.

BUSH: Do we want to win? Do we want to insult 53 percent of all voters? What Donald Trump said is wrong.

FIORINA: They were completely inappropriate and offensive comments, period.

JONES: A comment that drew fire from Trump on Sunday, when he tweeted, "If you listen to Carly Fiorina for more than ten minutes straight, you develop a massive headache."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JONES: Now, over the weekend, Trump's campaign lost a top political adviser, Roger Stone. They say they fired him. He says he quit concerns about the campaign's direction. We next expect to hear from Trump tomorrow night in Michigan -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right. Thank you very much. Appreciate the reporting. We'll be following it up with some expert takes on what it means for Donald Trump and what it means for the GOP. Is this a window into a bigger problem with women that they have?

We also have breaking news overnight. Gunfire outside the U.S. consulate in Istanbul. Turkish authorities say they have one possible shooter in custody and are looking for another. No injuries yet. Turkish soldiers and police targeted in separate attacks today. This comes as American fighter jets arrive in Turkey. They will carry out airstrikes against ISIS in Syria from there. The consulate is closed while investigators determine what happened.

CABRERA: New details about this weekend's brutal killings of six children and two adults inside a Houston, Texas, home. Now police say, before the gunman shot each victim in the head, the alleged killer had gotten into some kind of a dispute with one of those adults he killed, the woman that he used to date. Police say the suspect then turned the gun at officers as they were called to the home, and he was eventually arrested after a seven-hour standoff.

PEREIRA: Frank Gifford is being remembered this morning as a pioneer both on and off the field. The NFL Hall of Famer died Sunday. The Gift [SIC] was -- the Giff, rather, was known as the Golden Boy. Let's take a look back now at that extraordinary career.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PEREIRA (voice-over): On the field, Frank Gifford was a legend, considered one of the greatest to wear the Giants uniform. Off the field, he was praised as a wonderful father, husband and friend.

The California native made his way from being all-American at the University of Southern California to a first-round draft pick by the New York Giants in 1952. Gifford was a versatile star on both offense and defense, the backbone of a team that went to five NFL title games in the '50s and the '60s. In 1956, he was named the NFL's Most Valuable Player, leading the Giants to the league championship that same year. Selected to eight pro bowls in three different positions, he was inducted into the pro football Hall of Fame in 1977.

One of the first American sports stars to make the move to broadcasting, Gifford joined "Monday Night Football" in 1971. During his 27-year run, many saw Gifford as the straight man in a raucous booth that became an American institution.

FRANK GIFFORD, PRO-FOOTBALL HALL OF FAMER/BROADCASTER: Glad you're with us. This should be a good one.

PEREIRA: In 1986, Gifford married NBC talk show host Kathie Lee Gifford. On Twitter, Kathie Lee thanking those who paid tribute to her husband. "Deeply grateful to you all for your outpouring of grace. We are steadfast in our faith and finding comfort in knowing where Frank is."

The football legend passed away suddenly at his Connecticut home Sunday morning of natural causes. He was 84 years old.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PEREIRA: Tremendous career and legacy.

CUOMO: Oh, yes. You know, so many got to know him in later generations as Kathie Lee's husband.

CABRERA: Right.

CUOMO: But this guy wasn't just the first really movie-star good looking guy. He played three different positions, made the all-star team at all three of them, and he was the first player to transition into broadcasting.

PEREIRA: Think about, that is such a regular occurrence now.

CUOMO: Not then.

PEREIRA: Not then. Not then.

CABRERA: He was just sort of talented.

[06:15:03] CUOMO: He was incredibly talented, every -- he had really a lot of fans.

PEREIRA: Which is a big thing for you to say as a Jets fan.

CUOMO: I know. You get used to the Giants always being the best. That's OK.

But our thoughts and prayers to his family.

PEREIRA: Absolutely.

CUOMO: A big loss for all of us.

We would hope that you stay with CNN all morning, because we're going to have continuing breaking coverage live from Ferguson, Missouri.

But first, we're also going to take a look at these issues surrounding the GOP. Yes, he is the man in the middle, Donald Trump. He's also the frontrunner. He says he was not implying a FOX moderator was hormonal when she criticized him -- or he criticized her, to be more accurate about it. The situation isn't going away. Does the GOP finally need a game plan for dealing with Trump and women? More ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Do you think I'd make a stupid statement like that? Who would make a statement like that? Only a sick person would even think about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Donald Trump says what you just heard. You'd have to be sick to make the ugly comments that are being pinned on him about a female FOX moderator. Many are suggesting that he said that she was hard on him because she was hormonal.

Now, the situation seems to be sticking to him and to the party. The question is how big a deal is this going to be?

[06:20:05] Let's bring in CNN senior political reporter Nia- Malika Henderson; and CNN politics reporter M.J. Lee.

M.J., let's start with the facts of this. Right? Because you only have him at his word. But the way it played and the context in which it played, what do you think the take is on what his intentions were?

M.J. LEE, CNN POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, he will say that when he said she had blood coming out of her eyes and wherever, that he meant to say nose and ears. Obviously, a lot of people, including a lot of women, took his comments to mean something entirely different.

Two things why I think the Megyn Kelly episode and saga might play out a little differently than some of the other comments that he has made in the past.

One is the fact that Megyn Kelly is incredibly popular, as you know, among Republicans. She has a fan base among, you know, conservative pundits and commentators.

No. 2 is the fact that she is a woman, right? Jeb Bush made the interesting point over the weekend when he said, "Do we really want to isolate 53 percent of the electorate?" So that is not a small thing.

The question is the 1 in 4 or 5 people who currently support Donald Trump, they were not fazed by the comments made.

CUOMO: It went up.

PEREIRA: Right. It is a very interesting...

CUOMO: His numbers went up.

PEREIRA: But to the larger question, Nia-Malika, I have to ask you. He says only a sick person would make that -- that comparison of "what I said and what I intended." Most women would hear that, would they not, that that was what he was saying? So then, ergo, does he think that women are sick? I mean, that's the reduction you could make very simply.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I'm sure, you know, Donald Trump will push back against that, but I think you're right. Most women when they heard that, they did have a different reaction than men did, most likely.

And you've heard from Republican women, people like Carly Fiorina, people like Karen Agnes. There has -- there's a whole sort of a women's caucus among Republicans. It's informal, but these are women who are very much concerned with that gender gap.

Republicans, of course, lost women in 2012 by 12 points. They narrowed it a bit in 2014. I think it was something like 4 points. But there is this party concern about the fortunes of the Republican Party among women. And they know that their presidential aspirations are very much tied to how women see them.

CUOMO: Right.

HENDERSON: We remember that growth and opportunity project report where women said they felt like the Republican Party was stuck in the past when it came to women and how they viewed women.

CUOMO: But to be fair, they've got every reason in the world to come after Trump. He's completely disruptive to the GOP model right now. He's leading. He's pulling ahead after that debate. And let's give him the benefit that, if he's usually not one to say, "I didn't mean this." He usually says, "I mean it, and I'll double down on it."

But it is a window into a bigger problem. I want to play something that Marco Rubio said, which certainly galvanized support for him around an issue that is going to mean something today and tomorrow about where we are with the abortion argument and where we say someone is a person and not.

Let's listen to what he says, because this will probably have a bigger impact on the GOP and women.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm proud to say that my faith influences me. It teaches me that God knew us when he formed us in the womb. And it does influence me to believe that all human life is worthy of protection, even human life that doesn't have a birth certificate, even human life that maybe some scientists want to have a debate about. But I think the science is clear that where a child -- when there is conception, that is a human life in the early stages of its total development and is worthy of the protection of our laws.

CUOMO: Now, why is this so important? M.J., I obviously brought this up for a reason. I believe it's a really important question. It's hard to dispute that you have the beginning of human life at conception. What else could it be, as the senator pointed out? A plant? It's going to be a human being.

That's not what the law says. The law says that you have to deal with hen something becomes a person. You have Roe v. Wade and its standard. There's no scientific consensus.

When women hear, "Yes, at conception, that's when it's a person. That's it." That's his position. He's the future of that party. How does that play with the 53 percent?

LEE: Look, politically speaking, I thought this was a fascinating interview that you conducted, Chris, with him, because I think a lot of people, when they look at the large field of, what, 17 candidates, they consider Rubio to be at the center when they, you know, think about the range of candidates. You know, there are folks who are more conservative. You think Ted Cruz. You think folks who are more -- you know, closer to the center, more moderate, Marco Rubio is the guy. I don't know if a lot of people knew that Rubio would be against the exceptions that actually...

CUOMO: Rape and incest, that there should be no cargo (ph).

LEE: Right. And he made that clear. And I think he had to be pushed a little bit. He didn't necessarily come out and say that right away. I think he was trying to say, you know, I voted for bills. I would vote for bills that do have the exceptions, because anything to lower the number of abortions, but when pushed on it, he did say, "I do not support the exceptions." I think that really changes the conversation on where Rubio is ideologically and where he is on the spectrum when you're looking at him with the other candidates.

[06:25:10] PEREIRA: Nia, real quickly, I know on the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders stepping into the conversation, calling some of the criticism that Hillary Clinton has been receiving as sexist. I'm curious your thoughts to that. What's your reaction? HENDERSON: Yes, I mean, interesting, you know, commentary from

him. Here's a guy who's not really going to run a negative campaign. He was very laudatory in that interview about Hillary Clinton says that he's known her for a long time. He admires her. So it was interesting.

I think you do have Bernie Sanders, someone who was having trouble catching on with the Obama coalition. That's women and that's African-American and that's Latinos. And I thought with him saying -- sort of recognizing some of the complaints from the Obama coalition, from women about how Hillary Clinton is being covered, I thought he was sort of making common cause with him and doing himself a favor with that Obama coalition that he's going to need, should he really want to mount a credible campaign against Hillary Clinton.

LEE: I would also point out that gender is an incredibly important issue for Democrats. And Sanders is someone who is clearly learning the lessons as a presidential candidate about how important it is to talk about identity. He's someone who has worked his whole career to promote income inequality issues. And there are people in his face who want it to be not just about income inequality but about racial inequality and gender inequality. We see these protesters coming out and wanting him to talk about these issues more specifically.

CUOMO: Tricky for him. Every times he comes out about women, he's also competing against the first woman who would be president. Interesting dynamic.

M.J. Lee, thank you very much.

Nia-Malika Henderson, as always, appreciate the perspective.

So Donald Trump, not unusual to have him at the center of a controversial debate within the party. But this matters. And whether or not he said what people think he said matters. Tomorrow he will be on NEW DAY in his first interview with us, and we will go through this and what he sees as the most important issues in his campaign going forward -- Ana.

CABRERA: Chris, Michaela, thanks so much.

While you were sleeping, gunfire in Ferguson, Missouri. And this is exactly one year after the shooting death of Michael Brown. Police officers under attack. There are many protests planned later today. Is the city on the verge of erupting again? We'll discuss, next.

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