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The Situation Room

Interview With Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver; Texas Police Shooting; Ferguson Violence; Trump Under Fire; Trump Defiant after 'Blood' Remark about Debate Host; Protesters Block Interstate Near Ferguson; Armed Attack on U.S. Consulate; Police Shoot, Kill Unarmed College Football Player. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired August 10, 2015 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:02]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: We are live in Missouri following the breaking news.

Fatal shooting. Surveillance video shows a college football star's strange behavior shortly before he was killed. Why did a rookie cop use deadly force against the unarmed teenager?

Blood and outrage. Political opponents are hammering Donald Trump tonight after his jaw-dropping insult of a female debate moderator. Will his shocking verbal attacks and defiance bring him down in the polls?

And Americans targeted. A U.S. Consulate under attack on a day of deadly terror in Turkey. Is there a link to a new offensive against ISIS?

We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. Wolf Blitzer is off. I'm Brianna Keilar. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

KEILAR: Breaking news tonight, at least 56 protesters arrested as tensions reignite in and around Ferguson, Missouri. A state of emergency has been ordered for the county after new violence overnight.

Shots rang out during a peaceful protest marking one year since the death of Michael Brown. The alleged gunman, shot by police, now facing charges, including first-degree assault of a law enforcement officer.

Police flooded the area in a tense standoff with protesters. This was an all-too-familiar scene in Ferguson, the city that launched a national debate about police tactics and racially charged violence.

We have correspondents, analysts and newsmakers standing by as we cover all of the news breaking now.

First, let's go to Sara Sidner. She's in Ferguson tonight. Here's her report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A barrage of bullets sent dozens scattering to safety, both protesters and police, and that included Ferguson's new interim police chief, forced to take cover as we were recording him.

ANDRE ANDERSON, INTERIM FERGUSON POLICE CHIEF: We just want to be as patient as possible.

(GUNFIRE)

SIDNER: The standoff between police and protesters suddenly dissipated after police say a shooting happen. This video from @search4swag on Twitter may disturb you. It appears to show 18-year- old Tyrone Harris after allegedly exchanging fire with police.

JON BELMAR, SAINT LOUIS COUNTY, MISSOURI, POLICE CHIEF: The suspect engages them with gunfire almost right at the grill of the car. Strike the hood. I don't if you have seen pictures of it yet three or four times. Strike the windshield I think four or five times.

The plainclothes detectives returned gun -- returned fire from the inside of the van.

SIDNER: The chaos was a jarring reminder of what happened along the same street, West Florissant, exactly one year ago, after the police shooting of Michael Brown, the police officer later cleared of wrongdoing by a grand jury and the Department of Justice.

But this time, protesters acted differently, and so did police, saying it was criminals, not protesters, creating the mayhem. Police say the suspect shot a plainclothes officers with a stolen .9-millimeter. As word circulated along with the video that the person shot was another black man, many left the scene, but some reacted in anger.

On the other end of the street, please say bottles and bricks were being hurled at officers on the anniversary of Brown's death.

BELMAR: It was truly a tragedy. There's a small group of people out there that are intent on making sure that we don't have peace that prevails.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: That is Sara Sidner reporting for us from Ferguson, Missouri.

And Attorney General Loretta Lynch is condemning this newest violence in Ferguson. The Justice Department has been working with the city's police department after finding a pattern of civil rights violations within the force.

Our justice reporter Evan Perez has more on that.

The attorney general spoke to a police group at Pittsburgh. What exactly did she say, Evan?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, she was there to highlight what really is badly needed in Ferguson, which is a better relationship between police and community. Community policing is what they call it. And here's how she spoke out about what happened in Ferguson last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LORETTA LYNCH, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I strongly condemn the violence that was perpetrated against the community, including the police officers, in Ferguson last evening. Not only does violence obscure any message of peaceful protest. It places the community as well as the officers who are seeking to protect it in harm's way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[18:05:03]

PEREZ: Brianna -- Brianna, what you hear from the attorney general there is her attempt and her way really of projecting what the Justice Department's view is of the solution here, which is that not only is there a need to address instances of police misconduct, but frankly also that these people who are out protesting, that they have to do it peacefully and that the police do have a right to defend themselves when they're shot at, for instance.

KEILAR: Have they been able, the Justice Department, to really accomplish much in the last year, Evan?

PEREZ: You know, that is a work in progress is frankly the way I would describe it. The Justice Department issued that report you just referred to in March of 2015. That's just five, six months ago.

Since then, they have been in negotiations with the city of Ferguson as to how to implement these fixes that the Justice Department report asked for. That negotiation is still ongoing, I'm told, today, Brianna. The city of Ferguson last week -- only last week said they had rejected the initial offer, so to speak, from the Justice Department. Part of the problem appears to be the cost of the monitoring that's going to have to take place to make sure the police department, the courts there, make the fixes that are necessarily.

KEILAR: All right, Evan Perez following that story, thanks so much.

Let's take another look now at the moment that the gunfire erupted in Ferguson. This was during CNN's interview with the new interim police chief.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: A message to those who are looting...

(GUNSHOTS)

(END VIDEO CLIP) KEILAR: And we are joined now by our law enforcement analyst Tom

Fuentes. He's a former FBI assistant director.

This is one of the stills that was taken, Tom, during this time. This is Tyrone Harris, who's now in critical condition. And there is -- well, there's an issue that you have critics of the police saying. And that is, plainclothes police officers who were not wearing body cams were involved in this altercation. And so you don't get the full story. What do you say to that?

TOM FUENTES, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I think there were enough witnesses that reported and what the reporting is, these officers were in a car. And when Tyrone Harris allegedly was shooting at random or into the crowd, they gave chase in the car.

He took off. They put on their flashing lights. He shoots at the car, so they will be able to determine later when they pull the bullets out of the front end of the car whether it came out of the gun that they believe he was using at the time of the shooting. Meantime, the officers are shooting out the windows at him.

Then they get out of the car, a continuing gun battle ensues, and the officers shoot him and now he's in critical condition. The allegation that these officers are in plainclothes and how could he know and that's not right, I don't think there's too many people on the street that would look at this and say, how would we know they're police officers? They were in plainclothes. But the only thing plain was their blue jeans, maybe.

They're still wearing ballistic armor.

KEILAR: But not having the body camera?

FUENTES: Well, the body -- every cop in the world doesn't have a body camera yet. I think that's still been an issue.

KEILAR: But a year ago, they were supposed to, right?

(CROSSTALK)

FUENTES: But we don't know yet if they ever got the funding in Ferguson. And these aren't Ferguson police officers. These are Saint Louis County that are doing this.

KEILAR: Sure.

FUENTES: And we don't know if the countywide purchase has been made for their officers to all be wearing body cams, especially not in uniform and on the street patrolling.

KEILAR: Is it surprising for you that a year later, where the idea of a body cam that really could have given us much more information in the death of Michael Brown, that for the police officers who are trying to maintain the peace in Ferguson, whether they're Ferguson police or not, that they don't have them? Isn't that stunning?

(CROSSTALK)

FUENTES: I think Chief Belmar will take a hard look at this and reconsider, because if the officers had body cams, if the car they were driving had a dash cam, and you clearly saw Harris shooting at them, which other witnesses said was what was happening, then that would be vivid evidence that he was attacking the police officers.

KEILAR: OK, Now, this is another. Tell us what this is a photo of.

FUENTES: This is supposed to be some of the damage done to the police car that Harris was shooting at the car.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: That he was allegedly shooting at the car?

(CROSSTALK)

FUENTES: Allegedly shooting at the alleged police car. Right.

KEILAR: His family says it wasn't him, that he wasn't armed. What do you make of that?

FUENTES: Well, that's the family. Not much, frankly.

KEILAR: Really?

FUENTES: Yes.

KEILAR: They certainly feel very strongly about that.

(CROSSTALK)

FUENTES: There are so many witnesses to the number of shots he fired. And I'm sorry that the family -- I don't think the family would believe it if he was on a dash cam.

KEILAR: All right, let's take a look at this. You see the officers -- and we have a few photos of this -- you're seeing what they're wearing here. These are obviously officers in uniform.

[18:10:00]

We see them during this process. They have riot shields. But you actually make a point, Tom, about what they're wearing here.

FUENTES: Right.

KEILAR: And this is a different sight than we saw a year ago.

FUENTES: They're about in the middle between being in full ballistic gear to protect themselves and having nothing.

And, you know, when you hear the interview with Sara Sidner with the chief of police where you hear probably somewhere between 30 and 50 shots fired and you have another police officer hit in the face with a brick yesterday, this is not the greatest protection. If you look, yes, OK, this doesn't exactly fit real well.

But the officers wearing this armor, this is protecting the bare minimum. The face shields, I don't know how protective that would be against a bullet. The rest of their body's exposed. They're not wearing, you know, the greatest gear. They're not -- they all don't have assault rifles. You see the batons and with several of them pistols.

But, again, look, if an officer gets shot in the midsection, that easily could be a fatal shot. He's not in full ballistic protection. So, somewhere along the line, either they don't have it, they don't have enough for every officer or they decided to go with kind of a mid-level protective level.

Tonight, I think it might be much different. As I said, when you hear 40, 50 shots going out last night and people shooting at the police, people shooting at each other, shooting at the protesters possibly, bricks and bottles being hurled at the police officers, it gets to a point where if you're the chief, you're responsible for the lives and the safety of your officers. You're not supposed to stick them out there like human pinatas for people to beat or shoot at or hurt.

So that's just not acceptable. They're out there to protect the protesters, frankly.

KEILAR: And you think they will be out there with perhaps different stepped-up armor?

FUENTES: I would question if they're not.

KEILAR: All right, Tom Fuentes, thanks so much for looking at those pictures for us.

Joining me now is U.S. Congressman from Missouri, Democrat Emanuel Cleaver.

And I want to ask you this, Congressman. Thanks for joining us, first off, I should say.

REP. EMANUEL CLEAVER (D), MISSOURI: Sure.

KEILAR: The events in Ferguson last night, Tyrone Harris, who was shot by police, he's been charged today with multiple counts of assault on law enforcement, four counts, five counts of armed criminal action, one count of discharging or shooting a firearm at a motor vehicle.

Have you been briefed on what led up to this shooting last night?

CLEAVER: Well, yes. I think we first need to make sure that the viewers here on CNN understand that anybody who came to the demonstrations with a gun is a criminal.

And they don't deserve to be categorized with the young people who simply want to be else courts to the progress that is needed in Ferguson. Now, John Boehner, at the request of Congressman AL Green and myself, put on the floor a vote on body cameras. And the Congress of the United States -- this is amazing -- voted almost unanimously as a resolution saying that we believe in and support the use of body cameras.

And I think this is another instance where there would be few questions, although I don't think this is going to end up having a lot of questions, but there would be even fewer questions had we seen the officers and their cars equipped with cameras.

And I think, you know, there will be those who don't understand that, when I say cameras, it's protecting the police and the public. And this is an instance where it would probably protect the police, because it appears as if the police were responding justifiably.

But the young people who are out there, they have a -- they deserve a right to be out there and protest. But you can't shoot and think at the same time. And so the people who are shooters are, in fact, providing assistance to the people who like Ferguson as it was a year ago, which was like it was 25 years ago.

KEILAR: All right, Congressman Cleaver, stay with me. I have many more questions for you. We will talk about whether anything has really changed in Ferguson after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:18:58]

KEILAR: We're following breaking news.

It's a state of emergency ordered after gunfire erupted during a protest in Ferguson, Missouri, overnight, coming exactly a year after Michael Brown's death.

We're back now with Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver.

Congressman, President Obama told NPR that he feels a great urgency to get as much done as possible -- that's a quote -- before he leaves office on this issue of race relations. Do you think he's doing enough to address these issues?

CLEAVER: Absolutely.

In fact, my concern is that, as you know, as the media knows, each time President Obama delves into these issues, there are those who start out saying he is a Black Panther, he is for violence and so forth.

And, look, the issue of race relations is something that all of us can do and must do. The president, I think, can set a broad outline for what we need to be doing as a nation. And I think he's doing that. But the work really comes from us, with our neighbors and with our colleagues. And that's exactly what should happen.

[18:20:09] But let me just say, there's a lot to be done in Ferguson, a lot to be

done in this entire country on the issue of race. And maybe we have gotten to a point now where people will quit denying that we still have a race problem in the country.

KEILAR: Well, that's what I want to ask you about, because it seems like deja vu all over again. Has anything really changed here in the last year?

CLEAVER: Well, yes.

Look, we need more things to be done in Ferguson. But let's look at what's happened. The police chief has been removed. The state Supreme Court removed the municipal court judge and the administrator. The city manager has been removed, all of the top officials in the city except for the mayor.

And a lot of the protesters are angry that the mayor never stepped down. The city manager has been removed. We now have a new police chief. There are things that have been done. The Congressional Black Caucus conducted a political boot camp in Ferguson. And then three or four weeks later, we had two more individuals elected to the -- African-Americans elected to the city council.

So we're making progress. Remember, though, Ferguson a year ago was in 1955. And so now I think it's in about 1965. There are still problems there, but those problems cannot be addressed with guns. And I can't overemphasize the fact that those who are carrying guns and coming to a protest are coming for the purpose of disruption.

And they would like to see things as they have been. And I think we need to shun them and the police need to arrest them.

KEILAR: Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, thanks for so much talking with us. We really appreciate it.

CLEAVER: Good to be with you.

KEILAR: And joining us now, we have community activist John Gaskin, we have CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Sunny Hostin, and we have Jamelle Bouie, a writer for "Slate" magazine.

Thanks so much for being with us.

John, to you first.

According to the lieutenant governor, Peter Kinder, NAACP officials have actually asked the governor to stay away from these protests. Is this something you're aware of?

JOHN GASKIN, COMMUNITY ACTIVIST: I am not aware of that. But I will say this.

I think tonight we as community leaders need to have confidence within our community and shun any type of violence or negative activity that can potentially set us back in the progress that we have been making within the Saint Louis region and within that community.

It is imperative that people are safe tonight, and if they see activity that is not OK, that they empower themselves to let someone know, because we cannot afford to see ourselves moving backwards because a select few of individuals on the fringe of this effort want to be selfish and take matters into their own hands.

KEILAR: What did you think about what Congressman Cleaver said there? He said a year ago, Ferguson was in 1955. Now it's in 1965, meaning it's made progress, but there's a long way to go.

GASKIN: Sure.

Brianna, Emanuel Cleaver was just here speaking to the NAACP just a couple months ago, so he's had his hand on the pulse of what's happened here. He hit the nail on the head. Progress is not a destination, it's a direction. And so although things are not perfect within the city of Ferguson, a lot has changed. And they're certainly moving in the right direction.

That's the same for the entire Saint Louis region. We're certainly not where we want to be, but we're certainly headed in the right direction, because as you remember this time last year, when you all were covering this thing so well, it was just absolutely embarrassing at the racism that was seeping out of the city of Ferguson and its institutions there. And so I think we're definitely headed in the right direction.

KEILAR: Jamelle, you're watching this. You have been covering this story since it began. What's your take watching what we saw over the weekend and maybe even what we're expecting this evening?

JAMELLE BOUIE, "SLATE": I find it frankly almost disgraceful on the part of the Ferguson law enforcement and sort of the Saint Louis County law enforcement that, after what we saw last year, they're still responding in this heavily militarized way. They're still kind of bringing out police officers clad in heavy weapons and armored vehicles.

I think it speaks to the extent to which there's still a disconnect somewhere. Even though there was -- in the case of the young man who was shot yesterday, he reportedly was carrying a gun. Even given that, there still seems to be a disconnect between what is needed in addressing protesters, the vast majority of whom are peaceful, and what the police are actually bringing in.

I will add part of this is broadly the fact that the Saint Louis County area is a place of just pervasive segregation and inequality. And so even if you are getting rid of bad apples, bad officials, you still have this sort of macro context throughout the entire region, which is not good and doesn't look to be changing any time soon.

[18:25:10]

KEILAR: We just had one of our law enforcement analysts on.

Sunny, you can jump in on this too.

He said, look at the vests that they're wearing. They're actually just protecting the heart and they're protecting vital organs. They aren't as heavily militarized as they were a year ago.

Is that something you -- he would argue that they have dialed it back a little bit, but they have to be honest when they're dealing with someone who is shooting at them. What do you say to that?

BOUIE: I would say that, if you are in the crowd, if you're just a protester, a bystander...

KEILAR: Peaceful protester.

BOUIE: ... peaceful protester, you see a phalanx of police officers in vests, the fact that they're not wearing helmets is not really going to change your basic reaction to them. You're still going to be agitated and afraid.

And that hasn't changed. And I don't think that merely making that important, but ultimately cosmetic change is what people were thinking when they thought, we need a better, more constructive police response.

KEILAR: Sunny, we have some really good video that we were just showing, if we can queue that back up, of during the day, protesters, peaceful protesters, being arrested, being taken away. I wonder what you think of this, because they aren't resisting being arrested. Why are they being taken away?

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, I'm not sure. I am surprised, quite frankly, at the images that are coming out of Ferguson.

Having been there myself last year and having seen that really highly militarized response from the police with armored vehicles and shields and heavy weaponry, and to see basically, in my opinion, the same thing, the same sorts of images, it appears as if nothing really substantial has changed.

We know that the Justice Department came out with the report indicating that this is a police force that was using its citizenry as a revenue stream, a police force with terrible training, rampant racism, and wholesale reform was necessary.

And now the police -- and now law enforcement saying that, well, we don't have the money to make those changes. Yet you're seeing this militarized response. And in terms of the shooting that we saw, you know, those officers, while they had all this other equipment, they didn't have body cameras, which we all know is something that even the president has indicated is a necessity for our law enforcement officers, to protect them and also to protect citizens.

And so I'm really dismayed, Brianna, at the lack of progress that I think has happened in Ferguson.

KEILAR: All right, Sunny Hostin, Jamelle Bouie, John Gaskin, thanks, guys. Really appreciate this conversation.

And just ahead, Donald Trump, unbudging, unapologetic, he's trying to turn the tables on a GOP debate moderator after hitting her with his most shocking insult yet. Is he making Hillary Clinton's job easier?

And why did a college football player's erratic behavior lead a rookie cop to shoot and kill him? Is this death of an unarmed teenager any different than the others that we have seen?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: More defiance tonight from Donald Trump as he refuses to apologize for one of his most shocking verbal attacks yet.

[18:33:14] Trump now says the target of his insult, FOX News anchor Megyn Kelly, should be apologizing to him. Trump claims Kelly treated him unfairly during last week's Republican presidential debate, but he took his tirade to a whole new level when he said this to CNN's Don Lemon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She gets out, and she starts asking me all sorts of ridiculous questions. And you know, you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her -- wherever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Let's bring in CNN political reporter Sara Murray. How's this all playing for Donald Trump?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you might expect, Donald Trump still not apologizing. Still not backing down. He's trying to clarify his remarks, though, saying we totally misinterpreted them. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I didn't even say anything, because I didn't even finish the thought. I was going to say nose and/or ears, because that's a very common statement. Blood pouring out of somebody's nose, it's a statement showing anger. She had great anger when she was questioning me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: So as we said, Trump there trying to turn the tables on Megyn Kelly, asking her to apologize. Let's listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: She asked me a very inappropriate question. She asked -- she should really be apologizing to me, you want to know the truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KEILAR: OK, so this is really interesting, because he seems to be on the offensive. CNN, though, obtained a debate memo that outlined some very different advice for his -- from his advisers. Explain this.

MURRAY: Yes. The interesting thing, you know, up until the debate we heard Donald Trump kind of talking like he was going to tone things down, like he wanted to come across more presidential. And there was a debate memo, a pre-debate memo that sort of gave him options. It said, "Look, if you go on the attack, then other people are also going to come out swinging. But either you come out swinging against everyone onstage or you sell yourself as being president, a job creator, an outsider, independent of the donors, special interests and lobbyists. Then the public will start to perceive you as presidential."

Now you may know, this is a memo from what is now his former presidential adviser, Roger Stone. Clearly, he did not decide to heed the advice about appearing presidential.

KEILAR: That is fascinating. Because that's sort of what we were wondering. That might be the wild card, if he sort of showed up and was more measured than we've seen him in other forums.

All right. Stay with us, Sara, because we're going to wind in our discussion now with Republican strategist and CNN political contributor Ana Navarro; CNN political director David Chalian; and CNN Politics senior digital correspondent Chris Moody.

OK. This is the question that I think some Republicans are really worried about. At a certain point, Chris, does the damage become permanent that Donald Trump may be inflicting? Is it not just on him but on the party?

CHRIS MOODY, CNN POLITICS SENIOR DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT: It depends on to whom you're referring. If him, I don't think it does. Because he's proven that he can say just about anything -- insult POWs, speak about women in this derogatory way -- and it doesn't hurt his poll numbers. IN fact, he's inched further and further up.

When you are talking about the Republican Party, the two groups that have worked so hard to get further with the margins on is women and Hispanic voters. They have spent so much money on this, and they've trained so many candidates to speak well and to promote policies they think will attract those people. And now they fear that Donald Trump is chipping away at those. And I think when you're referring to the party as a whole, yes, there is fear and trepidation about this.

KEILAR: I talked to Senator Lindsey Graham earlier today, and he said, "If I am a young woman voter, if I am a Hispanic voter, I am looking at what Donald Trump is saying, and I'm really put off by it." And he's clearly worried that this is a put-off of the entire party.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Right. We shouldn't be too surprised that Donald Trump's opponents in this race are going to take issue...

KEILAR: Sure.

CHALIAN: ... with what he's doing in this race. He's at the top, and they're all trying to punch up a little bit, as well.

But there is real concern beyond the slate of candidates that are on the debate stage with him. There is real concern in the establishment wing of the Republican Party, as we know.

Brianna, I look at this very broadly. If you go back to 2009, we saw the beginnings of this with the rise of the Tea Party. And the Republican Party conundrum about harnessing all of that energy inside the party without suffering any of the backlash from that energy.

And that is the same conundrum that they faced in 2009, 2010, and that the Republican Party did sort of grab ahold of, make room for in the party, embrace to some degree. And now they're facing a very similar conundrum with Donald Trump.

How do you get his supporters in and energize without any spillover effect of these remarks?

KEILAR: At a certain point I remember what they did. They said, enough. At some point, you heard some Republicans saying that. And still, it's a fine line to walk.

Ana, I want you to listen to this ad. It's an Instagram ad out today, put out by Donald Trump, attacking Jeb Bush.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE H.W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Read my lips. No new taxes.

GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere.

MEGYN KELLY, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Would you have authorized the invasion?

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I would have.

My brother did this wrong, my dad did this wrong.

GRAPHIC: The third time won't be a charm.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: And with the Megyn Kelly cameo to boot, I will say, he may not be your normal politician, but that's a pretty politically astute ad right there, Ana.

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I think that's what he's trying to portray. That he is politically astute. Because we've been reading for the past few days that his campaign is in chaos. He's fired several members of his staff because of offensive comments they've made on social media. He's fired some other guy for God knows what reason. There's all this melodrama between him and the other guy as to who fired who and why.

And so I think he's trying to look like he has a presidential campaign because it really is part of the process, right? At the end of the day you can have all the poll numbers you want, but you need to get on the ballot. You need to have a structure. You need to be able to qualify to be on those ballots. And you don't just do that because you wake up one day and you are a celebrity and you've got poll numbers.

Now, I was kind of amused that he went after Jeb, being that he has said Jeb Bush is a disaster. So I am amused that the first person he chose to attack is Jeb Bush.

And I also find amusing that the guy who went into his daddy's business, the guy who inherited his daddy's real-estate holdings in New York, Trump city, and who has every one of his adult children working for him, is taking issue with Jeb Bush wanting to follow in his family's tradition of public service.

KEILAR: Touche, Ana Navarro. I want to listen to what Hillary Clinton said about Trump today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And while what Donald Trump said about Megyn Kelly is outrageous, what the rest of the Republicans are saying about all women is also outrageous.

They brag about slashing women's healthcare funding. They say they would force women who've been raped to carry their rapist's child. And we don't hear any of them supporting raising the minimum wage, paid leave for new parents, access to quality child care, equal pay for women, or anything else that will help to give women a chance to get ahead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[18:40:19] KEILAR: Donald Trump is a gift to Hillary Clinton, and she's lumping all Republicans in with him, Sara.

MURRAY: That's definitely true. Sort of reminds us of when she lumped all the Republicans together on immigration. Except on this point, she actually has a leg to stand on, because when it comes to their policies, the Republican field is not that far apart. There are some differing views on abortion and whether to allow certain exceptions.

For the most part we're talking about a pro-life crowd that wants to defund Planned Parenthood, and it doesn't support paid maternity leave. And it's really easy to say that and to use Donald Trump as a spokesperson for the whole party.

The other thing, though, that I want to point out to Ana Navarro's point. I've been talking to Trump operatives in the early states today. And they say none of this back and forth with Megyn Kelly, none of the attacks on women are hurting him. They're still having people show up to volunteer, and they have sold-out events coming up left and right.

KEILAR: Speaking of sold-out events, maybe oversold events, let's take a look at some video of Bernie Sanders' appearance last night, David. This is in Portland, and he had, what, 19,000 people inside this venue. I can't wait till the camera zooms out, because it's pretty amazing. Nine thousand in overflow.

But if you're Hillary Clinton and you're looking at this, you wish in your head -- you wish you had that crowd, maybe, but maybe you're also thinking you're doing all right?

CHALIAN: Yes, I mean, look at that: 28,000 people show up to hear Bernie Sanders. By far the biggest crowd of either party's slate of candidates for president for this cycle. I do think that gives a little heartburn in the Clinton headquarters just to see that energy, enthusiasm.

But when they dig into what that support is and what she's doing on the ground organizationally in these early states, they're still pretty confident in their plan.

Again, this goes very similarly to what we discussed about Trump on the Republican side, which is that the Clinton campaign does not perceive Bernie Sanders to be a viable general election candidate, and therefore, they don't see him, then, as a mortal threat to the nomination.

KEILAR: David Chalian, Chris Moody, Sara Moody, Ana Navarro, thanks so much to all of you for joining us. And be sure to catch Donald Trump's response to all of the criticism. He'll be on "CNN NEW DAY" tomorrow morning. That begins at 6 a.m. Eastern.

I want to quickly go now back to our breaking news that we're following. These are protesters that are blocking part of an interstate highway. This is near Ferguson, Missouri. It does appear -- I believe those are police that appear to be perhaps arresting a protester. I'm being told that is what's happening. Because you see all of those protesters holding up signs, blocking the interstate here. The yellow signs actually, I'm being told in my ear say "Ferguson is everywhere."

I believe I see people who are videotaping. Maybe -- I see people who are videotaping the process there, and they appear to be surrounding that one car there off to the side.

We do have some ground video that's coming in from just a moment ago. This is what precipitated the live pictures we just showed you. People blocking both sides of the interstate, it appears here. Hand -- clasping hands, completely shutting down multi-lane roads. What appear to be ten -- a ten-lane highway there.

We are following this. This is developing as police are certainly detaining some protesters and moving others to the shoulder of the interstate to get traffic moving.

We'll be right back with more on this protest there on Interstate 70, inner city. We'll have more in just a moment after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:48:11] BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: We are following breaking news. These are live pictures of protesters being moved off of Interstate 70, a major ten-lane highway near Ferguson, Missouri.

Moments ago the protesters carrying yellow cardboard boxes painted with the phrase "Ferguson is everywhere," holding hands, blocking traffic on both sides of this interstate. Police moved in, moved them off the highway, off the shoulder. They may have made some arrests.

I have Tom Fuentes, our law enforcement analyst with me here.

Tom, tell me what you're seeing here and how law enforcement is responding.

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: I think, Brianna, mainly for law enforcement is try to keep these protesters alive, keep them from getting run over on the interstate. If somebody comes driving too fast to slow down or wants to hit them on purpose for tying up traffic during rush hour. So, I think that there's not that many of them, but you know --

KEILAR: Looks like they're all being arrested though, doesn't it, kind of?

FUENTES: I can't tell that, but --

KEILAR: You see off on the right side, they're walking along the shoulder. It appears to be officers accompanying protesters.

FUENTES: A couple.

KEILAR: I've seen several -- there seem to be at least four or five in view, then here's another four or five in view.

FUENTES: Yes.

KEILAR: It seems pretty low-key, other than the dangers of traffic.

FUENTES: I think it will be low-key if the police are trying to keep them off the street from blocking traffic and they comply with that then it will be low key.

KEILAR: All right. We'll keep following this with Tom Fuentes as well.

Thanks, Tom.

We're learning now as we change gears here, some new details of an armed attack on a U.S. consulate in Turkey. It's a possible act of retaliation.

CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has more on this.

Barbara, what are you hearing?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, good evening, Brianna.

Turkey, one of America's most important allies, suffering a wave of violence today. One of the big questions is, are the militants sending a message to the U.S.?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(GUNSHOTS)

[18:50:03] STARR (voice-over): Gunshots rang out near the U.S. consulate in Istanbul as Turkish police blocked off the area after two women staged an armed attack. Turkish authorities said the women were part of a left wing militant group.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The policeman was shouting, "drop your bag, drop your bag," and the woman was saying, "I will not surrender. I came to avenge the attack in Suruc, I will avenge the attack in Suruc."

The police warned her, "Drop your bag or we will shoot you." And the woman said, "Shoot".

STARR: The consulate issued an emergency message warning U.S. citizens to stay away and to exercise caution near large gatherings. It all happened at the first of the heavily armed U.S. F-16 fighters arrived in Incirlik, Turkey. Those planes now ready to begin air strikes in Syria and Iraq.

Air strikes in northern Syria will be aimed at killing is. But they will also support Kurds known as the YPG, something Turkey opposes.

HENRI BARKEY, WILSON CENTER: The only effective force against ISIS in Syria has been the YPG. It is unlikely that the United States will stop fighting with the YPG and will stop its alliance with them.

STARR: U.S. officials tell CNN they will sent additional helicopters into southern Turkey very soon to be on standby if any U.S. pilots go down.

But until those arrive, the U.S. is willing to take the risk with the rescue helicopters they already have in the region.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STARR: And what about the unit of U.S. trained and equipped Syrian rebels that is virtually disbanded after coming under attack? Well, U.S. officials say they're going to have to figure out what to do with that whole train and equip program. They have a number of additional rebels -- several dozen already in training and where that program is headed is a big question tonight -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Sure is. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thanks.

Just ahead, an unarmed teenager goes wild at a car dealership, winds up dead. Was this justified?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:56:57] KEILAR: In Texas tonight, a vigil is planned for a college football player who allegedly drove his SUV through the front window of a car dealership, wound up dead, shot by a rookie police officer. A lot of unanswered questions about what happened.

And CNN's Ed Lavandera has been covering this story. He's in the Dallas suburb of Arlington.

Give us the latest, Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, it looks like Arlington police have gotten a clearer picture of what has happened in this shooting. We have been told a short while ago, both officers have been formally interviewed here in Arlington by investigators.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Erratic behavior with a fatal outcome. Security cameras capture the 19-year-old Christian Taylor as he drives his car up to the gate of a car dealership. The sophomore football player at Angelo State University stumbles around, then proceeds to damage property on site, first trying to punch through a car window, then jumping on the hood, breaking the windshield.

POLICE DISPATCH: He broke into possibly a gray color Ford Mustang.

LAVANDERA: Over a loudspeaker system in the parking lot, the security company tells Taylor he is being watched. And after he starts destroying the car window, Taylor has been told police have been called to the scene.

In the edited video provided by the dealership, Taylor heads back to his vehicle. He then breaks through the gate, drives his Jeep through the glass on to the showroom floor.

POLICE DISPATCH: I just saw a guy in the building that has his hat on.

LAVANDERA: Arlington police are called to the scene, and an altercation ensues. According to police, Taylor is tased by one officer. The other officer draws his gun and fires four times.

POLICE DISPATCH: We got shots fired.

LAVANDERA: That officer, 49-year-old rookie Brad Miller, was still under supervised field training having just received his badge in March.

Miller shot at Taylor four times, landing shots in the neck, chest and abdomen, according to the medical examiner.

POLICE DISPATCH: Notify internal affairs please. LAVANDERA: The FBI is assisting in the investigation and Arlington police are not required to wear body cameras. And CNN has learned there are no cameras inside the car dealership showroom.

CHIEF WILL JOHNSON, ARLINGTON POLICE: I can guarantee you that we will have a thorough investigation. If this was not justified or authorized under the law, there will be consequences.

LAVANDERA: Meanwhile, Taylor's family struggles for answers questioning why the unarmed teen was killed.

ADRIAN TAYLOR, FATHER OF VICTIM: Shoot an unarmed man and you are trained to take down -- you are trained to take down men with your hands. You have your taser, you have your clubs, whatever there is. Unarmed 19-year-old and you shoot to kill.

ADRIAN TAYLOR, BROTHER OF VICTIM: I don't want it to be a race thing. I don't want it to be a black/white thing because it can happen to anybody. I want everybody to be protected by law enforcement.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: And, Brianna, the latest development here just to reiterate, both officers have now been formally interviewed by Arlington investigators. But we have not been told exactly what they told those investigators -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Ed Lavandera, thanks so much.

And thank you so much for watching THE SITUATION ROOM.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.