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New Day

Gunmen Open Fire at Bangladesh Eid Prayer Gathering; New Video of Deadly Baton Rouge Police Shooting; Trump's Narrowing List of VP Picks. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired July 07, 2016 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:12] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: You know, that's all these congressional hearings are about. It's just to hear what the issues are. Do you think it's going to play badly for Washington that they're focusing on that when we're dealing with more shootings?

LAURA COATES, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Absolutely. It shows a tone deafness that the Capitol Hill congressmen, Senate -- their focus is not on what the people care about. The day-to-day routine, a day-to- day life of Americans in this country, we have an issue of police using excessive force. We have people who are dying, as you saw in the videos that surfaced this morning, at the whim of police officers who are being judges on the street.

And, frankly, that's the focus people care about right now, not whether or not there was classification of an e-mail that may or may not have been released outside of who was entitled to receive it. It shows an absolute insensitivity and a focus that will probably benefit people who are running on a campaign that says, look, we're disenfranchised intellectually, politically, and there is a complete disconnect with our seated congressmen over issues like this.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Panel, thank you. We will be watching closely what unfolds today, obviously. Thanks so much for being here.

CUOMO: We're also following some news overseas. More bloodshed in Bangladesh. Attackers armed with guns and bombs opening fire on Muslims at a massive prayer service. The question now, who was behind the deadly attack? We have the latest next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:35:29] CUOMO: Breaking news: Gunmen with small bombs attacking security forces outside a prayer gathering in Bangladesh. The assault killing two police officers, injuring at least 14 others. One of the attackers was killed in the exchange. A woman killed in the crossfire.

Police say more than a thousand people were praying in the area northeast of Dhaka when the attack began. An attack in Dhaka last Friday killed more than 20 people. ISIS claimed responsibility for that attack.

CAMEROTA: President Obama slowing down the U.S. troop drawdown from Afghanistan. He says the security situation there remains precarious with the Taliban posing a constant threat. Troop levels were supposed to drop from 9,800 to 5,500 by the end of this year. Now, the plan is to keep 8400 U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan heading into 2017.

CUOMO: Republicans and Democrats in the House nearly unanimous in approving a bill designed to overhaul the nation's mental health system. The measure would reorganize the federal agency overseeing mental health policy. It would also redirect funding away from general mental health programs and toward combating more serious illnesses like schizophrenia.

CAMEROTA: All right. We're covering these two police shootings this morning. Police have shot and killed a driver during a traffic stop in Minnesota. That one follows the fatal police shooting in Baton Rouge that we talked about yesterday. We're seeing new video of that confrontation, and it does shed some new information on this case, so we'll bring that to you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:41:00] CAMEROTA: The Justice Department is opening an investigation into the shooting death of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge. There's new video this morning of that deadly encounter, and it does shed new information on this.

So, joining us now is crime and criminal reporter at "The Advocate", that's Baton Rouge's largest newspaper, Maya Lau.

Maya, thank you very much for being here.

Let's just start with this new video that most of our viewers have not seen yet. It is shot from a different angle. It is closer to the scene of the shooting than the previous interview that we saw -- I mean, video we saw shot from a cell phone in a car. It is extremely graphic. It is extremely disturbing.

We will play it once, and then you can explain the story behind this new video. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(EXPLETIVES DELETED)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's got a gun! Gun!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you move, I swear to God --

(GUNFIRE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get on the ground!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Maya, it's hard to watch this. It's hard to understand, even get your mind around what we're seeing on there. What's the story behind that video? MAYA LAU, CRIME AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE REPROTER, THE ADVOCATE: Well,

that video came out sometime yesterday. That was actually shot by the shop owner who had told me a couple days ago that he didn't have any more footage. He had given over all the footage to police. I asked him, did you have any additional footage by any chance? He said, no.

This footage ended up coming out because his lawyer said he didn't trust police, and he wanted to wait and see how transparent they would be. So, this came out later as a result of the ongoing situation.

CAMEROTA: When you spoke to that shop owner, what did he say he witnessed that led up to and followed that shooting?

LAU: Well, he said that he didn't -- police have said there was an altercation between the officer and Alton Sterling. He said that he didn't hear or see any altercation. He just walked out, I think, at the time that something was actually taking place in the heat of the moment.

He said that he was standing just a few feet away, that he saw officers take down Alton Sterling on to the ground. He was lying on his back. They were tackling him. They tased him.

At some point one of the officers yelled "gun" and fired bullets into his chest. That's what he's saying he saw.

CAMEROTA: And have you learned if Alton Sterling did have a gun on him?

LAU: Yes, the Baton Rouge police chief did say yesterday that Alton Sterling was armed. However, when pressed further, the police department is saying that they can't confirm whether or not a weapon was recovered, but they did say that he was armed.

CAMEROTA: I know that you've been digging into the circumstances surrounding all of this. What led up to this shooting. By all accounts, Alton Sterling was routinely in front of this convenience store. He was selling CDs. People knew him.

So, something went terribly wrong on that day. Do we know anymore about what precipitated this?

LAU: What we know is that police say they received a 911 call about somebody selling CDs who pointed a gun at somebody else in front of the store and threatened that person to leave the property. And that's the call that led to them coming there and encountering him.

You know, we've not seen any surveillance footage that shows that alleged incident. That's what police are saying led up to this.

CAMEROTA: What do we know about the officers who were involved in this shooting?

LAU: Well, both of them have only been on the force a few years, three and four years. And they actually last year they both received commendations. One was involved in some sort of officer involved shooting at one point and was placed on leave.

[06:45:02] However, we were not able to verify what ended up happening as a result of the shooting.

I should say that does happen whenever there is a shooting, even if an officer didn't fire. Sometimes they're put on leave. And other than that, one of the officers, both of his parents are also police officers here.

CAMEROTA: So, Maya, when you see this new video, this highly graphic, close-up video of the moment of the shooting, what does it tell us about whose story to believe?

LAU: The videos are both very striking. I think that they've really changed the course of this story. If not for the videos, I think I'm not sure the Justice Department would be involved already.

I think that it does clearly show an officer firing at least one round into Alton Sterling. I think there's still moments in the videos where the camera veers away, and we're not totally able to see everything you would want to see, such as where is Alton Sterling's other arm. That's been a question that some people have asked.

But they're very striking. They're very graphic and disturbing. I think the fact that they exist and the fact that they have slipped by police and are being leaked to the media is, you know, shows sort of this new era we're in.

CAMEROTA: It sure does.

Maya Lau, thank you for being here and sharing your reporting with us on this story.

All right. The store owner who shot that video of Alton Sterling will join us live in just a few moments.

Chris?

CUOMO: So, there's a lot of political drama building as Donald Trump's short list for VP gets shorter. Two of the potential running mates taking their names off the list. So, who is emerging as a likely pick? We'll discuss next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:50:50] CUOMO: You can x out another day on your calendar. The Republican convention now just ten days away. And Donald Trump has yet to announce his running mate.

Who's it going to be? Well, we know that two high-profile senators say that they're bowing out of the running, but who wants to be in?

Trump very publicly praised a big shot in the Republican Party just last night. Let's discuss with CNN political commentator Margaret Hoover, who served on the White House staff for President George W. Bush, veteran of two Republican presidential campaigns, odd given that she's only 23. Also joining us, political commentator and Donald Trump supporter, Kayleigh McEnany.

So, I'm hiding the ball here to make it more tantalizing. Listen to what Donald Trump said about Newt Gingrich. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: And I'll tell you what, Newt has been my friend for a long time. And I'm not saying anything, and I'm not telling even Newt anything. But I can tell you, in one form or another, Newt Gingrich is going to be involved in our government. That I can tell you, OK?

He's going to be involved. He's smart, he's tough, he gets it, and he says I'm the biggest thing he's ever seen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: And most importantly, he flatters me, which is always nice. You want to make sure your VP has your back.

So, what do we think about Newt Gingrich? He was kind of written all early on, Margaret. I think you may have pooh-poohed me for even suggesting his name about a month and a half ago.

Do you think he's got a shot?

MARGARET HOOVER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: What's pretty extraordinary about it is that Newt Gingrich actually came back with really scathing criticism of Donald Trump and everybody sort of took away from that, that he was going to be out of the running. Frankly, Donald Trump is not one to go back to people who have criticized him.

CUOMO: True, but the next day he said, we're friends, Kayleigh. I can criticize him when he's wrong and tell him when he's right.

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: And that's why Newt Gingrich needs to be the vice president, because Donald Trump needs someone who can be kind of a compass and say, hey, do this or back down from this. Not to say he's going to take marching orders from Newt Gingrich, but I think it's important to have that person there to be a guiding compass when it comes to, you know, a controversy or whatever the news of the day is. I think it's a great pick.

HOOVER: Stars of David that are inappropriately tweeted out. Perhaps Newt Gingrich would be able to explain that somehow.

Look, what you look for in a vice president is somebody who can balance out your strengths and weaknesses or somebody who can bring demographic or geographic advantages.

CUOMO: Does he do that? Does he check boxes?

HOOVER: Newt does nothing for demographic or geographic. It's not like he's going to deliver Georgia for Donald Trump. I mean, he hasn't represented the people of Georgia for many, many years. And, demographically, he represents the same bloc of Republican primary voters that voted for Newt Gingrich in 2012 are largely behind Donald Trump. So I don't think new people come to the ticket.

What he does do is offer the opportunity to frankly expound on any policy ideas in a really substantive way. I mean, this is what Newt Gingrich does best. He's a communicator. And Donald Trump frankly lacks seriously in that department.

CUOMO: The star comment gave you the sour face when Margaret said it. Why?

MCENANY: Because I think it was a contrived controversy. Look, you look at police departments who use this same star. Chicago police department, for instance, has the same star without the points. You look at the "Frozen" ad you showed a few moments ago. Has the same star.

CUOMO: Do you know where the graphic came of Hillary Clinton?

MCENANY: Of Hillary Clinton?

CUOMO: Yes.

MCENANY: I know --

CUOMO: That graphic was made for a specific purpose on a message board by a specific type of voice. We know that, right?

MCENANY: We don't know that's where his --

HOOVER: In an anti-Semitic corner of the Internet.

MCENANY: We don't know that that's where his social media director got it. Images percolate around the Internet.

CUOMO: They just come up with the same exact --

(CROSSTALK)

MCENANY: It was on Twitter. This was a widely spread image.

And the point is, we can talk about all these contrived controversies, but the point is, do people think Donald Trump is anti-Semitic or not? You are foolish if you think that, because he has a Jewish daughter, he has Jewish grandkids.

[06:55:01] CUOMO: Here would be my point of suggestion. You're making people think that by defending something you shouldn't have defended. You should have apologized and said, I would have never put out an image that was supposed to be offensive to Jews because of all the reasons you just offered up. So, this was a mistake and let's move on.

But he didn't do that.

MCENANY: But he addressed it. That's what people like about Donald Trump. When there's a controversy, he addresses it. Unlike Hillary Clinton who spent the day deriding Donald Trump, never

mentioning why she was contradicted by the FBI director, sitting FBI director. She doesn't address it.

Donald Trump takes controversy head on and addresses it. People like that. That's what a real person does.

CUOMO: Does that help him here? Justifying using the stars, is it helping Trump?

HOOVER: What he should have been doing is going after Hillary Clinton all day.

MCENANY: He did.

HOOVER: I mean, the most scathing indictment from an FBI director of any presidential candidate in history. That's where he should keep the focus.

CUOMO: Forget the star, talk about the e-mail.

HOOVER: Yes, this is an incredible vulnerability of his primary challenger and the person who, you know, very likely might be the next president of the United States. Instead, he's talking about Saddam Hussein and how -- what a great guy he was and not frankly addressing any substantive.

MCENANY: He addressed a lot.

HOOVER: It's a startling embarrassment.

MCENANY: No, it's not. He started the rally saying here are all the ways Hillary Clinton was contradicted by the FBI director. I think pointing out these controversies and showing how ridiculous they are shows Hillary Clinton is reaching. She's indicted by the FBI and she's reaching for controversy.

Kayleigh McEnany, Margaret Hoover, thank you very much. Also a pleasure to have you both on.

Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: OK. Two police shoot in addition two days, both caught on camera. Now two communities are outraged and demanding answers. So, we will speak to the family of the victim in Minnesota, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. We begin with breaking news.

Back-to-back deadly police shootings caught on tape. Just hours ago, a Minnesota officer shooting and killing a black man during a traffic stop.

CAMEROTA: But here's what makes this one different than any other.