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CNN NEWSROOM

Super Bowl PSA Inspired by Real-Life 911 Call; Goodell to Deliver State of the NFL Address; Rap Mogul Accused in Deadly Hit and Run; Is Alcohol Really to Blame for Campus Rapes?; Mitt Romney Won't Run for President in 2016

Aired January 30, 2015 - 10:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: With the Super Bowl just days away, Roger Goodell will step before the cameras and give his annual state of the NFL address. The league's commissioner under close scrutiny in a year that's seen a lot of controversies both on and off the field -- everything from deflate-gate to a former player facing trial for murder.

Well, something encouraging to talk about now: a new PSA concerning domestic violence, an issue that has involved several high profile NFL stars this season, will air during Sunday's game.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 911 Operator, 911. Where's the emergency?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 127 Bremmer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ok. What's going on there?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'd like to order a pizza for delivery.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ma'am, you reached 911. This is an emergency line.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Large with half pepperoni, half mushroom.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know you called 911. This is an emergency line.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you know how long it will be?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ma'am, is everything ok over there? Do you have an emergency or not?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you're unable to talk because --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right, right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there someone in the room with you? Just say yes or no.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ok. It looks like I have an officer about a mile from your location. Are there any weapons in your house?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you stay on the phone with me?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. See you soon, thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Very powerful PSA -- very powerful ad. I want to talk about it with Virginia Witt, the co-founder and director of No More, the organization that developed the NFL's new domestic violence ad. Welcome.

VIRGINIA WITT, THE CO-FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR, NO MORE: Good morning.

COSTELLO: You know, this ad is so effective. How did you come up with the idea?

WITT: Well the ad is inspired by real life stories. As we know tragically, there are hundreds of calls like this that come in to emergency lines, to 911, to hotlines across the country all the time. This is not -- this is a very pervasive problem throughout our society and that's what we're trying to address with this PSA. We really want to get America focused on ending domestic violence and sexual assault.

COSTELLO: How did you come to work with the NFL to try to combat this problem?

WITT: We've actually been working with the NFL for a couple of years. Soon after we launched in 2013, our campaign to end domestic violence and sexual assault, we had an opportunity to have a meeting at the NFL. We met with among others Troy Vinson who's a senior executive there and a terrific advocate on this issue.

We subsequently did some collaborative work with them, put some information on their player engagement Web site, did some speaking out together on this issue. And then last fall, the NFL contacted us and offered us the opportunity to put our ads, which have been on the air, wonderful ad produced by Joyful Heart and celebrity PSAs created by Young and Rubicon (Ph) that had already been on the air for about a year, to put them on the air even more broadly on football broadcasts. And it was a terrific opportunity to reach a wide audience with our message.

COSTELLO: Well, here's the difficult thing. When people are watching the Super Bowl, they are interested in having fun. They want to see funny commercials and then they're going to see this. How do you suppose that will affect them? Will they tune it out? Will they listen? WITT: I think they'll listen. The feedback that we're getting --

last time I checked on YouTube, we had over a million views just in the preview of this.

There's a buzz on social media about this ad. I think it's connecting with people emotionally. I think they're drawn in by it. And I also think that America is ready to come together just the way they do with their Super Bowl parties around the table with family and friends. They are ready to come together and end domestic violence and sexual assault. We're sensing a tremendous wave of concern and commitment on this issue.

COSTELLO: So something has changed in our culture do you think or is it too early to say?

WITT: I think we're approaching a tipping point. And I don't want to be too optimistic about it because obviously people have gotten optimistic before and been disappointed. But if you look across the cultural landscape and you look at colleges and universities, if you look at the military, if you look at the corporations that are addressing this issue, you really see a broad cultural attempt to grapple with these issues. And it's going to take time and it's going to be difficult. But it's encouraging that the effort is under way.

COSTELLO: Virginia Witt -- thanks for your efforts. I appreciate it.

WITT: Thank you.

COSTELLO: So what exactly will Roger Goodell say today? Let's bring in CNN sports anchor Rachel Nichols. She's in Phoenix. It is I guess, the day for the state of the NFL delivered by Roger Goodell. What will be the themes?

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS: Yes. Yes, Roger Goodell hasn't spoken since the beginning of October. This is always a highly anticipated event every year no matter what the Super Bowl. But this Super Bowl certainly more scrutiny than ever. There are more than 800 seats in the auditorium for media from around the world and you can expect, Carol, there to be a lot of questions.

Deflate-gate is going to be the first thing we expect to hear from everybody and there's really criticism of Roger Goodell from both sides. First of all, why has he taken so long to speak on this? As Seattle corner, Richard Sherman noted the players have had to talk every day. How come Roger Goodell has not had to answer questions on this for the couple of weeks that it's been going on?

And then the pace of the investigation -- the investigators haven't even spoken to Tom Brady yet. How come? How come they haven't talked to so many of the key players?

There are Patriots players and the Patriots owner Robert Kraft who is upset in the other direction. They think there's been too much investigating. They think that if there's not clear, physical evidence the NFL needs to issue the Patriots an apology. Roger Goodell will be asked about that. Of course he'll also be asked about another wide range of issues from drug testing to the domestic violence progress that they have made in terms of combating that and combating the player issues that they have with personal conduct all the way to L.A. And then we're going to see an NFL team in L.A. in two years because there's a real possibility of that as well.

So a real wide range this morning.

COSTELLO: Can't wait to hear. It should be interesting -- right.

NICHOLS: Yes.

COSTELLO: Talk about security for just a second because it's going to be intense on Sunday.

NICHOLS: Yes, We're really going to see the ramp up starting today and it is amazing the coordination of agencies here. There's been talk lately about whether the NFL should keep its tax exemption status that it has -- its antitrust status.

Well I've got to tell you, a lot of taxpayer dollars are going toward this effort. You've got the U.S. border patrol is loaning Blackhawk helicopters. You have the TSA is loaning some of its screening equipment and its screeners. The Federal Air Marshals are loaning behavioral specialists to walk through the crowd. There's also bomb sniffing dogs, nuclear bomb sniffing dogs. Carol -- I don't know how you train a nuclear bomb sniffing dog but they will be here along with 3,000 local Phoenix police and 4,000 private security personnel as well.

COSTELLO: Well, dogs are amazing. We all know that. I've never heard of that either -- interesting.

Rachel Nichols, thanks so much.

COSTELLO: Go inside the big game to the heart of Super Bowl Central with Rachel Nichols and Hall of Famer Dan Marino. Hear how the Seahawks' head coach Pete Carroll overcame being fired by the Patriots to bring in a championship team to Seattle.

CNN's "KICKOFF IN ARIZONA" tomorrow 4:30 p.m. Eastern.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a deadly hit and run and a notorious rap mogul in custody for murder. We'll take you live to Los Angeles next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Notorious rap mogul, Marion "Suge" Knight is under arrest this morning. Police say Knight murdered a 55-year-old man by driving over him with his pick-up truck. The two were seen arguing on a movie set in Compton, California. Knight turned himself in for questioning early this morning.

And in a bizarre scene, Knight paused to finish his cigar. You can see him putting it out on that tree, before he headed inside the West Hollywood sheriff's station.

Sara Sidner is following the story for us. Good morning, Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, those pictures are interesting. But that's when he was going in for questioning.

And this is the latest in the string of run-ins with the law that he's had -- the former rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight. But these are the most serious charges he had ever faced. He has been arrested and booked on suspicion of murder after sheriff's investigators say he ran over two people, killing one of them, in the middle of the day here in L.A. in the Compton neighborhood.

That trouble started, according to investigators, yesterday afternoon when an argument broke out on the set of a biography called "Straight Out of Compton" about the once hugely popular 90s West Coast rap group MWA.

The L.A. County sheriff says that the argument ended outside a burger joint when Knight ran the man over in his truck killing one of them and injuring the other. There were witnesses.

Let's hear from one of the people who says they heard what happened. They were out there when it happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT SMITH, WITNESS: All I hear is some arguing and loud sounds going on so I turn to look out and I seen Suge Knight turn around and go to his car, back his car up and then he put it in drive and he hit Terry Carter. He ran him over twice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: You heard the name the witness says is one of the victims but sheriff's deputies have not confirmed the name of either of the victims in this case. Knight's attorney told "L.A. Times" that he's positive that Knight will be exonerated.

Let's talk a little bit about "Suge" Knight. He rose to fame when he co-founded Death Row Records with Dr. Dre in 1991 but Knight constantly found himself surrounded by violence and in legal trouble much like the music that he produced.

The last time Knight made headlines was in August of last year after he'd been shot six times in a packed Hollywood nightclub during a pre- awards party. He obviously survived that.

But then in 1997, going back several years now, Knight was sentenced to nine years in prison for violating parole in a assault case. He got out in four years but ended up back in prison for two after violating his parole again for striking a parking attendant.

His legal battles turned into financial troubles and nine years ago he filed for bankruptcy. Now he's facing the biggest legal battle of his life accused of murder -- Carol. COSTELLO: All right. Sara Sidner reporting live from Los Angeles

this morning -- thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, It's a part of life for millions of college students but is alcohol really to blame when it comes to sexual assault on campus? We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Dartmouth is taking a bold stand to prevent sexual assaults on campus. It's banning hard alcohol. Although Dartmouth is trying I have to wonder if it's really going after the root cause of rape. Does hard liquor turn young men into rapists or does it fuel something already inside them that needs to be addressed?

Let's talk about that and more. Liz Seccuro is an advocate for rape victims' rights who herself was raped at the age of 17. And Ariel Zwang is the CEO of Safe Horizon.

Thank to both of you for joining me this morning. I appreciate it.

Liz, I want to start with you. An interesting note here -- two football players at Vanderbilt were just convicted of raping an unconscious women. Their defense, they were so drunk they did not remember raping and urinating on this woman. The jury didn't buy it but with that in mind, is Dartmouth on the right path?

LIZ SECCURO, RAPE VICTIMS' RIGHTS ADVOCATE: I don't think it's on the right path because we're talking -- rapists are now using the idea of rape culture and intoxication as an excuse now when before they denied it existed. So where as before it was the young woman or the victims who had been intoxicated, now we're using it.

I just think it's so tone deaf because as you said in the beginning of the piece, hard liquor does not turn a young man into a rapist. Rapists are rapists. And I think we're painting everyone with a really broad brush here.

COSTELLO: Ariel do you agree?

ARIEL ZWANG, CEO, SAFE HORIZON: I do agree. You know at Safe Horizon, we see thousands of sexual assault victims -- survivors every year. And we do know that alcohol may be present but it's by no means the cause of a sexual assault.

I actually though think that what Dartmouth has done even though the headline is about banning of the alcohol, it's part of a very comprehensive program that includes four-year preventive education and education for first responders. So we think it's a pretty good comprehensive step in the right direction.

COSTELLO: Some people might say that sounds like a bunch of gobbledygook. So you're going to educate people and that's going to solve the problem on campuses?

ZWANG: Sending a strong message to every young man and every young woman that says no one has a right to have sex with anyone without their consent and enforcing that in education and in the response that victims get when they do report, I think that's a lot more than gobbledygook.

COSTELLO: Let's talk about banning of hard liquor because I'm interested because you have talked to rapists, right?

ZWANG: We mostly talk to victims.

COSTELLO: I know victims, right. But you certainly have experience in knowing why men rape, right?

ZWANG: There are a lot of reasons why men rape. Certainly a culture that doesn't hold men accountable enough for violence against women of every kind -- that's one reason. Too much of the -- too many young men for whom sexual exploits are considered part of young manhood. There are a lot of societal factors and absolutely individual factors that cause people to rape. Alcohol may reduce their inhibitions but it doesn't as I think we're all in agreement, it doesn't create a rapist for sure.

COSTELLO: So Liz in your mind, what is the root cause of this kind of behavior that we're seeing on college campuses across the country?

SECCURO: Well, we've been seeing it forever but now I think we're focusing on it. And I think everyone in the wake of UVA, in the wake of the "Rolling Stone" article, in the wake of Vanderbilt, everyone is rushing to do something. But none of it is exactly right. And I think what needs to happen is it needs to be just treated as the crime that it is.

And, you know, the whole idea that -- you know, prohibition was supposed to cure all of the social ills. I think what's happening is basically young men and young women are being punished now for being future rape victims and future rapists and that's just -- I think that's just wrong.

I think this whole rush to talk about alcohol as the main cause is wrong and we really need to get back to basics by raising people to say look, rape is wrong.

I don't blame the entire Greek system or alcohol on what happened to me. I blame the actual rapist. No one seems to be getting that or taking that home as the point. And I think that a lot of people are in a really good hearted place and we're all trying to do something but even those of us who are experts, I don't think any of us are getting it right, right now.

I think we're all sort of fumbling around and we all have the best intentions and we will come up with something comprehensive. But you know, each campus is different and I think the way we raise our kids really has a lot to do with this.

COSTELLO: I would have to agree -- I would have to agree with Liz. And the final thing to you: if a young woman on a college campus accuses someone of rape, why not just go to the police? Why go through this campus system? I don't understand that. Why not skip the middle man because it's a crime. It's a crime.

And why don't universities report those crimes to police to somebody well-versed in how to handle these cases?

ZWANG: I agree with you. We have absolutely seen not only in cases of sexual assault but look at Penn State and assault to children as well that there is too much of a sense that we like to keep this in- house and under wraps and deal with it inside and that is absolutely wrong and so, so damaging to victims who don't get their day in court and their fair say and to be helped by people whose actual profession it is to help people who have these terrible things happen to them.

COSTELLO: Absolutely. Liz Seccuro, thank you so much. Ariel Zwang, thanks to you too. I appreciate it. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: All right. We told you at the top of the show that Mitt Romney would be making a decision on whether he'll run for president once again at the top of the hour. But Gloria Borger has been working her sources. She has the answer -- right. Gloria -- please share.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. I've been e-mailed a statement by a senior Romney adviser which says that Romney is going to tell this conference call that he is not running. He says in the statement "I would have had the best chance of beating the eventual Democrat nominee but that is before the other contenders have had the opportunity to take their message to the voters. I decided it is best to give other leaders in the party the opportunity to become our next nominee."

I think, Carol, what we can say is that Mitt Romney very much wanted to be President of the United States. I think he took a look at all of the numbers. His polls as he points out in this statement are quite high and good.

But I think privately they were taking a look at the fund-raising. They were taking a look at the staff they would be able to gather at this, believe it or not, relatively late date and Romney decided that he would not do it.

The idea of his running was not accepted with open arms by a lot of folks in the party who were scratching their heads and I think again this is something that Romney believes he should be. He believes he should be President of the United States but I think that he has decided this time that it would be too difficult and it's not his time.

COSTELLO: All right. I want to bring in another political analyst, Peter Hamby. He has something to add to this conversation. Peter, take it away.

PETER HAMBY, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: Well yes, just to add to Gloria's conversation about, you know, calling around to get financial support. The unmistakable backdrop to this decision is the fact that Jeb Bush has completely owned the early stages of the invisible primary in the "establishment lane", quote/unquote, in the Republican primary.

Bush's aides called their strategy a quote, "shock and awe strategy" -- swift, mighty, deadly. They wanted to clear the establishment lane with donors, with staff and with the media. And Romney was sort of caught off guard by how quickly Jeb Bush was moving to line up support for his likely candidacy.

And so as Gloria mentioned especially in the last two weeks, Romney and his team have called around to donors and realized that a lot of these people are with Jeb Bush and that's not just in the New York financial circles that we've been talking about a lot. It's in every state in this country.

So there's a little line in the statement that Gloria just read. We've got to give credit to Hugh Hewitt, the radio host that broke that on Twitter, that he didn't want to make too complicated for another candidate. It's hard to see how that candidate isn't Jeb Bush at this point.

COSTELLO: All right. Again, Mitt Romney has decided not to run for president in 2016. Peter Hamby -- many thanks to you.

Thank you for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello.

Another hour of NEWSROOM right now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Happy Friday everybody. I'm Kate Bolduan. John is on assignment today.

We're going to continue with the breaking news that we're just hearing in the last hour, in the last couple of minutes actually.