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AT THIS HOUR WITH BERMAN AND MICHAELA

Pope Makes Marriage Annulment Easier; 2 High School Football Players Hit Referee; Baltimore Settlement in Freddie Gray Death Raises Eyebrows; Colbert Makes "Late Show" Debut Tonight. Aired 11:30-12p ET

Aired September 8, 2015 - 11:30   ET

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


[11:30:00] FATHER EDWARD BECK: And he's giving the bishops power to decide on their own in certain cases, not even going before a tribunal. So that's kind of taking the power of the tribunal, the power of Rome away and saying you make the decisions as bishops. Some are saying, well, it's going to be too easy. A bishop is not trained in Canon law. Why should he have the ability to decide? Not all of them are trained in Canon law. I think people are really upset it seems to be lessening the stringent demands of it.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Rose, what is your big takeaway? If you don't think this is a major announcement and this is still a difficult process, if you will, what is the biggest takeaway that you would advise if you were writing part two now of your survival guide?

ROSE SWEET, AUTHOR: Well, you know, everybody -- fear is motivating everybody. Some people are afraid it's going to be too easy and those of us in marriage and are working hard to keep it together are afraid our spouse is going to take off. If it's too easy, what's going to happen to us? The other camp is "don't make it too hard." I've been in a horrible situation and I want the church to see I need to be free from this. Many people have said before us, including Jesus Christ, fear not, slow down, trust God, wait to see how this unfolds.

BOLDUAN: That's some good advice in watching what next moves this pope will be making. It will be one of the many topics coming up as the pope is heading to the United States for his big visit.

Rose, great to meet you. Thank you for joining us.

Father Beck, great to see you, as always.

BECK: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Thank you so much.

Coming up for us, more breaking news, as the police officers charged in his death, they're getting ready to stand trial, the city of Baltimore is striking a deal with the family of Freddie Gray. Those details, they're just in. We'll bring those to you.

JOHN BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And then stunning blind side. Look at this. Football players just level a referee while his back is to them. We'll have more of this shocking video and some new developments just ahead. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:35:29] BERMAN: Police are now investigating a brutal hit on a high school football referee near San Antonio, Texas. This bone- crushing hit, you can see it right there. The ref just taken out from behind, and then a second player comes in and hits him. It could land the aggressors perhaps behind bars. You can see there the ref just had no idea that hit was coming.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely not. It came in from behind. They were then ejected from the game. And they have since been suspended from the team and from school. The school district is expected to formally address the attack today.

But joining us to discuss this is former NFL referee and supervisor of officials, Jim Deopolis, currently a rules analyst for ESPN and "Monday Night Football."

Jim, thank you for joining us.

I want to show you and our viewers once again this brutal hit coming from behind. It's a one-two punch. One player hits him, then a second player heads straight for him, helmet first. What do you make of this, Jim?

JIM DEOPOLIS, FORMER NFL REFEREE & SUPERVISOR OF OFFICIALS & RULES ANALYST, ESPN & MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL: Well, Kate, first of all, thank you for having me on. You know, in over 40 years of officiating, I have never seen an act so cowardly as what these two individuals did to this official. You know, as officials we expect at times to be hit out on the field. We'll be bumped, we'll be knocked down, be hit pretty hard, but at no time do you expect somebody to come up behind you, knock you down, and when you're down a second individual come down and hit you with a spearing technique that really caused some injury to this young official.

BERMAN: I have never seen anything like this. There's a representative from the police office in the town there. This is being investigated right now. These two kids are 17-year-old. They are considered as adults. They could be facing charges. The prosecutor is looking into this as well.

BOLDUAN: 17 or older, so they could be charged as adults.

BERMAN: As a ref, as someone who has been on a field like this, would you like to see criminal charge this is this case if it was deemed that this was an intentional attack which, you know, the video speaks for itself.

BOLDUAN: No kidding.

DEOPOLIS: Absolutely, John. You know, I mean, if this occurred out on the streets, you would bring charges against these two individuals, and I think on the field you have to have some protection, and as I said earlier, you know, you expect to be bumped. You expect to be knocked down once in a while out on the field. You never expect this cowardly of an act where someone comes up and blind sides you when you don't expect it. I would hope they would bring charges and if the coaches are involved, and I had read some information where the coaches may have been aware of this, I hope they were not. But if the coaches were involved, I believe that this whole program should be shut down.

BOLDUAN: There are a lot of details that are not known. There's some talk that what brought this about, were they were angry about a previous call. Obviously, that does not explain this.

BERMAN: A couple other players had been thrown out before these two players.

BOLDUAN: A lot more details. The school is going to address it today. A lot of questions there. Clearly when you see this video, there is nothing this referee could have done to stop it. They completely blind side this guy. As we keep discussing. But you are a supervisor of officials in the NFL. We haven't seen this happen even in the NFL. What do refs prepare for? What is part of the training in dealing with taking the bumps and the bruises? Clearly you never expect this to happen.

DEOPOLIS: Well, Kate, what you would expect is you would expect to be in physical condition, and, you know, you're aware of what goes on, on the field, and you're usually aware of players around you. At no time do you expect a player to come up behind you. Normally, especially in the national football league the players will avoid you. You may get hit but you just prepare for the worst and hopefully you don't wear any protective gear out there. So basically you're out there on your own. Hopefully, you're just ready physically and you're in good shape so you can handle any kind of assault that occurs out on the field.

BERMAN: Can't be ready for this. No way to be ready for this.

Jim says maybe if the coaches were involved, the program should be shut down. There are a lot of people saying the program should be shut down right now period just because this happened.

BOLDUAN: It's just amazing to see.

Jim, it's great to have you on though. Thank you so much.

Busy season ahead for him.

DEOPOLIS: Thank you for having me.

[11:39:48] BOLDUAN: Thank you.

Ahead for us, Baltimore witnessed huge protests after the death of Freddie Gray at the hands of police officers there. Now the city is settling -- proposing a settlement of a lawsuit, a settlement with the family, with a payoff that is raising quite a few eyebrows. We'll have more ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BOLDUAN: We're learning just this morning that the city of Baltimore is now proposing a settlement with the family of Freddie Gray. Gray, of course, died from a spinal injury he sustained while in police custody. That was back in April. A source close to the family confirms that the settlement, the proposed settlement is $6.4 million. That settlement still must be approved by the city's board of estimates. It would be larger than the payouts for 102 other lawsuits brought since 2011 combined, all of those together. The city would accept civil liability but would not acknowledge any wrongdoing on the part of the city or police.

BERMAN: Joining us now from Washington is Laura Coates, a former assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.

This is a lot of money. As Kate was just saying, more than years of settlements combined. I think only a small handful only exceeded $200,000, this is well above that. What does the amount tell you here?

LAURA COATES, FORMER ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: The amount tells me that although they're saying it's going to be not for criminal liable and they're only taking civil liability, what it tells the public is we acknowledge there's been some wrongdoing and to avoid more millions of dollars of damages to the family of Freddie Gray, we will settle now before it gets exponentially higher. This is a broadcast they are predicting there will be liability and, in fact, particularly convictions in this case and that there was wrongdoing done. Keep in mind, in the Eric Garner case, in New York, it was about the same amount of money that was settled for, and, of course, in that case it did not lead to an indictment of the officers but they're still requesting the Department of Justice and the Civil Rights Division still investigate that claim. Here we've got a pending trial coming weeks away and more importantly tomorrow there's going to be a hearing to decide whether Baltimore should be the appropriate venue. Now, given --

(CROSSTALK)

COATES: Go ahead.

[11:45:45] BOLDUAN: And that's what I wanted to ask you because you say it acknowledges some wrongdoing, but also they very explicitly say this proposed settlement doesn't resolve any of the factual disputes about the case, that it's not requiring that it's an admission of liability on the part of the city or the police which, of course, makes everyone wonder, when you have a settlement proposed of this huge number, what does it mean for the cases, the criminal cases and the trials that these six officers are still facing?

COATES: It has a very, very strong impact. And, in fact, I think it really weighs against the officers because as I said, there will be a hearing tomorrow to discuss pending motions, decide whether Baltimore is the appropriate venue. The reason for that motion is because the defense attorneys are saying there is no way we can get a fair trial in Baltimore. There's been the rioting. There's been the influence on all the different jurors. They may not be able to be unbiased in this case because of all the publicity and because of the rioting and because of the different personalities that have come into play in this case. Now you have a settlement that essentially says we're going to give $6 million in taxpayer dollars, more than any other settlement we've had in years, and we're saying to you be fair and impartial when you decide the fate of those six officers in six separate trials. It has an extreme impact that will influence the judge.

BERMAN: And you can bet these defense attorneys will argue over the next few days how can they have a fair trial in this city that's just agreed to pay this money.

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: Laura Coates, interesting conversation. Thank you.

COATES: Thank you.

High anticipation for the "Late Show" debut of Stephen Colbert. How much pressure on this comic, and what will it take to fill David Letterman's shoes?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:31:07] BERMAN: All right, big debut tonight. Stephen Colbert takes over the "Late Show" on CBS nine months after signing on "The Colbert Report." The comedian is said to be ditching the fake news man persona, which made him famous.

BOLDUAN: During his time between shows, away from the camera, he was not so much away from the camera. Colbert has been very busy becoming his own king of self promotion. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN COLBERT, NEW HOST, LATE NIGHT: Welcome to the Internet. Good news. I still exist.

We couldn't afford 3-D?

You'll be talking about it 20 years from now when the next Bush is running for office.

Oh, traffic, my least favorite kind of jam. Followed by apricot and toe.

How about "Like a Rock?"

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I forget the melody.

(SINGING)

COLBERT: Obviously, this look is tempting. I know a lot of you want me to stop right here.

(END VIDEOTAPE) (CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: Next time you're on vacation.

BERMAN: I'm doing that.

BOLDUAN: Can John Berman grow a full beard? We'll see.

But first, let's discuss with Robert Thompson, the director of Center for Media Studies at Syracuse University.

Robert, it's great to see you. Thanks for joining us.

ROBERT THOMPSON, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR MEDIA STUDIES, SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: We've seen a lot of Stephen Colbert between shows, he's dropping the persona. What's his style going to be? More in the style of traditional late night, or follow new late-night trends, kind of gimmicks and games?

THOMPSON: As soon as he announced his band leader, we realized this will be pretty old school. It's got a band leader, so he's got a band and that will be like we've been doing these shows from the 1950s.

I have to say, I would not want to bet what's left of my retirement fund on this becoming a big hit. What we've seen so far, Colbert, on "The Colbert Report," was brilliant. It was like Chaplin did "Little Tramp," having big shoes, a cap and cane. No one wanted to see Chaplin as anybody else. What I've seen of Colbert since abandoning the "Colbert Report" persona has been funny enough, but not enough to do battle in a very, very competitive environment.

BERMAN: Kiss without the makeup.

(LAUGHTER)

Another analogy here.

Professor, is there room for three of these guys essentially of the same generation to duke it out?

THOMPSON: There is room because it doesn't take much to be a hit. Remember, as much as we talk about "The Colbert Report," and how important and good it was -- and it was good and important -- in its final season, it was averaging 1.7 million viewers. There are 300- plus million viewers in this country. So it doesn't take a whole lot to be a hit.

BERMAN: All right, Robert Thompson, thank you so much for joining us. We will watch alongside you this evening.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, we have breaking news. We have dramatic moments as refugees push past a security line and run through corn fields. We have the amazing video ahead. Police literally chasing them down. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're running now with these migrants and refugees who just broke out of the holding area right along the border with Serbia. The police are literally right behind them.

(SHOUTING)

DAMON: CNN.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:58:25] BERMAN: Overnight, the most important victory since Tom Brady defeated Roger Goodell.

BOLDUAN: Wait for it.

BERMAN: I'm talking about the CNN Quiz Show TV edition. Dom Lemon and I staged a dramatic come-from-behind victory with the answer to this question: Why Dallas police first arrested Lee Harvey Oswald before he was accused of killing President Kennedy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: He was picked up after leaving a movie theater as a suspect for the shooting of someone named Tippet.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN QUIZ SHOW HOST: That is correct.

(APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow!

COOPER: The shooting of a Dallas police officer, J.D. Tippet, how much did you wager? $890. All of it.

(APPLAUSE)

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: Between Don and John, they win.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah. Second place, baby.

COOPER: Don and John are the winners.

(SHOUTING)

(CROSSTALK)

(SHOUTING)

COOPER: Don and John are the winners. JDRF gets $20,000.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: And the slow clap begins. That's right people.

(APPLAUSE)

BERMAN: We won.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: Questionable slow clap.

BERMAN: JDRF, which is a great charity for diabetes, gets $20,000. They do terrific work and we won.

BOLDUAN: You set a high bar. You can now never lose. But also, John, you know how we wanted to name the show "News Balls"?

BERMAN: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: That took news balls waging all your cash.

BERMAN: You win. You win.

BOLDUAN: That's crazy.

Thanks for joining us AT THIS HOUR, guys.

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: "Legal View" with Ashleigh Banfield starts right now.

(LAUGHTER)