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New Day Saturday

Trump Lawyer Rudy Giuliani Contradicts White House Again; Acid Rain And Ballistic Rocks Threaten Hawaii; Southwest Pilots Recount Fatal Flight For The First Time; Black Airbnb Guests Say They Were Racially Profiled; Iran's Leader Trolls Trump With Fire & Fury Picture; Russian Bombers Intercepted Off Coast Of Alaska. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired May 12, 2018 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00] ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: After 45 minutes of hovering around, guys, the field was good to go. Someone should probably start a service, right? I will provide airfield anyway with my helicopter.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: And make some good money, I would think.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Well done.

PAUL: Andy Scholes, great to be with you. Thank you very much.

BLACKWELL: All right.

PAUL: Welcome to Saturday. We're so grateful for your company as always. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good morning to you. This morning, Rudy Giuliani is causing his boss more problems. This time, suggesting President Trump personally try to block an $85 billion merger despite denials from the government. And Giuliani's comment prompts two important questions here: first, is the president using the Department of Justice as a political weapon; second, will the contradictions cost Giuliani his job?

PAUL: Also, ahead this hour, Hawaii on watch. Officials warn an explosive eruption is coming, and it's coming soon as the big island is dealing with earthquakes and lava flows and the threat of acid rain.

BLACKWELL: Plus, outrage after police are called on three black people leaving their Airbnb rental. A neighbor claims she was scared because they didn't wave at her. Now, the guests and their attorney want accountability. They will join us live this hour.

PAUL: Also, put this on the things -- list of things of not to do when you're at a safari park. Family is running from cheetahs because, apparently, they thought getting out of their car to take pictures was a good idea.

BLACKWELL: It wasn't.

PAUL: And we're talking about with their kids.

BLACKWELL: It wasn't.

PAUL: We'll show you more here, coming up. All right. So, he was brought in to clean things up. This morning, Rudy Giuliani seems to be creating more of a mess for the White House to clean up.

BLACKWELL: Yes, the president's lawyer directly contradicts his boss and the federal government officially and suggests President Trump personally tried to block the merger between AT&T and CNN's parent company, Time Warner. So, why does this matter? Well, because the Justice Department is supposed to be independent by it, and not be influenced by politics.

PAUL: Here to break it all down, CNN Political Analyst Matt Viser, CNN Legal Analyst Page Pate. Thank you all so much for being with us. We appreciate it. First and foremost, to you, Page, based on what Giuliani said, is there a real legal issue here for the president now?

PAGE PATE, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Christi, there could be, although it's also possible Rudy Giuliani misspoke and doesn't have the facts yet as the president has suggested before. But if, in fact, the president is making the ultimate decision to whether or not to try to block the merger, that is clearly not the traditional role of the White House in these proceedings. Normally, those decisions would be left to the Justice Department and it would be based on anti-trust law, not political consideration. So, if Giuliani did not misspeak, then I think there is legal jeopardy.

PAUL: OK. Here is -- let's put up on the screen exactly what was said. This is according to the Huffington Post: "Giuliani said, whatever lobbying was done didn't reach the president. He did drain the swamp. The president denied the merger. They didn't get the result they wanted." What is the repercussion, if there one, Matt, if the president did deny the merger?

MATT VISER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. I mean, as Page was laying out, I mean, there's some legal -- potential, legal issues if the president was more involved than we have known about to date. I think the political question is also the contradictions. The contradictions are something that this White House seems used to, and that the president puts up with on almost a daily basis with people around him at times contradicting him. I think the things that he's less willing to put up with are bad headlines. And Rudy Giuliani seems to be generating an awful lot of them. So, I think that that is also a question of how long the president is willing to put up with, you know, the bad headlines that Rudy Giuliani is generating.

PAUL: Well, here's the thing, Matt, too, Rudy Giuliani is not going to give an interview unless the president has greenlighted it. How does this keep happening?

VISER: I mean, I think it's -- you know, whether the two of them are on the same page on this, and whether there's some kind of strategy around this. But I do think that there's a lot of -- the president wanted Rudy Giuliani as an attack dog, and someone with star power who could go on and do a lot of interviews. And we're seeing some of the risks of that right now. I mean, Giuliani does agree to an awful lot of interviews, and speaks about things that maybe is beyond the purview of things that he may know about.

PAUL: All right. The AT&T head of Washington office, he was forced out yesterday, the CEO wrote a statement saying that they acknowledged hiring Michael Cohen, as it has come out, was a big mistake. So, Page, let's talk about the timing of this. He was hired after President Trump won in 2016. There are -- we were told initially Michael Cohen had few clients, let's say. Why would Novartis, as they've been saying -- why would he be hired as a consultant for something like that?

[07:05:17] PATE: Christi, I don't think it's a mystery at all, and I'm not sure AT&T really made a mistake here until it didn't work. You know, this is a very sophisticated, big company, they have lawyers, they have political lobbyists. They knew exactly what they were doing. And so, what I'm very interested to find out is what did Michael Cohen say to prompt this payment. What sort of access or influence did he suggest he had, and then where did the money go? Did some of this AT&T money go to pay off Stormy Daniels? Did it go for some other Trump interest? I think if you follow the money here, you may find closer ties than we've learned so far and what we've been reporting.

PAUL: And here's the thing about Giuliani, Matt, he said that he was hired to work specifically for President Trump on the lane of the Mueller investigation. We have now heard him talk about Stormy Daniels, Iran, the North Korea detainees, many of which have caused problems for the president. Do we have a good indication of what the scope of his job is?

VISER: No. And you're right. I mean, initially, he was brought on in part because of ties to Mueller. He knew Bob Mueller and could sort of orchestrate the terms of an interview with him. Rudy Giuliani's gone way beyond that. But you also get the sense early on at least that President Trump didn't mind that. You know, he wanted his legal team to be more out in front in defending him, and that's led to this array of other aspects of the president's legal defense, which is related to Michael Cohen in some ways. And Rudy Giuliani in some ways having to follow these new legal developments that we're seeing that are unrelated to the Mueller investigations but are related to Michael Cohen and the various things that he had his hands in.

PAUL: OK. So, Page, when we hear Giuliani saying the president denied the merger, does the president have a responsibility now to address this? Does the Department of Justice have a responsibility to address this?

PATE: I think it's important, Christi. You don't want the court -- I mean, ultimately, it's not up to the president or the Justice Department. Ultimately, it's up to a court. And the issue right now is in litigation, it's before a judge. I think the White House, the Department of Justice specifically should come out with a statement and say, look, we have recommended our opposition to this merger based on the law, these facts. It had nothing to do with political influence. Unfortunately, if they say that, I'm not 100 percent it's true. So, I think we need to wait and hear what the Department of Justice is willing to say now that this is out there in the public.

PAUL: Matt, I want to get to one last quick thing, it was brought to our attention this morning. Of course, Giuliani has said that he is with the president, his sole focus and concentration is to President Trump, that's why he left his law firm this week. He was randomly, it seems to people, randomly showed up at a Florida courtroom yesterday representing a woman accused of insurance fraud. Do you -- what was that about? It seemed a random. Is that a case he just had to finish, is he doing a favor for somebody? What do you know?

VISER: Yes. I mean, that seem a little bit random. And we also saw, you know, Rudy Giuliani's law firm parting ways with him earlier in the week. So, it does raise some questions about, you know, whether there's some ties that Giuliani has to that case where he wanted to see it through. But you're right, it is sort of off-script a little bit from what Rudy Giuliani has been saying about his sole focus being on the president.

PAUL: All right. Matt Viser and Page Pate, appreciate both of you being here, gentlemen. Thank you.

PATE: Thank you.

VISER: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: White House Chief of Staff John Kelly is backtracking on a comment he made that President Trump is embarrassed by the Russia probe. Kelly later clarified that he meant to say the president was distracted by that investigation. Here's what Kelly originally told NPR -- this was an interview that aired on Thursday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUDY GIULIANI, ATTORNEY TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: There may not be a cloud, but certainly the president is somewhat embarrassed, frankly, when world leaders come in, you know, the first couple of minutes of a conversation might revolve around that kind of thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Well, a few hours later, Kelly dialed back those comments while speaking in the rose garden. He told reporters the investigation is unfair. President Trump says, he is still confident in Scott Pruitt's ability to run the EPA despite now another ethical scandal. Documents uncovered by the New York Times revealed that Pruitt had dinner last June with a controversial Vatican figure who was accused of -- and later charged with -- sexual abuse. An EPA spokesperson says Cardinal George Pell was among about a dozen other people that Pruitt dined with in Italy, and insists Pruitt was not aware of allegations against Pell. However, a schedule of the dinner obtained by The New York Times shows Pell was the only Vatican official who was named. [07:10:07] PAUL: Listen, there are threats of a new volcanic eruption

in Hawaii. This is expected to blast massive "ballistic rocks", the size of a lawnmower into the air. What are we learning about that? Stay close.

BLACKWELL: Plus, three black people leave their Airbnb rental. A scared neighbor says, they didn't wave at her, and she calls police. And then, several cars show up. You see the pictures here. The friends and their attorney join us to discuss what they want from the Police Department, that's next.

Also, Southwest pilots shared their story for the first time since that fatal flight that killed one passenger.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DARREN ELLISOR, CO-PILOT, SOUTHWEST FLIGHT 1380: It was very disorienting to have all these things happen at once. And I actually couldn't make heads or tails of what was going on.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:15:05] BLACKWELL: President Trump has declared a major disaster in the state of Hawaii as reports of a new volcano -- volcanic eruptions, I should say, threaten the big island. Geologist are warning that the Kilauea volcano could erupt ballistic rocks into the sky in the coming weeks. The threat of acid rain, falling ash, and more lava are among some of those possible hazards.

PAUL: The emission of toxic gases is a major issue posing serious health risks for residents, for emergency crews there. Earthquakes are still rocking the island this week. Authorities told residents, you know, you can return to your home at least to collect your belongings. Officials are warning they may have to leave again at a moment's notice. CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar has an update for us now. What are you hearing this morning, Allison?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: All right. So, the biggest concern is with the lava lake -- the area underneath the volcano's summit. So, take a look, this is incredible thermal imagery coming to us from the Kilauea volcano's summit. This was taken back on April 23rd. I want you to focus on is the area of orange and pink. Because I'm going to put it in play and fast forward to May 5th, and then May 6th. Notice how it's shrinking down. We're losing a lot of that at the very top of the volcano. This is very important. But the question is why? Why is this happening, and why is this so important, OK?

So, here you have the actual volcano, OK? But it's what's happening underground that is so important, OK? So, here you have the magma inside, but you also have that water table, the ground water, OK? Now, as we noticed, in the thermal imagery, the magma is starting to retreat back down. Now, some of the rocks that are along the sides that it's supporting when that magma goes away, those rocks will fall back down. Well, all of that builds up on top of the ground water that's there,

and pressure builds up. As that pressure builds, you need to release it some way, so it comes back out in the form of an explosion. But this particular one, the one that we anticipate to be next is going to be different than the first one. Because not only do you have the ash and lava that will come out, but you now have all of those rocks that come out, too.

The thing is, these aren't the size of golf balls or volleyballs, these are huge boulders, potentially the size of golf carts, riding lawnmowers. So, they can obviously do quite a bit of damage there. But we also have some other threats, too, to talk about, OK? We've probably talked about the term referred to as "vog" or volcanic smog, as it's often called.

Now, this can trigger respiratory problems, headaches, and breathing problems in people who wouldn't normally have breathing problems. It's all from the sulfur dioxide that's coming out of the volcano and the fissures. But you also have acid rain.

Now, here's the thing, if you happen to be in the storm, Victor and Christi, with acid ring, it's not going to burn the skin off of you as you stand out there. The main concern is not only for marine life, but take a look at this, it can actually contaminate the water supplies by leaching other metals out from the plumbing in your home, including lead, and that's certainly something you don't want to ingest.

PAUL: My goodness!

BLACKWELL: Acid rain, rocks the sizes of golf carts, the vog, which I've never heard of -- I mean, this is really have to -- your hearts go out to the people who live there who don't know minute to minute what's coming next.

PAUL: And they don't know where to go. I mean, can they -- do they think they'll ever be able to go back? That is now also in question; what does it mean for them? Allison Chinchar, thank so much.

CHINCHAR: Thanks.

BLACKWELL: All right. Now, we've got more on the amazing story of the heroes who landed Southwest flight 1380.

PAUL: Yes, the pilots are speaking for the first time since that flight. Remember, one passenger did die last month.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELLISOR: That -- it's shaking everything, and it all kind of happened all at once.

TAMMIE JO SHULTS, CAPTAIN, SOUTHWEST FLIGHT 1380: We knew that something extraordinary had happened pretty quickly.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLACKWELL: So, that's Tammie Jo Shults and Darren Ellisor, you just

saw there. They say the training and the teamwork really helped them land safely after the plane suffered engine failure.

PAUL: Yes, joining us now live, CNN National Correspondent Polo Sandoval. So, Polo, I think a lot of people have been waiting to hear from these pilots. Why did they decide to speak now?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Victor and Christi, it just shows the professionalism of this air crew. Out of respect for the family of Jennifer Riordan, the passenger who didn't survive, they've decided to wait until today, or at least until this week to share the story of what happened in the cockpit that day.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Southwest 138, are you descending now?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, single engine descending. Have a fire in number one.

SANDOVAL: When engine failed on a Southwest airlines flight last month, Pilot Tammie Jo Shults didn't panic. Instead, she relied on her extensive Navy experience.

SHULTS: My first thoughts were, actually, here we go, just because it seems like a flashback to some of the Navy flying that we had done.

SANDOVAL: Shults, who navigated Southwest flight 1380 to safety, discussed the incident for the first time since the April 17th emergency that left one passenger dead. Shults said on ABC's "2020", she wasn't even supposed to be in the cockpit that day. She traded with her pilot husband so she could attend her son's track meet.

[07:20:17] SHULTS: Dean, being the amazing husband that he is, said you go to the meet, and I'll switch and take your trip. So, that's why I was on the trip.

SANDOVAL: Shortly after the Boeing 737 took off from New York's LaGuardia Airport, the fan blade on the left engine broke. Debris from the engine struck the body of the plane cracking one window which eventually broke open. The passenger in the seat next to the window was pulled partially out of the aircraft but was brought back by other passengers. However, the passenger, Jennifer Riordan, didn't survive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can imagine everybody was going crazy, and yelling, and screaming.

SANDOVAL: First officer Darren Ellisor also spoke with ABC News about the incident.

ELLISOR: Through passenger about 32,000 feet when we had a large bang and a rapid decompression. There was shaking, everything. And it all kind of happened all at once.

SANDOVAL: Shults said, she and her first officer used hand signals to communicate in the cockpit because of the noise level.

SHULTS: It was loud, and there was -- it was just hard to communicate for a lot of different reasons.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And almost immediately, the National Transportation Safety Board determined that metal fatigue was a key factor that caused that fan blade to detach, setting off this catastrophic chain of events. Southwest Airlines, right now, in the middle of performing these FAA- required ultrasonic inspections on the engines similar to the one that suffered that engine failure a month ago here, Victor and Christi. And so far, the airlines have not detected any cracks since those inspections began.

BLACKWELL: All right. Polo Sandoval, thanks so much.

PAUL: Thanks, Polo. So, a stay in an Airbnb ended with a neighbor calling 911 and a confrontation with police. And three of those guests now and their attorney are going to be with us because they want the Police Department to do something. Stay close.

BLACKWELL: Plus, Iran's supreme leader may be trying to read President Trump's mind or at least learn about his administration. He visited a book fair in Tehran and picked up Michael Wolfe's "Fire and Fury."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:27:03] PAUL: So good to have you with us this morning. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to be with you. You know, it seems like we are talking about these viral videos of people of color dealing with calls to police for ordinary, noncriminal things every day. In the past few days, stories surfaced about native American students attending a college tour reported by a suspicious parent. A Black grad student who fell asleep at a common area in her dorm reported by a White fellow grad student. And a group of friends who were detained by police while they were checking out of their Airbnb rental reported by a White neighbor of the homeowner. And the Airbnb guests and their lawyer are calling on Rialto Police to hold the caller accountable. Joining me now to discuss, Filmmaker, Kelly Fyffe-Marshall; Activists and Filmmaker, Donisha Pendergrast; and Artist, Komi Olafimihan; and their Attorney Jasmine Rand. Good to have all of you with us this morning.

KOMI OLAFIMIHAN, ARTIST: Thank you.

DONISHA PENDERGRAST, ACTIVIST AND FILMMAKER: Good to be with you this morning.

BLACKWELL: And so, Donisha, first let's start here. This was last Monday, April 30th, you were checking out of this Airbnb, and it seemed, you know, pretty normal, packing things up, and then what happened? PENDERGRAST: Wow. And then, out of nowhere, police cars swoop down

on us, in front of us and behind us. It was kind of surreal.

BLACKWELL: And you didn't know that anything was out of the ordinary until the police car showed up?

PENDERGRAST: No. We can't say anything was out of the ordinary. When I came out, we were packing our vehicle. And Kelly indicated to me, she said, look over that lady over there, and the lady was standing on her front lawn looking over at us with her hand akimbo and her hand to her phone. And she said, you know, she's probably going to call the police. And kind of just scoffed at it and went back inside. Because, why would she? You know, and so said, so done. The reality is we were black people in a White neighborhood, and that was enough to call police.

BLACKWELL: When you say that she'll probably going to call the police and you asked why, we do have actually sound released by the Rialto Police Department, an officer went to her. And she said that she was scared. And here's the explanation why she was scared. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I walked out here, you know, to check the mail, and I see these strange people coming -- going back and forth, you know, with luggage, and I didn't recognize them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What made you think they were strange?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because they had luggage in their hand, and they weren't really looking at me. You know, they kind of avoided me or didn't wave, you know, like neighbors normally do. And I know the couple that own the house, and I didn't recognize them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Now, that might've been difficult to hear, Komi. I assume you've heard it before when the police released it. She said that they didn't wave, you know, like neighbors. What's your reaction to that from that homeowner?

JASMINE RAND, ATTORNEY: Before Komi starts, I want to make something very clear that --

BLACKWELL: Go ahead. Jasmine.

[07:30:05] RAND: You know, this is only a part of the video footage that has been released. We look forward to receiving the full 911 tape, which we have not received yet, that we requested over a week ago from the Rialto Police Department. The other thing that I want to make very clear is that the police officers arrived on the scene and actually informed them that this neighbor calls and reported that there were three black people stealing stuff.

Now, that's not what this woman said. Then, that's a real disconnect, it's actually a lie on behalf of the Rialto Police Department. And that goes more to the mindset of those officers.

BLACKWELL: Yes. That's also included in the recordings. You can hear the officer explaining to the three here.

RAND: Right.

BLACKWELL: And Komi, your reaction what you hear from this neighbor?

KOMI-OLUWA OLAFIMIHAN, GUEST, AIRBNB, DETAINED BY RIALTO, CALIFORNIA POLICE: I don't know how to react that. She said we looked strange, and I don't know what about us was strange. If I was in my neighborhood and saw someone coming out of a house with luggage, I would not automatically suspect that they were stealing. So, that is my response to that. That is the first time I'm actually hearing that. But, yes.

BLACKWELL: Kelly, you said -- I'm going to read this hear because I want to quote you accurately. "At first we joked about the misunderstanding and took photos and videos along the way. About 20 minutes into these misunderstanding, it escalated almost instantly." What escalated, and tell me about that switchover.

KELLY FYFFE-MARSHALL, GUEST, AIRBNB, DETAINED BY RIALTO, CALIFORNIA POLICE: So, before it felt like -- we felt like we were going to be able to go, but the sergeant came. And so, once the sergeant came, the mood -- the mood and the energy changed completely. He didn't believe anything we were saying, he didn't believe the Airbnb app that we'd shown. He didn't believe the land lord that we have called, and the picture we were shown.

He -- they called the landlord and got the bnb picture, and they should it to us and we all agreed, "Yes, that's her." And the sergeant said, "Well, of course, they would say that." And so, at that point, it just felt like we were -- yes, everything was against us.

BLACKWELL: Jasmine, I read that you said that this woman who made this call to police needs to be held accountable. What does that look like? What does that mean?

RAND: Well, there's -- under California statute, there is a mechanism where if somebody places a false call to the police or makes false allegations that leads to these type of criminal investigation, and detainment, and a violation of constitutional rights, they can certainly, do an investigation to this woman and hold her accountable.

Now, it's not reasonable to see four people and one is right, but you only perceive three of those people to be suspicious, and those people all have black skin. You know, to me the same thing that made them suspicious to this neighbor is the same thing that made Trayvon Martin suspicious to George Zimmerman. And that's wrong, and that can't continue to happen in our nation.

BLACKWELL: Now, what's your response to those online? Because this is, as you know, blowing upon social media.

RAND: Right.

BLACKWELL: Who say that this woman saw someone across the street at a house where she knew the owners, she knew the couple that lived there, did not recognize the people coming out, and she -- even if it's based on some prejudice or some belief about black people, she knowingly did not call about black people specifically. She was calling about I don't know these people coming out, and they're not speaking to me.

RAND: Well, first of all --

PRENDERGAST: I think -- if I can answer that question before Jasmine.

BLACKWELL: Go ahead.

PRENDERGAST: I think -- I would have hope that she would have called her neighbor first. Why didn't she just call the neighbor before she called the police? Why was her first intention to call the police? What did she want to happen? And why was the protocol to respond in the manner that they did? Is that something standard? And if it is, and that concerns us because how much money was spent within those few moments?

BLACKWELL: Yes.

PRENDERGAST: How much time was spent when they could have been doing something better, actually, serving and protecting the community? I didn't feel served or protected in those moments?

BLACKWELL: Jasmine.

RAND: And why didn't she wave to them? That's a great question that nobody is asked. Why didn't she wave to them first and see if they wave back? Why do you expect black people to wave at you at your behalf so that you feel secure?

Her position is completely unreasonable. And to the people out there on social media, you know, I refuse to have them ask my clients to apologize because it is a blessing that they're alive today to speak about this. And they have a responsibility to protect other people's right.

This are not -- every single one of my clients is an activist in their own right. And what we're doing right now is attempting to protect other black people who may come in to that neighborhood in that area from these same police officers, and from that same racist mentality.

So, they will not apologize to anybody for being alive. They will not apologize for not being another Michael Brown, for not being another Trayvon Martin. For being here to tell their story, and to tell it in their own voice.

BLACKWELL: I've only got two minutes left. And Komi, let me come to you. What does accountability for the police department look like for you?

OLAFIMIHAN: Accountability for the police department would be, first of all, releasing the 911 tapes, let's hearing about that. And secondly, I think, based off with the call, the amount of force that they came in to come get us for whatever reason, I think that needs to be addressed.

I think that needs to be addressed because when she get them, much force on innocent people, if they do not have the courage to speak out at that very moment, their lives may be in danger. And I think that is something that the government needs to look at and the police force needs to look at, as well.

[07:35:24] BLACKWELL: And Kelly, to you, in the intro to this, we talked about how many of these videos we're seeing online at Starbucks and Yale and L.A. Fitness and on and on. What do you think the residence is, and what do you want people who, at least, claim they didn't know that these things were happening to black people on a pretty regular basis? What do you want people to do? What should the reaction be?

MARSHALL: To be allies and to step up for people if you see it's happening, and so, we can stop the discrimination that's happening. I feel like everyone has a part in stopping this. I'm just learning that there is no such thing as being suspicious. You can't be suspicious because of the color of your skin. And so, being able to step up, and for us, a big thing was documenting it. And so, being able to document the situations helped us a lot.

BLACKWELL: All right, and finally to you, Jasmine, that you are obviously their lawyer now. Have you filed any suits? Is there a suit coming?

RAND: We have not filed a lawsuit yet. What we want is what Komi, said. We want the 911 tapes. When, all of the evidence released to us so I can review the evidence and determine the extent to which these constitutional rights have been violated.

You know, the mayor has already issued a letter of apology. She sent a letter of apology to them saying she's sorry that this happened while they were in her city. And what I want to know is why the police department haven't done the same thing, and why they have chosen instead to align themselves with a woman they know so little about, the homeowner.

And -- you know, they positioned themselves next to this homeowner and haven't even done their research. So, I welcome them to continue doing that because when the public sees who this woman is, if they do a summary look at her social media, they'll going to see exactly who this woman is.

BLACKWELL: All right, Jasmine, Donisha, Kelly, Komi, thank you all for being with us this morning.

RAND: Thank you.

MARSHALL: Thank you.

OLAFIMIHAN: Thank you very much. PRENDERGAST: One love his action.

BLACKWELL: And, intern police chief Mark Kling, said in the news conference on Tuesday that the officers acted appropriately during the incident and pointed out that no -- at no point did officers use a force or handcuff anyone. So, we want to make sure we get that in from the police department.

PAUL: So, Iran's supreme leader maybe very interested in President Trump. How do we know? Well, take a look at this picture. That's him reading a Farsi edition of Michael Wolf's Fire and Fury.

Also, the Trump administration could be facing what's being described as a brain drain. A nuclear expert at the State Department left the agency after the president withdrew from Iran -- from the Iran deal. We'll have all of that ahead.

BLACKWELL: Plus, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, sits down with Kim Jong-un, just one month before his meeting with President Trump. The vision, he says "We share with North Korea for the future," after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:40:20] PAUL: Mortgage rates were a bit of a mixed bag this week. Here's your look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:42:36] PAUL: Well, U.S. stealth fighter jets have intercepted a pair of Russian bombers in international airspace off the coast of Alaska. We're hearing this morning, U.S. and Canadian military officials say that long-range Russian Bear aircraft spotted Friday morning -- yesterday morning along Alaska's western coast. They eventually did leave the area. The last time U.S. fighter jets intercepted Russian aircraft, though, was exactly one year ago this month.

BLACKWELL: World leaders are trying to figure out President Trump's playbook, learn more about his administration. But it looks like Iran's supreme leader is doing a deep dive into the subject. Look at this.

PAUL: Quite a picture here. Now, there's nothing unusual about the Ayatollah browsing a book there, apparently, but look at the topic of that book. That's a Farsi edition of Michael Wolf's book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House. Not just that, he shared the picture himself on Instagram.

BLACKWELL: Now, if the Ayatollah really wants to figure out what President Trump is taking, maybe he should reading the Art of the Deal, instead, which says, "Know when to walk away from the table."

PAUL: CNN International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson, with us now. As long as CNN National Security Analyst Samantha Vinograd. So, Nic, I want to go to you. First of all, the picture with the Ayatollah there, also a cover of -- your speak of with German magazine. What are these telling you this morning?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, that the Ayatollah and Iran is playing to his domestic audience, where he's sort of -- you know, essentially, the subtext of the messages, Trump is running a chaotic White House. We've heard this coming from the Ayatollah, from other Iranian leaders, as well. This is a message that they're trying to frame to that domestic audiences. Message that at the same time they told the nuclear scientists are prepared for the possibility of enriching, speeding up their enrichment of uranium.

They've drop -- they sent out the message as well that they can withstand whatever is coming economically, the country can continue to do well. So, I think this is domestic messaging. I mean, what you have in Der Spiegel is really a message that is probably, you know, on the lips, certainly on the minds of a lot of European leaders of about the way that they feel President Trump is treating them right now.

They really feel that President Trump has put them in a corner over pulling out of the JCPOA. Quite simply, European businesses now are trying to figure out, and European leaders are trying to figure out can they keep this Iran nuclear deal alive? They believe that it's important to their own National Security to be able to do that. The way to do it is through the business -- you know, is through their businesses -- Britain, France, Germany, doing businesses with Iranian with Iranian companies. Because that's what the Iranians need to get to show to their people, to have the moderates, to get a show that they're winning the argument here.

The reality is, and we heard from Angela Merkel, yesterday, the German chancellor, saying, "Look, we have to recognize that a major economic power has walked away from this. We cannot overplay our own hand. We need to be honest about where we are. It's not time to rip up the transatlantic alliance."

But at the same time, she's also saying Europe needs to take its own destiny into its hands. We cannot rely on our security on the United States. That's a narrative that's been going on for some time, but now is really coming to the fore.

Theresa May, the British prime minister, spoke again with President Trump on the phone yesterday. Both the White House and number 10 Downing Street characterizing it slightly differently. The British focusing on the point that there will be discussions between British and American diplomats to figure out essentially how, how the British and the Europeans could keep those business interests going with Iran, while President Trump says he wants really tough sanctions.

[07:46:13] PAUL: Yes, and there somebody else who would not happy about this deal. Richard Johnson, he's the nuclear expert at the State Department. He has just left, he was key in negotiating with European countries about trying to save this deal. Samantha, there is something called the brain drain as it's been characterized. Reports that 60 percent of the top-ranking career diplomats have -- diplomat have left the department. What do you make of that?

SAMANTHA VINOGRAD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, I just have to kind of ask to myself here, Christi, logically speaking, do you blame him? I think you'd be hard pressed to find any negotiator that wants to walk into a room after the United States has arbitrarily violated an agreement, and try to tell their counterparts who they've been working with for decades.

Believe me this time, I don't think that, that sets any negotiator up for success. I think, that's going to have implications for negotiating with North Korea, despite what the White House says. And for in some way trying to salvage any kind of additional deal with Iran. As Nic mentioned, the European powers are working with the Iranians to try to keep them in the deal. The foreign minister of Iran is meeting with his European counterparts on Tuesday. And U.S. negotiators are going to have to try to work through the Europeans to keep a deal together in some way.

But if you're at the State Department and you're an expert in these issues, I don't know how you tell your counterparts that this time the United States is going to be trusted that's what happens when you break your words.

PAUL: So, Nic, is there any sort of gauge that this could be save -- this deal can be saved if the U.S. is not involved as the German chancellor talked about?

ROBERTSON: You know, I think, if we listen to what President Trump, said at a rally just two nights -- two nights ago, it made it very clear, very, very tough sanctions on Iran. We heard it from State Department officials briefing journalists just after the same day that President Trump pulled out at the JCPOA.

The implications of the moment, unless there are cutouts for -- given for European businesses to trade with Iranian businesses, no. The expectation I think at the moment is it will take far too long to figure out the legal implications and whether or not it's possible for that type of scenario to happen. And the reality is that there's a limited time. I mean, the president of Iran does said there's a limited time for the Europeans to show that this nuclear deal can continue to work.

And I think, the expectation here is it's not going to work. How do we -- how do we collapse it slowly, how do we make sure that there aren't repercussions and a spike in violence that we're seen between Israel and Iran in recent days.

PAUL: Yes, we'll watching that as well. Nic Robertson, Samantha, I'm going to gladly appreciate you both so much, thank you.

BLACKWELL: So our signatures can say a lot about our personalities. And apparently, there's a lot we can learn from President Trump's signature. That's at least according to one handwriting expert.

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[07:53:17] BLACKWELL: Does size really matter? Yes, yes, it does. Especially, when it comes to your signature.

PAUL: I'm glad you had to read that part. President Trump's signature -- apparently, it's a whopper. Here is Jeanne Moos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's a big one.

JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Not just big, it's enormous, it's colossal. It's huge! Marking his territory, when it comes to President Trump's signature, even oldsters won't be needing their reading glasses. "Why? Why is his signature so big?" Someone tweeted. Author J.K. Rowling responded, "I didn't believe in graphology until about three minutes ago." She linked to a site analyzing what large handwriting means, an independent handwriting expert confirmed.

BART BAGETT, HANDWRITING EXPERT: The size of the signature correlates with narcissism, with ego, with a grandiose sense of self-importance. The size alone equals, I'm so important, I don't need to obey margins. I can just scribble like I'm a movie star or a rock star.

MOOS: Or a president, or a best-selling author? Trump supporters dug up J.K. Rowling's signature. "I guess you're no different then."

BAGETT: You know, study because she is throwing stones about Donald Trump, but she also has really big signature which I think is a success trait.

MOOS: That goes for both of them, but graphologist Bart Bagett, says Rowling exhibits a fluid feminine flow, while President Trump's signature looks like a hacksaw.

BAGETT: This sharp, angular, scissor-like incident which pay see is at lack of compassion --

MOOS: Tweeted one critic, it looks like the results from a polygraph. He's lying, of course, a polygraph, a seismograph. Since we're comparing size, the handwriting expert's signature is no shrimp and perhaps, not Trumping.

[07:55:12] BAGETT: It's really the epitome of narcissism.

MOOS: Internet pranksters keep changing the president's signature, when it comes to certain presidents and authors the writing is not just on the wall, it takes up the whole wall and it can take big hands to sign a big signature. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: All right. Thanks, Jeanne. A family in the Netherlands got a little too close -- more than little too close with nature. What happened between them and several cheetahs while taking pictures at a Safari Park?

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PAUL: All right, take a look at this. A family at a Safari Park in the Netherlands, apparently, they didn't get the memo that you're not supposed to get out of your vehicle while visiting the park.

BLACKWELL: So, this was according to the Huffington Post, the family gotten out of their vehicle to take photographs when the cheetahs started moving in. Unfortunately, here, no one was injured.