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Police Union Calls for Suspending Open Carry Laws; Melania Trump Speech Tonight. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired July 18, 2016 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:33:19] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Even in a situation like this, there is a choice, for you and for leadership. What do you do now? What do you say? The governor here in Louisiana, John Bel Edwards, the superintendent of state police, Colonel Edmonson, they spoke to this situation and where do we go from here. Here's a cut-down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JOHN BEL EDWARDS (D), LOUISIANA: First of all, the message is, we're not going to be defined by this horrible tragedy. We are better than this, obviously. And I want people to understand that we're going to resume our lives as normal here. But we are obviously - have a lot of work to do in terms of making sure that we protect the public. We have great law enforcement here in Louisiana at the state and local level, but we also have great partners in the federal agencies that are helping us here as well.

And I know that we're going to get through this. And I know it's hard to see it now, but I genuinely believe we're going to come through this, we're going to be stronger and better than ever. But it's extremely painful and the emotions are raw here in Baton Rouge and I can tell you there's a lot of hurting people. We spent a lot of time at the hospital yesterday with family members of the deceased officers and those who were injured. It's just a very, very tough day.

CUOMO: I was just in communication before you came on with a federal agent who volunteered to stay overnight to try to find connections between the murder here and any other groups or people involved. Colonel, what can you tell us about the investigation? You know who did this. The question becomes a more developed sense of why.

COL. MICHAEL EDMONSON, SUPERINTENDENT, LOUISIANA STATE POLICE: We do. And Gavin Long, an individual out of Missouri, we were able to forensically identify. Look, three officers died yesterday and one is fighting for his life. It's important, it's vital, it's critical that we get it right. So just because information comes forward, we're going to make sure that we understand. We - my investigators last night, just after 1:00 a.m. this morning, they were actually interviewing individuals that he was speaking to and he was visiting with while he was here in the Baton Rouge area. We want know what brought him here. We what to know what kept him here. And we want to know why he killed those police officers yesterday. [08:35:16] CUOMO: Does it bother you that this guy was able to go from

Kansas City to Dallas, and then here and was talking in a very incendiary way? Do you think that's something that law enforcement should be able to pick up, or there's just too many voices out there?

EDMONSON: There's a lot of voices out there. But you know what, it's important because killed an individual. He is an individual. He ambushed these police officers. I mean they - they didn't know what was coming up ahead of them. I mean gunshots were fired. He was - he was targeting - he was aiming -

CUOMO: You're comfortable with that? You think he drew them to the scene for this?

EDMONSON: There's no doubt in my mind. Whether or not he brought them to the scene or he was canvassing the scene around Baton Rouge looking specifically for police officers, we know that's active from the videos and tapes we saw, that his prey was those police officers or any police officers within that area.

CUOMO: Right now you're investigating the use of force case that resonated around the country, but now you've got police officers who are going to be on edge, colonel. I even, when we came in here this morning, and the sheriff's deputies, they had covers on, vests and long guns themselves. What do you tell your men and women about how to do their job and not feel as though every situation they enter, they could be target?

EDMONSON: I try to make it as simple as possible. I just tell them, I support them. That they are safe with me. While they're doing their job, which we train them to do, which we go through at great lengths throughout their career, throughout a year where we do retraining. We talk about scenarios that happen around the country and we put our people inside of it and say, what would you do in that situation? We make sure we talk about it, communicate with them. They've got to know you support them. A community got - they have to know that you have their best interest. If you - they'll trust you. If they can believe in you and see that you're doing the right thing, they will trust you. And my men trust me. They know I'm going to support them. They know I'm going to be there with them. I just ask them to be safe, remember their training, be aware of their surroundings.

CUOMO: Trust. Trust is a big issue here. I know you met with President Obama. Have you asked him to come here?

EDWARDS: Yes. No, I did not ask him. We did speak yesterday.

CUOMO: OK.

BEL EDWARDS: I did not ask him to come here. I want to know what the arrangements are going to be in terms of the individual services and that sort of thing before we have that conversation.

CUOMO: Before. One of the big issues of trust that comes up surrounding policing, it makes a lot of politicians, leaders and police leaders uncomfortable, which is independent review of the use of force. Sometimes the feds come in. They have a very limited scope of what they can charge independently.. Their oversight can be there, but it's not adjudicating the actual case. What do you think of the idea of when you have a questionable use of force by a police officer, it's independent. It's not done by the police agency there. It's not even done by the prosecutorial agency there. It's done by either the A.G. or somebody else.

EDWARDS: Well, and we're going to give serious consideration to that. I met with a group of legislatures from Louisiana yesterday, and broached that topic. I know that other states have done that over the last couple of years. And I met with a few governors, and they've told me that it's been largely successful.

I will tell you that the Baton Rouge Police Department is not investigating the death of Alton Sterling. We do have the federal government, the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, did agree to come in very early on to do an investigation, because I think it's important that the agency that employs the officer that applies the lethal force not be the agency that investigates the officer who applies the lethal force when it' under circumstances like this that have aroused so much tension and anxiety in the community. So we are going to look at some legislative changes as we move forward.

CUOMO: And, colonel, I know this is a point you've made as well. Anywhere you go in the country, people who speak out about excessive use of force are often the police officers from that force. It doesn't help them to have any bad acts in their midst as well, and that's something people should understand.

Governor, I know this is a difficult time, colonel, for you as well. We're sorry for your losses.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, that was Chris, obviously, interviewing the governor and the superintendent of the state police. Chris is now racing to the airport to fly here to Cleveland for the Republican National Convention. And we will both be joining you super early tomorrow at 5:00 a.m. That's when NEW DAY starts tomorrow and the rest of the week.

So given the attack in Baton Rouge, should civilians be able to walk around Cleveland with guns during the convention? Well, the city's police union does not think so. So next, we ask Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin about the risks here this week.

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[08:43:29] CAMEROTA: Welcome back to NEW DAY. There is a lot of excitement here in Cleveland, as well as anxiety at the National Republican Convention because of those police killings in Baton Rouge and Dallas. The Cleveland Police Union has asked Ohio's governor for a temporary suspension of Ohio's open carry gun laws, but that's not what happened.

So joining me now is co-chair of the RNC Platform Committee, Republican governor from Oklahoma, Mary Fallin. She's endorsed Donald Trump and she will be speaking at the convention Thursday night.

Governor, thanks so much for being here on NEW DAY.

GOV. MARY FALLIN, OKLAHOMA: Well, thank you, Alisyn. Glad to be here.

CAMEROTA: What do you think of the open carry law here in Ohio? Yes, here in Cleveland?

FALLIN: Well, we have open carry in Oklahoma also, and it's something that our people support, and our states. It's something our legislature has supported. But I heard what you were talking about with the governor being asked to not have open carry during this week. You know, the governor can't just automatically just do away with open carry. I mean there's a constitution,. there's statutes, there's laws, and he has to obey with those. And certainly it is a big concern for safety in our community. But the big thing we need to be talking about is, how can we keep America safe again, whether it's at home or whether it's abroad. And certainly as I talk to families, as I talk to citizens, they're very concerned about what's happened around the world and the failed policies of the past that has led us to this place that we have terrorism, whether it's in the streets of America or whether it's abroad.

CAMEROTA: As well they should be. Everyone - I mean this - this is a tense time. This month has seen just incredible violence. This week has seen incredible violence. But according to the - at least the police union, they felt that the governor of Ohio could do some sort of executive order and just suspend the open carry, just for this week, to put everybody at ease so that you didn't think that somebody right outside the perimeter here had a firearm.

[08:45:16] FALLIN: Well, certainly. And I - and I take the police union's concerns very seriously. But the governor doesn't have, according to him, the executive power to do that. So we have to take him at his word.

CAMEROTA: Do you have the executive power? I mean if somebody asked you to do that?

FALLIN: No. If it's - if it's in the constitution or if it's in statutes, the governor can't just sign an executive order to bypass those things. But the main thing is that we are all - should all be diligent. We should all respect our law enforcement. And I think there is a sense of loss of respect for law enforcement and I - I have a chief of staff who has a husband that's a police officer. And she was telling me just last night how worried she is about her husband. How her son is worried about their dad. Respect for law enforcement is critical, and especially having good law enforcement so we don't have chaos in America like some of the countries that we have abroad.

CAMEROTA: Right. Look, it's easy to say that we should respect law enforcement and, of course, that is the answer. But I - there are people in the black community who don't feel that law enforcement respects them. What is the answer to this rift that we're seeing?

FALLIN: Well, I - I think one of the answers is that we need to - to sit down and listen to each other. You know, there are people in the nation, especially in the black community, who my feel like their voices aren't being heard. And so I think we need to have that discussion. What do we need to do to make sure your voices are being heard.

You know, I remember back - back a long time ago, Claire Looper (ph), he was a famous Oklahoman, felt like blacks weren't being heard and she had a sit-in at a restaurant. And so having the ability to have a decent conversation about what concerns any community, whether it's black, Hispanic, Asian, women, men, whatever it might be, and have that conversation to - and to talk I think is very, very important, and for people to listen, especially people who make public policy.

CAMEROTA: I know that you are making public policy. You're in charge of at least spearheading the platform that you'll be announcing. What's the headline?

FALLIN: Well, we're really exciting today to roll out our headline. I mean, of course, the big thing is, as Mr. Trump would say, make America great again, which we're very thrilled to do and to work on, and to talk about the failed policies of the past. Why don't we have a strong vibrant economy? Why are we having terrorism threats whether it's at home or abroad? How can we protect our borders and make sure we know who's coming into the United States? How can we create a government that works for the people, not people working for the government? And how can we work on our national debt, which is a huge concern, especially when you look out towards the future and our children's future.

CAMEROTA: Your platform has gotten some criticism, the tenants that have been released, because they think - critics say that it isn't -- doesn't go far enough for LGBT rights, and that, in fact, it seems to be anti-LGBT in terms of not sort of acknowledging gay marriage and bathroom laws and all of the other things that we've heard about.

FALLIN: Right. And I was on the platform committee as the co-chairman. And listening to the discussion and we - and we had 112 delegate from all across the nation. We've received 150,000 e-mails into our website of suggestions. But what we talked about is, how can we - how can we make America great and how can we believe and stand for the human rights of all people. Not just one segment, one class, one race, for our friends -

CAMEROTA: Right, so -

FALLIN: But for all people in the United States.

CAMEROTA: So when you hear that gay people don't feel that included in the platform, what do you say?

FALLIN: Well, there were gay people who were on the platform committee themselves and - and we respect that. And we're in inclusive party. We're a big tent. There are many different ideas. But the main thing is, we think all human beings, no matter who you are, deserve respect, deserve equal treatment and - and should be respected in all that we do, and be protected. CAMEROTA: Governor Fallin, thanks so much. We appreciate you sharing

the platform with us and being here on NEW DAY. We'll be watching this week.

All right, meanwhile, Melania Trump has not said much on the campaign trail, but she will take center stage tonight here in Cleveland. So we'll discuss what she may have in store. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:51:39] CAMEROTA: All right, let's talk about what's going to happen tonight. Donald Trump's wife, Melania Trump, will address the convention in primetime. She has mostly, of course, been on the sidelines of this campaign and she has said that she likes it that way. So, what will she say tonight? Let's discuss with Julia Ioffe, she's a contributing writer for "New York Times" magazine, and columnist for foreign policy and national affairs editor for "New York" magazine, Gabe Sherman.

Great to have both of you here.

GABRIEL SHERMAN, NATIONAL AFFAIRS EDITOR, "NEW YORK MAGAZINE": Thanks for having us.

CAMEROTA: Julia, what are we expecting tonight from Melania?

JULIA IOFFE, CONTRIBUTING WRITER, "THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE": Well, we haven't seen her in quite a while. Last time - the last time she spoke at a campaign event, it was in April in Milwaukee. She basically just - it was very short. It was about a two and a half minute speech. It was a laundry list of her husband's attributes. He's a great negotiator. He's a great communicator. He has a big heart. And then she said a very strange thing. She was brought out because Donald Trump was not doing very well in the polls with women. He had suggested that women should get punished for getting abortions. And Corey Lewandowski, the former campaign manager, had been charged with battery. And she said, you know, you know by now that when Donald Trump is attacked, he punches back ten times as hard, when you're a man or a woman. He treats everyone equally. So that was - and then there was another kerfuffle.

CAMEROTA: But meaning - and you thought - and that was considered strange because nobody had - there hadn't - that wasn't a counterpunch against anything?

IOFFE: Well -

CAMEROTA: What was the - what was the provocation?

IOFFE: Well, I think it was to address issues or questions regarding whether or not Donald Trump was sexist or, you know, how he - how he talks about women. And I think she kind of made it worse by saying, you know, he hits women too.

CAMEROTA: I mean figuratively, we hope.

SHERMAN: Exactly. Yes.

IOFFE: Right.

CAMEROTA: So - so in other words, tonight you expect it to be fairly scripted, Gabe.

SHERMAN: I mean this is a big - the biggest stage she's ever been on, and this is a big moment because the Trump campaign has said that a big theme of this convention will be the family. And now this is the first family member to be addressing the convention. So the stakes are high. She needs to set the tone. And as we know, English is not her first language. This is going to be a big moment for her and I - it will be a very scripted moment and they've been planning for this.

CAMEROTA: Yes, I mean, this will be on teleprompter.

SHERMAN: Yes.

CAMEROTA: Somebody has written it. So this - there shouldn't be any surprises, theoretically.

IOFFE: Well, we got the surprise with the punching. The thing is that she doesn't do very well with these kinds of things. She didn't sign up to be a political wife. She wasn't in favor of Donald Trump running for president. She got behind him because she's the supportive wife. But she was trying to make him think twice, three times, four times before he did it. This - she wanted to be comfortable, wealthy, and out of the spotlight. She doesn't like being in the spotlight and she tends to fumble these things, as she did in a May interview when she said a certain journalist provoked anti-Semitic attacks against her and that - ever since then we have not seen her.

CAMEROTA: Donald Trump is doing something unusual tonight, breaking the mold, as per usual.

SHERMAN: Yes.

CAMEROTA: He's introducing her. So instead of saving the candidate till the end -

SHERMAN: Yes.

CAMEROTA: He's coming out to introduce her. What do we expect?

SHERMAN: Well, he's going to - you know, with Trump, you can't really predict, but I think it will be a lot about him. You know, we saw in the "60 Minutes" interview with Mike Pence, a lot of it was about him. So he's going to introduce Melania. But I can't imagine that he's not going to use the opportunity to talk about himself.

CAMEROTA: That would be unusual.

IOFFE: Well, the last time he introduced her, he said, you know, she's beautiful -

SHERMAN: Yes. IOFFE: She's a great mother to our son, Baron. And she is very much - the thing is, she's a model. She is very beautiful and glamorous, but she's a homebody. She's never been a party girl. She is very much about staying at home and only hanging out with family members. In this way she's a lot like her husband.

[08:55:08] SHERMAN: Yes.

CAMEROTA: So - but will it be peculiar if he takes to the stage but doesn't address sort of the news of the day, and doesn't talk about the tension and doesn't talk about the terrible murders of police officers, and only just talks about himself or his wife?

SHERMAN: Well, clearly, yes. And it also, I think the risk is, that he could dilute his speech on Thursday. I mean, as you said, traditionally the candidate waits, it builds to the nomination on Thursday. And the fact that he's willing to go out there, I think, you know, risks over saturation. You want to save the candidate for the end.

IOFFE: Well, but this is - this is his style, right?

SHERMAN: Yes.

IOFFE: He is the nerve center. He is the kind of - the - the neutron core of this campaign.

SHERMAN: Yes.

IOFFE: And he - you can't - he can't spend all that Trump energy.

SHERMAN: Yes.

IOFFE: Like it's not all - it's not expendable. And all his speeches are pretty similar to one another.

SHERMAN: Yes.

IOFFE: So he'll probably say something similar on Monday that he'll say on Thursday.

SHERMAN: Say on Thursday. Maybe he'll appear Tuesday.

IOFFE: Yes, and maybe Wednesday.

SHERMAN: Wednesday. Yes.

CAMEROTA: It will be a fascinating week -

SHERMAN: Yes.

CAMEROTA: However it plays out.

Julia, Gabe, thank you very much for helping preview it on NEW DAY.

SHERMAN: Thank you. CAMEROTA: We'll be looking forward to talking to you throughout the week as well.

And thanks to all of you for watching. We'll see you here tomorrow. "Newsroom" with Carol Costello will pick up after this very quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello, live at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio. Thank you so much for joining me this morning.

The Republican National Convention kicks off in Cleveland as the nation faces another senseless act of violence.