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Freddie Gray Police Report Given To State's Attorney; Police Reveal New Stop By Van. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired April 30, 2015 - 13:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: -- in Baltimore, 7:00 p.m. in Paris, 8:00 p.m. in Baghdad. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

We begin with breaking news. The police investigation into the death of Freddie Gray is now in the hands of the prosecutor's office. Gray's death in police custody in Baltimore at the center of all the unrest that occurred earlier in the week in Baltimore. It will now be up to the state's attorney, Marilyn Mosby, to determine whether charges will be filed against any of the six police officers involved in Gray's arrest. Baltimore police commissioner, Anthony Batt, says the people deserve transparency and truth. He says more than 30 detectives worked to get the report finished.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY BATT, COMMISSIONER, BALTIMORE POLICE DEPARTMENT: This does not mean that the investigation is over. If new evidence is found, we will follow it. If new direction is given by the state's attorney, we will obey it and we will follow through with the investigation. We will also further investigate, at the request of the state attorney, to bring forth any other witnesses that we find. I understand the frustration. I understand the sense of urgency and so has the organization, and that is why we have finished it a day ahead of time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: We did learn major new detail today. The van carrying Freddie Gray made a previously unknown stop before delivering him to the police precinct. Let's get right to CNN's Athena Jones. She's joining us from the corner of Mosher and Fremont. That's where the van made that stop. Athena, first of all, how did police find out about the previously unknown stop?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we found out in the police press conference that was held a short while ago that it was discovered -- this is a quote, "discovered from a privately-owned camera." But there's still a lot of questions about which just camera. I'll explain why.

But this is -- this is the stop. This is a grocery store. It's owned by a Korean family. The owner does not speak very good English, and so we're going to try to get someone who can talk to him who speaks Korean. You can see out here, the surveillance cameras outside. It's unclear when those were unplugged or cut. We haven't been able to find that out. We can tell you this. This store was looted on Monday night by some young people in the area who pulled out the air conditioner and went inside.

We're told from a neighbor who has been helping this family make a police report, helping them call 911, she called several times on Monday night, the police did not come. She was told, by the owner here, that the kids who looted the store stole his laptop. The store, as you can see inside, has cameras inside as well. And he said -- she said that the cameras from the inside of the store are linked to the laptop and that they stole the laptop. What's unclear right now and what we're still trying to understand is how the police may have gotten surveillance footage from this camera. We've asked the owner several times whether he handed over footage, and he said that he did not do so.

So, it's really unclear whether or not perhaps the police may have found that stolen laptop or what went down but we're going to figure that out.

But let me tell you what's significant here. This is the number four stop. But we now know it was the second stop made in order. The first stop was to put leg irons on Freddie Gray. This second stop, we don't know what happened here because police are just now learning about this second stop. That third stop was to quote, "deal with Mr. Gray." That, of course, is under investigation, what exactly that means. And the fourth stop was to pick up another prisoner.

So, again, this is a previously unknown second stop. This came about -- this came to the police's knowledge during the course of their investigation. And so, it's a new bit of information which is what people are eager for right now. It doesn't, of course, answer the questions of what exactly happened in that van or happened to Freddie Gray, but it's an important new clue. And we're going to find out as much as we can about it from the owner over the course of the next several hours -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Well, it opens up the police -- the police officer's involved in his arrest to more questions. Why didn't they share this information about this previously unknown fourth stop? Why did police investigators have to learn about it from some private closed circuit video camera? Those are -- those are major questions.

JONES: They certainly are major questions and they're questions that we're trying to get the answers to. All of the people of Baltimore, and of course around the country, we've seen the protests and solidarity in support of the -- of the Freddie Gray's family and what happened to him. The support of getting justice for him, I should say. And so, there's a lot of questions that still need answers. But this is -- it's new information that, of course, brings new questions.

But this is the store. It has been closed. And now, he is back hoping to get -- to be able to meet with us. And he's also going to be meeting with insurance folks to try to get a restoration, of course. So, we're going to try to find out as much information as we can. But very, very important, new information about this, a fourth stop that was actually second in order during this long ride that Freddie Gray took. You know, he was picked up not far from the western district which is where he was supposed to be headed. Of course, he ended up going to the shock trauma unit where he died a week later -- Wolf.

[13:05:10] BLITZER: And It -- we -- and another question is what happened in the fourth stop which happened to be the second stop. But let's figure it out. And we'll get more information, Athena. Get more information, we hope.

We're also just receiving a statement now from the state's attorney, Marilyn Mosby, in Baltimore. She says she has received the report from police. And then, she says, and I'm quoting now, "We have been briefed regularly throughout their process while simultaneously conducting our own independent investigation into the death of Freddie Gray. While we have and will continue to leverage of the information received by the department, we are not relying solely on their findings but rather the facts that we have gathered and verified. We ask for the public to remain patient and peaceful and to trust the process of the justice system." That from the state's attorney, Marilyn Mosby.

Let's get more on all these new developments that are unfolding and what happens next in this critically important investigation. Joining us from Baltimore, our Justice Reporter Evan Perez, our CNN Legal Analyst, the former federal prosecutor Sunny Hostin, and our CNN Law Enforcement Analyst Tom Fuentes, a former FBI assistant director.

Let's, first of all, stop with the -- start with this additional stop that police have now revealed, the van carrying Freddie Gray made. What does that disclosure suggest to you? Evan, let me start with you because you've been doing a lot of reporting on this.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: That's right, Wolf. You know, this is a -- what it does is it adds additional questions. What happened during that -- this additional stop, this fourth stop? This is something that, you know, adds to, I think, frankly, the distrust that there's already out there with this investigation. It's not fair necessarily to the police investigators. They say that -- the police department says that they are disclosing this information as soon as they can, in an effort to be transparent.

And, apparently, this information was not -- was provide -- was not provided by the officers involved in this. It was not radioed in as it was supposed to be. This was discovered only as they canvassed the neighborhood looking for any CCTV surveillance cameras that they could find. And that's how they found this. This is not the way it's supposed to go.

And we got a hint from the police chief, the police commissioner, just about a week ago during a press conference in which he said there had been new information found about the -- about the ride in the van. And he didn't say, at the time, what it was, but now we know that this is what he was talking about.

BLITZER: What does it say to you, Tom Fuentes? TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Wolf, what it says to me is

that as the investigation goes forward, you know, pieces of information come up that the police don't have on day one or day five or 10 that that's why they're out canvassing. But you probably have a lot of people, private businesses with security cameras where the owner, if he doesn't looking out the window, may not have a clue what's actually on his camera. So, later, when the police come knocking and want to the review security cameras, then they see that not only police van stopped in front of the business, but that police van.

So, I don't see anything sinister that they didn't know this right away. These kind of things take time in a major investigation and they have 50 detectives working on that.

BLITZER: Let me get Sunny's take on it -- Sunny.

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I have to disagree with Tom. I think perhaps there is that specter that is somewhat sinister because we know that at least five out of the six officers, including the person that drove the van, did give statements to the police. So, the fact now that only through surveillance video, the officers, the investigators learned about this additional stop, that tells me that perhaps that additional stop was not disclosed when the officers were initially interviewed. That is problematic because you want your officers, quite frankly, when you're investigating to be very transparent, to be very open. And the fact that a stop, which is very important, was left out somehow of those statements and of those -- that timeline. It's troubling.

BLITZER: Let me -- Sunny, this -- go ahead, Tom. Go ahead.

FUENTES: I was just going to say that Sunny's exactly right that we knew five of the six officers, originally suspected, gave statements day one. What this kind of indicates to me is that the sixth driver that didn't talk and worried about self-incrimination and exercised his Fifth Amendment rights might be the driver. That's the key to this case is the driver not disclosing the extra stop, maybe not radioing it in to the dispatcher, not telling anybody what happened inside that van when the driver got out and went to the back of it an extra time that we don't even know about.

So, I think that's part of the problem here is that the police department wouldn't know it. If that's the key to this thing, that driver, and that driver has continued to exercise his Fifth Amendment rights.

[13:10:01] BLITZER: Sunny, the fact that the state's attorney, Marilyn Mosby, just issued the statement, and it read it to our viewers, they received the preliminary police report from -- and the police commissioner announced that earlier today. And then, she says in her statement some intriguing words. She says, while we have and will continue to leverage the information received by the police department, we are not relying solely on their findings, but rather the facts that we have gathered and verified. Those words jumped out to me. What do they -- what do they mean? HOSTIN: Well, they didn't jump out to me because that is the normal

course of things, Wolf. Certainly, when a prosecutor gets a case and gets an investigation from an officer or from an FBI agent, you certainly take that information, but you must conduct your own independent investigation, Wolf. You've got to look at the evidence that you've been provided. You do, of course, take under consideration any charges that the police department or the FBI has suggested to you. But you must, as a prosecutor, it is your duty to conduct your own investigation.

The other thing, though, that I want to mention is I think that -- and I think we need to be careful. But I do believe that the driver of the van gave a statement. And I believe that that may be part of the story already.

BLITZER: All right. Well, there are a lot of unanswered questions. We're going to check all of that. Please, everyone, stand by.

Just ahead, he's on the front lines of the effort to try to bring some healing to Baltimore. He also happens to be married to the state's attorney who's now in charge of the Freddie Gray case. The city councilman, Nick Mosby, he's standing by live. We'll discuss what's next for Baltimore.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:15:01] BLITZER: The police in Baltimore have now handed over their report on the death of Freddie Gray. They've handed it over to the state's attorney, and she will decide whether the officers involved in Gray's arrest, the death, should face any charges.

Nick Mosby is the councilman for the district seven in Baltimore. He's also married to the state's attorney, Marilyn Mosby, who is now in charge of this case. We'll discuss that in a moment.

First, Councilman Mosby, tell us what your reaction was when you heard the police commissioner make the announcement this morning about the new details, the new information that was released, the report provided to your wife.

NICK MOSBY, BALTIMORE DISTRICT 7 COUNCILMAN: We were surprised. I mean many of my colleagues, we haven't really known much about what was going on from a Baltimore City Police Department perspective. So a lot of us was surprised and thought most of us expected to see the release tomorrow. But I guess the police were able to pull it together in - a day in advance.

BLITZER: Were you satisfied with the information, the new information, that was released or disappointed, you wanted more?

MOSBY: Yes, I don't think really much information was released. I think they talked about one additional stop. I think they really should focus on, you know, ultimately why was he a suspect, why was he chased, why was he detained and ultimately arrested? I think folks want to really hear them go into the detail around that because that's really the meat of the case. I mean from the family and the community and the friends' perspective, they were really upset that it took place. And then, of course, you know, having their friend seemingly healthy, 25-year-old lay up in a hospital bed and then ultimately die, that's what they were really concerned about. So I think that's the type of stuff that the police department needs to really start talking about.

BLITZER: And so do you have an explanation why they didn't release that information?

MOSBY: Wolf, no, not at all. Again, I was surprised that it was released today. It was news to me and news to all of my colleagues as well.

BLITZER: Were you surprised about this fourth stop previously unknown that only the detectives who were investigating what happened learned about it because of a privately owned closed circuit video camera, not necessarily from any of the testimony, any of the statements. We know five of the arresting six police officers did provide statements.

MOSBY: Definitely surprised, and it raises a lot of questions. You know, so I think, you know, as more information comes available, you know, how was that accidentally left out? Where did they - how did they find out about it? You know, I think that's the type of information that folks are going to want to know. And, you know, it will be interesting to see how the investigation continues.

BLITZER: All eyes now on your wife, the state's attorney, Marilyn Mosby. She has to decide whether to press charges, obviously could take some time. In her statement that she just released, she said, "we're not relying solely on the police findings, but rather the facts that we have gathered and verified." Then she asked the public to remain patient and peaceful and to trust the process of the justice system. What does the public need to know about your wife?

MOSBY: Um, she's my wife, she's a strong woman. You know, she was built for this. I was at a church service the other day and they were talking about being at the right place with the right person at the right time. And I know her heart has always been convicted to ensure that justice will be served fairly and equally across the board. And, you know, this is kind of what she ran on. So, you know, at the end of the day, as a citizen, not just as her husband, not just as a councilman, I'm really - I know that they're going to do a thorough job and they're going to really get to the bottom of it.

BLITZER: I assume she's working hard. She's got a good team helping her, right?

MOSBY: Oh, she has an amazing team. And I know she's working hard because I never see her. So if you see her, make sure you tell her I love her.

BLITZER: She's working really, really hard. And we'll pass along that message that you love her and we know she loves you as well.

A quick question, how's the community likely to react to the police report being handed over to the state's attorney today and the fact that, as you point out yourself, not a whole lot of new information was revealed?

MOSBY: We're working on a communication plan. I think we have to get in front of this thing. We have to try to get it to as many folks as possible. Really explaining the situation, explaining the process. Unfortunately, when the arbitrary timeline was developed by the Baltimore Police Department and put out there, I think folks had certain expectations. We need to make sure that we try to level set those expectations by communicating to our residents, our constituents, neighborhood groups, anybody that's wanting to talk to us. So we're going to really start putting out communication regarding the fact that what should receive tomorrow, and that's just that it's not a report, that the contents of their investigation was handed over to the state's attorney's office and that they're evaluating it now.

BLITZER: Well, good luck. I know this is your district, this is your community. A lot going on. And we'll stay in very close touch with you. Councilman Nick Mosby, appreciate it very much.

MOSBY: Thanks for having me on, Wolf.

BLITZER: And tell your wife we're all counting on her as well. Thank you.

[13:20:00] We're going to have much more coverage of Baltimore's state of emergency, that's coming up, including a conversation with the city's first African-American mayor, Kurt Schmoke. He's standing by live.

But up next, the Vermont senator, Bernie Sanders. He has decided to run for president of the United States to challenge Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. Bernie Sanders standing by. We'll talk live about the campaign, the country, what he thinks about what's going on in Baltimore, indeed around the country. Bernie Sanders, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We'll get back to the state of emergency in Baltimore soon, but I want to move to politics right now and the announcement by the Vermont senator, Bernie Sanders, that he is now officially a candidate for president of the United States. Here's where he stands, by the way, in our latest CNN/ORC poll. This poll was taken right after Hillary Clinton declared that she was a candidate for president. Clinton, 69 percent, Vice President Biden who says at least not yet that he's running, at 11 percent, Senator Sanders, he's third with 5 percent. Senator Sanders is with us right now.

Senator, thanks very much for joining us. An important day for you. We've been speaking about this for weeks and you were telling us you were thinking of doing it. Now you've decided to go ahead and do it. I want to talk about the politics in a moment, but I want to get your thoughts on Baltimore first. We've been watching this very closely. If you were president of the United States, what would you do about this? It's a crisis, not just in Baltimore, but in a lot of other communities around the country. SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, you know, it's

primarily a local and state issue, but the president has the bully pulpit and the president has the eyes of the nation.

[13:24:58] Look, the issue here is - I was a mayor for eight years. Being a cop is a very, very difficult job. But the word has got to get out that when police act inappropriately, and, of course, in this case, there has to be a thorough investigation, but for too many years, too many mostly black suspects have been treated terribly and, in some cases, murdered. That is unacceptable. And police officers have got to be held accountable for their actions.

Second of all, in the neighborhood where this gentleman lives, as I understand it, the unemployment rate is over 50 percent, over 50 percent. What we have got to do as a nation is understand that we have got to create millions of jobs to put people back to work to make sure that kids are in schools and not in jails. So, short term, we've got to make sure that police officers have cameras. We've got to make sure that we have real police reform so that suspects are treated with respect. Long term, we've got to make sure that our young people are working, they're in school, they're not hanging out on street corners.

BLITZER: So as president, though, what do you do - I mean how do you - how do you fix those problems? We've been hearing about those problems, as you and I know, for decades.

SANDERS: Well, I - I, along with John Conyers of Michigan, I've introduced legislation which would create a million jobs for young people in this country in some of the hardest pressed areas of America. Real unemployment is a serious problem in this country. Got to put our people back to work. I think the federal government has got to work with state and local governments to make sure that we move towards what I called in Burlington, Vermont, when I was the mayor, we called community policing, where police are per received as part of the community, the good guys, rather than as infloppers (ph), people who are from the outside coming in.

BLITZER: Let's talk about the race for the White House. Why do you think you're more qualified than Hillary Clinton to get the Democratic nomination?

SANDERS: Well, first of all, I've known Hillary Clinton for some 25 years. I like her. I respect her. What I believe is that this country today faces more serious problems that any time since the Great Depression and at the top of the list is the disappearing middle class. For 40 years, the middle class has been disappeared, and we have seen a massive transfer of wealth, trillions of dollars from working families to the top one tenth of 1 percent. That is the issue. And then on top of that you've got Citizen's United and a political system now where billionaires are buying elections, spending hundreds of millions of dollars. I have been a vigorous opponent of that trend. My history, my beliefs are that you stand with working families and you say to the billionaire class -

BLITZER: And Hillary Clinton doesn't? SANDERS: Well, I'm just saying what I say, you know, take - you

mobilize people and you say, enough is enough, the billionaires can't have it all, all right? I believe we should break up the Wall Street banks. I think they are - if they're too big to fail, they're too big to exist.

BLITZER: So what's the difference on policy, not - forget about politics, on policy between you and Hillary Clinton?

SANDERS: Well, there are some clear examples. (INAUDIBLE).

BLITZER: What are some examples?

SANDERS: Well, I voted against the war in Iraq. Not only did I vote against the war in Iraq, I believed and I spoke out, I led the effort against that war because I had the feeling that what did happen would happen.

BLITZER: So does that - her vote disqualify her?

SANDERS: No, it doesn't disqualify her. Look, we will have that debate over issues. I believe, as I said a moment ago, that you should take on Wall Street. They have too much power right now.

BLITZER: Is she ready to do that?

SANDERS: Well, you'll have to ask her, Wolf, I'm not going to speak for her.

BLITZER: Well, what do you think?

SANDERS: No, I'm not going to say that. I mean I -

BLITZER: All right, so you voted against the war. She voted for it. What else is a difference between you and Hillary Clinton?

SANDERS: All right, I happen to think that climate change is the major environmental crisis facing this planet. I voted against the Keystone Pipeline. I don't think you should transport across America some of the dirtiest fuel in the world. I don't know that she has spoken out on that.

In terms of trade, right now I'm helping to lead the opposition against the TPP. I voted against all of these disastrous trade agreements which have led to the shutdown of factories in America and jobs moving to China and other low wage countries. That's my view. She'll have to -

BLITZER: As secretary of state, she supported - we haven't heard from her lately on her position -

SANDERS: And your job is to ask her but, you know, I - so those are some of the areas. But mostly the American people will have to make a decision. I believe that we have an economic and political crisis in this country. I think the billionaire class is getting virtually all of the gains. I think they have too much political power. I think the people of this country have to come together, stand up to them.

BLITZER: What about campaign fund raising? I know you - there's no way you're going to compete with her when it comes to collecting money, right?

SANDERS: I agree.

BLITZER: All right. So she's going to have a huge, huge advantage.

SANDERS: Right.

BLITZER: How do you deal with that?

SANDERS: All right, let me take a step back because you're asking a very profound question. The real question is, can any candidate in this country who represents working families, who is not a billionaire, who is not beholden to big money, can that candidate in this day and age win an election? It's not just Bernie Sanders. I don't know the answer.

BLITZER: Because last week or two weeks ago when we spoke you said you were thinking of running. The big question is, could you raise enough money to be competitive?

SANDERS: That's right. That's right.

BLITZER: So can you raise enough money to compete with Hillary Clinton?

SANDERS: Well, we are just sending out a social media message on berniesanders.com. From what I'm understanding, we're raising hundreds of thousands of dollars today. Clearly we're not going to be having the billions of dollars that our opponents will have. But I do believe, and I would not have entered this race if, A, I didn't think we could win, and, B, if we could not raise enough money to run a strong campaign.

[13:30:05] BLITZER: If there's a billionaire out there who's a liberal and likes you, wants to give you a ton of money, is that OK?

SANDERS: I doubt that there is.

BLITZER: Let's say there is. Let's say there's some George Soros type that --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: -- really feels that you're best for the country --

(CROSSTALK)

SANDERS: I am not supportive of a super PAC.

BLITZER: You wouldn't accept that kind of support?

SANDERS: No. No. BLITZER: Really?

SANDERS: Well, I don't know. Maybe if it was you, Wolf.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: I don't have that kind of money.

SANDERS: Frankly, it is vulgar to me that we are having a war of billionaires. Sheldon Adelson is versing the Koch brothers. People did not die to create a democratic system where it's a war between billionaires. I will get the vast amount of money from small, individual contributions. That's how I've always done it. That's how I'll do it this time.

BLITZER: You're running as a Democrat, not as and Independent?

SANDERS: I am the longest-serving Independent in the history of the United States Congress, I will be active in the Democratic primary process.

BLITZER: Looking forward to debating not only Hillary Clinton, but the other Democrats who are interested?

SANDERS: I am excited about getting around the country, excited about the debate. I've never run a negative ad in my life. I detest the ugly, 30 second ads. I hope we can have a strong issue-oriented campaign and I hope the media allows us that opportunity, not to get into political gossip, but to debate the enormous issues facing working families.

BLITZER: Look forward to hearing the debates, and good luck.

SANDERS: Thank you.

BLITZER: Bernie Sanders, the Independent Senator from Vermont who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination. Is that right?

SANDERS: Yes.

Thank you.

BLITZER: Thank you for joining us.