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New Day

Musk's Plans for Commuting; O.J. Parole Decision; Fuhrman Tapes Revealed; Russia Cloud Grips White House. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired July 21, 2017 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:30:46] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Time now for the "Five Things to Know for Your New Day."

Number one, Mr. Trump's attorneys reportedly trying to figure out ways to challenge the special counsel's Russia probe. "The Washington Post" and "New York Times" reporting that Mr. Trump's team is investigating possible conflicts of interest involving Mueller as well as Mr. Trump's pardon powers.

Bloomberg is reporting the special counsel is expanding his investigation into the president's business transactions despite President Trump calling his own family finances a, quote, "red line," earlier this week. "The Washington Post" says the president has expressed concern that Bob Mueller could access his tax returns.

The White House says President Trump has confidence in Attorney General Jeff Sessions after a remarkable public rebuke of him in a "New York Times" interview. Sessions says he plans to stay on the job.

At least two people are dead and several more injured after a 6.7 magnitude earthquake rocks Turkey's coast and the nearby Greek islands.

A parole board ruling in favor of O.J. Simpson. The 70-year-old former football great could be free as early as this fall after spending nearly nine years in prison for an armed robbery conviction.

For more on the "Five Things to Know," you can go to cnn.com/newday for all of the latest.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thanks so much, Alisyn.

How would you like to get home from Washington, D.C., and get back to me in New York, Alisyn, in 29 minutes? Tesla founder Elon Musk wants to make that a reality.

CNN's chief business correspondent, star of "Early Start," Christine Romans in our Money Center to tell us all about it.

Romans. CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: All right, Elon Musk, John, wants to give you a lightspeed commute on the East Coast, tweeting he has a verbal agreement with the government to build his Hyperloop, an ultrahigh speed underground rail system. No government agency confirming this officially. And Musk later walking back a bit tweeting, they're working on formal approval.

From one moon shot to another, stocks are on a stunning winning streak. All major U.S. averages hit records this week. Investors unphased by President Trump's political troubles. The stock market doesn't measure main street but rather reflects how much money companies are making. And corporate profits are fat.

Donald Trump is a pro-business president. He has rolled back environmental and worker regulations at a blistering pace. He often takes credit for the stock market rally. That can be risky. No rally lasts forever. Every president since World War II has experienced a 20 percent slump. The current bull market is the second longest bull on record.

But, Alisyn, for now, anyone with a 401(k) will just enjoy it.

CAMEROTA: There you go. Good news. Thank you very much, Christine.

So, coming up, a unique perspective on O.J. Simpson's parole. We will speak with former O.J. dream team attorney F. Lee Bailey, next.

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[08:37:15] BERMAN: O.J. Simpson expected to be a free man as early as October. He will be out on parole after spending the past nine years in prison for armed robbery and kidnapping.

Let's discuss with one of his staunches defenders through the years, F. Lee Bailey, a member of O.J. Simpson's famed dream team of lawyers back in the 1990s. Bailey was the attorney who famously grilled Detective Mark Fuhrman about his use of the "n" word during the Simpson murder trial.

Mr. Bailey, thank you so much for being with us.

Your reaction to the news yesterday O.J. Simpson will be out on parole?

F. LEE BAILEY, FORMER O.J. SIMPSON ATTORNEY: I rather expected it because he met all the criteria so well. I was concerned that the hovering specter of the criminal case in Los Angeles, the murder case, might infect the parole board, but it did not. They said it wouldn't and I think they were good to their word.

BERMAN: O.J. Simpson, a lot has been made of his behavior when he was speaking yesterday. He said he has led a relatively conflict-free life. That was criticized by many people, including our own Jeffrey Toobin. Your reaction to that?

BAILEY: Well, first of all, I don't put much stock in anything Mr. Toobin said. And, number two, if you were O.J. and you did not commit the murders, he has had a conflict-free life except for the incident in Las Vegas and one domestic difficulty to which he pleaded guilty and paid the punishment. So that's not as far off the mark as people who wanted to ridicule him asserted. But it, nonetheless, seemed out of place and I think it came out spontaneously and perhaps unwittingly.

BERMAN: You said except for the one domestic violence incident. A lot of people would point to even one as a giant exception. And then, of course, there were allegations that it was a lot more than just one incident of domestic violence. It was a whole pattern, some people say, of years of domestic violence with Nicole Brown. Is that not true?

BAILEY: Well, had the prosecution not sabotaged our case, we would have put the head of the domestic violence group in America on the stand to say that O.J. was not a batterer in her opinion. Unfortunately, our day never came because jury attrition forced us to shut down before the American people got an objective look at the whole case, not just the prosecution's presentation.

BERMAN: No, it is interesting because you have been one of his staunchest defenders, not just when you were his attorney, but you maintain to this day that he was innocent of the murders?

BAILEY: I do. And for anyone who is interested in the facts, I've posted a very extensive fact sheet on my website baileyandelliot six years ago. No one has ever come forward to contradict any of the assertions in there. I was in charge of preparing the case and did prepare it.

[08:40:09] BERMAN: And, again, not only do you believe he's innocent of murder, except for - and, again, those are your words, because I think a lot of people would never say except for one case of domestic violence. You don't think he did anything else wrong prior to those killings?

BAILEY: Well, if he did, I don't know about it. And if you don't accept the court record, which has one incident, and accept the prosecution's opening statement, which went awry very quickly, then I guess you could suspect that he was guilty of other domestic violence. But that's hardly fair.

BERMAN: OK, Mr. Bailey, let me ask you what you think life will be like for O.J. Simpson in Florida if that is where he goes upon his release this fall?

BAILEY: Well, it's been made clear that he's entitled to go to Florida. He'll be under supervision. I think he better not get caught spitting on the street or looking crosswise at a police officer because he's going to be on tender hooks. However, I am confident from his past conduct and my acquaintance with him that he will tow the mark and you won't hear from him again in respect to the conviction in Nevada.

BERMAN: A lot of people, you know, have looked at what happened yesterday and it brought them back. It brought them back some 20 years to when you were very much in the spotlight and O.J. Simpson was very much in the spotlight. Just to be clear, have you spoken to him recently? When was the last conversation you had with Mr. Simpson?

BAILEY: I have not spoken with him since the night before his trial ended in Las Vegas. And very frankly I believe he's been discouraged from speaking with me because there is no question that the acquittal for murder was a component in the way he was treated in Nevada, the only fella that went to jail out of that whole tempest in a teapot. And both O.J. and I have been punished pretty heavily for the fact that he was acquitted.

BERMAN: And let's talk about that because you say that his conviction in Nevada was a result of the murder trial. Your career, your life has taken a fairly stunning turn post murder trial right now. Explain what happened.

BAILEY: Well, I found, as soon as this case was over, and I expected people would say congratulations, you did a great job, that people instead said, this guy got off of a murder because of you. You're at fault. And I heard that from judges, colleagues, classmates who were very rude to me after inviting me to explain how he got acquitted. And it was the damnation of acquittal at its apex.

I have never seen it before in my career. The anger that was whipped up by a public that was led to expect, just as Hillary Clinton was led to expect she'd get elected, the public was led to expect a conviction. When they didn't get it, the press whipped everybody in sight except themselves.

BERMAN: Well, I'm not sure what the election - this past election has to do with anything. But, Mr. Bailey, since, you know, in the last few years, I'm not incorrect, you were disbarred, is that true?

BAILEY: No. That's not in the last few years. It was in 2001. And I continue to be active in the trial of cases.

BERMAN: OK, but -

BAILEY: But, yes, that was the fact. And so be it. I hope that some day I will have the last word, but I have given up any hope that the person who killed Nicole brown will be identified.

BERMAN: F. Lee Bailey, always fascinating to speak with you, from Brunswick, Maine, this morning. Thank you so much for your time, sir.

BAILEY: Very well.

BERMAN: All right, CNN is the first news organization to obtain never- before heard recordings of Mark Fuhrman. He, of course, is the LAPD former detective who became a central figure in the O.J. Simpson murder trial.

CNN's Kyra Phillips joins me now with a preview of this really amazing CNN special report "After O.J.: The Fuhrman Tapes."

Kyra.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, it's interesting listening to F. Lee Bailey. Alan Dershowitz told me that his mother didn't even talk to him for years because she was so angry with him and she felt that a murderer was set free. So it wasn't just F. Lee Bailey but a lot of these players had friends and family that were furious with them. And I think it's because the evidence that O.J. killed Nicole Brown-Simpson and Ron Goldman was overwhelming.

And so the best way to get him off a murder rap was cast doubt on the evidence, which is exactly what O.J.'s legal team did. And it's because they were handed a huge gift. They were handed these tapes of Detective Mark Fuhrman that was made by writer Laura Hart McKinny, an up and coming screenwriter. And the tapes were vulgar. They were astonishing. And they were also the lynchpin in Johnny Cochran's defense that Simpson was framed by a racist L.A. police department willing to plant evidence to convict a black man.

[08:45:07] And these tapes changed history. We've been talking about that now for days and many people felt that race trumped justice in this case. And that has haunted Laura Hart McKinny for decades. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURA HART MCKINNY: There were bits of the puzzle that just - I was unable to reveal at the time and I was unable to be as truthful as I - as I really wanted to be.

PHILLIPS: So she is telling her story, her truth. And for the first time, excerpts from the Fuhrman tapes you've never heard.

Vulgar.

MARK FUHRMAN: And then Weinstein, she's a little five-foot Jew, we call her the "Wandering Jew" (INAUDIBLE) she had a big nose.

PHILLIPS: Sexist.

FUHRMAN: How do you arrest a violent suspect? And I yell out, "have a man do it!"

PHILLIPS: Disturbing.

FUHRMAN: You've got to be a borderline sociopath. You got to be violent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Wow, it is amazing to hear that now all these years later.

Did Mark Fuhrman ever try to get these tapes or ask McKinny to give up the tapes?

PHILLIPS: Oh, yes. When this was all going down during the O.J. Simpson trial. By the way, she was still recording him even during the trial, which is even more fascinating. You'll hear that tomorrow night - or tonight, rather, as well.

But, yes, he called her and she said, I'm sorry, I'm going to court. I will try not to get them released, but she lost on appeal.

BERMAN: What did you think of the tapes when you heard them?

PHILLIPS: I'll tell you what, it was really hard to get through these. And, you know, we're morning television, so I'm not going to tell you the things that you're going to hear tonight. I think it's appropriate for late-night TV, not morning television. But the sexist rants on these tapes just are mind-blowing. And not only did these tapes impact the trial of the century because of the "n" word and the racist things that were said, but, you know, her whole game plan was to write a screenplay about sexism in the LAPD at that time. So these tapes changed policy with regard to sexism and racism in the LAPD.

BERMAN: So interesting. They shocked even you, who covered this so closely at the time and has been covering it ever since.

PHILLIPS: I had no idea.

BERMAN: All right, Kyra Phillips, thank you so much.

Be sure to watch Kyra's CNN special report, "After O.J.: The Fuhrman Tapes Revealed," tonight at 10:00 Eastern.

Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, John, it's been a busy week with a lot of new threads in the Russia investigation. So what is the big picture? We will have "The Bottom Line" with Dana Bash here next.

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[08:51:17] CAMEROTA: OK, so there are many headlines this morning involving the special counsel's Russia investigation and how the White House is responding to that, as well as fallout from the president's extraordinary "New York Times" interview. And, of course, this was supposed to be "Made in America Week." That's the agenda that the White House had wanted everyone to focus on. So let's get "The Bottom Line" on what a week it's been with CNN chief political correspondent Dana Bash.

Dana, great to have you here.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Great to be in your territory.

BASH: Great to have you.

CAMEROTA: How do you summarize this week?

BASH: You know what, Alisyn, this week it kind of, I think, at the end of the day, looking back on this week, we might see it as the week where Robert Mueller appeared to get closer to the White House. At least that appears to be the White house reaction and how they have been kind of moving or remobilizing. Gloria Borger and I reported last night that they have re-shuffled the president's legal team.

CAMEROTA: And do you know why?

BASH: For several reasons. One is, they - they feel that the president needs better help. Better help both on the outside, meaning a personal - on the personal side. John Dowd, who's an attorney, as well as Jay Sekulow, who has been on this program several times, they will continue to do the personal side, which will mean that they will still have the traditional attorney/client privilege. And then as we reported last week, Ty Cobb is going to come in and be the chief guy inside the White House.

But because - the answer is because, you know, he needs it. He needs - he needs the help and the White House staff needs the help to try to protect them and to respond to the Mueller request more accurately.

And, you know, it's so hard for the White House - and, again, we saw another great example of this, this week, to get out from under that. The day that the president had a pretty good day on Wednesday, when he had the senators down, he got them, cajoled them to get back to the - to the Senate. They worked until, you know, probably about midnight on health care -

CAMEROTA: On health care.

BASH: Which is what he should be doing. And it is leadership he should be showing, which is important. We'll see if that has an actual ending that is good politically for the president. But it's impossible for them to escape this Russia issue.

CAMEROTA: We had Molly Ball on from "The Atlantic." She said that there's a feeling among some, probably President Trump's critics, that the walls are closing in, the wheels are coming off the bus. Is that a sense in the White House or is that what it looks like from outside of the White House?

BASH: I'm not sure if we can go as far as to say the feeling is the wheels are coming off, but the walls are closing in might be a better way to put it. As I said, the feeling is that they understand inside the White House that Robert Mueller, now that these e-mails that Don Jr. sent and, you know, had a back and forth with about this Russia meeting from June of 2016, now that it's out in the open - and, remember, we reported Bob Mueller didn't even know about it until it was out in the open, you know, he's in on it.

And I think also that the president gave us some tells in that remarkable "New York Times" interview, which I also think, you know, now that it's Friday, looking back on the week, is not only going to define this week, but is going to be a defining moment of his presidency. I mean never mind throwing his attorney general under the bus, giving us some tells about where he thinks this investigation might be going. Just mentioning unsolicited the notion of Russian condos and things of that nature. [08:55:02] CAMEROTA: And is this eclipsing the president's agenda? It

seems as though health care, you know, Congress is muddling through what to do with health care and they will have some sort of vote this coming week. The president got in a few of his points for "Made in America Week," but obviously that wasn't the big message of the week. Are they managing to do it all, or is it getting in the way?

BASH: Yes, it's the question, can they walk and chew gum at the same time. When you say they, Republicans on Capitol Hill are trying. They're trying very, very hard. As I said, they did - they do have kind of a sense at the end of the week of a revived purpose and intent to figure out how to come up with a replacement bill for Obamacare that is actually not only OK for their constituents but could pass. But it is very hard for them to keep - keep focused on that when they have this giant controversy that is swirling around the president. There's just no doubt about it.

CAMEROTA: Dana, thanks so much. Great to see you.

BASH: Good to see you.

CAMEROTA: Thanks for being here.

Meanwhile, one out of eight American women develop breast cancer during their lifetime. So this week's CNN Hero was one of them. As she battled the disease, she saw the serious toll it took on her husband and her young son and was inspired to create a way to give families a chance to reconnect and enjoy life again. Meet Jeanine Patten-Coble.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEANINE PATTEN-COBLE, CNN HERO: When the cancer bomb goes off in your house, it's devastating. It's financially, physically, emotionally exhausting.

There you go. You got it, girl!

Our hope and our goal is to put a huge embrace on families as they're going through the breast cancer journey. To have them hit the pause button and just relax and play.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: All right, to see how Jeanine is helping rejuvenate families impacted by breast cancer, you can go to cnnheroes.com. And while you're there, you can nominate someone that you think should be a 2017 CNN Hero.

John Berman, you're my hero. Thanks so much for being here today.

BERMAN: Oh, I'm holding out for a hero, just like Bonnie Tyler.

All right, Alisyn Camerota, it was great to be with you this morning, even if not in the same place.

CNN "NEWSROOM" with Poppy Harlow picks up after a quick break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:00:12] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Good Friday morning, everyone. Top of the hour. I'm Poppy Harlow.