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CNN NEWSROOM

Examining New Anti-Profiling Measures in New York; NBA Finals Game 6 Recap; Chris Christie Admits Being a Dallas Cowboy Fan; A Look at Global Human Trafficking

Aired June 19, 2013 - 15:30   ET

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


BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: So give me an example.

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right. So I'm going to give you this example. A murder is committed in New York City. The dispatcher says the suspect who fled the scene is, say, I'm throwing it out there, a Latino male in his 20s wearing a hoodie.

Police officer stops a man who essentially fits that description, turns out it's the wrong guy.

If this measure passes that wrong guy can now sue the city and the police officer who stopped him, and according to a legal analyst we just spoke to and who took a good look at this, they can sue for what's called injunctive relief and attorneys' fees. They can get money.

The police union held a news conference today in the city within the past hour. Here's the crux of their argument. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAT LYNCH, PBA PRESIDENT: Racial profiling is already illegal and should be. What this does is handcuff the police officer on the street.

When a description comes over, rather than saying a male white wearing jeans and a t-shirt, now it comes over jeans and a t-shirt. You'll stop a male white, a male black, a male Asian and a woman.

Now you're stopping everyone. Then it gives them the right if they feel like they should not have been stopped, let's sue.

Where does that put the police officer? Where does that put that man or woman wearing the uniform now?

They make their job more difficult, almost impossible to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: Sound like a strong argument? Guess what, city council members today came out with their own statement, and they came out swinging.

I'm going to read part of it for you. Take a look at your screen. Quote, "The propaganda campaign being waged by opponents of the Community Safety Act, as it's called, is irresponsible to the public discourse. Our men and women of New York's Finest who risk their lives protecting our neighborhoods deserve better from their union leaders than demagoguery and lies."

The statement goes on to say there is absolutely nothing in this bill that would prevent officers from using race, gender, age or other factors in suspect descriptions.

Now, the bottom line, Brooke, is this. This could come to a vote as early as next week, but the speaker of the city council, Christine Quinn, who you know is the leading Democratic candidate for mayor of this city, does not support this measure. Neither does the current mayor, Mike Bloomberg.

And so this measure by all accounts, Brooke, has very, very little chance of passing.

BALDWIN: So given that fact, and Alina, thank you, still I'm watching you watch Alina, you know, and all of this, and I hear you champing at the bit to jump in.

MIKE BROOKS, HLN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Oh, yeah.

Listen to Pat -- if what Pat Lynch, the PBA president says, if what he says is true, it does handcuff cops.

And, you know, and I think the ad that they have out there, you know, with the blindfolded cop, that's what it is. If all you can say is a description of the clothing, then if that's how specific it is, then no. Cops aren't going to be able to do their job.

BALDWIN: So what are you going to do? How many years did you work the streets?

BROOKS: Twenty-six.

BALDWIN: Twenty-six years, and there are allegations of racial profiling, how do you find that middle ground?

BROOKS: Well, you -- let's say you're robbed on the street.

BALDWIN: Right.

BROOKS: And you've been a victim of robbery before here in Atlanta. And what if you saw somebody and you said, oh, it was a black male, a white male, Hispanic male, or Asian male. We don't -- you don't know. Might be a light skinned male, a black male. Might be a white guy. Might be Puerto Rican. We don't know.

But what you've got to be able to give the description to the officers on the street, more so than just clothing.

Can you not say if that person has a beard? Well, because what if that beard is part of someone's religion. Can they come back and sue you for that?

What about tattoos? Are you allowed not to say if they might have a tattoo, identifying mark?

Any kind of disability? Oh, the subject walked with a limp. Is that opening you up to a lawsuit also? It's just -- it's ridiculous.

BALDWIN: Ultimately, you want to catch the guy.

BROOKS: That's the bottom line.

BALDWIN: You want to give the best description possible.

As Alina said, not a big chance of passing. Mike Brooks fired up today.

BROOKS: Absolutely.

BALDWIN: All right, thank you. Appreciate it.

Now Chris Christie, the New Jersey governor's approval rating pretty high amongst both Democrats and Republicans in his state, but what he said today may anger people on both sides of the aisle. That is next.

Plus, here we go. Everyone is talking about the head band that mysteriously fell off LeBron James during his major victory last night.

What happened? Rachel Nichols has the scoop, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Let's talk sports, shall we? The question a lot of people are asking after one of the most amazing games in NBA history here, nope, it's not who will win game seven in the NBA championship and get the rings, but will LeBron James wear the headband Thursday night.

More on that in just a second. Very pressing stuff today, clearly. The ridiculous ending to the game.

Spurs/Heat, game six, Miami. Let's pick it up. End of the fourth quarter. Heat down three. LeBron for the try. Doesn't make it in. No good. Heat track down the rebound. Ray Allen hits a corner three.

Look at the crowd. Five seconds remaining and he hits it, sends the game to overtime.

Now to the end of overtime. There you go. San Antonio is down three with a chance to tie. The shot was blocked. Miami wins, forcing game seven.

Woo! Rachel Nichols live in Miami. You were there. Talk about a comeback. At one point, you see the pictures of these Miami fans walking out of the stands. They're giving up on their team. My, oh, my, how things can change.

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS: Yes. You know, this team was down five points to the Spurs with less than 30 seconds to go.

We did see people streaming for the exits. We actually also saw NBA security officials circle the court with yellow tape and start wheeling the championship trophy out for the spurs. Pretty much everyone in the building thought that San Antonio was going to win.

Except the thing is, LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and the rest of the Heat saw that. They said that yellow tape got them motivated to even an extra level. They just turned it on.

Ray Allen hit that amazing shot. They go into overtime.

Then I'm standing here on this plaza in front of the arena, Brooke, where all the fans who left early heard on the radio or saw on their phones that it got into overtime.

They rushed back up here. Start banging on this glass behind me trying to get back in. Were pretty much unsuccessful.

Heat successful. Game seven here should be fantastic.

BALDWIN: Wah-wah for them. You got to hang in there for the very end of these games. My goodness, it's game six. Here you have this as you mentioned LeBron leading. Didn't like the yellow tape. Wanted this comeback. They got it. Can we talk about the headband? Everyone's talking about the headband. What's up with this?

NICHOLS: You mean this? This headband, Brooke?

BALDWIN: that one.

NICHOLS: This is LeBron James' headband. It fell off as he was going to the basket in the middle of the fourth quarter. I have procured it for you.

He and I were actually sitting down and talking this afternoon. He said that he called it his little friend. He said his friend, the headband, has been with him for a long time, that he, of course, noticed it had fallen off, but he was just charging ahead.

Then he realized he was playing better without it, so he just kept it off. He said he is superstitious. He said -- this little guy is how he referred to him. He said he's been with me a long time, he said. This little guy, he said, will start game seven with him.

That's the answer to your burning question. He will start with the headband in game seven.

But he said he realized he played a little bit better without it in game six, so if he's not playing well, you can expect the little friend to maybe take a trip somewhere else.

BALDWIN: Rachel Nichols with the scoop and the LeBron headband. You're good, girl. You're good. Thank you. We'll be looking at that.

NICHOLS: I told you.

BALDWIN: Game seven. Thank you, Rachel.

Semi-sports-related here. Governor Chris Christie revealed something today that simply shocked his audience. What was it? Alas, it was the NFL team he roots for.

His audience? The crowd of elementary school students. This is in New Jersey. The governor fielded some questions from them. One of these little guys wanted to know, Governor Christie, who is your favorite football team?

But before we reveal his answer, what do you think? Here are the possible options. Think about it, governor of New Jersey. Could it be the New York Giants, Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, New York Jets? Which one has his support?

You know, one might think this is an easy answer. One might have to think again. Here was the governor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOVERNOR CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: Because my favorite football team is not the New York Giants, it's not the New York Jets, and it's not the Philadelphia Eagles.

Get ready now. My favorite football team are the Dallas Cowboys, which, by the way, is not the smartest thing for the governor of New Jersey to want to be is a fan of the Dallas Cowboys.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I feel like I saw some fist pumps from some of those kids. Also, you could hear the boos, some shock among the elementary kids.

The New Jersey governor has always been a Cowboys fan. Christie first publicly said he supported America's team back in 2010. There you have it, the Dallas Cowboys.

Coming up, a chaotic scene at a pool party. Organizers wanted to have this smoke effect here on the water.

Something went very, very wrong. Now several people are hospitalized and police are opening a criminal investigation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: What happens when you mix liquid nitrogen and a pool party? The answer is a chemistry lesson that nearly turned tragic.

Look at this. This was Tuesday in Leon, Mexico. It's a huge pool party. It's hard to see the pool here because of all this fog, this smoke.

Apparently the staff threw liquid nitrogen into the water creating the fog you see. Maybe they thought this would be fun. It wasn't. Because after a couple of minutes the party turned into panic.

People were passing out. Some jumped in to pull others out of the water. You can see here.

So much liquid nitrogen had been used, as it evaporated, it created this atmosphere that was almost devoid of oxygen. These people couldn't smell it. They couldn't taste it. Their brains simply were not getting oxygen. The result was this.

Seven people were hospitalized. One, we're told, is in critical condition. CNN has also learned a criminal investigation has been opened against the event's organizers.

Any minute now, the State Department is expected to announce a new study that shows the impact of modern-day slavery all around the world, and the U.S. is no exception.

In fact, a story about human slavery was breaking during our show yesterday. These three suspects now in Ohio are accused of forcing a woman and her child to do work, starving them. The allegations are pretty gruesome here.

CNN's Jake Tapper is looking at this growing problem on "THE LEAD" today.

Jake Tapper, what do you got?

JAKE TAPPER, ANCHOR, "THE LEAD": Hi, Brooke. Actually, we're taking a look at a part of the slavery story, the global human trafficking story, that probably a lot of people don't expect.

When you think of slavery taking place, you probably think of it taking place outside the United States. Within the U.S., you maybe think of it taking place in underground forced prostitution rings, at factories or farms far away from big cities and big populated areas.

We, today, are going to be taking a look at when foreign diplomats here in the United States, here in Washington, D.C., and in New York have slaves. It is a growing problem, one that the State Department is taking steps to trying to prevent.

And, of course, the complication is that when these accusations come forward, often the perpetrators have diplomatic immunity.

BALDWIN: It's disgusting.

Jake Tapper, we'll tune in, hosting "The Lead" in mere minutes. Thank you.

Before I go, blockbuster testimony at the wrongful death trial of Michael Jackson. His only daughter, Paris, takes center stage on videotape. This video surfaces, remember, as she is recovering from an apparent suicide attempt.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: Heard for the very first time in the Michael Jackson wrongful death trial, two of Michael Jackson's children. Lawyers for the pop superstar's last concert promoter, AEG Live!, played short clips from both Prince and Paris Jackson's depositions.

Paris Jackson looks healthy. Here she was. She was even joking with lawyers.

Keep in mind her deposition was recorded in late March, two and a half months before she tried to commit suicide.

In the clip, she talks about the former nanny fired two months before Michael Jackson died. Here she was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PARIS JACKSON, MICHAEL JACKSON'S DAUGHTER: One time -- this is going to freak you out. One time, I think it was when me and my brother were really young before Blanket was born. You're going to get creeped out, no joke.

The doctor, like, I don't know, like when he would stay in a hotel or whatever, like, she would call, like, the hotel and say she was his wife. Like, she was obsessed with him, say she was his wife and they let her in and he'd wake up and she'd be like in his bed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Alan Duke is covering the trial for in Los Angeles.

And why, Alan -- why did the lawyers play this particular testimony about this former nanny?

ALAN DUKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, on the surface it was to counter something that Chef Kai Chase testified yesterday, saying that -- concerning the dismissal of Grace, the nanny.

But maybe more of the effect was to put Grace on notice that when she testifies on behalf of the Jacksons that she will be questioned. That could have been it.

But it was landmark testimony. And it was the first time the jurors got to see Paris Jackson.

And it also officially confirms Paris Jackson is in the court with her testimony. She will not be there physically, only through this videotape, because she is in a hospital now being treated, three weeks after she was taken by ambulance from her home after a suicide attempt.

But AEG Live! lawyers have made the decision that they are going to use her testimony that they compelled, several hours of deposition testimony over two days.

BALDWIN: Let me ask you more about Paris because from what we read from the chef's testimony, Jackson's children devastated by the loss of their father.

So here's what she said about Paris. I'm quoting. "Being daddy's little girl, she was devastated, devastated and lost. She is looking, for there was so much love between her and her father. She's lost. She's searching. She's sad."

How is she doing right now?

DUKE: Well, you know Kai Chase, when she testified, she's probably one of the best sources you can ask that question because she was there that week.

She's been feeding Prince, Paris and Blanket for the last year. She was re-hired as the Jackson's chef in July of last year and up at the Calabasas home and knows this child very well.

And she says she's very sad and devastated, as the quote said. We're going to hear more of that in about half and hour when testimony resumes.

BALDWIN: Alan Duke for us in Los Angeles, Alan, appreciate it.

Coming up next, more than a dozen mayors across the country want Congress to ban the use of food stamps for one particular item at the grocery store. But will it work?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Earlier we talked about obesity in America today. I want to tell you what more than a dozen U.S. mayors want Congress to do about it when it comes to food stamps.

If you see them on this list, your mayor believes people with food stamps shouldn't be allowed to buy soda or sugary drinks with them.

Athena, trying to ban soda, we have heard of it before. So why are these mayors going after it again?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Brooke.

Well, they're doing this because they are concerned about the obesity epidemic. That's what they say, and they don't believe the government should be subsidizing people's unhealthy choices, choice like buying soda or sugary drinks that are high in calories and contribute to obesity.

I spoke to one of the mayors who signed onto the letter. She leads the city where a quarter of the children are living in poverty, and more than 200,000 residents get these SNAP benefits, which is the government term for food stamps.

Listen to what she says about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR STEPHANIE RAWLINGS-BLAKE (D), BALTIMORE: In Baltimore we have done a lot to create incentives for healthy eating. When you go to a farmer's market and buy produce, we give you more money for your SNAP benefits.

So as mayors we also have the to look for ways we can create a disincentive for the unhealthy eating habits contributing to the epidemic of childhood obesity, and reducing the subsidy for sugary drinks is one of those ways that we can create a disincentive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: I also asked the mayor about the idea that some may say this is a slippery slope.

She said, you can't use food stamps for everything. You can't buy alcohol, cigarettes. This is one more way the government could help make people make better choices.

BALDWIN: Thirty seconds here. What are critics saying?

JONES: Well, you wouldn't be surprised that the American Beverage Association doesn't agree with this.

They say obesity is a problem that affects people of all income levels and that targeting people who get SNAP benefits is just not a way to make people healthier or reduce government spending.

So that's one of the responses from critics.

BALDWIN: OK. Athena Jones for us in Washington. Athena, thank you very much.

Before I let you go, let's take a quick look at the Big Board, as we heard the announcement, of course, the Fed meeting the last two days, not -- not -- you -- major changes, at least, was really the headline, at least so far, in terms of tapering and quantitative easing, et cetera.

But you can still see the market is definitely reacting, down almost 200 points as we are just about in time for that closing bell.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thanks for being with me.

"THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" starts right now.