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ISIS Behind Deadly Attack On Military Recruits In Yemen; U.S. Allies Clashing In Northern Syria; Tropical Depressions Threaten East Coast; Governor Leaves Expletive-Laden Voicemail For Lawmaker; Ithaca College Student Stabbed To Death At Cornell; The 49ers Quarterback Defends National Anthem Protest. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired August 29, 2016 - 06:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:31:13] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news now, ISIS claiming responsibility for a deadly suicide attack targeting military recruits in Yemen. An official with Doctors Without Borders says the attack killed at least 45 people in the southern port city of Aiden. A car bomb exploded inside a training camp for forces loyal to Yemen's Saudi-backed exiled government.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Clashes are now intensifying between U.S.- backed groups in Northern Syria. This happening as Syrian rebels keep advancing after driving ISIS out of the border town of Jarablus with help from Turkish air strikes.

Turkey and the U.S. insisting Syrian Kurds must withdraw east of the Euphrates River, basically asking them to give up control of areas they seized from ISIS fighters.

CAMEROTA: A tropical storm watch is in effect for North Carolina. Florida bracing for severe weather as well. Let's bring in meteorologist, Chad Myers, with the latest. How is it looking, Chad?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Alisyn. Looking actually not too bad. Now the waves are going to be big in the Atlantic. Certainly the outer banks could see something from what will be ermine, if it gets a name.

Right now, just tropical depression number eight. Let's take you into that storm, though, it makes a run at the outer banks and then turns to the right, but it does get to about 45 miles per hour. That will make rip currents.

We've been talking about this storm now for what seems like weeks. The storm that kind of skirted Cuba all weekend long. That will make its way into the Gulf of Mexico. If that's already Ermine, this will be Ian. We'll have to see which one gets a name first.

Otherwise, this could be a pretty significant storm now that it's in the Gulf of Mexico. Hot water down there. Models are all over the place. We'll keep watching it for you. It's the middle of the week for this one. Thank you, guys.

CUOMO: All right, Chad, thank you very much. You're the best when it comes to tracking these storms. We'll stay with you on it.

Some political fireworks in Maine. The governor just went off on a state lawmaker that he claims accused him of being a racist. There's some substance here as well. The lawmaker is going to join us to talk about the fallout next.

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[06:36:40]

CAMEROTA: Maine's governor, Paul LePage, under fire for leaving a threatening voicemail filled with expletives for a state lawmaker who he claims called LePage a racist.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. PAUL LEPAGE (R), MAINE: I would like to talk to you about your comments about my being a racist, you (EXPLETIVE DELETED). And I want to talk to you. I want you to prove that I'm a racist. I've spent my life helping black people, and you little son of a (EXPLETIVE DELETED), socialist (EXPLETIVE DELETED). I need you to just friggin'-- I want you to record this an make it public because I'm after you. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Well, he got his wish because it is now public. The governor refusing to apologize to that man who received the voicemail. And he joins us now, Democratic state representative Drew Gattine of Maine. Good morning, Mr. Gattine.

DREW GATTINE (D), MAINE STATE HOUSE: Good morning, Alisyn. How are you?

CAMEROTA: I'm well. What was that about? What was that message about?

GATTINE: Well, that message was left on my voicemail about 1:00 in the afternoon on Thursday last week. The previous evening, the governor had been at a town hall meeting that he was holding at a small town in Maine and someone had asked him some questions. They were talking about Maine's heroin crisis.

And as this governor has done repeatedly, the governor immediately became hyper focused on his point of view that the majority, the vast majority -- I think he said 90 percent -- of people who are engaged in criminal activity in Maine regarding heroin and drugs are black and Hispanic. Actually, that's not true.

The next morning I was asked by a TV reporter, a local TV reporter, on those comments. And what I told the TV reporter is that I didn't think that those kinds of racially-charged comments were really helpful in our effort to try to solve this terrible crisis we're having up here in Maine that is killing lots of people.

CAMEROTA: Did you call the governor a racist? GATTINE: No, absolutely not. I mean, I think the words I just said to you are exactly what I said. I said that those kinds of racially- charged comments are not helpful in solving the crisis. Again, I'm -- you know, this governor likes to throw stones. I try not to throw stones back and, you know, I was being very careful in terms of what I said.

CAMEROTA: Here's what the governor says he himself said. So let me read it to everyone.

"I made the comment that black people are trafficking in our state. Now, ever since I said that comment," this was back in January, he originally said that. "Now, ever since I said that comment, I've been collecting every single drug dealer who has been arrested in our state.

I don't ask them to come to Maine and sell their poison, but they come. And I will tell you 90 plus percent of those pictures in my book, and it's a three-ring binder, are black and Hispanic people."

So is that -- is he wrong, Mr. Gattine?

GATTINE: Well, I think the evidence shows that he's wrong. To be honest, you know, I don't -- nobody has updated statistics. The statistics that we have show that perhaps 14 percent of people who are arrested in Maine on drug charges are black and Hispanic.

But at the end of the day, our law enforcement response has to be measured and very strong, and it's not going to be based on what color the skin is of the people who are committing crimes.

[06:40:02]But the other most important thing we need to do here in Maine is invest in treatment and education, which again this governor is not doing enough of.

So that was really the basis of what I said that led to that voicemail.

CAMEROTA: Mr. Gattine, do you feel like what you're experiencing in this altercation that you're in with the governor is sort of a microcosm of what's happening nationally about all these conversations about race and racially-charged language and accusations of racism?

GATTINE: Well, I think there's a relationship. I mean, we've been dealing with this governor up here in Maine for the past six years. And I think he would say, and I think there are people in Maine would say, that if you want to know what a Donald Trump administration would look like, you really don't need to look further as to what's been happening in the last six years up here in Maine.

The issue with our governor is it just keeps getting more and more extreme and just when you think he can't cross another line, he crosses another line. Even the day after he left me the voicemail, he held a press conference. I think the -- you know, in an attempt to explain what he had said. And he actually doubled down. And he actually said that people of color are the enemy to the people of Maine.

And, you know, again, I think those kinds of comments need to be condemned in Maine, and I think they need to be condemned across the nation.

CAMEROTA: So Mr. Gattine, what are you calling for this morning? Do you want the governor to apologize to you?

GATTINE: No, I mean, I don't expect the governor to apologize to me. Again, that is absolutely not his style. I think Maine people are getting extremely concerned after six years and these kind of escalating events with respect to our governor that he's now at the point where he isn't fit to be governor. That he really probably needs to get some sort of professional help.

And that, as a state, we're not going to be able to solve our problems, including this very serious problem we have with heroin, under the leadership of this governor. And, you know, we're just concerned that we can't move our state forward with this man as our governor.

CAMEROTA: Let me just quickly end on the statement that was put out by Governor LePage. He said, "It made me enormously angry when a TV reporter asked me for my reaction about Gattine calling me a racist.

So I called Gattine and used the worst word I could think of. I apologize for that to the people of Maine, but I make no apology for trying to end the drug epidemic that is ravaging our state."

Mr. Gattine, thank you for joining us with your side of the story. Obviously we will continue to follow this and continue the conversation.

GATTINE: Thank you for having me on, Alisyn. Thank you.

CUOMO: Another story we're following this morning, what happened on Cornell University's campus, the scene of a homicide investigation now. There was a large fight. It ended with a student being stabbed to death. We have new details on what happened next.

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[06:46:44]

CUOMO: Police are searching this morning to find the attacker who stabbed an Ithaca college student to death in upstate New York. Authorities say it happened after a large fight broke out on the campus of Cornell University, which is of course, just up the hill there in Ithaca.

CNN's Brynn Gingras joins us now with more -- Brynn.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Chris, the two victims Ithaca College students. They were actually attending an event organized by students at Cornell University. It was after that event that a fight broke out and then this stabbing. Police responded there about 2:00 in the morning on Sunday.

Two people injured, one seriously, and then that other person killed, 19-year-old Anthony Nazir (ph). He is from Brooklyn. A statement from Ithaca College's president said, "Anthony is a business administration student. He was a sophomore. He was a member of the executive board of Brothers for Brothers, a student organization dedicated to empowering men of color on our campus."

Of course, a serious loss there. Now, the investigation turns to what exactly unfolded during that fight. A weapon found on the scene there. Police also think there's a lot of cell phone video. So that's what they're looking at right now, guys.

CAMEROTA: OK, Brynn, thank you so much for that update.

Well, Niners quarterback, Colin Kaepernick sitting during the national anthem. He says he's taking a stand against racial injustice in America. We'll debate that next.

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[06:51:40]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN KAEPERNICK, SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS: I'll continue to sit. I'm going to continue to stand with the people that are being oppressed. To me, this is something that has to change. When there's significant change and I feel like that flag represents what it's supposed to represent and this country is representing people the way that it's supposed to, I'll stand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: And now he has a problem. That's San Francisco 49ers quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, defending protests of the oppression of blacks in this country. He sat during the national anthem before his preseason game. His actions sparked a lot of anger. We're going to continue a debate about this issue.

Let's discuss. We have CNN political commentator, host of BET News, and author of "Nobody, Casualties of America's War on the Vulnerable from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond," Marc Lamont Hill, and CNN political commentator and host of "The Ben Ferguson Show," Ben Ferguson.

Ben, let me start with you. We hear about a lot of protests in this country from people who are upset about a lot of issues, specifically the idea of policing in poor or African-American communities. He does this, outrage from a lot of different sectors of the sporting world and America, burning his jersey after this. Why?

BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, one, even his own colleagues are saying that they have a problem with this because the national anthem is something you stand for, for what is right with this country and continually evolving country. You're standing to honor that we're always trying to become a better nation. What he did was, I think, really an issue of hypocrisy. He didn't stand up against anybody in the NFL when there were many people that were abusing minorities and African-American women.

He didn't stand up and call out players when they beat their wives on hotel videos. The NFL reinstated them. He didn't call out the NFL for their hypocrisy, standing up and saying they stand up for women, when in fact the players in their league are able to come back after abusing minority women.

So this is an opportunity for him, if he wanted to be consistent, he should have been consistent and actually fought within the NFL to have a culture of change there for these athletes that are paid an incredible amount of money that had done these things it, and he had a microphone for that.

He didn't do it. But all the sudden he says, oh, America is a terrible place. Look at his own life. What an incredible American story. Adopted, comes out from a tough situation, has parents that don't care about the color of their skin or society, what they may think about them adopting someone who's biracial, ends up making it to the NFL.

This is a story that should be celebrated about what's right with America, and that's why you stand. Instead, he says, I don't like America. Well, if you don't like it so much, why are you playing in the National Football League, America's game?

CUOMO: You said over the weekend that you agreed with Colin Kaepernick sitting during the anthem. Why?

MARC LAMONT HILL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, just a couple things. One, I didn't hear him say America is a terrible country. Colin Kaepernick never said America is a terrible country. He said he has critiques of America. We can laugh, but it doesn't change the fact he never said that.

CUOMO: But it does seemed like a very generous explanation. He said this flag doesn't represent what it's supposed to. He outlined the condition of going on with policing in black communities. He said I'm not going to stand until it does. That seems negative.

HILL: It seems critical. Oftentimes when black people resist critique America, it comes off negative. When Trump says he wants to make America great again, he doesn't get accused of saying he hates America.

[06:55:04]During the '80s when you had the moral majority, you have people on the right who say America is going in the wrong direction. You had the Tea Party who is saying America fiscally is going in the wrong direction. No one accuses them of not liking America.

FERGUSON: They all stand during the national anthem.

HILL: Ben, let me finish. I didn't interrupt you one time. None of those people get accused of hating America or having a problem with America or thinking America is terrible. They simply have a critique of it.

His particular way of critiquing America is to sit down. That's his particular form of resistance. I think it's a principled one. I think it's not offending anyone. It's also not true to say that all of his teammates disagree with him.

Many of his teammates who I've spoken to, and some of which have been on the public record, they stand in solidarity with him. For some people, the national anthem is a way of saying we're getting better. We're trying.

But oftentimes for African-American people that hasn't been the case. The song itself, the land of the free, home of the brave, is created in the midst of slavery. There's a long tradition of black people resisting some of the symbols that white people believed are symbols of freedom.

FERGUSON: And yet we corrected it. This is the point that I think is being lost. I didn't say that everyone in the NFL doesn't like what he's doing, but there's an awful lot of players that have come out and made it clear that America has evolved in a pretty incredible way.

He's a personal story of how incredible the Change has been in this country. The second part is this. In politics, you have many people that protest. You have many people that go out and protest, but they all seem to stand during the national anthem because they all understand that in a country -- find another country that has corrected their wrongs in such an incredible way like this country has.

Find a country where you can do the things that Colin Kaepernick is describing that Blacks Live Matter is doing, that any protester is doing, where you and I can have this conversation and it not be limited by a government or either of us be shut out by political power.

That is what true freedom is. That's what the national anthem is about. And most importantly, I find the hypocrisy here in Colin Kaepernick for the fact he's never once come out and criticized any player in the NFL that's gone after a minority.

CUOMO: I get you on that. He has a couple problems right now, this young man. One is a legitimate one, which is he chose now to come forward when there were things much closer to home in terms of what he represents as a professional where --

HILL: Closer to home? I don't understand.

CUOMO: Because he's playing for the NFL.

HILL: But he's also a black person.

CUOMO: No, no. I know.

HILL: This is my point, Chris. Again, white people --

CUOMO: So are the people who were doing lots of abusive things in that league that he could have spoken out about that he didn't.

HILL: I agree with you, but to decide what's closer to home to him is often another example of white people defining for black people what's most important. Let me make the point before you disagree.

What I'm saying is that for many black people, walking down the street, you're a threat, right. For many black people, you are also threatened by state violence. Before he puts on his pads, before he puts on his uniform, he has brothers, cousins and himself. He is also a threat to many people.

So for him, that might be closer to home than what happens in the NFL, although, that is a critical issue. Also, I think it's a little bit unreasonable to say, if you haven't critiqued this now, then you can never critique anything again. By that logic --

CUOMO: Before, you mean.

HILL: Exactly. By that logic, he can now never critique anything in his life again because he didn't critique something he should have before and one more point. I disagree with it. He also said --

FERGUSON: You and I obviously disagree. Let me go back to the point --

CUOMO: Hold on. Let me hear what he disagrees with then I'll ask you. I'll give you the last word.

HILL: He also said America has corrected its wrongs. To the extent he's right, and I don't think he's entirely right, but it has done so because people have resisted, because people have sat down, because people like Mohammad Ali, who we just celebrated for doing the same things, although back then we called him anti-American.

That's how America corrects its wrongs, resistance. We thought Martin Luther King was anti-American. We've called a whole bunch of folks anti-American. I'm here to celebrate Colin Kaepernick now.

CUOMO: Ben, final word.

FERGUSON: I'm not going to celebrate a guy that sits on the sideline while making hundreds of millions of dollars because of men and women of all races and colors that have fought for the freedom to be able to play a game in America for an incredible amount of money.

I'm not going to celebrate Colin Kaepernick because the guy, I think, is a fraud. If he truly believes this much in change, why won't you put your career on the line and criticize the NFL for players that have gone after minorities in the same way that he claims is happening every day in the streets of America.

He's never had the guts to do that because it would have cost him a paycheck. There are people in the league that would have listened to him as a player, who if he would have come out and said, I'm ashamed to take the field with people that commit these types of crimes against minorities and African-American women, who cannot defend themselves against guys like us that are huge and incredible shape, and I'm embarrassed to take the field with them.

I would have more respect for today. But I think this is a situation where he says, you know what, I can sit on the sideline and there's no repercussions for me financially.

But if I said something about the NFL and the players I play with that do the same things I'm saying are happening in the streets of America, I might lose a paycheck. And that's why I think it's hypocrisy and I have no respect for him.

HILL: I think he may lose a paycheck now. This ain't easy. I think he's catching hell right now.

CUOMO: All right, Ben, Marc, thank you very much for spelling out both sides. Appreciate it. What do you think?