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CNN NEWSROOM

Eric Holder Going to Ferguson; Protests Turn Violent; Trayvon Martin's Mother Writes Open Letter; Middle East Ceasefire Broken?

Aired August 19, 2014 - 09:30   ET

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


PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: And, yes, Eric Holder can do something, because under federal law, if Holder decides that the federal government would be better investigators in this case, would be fairer to the community, he can supersede local prosecutors and take over the case completely. I mean we know that Justice has already ordered its own autopsy. FBI agents are out doing canvassing. So they're certainly looking at that as a possibility. I -- it's very rare that they do it, but Holder could invoke that jurisdiction if he wanted to.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it may happen because there are calls out that a special prosecutor be assigned to this case because they say the prosecutor in the state of Missouri is --

KEVIN POWELL, ACTIVIST, WRITER, PUBLIC SPEAKER: Compromised.

COSTELLO: Is compromised.

POWELL: Absolutely.

COSTELLO: That's a good word. So would you like to see Eric Holder and the U.S. Justice Department take over, Kevin?

POWELL: The Justice Department needs to look at this situation, then you look at other situations, because there's a pattern of harassment of young men of color. When you look at the president's policy around My Brother's Keeper, one of the issues that keeps coming up is, how are black men perceived in communities. This is what this issue is about. And so, you know, we've got to understand that this is a national epidemic. This is not just an isolated incident in Ferguson, Missouri. And just how the Justice Department had to get involved in the Civil Rights movement, we feel like this is a modern day human rights and civil rights issue that has to be addressed by the national government starting with the president of the United States. President Johnson did it. You know, President Roosevelt did it during his terms in office. And so Barack Obama, our president, now has to do it as well.

COSTELLO: Paul, do you think state officials would welcome that?

CALLAN: No, they won't welcome it at all.

COSTELLO: I don't think so either. CALLAN: And I will tell you, the local prosecutor, Bob McCulloch, a very, very experienced guy, reelected by the public. I mean he's a democratically elected guy. He has a lot of law enforcement connections though. His father connected to the police department was killed in an action by a black man in an incident involving an arrest. His mother's connected to the police department, brother, cousin. Very close connections to police. So a lot of people I think in the African-American community are distrustful of him. But that is not an automatic disqualifier for a prosecutor or a judge. A lot of them have law enforcement connections. So we'll see what happens.

He started a grand jury investigation tomorrow because I think he's trying to hold on to this case, the local prosecutor, and -- because he sees Holder coming in one direction and the governor might come with a special prosecutor in the other. So you're going to see a lot of internal fighting about who gets the case.

COSTELLO: Paul Callan, Kevin Powell, thanks so much for joining me this morning. I appreciate it.

POWELL: Thank you for having me.

CALLAN: Thanks.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, curfews and crime fighting. Police impose curfews to try to curb the violence of protests in Ferguson. Once lifted, well, the clashes only intensified. Do curfews actually prevent crime? We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: While I understand the passions and the anger that arise over the death of Michael Brown, giving into that anger by looting or carrying guns and even attacking the police only serves to raise tensions and stir chaos. It undermines rather than advancing justice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Chaos overnight once again in Ferguson, Missouri. Peaceful protests over the shooting death of Michael Brown turned violent again. Police firing tear gas at demonstrators who threw rocks and bottles at officers and refused to go home. Thirty-one people were placed under arrest, two people shot, but not by police. The governor did lift the curfew in Ferguson last night and it didn't matter, the violence intensified. So the question is, should that curfew be put back into effect?

Joining me now is Brandon Scott. He's a city councilman in Baltimore who recently rewrote the city's new and more strict curfew law.

Welcome, councilman.

BRANDON SCOTT, BALTIMORE CITY COUNCILMAN: Thank you. Thank you for having me, Carol.

COSTELLO: First of all, I'd just like to get your thoughts, because I'm sure lawmakers all over the country are watching what's happening in Ferguson and, you know, what's going through their minds?

SCOTT: Well, you know, for me, especially as a young African-American man, it gives you -- takes you back to maybe we're living still in this country in 1960s and the mind-sets and the way that this situation's being handled on the ground. But it also, across America, opens a lot of wounds that we have refused to talk about, especially when you talk about African-American men and the police. So what you have in Ferguson is showing -- a prime example of showing that we still have a lot of work to do as far as race relations in our country. And as a legislator, you have to think about that at your local government or your federal -- your local state level if that's what you are as a legislator.

So we're all keeping a close eye on that and trying to make sure that this does not impact the country. But also it has to serve as a teaching point for all of us that this is an issue that we have to deal with in this country, whether we like it or not. But as an African-American man, I also hope that we deal with the issue as the epidemic of young black men dying around our country, and it's not just by the hands of police. We have to deal with that issue in its totality and not just (INAUDIBLE) point, the focal point to bring all of that to light for us.

COSTELLO: And, of course, the majority of us want this to be talked about in an intelligent way, a calm way, without the violence. I know that one of the ways that you've tried control crime on the streets of Baltimore is to institute a very strict curfew. Has that helped?

SCOTT: Well, here in Baltimore, we have long away went from looking at our curfew as a crime fighting tool. I actually removed the criminal penalties from our 20-year-old curfew and was using this as a social service kind of thing. That's what we're doing with our curfew. Parents are not criminalized. Children are not criminalized. And we actually are trying to connect the most vulnerable children and family to services.

Here in Baltimore, we don't arrest for curfew and we actually have now the fines can be waived if the families complete a family strengthening training course or take us up on some of the resources that we're offering them. And it has helped a lot of children and will continue to help children and their families moving forward.

COSTELLO: Because clearly you don't want kids on the streets at night. And, of course, they're having a similar problem, so to speak, in Ferguson, where most of the violence occurs under the cover of darkness and it occurs because of outside agitators in large part. So do you think that a curfew should again be put into place in Ferguson? Would it help?

SCOTT: Well, I think that what you have to -- we have to realize is that we know that it's a small group -- and that's always with any crime or any instance of violence, there's a small group of people and it's unfortunate, as you saw last night with the leaders down in Ferguson, trying to get those few folks that are inciting the police away from the overwhelming majority of the protesters who were doing this in peace. And that's what we have to do.

Now, if some say that they do -- if they do it in the daytime, those folks still will come out. And all I can ask is to tell people that, look, if you want to cause trouble for those people down there, stay at home, stay away. Do your own protests in your own town or wherever you live. Do not cause that city, that community any more pain by agitating a situation that we know is so, so, so inflammatory already.

COSTELLO: And a final question for you, should the people of Ferguson, the people who are peacefully protesting, should they limit their protests to during the day, to allow police to get rid of these outside agitators who are causing so much trouble at night?

SCOTT: No, absolutely not. They should not. This is the United States of America. Folks have the right to protest. They should not have to protest just in the daytime, just because a few folks want to mess it up for everyone. And those folks will come in the daytime in the protest if they know that they won't be able to incite the police just at night.

So this is America. We have to figure out a way how to handle this. This is 2014, not 1960, in the United States of America, so these people can properly protest in peace to say what they want to happen for their community and their country.

COSTELLO: Councilman Brandon Scott from Baltimore City, thank you so much for joining me this morning. I appreciate it.

SCOTT: Thank you for having me. Thank you.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, two years ago, Sybrina Fulton got the same phone call Michael Brown's parents did, that her unarmed teenage son had been shot and killed and now she's penned an open letter to the family pledging her full support as the Browns deal with their son's death.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SYBRINA FULTON, TRAYVON MARTIN'S MOTHER: I felt that it was best that I let people know that not only my family but the Trayvon Martin Foundation supports their family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The message she wants the world to hear, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Michael Brown's mother, Lesley McSpadden, is now a member of a group of women brought together by unspeakable tragedy -- the shooting death of their unarmed black sons. Sybrina Fulton's son, Trayvon Martin, was shot and killed in Florida in 2012. The case drew widespread attention, as you know, and protests before and after her son's killer was acquitted of murder.

Sybrina has written an open letter to Michael's parents in "Time" magazine called, "If they refuse to hear us, we will make them feel us." It reads in part, quote, "Your circle will close tighter because the trust you once, if ever, you had in the system and their agents are forever changed. Your lives are forever changed."

Last hour, Sybrina talked with CNN and gave her thoughts on the events surrounding Michael Brown's death.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FULTON: A lot of the words that I had to say to the family, I don't think I would have been able to say at this time personally to them. And so I felt that it was best that I let people know that, not only my family, but the Trayvon Martin Foundation, supports their family, and I thought it would just be best in order for me to write an open letter.

I think the first things first, and I think that they need to have a proper and decent homegoing service for their son. I think we're getting off track with a lot of things, but he needs to be buried and he needs to be laid to rest and that's going to be a very difficult moment in their life, and I don't want them to take that lightly. It's going to be very hurtful. It's going to be very sorrowful. It's going to be very disappointing to know that they're burying their 18- year-old son, and he had a full life ahead of him.

Because my son doesn't have a voice. I have to be the voice for him, and I just refuse to listen to all the negative things that people have said about him and that they will say. They even take shots at me and say that I'm not a good parent, but I did the best I could, and I still think he would have been followed. He would have been chased. He would have been pursued, and he would have been murdered, because it wasn't about Trayvon. It was about the person who pulled the trigger.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Next hour I'll talk with the parents of Sean Bell, another unarmed young black man killed in a hail of police gunfire, just hours before he was to be married.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM in, the uneasy peace disrupted this morning in the Middle East. We're following breaking news, rockets exploding and calls for retaliation during this latest cease-fire. We'll take to you Jerusalem, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It is a busy morning, this Tuesday. More breaking news, this time out of the Middle East. An Israeli-Palestinian truce just extended has apparently been broken. Israel says rockets have been fired from Gaza. CNN's John Vause is in Jerusalem with more. Hi John. JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey Carol. This all started about an hour or so ago with three rockets fired from Gaza, landing in the southern part of Israel. There was no damage, no injury,n o death caused. But the Israeli prime minister did order the Israeli military to respond. And over the last few moments, it has been reported air strike have been carried out on a number of targets in Gaza.

All of this happening while those cease-fire negotiations, those indirect talks, were ongoing in Cairo. They are being mediated by the Egyptians. And I'm now being told by a senior Israeli source that the Israeli delegation there will soon be ordered to return home, or a decision on that can be expected fairly soon to send those Israeli delegates home from Cairo.

So if that happens, then of course the cease-fire, the negotiations, everything is over. It's back to where this conflict was at the beginning of last month, Carol.

COSTELLO: John Vause, reporting live for us from Jerusalem. Many thanks.

Checking some other top stories for you at 52 minutes past.

The World Health Organization is reporting more than 100 new cases of Ebola and another 84 deaths from the virus. These latest cases come from reports over the weekend in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone. That brings the cases to 2,200, with 1,000 deaths.

The Ukrainian military says rebel forces killed dozens of refugees in an attack on a civilian car caravan. Authorities say 15 bodies have been recovered so far, but the rebels are denying the attack even took place. The civilians were reportedly attacked with rockets and other weapons imported from Russia to a rebel-held city.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

COSTELLO: Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me. Breaking news again overnight out of Ferguson, Missouri. The National Guard moves in and tensions ratchet up.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(SHOUTING)

COSTELLO (voice-over): Police in riot gear arrest at least 31 people of another night of escalating violence. At least two people were shot in what police were calling crowd on crowd violence. What started as the peaceful protest over the police shooting of an unarmed teenager has become uglier and ever more ominous.

Earlier this morning, police showed off evidence of that. Guns and a crude Molotov cocktail seized overnight from the crowd. The city has shut its schools this morning, the National Guard is on the ground, and the White House is dispatching Attorney General Eric Holder there tomorrow.

And maybe, most sobering of all, police say this tiny St. Louis suburb is now drawing troublemakers from as far away as New York and California.

CAPT. RON JOHNSON, MISSOURI STATE HIGHWAY PATROL: The night began peacefully with calm and orderly protests. Other law enforcement officers and I interacted on numerous occasions with protesters who shook hands with officers and expressed their opinions. This was the freedom of expression that we are committed to protecting.

At 9:40 p.m., more than 200 people walked toward police officers at the corner of West Florissant and Ferguson Avenue. They were loud but not aggressive. They came to the line of police officers, chanted, and then seemed to be turning around and thinning out.

Police did not react. In fact, several of the protesters encouraged the crowd to turn around, indicating their message had been heard, but that's when bottles were thrown from the middle and the back of a large crowd that gathered near and within the media staging area.

These criminal acts came from a tiny minority of law breakers, but anyone who has been at these protests understands that there is a dangerous dynamic in the night. It allows a small number of violent agitators to hide in the crowd and attempt to create chaos. The catalyst can be bottles thrown, Molotov cocktails, and of course shots fired. Protesters are peaceful and respectful. Protesters don't clash with police. They don't Molotov cocktails. It is criminals who throw Molotov cocktails and fire shots and endangers lives and property.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO (on camera): All right, let's begin our coverage with CNN's Don Lemon, who spent much of the night amid the clashes.