Return to Transcripts main page

LEGAL VIEW WITH ASHLEIGH BANFIELD

State Dept IG Issues Report on Hillary Clinton Emails; Trump Upset over Media Questions about Veterans Fundraising. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired May 25, 2016 - 12:30   ET

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


[12:30:01] ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Mark Preston, first to you. My guess is that it will be semantics. We will not hear plural when we hear of Donald Trump speaking of this issue. We will definitely hear plural when we hear Hillary Clinton speaking of this issue.

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Yeah, no doubt. And what I think is important is you said that Hillary Clinton was not above the rules but what Jeffrey Toobin said just a few moments ago is that it was not that she was above the law, meaning that there will not be criminal charges brought against Hillary Clinton for doing so. We've already heard from the Clinton campaign now just in the last few moments where they said, that this is something that has been ongoing and they were simply doing what other former secretaries did and had she or would she still be in office at this point, she would take the rules and suggestions that have been now proffered about how to keep these e-mails safe and she would follow through with them.

Now, of course, this isn't something that she wants to be talking about or doing when she want to talk about policy proposals and how she's going to help turn the economy around and what have you. But I don't think that it is devastating to her politically, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: OK, so let's talk a little bit about the strategy that Hillary Clinton might employ when not having to deal with this e-mail issue. There are a lot of other things on the campaign trail. Nia- Malika Henderson and after what happened last night, all of those protests and the dust settled, we saw some other things emerge and that is Elizabeth Warren calling Trump a small insecure money grubber. And then Donald Trump waging war right back saying, its Pocahontas Elizabeth Warren, she's a total failure.

That makes the headlines and it's not a headline about Hillary. Is this a strategy by Hillary Clinton or at least Elizabeth Warren to say, "Beat me up as much as you want because it takes it away from beating her up?"

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER In some ways, I think so and we've seen Elizabeth Warren in this kind of Twitter fight with Donald Trump before calling him xenophobic, calling him racist, calling him a sexist and saying she's not going to be bully. And she's actually quite affected at it and has drawn him into it. And there you have Donald Trump giving her a nickname, calling her a Goofy Elizabeth Warren saying that that was her native American's nickname and then calling her Pocahontas which I think many people see as sort of this racialized language which in some way proves what Elizabeth Warren is saying. I mean calling Elizabeth Warren Pocahontas would almost be like someone calling a black woman Aunt Jemima. I mean it's certainly crosses the line there I think for many people.

But then again this is kind of what we come to expect from Donald Trump. This is the kind of language he's employed. And there you have Elizabeth Warren going up against him and really doing I think some of the dirty work of the Clinton campaign.

The Clinton campaign, obviously, has decided that has a principle. Clinton herself isn't going to engage in this but there are all sorts of people who are going to be in her cheering section doing some of this work going at Donald Trump and in some ways, provoking him to engage in a kind of dialogue that doesn't put him in the best light.

BANFIELD: And dialogue that could be repurposed for campaign ads down the pike.

I got to leave it there, Nia-Malika thank you and of Mark as always, thank you to you too. Appreciate it.

Just ahead, now to Bill Cosby has been ordered to stand trial on three charges of sexual assault. What happens next? How difficult could a conviction be? And why is he not going to be at his arraignment next month?

[12:33:32] All those answers, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: As Bill Cosby prepares to go on trial on sexual assault charges, there is one thing he will not be doing and that's showing up at his arraignment next month. He waived the appearance. That's fine. You can do that. It was supposed to be July 20th. But instead he automatically entered a plea of not guilty to those charges. His accuser, Andrea Constand, is the first of more than 50 women to come forward and accuse Bill Cosby of sexual misconduct.

We do not have a judge yet assigned in this case but we will soon know who that person is going to be. We know these people now, these faces.

Once it all begins, these are the faces of the women who are probably going to want to see some justice, just as much as Andrea Constand herself because they have accused him of the same thing for the most part.

Statute of limitations for most of their cases however has expired. And so this is about as close as they're going to get seeing Bill Cosby held accountable if he is in Constand's case.

But of course Cosby remains defiant. He denies all accusations against him.

Carla Ferrigno, joins me now she was a Playboy bunny back in 1967 and she boldly shared her story with 35 other accusers. And it was part of this cover story on New York magazine.

Carla, thank you for being with us and if your name sounds familiar to our audience, it's because Lou Ferrigno, your husband, the famous first hulk, I'd like to say.

And the fame aspect is part of your story because your son is also an actor. And as I understand it, you didn't come forward because you didn't want your son to suffer at the hands of those who were very powerful, you feel in Hollywood. But your forward now, you're telling your story now. But you're not suing. Do you think you can get some justice out of what's going on, on the east coast?

CARLA FERRIGNO, COSBY ACCUSER: I'm getting a lot of joy from being able to support these women. And I'm so excited about the fact that this is happening. That he -- I was really afraid for a long time that nothing would happen with this man. And it has.

As of yesterday, we found this out. I'm so happy that this is going to be -- I think it's going to be the winner for everybody.

[12:40:10] BANFIELD: Is it possible, Carla, you'll be called? I mean, if you retain counsel, do you know the process? Might you get a phone call saying, you know, come to Montgomery County. We want you to quorum (ph) to tell us what happened to you.

FERRIGNO: Yes, I would definitely do that. I would do it to help the women. I've been supporting them. You're right. We were talking about me being able to talk about a lot of things about this, I didn't do it because of my son and I was really afraid that his people could harm my son because of his acting and pick up the phone and say no Ferrigno's on T.V. anymore. And that was the possibility. So, I was careful in what I did and I didn't do a lot of interviews and now I'm so excited about it and I wanted to support these women so much.

BANFIELD: Well, as this story moves forward, Carla, I hope we'll be able to touch base with you to see, you know, how things transpire and if, in fact, you do get a call from those prosecutors, either as an investigative technique or if they ask you to actually testify. Carla, thanks for being with us.

FERRIGNO: So I'm going to be available. I promise.

BANFIELD: All right.

FERRIGNO: I am.

BANFIELD: All right. Thank you so much. Do appreciate it. And one of the foremost voices when it comes to legal questions and big celebrities is Nancy Grace. How does she feel about this Bill Cosby case? It's going to trial. She is a prosecutor with a spotless record. What do you think she thinks the chances of the win here are? She's going to joins us live, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:45:40] BANFIELD: HLN's Nancy Grace live with me now in the Cosby development. Nancy, can't wait to get your take. You're a prosecutor. Do you think these prosecutors have a winning case?

NANCY GRACE, HLN HOST, NANCY GRACE: Yes, I do. Now I'm not saying that it is not plagued with problems because the defense's very best friend as you will know is delay, delay, and delay. Now this has languished since about 2004. That is a long time to pass to try to put a case back together again.

Here's the saving grace. A lot of people think this woman, Constand waited all these years before she went to police, and they say why? What's the point now? What's in it for you? That is not true.

She made, as we call in the law, an outcry at the time. Not very many day at passed when she went to authorities then and that was a hard thing to do. How many women and men too are overwhelmed by a star, by somebody they looked up to? If I were to make up to Supreme Court justice, I would be overwhelmed. It would be difficult for me to believe they would do anything wrong, so she did go forward to police then and the sitting D.A. declined to prosecute and I really disagree with that. A D.A. is there. A district attorney is there to take charges to a jury but not be the jury. You don't prosecute a case because you think you can win. It's not (inaudible). This should have gone to a jury then but it's going now.

BANFIELD: So -- and the jury is the critical part in all of this. Jury selection, I can't even imagine the experts are going to have to hire on this one because this is a he said, she said unless it becomes a he said, she said, she said, she said, she said, she said, and then there are 50 shes to choose from. What do you think the admissibility is going to be with some, any, or all of those women?

GRACE: OK, Ashleigh, I remember a case where I got in and a prosecution, I think ten similar transactions.

BANFIELD: Wow.

GRACE: All right. Now, there are allegedly, at least 57 other women, whoa, look at that, I mean ...

BANFIELD: It's a lot of women.

GRACE: ... what, they're all lying and Cosby is the only one telling the truth?

BANFIELD: But admissibility is a tough bar with patterns. How many or if any do you think might get the stories in court? Because then it does become more she saids than a he said.

GRACE: He's his own worst enemy because remember, he went under oath in a deposition and said he gave Constand drugs, although he now said it was Benadryl. FYI, Benadryl is pink. It's not blue. Like these Quaaludes, she said he gave her. H said he gave her pills to relax her that he lifted her bra up so their skin could touch, and that he quote, "Went down her pants." He is under sworn oath saying that.

So this is play book. SOP. First, a sex offender says, an alleged sex offender says I didn't do it. When he puts it under oath that he did do it, the next thing will be its consensual. That is going to be his defense. Will other similar transactions come in? Not all 57 but maybe one or two to go to mode of course of conduct, frame of mind, intent, modus operandi. I think at least a few will come in.

BANFIELD: I think you're right. Because, you know, pattern those pills in every one of those women have the same story of the pills. Can I ask you about this, Nancy, real quick? I know I'm running out of time. But, the inconsistencies of Bill Cosby saying at one point, the herbal and this is according to Andrea.

GRACE: Herbal.

BANFIELD: And on the other point the Benadryl.

GRACE: Herbal.

BANFIELD: And then another point I got to check the prescription bottle. That will be challenged by her own affidavit with lots of things crossed out and changed and the fact ...

GRACE: Yeah.

BANFIELD: ... she continued to visit with this alleged rapist her opinion she continued afterwards. That becomes a battleground for a lot of juries that juries don't understand. How do you make them understand that?

GRACE: Well, I tell you. The only way to do that is to bring in an expert that has dealt with sexual assault victims who feel like it's their fault and they find it very difficult to believe anything happened. One more thing I want to point out. Did you see Cosby in court? Like he couldn't see what's going on?

BANFIELD: Yeah.

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, including Jean Casarez.

[12:50:05] But remember, he was doing stand-up comedy during the last year. So he could see to do a stand-up comedy routines but suddenly his vision failed when it's time to go in court. I'm not judging, I'm just observing.

BANFIELD: Yeah. And we had the video to show it too. We're seeing some of it now but he definitely -- he bumped in the magnetometer on the way in as well.

Nancy, thank you, I really appreciate you doing this.

GRACE: I'll see you in court.

BANFIELD: As we always like too. And you can watch Nancy Grace's program HLN 8:00 p.m. Eastern time. Thank you, Nancy.

GRACE: Thank you. BANFIELD: Thank you, friend.

Hey, coming up, remember all of that money that Donald Trump said he was personally donating and raising veterans and that person on the air was Trump support (inaudible) it was $6 million that he donated a million? CNN went in search of the facts and the numbers and guess what? We got them. You're going to have them. Right up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:55:09] BANFIELD: This might sound familiar. It's one of the many songs that Donald Trump sings a lot. The media picks on him. The media is not fair. The media asks questions that are none of their business and here we go. We are at it again and it is about money. Because remember back in January when Donald Trump skipped a Fox News debate and instead said he was holding a fundraiser for veterans? He says his team raised $6 million for veteran charity groups. Four months later, we wanted to follow the money and we couldn't exactly find it. Here's CNN's Drew Griffin with the explanation.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: It was such a major event and Trump claimed it had raised so much money for veterans.

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We actually raised close to $6 million to be totally honest.

GRIFFIN: That was only natural for reporters to follow up if the presidential candidate did skip the debate and did instead raise $6 million for veterans, where is the money? A testy Donald Trump released an Instagram video essentially asking, why is the press picking on me?

TRUMP: I raised almost $6 million for the veterans including putting up $1 million of my own money. I had no obligation to do anything or to do so. And I get nothing but bad press from the dishonest media. It is absolutely disgraceful. Why don't they look into the Clinton foundation?

GRIFFIN: The fact is, it is true. Donald Trump does and has given money to veterans groups for years. And it's also true Donald Trump sometimes gets his facts and his accounting all messed up. You can find the errors right on Trump's own web site. Right here, it says in 1995, he saved the nation's day parade by donating $1 million agreeing to be its grand marshal and marching with the troops on November 11. How much money did he actually give? Do you know exactly how much money he gives?

VINCE MCGOWAN, UNITED WAR VETERANS COUNCIL: I'm reaching into my memory on this. It didn't exceed 375, but it was more than 325.

GRIFFIN: He said it was a million. That's what he said.

MCGOWAN: But it looks to me as if whoever wrote that paragraph mixed 1985 and 1995.

GRIFFIN: Possibly sloppy bad public relations, bad accounting or a little (inaudible) says that then chairman of that parade Vince McGowan. Did Trump save the day? McGowan said yes. Did he donate a million dollars? No.

But on his web site, his web site, it's a million dollars.

MCGOWAN: It's a million dollars if you -- if you -- when you start parsing the way somebody wrote that, they did not get the story straight. I don't think they did. I think they will after this interview.

GRIFFIN: And something else they may want to fix on that Trump web site, he wasn't the grand marshal.

MCGOWAN: Only one veterans day every single year. We've been running it since 1985.

GRIFFIN: Has he ever been grand marshal?

MCGOWAN: No.

GRIFFIN: In 1985, 10 years earlier, Trump did give a million dollars to help build the Vietnam War Memorial in New York City. That's a fact. No need to overstate it. But then there's this. 2008, while trying to pump up sales of Trump vodka, the vodka company said it would donate to sales proceeds to the Walter Reed Society supporting programs of the Walter Reed Military Hospital, how much? The administrator for the Walter Reed Society doesn't remember the precise figure, but told CNN that the donation wasn't much.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

GRIFFIN: Ashleigh, we went back to the Walter Reed Society this morning and asked them to double their records that not much amount is just a few hundred dollars from all that Trump vodka sales. We do expect a full accounting from the January fundraiser we are told, although we've been told this many times, it's going to happen on Memorial Day. Right now, CNN can only confirm about half of that $6 million total has been taken in and given out to veterans charities. Ashleigh?

BANFIELD: And we're still working on the figure that he said once again a million dollars on that day towards that total. Drew Griffin, thank you for that. Do appreciate it. And thank you, everyone for watching "Legal View." It's been nice to have you with us. Stay tune now. Wolf starts and you can tweet me at cnnashleigh anytime. See you tomorrow.

WOLF BLITIZER, THE SITUATION ROOM HOST: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 10:00 a.m. in Anaheim, California, 1:00 p.m. here in Washington and 8:00 p.m. in Raqqa, Syria. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thank you very much for joining us.

Up first, tempers flare and attacks intensify as Donald Trump moves closer and closer to officially clinching the Republican presidential nomination. Trump is now just eight delegates away from the 1,237 needs to officially seal the deal. His win in yesterday in Washington state prime ...