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LEGAL VIEW WITH ASHLEIGH BANFIELD

Pope Francis in Cuba; Pope Coming to United States; Volkswagen Emissions Testing Scandal; Bella Bond Case; Mike Rowe Talks about His Show. Aried 12:30-1p ET

Aired September 22, 2015 - 12:30   ET

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


[12:31:55] ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: And these pictures from just moments ago in Santiago, Cuba, as the pope makes his way all by himself up the staircase and on to what is affectionately known as shepherd one.

Not officially, affectionately known. This is Alitalia flight as he leaves the dignitaries who have hosted him Cuba for a successful visit. And make his way to what everyone hopes will be a successful visit in the United States.

Wheels up just seconds ago, the pope is on route and should be landing close to 4:00 P.M. eastern time. The president, the vice president, their wives, governors of Maryland and Virginia as well as Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington and the Archbishop Joseph Kurtz all hopefully having a good lunch and heading soon to Andrews Air Force base, Joint Andrews base will be where the pope lands and where he will meet with that very high end delegation.

It's a first for the president to meet a head of state like this at Andrews.

We're going to continue to watch the pope's journey.

We are also watching another very big story that has evolved today. And it might involve you an emission cheating scandal.

With the world's biggest carmaker, and it is a lot worse than you might have just heard yesterday or even this morning.

Volkswagen is now saying that 11 million cars, 11 million of its cars could have been equipped with some sneaky software. Software allegedly used to cheat on those emission tests that you have to do.

The company's stock has gone into the freefall. It has lost a third of its value in just two days. And now one guy in New York has said enough. And filed a class action lawsuit, certainly hoping it's going to get class action status.

I want to bring in HLN Legal Analyst and Defense Attorney Joey Jackson.

First Joey, I have to read something that we just got into CNN.

JOEY JACKSON, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: Wow. BANFIELD: Aha. Wait until you hear what the CEO of VW is saying, the Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn has released this apology, a full-on apology, I'm going to read it in part, "Millions of people all over the world trust our brands, our cars, and our technology. I am deeply sorry we have broken this trust. I would like to make a formal apology to our customers and to the authorities and to the general public for this misconduct."

It does not get any more contrite than that.

JACKSON: It doesn't, and also in legal terms that's what we call Ashleigh an admission, OK. Yes, it's an admission against interest, and it's clearly an admission of what was going on here.

And so the implications of this are enormous, make no mistake about it. We can look at the financial implications if you alluded too and you look to the stock value, of course, because it goes to the issue of consumer trust, and public trust, investor trust. But it goes deeper than that.

Think about the recalls that are going to be issued that of those 11 million cars, you have a half a million in the U.S.

[12:35:02] BANFIELD: Can I just tell you V.W. has set aside $7.3 billion with the "b" dollars in order to handle the recalls to refit all of these vehicles, 11 million vehicles worldwide.

JACKSON: And it may get even worse than that, because you have to look at the implications of that, of course, with the recalling, and then the fixing of it.

And then you look at the class action lawsuit I don't think there's any question it will be afforded status. Their common issues of law, their common issues of fact that pertain to people arguably in 50 states across the country and we fear. And of course the cars are sold internationally.

And then of course you look at consumers protection statutes that, you know, that afford punitive damages to punish people who do things wrong.

So we are going to be talking about this I'm sure for a long time.

BANFIELD: I think you're right, I mean we just keep getting, you know, buckets and buckets of news about this, this is a massive carmaker that overtook Toyota just earlier this year.

JACKSON: Intentional deception.

BANFIELD: Carmaker in the world.

All right Joey, standby, keep your eyes on that one for us if you would.

JACKSON: Yes. BANFIELD: We're also watching these other big story. It's the case of Baby Doe. I know you've heard of it that little child whose body was found in a trash bag, in a trash bag in the shores near Boston.

While Bella Bond's mother sits behind bars the focus may shift now to how this little 2-year-old was even in her mother's home in the first place, and how that boyfriend could have been there too, and where was the government to protect this little girl?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: For all of the times that we have seen that little girl's picture of Baby Doe next to the photo who we now know is Bella Bond.

[12:40:02] it's pretty remarkable isn't it. What might be more remarkable is there are 715 other children in the United States exactly like Bella.

They are Does, hundreds of them found dead every year. Look at these faces. We don't know who these children are. But unlike 2-year-old Bella, these unsolved mysteries remain.

And John Walsh, the host of CNN's "The Hunt" has made it his mission to the find the missing kids. He says this time once again, it's the department of children and families that the dropped the ball.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN WALSH, CNN HOST, THE HUNT: This woman with a history of prostitution and drugs, incompetent, horrible mother, horrible parent, two children taken away from her, how could they not track this little girl? What do you have to do? A grandma calls and says this child is in trouble, the real father calls, and neighbors I hear have called not sure about that, but had also called. What do you have to do to save a 2 1/2-year-old girl's life?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BANFIELD: I know someone else who has those questions. It's my colleague Nancy Grace who is kind enough to join me live, former prosecutor, host of HLN's program "Nancy Grace."

Nancy, you know, we have covered these stories too often, not often do we have an unsolved mystery that becomes solved and then we hear the horrors of what Bella Bond had to endure.

How does this happen, how does child and family services show up at a house twice for two other kids, twice for this little girl and yet she is still there?

NANCY GRACE, HLN HOST, "NANCY GRACE": It's amazing that they thought it fit, and they were right to take away two of baby Bella's siblings. The living conditions were so horrendous the way the mother treated her other two children, that they removed them, they're older than Bella. One is living with the maternal grandmother and one is living another relative, but they left the most defenseless of the three children with the mother Rachelle Bond.

And frankly, I'm surprised she is only been charged with accessory to murder, because when you hear her story, it doesn't fit with the forensics Ashleigh, you know, you're a legal eagle. But she says happens is that her live-in boyfriend McCarthy was angry because it was bedtime and Bella was fussy, and she didn't want to go sleep, that's normal, no child wants to go to sleep.

So he goes into Bella's bedroom, she was lying on a mattress on the floor and everything went quiet. And then the mother goes in there to check, and she said he is standing with his hand beside her abdomen impossible if the mattress was on the floor, and that the child was already gray.

All right, you and I have covered enough murder cases. And I prosecuted enough murder cases to tell you, now I'm a J.D. not an M.D., that a child that was killed under those circumstances is not already gray in power just a few moments after death a few moments not even minutes. Her story doesn't make sense.

I think she's lying and I think that her charges will be upgraded to murder.

BANFIELD: I wondered about that as well, because there is the act to the fact that this discovery which I found almost as troubling as the incident, itself, in that...

GRACE: Oh, it is horrible.

BANFIELD: ... these two were on a heroin binge for days and days while that baby's body was in the fridge, how does that play into a prosecution?

GRACE: Ashleigh, Can I just stop you just for one moment that they were on a heroin binge it sound like they just got onto merry go around, they were going around, they chose to ignore this child. They put her body in a trash bag and put her in the refrigerator, the mother went along with that, putting her baby in a bag and putting you in the fridge and not calling 911, nothing. And then she was, was injected with heroin in her neck by McCarthy according to her.

They didn't just go on a heroin binge, they chose to do this to this child, and the mother stood by and all of these months passed, Ashleigh, she never seeks help for the child she never calls 911, she never calls police, nothing. She just goes along with her life as if the baby has not been in the fridge in a trash bag.

BANFIELD: It's appalling, and I know we'll cover this again thank you, Nancy, for being with us today, I appreciate your...

GRACE: And Ashleigh, I want charges on the DFACs, too and they are not of the hook in my book, they let this happen, they drop the ball and the baby is dead. BANFIELD: We're going to watch for this without question.

Nancy, thank you. And I want to remind everybody that Nancy's program airs in our sister network HLN 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time.

[12:45:59] Back right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: This just in to CNN, some pictures from moments ago, is Xi Jinping, the president of China, arriving in the United States.

Yes, I know we began this broadcasting, the pope is coming, and he is. He's on route to be here in about three hours and 10 minutes or so, or 40 minutes or so.

But the Chinese president has just arrived on the West Coast. It's kind of a soft landing, landing in Everett, Washington, not unusual for a Chinese president to land in Washington on the other coast there'll be some meetings actually with some high level dignitary, their business-related meetings, and then it is off to Washington, D.C. for a visit with President Obama on Thursday.

Yes, all of this is during the visit from the pope, a busy, busy week for the dignitaries here in the United States, all of it of course, amid a market crisis, that's a topic that's coming up, Cyber security building Island in South China Sea, busy agenda.

Lot of them not me. All right we're going to watch that and more coming up in the 1:00 as well and then there is this.

You've seen the movie "Edward Scissorhands" and we're impressed by Edward hedge trimming skills and look, you might want to watch Mike Rowe's show, somebody's got to do it, because this week Mike is going to try his hand at the gardening awful look, he's not just any kind of gardening though, it's the art of topiary I'm not kidding take a look

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[12:50:04] MIKE ROWE, HOST, "SOMEBODY'S GOTTA DO IT": Clearly, Ladew is guy who could do it whenever the spirit moved him.

Oh, it's a hidden door, it's a hidden door Mr. Plum did it in a library with a candle stick, I'm certain.

But he left behind more than cool house and a great wilder decks, he left behind these.

It turns out this man of leisure was obsessed with work, specifically with topiary. A fancy term that describes the process whereby a shrubbery is turned in to a dog or a giraffe. He was out here everyday, sheers and hand, transforming his state into a living museum.

This was his life's work, which brings us to these guys. Technically I guess they're gardeners. But something tells me there's more to it. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BANFIELD: And you are laughing. He's laughing. Are you laughing?

ROWE: I'm always laughing. You know why I'm laughing because I love to watch you work.

BANFIELD: Really.

ROWE: I love to watch you sit here and listen to them, and looking at stuff and you. There's so much and their presidents ...

BANFIELD: And look at this, it's crazy.

ROWE: It's unbelievable. You should see her -- I mean and I can't see her brain, of course, but I can hear it working in there.

BANFIELD: Well someone has going to do it. Would you like to try it one day?

ROWE: No.

BANFIELD: Are you sure?

ROWE: No, I will give it a shot.

BANFIELD: I think it would be cute to see you in the dress, the makeup and hair.

ROWE: Why do make it weird?

BANFIELD: I did, I just went weird on that. I just went really weird with Mike Rowe.

OK, first of all, this whole topiary business. And with Edward Scissorhands, and how far did you get that? Could you do -- could you come and do some of yard work for me?

ROWE: Yes, I'd be happy too. And now, I now I didn't get far with them, I never get far with anybody on the show because I get a day with them. I show up.

BANFIELD: Yeah.

ROWE: This -- Ladew Topiary Gardens is in Maryland, not far from where I grew up. So I went to see my mom and dad, and I was visiting. And I like, you know what, we should shoot something. So we went up the road and it's a famous place, anybody who lives in Baltimore knows this place it's been around forever. But I've never really been to see what they do.

And the gardeners are like gardeners everywhere except the stakes are incredibly high. And they are making dinosaurs and dogs and fox hunts, and carving them out of -- it is a thing.

BANFIELD: I'm so jealous of your job, I got to be honest. ROWE: It's a good gig.

BANFIELD: I like what I do. But I mean I don't, you know, get out a lot anymore. You know, apart from the Afghanistan and the Iraq and all of that stuff.

ROWE: Yes, when you get out, you get out. You go.

BANFIELD: I am way out there.

ROWE: I'm going to gardens with shears and making dogs.

BANFIELD: Do you ever not like to your assignment. Do ever get somewhere and think "Oh, this is a mistake?"

ROWE: No, I don't because, you know, just like the gig before this one, we really we don't do a second take. You know, I mean it's -- that's the one thing that our gig probably has in common.

BANFIELD: Me neither

ROWE: Right.

BANFIELD: And you need right now either.

ROWE: Go check the place, that's right.

So, no and I think though that, you know, people expected that in the news, but they don't expect it in what...

BANFIELD: In tape.

ROWE: In reality shows but we even though the show is edited, we don't fake anything. And so I never get bored with the job, because for better or worse, whatever happens is the truth. And we can usually put it together in a way that make people go, you know, that be fun to hang out with.

BANFIELD: So you said it is weird if you're going to be dressed up like a lady. But you did that, I thought you will work like some crazy red wig when you did this in the Vegas show with the water?

ROWE: I made some mistakes, Ashleigh. You know, I'm just a guy trying to live his life.

BANFIELD: Speaking of life, I don't think that a lot of the viewers would know, although you and I said it once on the year before. If you miss that show, I asked you about all of those promos with the people who, you know, look like your parents and all of that, I go "Oh, look it is Mike's cute mom and Mike's cute dad not knowing what time you're are on, they are your parents, and it is not scripted.

ROWE: No well. It is a little bit of both. In this case, the conversations I had with my mom and dad that you guys use to promote the show are actual conversations we've really had in life. I mean my parents ask the same questions most parents would ask. They just do it with a certain vigor and intensity not often seen. So I love but I never get to see them anymore unless I hire them.

BANFIELD: Oh yeah. I would like to do you a solid and let's have a look at your parents right now. Can we play this up full so we can hear Mr. and Mrs. Rowe in their delightfulness?

ROWE: This looks like my mother calling our boss Jeff Zucker to confirm.

BANFIELD: To confirm what time you're on?

ROWE: The day ...

BANFIELD: ... they hired you.

ROWE: Yeah, yeah.

BANFIELD: Hold on, let's play it up full so we can hear to have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PEGGY ROWE, MOTHER OF MIKE ROWE: Hi this Peggy, I'm Mike Rowe's mom. I Just noticed that this season his show is on Sunday nights at 10:00, but it has been on Wednesday's before and Thursday's. And you know, we're old, his father and I, and change doesn't come easily. It would be nice if you could put it one place and just leave it there. Thank you, and don't call me back.

JOHN ROWE, FATHER OF MIKE ROWE: Who is that?

PEGGY ROWE: Oh, nobody.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BANFIELD: I wish you could see what we're looking at off camera, and Jeff Zucker has just walked out. Is he going to say it 10:00 Sunday night?

ROWE: So that's the plan?

[12:55:02] My mom sends her regards, and thanks for swag by the way.

(OFF-MIC)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... we're on the air.

BANFIELD: We are on the air. I just want to let you know FYI, thanks Jeff. You have to thank him.

ROWE: It's really been great work in here. I'm going to miss you.

BANFIELD: Exactly. All right Sunday at 10:00 for now.

ROWE: For now.

BANFIELD: For now Mike Rowe, I love having you on. ROWE: Nice to be here.

BANFIELD: You're welcome again too, your parents coming over?

ROWE: Yeah, yeah.

BANFIELD: Want to come tomorrow?

ROWE: I'll come tomorrow.

BANFIELD: Bring them up on the set.

ROWE: I'll bring mom and dad here, they'll be great.

BANFIELD: And Mr. And Mrs. Rowe, they're on the hook.

Hey, speaking of people on the hook, Wolf Blitzer is on the hook. Now, he is going to take this helm and run with it. He's going to start right after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:00:02] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 P.M. here in Washington, 6:00 P.M. in London, 7:00 P.M. in Vatican City, 8:30 P.M. in Tehran, wherever you're watching, from around the world, thank you very much for joining us.