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New Day Saturday

Two Arrests in Boris Nemtsov Murder; Police Shoot, Kill Teen in Madison; Ferguson Mayor Says Police Department is Fixable; Search for Malaysian Airlines 370 a Year Later; Will Fallout Hurt Hillary's White House Hopes?; Exploring the Art of Commercial Dance; Remembering Selma Marches 50 Years Later

Aired March 07, 2015 - 07:00   ET

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

JOE JOHNS, CNN ANCHOR: We're following breaking news. Two arrests in the murder of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov who was gunned down in the shadow of the Kremlin.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Also breaking overnight, dozens protest in downtown Madison, Wisconsin, after police shoot a 19-year-old African- American man inside a home.

JOHNS: And it's been one whole year since MH Flight 370 disappeared without a trace. A look if investigators are any closer to finding out what happened.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JOHNS: Good morning, I am Joe Johns in for Victor Blackwell.

PAUL: Very good to have you here.

JOHNS: It is good to be here.

PAUL: I'm Christi Paul. Always good to have you with us as well.

And we want to begin with this breaking news this hour in the death of Boris Nemtsov just one week after that Russian opposition leader was gunned down in the heart of Moscow. Russian state media reporting now two suspects are under arrest this morning.

JOHNS: Nemtsov, one of Vladimir Putin's most vocal critics was shot in the back, just steps from the Kremlin. Surveillance video captured the assassination while he was walking over a bridge with his girlfriend.

PAUL: We want to get right to CNN senior international correspondent Matthew Chance who's joining us live from Moscow.

Good morning to you, Matthew. What are you learning this hour?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, nothing much apart from that news. It's been announced by a very senior figure in Russia. The head of the FSB. The FSB is the successor organization to the KGB, so essentially he's the key security official in the country. He went on state television, broadcasting to the nation, saying that look, after a week of investigations we found two suspects, we've detained them.

They've not been charged yet. We've got until Monday to question them to decide whether they're going to be charged, but these two individuals have been named. They're from the north Caucasus region of Russia which is a very restive region, a long way from Moscow in the south of the country. Chechnya is perhaps the most well-known republic in the North Caucasus and so it's a very volatile area.

It doesn't necessarily mean -- I think this is important. It doesn't necessarily mean that the killing of Boris Nemtsov was directly connected with the problems in the Chechnya, in the problems in the North Caucasus and the insurgency there. There's a lot of criminality in that region. There are guns for hire. And so even if these people are the actually gunman, and we're a long way from establishing that.

But even if they are, it doesn't shed any light on who may have carried out the order, who may have hired them to carry out the -- to carry out the hit, Christi.

PAUL: Yes. We were talking to someone earlier who s said murder for hire is quite common there. How often if someone was hired to murder, one, if they are then detained as these two are, how often do they give up the details about what they know?

CHANCE: Well, I mean, in a case as high profile as this, the Kremlin is very keen to show the world that it is doing everything that it can, to show Russians that it's doing everything they can to get to the bottom of it. The problem, of course, is that many oppositions figures in this country and many people who support the opposition, as well as Western governments, believe that it was because of Boris Nemtsov's opposition activities that he may have been targeted for assassinations.

So many people, and I spoke to a lot of opposition figures in this country myself, say that they believe Vladimir Putin is personally responsible if not directly organizing the killing therefore creating an atmosphere in Russia in which people are opponents of the Kremlin or viewed as enemies of the state. And so we've got this situation where the authorities that are accused by many people of being responsible for this killing are also in charge of the investigation of the killing.

And so in that sense, I think we have to look at whatever the government says with a degree of skepticism.

PAUL: All right. Matthew Chance, thank you so much for the insight this morning.

JOHNS: Want to bring in Sir Tony Brenton, the former UK ambassador to Russia. He is on the phone, and I think where we start with you, Ambassador, is do you think these two are the only suspects or is this just the beginning of the investigation with arrests?

SIR TONY BRENTON, FORMER U.K. AMBASSADOR TO RUSSIA: Well, I mean, we just don't know (INAUDIBLE) Kremlin is coming from in this. As your correspondent just said, lots of people have accused Mr. Putin -- of being directly responsible for the killing. So they've been very key to demonstrating they're not this way, and capturing someone else. They grabbed these two Caucasians.

The Caucuses, as your correspondent also says, is a place where there are a lot of guns for fire. But that doesn't actually take us a great deal closer, I suspect, to who actually paid for the killing. Now it'll be interesting to see that the investigation now proceeds beyond these two to look for a legitimate source.

There's a striking precedent in this. A journalist called Anna Politkovskaya was killed back a few years ago. They have -- they caught and have convicted the people who that pulled the trigger on her but no one in the least get clearer as to who paid for that killing.

JOHNS: Well, Nemtsov knew criticizing the Kremlin was dangerous. He actually spoke to CNN's Anthony Bourdain about Vladimir Putin.

Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BORIS NEMTSOV, OPPOSITION LEADER: He had a good relationship with Putin and his people around, right?

ANTHONY BOURDAIN, CNN HOST, "PARTS UNKNOWN": Right.

NEMTSOV: If you have a good relationship with governor or mayor, it doesn't matter, either you are in the city, while you have a chance to raise money, to be successful, you know, to buy real estate into the south of France of Switzerland, to open accounts in Swiss banks, et cetera. But if something happened between you and Putin, or you or the governor, you could be in jail. It's very easy. That's why --

BOURDAIN: And your company dismantled and your --

NEMTSOV: Yes. Those companies will disappear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: You'd be jailed, you'd disappear. What's your reaction to that, Ambassador? Hello? Sir Tony Brenton, are you still on the phone with us?

BRENTON: Hello, I'm sorry, I can barely hear you.

JOHNS: OK. Well, we just played a clip of a discussion there between Nemtsov and Anthony Bourdain in which he said that if you had a disagreement with Putin, you would be jailed, you would disappear. What's your reaction to that?

BRENTON: Yes --

JOHNS: Do you think that's accurate? BRENTON: Well, my reaction to that is that yes, it's obviously

dangerous to be in Russian opposition these days. But Boris, he was actually a friend of mine I have to say, was undoubtedly an irritation to the Kremlin, but with not a sufficient to them, I would judge, for them to have noticed him. There are other opposition leaders who are much more dangerous to the Kremlin who have not been murdered.

So my guess is that the Kremlin is not directly responsible for the murder. They may have been indirectly responsible by creating an atmosphere of (INAUDIBLE) aggressiveness because of the Ukraine incident. And lots of other ugly (INAUDIBLE) have sprung up which might be very tempted to kill a man who've been described within the Russian press as a traitor. But that depends precisely on how far beyond capturing these two guys that have been arrested today the investigation goes.

JOHNS: Thank you so much for that, Sir Tony Brenton, the former U.K. ambassador to Russia. Appreciate your perspective.

BRENTON: Thank you.

PAUL: We want to let you know we're also following another a breaking news story this morning. People protesting in the streets, shouting black lives matter. This after a police involved shooting in Madison, Wisconsin. We'll tell you what we've learned this morning.

JOHNS: Plus, it's been almost one year since Malaysia Flight 370 disappeared. And so far not a single piece of debris has been found. Why Malaysia's transport minister says crews will find the Boeing 777 by the spring.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Twelve minutes past the hour right now and I want to get you another breaking news story that we're following. Protests erupting in Madison, Wisconsin, after a deadly shooting of an African-American teen. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If we don't get it. What do we want?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Justice.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When do we want it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: That was the scene overnight. People protesting in the streets, shouting black lives matter. Also demonstrating near a government building after a police officer shot and killed a 19-year- old African-American teen.

JOHNS: Now police are saying the officer was responding to calls that a man was jumping in and out of traffic when the incident began. Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF MICHAEL KOVAL, MADISON POLICE: Once inside the home the suspect involved in this incident, the same one that had been allegedly out in traffic and had battered someone, this same subject then assaulted my officer, and in the context of mutual combat in that since, the officer did draw his revolver and subsequently shot the subject.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Now the Division of Criminal Investigations already been brought in to investigate this incident but we want to talk about it with HLN legal analyst Joey Jackson and CNN law enforcement analyst Tom Fuentes.

Gentlemen, thank you for being here.

Tom, based on what you just heard and what we know of this case thus far, what is the take?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I think, Christi, it's really too early to tell what the whole incident is about. You know, we heard the chief mentioned in his press conference last night at 10:30 p.m. Central Time that this incident started out on the street with the subject involved in some type of a battery. The subject went to his apartment, went in the apartment, the police later was summoned to go to that apartment.

Heard the disturbance inside, broke in. Then the altercation happened with the police officer and the subject resulting in the police officer shooting him. So right now we don't know. Obviously it's so early, we don't know all the facts of this. And by Wisconsin law, the State Department of Criminal Investigation will actually take over all aspects of the investigation now.

PAUL: OK. Joey, there are questions about whether the suspect was armed or not. If he was not armed, what do you see happening here? Was there too much force used here? And again, it is very early on the investigation.

JOEY JACKSON, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: It's early, Christi. We get that.

PAUL: So we do want to point that out.

JACKSON: Sure. Well, here's how it's going to go. Any investigation turns on -- really there are three things to examine here. One of the facts, the second is the law you're going to apply to those facts and the third thing is the process. So let's look at all of them.

When you look at the facts, to Tom points and to your point, Christi, it's very early, we don't know. And oftentimes as you investigate the cases like this, there are two narratives that come out. What are those narratives? If it's the police person's narrative, right, they felt that they were threatened then they feel that the use of force was appropriate based upon the threat that they felt at the time. If it's the narrative of the person who was shot, injured, you know,

and the community ultimately the narrative could be that the officer acted inappropriately, irresponsibly. Now those facts will turn on witnesses, perhaps there's some surveillance, perhaps there's not. Perhaps there's a body camera, perhaps there's not.

We do suspect that at some point witnesses will come forward and those witnesses will add to clarify any questions that occur here as to how this fatal shooting occurred. Next thing you look at the law. What do we know that to be? If the officer is in imminent fear for his life, obviously the action that's taken in terms of using deadly force would be appropriate. That of course would turn on, was there a reasonable fear for your life, did you act reasonably in those circumstances, and was the force you use proportionate to the threat that was posed.

Finally if you look at the process Wisconsin is really the only state in the nation, and I think we'll see more movement, Christi, in this direction to have an independent outside agency that looks at and examines these shootings. Now that law was passed as a result of other shootings and a community who felt that the police were too close.

I should point out because I, you know, had some discussions with Michael Bell who was in fact the proponent of this law, that there's still some feelings that, listen, there are the police that are on this particular commission, is it really independent? That's a subject for another day. But ultimately the process and in gendering the trust and respect of the community in terms of the findings are very important because the community wants answers and they want to know was the shooting justified or not.

And who evaluates and assesses that is going to be very important in having the community trust the ultimate decision.

PAUL: And, Tom, real quickly, I just wanted to get your take on this because within hours of this shooting we already saw people out protesting. And I don't know if we have any pictures, guys, if we can show them, we know that there was a sit-in at one of the department buildings there. But also we saw people holding signs up that said stop the racist killer cops. And these weren't signs that were written in handwriting. These were almost -- they looked like ready- made signs within hours of this shooting.

Is it fair to judge this so quickly, for one, before, you know, any of this information is released or is this just -- it's obviously a very sensitive topic, but does this also reflect a distrust in the information that will be released and the people in charge of it?

FUENTES: I think both. I think there is a distrust and it is early and unfair to be putting out that kind of, you know, rhetoric at this point. I commend the chief for not waiting days to go out and say anything in this, even though his department will not conduct this investigation. It was important for him to get out and say that. To say at least basic facts as he knows them but at least try to put to rest that they're going to do a cover-up or anything more with this. The state -- the division of the State Department of Justice will be

conducting the investigation in accordance with the Wisconsin law. No member of the Madison Police Department can participate in that investigation. So from that standpoint at least I think that he is trying to get out in front of a narrative of anything worse than what actually already happened, which is bad enough.

PAUL: Sure. Well, Tom Fuentes and Joey Jackson, your perspective is always enlightening to us. Thank you for being here.

FUENTES: You're welcome.

JACKSON: Appreciate it, Christie. Have a great day.

PAUL: You too.

JOHNS: The mayor of Ferguson, Missouri, speaks to CNN. Now you want to hear what he's saying about the Justice Department's blistering report about widespread racial bias against African-Americans.

And could the city's police department actually be disbanded?

Plus, President Obama is heading to Selma, Alabama, today for the first time since taking office to mark a momentous occasion. The 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: This morning the mayor of Ferguson, Missouri, is speaking to CNN for the first time since the fallout over the Justice Department's scathing report the department found widespread and systematic discrimination by Ferguson Police against African-Americans.

PAUL: Yes, two police officers have now resigned and the city's clerk has been fired over racist e-mails that were detailed in that report that was released this week. So some critics are even calling for the entire police department itself to be disbanded.

Well, CNN's Sara Sidner asked Ferguson mayor, James Knowles, about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Is the police department still here?

MAYOR JAMES KNOWLES, FERGUSON, MISSOURI: No, I --

SIDNER: Is there any sense from your part that you say, you know what, this is going get shut down, we're going to let the county come in here or let the feds are going to oversee it?

KNOWLES: Absolutely not. Absolutely not.

SIDNER: No chance?

KNOWLES: No.

SIDNER: So you think this is fixable? You're willing to try and fix it?

KNOWLES: The Justice department said it's fixable. So, I mean, our harshest critics said it's fixable. And on that, I will definitely agree with them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Start with that. Let's bring in Cedric Alexander, president of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives.

And Cedric, just want to sort of start with you on this issue of demonstrations popping up every time there's a police involved shooting. Do you think there's that much distrust in the country right now?

CEDRIC L. ALEXANDER, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL ORGANIZATION OF BLACK LAW ENFORCEMENT EXECUTIVES: Well, I think that's pretty much the -- kind of the place where this country is in and have been for -- as we know, for a number of months, post the Michael Brown shooting. So people are very sensitive right now and any time you have one of these shooting events, people are becoming much more attentive to what's going on and it's creating a great deal of pause and concern for everyone across the nation.

PAUL: Plus Attorney General Eric Holder has said he's not going to rule out dismantling the entire department there in Ferguson.

What would that entail and how -- you know, if you're in the middle of disbanding an entire department, how do you instill some form of security for people in terms of police being available to respond?

ALEXANDER: Well --

PAUL: How does that happen?

ALEXANDER: Well, before that happened there's certainly would be a plan put in place.

PAUL: Sure.

ALEXANDER: Where there will be some transition. But I think that's to be determined as to whether that's going to occur or not, but that community --

PAUL: Do you think it should occur?

ALEXANDER: Well, here's what I think to be perfectly honest with you. I think the people who live in that community needs to have a voice in that. And I think the leadership as well, too, owed that community leadership. I wholeheartedly 100 percent agree with everything that the AG has put forth and has stated in terms of his findings and his recommendations as well, too. So I think going forward the most important thing for us to remember

here is how do we move from where we are going forward, building that community trust and how do we go about doing that in this country.

JOHNS: How unusual is it for an allegation to arise of a government or a police department essentially preying on individuals who live there for financial purposes to fill the coffers of the treasury? Does that sound way out of line to you or does that sound like something that happens?

ALEXANDER: It is absolutely way out of line, and it appears to be somewhat planned. I think if we look at the scathing report, I think if we look at what has been evidenced in that report as well, through the Justice investigation, through e-mail, it certainly is suggestive and pretty clear that that community was making a living off people who reside in that community, and government was not maybe as responsible as they have should have been to the citizenry of that community.

JOHNS: All right. Cedric Alexander of NOBLE, thanks so much for coming in on this Saturday morning. Good to see you.

PAUL: Thank you for being here.

ALEXANDER: Thank you. Good seeing you all again.

PAUL: We appreciate it.

ALEXANDER: All right.

PAUL: Absolutely.

A year. It has been a year since Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared, not a single piece of debris has been found thus far. Why Malaysia's transport minister says crews will find the Boeing 777 by this spring.

JOHNS: And we're going to be live from Selma, Alabama, on the 50th anniversary of the historic march. Take a look at who's expected at the ceremonies commemorating really an iconic moment for the civil rights group.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: We may learn more tonight about one of the biggest mysteries in aviation history. What happened to Malaysia Flight 370?

JOHNS: It's the question investigators have been trying to answer since the Boeing 777 vanished from the sky almost one year ago. The doomed plane was headed from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing but veered off course and never made it to its final destination. The final words from inside the cockpit, "Good night, Malaysian 370."

PAUL: Experts say that sign off is routine, but since then all kinds of theories have surfaced including whether the crew had something to do with the plane's disappearance. But as we said we are supposed to learn later tonight into tomorrow when a report is released by the investigators as to where they stand and what they know happen. And it could be up to 600 pages long, this report.

JOHNS: Yes, and the CEO of Malaysia Airlines says that the plane's captain is not a suspect, which is something that came up and people talked about more months and mores after that plane disappeared. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AHMAD JAUHAN YAHYA, MALAYSIAN AIRLINES CEO: We may suspect collision. OK. We do not suspect anyone of our crew until there's such evidence, you know, there's evidence of such. Captain Zaharie was a very capable man. He's a 777 flight examiner, so he is not only an instructor, but he's an examiner of the fleet. So we have no reason to suspect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: OK. So let's dig a little deeper with CNN safety analyst and former FAA inspector David Soucie. He is the author of the book "Malaysia Flight 370". We're also joined by CNN analyst David Gallo, director at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Thanks to you both for joining us.

David, number one, I guess I'll say, I want to start with you. You've written a book on the disappearance of this flight. What do you think happened to this flight?

DAVID SOUCIE, AUTHOR, "MALAYSIA AIRLINES FLIGHT 370": Well, I've done a pretty extensive analysis. We've narrowed it down for about 125 validated assumptions. What that means is that they're practical, they've been reported and that they're literally facts about the investigation, so comparing those on an algorithm that compares them both to -- all to each other has come up with the fact that there is the most probably explanation from the analyst that there was a fire on board, or that there was a mechanical failure.

Now the term, the first term was commanded at human hand. There's no doubt about that, the analysis, so the fact that Captain Zaharie or the co-pilot had made a decision to make a turn and come back the other day or -- unless it was someone who had gotten into the cockpit and made that turn. But there's no question it made that turn. Whether it was from the mechanical or whether it was from an abduction.

Now those are very close runners here. There's not enough data to really specifically separate the two, but the forerunner in my mind and in this analysis is that there was a mechanical failure on board.

JOHNS: Lends a little credence to that, that's one of the theories that came out very early on.

Now, David Gallo, you've been so involved in underwater deep sea searches. So much time has passed. How much harder does it make to try to find an object like a plane and give me some sense of, depending where this wreckage is, what kind of condition it could be in?

DAVID GALLO, CNN ANALYST: Sure. I mean, you have the conditions at the bottom which in this case could be incredibly mountainous or fairly flat and deep. It might be three, four, five miles three deep, actually incredibly deep or incredibly rugged as well. And then you've got the condition more importantly probably of the crew. No ships out there, that they must be exhausted by now.

And it's 24/7, you know, they go for weeks at a time without a break and they've got to be alert every minute of every day. So I'm sure they're tired and hopefully weather has been cooperating with them. From what I've been it's been fairly good. But I'd say they're pretty exhausted, but you know what, that's what they signed on for. And they're professionals so they know -- they know how to pace themselves.

JOHNS: David Soucie, in addition to providing answers for the families, many experts say finding the plane would provide critical information for the aviation industry. It would answer a lot of unanswered questions and maybe even lead us to decide whether all planes need to be tracked in a better way. What's your view?

SOUCIE: Well, it's interesting that we look at that as two different things because it really isn't. They -- what happened in finding out what happened, we already know enough to determine that we need to have flight following and flight tracking on aircraft. This was learned four or five years ago with Air France 447.

The recommendations from the France Civil Aviation Authorities recommended that we do this. They also recommended that we change the way that we search for aircraft by adding floating emergency position indicator radio beacons to the exterior of the aircraft. There were several recommendations, none of which have been implemented.

So I don't think it's too early to start making changes at least at the civil aviation authority levels and the International Civil Aviation Organization to make these things better and start doing something about it today. It's far too late already.

JOHNS: I have to ask the both of you, we have this report coming out, 600 pages, sometime this evening. We're going to get a look at what the Malaysian government says about the investigation so far. Already so much has been written about it but we haven't found the plane. What else can they possibly say until the plane is located?

Perhaps I'll start again with you, Davis Soucie.

SOUCIE: What the report will be in my estimation is basically a summary of what has happened. I doubt that we're going see any new revelation as to what they might do or could do, what they could learn. It's mostly I believe a documentary type approach to say this is what happened on this day, this is what happened on that day. I've been speaking with people about contributing to that report, but to me what it is, is kind of a reset and say here's what we -- here's what we knew, here's what we know now, and here's what we expect to do in the future.

JOHNS: And David Gallo, do you see any new information in here about the search area and where the plane might be? Do you foresee that in this report?

GALLO: Well, Joe, I think what I see coming out of this is the facts as the Malaysians see them because if you'll recall in the early days, there was a lot of contradictory evidence or statements being made day after day after day after day. And so here is their chance to put it all in one spot so we can have a look at it. So I'm looking forward to seeing what they have to say.

But you're absolutely right. We need to find that plane, period, in order to find out what happened.

JOHNS: David Soucie and David Gallo, thanks so much. Good talking to you again.

And coming up tomorrow on "NEW DAY" we'll have our own aviation expert Richard Quest giving us his take on this report which will be released tonight.

PAUL: Thank you, gentlemen.

So here's a questions a lot of people are talking about. Did Hillary Clinton break her own rules when she was secretary of state? That is, you know, some of the conversations that's growing right now in terms of why she used a personal e-mail account for state business. Find out who is coming to her defense now.

Also, an about face from top GOP lawmakers when it comes to attending the anniversary of the Selma marches. There are some Republican leaders who will now be standing with the president and thousands of others to commemorate this historic day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: All right. Within hours we could hear from Hillary Clinton on the e-mail controversy that is swirling around her this hour.

JOHNS: The former secretary of state is expected to speak at the Clinton Global Initiative University Conference in Miami tonight. The questions have just been increasing by the day frankly on why she used a personal e-mail account instead of using a government e-mail account when she was running the State Department. And there's some top Democrats who are actually breaking their silence at this point. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: I think Hillary is great. I think she'll -- you know, she's already said that she wants the e- mails out. And what do Americans care about? Good-paying job, good country, good family. All that stuff isn't going to matter. It's a lot --

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You don't think it's going to hurt the prospects?

SCHUMER: No. I don't think it's going to hurt her prospects. No.

MARTIN O'MALLEY, FORMER MARYLAND GOVERNOR: Openness and transparency are required of governing in the modern age.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: So far this is all we've heard from Hillary Clinton on the e- mail. She took the Twitter late Wednesday night and she said she wanted the public to see her e-mail. But is that really enough?

Joining me is CNN presidential historian Douglas Brinkley, and when you look at this thing on the one hand there are people who have been supporters of the Clintons for year and they may actually be irritated by this. But at the same time they might see it as part of the Clinton landscape if you will. But it also kind of empowers Republicans.

In your view just what is the effect of this on Hillary Clinton's possible presidential run and how serious is it?

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, I think Hillary Clinton is taking a dent with this. But I don't think it's fatal or too serious. It is going begin the Republican narrative on here that she's somebody who's not transparent, that if you really want to go back to Clinton shenanigans of the 1990s that connects to Benghazi because that investigation is what -- last discovered this e-mail crisis going on right now with Hillary Clinton. So it's problematic but she is a gigantic candidate and this is just a dent on her road -- her march to the White House.

JOHNS: It has been assumed that she is going to run for president. But she hasn't come out and out and said it. Does she need to do that at this point or can she wait, should she wait?

BRINKLEY: No, she needs to wait. Look, this did hit her at an unusual time. The good news for Hillary Clinton is this -- it's happening now. You know, people are going to really forget about this 18 months from now. Republicans will keep reminding people about it but I doubt that it could resonate too greatly.

But if she -- this happens sooner, I mean, down the pike here a little bit when the campaign was up and running they have been able to have a little faster response time. There's been a lot of a lag between that tweet and her comment tonight and so it's created a lot of speculation of what she could possibly be hiding. That will never go away. Everybody -- there's going to be a group of Americans that thinks that think Hillary Clinton is constantly hiding e-mails and there's something in her closet that she doesn't want us to know about.

JOHNS: Now the State Department of the Democratically controlled White House is reviewing 55,000 pages of e-mails the former secretary of state turned over, but says it is not looking for wrongdoing. It's just looking to see which e-mails can be released publicly.

Do you think there needs to be an investigation here for violation of the rules or do you think that's too much to ask?

BRINKLEY: I think that's too much. Look, you know, never -- first off, it sounds like a lot, right, over 50,000 e-mails. Well, maybe she had 150,000 or 100,000 that are missing, but the question is did she break the law? Is this something that she could be prosecuted for?

And most people think no. That it seems to be a breach of protocol, that it may have been bad boss behavior to do one thing while you're telling everybody else to do something else. But there's enough -- there's enough loophole language. There are enough ways for, I think, Hillary Clinton, with good lawyers to kind of get out of this. It will simply tarnish her. It's going to be a scar on her, a burden she's going to have to carry with her in the coming months.

But I think it's anything too big, although you'll be seeing it in Republican commercials. If she is the nominee they're going to be run against her and they're going to be saying this is the woman, Hillary Clinton, who's constantly hiding things.

JOHNS: Likely not to hear the end of this, for sure.

Thank you, Douglas Brinkley from Austin, Texas.

BRINKLEY: Thank you.

PAUL: Coming up history was made 50 years ago on an Alabama bridge. We will take a look at that bridge this morning. The nation coming together in Selma and a top Republican lawmaker is making the trip after reports that he wouldn't be there.

We'll have a live report for you in just a moment. But take a look at that. What's going on right there right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: This week's "Ones to Watch" series examines the art of commercial dance.

Frank Gatson, the choreographer behind Beyonce's "Single Ladies" routine shows us the best place to go to get inspiration.

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FRANK GATSON, CHOREOGRAPHER: From the tap to the Charleston, the jitterbug to the twist, most popular dances began life as underground sensations in America's Afro-American neighborhoods. Every decade it seems these communities create something fresh and vibrant.

Pop stars have been long tapping into this hidden treasure chest of moves, often transforming them into worldwide crazes.

Michael did not create the moonwalk. The moonwalk was something that was done on every street corner in America. Twerking and booty dancing, they've done that in New Orleans for the last 20 years. You know, this is one guy named Big Frieda. I mean, I remember he was

a little upset because he was like wow, I've been doing that forever and look, Miley Cyrus comes on TV and she doesn't even do it the right way. Because I'm always trying to keep up with the -- keep up with the latest dance.

You know, like the NaeNae ladies dance. You know, everybody is doing the NaeNae. I don't know if you know what that is. Like, you know, I don't even know why they called it the NaeNae.

L.A.'s South Central ghetto has long been a laboratory of street dance. One of its residents, Tommy the Clown, is credited with creating the clowning style which evolved into crumping. The dance style that defined them.

TOMMY JOHNSON, CREATOR, HIP HOP CLOWNS: Here you struggle. It's a struggle to dance. These kids go through so much and broken homes, single parents, gang violence, drugs and stuff. It's a lot of anger can be built up that they are able to release through the form of dance.

They battle one by one, somebody spit fire, somebody put through the air. Tear your head off. Without touching you on the dance floor and then the crowd is going to be the judge.

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JOHNS: That is awesome. For more check out CNN.com/onestowatch.

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PAUL: We're edging toward the 8:00 hour here.

And House Majority Leader Republican Kevin McCarthy is heading to Selma today to join in the anniversary event. This move of course comes after talks that top GOP leaders would not join the ceremonies. We know Congressman McCarthy will be joining President Obama now, though.

JOHNS: And both of them will be among the thousands of people who are gathering to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday.

Fifty years ago today Alabama State Troopers attacked, clubbed and tear-gassed marchers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge as they march for voting rights.

Let's bring in CNN's Athena Jones live from Selma.

Athena, what's been the mood out there?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Joe. Well, the commemoration gets under way several hours from now. But we arrived here near the Edmund Pettus Bridge more than an hour ago and we already saw people out on the street so this is going to be a big event, a much anticipated event of course. But, Joe, I want to tell you about a very special place we were able

to tour. It's a home that played a central role in the movement here in Selma. It's where Martin Luther King slept, ate and strategized whenever he was in Selma.

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JAWANA JACKSON, HOME OWNER: If these walls could talk they would tell a story of a family here in Selma, that has tried to give and contribute and they would also tell a story of a movement.

JONES (voice-over): On Lapsley Drive in Selma, Alabama, sits a house where time has stood still.

JACKSON: This is the bedroom in which Dr. King would entertain all of the phone calls that would come into this home from President Johnson and the White House. This is the actual phone that he would use to take the calls.

JONES (on camera): Did you hear his end of the conversation?

JACKSON: I would hear a voice, I could not understand but I could hear the tones and the intonations of what I now know to be very, very serious conversations.

JONES (voice-over): This home and a young Jawana Jackson were depicted in the Oscar-nominated movie "Selma."

(On camera): You were 5 years old at the time.

JACKSON: I was 5 years old. I remember the wonderful bedtime stories that he used to read to me. "Humpty-Dumpty" was one of his favorites.

JONES (on camera): Tell me about this room.

JACKSON: This is the exact room where Dr. King, who was still living in the home, was sitting the night that President Johnson gave his famous "We Shall Overcome" speech. This is the actual chair, this is the television. All of the furniture in this room is original.

JONES: How many people are we talking about would be here at one time?

JACKSON: On some days there would be 20, 30 people. There were times when people had to sign up for bathroom and bathtub space. Very often people would sleep in the bathtubs. This is the room that Dr. King and his staff met the morning of the Selma-Montgomery March. They booted up in this room. And they also had a prayer session in this room.

This was the home that sheltered the movement. It was the home that gave the people that led this movement comfort.

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JOHNS: Thanks to Athena Jones for that report. We'll have more live from Selma, Alabama, all morning long.

PAUL: Yes. We'll be taking you there. Also, the latest on our breaking news coverage of two arrests in the assassination of Boris Nemtsov, the Russian opposition leader who was gunned down last Friday in the heart of Moscow.

The next hour of NEW DAY begins in just a moment. Stay close.

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