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National Guard Leaving Baltimore as Mosby Faces Conflict of Interest Questions. Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina Join Republican Presidential Race; Bill Clinton Dismisses Allegations of Wrong Doing in Clinton Foundation Donations; Phoenix Mosque President Describes Texas Gunman as "Nice Guy." Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired May 04, 2015 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:31:25] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer, reporting from Washington.

Baltimore, the city is starting to return to normal today as National Guard troops continue to pull out of the city. Meantime, the state's attorney who filed criminal charges against six officers in the death of Freddie Gray is facing serious questions about a potential conflict of interest. All this comes only a few months after Marilyn Mosby took the job.

CNN's Sara Sidner was able to get an exclusive interview with her and her husband.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We sat down with the Mosby family, Mr. and Mrs. Mosby and their two young children, 4 and 6-year-old, and it became apparent they say they are ready for this challenge.

(voice-over): He is a councilman and she the youngest state's attorney in America, and suddenly one of the most visible figures in the most highly publicized homicide case in recent Baltimore history.

(CROSSTALK)

SIDNER: Charging six officers so far, seeing more praise than protests. But her critics have pounced on the couple's political connection.

MARILYN MOSBY, BALTIMORE STATE'S ATTORNEY: There is no conflict of interest. I'm going to prosecute. I'm the Baltimore state's attorney. My district includes every city in Baltimore city. A number of crimes that take place in Baltimore city and unfortunately in the district we live. Where is the conflict?

SIDNER: Their relationship established over a decade ago at Tuskegee University.

MOSBY: Very popular, but what attracted me to him there was something, it wasn't just a physical attraction, it was he wanted to be a public servant, he wanted to make a difference.

NICK MOSBY, HUSBAND OF MARILYN MOSBY & BALTIMORE CITY COUNCILMAN: She knew what she wanted to do, how she wanted to get there and the first time I really met a woman or a young lady at the time like that.

(SINGING)

SIDNER: But they discovered they had more in common than ambition.

(SINGING)

SIDNER: Both are the first in their families to go to college, both grew up in rough neighborhoods, and both were impacted by crime, especially Marilyn. Her cousin, mistaken for a drug dealer, shot and killed in front of their family home when she was 14.

MOSBY: I saw my 17-year-old cousin with all these dreams and aspirations who is now going to a grave, but the individual responsible for his death was also 17 years old. And it struck me. I said, how could we have gotten to that 17-year-old before he decided to take a life?

SIDNER: It was a defining moment from a girl who came from four generations of police officers.

Both she and Nick believed the community and police can work together despite the difficult relationship.

MOSBY: It is about bridging everybody together. It is about realizing that at the end of the day it's a very small number of individuals that are defining the perception of our city.

SIDNER (on camera): As a black man in America, what is your contact and relationship with the police?

NICK MOSBY: It's been tough. It's struggling. I've been physically assaulted by the police.

SIDNER: Doesn't that make you angry?

NICK MOSBY: Anger is -- you learn how to handle your differences, you learn how to handle your anger through education and who and what you are and what you try to force change in a positive way versus the negativity or violence.

SIDNER (voice-over): Marilyn Mosby sees no difference between someone with or without a badge when it comes to justice.

MOSBY: At the end of the day, my job is to seek justice and to apply justice fairly and equally to everybody, no matter what their color or their creed or religion, their ethnicity.

SIDNER (on camera): Do you think you can do that beyond a reasonable doubt and the biggest case of your life?

MOSBY: Absolutely. SIDNER (voice-over): As the blanket statement, city leaders are out

of touch they point out they choice to buy a dilapidated home in a blighted part of town. They live with the problems of their city in sight but also see its potential to flourish.

NICK MOSBY: It was a huge risk. We were the first to purchase on this block. 10 to 12 vacants at the end of the block, next to an apartment building called Murder Mall where violence occurs.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[13:35:26] SIDNER: There are people criticizing her for being inexperienced saying she doesn't have the chops to deal with a case this big. The nation is watching. But she mentioned she's faced that criticism before when she managed to unseat the incumbent, becoming America's youngest state's attorney -- Wolf?

BLITZER: Sara Sidner, thanks very much.

Two more contenders join the race for the 2016 Republican nomination. We're taking a closer look at their impact and which political name may become their official rival tomorrow.

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BLITZER: The Republican presidential field just got a little bigger. Retired surgeon, Dr. Ben Carson, is officially in the race. With his wife at his side, he announced his bid for the White House in his hometown of Detroit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. BEN CARSON, (R), RETIRED NEUROSURGEON & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now, I venture this, my family, you say, well, who are you? I'll tell you, I'm Ben Carson, I'm a candidate for the president of the United States.

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[13:40:06] BLITZER: Dr. Carson had a planned trip to Iowa after today's announcement in Detroit, but he postponed it to visit his critically ill mother in Dallas, Texas.

Another new Republican candidate entered the race today. Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina announced her presidential bid this morning, becoming the first declared female candidate to seek the Republican nomination.

Our chief political analyst, Gloria Borger, is here to take a look at both candidates.

First, what do you think about Dr. Carson and his chances?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Look, he right now, is well known to a degree to those who watch FOX News. He's done very well in the sort of FOX News. He's done very well --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: He was a FOX News contributor.

BORGER: Contributor. He's done well in the FOX News primary. So he is well known in that sense among the Republican base. He is a world- class pediatric neurosurgeon. And he is not a Washington. All of those things serve him well.

But on the other side, Wolf, he may not be of Washington, but he has never held elected office. He has no legislative executive political national security experience and so I think he's going to have a hard time in this field overcoming that. He's in the second tier of the polls. He can move up and down. Everybody in these races gets their 15 minutes of face, right? I assume Ben Carson will have it. He's spent time apologizes for stupid things he said, like prisoners who go into jail sometimes come out gay and had to apologize for that. He's got a long way to go.

BLITZER: He was one of the most brilliant pediatric surgeons at Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore.

BORGER: Absolutely. Absolutely.

BLITZER: Let's talk about Carly Fiorina. In her announcement, she released a video, and as she has often, went directly against Hillary Clinton. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARLY FIORINA, FORMER CEO, HEWLETT-PACKARD: I'm getting ready to do something,, too. I'm running for president.

Our founders never intended us to have a professional political class. They believe that citizens and leaders needed to step forward. We know the only way to re-imagine our government is to re-imagine who is leading it. I'm Carly Fiorina, and I'm running for president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: And she really goes after Hillary Clinton in all of her stump speeches, even before she has been a declared candidate.

BORGER: You know, she is positioning herself as the anti-Hillary to a degree. If you want to vote for a woman, another woman out there. And she is really going to not only talk about this sort of professional political class of which the Clintons are at the head of that class, right, she's going to talk about trust worthiness, the problems that the Clintons have, do you believe them, don't you believe them, Hillary Clinton's e-mails, the Clinton Foundation, et cetera.

So I think she's going to separate herself that wait. The interesting thing to me about both of these candidates we've been talking about, about Carson and Fiorina, they're polling so low right now, I'm wondering how they get on the stage in the debate in august because the Republican national committee has said there has to be a certain threshold and I don't know if they're going to be high enough in the polls at that point to even make it to the stage which I think Republicans would like if you want to show a more diverse field.

BLITZER: Usually, they get a little bump after they make their announcements. We'll see how they do in the coming months.

BORGER: Right.

BLITZER: The former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, another former FOX News contributor, he's about to announce tomorrow.

BORGER: That's right. The difference with Huckabee, frankly, he's been there, done that. He's an experienced candidate. He appeals very strongly to evangelicals. He's terrific out there on the stump. Those of us who have been on the campaign trail have watched him. So, you know, this is not his first rodeo in this. And so I think, you know, he could upset the apple cart a little bit, particularly in the state of Iowa, where pro evangelical candidates are now splitting a lot of the pie.

BLITZER: We'll see what happens. As of tomorrow, there will be six form mall Republican presidential candidates.

BORGER: We're still counting.

BLITZER: More to come.

BORGER: Yeah.

BLITZER: Thanks very much, Gloria.

Still to come here, serious questions surrounding the Clinton Foundation's fund-raising practices. The former president may be getting tired of answering them. Seemingly, some testy exchange with a reporter. We'll have details when we come back.

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[13:48:06] BLITZER: It's a political headache that won't go away for the Clintons. Questions about their foundation's fund-raising practices keep coming up, specifically donations from foreign governments and individuals made during Hillary Clinton's time as secretary of state.

But former President Bill Clinton is dismissing any allegations of wrongdoing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't think there's anything sinister in trying to get wealthy people and countries that are seriously involved in development to spend their money wisely in a way that helps poor people and lifts them up. I don't think there's anything about that. There's been a deliberate attempt to take the foundation down. And there is almost no new fact that's known now that wasn't known when she ran for president the first time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Our senior Washington correspondent, Jeff Zeleny, joining us now.

Jeff, they have put some new restrictions in recent weeks on foreign contributions.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: That's right. They've basically said only six governments can give money to the foundation, mainly European governments that have already some projects under -- sort of in the works, but so many more questions and even some of his words there actually raised some more questions.

We are learning a lot more than when she ran for president the first time. She was secretary of state for a period of time then. So there are new questions here. So he is referring to the old, "They're out to get us, they're out to get us," but there are new things that we're learning and legitimate things coming out.

BLITZER: Not just in the new book that came out. "The New York Times," "The Washington Post," they're following up as well. Those are serious investigative reports.

ZELENY: No question about it. And the campaign is still looking into things and I'm told they're going to release more things. The bigger question, when is she going to address these things. One thing to have him addressing things. She was on the board of the foundation as well, so at some point she'll be asked about this and will likely have to answer.

BLITZER: In the interview with NBC, he was also asked about more than $100 million he's gotten over the past several years, speaking fees, and said I got pay the bills. His critics obviously seizing on that.

ZELENY: I think we're going to see that in ads and see it again and again. It sounds so out of touch with the average American. He certainly has the ability to raise money or to make money, but "I got to pay the bills," I mean, he's made a lot of money in speeches.

[13:50:29] BLITZER: At some point, she's going to have to start doing some interviews and doing some explaining herself.

ZELENY: I would think so, especially if she wants to sort of control the message and control her campaign. She can't have him out this doing that. I'm not sure how wise it was to do this interview or not. We'll see in the days to come.

BLITZER: We certainly will.

Jeff Zeleny, thanks.

Coming up, I'm going to speak with the president of the mosque in Phoenix, Arizona, that one of the Texas gunmen attended. He described him as a, quote, "nice guy." We'll get an assessment when we come back.

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BLITZER: Returning now to our top story, the investigation into a shooting in Texas.

Joining us now, Usama Shami, the president of the Islamic Community Center in Phoenix, Arizona.

Thanks for much for joining us.

You knew one of the suspects, Elton Simpson. Tell us what you know about him.

USAMA SHAMI, PRESIDENT, ISLAMIC COMMUNITY CENTER, PHOENIX (voice- over): I first met him about ten years ago. He attended our mosque regularly. Until the incident that happened in 2010, 2011, which he was arrested by the FBI. Then after that, he became less frequent to the mosque.

BLITZER: And I believe you knew him as Ibrahim.

SHAMI: Yes, everybody knows him in the community as Ibrahim.

[13:55:05] BLITZER: And he was a convert, based on what you know?

SHAMI: Yeah. When I first met him, he was a Muslim. So I'm assuming sometime before 10 years he became a convert.

BLITZER: We know he was 30 years old. What about the second suspect, his roommate? Did you know him?

SHAMI: I don't know his name. I didn't see his name in the newspaper, so I don't know who that person is.

BLITZER: So you're not -- once you hear the name, you might be able to know who he is. We'll follow up with you on that.

Did he ever give you indications, Elton Simpson, that he was sympathetic supporter of any of these, let's say, ISIS or al Qaeda or any kind of terror group?

SHAMI: No, he was a gentle person. He always had a good attitude, a good demeanor. I was surprised to hear that he was attempting to do this because he always was interested in playing basketball. He was always nice with other people. It's totally out of character for the person that I knew. But again, like I said, since 2011, he hasn't been coming to the mosque regularly. The last time I saw him a few months ago, he looked the same. He didn't say anything that would indicate any of this. And even when he attended the mosque regularly, he was not somebody that had any extreme views.

BLITZER: So you're surprised when you read these reports that just before this attack in Garland, Texas, outside of Dallas, he tweeted, quote, "May Allah accept us," and used the #Texasattack. It was as if he was advertising what he was planning on doing.

SHAMI: Yeah, and like I said, this is very surprising to everybody. Everybody that knew him. Like I said, they wouldn't have expected anything like that from him. A lot of times when you read things like that, you question yourself if you have known that person very well. But in this case, this is what everybody's feeling because there was no -- any indication this was happening. Even the case against him in 2011, we know that an FBI informant was involved in this. A lot of times you would think that maybe there was some kind of entrapment or something. Nobody in the community really thought that this would happen from somebody like him.

BLITZER: So it's fair to say, Usama, that in your community, especially at the Islamic community center of Phoenix, people are in the shock right now?

SHAMI: Everybody that I talked to is in shock. Everybody can't believe this has happened with this person. Like I said, there was no indication that he carried any of these views. So between 2011 until now, I don't know what happened, what radicalized his thoughts. It's a mystery to me.

BLITZER: We're almost out of time, but I assume FBI personnel are now questioning people at the mosque.

SHAMI: We have not been contacted by any of the authorities. I haven't. I haven't received any calls in the mosque from the FBI. So we'll wait and see. But we always had an open relationship with the FBI. They're always welcome to the mosque. We always contacted them and talked to them. So if they have any questions, they know who to call.

BLITZER: It's a really sad story all around. You don't know anything about whether his family life, if he had relatives in Phoenix or elsewhere, what he did for a living?

SHAMI: I don't know what he did for a living. I know that he does have a family, parents, here. He has a father and mother in Phoenix. But I don't know. I know that he used to work in different businesses but, lately, I have no idea what he was doing.

BLITZER: Usama Shami is the president of the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix.

Shami, good luck over there and thanks so much for joining us.

SHAMI: Thank you. Thanks, Wolf.

[13:59:38] BLITZER: That's it for me this hour. I'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in "The Situation Room."

For our international viewers, "Amanpour" is next.

For our viewers in North American, "Newsroom" with Brooke Baldwin starts right now.