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Mitchell Pleads Guilty; Trump Adviser Apologizes; Missing At Sea. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired July 28, 2015 - 14:00   ET

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


[14:00:00] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: By the way, will join me, 5:00 p.m. Eastern in "The Situation Room." In the meantime, the news continues next on CNN.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf Blitzer, thank you so much.

Great to be with you on this Tuesday. I'm Brooke Baldwin. You're watching CNN.

We will have much more on that breaking news that Wolf Blitzer and Evan Perez were just reporting here on the Israeli spy here.

But first, she helped two murders escape from prison and now Joyce Mitchell is facing her own time behind bars, up to seven years, in fact. She was sniffling, she was crying through here hearing this morning here. The prison seamstress accepted a plea deal today in a courtroom in upstate New York. That is where on June 6th convicted killers David Sweat and Richard Matt broke free from that maximum security prison. The manhunt for those two men sent hundreds of law enforcement officers into overdrive and it was June 26th when Richard Matt was shot and killed, and then just two days later Sweat was shot and captured.

Now Mitchell here, she admitted only today that she did indeed smuggle in those tools those men used to get out. The district attorney says she is cutting a deal and by doing so she is saving herself from other charges.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What does she get besides not - you not filing other charges?

ANDREW WYLIE, CLINTON COUNTY, NEW YORK DISTRICT ATTORNEY: That's exactly what she gets, is not filing any type of sexual assault, rape charges that could possibly be charged against her relative to these allegations of sexual conduct between her and David Sweat or her and Richard Matt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let's first go to CNN's Alexandra Field there in Plattsburgh, New York. And I know I just mentioned, Alex, that the possible, I guess, maximum sort of sentence, but can you give me a rough idea of realistically what she could be serving here? ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sure. The judge will have to

officially sentence her and that hearing is set for the end of September. But according to the terms of the deal, the sentence is two to seven years with another concurrent year to be served in county jail on the misdemeanor court, which is the criminal facilitation versus the felony count, which is promoting prison propaganda. But her attorney says that with good behavior she could end up serving something more like two to four years in prison.

This is a woman who came into court today, she admitted her guilt on the two charges that she was arraigned on over the summer. She was arraigned again on those charges today admitting her guilt. Her attorney says that she is remorseful. She appeared emotional. Here's how he described her state of mind shortly after that hearing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN JOHNSTON, JOYCE MITCHELL'S ATTORNEY: She got in over her head into something that she never should have started, but she did and she's paying the price now but she realizes that she made a horrible mistake.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did she saying about why she did it?

JOHNSTON: She has. You know, I think that she had certain ideas of - on - you know, I think that to a certain extent, Matt got her to feeling good about herself, better than she had for a period of time, and she was swept off her feet a bit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FIELD: The terms of this deal will require her to cooperate fully with the state's ongoing investigation of the prison. That, Brooke, and what you already mentioned, that this does protect her from other additional charges.

BALDWIN: We're going to get into that now. Alex Field, thank you so much.

Joyce Mitchell pleading guilty today to promoting prison contraband and criminal solicitation, but her plea deal today does not keep her from future charges since the investigation about the Clinton County prison is still ongoing. Here is more from the D.A.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WYLIE: Potentially there could be, based on the inspector general's investigation, there could be allegations of other actions that Joyce Mitchell took or participated in during her employment at Clinton Correctional Facility. And if something along those natures arise during that investigation, my office would be advised on it, then we could pursue additional charges against Miss Mitchell.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: All right, with me now I have former Clinton Correctional Facility inmate Erik Jensen, who knew both of these guys and Joyce Mitchell, and also with me, criminal defense attorney Eric Guster.

So, gentlemen, good to see you both.

ERIC GUSTER, CRIMINAL & CIVIL TRIAL ATTORNEY: Good to see you, too.

ERIK JENSEN, KNOWS MITCHELL FROM SERVING TIME AT CLINTON PRISON: Good to see you.

BALDWIN: Can I just ask, you know, when I - when I saw her in the courtroom this morning sort of wiping her tears away, I got into this huge discussion over who feels bad for her and who doesn't. And I have to ask you, is there any piece of you that has - feels for her?

JENSEN: No.

BALDWIN: Not at all?

JENSEN: No, she knew what she was doing.

BALDWIN: She knew what she was doing.

JENSEN: She knew what she was doing.

BALDWIN: She deserves every bit of time she will be serving?

JENSEN: Right. Right. I - probably more.

BALDWIN: I feel like it's worth, again, going over what these allegations - right, I mean this is a woman who, you know, according to different people, was supposed to be the getaway car, and maybe heading to Mexico, and was stashing, helping get this hacksaw blade in the meat, into prison to help these guys get out.

JENSEN: Right.

[14:05:00] BALDWIN: And also, according to other allegations, according to David Sweat, you know, she wanted her husband killed. What exactly is she today admitting to?

GUSTER: Promoting prison contraband, just getting things into the prison, which is the lightest charge imaginable.

BALDWIN: It is the lightest charge.

GUSTER: Promoting prison contraband to most people, getting in cigarettes or some pills, not sawblades and hacksaw blading to help these murderers get out of prison. She wasn't helping someone who was doing a tax evasion case. These are convicted murderers that she set out on the street, in our community, and scared the living daylights out of people. So her sentence is a sweetheart deal and I would imagine that she's probably helping them with the - like the reporter just said, helping them with the investigation to what other people are doing.

BALDWIN: Cooperating. Cooperating. GUSTER: Yes. There has to be something that she knows on some top level people in that prison that makes them want to give her only two and a half to seven years to serve.

BALDWIN: OK, only two and a half to seven.

GUSTER: Yes, that's nothing.

BALDWIN: In that only two and a half to seven, how will she be treated?

JENSEN: Oh, she won't - she won't be treated well, I can tell you that much.

BALDWIN: Why not?

JENSEN: Oh, these guards, everybody knows that she - she kind of like betrayed them. She worked -

BALDWIN: But she was one of them.

JENSEN: Exactly, she was one of them. But now she betrayed them and became one on the other side - on the other side of the law. And she won't be treated well. She'll be put in an APP unit, which is like involuntarily protective custody because she's a high-profile case, more likely, and also she won't have as much, you know - she won't be able to speak to other inmates as much.

BALDWIN: She won't?

JENSEN: Yes. Right.

BALDWIN: Because that's my next question, beyond the correctional officers and the guards who were saying she betrayed us. Then you have the other inmates. You know, you don't think anyone would sort of say, hey, pat on the back for trying to help one of us get out? Not at all?

JENSEN: They might but I think she'll be around other high-profile inmates as well.

BALDWIN: High-profile.

JENSEN: Yes.

BALDWIN: The former prison seamstress who tried to help these guys get out.

GUSTER: She did help. Not try.

BALDWIN: Forgive me. She did. As of today she did.

GUSTER: She - she successfully helped them.

BALDWIN: Right, right, right.

GUSTER: She got the - BALDWIN: Right.

GUSTER: She got the tools to help them break out of a maximum security prison. A real-life "Shawshank Redemption."

BALDWIN: Right.

GUSTER: And this woman only got two and a half to seven.

BALDWIN: OK.

GUSTER: That's what you get for smuggling in cigarettes.

BALDWIN: OK. No sympathy here with these two guys.

JENSEN: That's true.

BALDWIN: No sympathy whatsoever for this woman.

GUSTER: None.

JENSEN: That's true.

BALDWIN: What about that other corrections officer, Gene Palmer, who - he was the person who apparently had said meat with hacksaw blades inside, said he had no idea what he was bringing in the prison. And so he said he had nothing to do with the escape, not waiving his right of the grand jury. So from a legal perspective, does that tell you he truly stands by his innocence?

GUSTER: He may have only thought it was - it was only meat.

BALDWIN: Yes.

GUSTER: Because they were - people were in that ward, they were cooking, they were doing all kinds of things. And if you innocently think that you're doing something like just smuggling in meat for these people to cook, it's not as bad as a hacksaw blade or some other tool for people to get out, like Joyce was doing. This man may be not guilty of that - that higher level offense because everyone was in there doing that.

BALDWIN: I guess the final question to you, I'm just - my mind is still going back to Joyce Mitchell. Having done time -

JENSEN: Yes.

BALDWIN: What one piece of advice would you give her?

JENSEN: Stay to herself. Be careful who she surrounds herself with and good luck.

GUSTER: Yes.

BALDWIN: Good luck. Erik Jensen and Eric Guster, thank you both very much. I really appreciate it. GUSTER: Thank you, Brooke.

JENSEN: Thank you.

BALDWIN: And make sure you join us tonight. This is a special report. We're calling it "The Great Prison Escape." It airs tonight, 9:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.

Coming up next, Donald Trump's adviser under fire today for saying you can't rape your spouse. He is now explaining himself, but it's also a threat to the reporter that is creating quite the controversy. We'll play that for you.

Also, as the search gets increasingly desperate for these two missing 14-year-olds, experts say they are really close to the limit here for staying alive in the water.

And new developments in the case of that escort who shot this man who could be a possible serial killer. A kill kit was found in his car. What could that mean and what are investigators thinking as far as other missing women in multiple other states? That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:13:18] BALDWIN: OK, time to talk Trump. Usually it's what he says that puts him in the spotlight. This time, it's actually his top adviser and lawyer who's under fire for comments he made about rape. "The Daily Beast" interviewed Michael Cohen. He's an executive vice president of the Trump Organization and a man who's been on CNN speaking on behalf of Trump's campaign.

So this reporter with "The Daily Beast" asked Cohen about something that happened between Donald Trump and his then wife Ivana Trump. During divorce proceedings she allegedly described the incident as rape and here's what Cohen has said here in response. He said this. He said, "you're talking about the front-runner for the GOP, presidential candidate, as well as a private individual who never raped anybody." And, of course, understanded (ph) by the very definition you can't rape your spouse. He went on saying, "it is true, you cannot rape your spouse. And there's very clear case law." Now Cohen is backing off.

So let's get right to CNN politics reporter Jeremy Diamond.

What he is saying for himself now, Jeremy?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Yes, Brooke, so we have a statement here from Michael Cohen. It's an apology. He says, "as an attorney, husband and father, there are many injustices that offend me, but nothing more than charges of rape or racism. They hit me at my core. Rarely am I surprised by the press, but the gall of this particular reporter to make such a reprehensible and false allegation against Mr. Trump truly stunned me. In my moment of shock and anger, I made an inarticulate comment which I do not believe and which I apologize for entirely."

So there you have it, that's Michael Cohen's version of an apology. Some are, of course, saying that that's not enough. You know, he - he makes this apology but he still essentially pins it on the reporter for asking this question in the first place.

[14:15:06] BALDWIN: Well, what -

DIAMOND: Even - even though it's a legitimate question to ask about these allegations.

BALDWIN: Let's get to the reporter because it's not just what he said about rape, right, it's the threat he made to this reporter. And so let me just read this. The reporter was Tim Mak. It says the whole situation seem to devolve pretty quickly and led to this comment from Cohen. Let me read this for you. Quote, "I will make sure that you and I meet one day while we're in the courthouse and I will take you for every penny you still don't have and I will come after your 'Daily Beast' and everybody else that you possibly know. So I'm warning you, tread very f-ing lightly because what I'm going to do to you is going to be f-ing disgusting. You understand me?"

And I think, you know - my question is, and you're covering Trump here, you know, I know that this isn't - this is not - these aren't words coming out of Donald Trump's mouth. This is someone who's been with him for a while. This is his inner circle. Is this sort of the M.O. from that inner circle?

DIAMOND: Yes, I mean, I don't - I don't know. I mean Michael Cohen is a bit of a different figure from a lot of the other folks in the campaign and his campaign made a point of saying today that Michael Cohen is affiliated with the Trump Organization, that's Mr. Trump's company, and not with the campaign itself. But, of course, there's no way to really - you know, they've tried to distant Michael Cohen from the campaign, but at the same time he's been on air, on CNN, on other channels acting essentially as a surrogate for Mr. Trump, playing up his campaign, going after his opponents. And so to that extent - and to add to that, a lot of Mr. Trump's campaign and his platform is focused on the fact that he can bring good deals. He can surround himself, he can hire the best people and this certainly raises questions about that.

BALDWIN: Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much.

DIAMOND: Thanks, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, the search for those two teenage boys lost at sea is now expanding. Next, we'll talk to a marine survival expert as far as how these two teens could even possibly survive after their fishing boat capsized days ago.

Also, more on our breaking news, as the administration defends its deal here with Iran, we are now learning the United States will release a convicted Israeli spy before the end of the year. Parole being granted. But the question now is, why? Why now? You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [14:21:32] BALDWIN: At this hour, still no sign of those two 14-year- olds missing off the east coast of Florida. Austin Stephanos and Perry Cohen disappeared last Friday. The families say the pair could still be alive because they say they know what they're doing. They're holding out hope.

Let me bring in a sea survival expert, Mario Vittone. He's retired U.S. Coast Guard.

Mario, thank you so much for joining me.

And I understand you also sort of hold on to that sliver of hope. Maybe not necessarily just because of their younger ages, but because of the fact that the - what, the boat capsized Sunday, which means perhaps they haven't been in the water for all that long?

MARIO VITTONE, HELICOPTER RESCUE SWIMMER: Yes, well, I mean their experience as boaters and their age, you know, once they get in the water, the ocean doesn't really care about those things. But I think that there's still a reason to look and still a reason to have some hope because I don't know when they went in the water. I know they left Friday. I know we found their boat Sunday. I don't know when they left the boat, you know? I don't know when it turned over. Probably it turned over Friday, but did they hang on the hull through Sunday morning? And so I think the Coast Guard has to - and I'm sure they are - taking those things into consideration and extending the search time.

BALDWIN: Yes, but, you're right, the ocean is not forgiving. I'm wondering, do you - how cold, how warm would the water be this time of year off the coast of Florida there?

VITTONE: Well, it depends on where they are. It's around 80 off Daytona. The farther north they go, it gets a little warmer off of Georgia. And the water temps an encouraging thing. You know, if this had happened off of Maine, we'd have called the search off yesterday because the water's too cold. But what they're really fighting over there, since water temps not the biggest problem for them, is dehydration, you know, and so it's been a long time since they've had a drink and that's a real problem out there.

BALDWIN: How would you survive four potentially days given that being such a massive challenge?

VITTONE: Listen, if they went into the water on Friday, we're really hanging on to miracle time here. And that's - and that's - and I'm still willing to look and think they might survive. There's not - there's not much to do. There's not much survival skill involved with being in the water. If they don't have flotation, then it's over. But if they do - and it's possible that they do - I was encouraged they only found one life jacket. You know, so maybe they're wearing life jackets. And if that's the case, there's not much to do but be there and try and stay strong because there's nothing to drink and you can't do much about the temperature.

But again, I don't know when they went in, so I wouldn't be willing to call off the search unless I started the clock from when I found the boat, you know. And the Coast Guard uses a tool called the PSDA, or possibility of survival detection aid and it - they plug in all these guess numbers, like the water temp and the sea temp and the air temperature and the weather and I just think they have to start that clock from Sunday morning and I'm sure that's probably what they did and that's why they're still searching.

BALDWIN: Let's hope that's a good sign and that these - these two boys are a-OK. Mario Vittone, thank you.

VITTONE: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Coming up, here's something I never thought I'd be saying, could there be a lion on the loose in the city of Milwaukee? I know this is kind of tough to look at, but this is video of this creature that has set this city on alert. Coming up next, we'll talk to the director of the animal control there. What they think this creature is, how they're trying to trap it. That's coming up.

Also breaking news, the United States granting parole to Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard. He will be released before the end of the year. He has been behind bars for nearly 30 years. So think about the timing here. As the administration defends its nuclear deal with Iran, why might this be happening now?

[14:25:08] Stay with me.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BALDWIN: Just past the bottom of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Let's get to an update on our breaking story here involving Jonathan Pollard. He's the former U.S. Navy analyst who was convicted of spying for Israel against the United States. This as we just came on the air here, we've been learning that he has now been granted parole and that he is scheduled to be released from prison this upcoming November 21st. That word actually first coming from his attorney, who also points out that Pollard's release will come 30 years to the day since he entered prison.

[14:30:03] I have CNN presidential historian Douglas Brinkley joining me now.

And, Doug, great to have you on.