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"Clinton Cash" Questions on Clinton Foundation Donations; Baltimore Mayor New Conference Expected on Freddie Gray Death; Statue of Liberty Evacuated; Thousands Evacuated in Southern Chile after Calbuco Volcano Erupts. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired April 24, 2015 - 13:30   ET

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


[13:30:36] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer, reporting from Washington.

Week two of her presidential run, but Hillary Clinton is beating back a media barrage. Information has been leaking out of a book entitled "Clinton Cash," putting foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation under scrutiny.

Joining us now to discuss, our senior Washington correspondent, Jeff Zeleny; and our CNN political director, David Chalian.

Let's begin with an article, a "New York Times" editorial, I should say, which is pretty critical of the former secretary of state. Let me put it on the screen. "The increasing scrutiny of the foundation has raised several points that need to be addressed by Mrs. Clinton and the former president. These relate most importantly to the flow of multimillions in donations from foreigners and others to the foundation, how Mrs. Clinton dealt with potential conflicts as secretary of state, and how she intends to guard against such conflicts should she win the White House. The only plausible answer is full and complete disclosure of all sources of money going to the foundation."

Is it too early, Jeff, right now to conclude how much, if any, serious damage this could cause her campaign some?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: It is too early to conclude that, but it shows that the Clinton controversies that have dogged them so long will be a part of this campaign from now until November 2016. It raises legitimate questions about what has happened and going forward what would happen if she was in the White House. What exactly would her president -- the husband, the former president, be doing. The campaign has been saying it's a partisan attack but not addressed the specific questions, and that's what "The Times" editorial page was calling on them to do.

BLITZER: The argument you hear is the Clinton Foundation folks -- and you've heard it and all of us have heard it -- is the Clinton Foundation raising millions to help poor people in Africa, for example, vaccines, AIDS and other critically important issues. What's wrong with letting a rich country like Saudi Arabia or Kazakhstan, for that matter, provides millions of dollars to help poor people in Africa some.

DAVID CHILIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Nothing wrong with just that but then it does raise questions about perception if someone is the sitting secretary of state and now, you know, her husband and daughter, and her name was on the foundation as well. She has resigned from the board.

Listen, the other thing the Clinton campaign says they try to do substantive pushback on a couple points this book, and they're valid. I mean they say she had nothing whatsoever to do with approving the deal of Uranium, this nuclear energy deal. Wolf, the larger problem is the perception problem. That's why I thinks "The Times" editorial is searing for them because there is the issue of, OK, even if you didn't take any official action as secretary of state, what were you can doing to deal with -- what precautions taking to make sure the perception was not out there, that there could be wrong doing here. And I don't think that the Clinton folks squared that away.

BLITZER: How worried are they about this book? Because there have been other books that have been critical of both Clintons as you know as well that haven't caused a whole lot of political damage.

ZELENY: It's not just the book. It's the reporting that is going on after the book. This "New York Times" report, this week, is a result of months of reporting and other news organizations. They're moderately worried. This is not what they want to talk about in the second week of the presidential campaign. They had a very scripted rollout of how they were going to reintroduce Mrs. Clinton, and this is not part of that at all. At the end of the day, there's also an up side. One adviser told me it's getting out now and of course, by, you know, summer, next year, it's going to be old news. But again, this is going to be a soundtrack of this campaign, questions are going to be raised about do we know everything.

BLITZER: It's interesting. The author, Peter Schweizer, he's not working on a new book about the Bushes.

(LAUGHTER)

CHILIAN: He is. He says he's going to look into Jeb Bush's finances. He's a former Bush aide and I think that getting that out there --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: George W. Bush.

CHILIAN: George W. Bush. Getting that out there that he's going to work on looking at some allegations against Jeb Bush and his finances, sort of helped push back against the notion he's a partisan hack. He's going to be out and about doing a ton of interviews. The book doesn't come out until May 5th. This will dominate headlines the next 10 days or so for the Clinton campaign.

BLITZER: The Quinnipiac poll, we have it. We'll put it up on the screen. You've seen that poll, right?

ZELENY: I have.

BLITZER: What do you make of it?

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Marco Rubio has gone from 5 percent among Republicans back in March to 15 percent right now. He's at the top of the list right now, at least for now.

ZELENY: It underscores or gives one more example, at least a snapshot of time his rollout was very good. For all the talk of his -- is he going to be overshadowed by the Clinton announcement that was not the case? In the Republican field, it was a good moment for him, a good contrast for him. And if you ask the people inside the Bush campaign, the Jeb Bush campaign, are they concerned, they're paying attention to Marco Rubio. An interesting dynamic between the two of them, but, you know, he's the one to watch, no doubt about it. But we can't say it enough, as David says, these polls are early they can change. A great 10 days for Marco Rubio.

[13:35:29] BLITZER: Impressive, right?

CHILIAN: No doubt. You see also the importance in sort of the free media, our coverage of these folks when they do their rollout. We see Ted Cruz bump up, we see Marco Rubio bump up because they get that attention and Republican voters see that guy on the news and, no doubt, their name I.D. goes up, their poll number goes up.

Listen, Marco Rubio is one of the candidates in the field that when you match up against Hillary Clinton for the general election that is a good contrast that a lot of Republicans like. And so he is going to be a presence in this race. I know there are going to be 15 candidates, Wolf, but he is going to be a real presence all the way through.

BLITZER: In contrast to Hillary Clinton, in the first two weeks since she announced her formal run for the presidency, she hasn't done any TV or significant interviews at all, right? These Republican candidates, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, they're willing to answer reporters' questions.

ZELENY: That's true. She doesn't have to get her name I.D. up the same way --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Without a doubt.

ZELENY: As reporters, we would like to ask her some questions.

CHILIAN: And voters' questions.

ZELENY: She can't ignore Jeff Zeleny screaming at her anymore.

BLITZER: All right, guys, thanks very much. Just ahead, protesters take to the streets once again in more

Baltimore. Demanding answers about the death of a man in police custody. We expect to hear from the mayor. She's standing by live. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:39:54] BLITZER: The mayor of Baltimore is scheduled to hold a news conference a few minutes from now following another night of protests over the death of Freddie Gray. We're going to bring you that news conference live as soon as it begins.

Freddie Gray died Sunday a week after he was arrested by Baltimore police. His family says his spinal cord was nearly severed before he lapsed into a coma and died. They've demanded answers how he was injured and arrested in the first place. Protests last night were mostly peaceful but police say two people were arrested for disorderly conduct. Gray's body has been turned over to his family. Their legal team says an independent autopsy will also be conducted. A wake for Gray will be held Sunday with the funeral to follow on Monday.

Let's get more on the case and what we can expect to hear from the mayor in the next few moments. Our correspondent, Joe Johns, is joining us live outside Baltimore city hall. Joining us, Cedric Alexander, the president of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives. He's joining us from Orlando. Here with me in Washington, our CNN law enforcement analyst, the former FBI assistant director, Tom Fuentes.

Joe, I know -- I understand the mayor has been meeting with religious leaders in Baltimore. Tell us the purpose of those meetings. What can she say that will help ease the crisis atmosphere that has unfolded in Baltimore?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT; Well, I spoke to several members of the clergy who were headed into that meeting today, Wolf, and it's clear that they're expecting an update on the investigation, for one thing, but also expected to talk to the mayor about ways to keep this city calm going forward. There are concerns here in the city on the ground, especially among clergy members, that outsiders might be coming in to Baltimore to cause trouble. As you know, a big demonstration expected on Saturday and then the funeral of Freddie Gray again on Monday, so opportunities here for mischief. The clergy members are expected to talk to the mayor about that. Also calls for a day of prayer here in Baltimore on Sunday and that was expected to come up too -- Wolf?

BLITZER: We had that problem, as you remember, Cedric, back in Ferguson, when outside agitators, as local community leaders described them, anarchists or whatever, they came in and started throwing bottles and rocks. And we saw some of the damage, some of the destruction to some of the businesses there in Ferguson. If you're a cop there now and you've got to deal with this situation, what's the advice you can offer them?

CEDRIC ALEXANDER, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL ORGANIZATION OF BLACK LAW ENFORCEMENT EXECUTIVES: Well, what I would say to police officers -- and I think we've seen that demonstrated already over the last couple days -- is they have been quite patient, professional, in terms of those who are protesting. This incident and what I would encourages those men and women out there to do, of course, is to remain calm. And to work through this with their community, with their leadership. And hopefully today, Wolf, we'll hear something from the mayor that may help to bring some sense of understanding as to what occurred as best they're able to do at this point without jeopardizing the integrity of that investigation.

BLITZER: Yeah. We will hear from her momentarily, Tom Fuentes, the mayor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. She has a huge issue on her hands right now, calling for outside investigations. What else does she need to do?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Wolf, I think she needs to convey that to the public to at least try to be a little bit patient and understanding at the process here. You know, by calling for another investigation -- there's already two, there's going to be the police investigation as well as the FBI Department of Justice investigation. When you add a third investigation, that means that witnesses now have a chance to give three different statements which could be in conflict, which could later jeopardize a prosecution, if there is to be one, against any of the police officers. The more conflicts you have with witnesses, the more that can be impeached when they testify and their statements thrown out. It actually is not helping the community by having all these separate investigations which could conflict.

BLITZER: I think there could be three or four.

Cedric, maybe you know better than I do. There could be at least three or four investigations already underway. The police are investigating, the city is investigating, and now the state attorney is going to investigate, and the federal government, the FBI, the Justice Department Civil Rights Division looking into this as well. Is that problem so many separate investigations?

ALEXANDER: I'm not sure if it's going to be a problem at this point. When you have that many investigative units involved, state, local, whatever the case may happen to be, each are going to have a different responsibility. The justice is going to have a very different responsibility as well, too, in terms of how they conduct investigations. But they all would run parallel to each other.

But I think at the end of the day, of all this, I think the community wants a full-scale investigation. Will there be many similarities? Yes. Possibly be a few differences? That's always possible, even if it's one or two agencies that are doing parallel investigation. But at the end of the day, this is all going to be resolved. And I think that we're going to find out exactly what happened to Mr. Gray, because that's what everybody wants to know and deserve to know, as quickly as we're able to find this out.

[13:40:21] BLITZER: Well said.

I want you to stand by, Cedric Alexander, Tom Fuentes, Joe Johns.

We're awaiting the news conference to begin. The Baltimore mayor is about to speak. We will have live coverage for you. This is a story that has generated lots of interest here in the United States and, indeed, around the world.

Also ahead -- we're going to take you to Chile where an erupting volcano has been creating some amazing sights, the evacuation of thousands of people.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Once again, we're standing by for the news conference. We expect to hear from the mayor of Baltimore, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. She's going to be making a statement. She's been meeting with religious leaders in Baltimore. Obviously, a lot of tension in that city. They're following up on the death of a young man under mysterious circumstances. So we'll have that news conference. That's coming up.

We also reported earlier that the Statue of Liberty has been evacuated.

We have an update now. Let's go to CNN's Deborah Feyerick, joining us from New York.

What's the latest we're hearing about this.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, what we can tell you is about 11:30 today, the U.S. Park Police received a call from someone with a bomb threat actually saying that there was a package in one of the visitor lockers. The U.S. Park Police responded with a bomb- sniffing the dog did indicate there was something, he reacted, the bomb dog did. Right now, we know the NYPD bomb squad is on the island at the Statue of Liberty in the harbor. They're looking into that suspicious package believed to be in the visitor's locker. There are ferries that transport people from Manhattan. Those ferries are in the harbor. They've not pulled all the way back. We've tried reaching out to the companies to see specifically what they're telling people. Right now it's unclear, in fact, whether they have stopped the tours to the island or whether they're just waiting to see how this all plays out. We can tell you that the NYPD bomb squad is there on the scene and they're trying to determine exactly what is in that locker. Of course, they're tracing back to see where that phone call originally came from -- Wolf?

[13:50:58] BLITZER: Tom Fuentes is with us, our CNN law enforcement analyst.

They got to take -- when somebody calls in a bomb threat, especially to the Statue of Liberty, where thousands of tourists want to go. We see those people there. Tourism has been disrupted by this. But local law enforcement, they have to take a call-in bomb threat seriously.

FUENTES: Absolutely. In this case, you have a large number of people in a concentrated area visiting the Statue of Liberty. They have to take it seriously these days.

BLITZER: And if there's a -- bomb-sniffing dogs go in. There can be false positives.

FUENTES: Dog handlers will disagree with me. But from my experience, they're not 100 percent reliable. It can be a false positive where they indicate there is explosive material and there isn't, or vice versa. The dogs can only work so long, so many hours. They get fatigued. We just don't know. Many times they're unreliable.

BLITZER: So we're going to check back with Deborah Feyerick, check back with Tom Fuentes. Stand by for that.

We're also waiting for the start of that news conference in Baltimore. The mayor getting ready to speak. Lots of news happening. We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:55:50] BLITZER: Once again, we're waiting for the mayor of Baltimore, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, to make a statement about what's going on there. We'll have live coverage of that coming up.

In the meantime, thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes in southern Chile today. The Calbuco Volcano began erupting this week for the first time in 42 years. Today authorities ordered residents within 12 and a half miles of the volcano to leave amid fears of more eruptions. We're also seeing some truly amazing pictures of the erupting volcano, which has covered towns below it in ash.

Joining us on the phone right now is CNN's Shasta Darlington.

Shasta, we understand you just arrived at your location over there. How far away from the volcano are you right now, and what are you seeing?

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Well, Wolf, we're 14 miles from the volcano. We're in a town where many of the evacuees have been sent. They're still sleeping in schools here. You can imagine on the one hand, it's this beautiful sight, an active volcano. This thing is belching out ash and smoke as we speak. Not a full eruption, but it just doesn't stop smoking. This is just terrifying for the people around here, especially because officials have said that they expect another crater is opening up inside the volcano and that there very likely could be a third eruption. People here, of course, just want to see this smoking come to a stop so they can head home. At this point, most of the ash, these billowing clouds are being blown towards Argentina, over the mountains there. So we're actually seeing flights canceled across Argentina. We're headed to a town inside the exclusion zone. It's about 12 miles around the volcano. One of the towns that was evacuated. It is just completely blanketed in ash. More than 20 inches thick covering houses, covering schools. You can see bicycles and cars abandoned. This is really an ongoing drama for the people here. The images we've seen around the world are apocalyptic. Really cinematic in so many ways. These huge mushroom-shaped clouds of ash. Again, for the people here, this is just a terrifying moment. And something they didn't expect, as you mentioned. There's been no volcanic activity since 1972 and no major eruption for more than half a century. So this really took people by surprise here, something they're not welcoming.

BLITZER: So can you feel it? Can you smell it? Describe what it's like to be that close, Shasta.

DARLINGTON: Honestly, it's truly beautiful because these huge clouds of ash are being blown in the opposite direction. They obviously brought the evacuees over here because they're safe from the direction of the wind. We're just outside the exclusion zone, but I think for those who weren't sitting at the base of the volcano when it erupted, we can appreciate the beauty. For those who are still in the schools, you know, sleeping here, eating their meals and cafeteria, this is not very fun at all. But it is a beautiful sight. We flew in -- it's an area covered with many volcanoes. Luckily, this is the only active one. But a beautiful area, well known for its trekking. This is where people come to Chile to go trekking. So it's beautiful, but obviously a very tense moment down here.

BLITZER: Do they believe the worst of the eruption is now over?

DARLINGTON: Unfortunately not. What the experts at the National Geological Service are saying is the volcano is very unstable. Because you can still see the smoke billowing out, they believe that another crater is actually being formed within the volcano and that we could see a stronger eruption than the first two. Of course, these things are hard to predict, but they say, at this point, this is still a very unstable volcano that seems to be in a calmer moment. But it's especially at night when people get nervous, they're sleeping, aren't prepared to get up and jump in their cars, if need be. That's when the real nervousness starts setting in, especially with officials saying, no, this is not over. We really have to be on alert -- Wolf?

[13:49:51] BLITZER: We certainly will stay in close touch with you. Good luck. Shasta, appreciate it very much.

Those pictures are amazing.

That's it for me. I'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in "The Situation Room."

For our international viewers, "Amanpour" is coming up next.

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.