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Mysterious Boston Case; Baltimore Police Commissioner Fired; Confederate Flag Coming Down in South Carolina. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired July 9, 2015 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:12]

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Hour two.

And in just about 60 minutes from now, CNN will go live to a historic moment. A bill to take down the Confederate Flag will cross the governor's desk in South Carolina and by this time tomorrow, this flag, which has flown on the state capitol grounds for more than 50 years, will be ceremoniously removed.

The bill already made it way through the state Senate and last night was debated into the wee hours on the House floor. But it was this woman stepped up to this podium, this Charleston delegate, something changed. Republican Representative Jenny Horne, a descendent of Jefferson Davis himself, the president of the Confederacy, saying -- quote -- "We are not fighting the Civil War anymore" and tearfully reminding the House why they were there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNY HORNE (R), SOUTH CAROLINA STATE REPRESENTATIVE: If we amend this bill, we are telling the people of Charleston we don't care about you. We do not care that someone used this symbol of hate to slay eight innocent people who were worshipping their God.

Last night was the three-week anniversary of the massacre in Charleston and it was noted on the floor after my remarks, and I have to tell you that it's the least that we can do as a body.

If you would have asked me last year if we would ever remove the flag from the statehouse grounds in my lifetime, I would have said there's no way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let's take you now to Columbia, to my colleague Nick Valencia.

I know, Nick, you had pointed out that there are still some protesters, some holdouts behind you waving their Confederate Flags. But bottom line, in one hour, Governor Nikki Haley is signing that bill into law.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A monumental day here. You can feel the magnitude, the gravity of this decision that happened early this morning after an exhaustive debate; 13 hours, it took House representatives to come to this conclusion to permanently remove the Confederate Flag from the state grounds here in the state of South Carolina, a flag that has been flying on those grounds since 1961, 15 years ago, another contentious debate that moved it from the top of the capitol to really more in front of the public eye at this Confederacy soldier monument in front of the steps of the capitol.

It's been a contentious debate, a divisive debate. You can see, as I step here out of the way, behind me, people are still, as you call them, Brooke, they are holdouts. There are people that are unwilling to accept the decision., those that still see this flag, the Confederacy Battle Flag, a sign of Southern pride, of heritage.

Talking to those who support the flag staying up there, one told me that this doesn't symbolize hatred or racism. He says to him it symbolizes his ancestors and those that defended this state against what he called a Northern invading army. Still others -- and I believe the consensus here in the state of South Carolina is that that is a symbol of a selective reading of history, an outdated representation of history and one that has been a very painful portion of history for this state -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Nick Valencia, thank you.

I want to bring in someone who was up in the wee hours of the morning. This is Democratic South Carolina State Representative David Mack.

Representative Mack, thank you so much for joining me today.

DAVID MACK (D), SOUTH CAROLINA STATE REPRESENTATIVE: Nice to be with you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Obviously, I want to get to how you're feeling in your heart and mind today over all of this, but I have to begin with Reverend Clementa Pinckney. I know you knew him very well.

What do you think that he would be saying today now that we know the governor of your state will be signing this bill into law and this flag will no longer fly over the capitol rotunda?

MACK: I know he's looking down smiling at this point.

We went into the South Carolina legislature 19 years ago and all of the accolades that you have heard from Senator Clementa Pinckney is absolutely true, an unbelievable guy, a great friend, very compassionate and very caring for people, and I know he's looking down very pleased.

BALDWIN: For you, sir, you know, you point out your years serving the state. You were there in 2000 during a different debate to remove the flag. Obviously, that went nowhere.

Flash forward to late last night. I was reading a quote from you and you sounded kind of angry on the floor, and you said: "South Carolina, I keep thinking we're better than this and we keep falling down the same path."

My question to you today is, what took so long?

MACK: That's a good question.

And in 2000, some movement was made, a so-called compromise that a lot of us, including myself, did not agree with. The flag flew on top of the capitol and within the House and the Senate chambers. We were able to get it off the top of the capitol and out of the chambers, but, unfortunately, in the so-called compromise, it went out front in the front of the capitol in a very visible position.

[15:05:28]

So, last night was very historic. The Senate did a great job. But I also want to acknowledge the business community, which really pushed this. I want to acknowledge our governor, Governor Nikki Haley, and I want to acknowledge several Republicans in the House and the Senate, white Republicans who took a strong position with regard to what is right and moving our state forward.

I think it was a great coalition and last night ended up to be a very good night.

BALDWIN: Can we talk about Charleston state delegate Jenny Horne and her tearful plea? You were there. Let me just play a little bit more of that for folks who haven't seen it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HORNE: This flag offends my friend Mayor McCloud, my friend John King, my friend Reverend Neil.

I cannot believe that we do not have the heart in this body to do something meaningful, such as take a symbol of hate off these grounds on Friday.

And if any of you vote to amend, you are ensuring that this flag will fly beyond Friday. And for the widow of senator Pinckney and his two young daughters, that would be adding insult to injury. And I will not be a part of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Representative Mack, I mean, it's one thing for me to be moved and I'm just watching this through a TV screen, but you, sir, were there, you saw it, you felt it. What was the reaction in the room?

(CROSSTALK)

MACK: That is Representative Jenny Horne. She is a friend. She and her husband are friends of my wife and I.

She is an incredible person, tremendous integrity and tremendous class and tremendous compassion. That is Representative Jenny Horne. And I hope that could be a message to everyone in South Carolina and in this country as we move away from the Confederate mind-set, if you will.

And let's look for everybody in this country, black, white, Asian, Latino, to have a great educational program, decent wages, careers, health care, decent housing, things that -- quality of life issues. And that's what we need to evolve to and to bring everyone together.

So, again, with regard to Representative Jenny Horne, we're not surprised. She's that type of person, a very quality person. It was a phenomenal point last night and I think a turning point last night.

BALDWIN: Yes. It seemed to be.

Let me throw this at you. We know that the flag will be moved to the state's Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum for display and I am assuming, as you walk into any museum and you have a plaque next to an item, if you were writing the inscription of the Confederate Flag, what would you write?

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: I didn't mean to stump you. I'm curious.

MACK: No. It's a part of history.

And, from my perspective, history -- a definition of history is his story. It means different things to different people. And, as an African-American, the Confederacy and the position of the South, the South actually fought to maintain its economic engine, which was slavery, which was driven by slavery.

I would not be a good person to write that, but I think the key thing is, it's a part of our history. Let's move on. There are global issues ahead of us right now. And we have to get our young people educated and focused and moving in the right direction to move our country forward.

BALDWIN: I think as the representative, as you mentioned, 19 years, you get a say on how that plaque reads.

Representative David Mack, thank you very much.

MACK: Thank you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: On the same day South Carolina is planning to take down the Confederate Flag, a fight over the same issue is unfolding on the U.S. Capitol. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The question is on ordering the previous question. All those in favor say aye.

CHAMBER: Aye!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All those opposed no.

[15:10:00]

CHAMBER: No!

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The ayes have it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: What is this all about? Athena Jones is in Washington for me right now.

Athena Jones, what has just happened on the House floor?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, there has been a lot of heated rhetoric, a lot of anger and outrage on the House floor.

This has been going on for many, many hours ago, almost as soon as the House floor opened this morning. That clip was the reaction by Democrats on the House floor not too long ago when Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi put forward a resolution that would remove the Confederate Flag, any flag that has the Confederate imagery from the Capitol.

That would of course include the Mississippi State flag, which includes the Confederate Flag in its upper corner. That motion, that privileged resolution was essentially postponed, sort of kicked to the side. No telling if there would be a vote on that. That really angered a lot of Democrats. You heard them being very vocal on the House floor.

But even starting early this morning, you had this issue come up that led to the House Republican leadership having to pull a bill from the House floor, cancel the vote for today, because that bill, a bill to fund the Interior Department, included an amendment offered by Republicans and -- by a Republican -- that would allow the Confederate Flag to continue to be displayed at federally run cemeteries.

That's something that also very much angered Democrats because they have put forward amendments calling for the removal of the Confederate Flag from cemeteries run by the National Park Service and from any National Park facilities. You couldn't sell the merchandise showing the Confederate Flag.

There's been a lot of discussion and anger over the fact that the Republicans are going to have this vote this afternoon that would allow the Confederate Flag to stay in place. And so the Republicans pulled that bill. It's a really interesting split image here, seeing Republicans leading in many ways on the issue in South Carolina, but then being caught up in this debate on the other side of history, many would say, here on Capitol Hill -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: It's a domino effect from what has happened in South Carolina. Let's watch this very closely. Athena Jones, for now, thank you very much.

Coming up next, a major shakeup here at the top of the Baltimore Police Department. Commissioner Anthony Batts fired months after Freddie Gray's death. Is this the right move for the city of Baltimore? We're live there .

Also, who is this little girl? The mystery deepens here surrounding what they're calling Baby Doe in Boston. Could this computer- generated image help solve the case, find her parents? Stay with me.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:16:52]

BALDWIN: You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Baltimore's police commissioner has been fired. Anthony Batts is off the job more than two months after Freddie Gray died from injuries he suffered while in police custody. Batts was terminated just hours after the release of a police union report blasting his lack of leadership during the riots over Gray's death.

When asked about the timing of Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's decision, she said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANIE RAWLINGS-BLAKE (D), MAYOR OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND: It happened on the same day. But I don't think many who know me would suggest that I would anything to placate the FOP.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let's first go to our national correspondent, Suzanne Malveaux, who is live in Baltimore.

What has Anthony Batts' response been to this termination?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, he's actually said that he's had the pleasure and honor to serve the city of Baltimore.

But it was interesting what we heard the mayor says, because it's absolutely true. I talked to sources familiar with her thinking about the process and she was thinking about this from the days following the riots that it might be necessary to get rid of the commissioner because of the tension with the police department and that they have been interviewing in the last couple of weeks in earnest.

So this process has been ongoing. It wasn't just that report. And it was interesting, Brooke. I had a chance to talk to the family attorney of Freddie Gray family about what is necessary now to heal the police, the community -- the police department and the community to bring them together and what do they want to see come out of this. Here's how he put it. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILLY MURPHY, ATTORNEY FOR GRAY FAMILY: This problem has to be solved immediately before there are any more Freddie Grays. It has to be solved immediately so that the harassment of black citizens stops once and for all.

It has to result in a legitimate police force that is a partner with the black community, instead of what we have had for the past 300 years. I think the feds have to come in now and take over this department. Nothing short of that will solve the problem. It's so dysfunctional, so at war with itself, so racist in its continuing attitude towards blacks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: And, Brooke, out of all of the people that I have talked to, most of them agree. They say they believe the mayor did the right thing, that she made the politically correct decision here, that it was important to actually get rid of the commissioner, but they say there's a much bigger problem here, the culture of the police department, and unless you don't address that, you are not really going to get to the root, to the heart of the problem.

That's what they believe. And so they believe that's going to be a lot more work ahead, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Suzanne Malveaux, thank you very much.

Baltimore's mayor repeatedly has said she fired the commissioner because the controversy over him was taking the focus away from "the crime fight."

Well, the crime fight, to my next guest, has hit a new low.

Connor Meek lives in Baltimore and was mugged just recently in mid- June, his bike stolen from him. This week, he wrote about his experience with the police in "The Baltimore Sun," penning this editorial, saying how he went to two, not one, but two Baltimore police stations after this had happened to him, found both of them closed from 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m.

[15:20:05]

He also describes the resistance he received from several officers.

He wrote this in part. Let me quote this for you: "Aside from World War II or nuclear attack, there is no excuse for an urban police station to be closed for 12 hours a day. I felt violated and disrespected and I'm a young white male who had his bike taken from him. I can't imagine walking up to that door as a black female rape victim or a recent immigrant or a domestic abuse survivor and having Bazooka Joe rudely inform me that he wasn't really interested in taking visitors at this time."

Connor Meek joins me now from Baltimore. Connor, welcome.

CONNOR MEEK, HAD BIKE STOLEN: Thank you very much.

(CROSSTALK)

MEEK: Go ahead.

BALDWIN: Let me just begin with the fact that I recently talked to two Baltimore police officers anonymously, and they admitted to me, at least from their perspective, that in the wake of everything that has happened there, that have definitely become more reactive and not proactive. And you say you have experienced this firsthand with your bike. Can you tell me what happened?

MEEK: Basically, it's old news.

My bike got stolen. I made my way to the police department and there was a handwritten door on the -- handwritten sign on the door that said they were closed from 7:00 p.m. to a.m. That's basically what happened. I wrote a piece in "The Sun" and it got quite a bit of reaction, and that's why I'm here talking to you today.

BALDWIN: OK. Well, I want details, if you don't mind, because it's not old news to a lot of people watching.

MEEK: OK.

BALDWIN: Can you explain to me, once you had these people come upon you and took your bike, tell me about this Sharpie -- the Sharpied sign on the door of the Baltimore police station.

MEEK: Basically, you know, I called 911, but still walked to the police station, and when I got there, they had this sign on the door. And I was able to speak to an officer. I was able to be like a bit of a pain of a butt and get my way in there. But it was more of a problem than it should be for any citizen in Baltimore, any citizen in the United States.

BALDWIN: Why do you think it's problem? What was the issue?

MEEK: The problem was that the police station was closed. This is Baltimore. That's not acceptable in any way and I think the response from the city has shown that.

BALDWIN: What did the police officer say to you? Did you say to him, hey, this is not right, that a city police station should be closed at 7:00 p.m. at night?

MEEK: Yes. I mean, I told him that. And he, you know, told me that I needed to go back to where I called 911 from, which was not an appropriate location for me to go.

So at that point, we kind of talked for about a minute, and then I was eventually granted the -- granted entry. But like I said, it just -- those doors need to have an open door policy there. It's a police station.

BALDWIN: And the reason why we're talking to you, Connor, is because you wrote this editorial in "The Sun." It's been all over, so much so to the fact that one of the officers you talked to responded to what happened, to your piece on Facebook.

This is the police response you're looking at online. But, as you look at that, can you tell me how the officer responded?

MEEK: Yes. I have already commented on that. And I want to put the best foot forward today and trust the police department to appropriately investigate misconduct and also make the citizens aware of the outcomes of those investigations.

BALDWIN: All right. So you trust the police department.

(CROSSTALK)

MEEK: I did talk to the police department. They called me and asked me if I would like to file a complaint. And I said my complaint with the police department is closed, and you guys addressed that in an extremely reasonable amount of time. And I appreciate it.

BALDWIN: All right. Good deal. Sometimes, we have to rehash the past to explain the story to the viewer to then get to how you feel now. I'm hearing trust.

So, with that, Connor Meek, thank you.

Next, her photo has been seen millions of times across the U.S., this little girl's body found on the harbor in Boston. Investigators are trying to figure out who she is, how they have come up with this facial reconstruction, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:28:11]

BALDWIN: A tremendous outpouring of concern and help from people all around the country, 45 million people clicking on this little girl's picture, trying to help police figure out who this Baby Doe really is.

This is how police are referring to her, as Baby Doe. This is her composite rendering. Her body was found last month in the Boston Harbor stuffed in a trash bag. They believe her to have been about 3 or 4 years of age. She was wearing these polka dot leggings and was wrapped in this zebra blanket.

And now investigators have released this new image showing her. Again, you can see what appear to be brown eyes, pierced ears.

Let me Henry Lee. He's a forensic scientist who consulted on the Casey Anthony defense team.

Dr. Lee, welcome.

HENRY LEE, FORENSIC SCIENTIST: Hi. How are you doing, Brooke?

BALDWIN: I'm doing OK. I will be better once they figure out who this little girl is or they find her parents.

LEE: Yes.

BALDWIN: Beginning there, when you find a little girl in a trash bag washing up on the shores in the Boston Harbor, and you're working the forensics of this case, what are the first things you're looking at?

LEE: Well, actually, this case should be a five-prong approach.

The first thing they already did is a facial sketch. The second thing, they should look at her teeth, any dental or information, any birthmarks, any other information that can generate so-called external/internal genetic information.

The third thing they should do, because the legging and zebra blanket, they should trace that, give her the label. They should look at around which store is selling those things, in addition, any other clothing on her.