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FOX to Trump: Resolve This or Go to War; NBC Not Bringing Back "The Apprentice" Yet; 13 Jaw-Dropping Campaign Moments; New Witness Comes forward in Pledge's Death. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired August 13, 2015 - 14:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:33:16] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Bottom of the hour. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

"Resolve this now or we go to war," that was from the top brass at FOX News, Roger Ailes, to Republican front runner, Donald Trump. Two powerhouse men clashing after the fallout from the debate where Trump claims he was treated unfairly from moderator, Megyn Kelly. Responding to this from Don Lemon in the days after.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: She gets out and she starts asking me all sorts of ridiculous questions and you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her -- wherever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: OK. Moving on to that, what's ahead here? Brian Stelter, our senior media correspondent, moving on, host of "Reliable Sources".

FOX apparently responded to this whole thing by ignoring Trump and now what? They have put aside their differences? How so?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT & CNN HOST, RELIABLE SOURCES: Trump is such an unusual candidate and this feud went on all weekend between Trump and FOX News. FOX stopped covering Trump. They never played that blood comment. They didn't really cover the story, except one time all weekend. It turns out, according to my sources on both sides of it, this was a nasty fight between FOX and Trump. Roger Ailes, the chairman of FOX News was apoplectic and Trump was furious and felt betrayed because he felt Megyn Kelly was too tough. It got down to a Monday morning phone call where the two men traded barbs and had a very blunt talk but they agreed to settle their differences. There was going to be no apologizing from either side. For now, there's this tenuous truce but, behind the scenes, there is still a lot of bitterness on both sides.

[14:35:00] BALDWIN: So how is each side spinning it? What does it look like for FOX and Trump?

STELTER: I think FOX's priority was to get Megyn Kelly out of the headlines. She was doing her job and received a lot of praise for her tough questioning. But the last thing Trump wanted was this conversation about blood, her possibly having her period. That wasn't the way they wanted Trump talking about their star anchor. And Trump wanted Megyn Kelly to apologize for tough questioning. That's where the two men agreed to disagree on Monday and set things aside. The question is how long this truce will go on for. They've made peace for now. Trump needs FOX News. FOX News needs Trump as well. Whether he feels appreciated by FOX is something to be seen. Will he show up to future debates, for example? That's a question up in the air.

BALDWIN: I know you have news on his beloved and successful reality show "The Apprentice." What are you learning?

STELTER: Yeah, NBC is not going to make a new season of "The Apprentice" after all. The plan was, when Trump announced his run for president, they were going to find a new host without him. They said, no, we are going to take our time. Trump is absolutely not coming back. They are going to find a new host but they are going to wait at least a year before they bring the show back to TV. Maybe by then, we'll all forget whether Trump was the host. Maybe by then, he'll be the nominee for president. We'll see we are in 2016.

BALDWIN: Brian Stelter, thank you.

STELTER: Thanks.

BALDWIN: Looking at the coverage of last month, it seems like Donald Trump is dominating the headlines as a presidential candidate. He's had his share of head-scratching moments. But the other candidates have had the same as well. We've put together 13 jaw-dropping moments from the 2016 thus far.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. TED CRUZ, (R), TEXAS & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I could have sworn I saw Hillary's Scooby Doo van outside.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Literally, calling it the Scooby Doo van.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know what she calls it? The Mystery Machine. The Scooby Doo van.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, NEW DAY: Do you think being gay is a choice?

DR. BEN CARSON, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & NEUROSURGEON: Absolutely.

CUOMO: Why do you say that?

CARSON: Because a lot of people who go into prison, go into prison straight, and when they come out, they are gay.

LINCOLN CHAFEE, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER RHODE ISLAND SENATOR: Here's a bold and embrace of internationalism. Let's join the rest of the world and go metric. SEN. RAND PAUL, (R), KENTUCKY & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let me

finish. Hey, Kelly, hey --

(CROSSTALK)

KELLY EVANS, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: I'm sorry. Go ahead. I'm sorry. Go ahead.

PAUL: Quiet. Calm down a little bit here, Kelly.

JEB BUSH, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER FLORIDA GOVERNOR: I would have. And so would have Hillary Clinton, to remind everybody. And so would have everybody that was confronted with the intelligence that they got.

JOHN KASICH, (R), OHIO GOVERNOR & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Black lives matter. White lives matter. All lives matter.

(BOOING)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, (I), VERMONT & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Other things I've wanted to talk about is the fact that the American people are tired of seeing unarmed African-Americans --

CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R), NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm still waiting for one fact, one fact from you about me being anti- gun. Give me one, one fact. Got one?

TRUMP: I wrote the number down. I don't know if it's the right number. Let's try it. 202 --

He -- he's not a war hero.

CUOMO: He's a war hero.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured, I hate to tell you.

CRUZ: We now know that when the majority leader looks at us in the eye and makes a commitment, we know he will say things that are false.

MIKE HUCKABEE, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER ARKANSAS GOVERNOR (voice-over): This president's foreign policy is the most feckless. He would trust the Iranians, and take the Israelis and basically march them to the door of the oven.

HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: We came out of the White House not only dead broke but in debt. We had no money when we got there and we struggled to peace together the resources for mortgages for houses.

TRUMP: You know, you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her -- wherever.

Who would think to say something like that? Only a sick person would even think about it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[14:39:28] BALDWIN: And it's just August of 2015. They're just getting started.

Next, was it an accident or an act of hazing? New clues emerging in the mysterious death of a fraternity pledge at Clemson University found dead in a lake. Now, a new witness could add a major twist to this case. We'll discuss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: New clues are emerging today in the death of a Clemson University student. Tucker Hipps died last September. At the time, he was pledging to a fraternity. His family is blaming the school, the fraternity, they're blaming three of its members for his death. One of the members named is a son of Representative John Carney. They have filed a $25 million lawsuit. His body was discovered in a lake under a bridge. And investigators say they couldn't figure out exactly what had happened and, thus, the criminal probe was stalled. But now the family says a witness has come forward with graphic details about hazing and a cover-up.

Joining me now, CNN investigations correspondent, Sara Ganim; and criminal and civil trial attorney, Eric Guster.

Sara, to you first.

In your reporting, talk about this new witness and the new details.

[14:45:06] SARA GANIM, CNN INVESTIGATIONS CORRESPONDENT: This is a mystery going on for nearly a year. His parents have been wondering what happened to him. Did he jump off the bridge? Was he forced to jump? The family attorney has said all along, because of hazing rituals at this fraternity, pledges were often asked to jump off bridges and swim to shore. And we know from the family's lawsuit that the brothers were upset with Tucker that morning because he was supposed to bring them McDonald's breakfast and didn't have the money to pay for it. So now this witness has come forward and said that he saw something that morning and this is giving the family new hope that they may understand finally what happened.

I want to read to you a little from the lawsuit. They believe that Tucker was forced to walk along the railing of that bridge and they say, quote, "Tucker slipped from the railing and caught the railing under his arms, tried to climb back onto the bridge unassisted, lost his grip on the bridge and fell head-first on the water below striking his head on the rocks." Afterwards, the lawsuit claims that the brothers tried to cover up what happened, that they did not report him missing to the police, even lied to his girlfriend about where he was, saying that he was seen in the library.

I talked to his mom yesterday. I want to tell you what she told me. She's obviously heartbroken. She said, "It does answer some questions. It connects some of the dots. His dad and I miss him so terribly. He's still the first and last thing we think about every day and he's just terribly missed."

Of course, she's still left to wonder whether her son died over McDonald's biscuits. All of the defendants in this case have denied this allegation. And Sam Carney, the son of Representative John Carney, said he did not see anything and doesn't know how Tucker went over that bridge.

BALDWIN: Obviously, your heart goes out for this family. And, you know, she says that some of the dots are being connected.

But when I look at this, Eric, I look at a lot of pieces of this puzzle and a lot of versions of events. As an attorney how do you approach this? What does your gut tell you?

ERIC GUSTER, CRIMINAL & CIVIL TRIAL ATTORNEY: The way to approach this is try to get someone to talk. There is a civil litigation aspect of it and possibly the criminal aspect. They have not been charged criminally, which means that under the civil action, where they may subpoena witnesses, may be forced to testify in depositions, swear to tell the truth, the whole truth. They may tell -- someone may tell exactly what happened in order to cover themselves. Because when you have a bunch of fraternity boys, they tend to do things as a group. And so people will start talking. Even if they weren't there, even if a person was not there, they may know what happened, because I'm sure some of these members told someone else. And now with civil litigation aspect, they are trying to get to the bottom of it to see exactly who knew what, who did what and, more importantly, who did not do something, who did not jump in the water to save this young man, who did not call the police and tell them what happened and who lied to the police, which are a different set of charges from the possible manslaughter charge that may come, criminal negligence, homicide. There are so many charges that so many of them will be facing that I'm sure they have lawyered up and will be careful if they testify.

BALDWIN: Then there is also the role here of this university, the fraternity.

Sara, just quickly -- you, then Eric -- I assume there are anti-hazing rules in place at Clemson?

GANIM: Yes. And the allegations are that they were broken. And there are allegations that they were broken before Tucker died. And his mother was quite upset about that. She said, look, they were hesitant as parents to let their child pledge a fraternity. We've been talking about hazing in the news a lot. They went to the university orientation and asked all of the right questions and they are upset because they say Clemson only told them essentially the good stuff.

BALDWIN: Right.

GANIM: They said that kids in frats have higher GPAs and they study together but they didn't talk about the history of this particular fraternity. The mother told me that if they had known there were other violations, they would not have allowed him to continue to pledge at that fraternity. BALDWIN: So, Eric, depending on where the truth lies, the fate of the

fraternity hangs in the balance, and what does the university need to do?

GUSTER: The university has to fully investigate the fraternity and fraternity members because the fraternity could be, as we say, pulled off the yard. Their charter could be pulled from the university. And that goes to whether there will be national action against this chapter or if they will suspend the members where -- it's called a death sentence membership, where they suspend it for five or six years to make sure that all of those people are wiped out in order to protect the name, because with all of the fraternity issues that we've had with deaths, hazing rituals, people being hurt, the fraternity is an organization and a corporation that has to protect it is own interests, protect its money and name, and that's what they are going to have to do.

BALDWIN: All right --

(CROSSTALK)

[14:50:38] GANIM: Just to jump in here, Brooke, they did suspend all of the fraternities at Clemson --

BALDWIN: OK.

GANIM: -- that semester after this happened, and they did suspend this particular chapter for a long period of time.

BALDWIN: Eric Guster, thank you so much.

Sara Ganim, stay on it for us.

We'll be right back.

GUSTER: Thank you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:55:03] BALDWIN: This is the night I have most been looking forward to in our CNN original series called "The Seventies," because it's all about the music. And, if I may, Carole King is one of the artists who defined the decade. So I went back stage recently on Broadway and I spoke to a young woman who is playing Carole King in one of my favorite musicals in New York.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(SINGING)

BALDWIN (voice-over): Four decades Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, Carole King, has been hitting all of the right notes.

(SINGING)

BALDWIN: Making her mark in the '70s with "Tapestry," the 1972 Album of the Year and ultimately one of the best-selling albums of all time.

But becoming Carole King on Broadway is no easy task. I went backstage with Shalina Kennedy, who transforms into the legend almost nightly in a Tony-award winning show called "Beautiful."

(on camera): The evolution of Carole King in that decade is what?

SHALINA KENNEDY, SINGER & ACTRESS: So much of it is about her journey from being a 16-year-old, who is incredibly brave and fearless, like marching into Donny Kershner's office, saying, I have a song, you want to listen to me, and being a girl, and going, I'm as good of a songwriter as anybody else. I'm going to walk in here and show it to them.

BALDWIN (voice-over): But before Carole King became an artist often beckoned to the stage by long-time friend, James Taylor, she penned hit after hit in the '60s with her husband, Jerry Goffin.

(on camera): What struck me, in that earlier era, pre "Tapestry," how much she wrote, how much of the music that we know that is in our DNA that not a lot of people realize when they walk in, they will be singing every word.

KENNEDY: She is truly prolific. Just the sheer amount of number-one hits that she wrote is just spectacular.

(SINGING)

BALDWIN: Do you have a favorite?

KENNEDY: Oh, my gosh.

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: And know, oh, my gosh. That's like asking to pick a favorite child, but I'm putting you on the spot.

KENNEDY: I feel like "You've Got a Friend" is one of my favorites and also because of the generosity behind it and how she gave that to James Taylor before she ever recorded it. She was like, here you go, make it super famous.

(SINGING)

KENNEDY: There's a moment in the show that my favorite, which is "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow."

BALDWIN: Goose bumps. Goose bumps.

KENNEDY: So beautiful.

(SINGING)

KENNEDY: They wrote so many of these great love songs and hits together and they had so much love between them. Things happened and they had their troubles but, at the end of it all, you know, the love stayed between them.

BALDWIN (voice-over): So what mark did Carole King leave on the decade remembered for its iconic music?

(on camera): A little bit of the '70s, you and I lived it.

KENNEDY: Yeah.

BALDWIN: How do you think music of that era influences music today?

KENNEDY: With bands today, there is so much that is perfected. Back in the '70s you would sit --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: It's raw.

KENNEDY: Yeah. You sit and sing your songs, and if it's bad, you do another one. Back in "Tapestry" time, it was very much a "we," a collaborative music scene. And Carole talks about this in her book in terms of jamming with people, that there's always a time to stop and to listen and there's always a time to play.

(SINGING)

(APPLAUSE)

BALDWIN (voice-over): And no pressure, but Shalina and Jesse Mueller, who originated the role on Broadway, have met the woman whose life they portray on stage.

(on camera): Tell me about the moment that you first met Carole King?

KENNEDY: She spent time with me after the show because she has a particular piano style. She sat down and really showed me how she plays her stuff. And so to sit next to her and watch her play, it was just beautiful.

BALDWIN: An out-of-body experience?

KENNEDY: Just incredible. I mean, it was amazing. It was amazing.