[Chris Cuomo, Cnn Anchor:] Good morning, welcome to your NEW DAY. It's Wednesday, July 6, 6 a.m. in the east, and we are going to be talking this morning about these protests that are erupting in Baton Rouge after a black man is shot repeatedly by police, killed during an altercation. The deadly encounter captured on cell-phone video.
[Alisyn Camerota, Cnn Anchor:] So police say they were trying to restrain the man they believed to have had a gun. And the chilling video is now going viral. The community is outraged; and his family, of course, is demanding answers. So let's begin our coverage with Polo Sandoval. He's live with all of the breaking details. What have you learned, Polo?
[Polo Sandoval, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, Alisyn, first I do want to set the stage a bit here and offer a bit more context on this video that you're about to see, which by the way, is considered graphic by many. So now would be a good time to have your children leave the room if they are present. This video that you're about to see was actually shot by an individual who was sitting in a parked vehicle in the parking lot of a convenience store early Tuesday morning. And now, it's fairly short, but it is prompting some serious questions here on the ground in Baton Rouge.
[Sandoval:] Hundreds of protesters taking to the streets in Baton Rouge after this graphic video circulated on social media of a deadly encounter between police and a man at a convenience store. According to police, two officers responded to an anonymous call just after midnight on Tuesday. The caller said a man selling CDs outside of the store threatened him with a gun. The officer attempted to subdue 37-year-old Alton Sterling.
[Unidentified Male:] Get on the ground! Get on the ground!
[Sandoval:] The store owner says that one officer used a Taser, but Sterling remained on his feet. Sterling is then tackled by an officer over the hood of a car. As officers wrestled to restrain Sterling, someone yelled...
[Unidentified Male:] He's got a gun.
[Sandoval:] Sterling was then shot several times at point blank range.
[Abdul Muflahi, Store Owner Who Knew Sterling:] I was actually maybe two, three feet away when that happened.
[Sandoval:] Muflahi says while Sterling lay in the parking lot, he saw officers pull a gun from his pocket. Sterling's family now demanding answers.
[Unidentified Female:] I really want to know more about what happened about the whole situation, because my brother didn't deserve it. He didn't deserve it at all.
[Sandoval:] CNN affiliate WAFB reports that the officers in question were wearing body cameras, but they apparently fell off at the alteration. Baton Rouge Police have placed the officers on administrative leave.
[Corporal L'jean Mckneely, Spokesman, Baton Rouge Police Department:] We've got to review the video; we're going to review the audio. We have witnesses, non-biased witnesses here. We're going to bring them down to our station and interview them.
[Sandoval:] The coroner ruling that Sterling died of multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and back.
[Muflahi:] God bless his soul. It could have been handled much differently. On both sides, it could have been handled differently.
[Sandoval:] A local congressman now calling for the Justice Department to initiate their own investigation into Sterling's death. Meanwhile, that local affiliate that we just mentioned in the piece has reported that this is now the third officer-involved shooting that happened there in the east Baton Rouge parish. Chris, we are told that we are we expected to hear from the man's family later today as they are expected to speak to reporters in only a couple of hours. All right, Polo, thank you very much. Let's bring in some people to discuss what happened here. CNN political commentator Marc Lamont Hill, host of "VH-1 Live"; and CNN law enforcement analyst Cedric Alexander. He's the director of policy of public safety for the DeKalb County Police Department in Georgia. Gentlemen, thank you. Sorry this is for another one of these occasions. This is all going to be about the video tape, the cell phone video that was made. We have a portion of it that will end right when the gunfire starts, because from then on, it's not relevant for the analysis; and it's disturbing. So let's watch it here unedited, and then we'll discuss.
[Cuomo:] Cedric, all the years on the job, understanding these incidents, understanding, more importantly, what the progression of the analysis will be in figuring this out. Help us understand what you see on this.
[Cedric Alexander, Cnn Law Enforcement Analyst:] You know, here's what's very key to this whole piece that we have here. It is certainly a pretty graphic video, as what we can see. But in all fairness, I think, to the community and to officers who respond to the call, this is still very early in the investigation. And I think what's going to be critically important is not just the video itself but other forensic evidence that is going to suggest how and why that shooting took place the way that it did. This is still very early, Chris. But to the average viewer that's out there in that community and the environment we're in today between police and community, it certainly does raise a lot of questions. Let me say one thing here real quick. One thing that's going to be very important, and you heard that from Baton Rouge Police Department, is that they're going to have to be very transparent in keeping that community in contact with them and sharing information as it becomes relevant to this investigation. That's going to be critically important, based on the video that we just saw.
[Cuomo:] All right. Obviously the protests, the outrage are, for obvious reasons, you've got a guy on his back with some cops on top of him, and they still wind up shooting him multiple times.
[Marc Lamont Hill, Cnn Political Commentator:] And that's the problem. And I agree with this. We need to look at as much evidence as possible. We need to look at forensics, and we need to talk to witnesses. But sometimes we can look at so much stuff that we forget what happened in front of our own eyes, which is a shooting of not an unarmed man but a man who was clearly subdued and was not accessing his weapon, according to witnesses and according to police as of yet. Of course, we still do more investigation to find out more information. But let's not confuse this. Because this is a very common ritual to have in an instance like this. We begin to dig into the person's background. What kind of person were they? We'll dig into their criminal record. You know, what did they do when they were 18 years old or 15 years old or 12 years old. We begin to then raise all these other questions that have nothing to do with what happened in that incident. There's a long pattern of black men in particular but also black women being killed by law enforcement. And in Baton Rouge in particular, we're getting we're seeing evidence that this is a pattern. We need to investigate this, but we also did not deny what's in front of our own eyes.
[Cuomo:] Let's look a little bit of a shorter version here. First, we should remind Polo Sandoval, in his reporting, said that this is the third officer shooting in a relatively small amount of time. So that's one of the factors for this community. This is how they got him on the ground, OK? So, obviously, he wasn't the officers felt he wasn't responding to those commands, and they wind up getting into a tussle with him, putting him down. Now Cedric, this is where the analysis gets tricky for the layman, you know, for someone who, you know, doesn't have the forensic experience, because it's once he's on the ground, isn't it over? What is the standard for an officer? And what are the different variables for an officer, even when it seems like someone is subdued?
[Alexander:] Well, you know, here again, this is what we see on the video from the angle that is being shot. We don't know from the other side of that car, which we cannot clearly see, and what was taking place, what was in officer's mind when he yelled, "Gun, gun, gun." It's our understanding, from the initial reports, that he did have a gun in his possession. And here's where I have to be very careful, and I think it's important that the community and the country at large be very careful, is that we will know more as more information is revealed; but we have a few seconds of a video that is very graphic to the average person that's watching it. But I think what's going to be very important here, Chris and I will reemphasize it again is the fact that, in this particular shooting, it appears that he was down. We don't know where his hands were. We don't know why that officer shot. But he's going to have to articulate and clearly articulate the reason why he took the shot.
[Cuomo:] Well, it's going to have to come down it's going to have to come down to where his hands were. The...
[Alexander:] And it will.
[Cuomo:] Because the eyewitness testimony afterwards is that they saw the officers taking the weapon out of his pocket, right? That raised an interesting point.
[Hill:] And that his hands were never near his pocket. Abdul Muflafi said that his hands were never at his pocket.
[Cuomo:] But you have eyewitness testimony. You have two things here that are going to be impressive to people on both sides of the equation. This is my guess. And you guys say what you want about it. One is good thing you got videotape. We don't know if the body cams were working properly. The cell-phone video may be the only record of this. Without it, it's an entirely different analysis, certainly for the public. And on the other side it's going to be why did he resist? When they were telling them to get on the ground, why did he create a situation? You know everything goes against you once that happens. Hold on, Cedric. Let me hear from Marc, and I'll come right back.
[Hill:] One, of course, yes, videotape is always great. If there's not a videotape, there's not a chance that we even have this conversation right now. Because the assumption is that police don't anything wrong unless we have video of it. It also helps the cops. Helpful for them to see it took two of them to put on the ground. All these prosecutions of police officers or attempted prosecutions of police officers only happen when we have videotape. So that...
[Cuomo:] But I think it also helps the cops. And it's helpful for them to see that they're dealing with a big guy who didn't want to listen. Two of them who put him on the ground.
[Hill:] Perhaps. And resistance, let's talk about that, because resistance is something that is not a lethal offense or shouldn't be a lethal offense. It's not a capital offense, right? Eric Garner has his hands up in the air. He still dies. Freddie Gray runs. He dies. Mike Brown approaches. He dies. You know, we could go down the list. Walter Scott runs away and gets shot in the back and he dies. And magically, these these body cameras don't seem to work when the cases seem to stack against the police with regard to culpability. So that also raises skepticism. So to Cedric's point, yes, we should look at the investigation; we should wait for the investigation. But the public has to have some sense of trust in the investigators. And for a long time we've had no reason to have that. In this case, there's nothing to inspire confidence.
[Cuomo:] But Cedric, you made the most important point right out of the box, which is it's early. And I know it seems obvious from looking at the videotape, but things rarely are. Because obviously, these officers wound up doing something that they know was going to change their lives. You know, even if it's justifiable shooting, their lives were changed by the obviously, this man's life was ended by this. So as the facts come in, we'll do more analysis. But for now, as you said, it's early out of the box. We're going to have the attorney for the family on after this. Mark, thank you very much. Cedric, as always. Alisyn.
[Camerota:] OK, Chris. Turning now to our other top story. Donald Trump accusing Hillary Clinton of bribing Attorney General Loretta Lynch after the FBI recommended not charging Clinton over her email practices while secretary of state. So we have the 2016 race covered the way only CNN can. Let's begin with Sara Murray. She is live in North Carolina. Sara, give us all of the latest.
[Sara Murray, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, good morning, Alisyn. Donald Trump was trying to stay on message last night. He was trying to hammer Hillary Clinton, drive home the message that, in the wake of not of the FBI not recommending any charges, that the system was rigged in the favor of people like the Clintons, but he just couldn't quite stay all the way on message after making a passing reference and complimenting Saddam Hussein.
[Donald Trump , Presumptive Presidential Nominee:] She lied.
[Murray:] Donald Trump touching down in the stormy Tar Heel State to land a searing attack against Hillary Clinton.
[Trump:] Stupidity is not a reason that you're going to be innocent, OK? It's not a reason. Today is the best evidence ever that we've seen that our system is absolutely, totally rigged.
[Murray:] Trump attempting to cast Clinton as a corrupt politician, all after FBI Director James Comey said he won't recommend charges against Clinton for using private e-mail servers, while offering pointed criticism.
[James Comey, Fbi Director:] There is evidence that they were extremely careless.
[Murray:] Trump leapt at the chance to pile on.
[Trump:] She sent vast amounts of classified information, including information classified as top secret. She was extremely careless and frankly, I say, grossly incompetent. She will be such a lousy president.
[Murray:] Trump even suggesting Clinton may have bribed her way to this outcome.
[Trump:] She said today that we may consider the attorney general to go forward. That's like a bribe, isn't it sort of a bribe?
[Murray:] That's after a "New York Times" story, not Clinton herself, cited unnamed Democrats, saying Clinton may decide to keep Loretta Lynch as attorney general. But Trump didn't stop with Clinton. As she campaigned alongside President Obama, Trump took aim at Obama's penchant for golf.
[Trump:] Golf, golf. More, more. Learning how to chip, learning how to hit the drive.
[Murray:] The acronym he uses to describe
[Isis. Trump:] He says ISIL. He says ISIL, and you know, it's almost like he does it to make people upset.
[Murray:] And his demeanor in the White House.
[Trump:] We've got a person in the White House that's having a lot of fun. A lot of fun. I watched him today. It's like a carnival act.
[Murray:] But even as Trump tried to stay on the offensive, he again set off controversy by offering his accolades to former Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, a man who maintained a vise grip on power, in part by financing terrorism, torturing opponents, and targeting minorities.
[Trump:] We shouldn't have destabilized. Saddam Hussein was a bad guy, right? He was a bad guy, really bad guy. But you know why he did well? He killed terrorists. He did that so good.
[Murray:] Now Trump's comments about Saddam Hussein were made all the more awkward, since he was campaigning alongside Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker. This is one of the folks he's auditioning for a potential V.P. spot. But overnight, Trump tried to turn the focus back to Hillary Clinton. Of course, he took to Twitter to do it. He said, "I don't think the voters will forget the rigged system that allowed Crooked Hillary to get away with," quote, "murder." Come November 8, she's out Chris.
[Cuomo:] All right, Sara. Thank you very much. No mention of emails as President Obama took the stage with Hillary Clinton at a campaign rally just hours after the FBI announcement. We have CNN's Michelle Kosinski, live at the White House with more. Michelle, good morning.
[Michelle Kosinski, Cnn White House Correspondent:] Hi, Chris. Right, the White House completely punted on this. They would not respond to the FBI's announcement, even though they weighed in before. So, why not say anything, of all day, yesterday? I mean, this good news for Hillary Clinton is hardly all good, but somebody had to say something about it. I mean, this happened. So, it was the campaign that did it as cleanly as possible. They put out this paper statement and then, boom, nobody needed to say anything else. Not wanting a shadow over this big day on the campaign trail.
[Kosinski:] These are the pictures Hillary Clinton's campaign has been waiting for, arrival with the president on Air Force One. Then... [Music: "fight Song"] ... side by side on the stage.
[Barack Obama, President Of The United States:] Hillary! Hillary! Hillary!
[Clinton:] This, my friends, is a president who knows how to keep us safe and strong. Compare that to Donald Trump.
[Kosinski:] This is President Obama returning the favor after the rivals back in 2008, then united in New Hampshire.
[Clinton:] We stand shoulder to shoulder.
[Obama:] With this.
[Barack Obama, President Of The United States:] I believe in Hillary Clinton.
[Kosinski:] Came after a surreal day in politics. You'd never know here that Hillary Clinton was now not facing criminal charges. Not a word mentioned of it, as if it hadn't been the story of the day or that the FBI announcement hadn't happened, coincidentally two hours before the two took off together.
[Obama:] I'm with her.
[Kosinski:] This appearance pure cheerleading.
[Clinton:] He's made difficult, even unpopular decisions for the good of our country.
[Obama:] There has never been any man or woman more qualified for this office than Hillary Clinton. Never. And that's the truth. I'm here today because I believe in Hillary Clinton. I want you to help elect her to be the next president of the United States of America.
[Kosinski:] A chance, too, to hit Republicans plenty of times and once again, even now the president would not say Donald Trump's name.
[Obama:] Even the Republicans on the other side don't really know what the guy's talking about. You ask them, they're all like, "I don't know."
[Kosinski:] President Obama now out on the trail showing the energy he's known for.
[Obama:] I'm ready to pass the baton. And I know Hillary Clinton is going to take it, and I know she can run that race.
[Kosinski:] At times he was shouting in a hoarse voice, and he got everything in that speech. I mean, climate, energy, immigration, guns. It's just the beginning. He's expected to be very busy on the campaign trail from now on Alisyn.
[Camerota:] OK, Michelle, thank you for all that reporting. You've given us a lot to talk about, which we will do coming up, as well. Donald Trump blasting the FBI, accusing Hillary Clinton of bribery, and singing the praises of Saddam Hussein. So, we will discuss all of it next.