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Sheriff's Deputy Shot in Cold Blood Execution Style; Sheriff's Remarks Spark Outrage; Anti-establishment Candidates Surge in Iowa; Considered Escalating Migrant Crisis Rocks Europe; Is Immigration Debate Dehumanizing People? Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired August 31, 2015 - 09:00   ET

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


[09:00:00] PEREIRA: $5,000 they've been able to raise. The coach said he's really, really proud of these kids putting aside the rivalry for something real.

BERMAN: Good for them.

CAMEROTA: That's right. That's so wonderful.

All right. Stay with CNN for the latest on the murder of the Texas deputy. It is time now for "NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello.

Hi, Carol.

PEREIRA: Good morning.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Hi. Have a nice day. Thank you so much.

NEWSROOM starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Happening now in the NEWSROOM.

SHERIFF RON HICKMAN, HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS: Calculated, cold-blooded assassination of police officers happen.

COSTELLO: The man accused of killing a Texas deputy in a gas station ambush in court next hour. And this comment sparking major debate.

HICKMAN: We've heard black lives matter. All lives matter. Well, cops lives matter, too.

COSTELLO: Also closing the gap.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Not only in Iowa, not only in New Hampshire but all over this country we're generating enormous enthusiasm.

COSTELLO: Bernie Sanders sneaks up on Hillary Clinton in a new Iowa poll. And on the Republican side, guess who's gaining on Trump?

Plus, getting closer to a deflategate decision. Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady and league commissioner Roger Goodell due in court this morning. When the judge is expected to rule and what it could mean for the Pats' season.

Let's talk. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining us.

A cold-blooded execution. That's how authorities describe the shooting death of Sheriff's Deputy Darren Goforth who was gunned down in a Texas gas station while filling up his patrol car. Next hour the shooting suspect Shannon Miles expected to appear in court. The 30- year-old faces capital murder charges.

Now it is important to point out investigators are still searching for a motive but the county sheriff says he believes Goforth's death may be linked to black lives matter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HICKMAN: The point where the rhetoric ramps up to the point where calculated, cold-blooded assassination of police officers happen, this rhetoric has gotten out of control. We've heard black lives matter. All lives matter. Well, cops lives matter, too. So why don't we just drop the qualifier and just say lives matter? And take that to the bank.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: In the meantime, the victim's wife describes the father of two as loyal and ethical and says Goforth was, quote, "an incredibly intricate blend of toughness and gentility."

Ed Lavandera joins us now from Houston, where he is just about to go inside the courtroom.

Tell us more, Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. Well, over the weekend we saw an incredible outpouring of grief and support for the family of Darren Goforth. This as -- this comes as many people still struggling to understand what could have led to this deadly attack.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Nearly 1500 people marched in honor of slain Texas Deputy Darren Goforth Sunday, as the motive behind his execution-style killing remains a mystery this morning.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are also asking for donations to Blue Ribbon.

LAVANDERA: The Houston suburb community where he worked banding together. It has raised more than $120,000 over the weekend in support of his wife and two young children.

BRIAN MCCULLAR, FUNDRAISER ORGANIZER: I would want the family to know, and they know, that he was already a hero, even before all of this. He was a person that felt like he could make a difference.

LAVANDERA: The suspect, 30-year-old Shannon Miles, is scheduled to appear in court today after gunning down the 47-year-old deputy in what police say was an unprovoked attack. Authorities say the uniformed deputy was refueling his patrol car Friday night at this Chevron gas station when Miles, caught on surveillance video, came up behind him and opened fire.

DEPUTY THOMAS GILLIAND, HARRIS COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: The deputy then fell to the ground. The suspect then continued over to him and shot the deputy again, multiple times, as he laid on the ground.

LAVANDERA: Police say there is currently no evidence they ever crossed paths. But the sheriff suggests the killing could be related to the uprising against police brutality.

HICKMAN: We've heard black lives matter, all lives matter. Well, cops' lives matter, too. So why don't we just drop the qualifier and just say lives matter, and take that to the bank?

LAVANDERA: The wife of the 10-year veteran released a statement calling her husband "an intricate blend of toughness and gentility" who was guided by the right thing to do.

DEVON ANDERSON, HARRIS COUNTY DEFENSE ATTORNEY: There are a few bad apples in every profession. That does not mean that there should be open warfare declared on law enforcement. The vast majority of officers are there to do the right thing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: And Carol, we do know that Shannon Miles has an extensive criminal history dating back the last 10 years or so. But nothing that rises to this level. He is now charged with capital murder, which as you well know in the state of Texas, could come with the death penalty -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. We'll check back with you next hour. Ed Lavandera reporting live from Houston this morning.

Some have criticized the county sheriff for jumping to conclusions by linking Deputy Goforth's death to Black Lives Matter. We tried to book someone from the group on our show. Daunasia Yancey was expected to be here. She's a Black Lives Matter organizer but she cancelled her appearance late last night.

[09:05:05] Earlier today, though, activist DeRay McKesson sat down with CNN to talk about the shootings. And I'll paraphrase here. McKesson says it's disappointing that the sheriff's deputy is continuing to accuse an entire group of people for a random act of violence.

But tensions do exist between many police officers and the communities they serve. On Saturday protesters held a march in Minnesota to raise awareness for victims killed at the hands of police. At one point they were heard chanting, quote, "pigs in a blanket, fry them like bacon."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: Pigs in a blanket.

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: Fry them like bacon.

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: Pigs in a blanket.

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: Fry them like bacon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Joining me now to talk about this, David Titus, the Saint Paul Police Federation president. He's on the phone. And former police officer and FBI special agent Jonathan Gilliam joins me on set.

Welcome to you both. I appreciate you being with me this morning.

DAVID TITUS, PRESIDENT, SAINT PAUL POLICE FEDERATION: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning. David, I want to start with you. Just your reaction to the people chanting that outside of the state fair.

TITUS: Well, first off we send our prayers to Houston. This is a disgusting act of violence. I want to say this, you know, words have consequences, and the chant that was being said, you know, here in Saint Paul was absolutely disgusting. It was ignorant. We've lost three officers who had been murdered just in my short career here. Many more in the area. It's just -- it's really disgusting and ignorant.

COSTELLO: What do you think these protesters meant when they said "fry them like bacon?"

TITUS: This is a chant that we have heard across the nation. We interpret it, and we believe very strongly it is meant that, you know, cops -- open season on cops. It's to promote violence on police officers, which is just absolutely outrageous. You know, chants like this, chants like this and words like this have consequences. And I think we're seeing that in a lot of, you know, individuals who do not comply with lawful orders, possibly resist arrest, and in the worst case, the most outrageous case like what happened in Houston.

COSTELLO: Jonathan, do you agree with David?

JONATHAN GILLIAM, FORMER POLICE OFFICER: Sure, I mean, look, this is a reality with all this stuff. It's not just -- this has very little to do with law enforcement or even the color of somebody's skin. This has to do with people not realizing the country in which they live.

Freedom without service is dependency. And service without freedom -- and this is an important thing to think about here. Service without freedom is slavery. If you are forced to serve without freedom you are a slave. That's the past. In this country now you can be whatever you want to be. It doesn't matter if you're a woman, a man, black or white. It doesn't matter what race or sex, you can be what you want to be.

These people, these Black Lives Matter, the law enforcement that's out there today, everybody needs to start serving each other and this nonsense needs to go away. The person who you quoted there a minute ago from Black Lives Matter that say that a group should not be qualified or judged on the actions of an individual. That's exactly what they're doing. They're doing the same thing as well.

And I think what the officer said there in Houston touched on it but didn't go far enough. The reality is, we are a country that are teetering on the brink of something great where we all realize this and come together as one society. If we don't go there now, it's going to go the other direction.

COSTELLO: Well, David, what would you say to the criticism that there's no proof that this man in Houston shot this sheriff's deputy because of Black Lives Matter? We just don't know yet.

TITUS: I really don't have any comments on that. I guess my -- what I would say is this. There is this, you know, tsunami of negativity going across the nation through social media and major media, you know, which is very anti-law enforcement, and I think it has created this culture of, you know, somehow the cops became the bad guy. You know, case in point. This was a non-permitted march that was allowed to go by our city leaders and our department leaders.

And even allowed to promote their cause and march during the busiest day at the Minnesota State Fair, you know, where venders probably had an economic negative impact but that march was allowed to go. And they're protected by the same officers that they were promoting, you know, acts of violence against. I just find it outrageous.

[09:10:17] COSTELLO: Yes. And I understand that the folks at the Minnesota State Fair offered them a booth inside the fairgrounds but they chose to march instead.

TITUS: That is my understanding.

COSTELLO: All right. I'm going to leave this there.

Jonathan Gilliam, David Titus, thanks to you both. I appreciate it.

GILLIAM: You got it.

COSTELLO: On to politics now. An anti-establishment surge in the state critical to the race for the White House. I'm talking about Iowa where caucus goers are the first people in the nation to give their picks for president. And a new poll suggests the names Clinton and Bush are not on their short list.

CNN's Athena Jones is here to break down the numbers.

Good morning, Athena.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Well, Clinton and Bush may be a lot of things but they are not outsider candidates. And this poll is showing the appeal of those outsider candidates.

Let's pull up the Democrats first. You see Clinton there with 37 percent of the vote. I believe we have a poll graphic there. And Sanders with 30 percent. That's just seven points behind Clinton. She has lost a third of her supporters since May. And if you go all the way back to January, she's lost 19 points while Sanders has gained 25 points.

You can see there the growing appeal of him and the declining appeal of her, at least there in Iowa. Now Sanders may have been -- he's been a longtime senator from Vermont but he's a devout socialist and he's running far to the left of Hillary Clinton. He talked about his appeal on "STATE OF THE UNION" on Sunday. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: We're generating enormous enthusiasm. People do not understand why the middle class in this country is collapsing. At the same as almost all of the new income and wealth is going to the top 1 percent. People do not like the idea that as a result of Citizens United our campaign finance system has become corrupt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: And now Sanders, I should mention, is really appealing to first-time caucus goers. He's also leading Clinton with people under the age of 45 and with independents.

So this is really some echoes of 2008, Carol, when you remember that Clinton was far in the lead in Iowa and then ended up losing to Barack Obama.

Now switching over to the Republicans, you see there that we have Trump leading with 23 percent. Ben Carson, retired neurosurgeon, right behind him at 18 percent. The thing those two guys have in common? Neither of them has ever held elected office. And they are surging at the expense of Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, who you see there at just 8 percent. He's lost quite a bit in the last several months. He was leading there.

But this just shows that voters are really drawn to these candidates who are anti-establishment, who are not politicians, who are not acting like politicians in any sort of typical way. And you see Trump gaining, and he's also gaining in terms of favorability numbers, 61 percent of folks have a favorable view of him there in Iowa. And so despite the controversial comments, people really like what he has to say and he's really striking a chord -- Carol.

COSTELLO: He certainly is. Athena Jones reporting live for us this morning. Thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, want to track immigrants? Chris Christie has an idea. Track them like FedEx packages.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [09:17:37] COSTELLO: ISIS tried to blow up another ancient temple in Syria. The terror group reportedly set off an explosion inside the Temple of Bel. A 2,000-year-old site that some experts considered the most important temple in Syria and one of the most important in the whole Middle East. But officials tell the iconic columns of the main structure appear to be still standing, which is good news for now. The full scope of the damage is still under investigation. Just last week ISIS published photos of its destruction of another ancient temple in Syria.

Pope Francis is urging we pray for those fleeing war-ravaged countries like Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq. Over the weekend he called on people to work together to prevent tragedies like the death of the 71 migrants in the truck on the Vienna-Budapest highway, which he said, quote, "offends the entire human family."

Many of those who survived the difficult and dangerous journey to Europe end up stuck in limbo and places like this overcrowded Hungarian train station where some say they're treated like animals. No showers, no shelter, and no way out.

CNN's Arwa Damon has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Europe has not seen these kinds of numbers flocking its borders since World War II. And many of them finding themselves living in sheer grime and desperation as they try to make the treacherous journey.

(Voice-over): Europe's migrant and refugee crisis spiraling dangerously out of control. Tens of thousands of the most desperate trying to escape war, persecution, and death in their own countries. Caught in the crosshairs.

Germany, France, and Britain calling for an emergency meeting of the E.U.'s Interior and Justice ministers to grapple with an escalating crisis of, quote, "unprecedented proportions." The goal, to establish welcome centers in Greece and Italy to house and screen thousands who are fleeing war-ravaged countries like Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq.

A record number of over 100,000 migrants and refugees from the Middle East and Africa flooding the E.U.'s borders just last month. The call for action following a tragic week as deaths mount. Nearly 200 drowning and dozens of others missing off the coast of Libya after two boats capsized while attempting to make the perilous journey across the Mediterranean to Europe's shores.

[09:20:03] The same day a grisly discovery. 71 dead migrants and refugees found inside an abandoned truck on a highway in Austria. Those inside including three young children died of suffocation.

But the flood of humanity making the treacherous journey to Europe in pursuit of a better life is blessed with scant options once they've actually managed to cross the border. Gut-wrenching scenes like this one from inside a Hungary train station where hundreds are stuck in the state of limbo in Budapest. Tired, hungry, desperate, and left to languish in the heart of Europe. Hoping that the road ahead will be better than the one they've left behind.

(On camera): And Michaela, those who can prove that they are from Iraq or Syria are finally, today, being allowed to board trains onward to Austria and Germany. Something that they are scrambling to do at this stage. Afraid that the opportunity will go away if they take too long. But that is providing little respite for those of other nationalities who continue to be stuck here in these wretched conditions.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Arwa Damon reporting.

Back here at home, questions about how to deal with the issue of undocumented immigrants are taking center stage in the 2016 campaign. Scott Walker tried to trump Donald Trump by insisting the United States should consider building a wall along the Canadian border, not just the U.S.-Mexico border as Trump suggested. In the meantime, Chris Christie trumped both with a solution involving FedEx.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R-NJ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We let people come to this country with visas and the minute they come in we lose track of them. We can't -- so here is what I'm going to do as president. I'm going to ask Fred Smith, the founder of FedEx, come work for the government for three months.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: For his part, Christie says he was talking about using FedEx's technology and not tracking people like packages. But this kind of talk is disturbing to Reverend Ryan Eller. He writes in the "Huffington Post," quote, "The bible tells us to welcome strangers in our land and to love them as we love ourselves. That's why the media and all Americans should immediately stop referring to our undocumented brothers and sisters as illegal. Human beings are not illegal. They are God's children."

Reverend Eller joins me now along with conservative columnist SE Cupp and staff writer for the "Weekly Standard" Michael Warren.

Welcome to all of you. I appreciate your being here.

S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thanks.

MICHAEL WARREN, STAFF WRITER, THE WEEKLY STANDARD: Thanks, Carol.

COSTELLO: Thank you for being here.

Reverend Eller, I want to start with you. What disturbs you most about the rhetoric being thrown around in our political world these days? REV. RYAN ELLER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DEFINE AMERICAN: Well, I think

the most important thing that disturbs me about it is that it's just frankly dehumanizing and downright gross. It treats people as if they are packages to be shipped around and rhetoric like alien that's outdated, rhetoric like illegal, renders people completely in this some sort of permanent criminal class which just has never been the case in America.

These are people who are fleeing terrible situations of violence very often and are in hope of the American dream just like many of our own ancestors were in previous decades. And so scripture for us teaches us how we ought to treat these people with love and respect and even in "Leviticus" says we ought to treat them as citizens.

COSTELLO: And, Reverend, you're not saying that we don't have a problem with illegal immigration in this country, right?

ELLER: Well, sure, and, you know, I think when you talk to undocumented Americans, they would argue that, yes, there is a problem and part of the problem is that the system is fundamentally broken.

When we are deporting over 100,000 people per year and separating families who simply wanted to be together and work and live out the American dream then there's a problem. And when people don't have access to a way to obtain the citizenship in the country that they love, especially in America, the land of immigrants, then certainly there's a problem.

COSTELLO: And, Reverend, can you call yourself a Christian and talk about immigrants this way in your mind?

ELLER: You know, not a bible-believing Christian, for sure. The bible is actually pretty clear about this. It mentions immigrants and refugees over 50 times, and lays out, really, how we ought to treat one another as brothers and sisters and neighbors, and so I think we need to ask all of the political candidates and certainly all of us in America how our faith connects to the policies that we are promoting. And also just the question of how do we define American.

[09:25:06] COSTELLO: So, Michael, let's consider that question for Donald Trump. What might he say?

WARREN: Well, I don't know. I mean, look, I think that the reverend makes some good points about treating, you know, all people with respect, but let's not take this too far. I mean, are we going to stop calling, you know, convicted criminals convicts or people who steal thieves? I mean, you know, we can go overboard with sort of obsessing over language and miss the bigger point, which is that, yes, we're a nation of immigrants but we're also a nation of laws and a nation of borders. And those have to be respected, too.

I mean, you know, the reverend can talk about, you know, whether it's -- you know, Christian to have this point or that point to come from one position or another position. But you know I'm not sure how compassionate it is to perpetuate a system that, you know, incentivizes people to, you know, cross borders and dangerous circumstances, in many ways to give a lot of money to people who, you know, and the sort of drug trade who might not have the best interest at heart and to jump in line over people who have tried to do it through the legal way.

I think this is something that is actually an important and complicated political issue that ought to be debated and, you know, perhaps we can say illegal immigrant instead of illegal. But I don't think it's dehumanizing to refer to a legal status of somebody when we're discussing a important political issue.

COSTELLO: S.E., your thoughts? Because there used to be a middle ground. But now it's like, you know, it's a free-for-all. It's like call what you want because Americans are angry about this issue.

CUPP: Well, I think there's a difference between some of the rhetoric, say, from Donald Trump and calling illegal immigrants what they are which is illegal immigrants. And I think it does a real disservice to legal immigrants and also folks in the African-American community, folks in low-wage, low-skilled jobs who are competing with this pool of people. It does them a real disservice not to draw distinction between folks who are here legally and folks who are here illegally.

Immigration is a wonderful thing. But illegal immigration has been devastating for a large number of people in this country. And I think the more important conversation to have as Reverend Eller points out is to talk about the broken immigration system. Not necessarily the legal status or the words that we use. And I'm sure I don't have to tell Reverend Eller about some other scripture advice coming out of the bible, for example, Romans 13: 1, which dictates submitting to government authorities.

We are a country of laws. That is also biblical. So I think we need to be as broad as we can be when we're talking about applying scripture to modern day politics and just not pick and choose the ones that make sense with our own sort of sense of politics.

COSTELLO: And Reverend, I thought Jesus was such a rebel?

ELLER: Well, not only was Jesus a rebel, but Jesus was an undocumented immigrant himself when he fled to Egypt seeking persecution in his day. And so the question becomes would we call Jesus himself illegal if he were, you know, in our modern times?

Look, I actually believe that words do matter. I think what we call each other matters. I think at the time that we started calling illegals illegal alien, which is two terms that I don't think we should be using anymore, we were also calling Native Americans savage Indians. By law. And I just think that that kind of language is antiquated and we need to get rid of it.

For more accurate terms, actually, like unauthorized or undocumented because you know what we call each other impacts how we treat each other. And it impacts how we have this conversation. We have this conversation treating people like human beings or do we have it, you know, in some sort of nebulous vacuum? COSTELLO: I have to leave it there. Reverend Eller, thanks to you.

Thanks to Michael Warren and S.E. Cupp as well. Thanks so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, heartbroken and defiant. The parents of a TV reporter murdered on live TV say they will not be intimidated in their new mission. Their fight in their own words just ahead.

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