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THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER

More Than 50,000 Children Apprehended; She Had "An Ethical And Legal Obligation"; McSteamy Sets Sail

Aired June 20, 2014 - 16:30   ET

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


JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to ask the man who wants to be the governor of Texas.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Welcome back to THE LEAD, everyone. I'm John Berman in for Jake Tapper. The National Lead, Vice President Joe Biden south of the border right now speaking with leaders of several Central American nations about more than 50,000 children who have crossed illegally into the United States. Many of them motivated by false promises of migrant smugglers looking to make a profit off of their desperation.

The vice president is there sending the message, trying to send the message that these children may not stay permanently if they are caught by the border patrol. The White House is offering financial aid to get them back home. Meanwhile, Department of Homeland security Chief Jeh Johnson is in Texas along with several high ranking officials to see for themselves really the chaos at the border protection facilities.

I want to bring in someone right now who is dealing with this firsthand, Greg Abbott is the attorney general of Texas. He is also the Republican candidate for governor there. Mr. Attorney General, thank you so much for being with us.

GREG ABBOTT (R), TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL: Thank you, John.

BERMAN: So as I said, you are right in the middle of this. You've just written a letter to the Department of Homeland Security Chief Jeh Johnson asking for $30 million in federal money. What do you want to the try to the fix this crisis?

ABBOTT: When I made that request, we knew exactly what we wanted to do and we've not yet heard back from Jeh Johnson about funding the program. But what we wanted to do is what Texas announced earlier this week and that is to deploy the Texas Department of Public Safety to the border region to be involved in what is called a border surge, which would last for the remainder part of this calendar year.

This is something that the Texas Department of Public Safety has done before, and what it is intended to do is to be a gap filler because of the opening created by this influx of literally about a thousand or more people a day that's causing the border patrol not to be able to enforce border security and so we're filling in the gaps to arrest the cartel criminals who are otherwise plying their trade here in the state of Texas.

BERMAN: There are two problems here, really aren't there, sir, the fact that these immigrants are getting here and what happens to them once they're here? I've had guests here tell me these warehouses some of these kids are being kept in is tantamount to government sponsored child abuse. Do you think there is a need to make the conditions they're being kept in better?

ABBOTT: Well, we need to clarify, John, because you said those are two of the problems. There's far more than those two problems. In addition to these children who are coming here, you need to understand that there are also members of MS13 is, which is one of the most deadly gang organizations in the entire globe.

Teens who are members of MS13 have walked up to members of the border patrol and told them who they were and the border patrol had to let them go, let them loose, and they have gang organizations across this country.

Another thing is about these kids on their way here. These kids are being victimized by human traffickers in addition to the human smugglers, being subjected to sexual assaults on their way here. What the administration must do, what the administration must do is to make it clearly don't risk your lives, don't come to the United States of America because you're going to be assaulted, you could be attacked.

There's one story about Daniel who had to swim away from alligators on his way to make his way here to the United States. This is treacherous. It is dangerous. And there is no way the United States should have an open door policy or perception that's being given to Guatemala, to El Salvador, to Honduras. This is an administration made disaster we're dealing with.

BERMAN: All right, I do understand that and I do want to ask you about that. I do want to know about these kids that are already here. What do you want to do about them?

ABBOTT: Well, there again, John, that is because they are under the control of the United States government, it's up to Jeh Johnson and the federal government to be able to provide them what it is they need. But what it is they need is actually defined by the administration itself because it is up to the administration itself to decide how long they are here. But the administration can and should do --

BERMAN: But as a human being, as an American citizen, do you want to see those conditions improved?

ABBOTT: Of course we want to see all --

BERMAN: Warehouses.

ABBOTT: Right. We want to see all human beings taken care of and so we want to make sure that the humanitarian aspect is fulfilled. And that's just one, John, just one of the countless things that we are asking the Obama administration to do, but John, in your lead, you pointed out one of the ironies here.

And that is we have these needs right here in Texas right now, this humanitarian need, and yet Vice President Biden was in Central America announcing almost $100 million of funds for Central American countries as opposed to spending a single dime helping out either A, the humanitarian effort we need here in Texas or B, spending any money to help secure the border here in Texas.

BERMAN: The administration does now say that these kids who are here have to go home. The vice president is in Central America right now trying to send a message to the people in those countries and to the governments that the people who make it here have to go home. You know, how can they make that message heard?

ABBOTT: Well, for one, by living up to what they're saying and we're kind of in the position now where we will believe it when we see it because they've been saying this for a long time and yet seem to fail to fulfill that commitment. So what they're going to actually have to do is live up and take action commensurate with their words.

BERMAN: All right, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, really appreciate you being with us. Hope you have a great weekend, sir.

ABBOTT: Thank you, John.

Coming up for us, she lied like a dog. That's the accusation a rape victim is making almost 40 years after Hillary Clinton defended her attacker. My next guest just spoke with Clinton's accuser. We'll have this story coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm John Berman in for Jake today. The Politics Lead now, four decades ago before she was a possible presidential candidate, before she was even Hillary Clinton, Hillary Rodham was a 27-year-old trial lawyer in Arkansas with a southern draw and big ambitions. She was asked by a judge to defend a 42-year-old man accused of raping a 12-year-old girl.

Now, Clinton was able to plea bargain down the sentence to one year in prison, which was then reduced to time served, but the victim who is now 52 years old is speaking out to the "Daily Beast" and saying one of the most famous woman in the world put her through hell. She also has a message now for the former secretary of state.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You lied on me, I just realized the truth of it, hard, back in '06 after I got out of prison. I just studied it a little bit. I realized the truth now. Hard, of you done to me. I said and you're supposed to be for women? You call that for women? What you done to me? And I hear you on tape, laughing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: She first spoke out in the 2008 in an interview with reporter, Glen Trush, published in "News Day." These new comments come after an audio recording of an interview with Mrs. Clinton from the early 1980s was dug up by the conservative web site, "The Washington Free Beacon." In that clip, Mrs. Clinton seems to admit she knew the defendant was guilty.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON: He took a lie detector test. I had him take a polygraph which he passed, which forever destroyed my faith in polygraphs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So in the 1975 affidavit, Clinton wrote of the victim, "I have been informed that the complainant is emotionally unstable with a tendency to seek out older men and engage in fantasizing." Clinton as we said ultimately plea bargained down the sentence on a technicality involving evidence accidentally destroyed. But the victim says her life was ruined, as well and now says she's ready to stand up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I heard that tape, I was pretty upset. I went back to the room and was talking to my two cousins and I cried a little bit. I ain't gone to lie. I thought to myself I'm going to stand up for what I've got to stand up for, you know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Josh Rogin is a senior correspondent for national security and politics at "The Daily Beast." He spoke with the victim. Josh gave us these tapes and he joins me now along with CNN legal analyst, Paul Callan. Josh, I want to start with you here. What can you tell me about this woman?

JOSH ROGIN, SR. CORRESPONDENT, "THE DAILY BEAST": Well, this woman has had a tough life since the fateful events of 1974. She struggled with the injuries that she sustained, years of therapy, anger issues. She battled drug addiction. She spent some time in prison. She lives on disability in Arkansas, unemployed. She never got married, never had children. She doesn't attribute this all to the events, but she said it definitely contributed to her life spiraling out of control from which she never recovered.

She was never really upset with Hillary Clinton or her actions in this case until she learned very recently because of the documents and videos revealed that you just pointed out that Hillary Clinton had accused her of some sort of culpability in her own attack and then when she heard the tape of Hillary Clinton laughing about the her attacker's guilt, she decided that she just couldn't take it anymore and she wanted to put her side of the story out in the public for the record.

BERMAN: So she heard how Hillary Clinton handled the case back in 1975. That was part of it. That's why I want to bring in Paul Callan, our legal analyst. CNN reached out to Mrs. Clinton for comment. They didn't respond. But in 2008 in a "News Day" article, then Clinton spokesperson, Howard Wolfson, defended the conduct saying as an attorney and an officer of the court, she had an ethical and legal obligation to defend him to the fullest extent of the law to act otherwise would have constituted a breach of her professional responsibilities. She was a lawyer, a defense lawyer doing her job.

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, absolutely. Of course, you know, Abraham Lincoln defended criminals, John Adams defended criminals. So it's always hard when a lawyer runs for office because you get cherry picked on certain cases. I think the real criticism here, I just came from a deposition with a bunch of hardened New York lawyers around the table. I said I'm going to be going to CNN.

I played them the tape and they were all shocked when they heard she was laughing about a case in which she got a guy who raped a 12-year- old girl off or got a lighter sentence for it. Then we played the tape and everybody was, what's going on here? She doesn't really do anything that's strange.

If you listen to the whole tape, she's not laughing about the fact she got somebody off. She's laughing about the process. She talking about for instance she flew up to Brooklyn to get the world's leading expert on blood samples and the prosecutor was very upset about that. So she laughs about the prosecutor being upset.

She's never laughing about a victim not getting justice. It's kind of a -- it's a lawyer telling a lawyer tale. What bothers me about it is, notwithstanding the southern accent which I think is a little much for a woman from Illinois, is that she's got a tin ear for how people in general, the public, would react to this. Now remember, Bill Clinton's active in politics by this time.

BERMAN: This is the '80s, too. It's a long time ago. I know Bill Clinton was active in politics. She's giving some kind of legal interview. As you say, you know, the full context, people read into what they want. It's hard for us to know exactly what was going on in the room without seeing the video or speaking to Mrs. Clinton.

CALLAN: Well, I can tell you, though, John, we lawyers like to tell war stories about our great cases. If you represent somebody accused of child rape, that's one you kind of don't talk about too much. That's the way it is with lawyers, even the best of lawyers.

BERMAN: The story first came out in 2008 when Mrs. Clinton was a candidate. Now she's just probably a candidate and this time, the victim is out speaking. A lot of people are wondering because obviously this is in the middle of a swirl of politics. Has she been speaking to anyone? Did anyone approach her and say you should be talking about this? Has she been involved at all in politics?

ROGIN: I think we have to be careful here not to blame the victim and two, not to sort of attack this strawman argument. No one's saying that this alleged rapist didn't deserve vigorous defense. What they're saying is, were Hillary Clinton's accusations within the bounds of that vigorous defense? Was there any evidentiary basis for them? Did she go too far in her zealousness to win the case? I think these are questions that she's going to have to answer if she runs for president, especially as a champion of women and girls. As for the victim herself, her story is clear and on the record. I'll let her speak for herself in that regard.

BERMAN: Do you think this will become a political issue?

ROGIN: I think that these are open questions. And I think that Hillary Clinton deserves the opportunity to answer those questions. And she hasn't availed herself of that opportunity. But until she does, I think those questions won't go away.

BERMAN: And Paul, you were nodding your head no when Josh was questioning whether Mrs. Clinton did anything beyond the bounds.

CALLAN: Yes, you know, I think what people have to understand is a defense lawyer's job is not to present false evidence and she did not present any false evidence. It's to create reasonable doubt about the prosecutor's case. The prosecutor threw away the blood evidence in the case and it couldn't be tested at the time of trial. So there was minimal evidence available physical evidence to prove the rape. She just brought that to the prosecutor's attention and he folded.

BERMAN: Paul Callan, great to see you. Josh Rogin, thank you so much. Appreciate you coming on with your reporting and the story.

Next up on THE LEAD, McSteamy on a boat. Do I really need to say more? Erin McPike got a behind the scenes look at the "Grey's Anatomy" hanks return to primetime on TV ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Welcome back to THE LEAD. The Pop Culture Lead, disaster important never looked so good. Disaster four never looked so good. Everyone's favorite white coat-wearing piece of eye candy, McSteamy is trading in his stethoscope for the command chair of "The Last Ship."

Eric Dane headlines the cast of TNT's post-apocalyptic drama helmed by executive producer, Michael Bae, and given the names attached it promises plenty of explosions and smoldering, lots of smoldering. Erin McPike dropped anchor with Dane at the "USS Barry," which is a real life naval ship in Washington to talk about the show.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the captain speaking.

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Eric Dane is captain of TNT's explosive new series "The Last Ship."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The country we all hoped we were coming back to no longer exists.

MCPIKE: The show's premise is a worldwide pandemic decimating the population.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The world is sick. Captain Chandler, very sick.

MCPIKE: And who better than Dane, a former TV doctor, to helm the planet's last safe haven.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our mission now is simple. Do whatever it takes to stay alive at sea until they find that cure.

MCPIKE: You remember him best as Dr. Mark Sloan on ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" or even better by his nickname, McSteamy.

(on camera): Everybody knows you as McSteamy more than Eric Dane or Mark Sloan, the character's name. Does that bother you?

ERIC DANE, ACTOR: It is what it is. . It doesn't bother me. It got me where I am today, sitting here talking to you. So it's done nothing but good things for my career/

MCPIKE (voice-over): Now the 41-year-old Dane is moving on to the type of role he says every actor ultimately wants to play, a hero bringing people together in order to save the world.

DANE: I love the character. I love being on the right side of things for once.

MCPIKE: This time as a commander in the U.S. Navy in Hollywood's latest attempt to balance traditional military pomp -- with more realistic grit.

DANE: The military as portrayed in the media and as portrayed in Hollywood are two entirely different things. Hollywood always portrays them as these larger than life principled heroes, which is more or less what they are.

MCPIKE: But like maverick military roles from "Top Gun" to "Homeland." That doesn't mean his character is always well behaved.

DANE: I don't necessarily think this guy wants to be in the circumstances he's in. I think he's a reluctant hero. At the same time, he can't let his desire to get back to his family get in the way of the primary goal, which is to save what's left of the world. It's kind of fun being the commanding officer because everybody has to do what I say. At home, my wife's the commanding officer and I'm the one taking orders.

MCPIKE: Is the real commander of "The Last Ship" is executive producer, Michael Bay, the powerhouse behind reluctant hero flicks like "Transformers" and "Armageddon."

DANE: It's never fun seeing the burning embers fly at your face and you have to stay still and pretend like none of it bothers you. We have an arm wrist and we have Navy SEALs and a whole group of people that facilitate and advise and --

MCPIKE: Have you gotten your ass kicked a couple times?

DANE: No, Captain Chandler does not get his ass kicked. MCPIKE: What about Eric Dane?

DANE: I've gotten my ass kicked a couple types, yes.

MCPIKE: Erin McPike, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Don't miss McSteamy on "The Last Ship" starting this Sunday on TNT, part of the Turner family at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. That's it for THE LEAD. I'm John Berman. I turn you now over to the captain of our ship, Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM."