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Senator Ted Cruz Endorses Donald Trump; Man Shoots Five in Washington Mall; Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump Prep for Presidential Debate; National Museum of African-American History and Culture Opens; Black Man Shot to Death by Police in Tulsa Laid to Rest. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired September 24, 2016 - 10:00   ET

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


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[10:00:38] CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: It's 10:00 here and so grateful for your company as always. I'm Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to be with you. This is CNN newsroom.

PAUL: And we're going to start with what's new this morning. Donald Trump thanking Ted Cruz for his surprising endorsement. He tweeted, in fact, "The Ted Cruz endorsement was a wonderful surprise. I greatly appreciate his support. We'll have a tremendous victory on November 8th."

BLACKWELL: Cruz's support now comes just days before the presidential debate. And this is really a complete 180 for the Texas senator who had called Trump a pathological liar, a bully. Here's what Cruz said yesterday.

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SEN. TED CRUZ, (R) FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I made a promise I would support the Republican nominee. That's a promise I made to the people across this country. And I thought about it, prayed about it, what to do. What my conscience told me is I need to keep my word.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Now, meanwhile Hillary Clinton is picking up a surprising endorsement of her own. "The Cincinnati Inquirer," one of Ohio's largest newspapers is back being her after supporting Republican presidential candidates for nearly 100 years.

I want to bring in CNN's Sunlen Serfaty here. So let's talk about Ted Cruz. How much credence to people give this endorsement based on all the back and forth that really got very nasty during the primaries between Cruz and Trump?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It sure did, Christi. I think it was only 160 days ago or so that Senator Cruz once called Trump a pathological liar, and who can forget that big showing he did at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland when he told Republicans in the room to "vote your conscience." So this certainly is a complete 180, and certainly Senator Cruz' words do have some credence with the tried and true conservatives in the party.

And we saw quickly the Trump campaign and Donald Trump himself tweeting out thank you to Senator Cruz. But certainly this does have a lot to do with Senator Cruz's own political ambitions. He's facing a primary challenge in his Senate race and the potential that he might be in the presidential mix for 2020, certainly something he felt that he needed to do at this point when he sees others coalescing around Donald Trump and his campaign.

PAUL: So I was reading that both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are looking at tapes of each other in other debates to prep for what's coming up Monday, 9:00 p.m. right here on CNN, the big debate. What are you hearing about debate strategies for both?

SERFATY: Well, it does definitely seem that they are taking a page from certain playbooks. They are studying the quirks of each other during their past debate performances. But it seem like they are distinct in how they are prepping, how much they are prepping for this debate. We know that Hillary Clinton first started about a month ago. She largely has been absent on the campaign trail, this week really prepping. We know that she's reading briefing books on Donald Trump's policy and really trying, it seems, to get a window into his personality. What things set him off in past debates, even talking to the author of "The Art of the Deal," who wrote that book on Donald Trump, to get a window into his personality, figure out what makes him tick, potentially figure out what could potentially get under the skin at the debate stage.

We also know that she is running through some mock debates and she does have someone standing in for Donald Trump, someone on her staff, a longtime aide.

Donald Trump by comparison has been out campaigning this week, and yes, he is running through some briefing books of his own. He's watching clips of Hillary Clinton's debate performances. We know he's meeting with RNC Chair Reince Preibus this weekend prepping for the debate, but it doesn't seem like he's going to do a full scale mock debate. He said he's never done it in the past. He doesn't think he'll do it right now, Christi.

PAUL: Hey, Sunlen Serfay, we appreciate it. Thank you so much.

We're also following, we should point out, some breaking news out of Washington state this morning. At the top of the hour state police are expected to give an update on this ongoing manhunt for this man. Please take a look at your screen here. Police say he opened fire inside a shopping mall, killed five people.

Tom Fuentes, CNN senior law enforcement analyst and former FBI assistant director is with us now. Tom, thank you for being with. So this man as we understand it, walks into this mall at 7:00 p.m. last night, just about an hour outside of Seattle, shoots five people, all of whom have now died. [10:05:05] He walks out, and it looks as though he's walking

towards the interstate. He's not leaving in a car that they could see. Witnesses say the saw him walking towards Interstate 5 and then essentially just disappeared. Where do you start at this point looking for this man as we are now how many hours later?

TOM FUENTES, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, Christi, they've taken the first step and that is publishing a pretty clear photo of him, and he's holding the rifle. So it's inside the mall. And, you know, putting that out over the Internet and media, TV media and other social media, has been a very great first step because somebody should be able to recognize him from that photo if they know him, if they are a friend, family, colleague, neighbor, that's a pretty clear picture of him.

But also the next step would be you would want to alert everybody in the area, including the FBI has an office in Vancouver, Canada, notify them, to notify the Canadian authorities because Burlington, Washington is about halfway between Seattle and the Canadian border. So it's only about another hour north on Interstate 5 to the Canadian border. So it's possible he used that rifle, went out, could have carjacked somebody and driven off that way, stolen their car, any number of things. So that's the preliminary step, get his photo out there and do the broadcast of being on the lookout for him.

PAUL: Which they have done. Authorities have been very diligent in making sure this area that is primarily commercial as we under it, that people are staying indoors, that they are not going to that area specifically. I know K-9s were there overnight last night. This is a 400 plus -- 400,000 plus-square-foot facility in this mall. Does it seem odd to you, tom that somebody could just walk into a mall, shoot, walk out and disappear?

FUENTES: No, I don't think so because it would depend on the mall. If there's no security at all, we don't expect security at every single door of every single mall. We don't have that already. But if that mall did not have nearby security at the time he opens fire and then walks out -- I think most people if they see somebody holding a rifle and they hear shots they are going to be reluctant to approach him. They are heading for cover and not be in a position to stop him and he would be able to just walk right out.

PAUL: Certainly there would be surveillance video of the parking lot, would there not?

FUENTES: There would. But that's wouldn't be even as clear as what we have here with the picture of him inside the mall. It's brightly lit. We have a pretty good photo of him. Now the surveillance in the parking lot, certainly they will try to pick him out leaving the mall and see if there was a car waiting for him or if he left the area of camera coverage on foot, in which case then they wouldn't know if he had another waiting let's say a couple blocks away where the cameras wouldn't cover it.

So they will be looking at every possible camera angle that they may have in the area and certainly alerting the local population to see, because it's possible he could do a home invasion or a carjacking as I mentioned.

PAUL: We were talking about that earlier. Had there been a carjacking we would think we would have heard about it by now some 12 hours later unless of course there was a carjacking and he took that person with him. We just don't know. Tom Fuentes, always appreciate your expertise. Thank you, sir.

FUENTES: You're welcome.

BLACKWELL: Charlotte police are now under fire for not releasing the video of the deadly shooting of Keith Scott. Now there are more rallies and protests planned, one coming up in just a few hours, demanding justice.

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[10:12:42] BLACKWELL: Just two days now, two days until the presidential nominees will face off on the debate stage on Monday night. See, it's right there. Both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, they've got a lot at stake. Here to discuss the debates, Alan Schroeder, author of "Presidential Debates, 40 Year of High Risk TV." Alan, good morning to you.

ALAN SCHROEDER, AUTHOR, "PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES, 40 YEARS OF HIGH RISK TV": Good morning.

BLACKWELL: So it seems as if Trump is in the seat of, I guess an advantage here, because he sets the tone. Either the Trump who set everybody back on their heels in the primaries shows up, or a Trump who is trying to refute the claim that he's temperamentally unfit to be president shows up and Clinton has to respond. That is a really powerful starting point.

SCHROEDER: Yes. It's not a bad starting point at all to be the one who gets to set the ground rules. But on the other hand it also puts a lot of pressure and responsibility on him because he has to choose the right one of those alternatives that you just laid out, and if he makes the wrong choice then that could backfire big time as well.

BLACKWELL: Which do you expect?

SCHROEDER: Well, you know, I think it's really hard in a 90-minute television debate to suppress your natural instincts on camera. So he may start off as being a little more prepared, a little more restrained, but I think we'll see, because it always happens in debates we'll see who the real person is by the end of that 90 minutes.

BLACKWELL: The Clinton camp is preparing for those attacks that may come during the debate. But I wonder, though, if she has some punches of her own. Let's put up what "Politico" published this weekend, actually talking about the president's debate back in 2012, Obama v Romney, and here's how it starts. "After Barack Obama's dreadful first debate against Mitt Romney in 2012, Karen Dunn got up in the face of the leader of the free world, "You need to punch him in the mouth," said Dunn." Karen Dunn is on Clinton's team preparing her for this debate as well. Do we expect Clinton will take those first punches herself?

SCHROEDER: I don't know. I tend to doubt it myself. But one interesting thing you mentioned about Romney-Obama debate. This one on Monday is exactly the same format, and that was a format that Romney went in there and just knew how to do. And Obama was a little bit caught off guard there. So I think the fact that you got somebody who was involved in that first debate four years ago now advising Clinton means that she won't make that same mistake that Obama did.

[10:15:06] BLACKWELL: Same format and same location, both at Hofstra University.

Clinton is fighting this narrative that they is untrustworthy, that she is dishonest, trying to show some warmth as well. How do you do all that and include the policy that we require in these exchanges in 90 minutes?

SCHROEDER: Yes. I think one advantage she has is that she doesn't have to think too much about that policy stuff because it's all internalized already. She knows all of that. So she's not going to racking her brain trying to come with the right point on the content.

But on the performing side, you know, she's actually been pretty good in the debates she's done up to this points. She does find moments of humor. She does find moments to dial it back a little bit. So I think that she's, you know, a talented enough and experienced enough debater that she will probably be able to figure out the right tone depending of course on what he does.

BLACKWELL: All right, two days left. The book is "Presidential Debates, 40 Year of High Risk TV." Alan Schroeder, thanks so much.

SCHROEDER: OK, thank you.

PAUL: Charlotte police under scrutiny this morning, protesters, civil rights leaders, even the city's own mayor demanding officers release video showing the fatal encounter with police and Keith Lamont Scott.

BLACKWELL: We got live pictures here from Washington. You see here Susan Rice, ambassador to the United Nations. This is outside of the African-American History and Cultural Museum in D.C. on the national mall. Later today we know President Obama will ring the freedom bell to mark its official opening. CNN Cuzanne Malveaux joins us live after a quick break for a look inside.

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PAUL: All right, showdown between a pair of undefeated games could turn out to be a preview of the big 10 games.

BLACKWELL: Coy Wire is in East Lansing, Michigan, ahead of today's huge Wisconsin-Michigan State game. Coy? COY WIRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Guys, I am here in East Lansing and I'm flipping out because we have the gymnastic squad here. We have the Michigan State dance team here. And this is one of college football's marque matchups this weekend.

You have the 11th ranked Badgers.

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WIRE: And you have the eighth rank Michigan State Spartans.

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WIRE: Both teams undefeated. Recent history shows this game will go down-to-the-wire. Michigan State has won three of the last four matches between these two which have included one going into overtime, another being won on a Hail Mary.

[10:20:09] For Wisconsin, the secret is out. Red shirt freshman Alex Hornibrook will get the first start his career at quarterback. We'll see what this kid is made of. I talked to a Wisconsin coach last night, and he said he may be young but he has the muscle and the moxie. But they are playing here at Spartan stadium in East Lansing, Michigan. It's the defending Big 10 champions. Last week Spartans went to south to beat a tough Notre Dame team. The Spartans have 10 wins in their last 13 games against ranked opponents. Head coach Mark Dantonio told me yesterday that home field advantage today will be huge. Here he is.

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MARK DANTONIO, MICHIGAN STATE HEAD COACH: Spartan stadium is crazy on game day. There will be 76,000 people here. You have a lot of badgers as well. It will be rough in there. You won't be able to hear yourself when you get out on that hash. You won't be able to hear me yelling, and I can yell pretty loud. It gets tight in here.

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WIRE: All right, kickoff is set for noon eastern. There are several other big games on the schedule today. You have Florida and Tennessee renew their rivalry at 3:30. Arkansas and Texas A&M at 9:00 p.m. I'm feeling good, I'm feeling great because it is a great college day. I've got the energy going. I want to give you some energy, my new friends to get the party started. There you go.

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CROWD: Go green. Go white. Go green. Go white.

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PAUL: Following breaking news out of Washington state this morning. At the top of the hour state police are expected to give an update on their ongoing manhunt for this man. You see him here. This is the man they say opened fire inside a shopping mall and killed five people last night.

At the moment CNN producer Alberto Moya is on the phone with us from where police are set to update us. Alberto, are you hearing any indication that they are any closer to finding the suspect?

ALBERTO MOYA, CNN PRODUCER: No. We do not have any indication of how close they are to grabbing the suspect. We are hoping to hear from several people at this press conference today, including members of the multiple response team, the incident commander, the assistant police chief who is the incident commander, the mayor of Burlington supposed to be here as well.

So we are really hoping to get any kind of additional details because all we have is that picture that you're referring to that shows this young man somewhere between 20 and 25 with a gray shirt taken from some surveillance video. So we know there a large police presence in the area. We passed several police troopers all the way down to Seattle as we were making our way here. So we know that they are actively searching after this man and we hope to get additional details at this press conference today.

PAUL: Alberto, real quickly I have to assume, and correct me if I'm wrong please, that mall must be closed again today. What about businesses around it?

MOYA: The mall itself continues to be on lockdown. It is completely surrounded by police. They are checkpoints at every entrance. The nearby businesses, some we did notice that were locked did not allow us to come in. But as soon as you move a couple of blocks away from the area they are open. So for a significant portion of the city it might be business as usual despite the fact that there is an active century going on in town.

PAUL: Alberto Moya, thank you so much. You've done a great job for us this morning as we try to understand what's happening there. And again, in just about 35 minutes we're waiting to hear from authorities to see if they can give us any more information or indication as to how close they might be to finding the suspect.

[10:25:05] BLACKWELL: Let's go to North Carolina now where protesters in Charlotte plan to march through the city in about two and a half hours demanding police release their body cam video and dash cam video of the shooting of Mr. Scott, Keith Scott, you see on your screen. They repeated that call last night in another round of peaceful protests.

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CROWD: Release the tape. Release the tape.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Authorities tell CNN there were no arrests, no use of teargas, no injuries, no property damage. So a good night there. Our Brynn Gingras joins us now live from Charlotte. Again this rally is scheduled to start at 1:00. Give us a look ahead, Brynn. BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Victor, we have this rally

expected at 1:00, like you said. And it is community leaders saying let's come together in an effort to, as you mentioned, release those tapes but also just to pray for the family and to really support each other and this movement that we've seen all across this country.

And we don't expect these protests, these rallies to really end. Again, a lot of people are really frustrated about this tape issue and that's what we're going to continue to hear. Authorities, though, expecting this, keeping that curfew intact. It starts at midnight and ends at 6:00 in the morning. You still have the National Guard here present. I can tell you personally walking around even before that curfew is in place, it is a very quiet downtown area here in Charlotte. So there is certainly order and police are just hoping in the next few days as protests continue that it stays in order. Victor?

BLACKWELL: Brynn Gingras for us there in Charlotte looking ahead to that rally scheduled to start in about two-and-a-half, thanks so much.

PAUL: Meanwhile two days before what could be the biggest night of this election season, really, what both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are doing right now get ready for the presidential debate.

And we're going to show some pictures of the leads we have. There they are. The newest member of the Smithsonian in Washington, the dedication event here for the National Museum of African-American History and Culture is getting under way shortly. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is going to take us inside this 85,000-square-foot hall of history and culture there.

BLACKWELL: Las Vegas known for the casinos and clubs and all the shows, yet there is also a vintage Vegas to explore. We take a look at CNN's "Off the Clock."

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The part about Vegas I love the most is vintage Vegas. In contrast to the strip, on East Fremont Street you can come in to contact with vintage relics such the ruby slipper. We're here at the museum that houses an original courthouse from the 1930s where some of these mobsters were actually tried.

This is a choice of weapons wall where we can see a variety of weapons mobsters may have used to knock each other off, get back for revenge, or just because they were angry.

When my friends come to Vegas I always bring the home the pinball museum. It's the largest collection of pinball machines in the nation. Instead of going to a casino and spending our entire paycheck on the casino floor, you can come here to the pinball museum and spend 25 cents per-game to have fun. The nostalgia of these vintage games is what I like the most, the colors. Here's a magician. I like this one because it's so creepy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[10:32:33] PAUL: It's 32 minutes past the hour. Thank you for sharing your time with us here. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. We are now two days away from what could be a very pivotal moment for each campaign, the first presidential debate. Now, to prepare for Monday night a source tells CNN Donald Trump is watching Hillary Clinton highlights from her past debates, and Hillary Clinton is preparing for potentially the two sides of Donald Trump, the brutal heavy hitter from the primaries or what could be a softer approach unveiled for the final stretch of this election.

Joining us now from Hofstra University, the site of the presidential debate, our own Fredricka Whitfield. And soon we'll stop counting days and start counting hours.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: That's right. Good morning to both you.

So the fine tuning is underway here for this 90-minute showdown, this presidential debate, this is head-to-head. Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton here at Hofstra University. This campus is used to hosting events like this, having done so in 2008 and then in 2012.

Well, there are real style differences, that we know, between these two candidates. In fact, they are preparing ahead of that debate two days away in a very different way. Hillary Clinton is at her home in Chappaqua, New York. And Donald Trump will be at a rally today amongst his closest friends in Roanoke, Virginia.

Let's talk about the dynamics and how important and potentially pivotal this first presidential debate might be. I'm joined now by CNN political commentator, contributor at Time Warner Cable News political anchor Errol Louis. Good to see you.

ERROL LOUIS, POLITICAL ANCHOR, TIME WARNER CABLE NEWS: Good morning, good to see you.

WHITFIELD: OK, so what is potentially very important about this, because perhaps you might not win an election because of a debate, but certainly you could lose it. How are these two candidates preparing not to lose?

LOUIS: It's interesting that there is a sense of playing defense, but there's also a sense in which you actually can win. I remember back in 1980, you know, big, big debate between Carter and Reagan, and Ronald Reagan -- it was the one and only debate they had. Ronald Reagan was in a position to lose and he really sort of came from behind, convinced people he was a reasonable presidential person who could take command of the American government, and he won a week later.

WHITFIELD: And he used one liner, and sometimes one liners will do it, right?

LOUIS: Those moments are made for television. Those moments are made for television. And those who can sort of create those moments often benefit. Now, a lot of times it doesn't work. A little bit of a risky proposition.

One thing we know about Donald Trump is that he does know how to do that. That's what you get from reality TV, how to create that moment. He's got a real instinct for it.

[10:35:08] As far as their preparation, you're exactly rit. I think preparation style show the differences between the candidates. You have Hillary Clinton who is ensconced in data and policy and probably going through at least one mock debate from what we've seen has been reported. Donald Trump doing something that Ronald Reagan did, go before a crowd, get your energy up. Get your ability to connect really sharpened to a fine point, and then take that into the debate hall. Very different styles.

WHITFIELD: It's content that audiences are watching. We're talking about an audience that could be 100 million, the live audience, broadcast audience, et cetera. People will be examining body language. They did so, perhaps it wasn't a plan, in 1960, Richard Nixon sweaty. John F. Kennedy looking poised and seeming to fit in. People will be looking for body language here as well, won't they?

LOUIS: For sure. We know that in the famous Nixon-Kennedy debates in 1960, Kennedy has a cool persona as well as a cool presentation on camera. Richard Nixon did not. Famously we're on television so everybody focuses on the fact that Nixon didn't have on makeup. That certainly didn't help. Although I must tell you political scientists are going back through it carefully to see if it really made a difference in the polls, the perceived poor performance of Richard Nixon. Did it really make a difference?

But these folks are going to have this interesting height question. There was a little bit of flap over could Hillary Clinton have a step stool so that she doesn't appear to be eight or nine inches shorter than Donald Trump, which apparently she is. The presidential commission said nothing doing. You bring the body that you've got, not the body you wish you had.

WHITFIELD: And what about the dynamic how they behave and relate to one another, whether there's eye contact, or if it will be game face, don't look at your opponent?

LOUIS: One thing they have to keep in mind, 90 minutes with no commercial break. And you have to always assume you're on camera because even when your adversary is speaking there could very well be a sit screen.

WHITFIELD: That reminds us of 2000, Al Gore, George W. Bush. Perhaps Al Gore didn't think at the moment others were watching him grimace and sigh.

LOUIS: Sigh. He was so disgusted with the answers that his opponent was giving. And it's perfectly fine to feel that way. But you have to make sure you want to present that, and you don't necessarily want to. So there's a lot of that that goes into it.

Interesting, some of Trump's advisors reportedly have been concerned that he didn't want to stand behind a podium and do a mock debate because he just didn't feel like doing it. And they wanted to get in the practice the camera is never off of you. You're going to be on camera for an hour-and-a-half. We have to assume that you will be, and every expression, every sigh, every grimace, looking uncomfortable, looking like you were wish you were somewhere else, looking bored, looking at your watch, all of that counts.

WHITFIELD: Thank you so much. Errol Louis, appreciate it.

All right, we're going to continue our coverage from Hofstra University here in New York. I'm going to send it back to you, Christi and Victor? Mind you, it's a little gloomy, a little rainy, but it's going to get better.

BLACKWELL: It will get better. Big debate, 9:00 p.m. Monday night right here on CNN. Fred, Errol, thank you both.

PAUL: Thank you guys.

So we want to point out, and here's some live pictures here of -- oh, we got the president there, Barack Obama with the first lady and former president George W. Bush with his wife Laura at the much anticipated opening of the Smithsonian's newest museum in Washington chronicling African-American history and culture. Our Suzanne Malveaux is live there as we listen to the music.

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[10:42:18] PAUL: What a crowd on Washington's National Mall. At this moment in fact they are celebrating the opening o4 course of the new Smithsonian national museum of African-American history and culture. There it is. President Obama you saw and former president George W. Bush with the former first ladies are there and expected to speak, we should point.

BLACKWELL: All the pomp and ceremony it deserves. Suzanne Malveaux is in Washington, and I understand you got a look inside.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I did. It's really quite extraordinary. We had a sneak peek last week. Lonnie Bunch, who is the founding director of this museum, took us through. And it's extraordinary when you look at the kind of stories that this museum tells, very personal to so many people, a labor of love that took decades in the making. I want you to take a quick look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: The National Museum of African-American History and Culture with its unique towering presence sits prominently next to the Washington monument. LONNIE BUNCH, MUSEUM FOUNDING DIRECTOR: Finally the African-American

story on the national mall is successful to everybody. And in many ways it means that my ancestors are smiling.

MALVEAUX: A labor of love for its founding director Lonnie Bunch who gave us a behind-the-scenes tour.

BUNCH: This is everybody's story. It's not black people's story. It's the story of America.

MALVEAUX: The museum holds more than 3,000 artifacts, many of which Bunch collected traveling around the country. The project cost $540 million, half funded by the federal government and the remaining raised from private donations. The exterior made up of 3,600 panels shaped as a corona or African headdress. The entrance is designed as a porch.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The visitor would come in the porch, come through that door, and then immediately get on an elevator and descend down to the lowest level, and it's dark and it's low down there, and it's to make you feel sort of like it was riding in a slave ship.

MALVEAUX: In fact nearly 70 percent of the museum is below ground. It is designed to have visitors explore the complex history of slavery and freedom at the basement level where you find a statue of Thomas Jefferson with bricks depicting his many slaves, real artifacts of shackles and a slave cabin.

The next level up the era of segregation and Jim Crow through the civil rights movement. Here a controversial prison guard tower from Louisiana which was so big it along with the segregated railroad car had to be lowered into the museum before the building was completed because it couldn't fit through the front door. A vintage plane flown by the Tuskegee airmen of World War II hangs from above.

[10:45:01] The third level up illustrates the impact of African- Americans on the U.S., from Martin Luther King Jr. through President Barack Obama. The top floors celebrate music, culture, community, sports, and activism with Michael Jackson's fedora, Chuck Berry's red Cadillac, a Prince jacket, and Whitney Houston gown. Black Hollywood, Oprah, and the even P-Funk's mother ship. For many this museum is already a celebrated and sacred place.

JESSE JACKSON, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST: I wish that those who I knew who paid the supreme price could see just a minute of work in time. They are not here. But it is obligated of us, those of us who are here, to keep the struggle.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: And Victor, Christi, there are three U.S. presidents that are here. President Obama of course on stage with President George W. Bush and the first ladies. But we're told and we have seen President Bill Clinton who is in the audience. This is an important moment because for decades and decades this went into the making. And of course Congressman John Lewis, the civil rights icon, he is on

stage. He's expected to speak momentarily. It was him that actually brought to legislation the idea that this would come to fruition back in the '80s. It kept being rejected. It wasn't until 2003 when President George W. Bush and a bipartisan Congress signed an act to bring this about and make this happen. And of course many years in which Lonnie Bunch, the director, traveled the country getting personal artifacts and collecting stories from people and breaking ground in 2013 to bring this to life.

BLACKWELL: It is an amazing day. Just to let our viewers know we will be listening to Representative John Lewis when he takes the stage in just a few moments. We saw President Obama there. We saw former president George W. Bush. We saw the national security adviser there, Susan Rice, a few moments ago. A lot of people there in Washington, thousands there in the mall. Amazing, amazing addition to the mall.

PAUL: And you can imagine John Lewis said he's been waiting 15 years for this creation. So we'll hear more from him obviously as soon as he steps up to that podium. We will bring it to you.

Also straight ahead, tooth decay, the single most childhood disease, and it's on the rise. This week's CNN hero has mobile clinic that brings dental services to children in need in Appalachia, one of the epicenters of the national epidemic, we should point out. Here meet Dr. Edwin Smith.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. EDWIN SMITH, CNN HERO: People get out of the chair, look in the mirror and cry. People who before wouldn't even want you to see their teeth, now they have these big wide smiles. It's one of the most rewarding things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: For the full story go CNNHeroes.com.

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[10:51:45] PAUL: So Terence Crutcher's family is preparing right now for his funeral in Tulsa, Oklahoma. That happens tonight at 8:00. Remember, he was shot to death by a police officer on September 16th. The police department released this video that you see here, and now Officer Betty Shelby is facing manslaughter charges. She's been released on $50,000 bond. But CNN correspondent Sara Sidner is live there in Tulsa. Sara, what are you hear about what is going to happen today?

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The family told me they are obviously in deep, deep sorrow. They will be laying to rest Terence Crutcher today. The entire community is invited. He knew so many people. So many people loved him here in this community, including, of course, his four children.

But they also tell me that they are thankful three days before they were laying him to rest, they saw that the officer who shot him is being charged.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: An officer turned suspect in Tulsa. Officer Betty Shelby turned herself into authorities. She was booked and bonded out. The district attorney is charging her with first degree manslaughter, a charge that means a minimum of four years in prison, a maximum of life in prison if a jury convicts. Shelby's attorney told CNN by phone the D.A.'s decision to charge her was a rush to judgment. But family of Terence Crutcher, a father of four seen here in this police helicopter video, sees it much differently.

Is this a rush to judgment as he said?

TIFFANY CRUTCHER, TERENCE CRUTCHER'S SISTER: Well, if it was turned around and if it was you or I or anybody else that would have shot a police officer, then it wouldn't be a rush to judgment. Get him. We need to get him. Throw away the key. But because it's an average Joe, my brother, you know, "a bad dude," oh, there's a rush to judgment. He shouldn't have been shot down. It's not a rush to judgment at all.

SIDNER: The reference to "bad dude" from someone in police helicopter on the day of the shooting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That looks like a bad dude.

SIDNER: Officer Shelby's attorney says his client didn't hear that comment but feared for her life.

SCOTT WOOD, ATTORNEY FOR TULSA OFFICER BETTY SHELBY: Based on her past experience and training this person posed an immediate threat of harm to her and everyone present, and she thought if she didn't take action right then everyone would be in peril of serious bodily harm or death.

SIDNER: Officer Shelby's attorney said she thought Crutcher was reaching into his vehicle while refusing to comply with her orders to get on the ground. But Crutcher attorney's said he couldn't have reached into the vehicle because the window was closed.

The district attorney's lead investigator says Shelby had already cleared that vehicle without finding a weapon. Court papers say she approached the vehicle and cleared the driver side front and then proceeded towards the passenger side of the vehicle. And Crutcher's sister now telling CNN something that has revealed publicly before.

CRUTCHER: We clearly saw how slowly he was moving. People don't know this about my brother. My brother was disabled. My brother had a prosthetic eye. My brother had a hearing loss. You know, we have to ask, Terence, Terence, because he can't hear.

[10:55:00] SIDNER: Bad eyesight, poor hearing, and Crutcher said he was simply doing what he was taught to do by his father, attempting to put his hands on the car and wait for police. Instead he was killed. He had just left school. CRUTCHER: He wanted to make us proud. He wanted to do something

bigger. He wanted to grow. He wanted to become a better person. He wanted to be better. And he didn't want this. He didn't ask for this. And so that's what I think about. Sorry. I'm going to miss him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: The entire family in this community says the same thing. They will miss him.

I do want to mention this. The attorney for Officer Shelby says she has been receiving death threats. The family of Terence Crutcher says they do not advocate violence in any way, shape, or form. But they are --

PAUL: OK, I apologize. That was Sara Sidner there giving us the latest from Tulsa. We'll continue to keep you posted.

BLACKWELL: Let's look now at the live pictures at the celebration at the Smithsonian Institute's newest museum, the African-American Museum of History and Culture. We're expecting Congressman John Lewis to take the podium in just a moment. We'll take a quick break and we'll bring that to you live when that happens.

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