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New Day

Judge Declares Mistrial in Michael Slager Trial; Colts Crush Jets on Monday Night; Longtime Trump Supporters Weigh in on President- Elect. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired December 06, 2016 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:32:50] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: A South Carolina judge had to declare a mistrial in the murder case of former police officer Michael Slager. He'd been charged with shooting and killing Walter Scott. An eyewitness capturing the deadly encounter, cell phone video from a kid on a bike, you saw Slager firing eight rounds in just a few seconds as Scott clearly running away.

All right. Let's discuss what happens next and what this case may pose as a problem for a jury.

CNN law enforcement analyst and retired NYPD detective, Harry Houck, and former prosecutor and civil rights attorney Charles Coleman, Jr.

Gentlemen, thank you very much.

Harry, the audience should remember that you and I when we were discussing this case, it was one of the only ones where we were both struggling to see the officer's side because of the video in it.

HARRY HOUCK, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Right.

CUOMO: There had been a suggestion that this case was about a lone holdout, which was casting a lot of doubt on this jury makeup, 11 whites, one black. There was all this thought about, oh, the defense attorney got what they wanted. One white guy who couldn't do it.

It turns out there was more, that there was real confusion on the jury. The charges were the obvious ones. Murder, voluntary manslaughter.

HOUCK: Right.

CUOMO: Those are the two big crimes. Or obviously he gets found not guilty.

So, what do you think a jury could be tripping up on? Slager took the stand. Unusual, but took the stand and said, "I was in fear of my life. He came at me. You didn't see that part. I thought he was going to turn around and come back." HOUCK: I think what happened is the prosecution didn't present the case the way it should have been presented. They put a doubt in somebody's mind. You got to remember, all these jurors (INAUDIBLE) they went through a large selection process. Both sides got to talk to the jurors. So, they were both comfortable with every juror apparently.

You know, this guy who was a holdout, we don't know which guy it was yet, right?

CUOMO: Also, we no longer think it's one. You raise a couple good issues.

HOUCK: Right.

CUOMO: Raised a couple of good issues. We'll go to you, having tried a case.

First of all, just because you have a jury doesn't mean you love it, right? You only get a certain number of peremptory challenges. Some things you have to deal with, 11 white, in a case that's going to have racial tones to it. It's always a little tricky when you're 11 out of 12 being white.

[06:35:03] But it wasn't just one.

CHARLES COLEMAN, JR., FORMER PROSECUTOR: Right.

CUOMO: We're now being told that there were numerous people on the jury who had a hard time, checking the guilty box.

COLEMAN: So, Chris, one of the things I think about when you're talking about a case like this is the movie "12 Angry Men." So, on Friday, it may have been one. On Monday, it may have been a matter of over the weekend those -- you know, trying to go into the psychology of juries is a very scary place.

CUOMO: People make a lot of money and you can guess is about that.

COLEMAN: Absolutely. And you don't know whether over the course of the weekend it may have been one of those jurors started thinking, well, what does imminent danger mean in terms of that officer saying that he was in fear for his life?

But to be honest with you, I'm actually still confused as to how the jury wasn't able to come to a unanimous verdict unless there was a stealth juror. What I mean by that is someone who either snuck under the radar during voir dire, wasn't honest during voir dire, or as you already alluded to, it may have been a situation where the prosecution had run out of peremptory challenges and wasn't able to get somebody off the jury who they didn't want there in the first place.

CUOMO: But what, you know, when you think about it -- you've tried these cases. Charles' background is as a prosecutor. So, you know this from the police side. What else did they need to see other than the video? HOUCK: I think the video was enough for me, pretty much, along with

that, the evidence that the prosecution put forward in this case. I think they probably didn't understand the law itself and what each piece of the law exactly meant.

Listen, these things happen in juries. I mean, this isn't a perfect system that we have here. Whether or not there was a lone plant in the jury, we'll never know unless this person, you know, opens his mouth.

CUOMO: Even still, this seemed like such an overwhelming thing. We were surprised there was a trial.

HOUCK: I was shock.

CUOMO: We were surprised that Slager didn't want to deal. I couldn't believe Slager would want to take the stand.

But he got up there and said, you don't see what first happened. This man attacked me. I was overwhelmed by it. It's the only reason I drew my weapon, because I couldn't believe how vicious the attack was.

And I thought for sure, only 18 feet away, which may have been a calculated mistake by the prosecutor, playing on 18 feet so much --

COLEMAN: Right.

CUOMO: -- that he could have turned around and come back and got me.

HOUCK: If he had a knife, you know, or had some other kind of weapon in his hand, he might have been able to have some kind of defense. But the fact is here, he ran away. He was 18 feet away.

You see him when he's running away. You see that little wire from the taser running forward. So, apparently, Slager's got the taser in his hand or it's close to him at the time. So, I've talked to a lot of police officers, we've talked about this case. Not one thinks this is a good shoe. Not one.

COLEMAN: Here's one thing I want to point out. You raise a good point with all of the things you talked about with respect to the video. Not just that, but Slager himself did not have a whole lot of credibility.

Here's a person who we know clearly tried to falsify the report with respect to what was going on. We know clearly intended to plant evidence on Walter Scott in terms of framing him for an attack that we don't know whether it happened or not because we did not see on video.

So, given all of that, what this tells me is that those jurors, or at least one of them, had an enormous amount of bias in favor of police in terms of their credibility. And we see that a lot with law enforcement, when law enforcement is given the benefit of the doubt that most regular, ordinary citizens don't enjoy.

CUOMO: Now, we'll leave it there for now until we find out what's going to happen with the case. There is a lot of talk about federal charges here. Maybe that -- those are very tough cases. You have to have the prosecutor show that not only did this officer do it for bad reason, but it was racially motivated reason. Very high bar.

Gentlemen, thank you very much for helping us make sense of a difficult situation.

HOUCK: Thank you.

CUOMO: On NEW DAY, we're going to talk with the attorney for Walter Scott's family. What's going on in their hearts and minds right now? What do they think happen in that courtroom? That'll be in our 8:00 hour.

Alisyn?

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, Chris. On a lighter note, you may want to turn away for this next segment. Monday night football, Colts versus Jets. It wasn't a game. It was a shame.

CUOMO: Oh my --

CAMEROTA: I know. I'm like Coy Wire.

Details in this morning's "Bleacher Report", next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:43:15] CAMEROTA: Get ready to bundle up. The season's first arctic blast bringing much colder temperatures across the U.S.

CNN meteorologist Chad Myers has the forecast.

What does it look like, Chad?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Alisyn, this is probably the coldest air in ten months for some people coming down from the north. Bismarck, North Dakota, will approach 15 degrees below zero for morning low temperatures by Friday morning. That's a rain event for the East Coast today. I think airports will be slow today because of that rain.

But the big story truly is the cold air that will be coming down. Yes, there will be snow. There'll be lake effect show. They'll be snow in Minnesota and up in Wisconsin. But the story is the front that will affect millions of people, probably hundreds of millions of people. It gets all the way down to Florida.

So, what are we talking about? We're talking about global air mass that's coming down from the poles, coming down from Santa Claus land, coming down all the way into the Dakotas, into Minnesota, across Chicago, and eventually into New York City.

New York, you're still going to have lows around 20. But Chicago will be somewhere around 12. Minneapolis, the lows will be around seven. You get up into Minnesota and up into Wisconsin, your morning low temperatures with wind will still be around 17 or 18 degrees below zero. And with that wind, it may feel even much, much colder than that.

New York City, your high will be 39 on Friday. But with a wind at about 20 or 30 miles per hour, it never feels that warm -- guys.

CUOMO: Woof, chilling.

All right. Thank you very much. Appreciate it, Chad.

All right. Time for the "Bleacher Report". A real, real down to the wire matchup on Monday night football. The Indianapolis Colts somehow finding a way through against the New York Jets. It could have gone either way until the last moment.

And sadly, none of that is true.

[06:45:00] Hines Ward, tell us what really happened.

HINES WARD, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Chris, it was a beat-down by the Indianapolis Colts from start to finish. But before the game, there was a moment of silence for former Jets player Joe McKnight. If you remember, he was shot and killed last week.

Then it was time for Colts quarterback Andrew Luck, time for him to go to work. He looked fantastic coming off his first concussion of his career. Now, Luck threw four touchdowns, three of them to his tight end Dewayne Allen. The Colts crush your Jets, Chris, 41-10. Indy is now 6-6, but they're in three-way tie at the top of their division.

The loss eliminates the Jets from the playoffs. Look at their fans.

Chris, that looks like you wearing that shirt there.

Now, three quarterbacks are among the finalists for the Heisman trophy. Louisville's Lamar Jackson, last year's third finisher Deshaun Watson from Clemson, and Oklahoma's Baker Mayfield, and Baker's teammate, his wide receiver, Dede Westbrook, and Michigan's all-everything Jabrill Peppers rounds out the list. The Heisman will be awarded this Saturday night in New York City.

So, sorry, Chris. You might need this hanky for your Jets.

CAMEROTA: He's sobbing. He's sobbing.

(LAUGHTER)

CUOMO: That's a little too fancy for a jets fan. Why do my Jets stink all the time, Hines? Hit me offline and tell me why. I'll send an email to you. Help me figure it out. Why do my Jets always stink? That's the question of the day.

CAMEROTA: Thanks, Hines.

WARD: All right. Got you, guys.

CAMEROTA: Talk to you soon.

All right. So, some of Donald Trump's most loyal supporters will be here to weigh in on the media and, in fact, what they cannot stand about CNN. Part three of our New Hampshire voter panel is next.

CUOMO: Is this mostly about you?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:51:49]CAMEROTA: We want to bring you now part three of our visit with a group of long-time Donald Trump supporters. These are politically plugged in New Hampshire voters. Three of them have served in the New Hampshire state legislature at some point in the past ten years. If you watched our show on Thursday, you might have seen the clip of them explaining to me why they believe the false claim that there was vast voter fraud in this election to the tune of 3 million illegal votes.

But our conversation went further than that. We also talked about the media, including what they cannot stand about CNN. But we start with a recap, in case you missed it, of their claims of voter fraud.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA JOHNSON, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: Voting is a privilege in this country. And you need to be legal, not like California where 3 million illegals voted.

CAMEROTA: Let's talk about that.

JOHNSON: I'm glad I brought that up, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Me, too, Paula.

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: So where are you getting your information?

JOHNSON: From the media. Where else would we get it?

CAMEROTA: Which media?

JOHNSON: Some of it was CNN, I believe, and --

CAMEROTA: CNN said that 3 million illegal people voted in California?

JOHNSON: Well, it was coming all across the media. All across. If CNN didn't do it, then they were being smart this time.

CAMEROTA: Do you think that 3 million illegal people voted?

JOHNSON: I believe in California that there were illegals that voted.

CAMEROTA: How many?

JOHNSON: I don't -- to tell you the truth, nobody really knows that number.

CAMEROTA: But do you think three dozen or do you think 3 million?

JOHNSON: I think there was a good amount because the president told people that they could vote and it happened in Nashua we caught some people -

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

JOHNSON: That they went into Nashua and they said, the president said I could vote. I'm here illegally.

CAMEROTA: Did you hear President Obama say that illegal people could vote?

JOHNSON: Yes, I did.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I did.

CAMEROTA: On what -- on what (INAUDIBLE) --

(CROSSTALK)

JOHNSON: I actually did hear it.

CAMEROTA: Tell me, where.

TONI DIBARTOLO, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: On -- you can find it -- Google it. You can find it on Facebook.

CAMEROTA: All right. Hold on. I don't want to waste any more time, but, anyway, I see where it came from and it's -- Fox Business Network deceptively edited a clip of Barack Obama to argue that the president encouraged illegal immigrants to vote when in fact he said nothing of the sort when you go back to the transcript.

You, as you sit here today, think that millions of illegal people voted in this country. You believe that there was widespread voting abuse?

JOHNSON: I think there was in some states.

CAMEROTA: In the millions of people?

JOHNSON: I -- California allows it. People --

CAMEROTA: They do not allow illegal -- you mean illegal -- you mean voter fraud, California allows?

JOHNSON: I believe there is voter fraud in this country.

CAMEROTA: Where did you get your news, Paul?

PAUL DIBARTOLO, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Because I like to be fair and balanced, I like to hear both sides. I'll listen to Lou Dobbs on Fox Business. During the afternoon, sometimes I listen to Rush Limbaugh. JOHNSON: I watch FOX, CNN, I listen to Jeff Kuhner in New Hampshire, Rush, Hannity, Howie Carr. And my friend sends me a lot of overseas news. She feels those papers report more accurately.

SUSAN DELEMUS, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: I do watch a little CNN, some FOX. I listen to Hannity. I also listen to Christian radio as well.

P. DIBARTOLO: Honestly, I listen to CNN to he the other side.

CAMEROTA: Let's talk about that.

JOHN HIKEL (R), FORMER NEW HAMPSHIRE STATE REPRESENTATIVE: CNN was brutal. I don't think they gave Mr. Trump a rest.

[06:55:00] They were so brutally --

P. DIBARTOLO: CNN should be above all the nonsense.

CAMEROTA: What was it that so incensed you?

P. DIBARTOLO: As far as the media is concerned?

CAMEROTA: About CNN. OK, le's go there.

P. DIBARTOLO: The media, particularly the mainstream liberal media and, of course, CNN included in that, unfortunately, they're just so one sided and so against Donald Trump.

CAMEROTA: Give me an example.

HIKEL: The panels were like, 8-1 or 8-2. Even if they tried to divide it up, half of Trump's side still was against Trump. And you'd have Corey Lewandowski, or you'd have one, maybe two against five or six.

CAMEROTA: Jeffrey Lord, you'd have Corey Lewandowski, you'd have Kayleigh McEnany, you'd have Scottie Nell Hughes.

HIKEL: Not together.

CAMEROTA: No, but I mean, these people were hired by CNN to represent the Trump side. And they hired, by the way, CNN hired more Trump surrogates than any other network.

P. DIBARTOLO: If CNN early on last year, when you called us on the first time last August, was a lot more open and fair and a lot more balanced. It seemed as the race went on, they started realizing that this is serious and we need to now start to really hammer him harder.

CAMEROTA: So you would have liked to have seen more complete numerical balance on the panels?

HIKEL: Yes, because it's not news. It's announced that it's --

(CROSSTALK)

P. DIBARTOLO: And a lot of lies.

HIKEL: It's making people think a particular way. It's not news.

CAMEROTA: Hold on a second. What were the lies?

P. DIBARTOLO: Lies -- OK, well, specific -- a way of lying is to deceive, OK? When you deceive, it's the same as a lie. When you give people the impression that Donald Trump does not have the real support that he has, keep it just simple. A simple fact is just at his rallies.

You know, Hillary Clinton, a big rally for her would be 1,200, 1,500 people. The media would pan around the room and show how huge it was.

And he'd have 30,000 or 40,000 people. He'd fill up a football stadium. They would just narrow in the frame just on him. It gives people out there that are ill-informed the idea that there's just a few people there him.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump drew a crowd of 30,000.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: He drew a crowd of about 6,000.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thousands of supporters outside and inside of Trump's events.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Speaking to a crowd of thousands.

CAMEROTA: You understand that one camera is on lockdown for that? But you're saying the reporters never -- in your mind, even though there was a camera on lockdown, there were other cameras and the reporters never explained that there were crowds.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

CAMEROTA: You feel.

P. DIBARTOLO: All of these experts and smart people were all proven wrong because they didn't realize this was not an election.

CAMEROTA: What was it?

P. DIBARTOLO: This was a movement. This was a peaceful takeover of government by the people. Believe me when I tell you something, Donald Trump is going to drain the swamp.

CAMEROTA: What did drain the swamp mean, Toni, to you?

T. DIBARTOLO: I feel that it's a cleaning up the corruption that goes on, the good old boys club where they're putting their own needs and wants and money making ahead of the people, what the people want. They don't listen to what we want or how we feel or things that concern us. They -- as soon as we give an opinion, they're the first to put us down. Obviously, what Hillary said, the basket of deplorables, there's good people that support Trump all across America. We don't hate anybody.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: So, what was your big takeaway?

CAMEROTA: So, my big takeaway is that everybody has their own media source that they like and that they go to, and they get their information there. Paul did say he listens to a liberal radio host, but that part was sort of garbled, so we cut that out. But everybody has -- you know, look, this is an original. People are in their own echo chambers and get their own information.

And coming up on the show, we're actually going to have people who did the voter fraud study. We're going back to the original primary source for you to tell you what they found in terms of whether there was any actual voter fraud in this election.

CUOMO: We didn't have the time on the show, because it was a three- hour long show, but on YouTube yesterday, I went through all the different studies and what they say and what it is. You know, what you'll see there, I hear this all the time, where I live out in Suffolk County. They know there's fraud in the system. We all know.

Trump's saying 3 million, when you'll be lucky to find 30 cases, it doesn't matter as much because they know that fundamentally he's right that there's a problem. The 3 million thing is a problem for us because that's a real gross misstatement of fact, it's really wrong. But they believe that if you're right a little bit in a world of politics, where they believe nothing, you're ahead of the game.

CAMEROTA: I understand, but we're in the fact business. So, we are today bringing to you the people who did the actual voter fraud study. Tune in for that.

CUOMO: A lot of news for you. Let's get right to it.