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LEGAL VIEW WITH ASHLEIGH BANFIELD

Canadian Federal Court Judge Facing Removal From Federal Bench for Comments; Median Household Income Rises More Than 5 Percent. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired September 13, 2016 - 12:30   ET

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


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[12:34:04] ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: So, this is why women are hesitant to report sexual abuse. Because of outrageous comments like those of a Canadian federal court judge who is now facing removal from that federal bench.

Here's how bad it is. If you got kids in the room with you right now, and your T.V. is on me, you need to either turn me off which I really hope you don't do because you need to hear what's coming, or take the next five seconds to get those kids out of the room. I'm not kidding. This is unbearable language. Ready? Good.

The judge in a rape case asked the woman who was a rape victim, quote -- I don't want to get this wrong. "Why couldn't you just keep your knees together?"

The judge's name is Robin Camp. He is right now in the middle of a week-long judicial council hearing that is going to determine whether that man stays in that robe or stays on that bench, or gets the boot. It all stems from this 2014 case, the rape victim was a 19 year old woman. She had been raped over a bathroom sink, she said, during a house party. The court records show that Judge Camp had plenty of advice for the accuser and then for the man who was charged with the crime as well.

So let's start with the advice that he had for the woman in his courtroom. Why didn't she, "just skew her pelvis or push her bottom to the sink to avoid penetration?" And then his advice for the man in the courtroom, after he acquitted him. "I want you to tell your friends, your male friends, that they have to be far more gentle with women. They have to be far more patient. And they have to be very careful to protect themselves. They have to be very careful."

And then listen to these comments in general. Just for the rest of us. "Young women want to have sex, particularly if they're drunk. Some sex and pain, sometimes go together, and that's not necessarily a bad thing."

I don't know off the top of your head has popped off, but mine did the first time I saw this. And then I read about the verdict. So that verdict was actually overturned on appeal. This is a brand new trial that scheduled for November and the judge has since apologized. Apparently a couple of times. He's apologized. That guy, you know, who was in his court that was acquitted is out there somewhere, but the judge apologized.

CNN's Legal Analysts Danny Cevallos and Joey Jackson are with me now and they are blank faced because I think they had the same reaction I did. So should I be so shock Danny Cevallos? Does this happen in America? Yes, that's Canada, and this judge is only 64. He's not a whole lot older than I am.

DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: How many times Joey Jackson, have you been sitting in court watching another case and turned to another lawyer and said, did you judge just say that on the record? I think this happens ...

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Multiple.

CEVALLOS: ... more often that you think. The reality is that it just goes into the ether even if it's recorded and just for whatever reason in a pre-viral society didn't make it into the public. I think this happens fairly often.

It amazes because all judges have to do is stick to the script. Recite sentencing guidelines. They only get in trouble when they go off- script and start doing this in proven, editorializing. There's rarely a reason for this kind of colloquy even on the record. So it always baffles me and I think you'd be disappointed to find it happens more often than you think.

BANFIELD: So, were you surprised that he was 64 and not just to suggest it should make a difference, but sometimes it does make a difference? He wasn't 84, he wasn't 94. He was 64?

JACKSON: No, I wasn't surprised about that. I was surprised more about what he did irrespective of his age and I was surprised also that he got, after this, on to the federal bench. So, if you do this in 2014, but then you are escalated and elevated to the federal bench thereafter what message does that send?

In addition to that, the excuse is, well, you know, when I was an attorney I only did contracts and I didn't do bankruptcy. Well, if you're uncomfortable about handling a criminal case of this magnitude, don't do it.

BANFIELD: Can I actually read that since you just refer to? Can I actually read the quote that he gave as his excuse for this kind of garbage that went into that courtroom and then across the airways?

"My colleagues knew my knowledge of Canadian law was very minimal. It was non-existent," he said this on Friday right, in a hearing. "Please remember I wasn't in this country through the 60s, 70s and 80s." He did calls his comments rude and insulting but his excuse was that he wasn't in Canada in the 60s, 70s and 80s. He's South African.

JACKSON: But the problem Ashleigh is, this doesn't go to knowledge of law. This goes to ...

BANFIELD: Knowledge of humanity?

JACKSON: Exactly.

BANFIELD: Yeah.

JACKSON: This isn't something that you could blame on having a failed understanding of how to apply the law of consent. This has to do with what your values and beliefs are concerning men and women in relationships. And so I don't know -- well, I do know that excuse is unacceptable. I think the larger question whether it be Canada or New York is what you do about it.

And I know Danny, you'll speak to the issue of the judicial council issue, but here also, you know, there are governing bodies to regulate conduct like this. It is a massive job to be a judge. You have a great deal of discretion over people's lives, you make decisions of value, and those decisions need to be trusted by the public and you need to have a system that people can buy into. And when you do this, people don't.

BANFIELD: So Danny, just a couple seconds left here but Canada is a little different than the United States. You do not elect your judges up there at any level. And yes there is the council that you talked about. The judicial council that may slap him a new one and send him flying.

[12:40:05] But what about the woman and what about the guy who was acquitted? If he offends at some point, is there any recourse? Is there any liability that the system, the government, the people who put him in place that he himself might actually have? Because of the way he -- first of all, dispensed with his case and second of all admitted, well, I didn't know what I was doing. I don't actually know the law?

CEVALLOS: As in the United States, judges in Canada enjoy immunity from their decisions. They can't be sued later on if they allow a criminal to go free early, or acquit them, find them not guilty. So it's not likely that this judge could be civilly liable based on the law, both here in the United States and in Canada. He may potentially be removed from office under Canadian law, but statistically even that is unlikely. It's happened in the last 50 years under the law, my understanding, it's happened twice. That the CJC, the code of or a Canadian Judicial Council has recommended for removal.

BANFIELD: Wow. Just makes me wonder if he'd ever had a male rape complainant in his case, would he ever have uttered the words, "why couldn't you just keep your knees together?"

JACKSON: He would have said something worse, actually in that situation.

BANFIELD: I don't know. I really don't. Honestly, I just don't even know what else to say. I'm going to leave it there. But, you know, we'll watch this case, we'll find out what happens to Judge Robin Camp. JACKSON: And what happens during the actual retrial since he was overturned and this person has to be in court again to face real justice.

BANFIELD: And hopefully things are going gentle with his friends. He was to council to council. Danny Cevallos, Joey Jackson, appalling that we have to have this conversation in 2017. Thank you.

Coming up next, President Obama is about to take the campaign stage resuming his role of campaigner in chief. So his approval ratings are way higher than they had been in years and years. Can those positive approval ratings help to offset all the stuff that Hillary's going through right now? Especially over the next few days. We'll explain, next.

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[12:45:25] BANFIELD: I got some pictures for you just a few moments ago at Joint Base Andrews, this President heading out from to board Air Force One to head to Philadelphia. That's where he is going to be doing the second of his campaign events for Hillary Clinton, and the first solo campaign event for Hillary Clinton. And that is a big, old deal when you're riding high on your popularity approval rating.

Right now, the commander-in-chief heads off into Air Force One, he is happy to report, I'm sure that he is sitting at 58 percent approval. Those numbers may not seem high to you but generally speaking, that's pretty good for a president around this time. And it's the highest in years and years.

CNN White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski certainly knows that. She's traveling and she's live in Philadelphia on the campaign trail. And CNN's Presidential Historian Douglas Brinkley knows a lot about that.

So Michelle, first to you with the reporting. First campaign stop since July and only the second. Remind me. That doesn't seem like a lot of campaigning when we're only 56 days until the election?

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. In fact, we expected to see more too. But remember, the first scheduled event where they were going to be together was delayed because of the Orlando shootings. Then they had that event in Charlotte in July, and since then the president's schedule has been so busy. He has lot of overseas trips that he really hasn't had the time to get out on the trail a lot. So, this is the point now where we expect to see more. Even though this month too, will be busy.

Remember, we just got back from a trip to Asia, then he has a U.N. General assembly coming up. So October is going to be the month. I mean, that's really kind of late in the game, but that's the perfect timing as the White House sees it, to really get him out there actively.

So even though we haven't seen much of him, White House sources tell us that he has been eager to get out there. He wants to do more. He watches those poll numbers. Not only the tight race itself, but he sees his popularity among the polls rising. He knows that he has the power to get out there and try to motivate people, and that's what he wants to do a lot more. And I think once we see October come and go, he may be the most active president on the campaign history, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Well, he certainly has a lot of mojo when it comes to minority voters and young voters and getting them out. You know, either to register or actually to vote. Michelle, hold your thought for a moment. I want to go on to Doug Brinkley with your perspective. Help remind me where 58 percent falls just a couple months from the end of your eighth year, other presidents and where they have stood at that time, whether they've been liabilities or assets to go out on the campaign trail?

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, Barack Obama is a major asset for Hillary Clinton. I think he may be the key for her winning the election. It's not just that he had some, you know, public popularity in the 50s now but he's been operating around 45 for a long time. Our Congress is about a 10 percent or 15 percent approval rating.

When people don't really care for Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, you see the President getting kudos, particularly as you've said with African-Americans he's got an over 90 percent approval rating. And young people, Barack Obama comes to your college campus in Ohio, if he goes to Kent State or Bowling Green or OSU, it's a big deal. So I think, if I were Hillary Clinton I would say its all hands on deck, but particularly with President Obama's hands on top. Her pathway to victory is to get him motivated with the African-American and youth communities of the United States.

BANFIELD: Doug, can you give me 30 seconds on the power of having the First Lady out there?

BRINKLEY: Well, you know, the power of the First Lady is important, too. I mean, I think Hillary Clinton now with the pneumonia, she is losing four, five days, it looks like here. I think you have to regroup and say, we have to use Michelle Obama, who's very popular, and get her on. Joe Biden, Bill Clinton is doing the fundraisers, but nothing is like the president of the United States.

BANFIELD: Right.

BRINKLEY: When a president comes to a campus, there's nothing like him. And I just might say very quickly Ashleigh, big mistake Dwight Eisenhower made. He didn't get into the campaign for Richard Nixon in 1960. Scholars say if Ike wouldn't have waited until October, got in earlier that Nixon probably could have won. And we also know that Al Gore made a terrible mistake of keeping Bill Clinton away from his campaign, because he didn't want to inherit the impeachment woes.

[12:50:00] So, I think in this case, while Obama has no skeletons, 58 percent and particularly with minority voters and young people, they better get him going to a lot more than Philadelphia.

BANFIELD: Doug Brinkley, thank you. Always good to have your perspective. Michelle Kosinski, thank you for that.

Back right after this.

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BANFIELD: Important math for you. Numbers out today, and they're good news. The stuff you've been waiting to hear. Middle class folks out there? Hey, congrats. You've finally got a raise. A Median household income rose more than $56,000 last year. It's up more than 5 percent. It rose two, I should say, but it didn't go up $56,000 trust me we all know that. This is all according to the census bureau.

CNN Money Correspondent Cristina Alesci is here. Why the great news. What happened?

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: More people are entering the workforce. So we have 1.4 million men entering the work force and 1 million more women, that means that there is more money coming into households. The average American households and like you said, this is the first raise since 2007. So ...

BANFIELD: Dang.

ALESCI: I know.

ALESCI: And so they say on the campaign trail.

BANFIELD: And stagnant. So angry.

ALESCI: And that's why Americans are so angry.

BANFIELD: Yeah.

ALESCI: To your point. Now, good news for the average American family, bad news for Donald Trump, because he's been out on the campaign trail saying, oh, since Obama took office the average American family's made $4,000 less.

[12:55:05] Well, guess what? That was data up until 2014. Today, we got data through 2015 that changes the dynamic. That's why income is essentially actually a bit higher. The median amount is a bit higher than when Obama took office back in 2009.

BANFIELD: And he said it in a different way though? Can he say, hey, but hold on. We're still lower than we were at x, y, z years?

ALESCI: No.

BANFIELD: No?

ALESCI: Because we're essentially flat versus the recession and also Trump I using the uses the poverty rate as something that he point s to that he says, you know, the poverty rate has been elevated. Well, that ticked down by 1 percentage point as well, so really removing Donald Trump's main lines of attack against Obama on the economy. That doesn't change, however, to your point the way most people feel, because they haven't had a, an increase in their median income for so long.

BANFIELD: You know, it takes a while for the numbers to actually shake down and for the message to shake down as well. And we've only got Cristina 56 days ...

ALESCI: Yeah.

BANFIELD: ... until Election Day. So we'll see how they use that on the trail.

ALESCI: Yeah. Unfortunately, there's no change for the female/male income gap 80 cents on the dollar.

BANFIELD: Thanks a bunch.

ALESCI: I know.

BANFIELD: Thanks a bunch, Cristina Alesci, I do love her, despite what she just said. Keep an eye on things she'll be reporting throughout the day with "CNNMoney". Thank you for that. Thank you everyone for watching "Legal View." Wolf starts right after this quick break.

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[13:00:11] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's noon in Des Moines Iowa, 1:00 p.m. here at Washington, 8:00 p.m. in Aleppo.