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LEGAL VIEW WITH ASHLEIGH BANFIELD

Likely Piece of Malaysia Air Flight 370 Washed Ashore; Donald Trump Wins Seven Super Tuesday States; 60 Percent Of GOP Voters Feel Betrayed, According To Exit Polls; Clinton Raps Michigan Governor For Water Crisis; Tainted Water And Presidential Politics; The Supreme Court Hears Texas Abortion Case. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired March 2, 2016 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:00] LARRY KOBLINKSY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Look at the -- and all the marine creatures, but also look at the object itself through metallurgy. That was basically gross -- a gross micros -- gross looking at the item visually and also microscopically and spectroscopically, to see if there was any way of determining how that flaperon came off the wing. Maybe it could give us some information on what was happening as the plane was descending. Was it torn off? Was it ripped off its hinges?

And the reason that's so important is we have a serial number that linked that flaperon to MH370.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Yeah I don't have that with this but I do -- I can tell you what I just received and I don't know if this is helpful. The piece that they've discovered is 90 centimeters by 57 centimeters. An American tourist actually was out with a local fisherman, Blaine Gibson, apparently found this which is a unique little piece of information.

Then I have this competing information here and that is that Mozambique authorities still have it. We were told that it was on its way to be analyzed but apparently it's still at the Institute of Civil Aviation in Mozambique but they're working with the Australians to get this identified.

Back to the map for a minute, can I ask if we can pop that map up? I know you're not an oceanographer but you are a forensic mystery solver. And if you look at that, there's a big Madagascar in the middle of Reunion Island piece number one and then Mozambique.

So, I can only guess that two pieces are better than one when you are trying to ultimately solve the questions, where is the rest of the plane, where are those people?

KOBLINKSY: That's right. This is a puzzle and the more pieces we have, the better we are in solving the puzzle, the problem.

Of course, we have to establish that this skin that came off the horizontal stabilizer is from MH370. So, the same tests that were done on the flaperon need to be done on the skin. And perhaps, it will give us some information about how it got ripped off of the stabilizer. Did it happen during the descent? Was the stabilizer flapping quite rigorously or did it happen on impact?

So that's first. Once we know that that piece, the skin of the horizontal stabilizer comes from MH370, now we got to look at the map and figure out what water currents, what -- the weather, the wind, how it -- how did they separate the way they did? All designed to tell us where the fuselage, where is the plane?

BANFIELD: Yeah and that's the question.

KOBLINKSY: Of course, where are the bodies, where's the plane?

BANFIELD: Where are these people, those desperate families have been waiting for so long.

Larry Koblinksy, thank you for that. And it's hard to sort of get your head around how long it has been actually since MH370 disappeared. But this Friday at 10:00 p.m. Eastern, CNN has got a special report coming to help you sort of get back through some of the history of this, "The Mystery of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370." Some of the questions you have will be answered in that special.

Back right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:37:21] BANFIELD: The candidacy of Donald Trump raising plenty of controversial issues as the 2016 race intensifies. So much so that CNN commentators Jeffrey Lord and Van Jones got into an extremely heated debate over Trump and the KKK.

I want you to have a listen to this exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I know this man when he gets passionate about terrorism. I know how he talks about terrorism. The Klan is a terrorist organization that has killed...

JEFFREY LORD, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: A leftist terrorist.

JONES: You can put whatever label you want. That's your game to play.

LORD: No, it's important to history.

JONES: No, they're not -- we're not going to play that game.

LORD: We're going to understand history?

JONES: No, no, no, no. You need to take a serious look at the fact that this man has been playing fast and loose and footsie. When we talk about terrorism, he gets passionate. He says, "No this is wrong." But when you talk about the Klan, "Oh, I don't know, I don't know." That's wrong. And then you came on the air and you said, "Well this is just like when Reverend Wright was speaking."

LORD: Yeah, yeah. JONES: Reverend Wright never lynched anybody. Reverend Wright never killed anybody.

LORD: Reverend Wright is an anti-Semite.

JONES: Reverend Wright -- now, hold on a second. Reverend Wright never put anybody on a post. And you guys play these word games, and it's wrong to do in America. It is wrong to do...

LORD: It is wrong to understand that these are not leftists. They were a...

JONES: What difference does it make if you call them leftists...

LORD: It makes a lot of difference, Van. We're not talking...

JONES: We can call them chipmunks. They kill people and don't play games with that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: It was a very heated moment. And at the same time, Trump's recent rallies have been sparking some pretty ugly confrontations between protesters and supporters of the GOP primaries.

Just look at that young man in that high lit area screaming at those black students as they're walking out of the Radford, Virginia rally. We can just see the angst and the aggression on his face. He didn't lift a hand to anybody that we know of. But you can probably see his anger.

I just want you to see it again. It might have disappeared in some of the video earlier but when you spotlight him, it's telling. It's very telling. I want to talk more about this with CNN's Political Analyst Errol Louis.

Errol, the conversation about race has come to the forefront. There are people who brand Trump supporters as racist, they brand Trump as racist. There are others who say Trump isn't a racist but he's willing to go there, he's willing to say things that [inaudible] others were not willing to say.

And I wonder if you have any specific feeling about the breakdown of Trump's supporters who may be very offended at the notion that they're called racist, when it might be something else that they just want to talk about without getting branded that way?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I mean, the reality is nobody in this country wants to be called racist, right? I mean, I think even the racists don't want to be called racists, right?

[12:40:04] So that is going to be sort of -- be a conversation stopper. If you say that you're offended, that's one thing. You call somebody a racist, they're not going to really hear anything else that you say. And so, it's unfortunate because there are some people and there are some statements and there are some actions where the word probably does apply. So...

BANFIELD: And the Southern Property Law Center will tell you right now, there are many people who have jumped on the Trump bandwagon with groups that are known to be haters. But there are others who jumped on the Trump bandwagon who don't care about abortion issue. They don't care about misogyny. They don't care about how the Veterans Affairs problems, all these other things that would have sunk other campaigns.

LOUIS: Sure.

BANFIELD: But they do care about this political correctness which some people say is political correctness, other people say is silencing of things that upset them about what they can and can't say or do anymore.

And it may be it's something like economic loss in their community. Immigration has come in and it's changed the tax base and they're frustrated and if they talk about it, they feel they're being called racist.

LOUIS: Well, exactly right. Well, this is the one of the great casualties of this very poorly run political season, right? I mean, we talk about how the establishment is under fire and they haven't delivered on their promises. All of that is true.

What political parties are supposed to do along with the city clubs, your church, your family, your neighborhood organizations is supposed to be a place where you can talk this out, where you can sort these things out, where people can feel like they're not being silenced. If they're wondering what's going on, is there a connection between immigration policy and the fact that my factory closed or I lose my job or my wages went down or I can't get a raise?

It's a legitimate question for anybody to tell you that it's not, is wrong. And so, I think there is a lot of frustration. And when people -- when it gets to a boiling point as it apparently has, people look around and they say, the politicians are giving us double talk. Wall Street is shipping our jobs overseas. Hollywood is laughing at us. And here's this guy, Donald Trump who is cutting through all of it and just saying, you know, no more Muslim immigration, no more undocumented immigrants. Let's go and find all 11 million of them and somehow deport them.

And it's wild, implausible kind of crazy talk, but the time for the reasonable discussion, the place for the reasonable discussion, you know, in the university. And again, in the political party, the old political clubs. This is where you would come and there'd be people from different communities and you sort to get to know each other and you'd work these things out. This is a failure of our political system. And it can get a little scary when you show the footage of the kind you just showed.

BANFIELD: It's very uncomfortable to see that. I want you to come back. I want to explore this further as this race continues to see whether this race and race becomes even a bigger issue.

LOUIS: Absolutely.

BANFIELD: Errol, I've always love having your perspective. Thank you.

LOUIS: Thank you.

BANFIELD: I appreciate it.

Coming up, the next ground zero in this presidential race may just be Flint, Michigan, and it's not because of the lead in the water.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:46:49] BANFIELD: Michigan was not among the dozen or so states that held primaries or caucuses yesterday and Flint, Michigan is a very long way from Miami.

A struggling City of Flint and a tainted tap water came up in Hillary Clinton's victory speech on Super Tuesday in Miami. And here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: By now, we all know what happened in Flint, Michigan, don't we? How a city's children were poisoned by toxic water because their governor wanted to save a little money. But there's another story in Flint, it's a story about community that's been knocked down but refused to be knocked out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: My next guest knows a lot about Flint's water crisis. Billy Murphy is an attorney and you may remember him because he's appeared on my program several times in the Freddie Gray case in Baltimore.

But Judge Murphy has now been a part of a federal class action lawsuit that's been filed against the city and the state officials in Flint. And he also just happens to support Hillary Clinton for president.

Judge Murphy, there's always a topic for you and me to be able to discuss so thank you for being on the program today, appreciate it.

WILLIAM MURPHY JR., ATTORNEY: My pleasure. My pleasure.

BANFIELD: Let me ask you this right off the bat. I don't think there is a Democrat or a Republican in this race right now that isn't horrified by what happened in Flint. But who do you think is going to be able to capitalize the most on what happened there and somehow come out telling folks in Michigan that they are the best candidate for people of Michigan and for the country?

MURPHY: Well the Republicans have been strangely silent and unsupportive of the citizens of Flint so far. There hasn't been much talk nationally about the gravity of what happened and the capability of the political officials who have been involved. So, I don't accept the notion that both parties are equally concerned and that's distressing to me. The only party that's really shown concern is the Democratic Party because the Republicans are afraid to be critical of the Republican governor of Michigan who is one of their own.

And there's also some serious overtones about taking over the local government with these emergency managers. And about 51 percent of the black citizens of Michigan being under the control of the supervision of an emergency manager. That's very disturbing. And this is a Republican anti-Democratic development. So, I don't accept the notion that both parties are equally concerned about Flint, not at all.

BANFIELD: Well, let me push back in that. I can't quote exactly who right off the top of my tongue, but I do know that several of the Republican candidates have spoken about Flint and they have been as horrified as any one of us would be as to what happened there.

But beyond that, Hillary Clinton, if you see what some of her insiders have said by the New York Times, she's about to go on a three pronged attack against the presumed front-runner of the Republican race and that is Donald Trump. And one of those prongs is to go after him that he doesn't support the common man, he doesn't support the working man, but none of these attacks against him are working.

Just look at Marco Rubio last night. He pulled in only one state last night after going full on against Donald Trump. What makes Hillary Clinton think that this kind of an attack prong will work against him?

[12:50:13] MURPHY: Well, as they say in the wild west, Donald Trump is all hat and no cattle. He hasn't been specific at all about anything that he intends to do except he has these grandiose statements about his capability of doing things in unknown ways. "Trust me," is basically his message.

I don't think that's going to resonate in the Democratic Party. We've seen how it reach -- how it plays among Republicans. And so far, even though he's winning each primary, he has never gotten with rare exception a majority of the Republican vote. And that's got to be a problem for the Republicans going forward.

Now, Hillary Clinton is in a much better position to win this campaign than anybody. She's got very, very deep support among women, among blacks, among Latinos. In other words, she's got the same coalition that President Obama had. And she's likely to get the same results because things have changed remarkably since 2008.

BANFIELD: Yes.

MURPHY: The demographics of the country have changed dramatically.

BANFIELD: She's definitely...

MURPHY: So I think she's got the best chance to win.

BANFIELD: She's missing in that younger Demo and certainly I think trying to work on it. But Judge Murphy, it's always good to have you. I look forward to our next meeting, thanks.

MURPHY: Well, thank you very much, Ms. Banfield.

BANFIELD: The next Democratic presidential debate will be in Flint, Michigan. That is Sunday, March 6, 8:00 p.m., only here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:55:57] BANFIELD: Nice live picture of the Supreme Court right behind me. And actually, those justices just heard oral arguments today on the challenge to a Texas abortion law that supporter says meant to protect women's health. The opponents of the law however say that it is something that was a disguised attempt to end abortion.

CNN's Senior Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin helps to sort through the nuts and the bolts of this case and explains why it's so important on a Supreme Court without Justice Antonin Scalia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: This is the most important Supreme Court case about abortion in more than 20 years.

Texas imposed two important new restrictions on abortion clinics. The first is, the doctors at the abortion clinics have to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. The other is that the clinics have to be essentially mini-hospitals and so, they will have to upgrade their facilities a great deal.

The Supreme Court has said states cannot impose an undue burden on women's right to choose abortion. Now, the question in this case is whether imposing these requirements on abortion clinics are an undue burden.

Supporters say these new obligations for abortion clinics are simply designed to protect women, to improve the quality of care.

Opponents of the law say these new requirements are simply designed to force these clinics to go out of business and make abortion effectively impossible to get in much of the state of Texas.

The Supreme Court is now testing the constitutionality of that Texas law and it looked like it was going to be a five to four decision with Justice Kennedy holding the swing vote.

What Justice Scalia's departure means is that a four to four vote is certainly possible. And that would have the effect of upholding the Texas regulations because the Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the Texas against the abortion right supporters. So, the abortion right supporters on the Supreme Court still need five votes to get that law overturned.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: It's a great explanation from Jeffrey Toobin. And all throughout the morning as oral arguments were taken place inside, outside the Supreme Court, women's health advocates from across the country rallied on the steps of the Supreme Court and you can see the sign they brought.

CNN's Justice Correspondent Pamela Brown got the assignment. She's live now outside of the Supreme Court building.

I hate to say read tea leaves when you hear those arguments. It's always fascinating but I do want to know what those remaining eight justices were asking and what those lawyers were pitching.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Ashleigh. It was a deeply divided court with both sides asking sharp questions. And of course, all eyes were on Justice Kennedy. He's being skeptical of both side's argument.

For the liberal, particularly the women, they really went after the Texas lawyer today. They were hammering him with questions saying, why would a woman who's taking two pills to get an abortion need to be in a surgical center? Why are legislators so focused on abortion when there are much more complicated and riskier procedures that don't have the same requirements?

And Justice Ginsburg really focused on the poor women saying that these restrictions will put these requirements rather, will put an undue burden on women who can't afford to travel 200, 400 miles back and forth to go to the abortion clinics.

The lawyer for Texas said that this is about safe care for these women. That's why these requirements are in place. And the conservative justices focus on that as well.

Also really pressed for evidence on whether these requirements are really causing the closure of these clinics. The plaintiff saying that it's going to cause the closure of 75 percent of abortion clinics in Texas. Again, this comes down to Justice Kennedy as so often as the case. Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Oh, Justice Kennedy, tough on both sides, no tea leaves for us today.

BROWN: No.

BANFIELD: Pam Brown, thank you for your terrific work out there, appreciate it.

[13:00:05] Thank you for watching, everybody, my colleague Wolf starts now.