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CNN Poll: Trump Approval Rebounds to 42 Percent; Officials Update Police Shooting Death of Stephon Clark; California Justice Department to Oversee Stephon Clark Shooting Probe; Facebook's Zuckerberg Decides to Testify Before Congress. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired March 27, 2018 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:00] NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: -- couple of strokes. The family attorney says the health concerns that they have it related to all the pressure and the stress the family has gone through. They went on to say that the Baton Rouge Police Department is filled with bullies and that they will continue on with their civil lawsuit against the Baton Rouge Police Department and the two officers involved in this shooting.

We're expecting as well, later on, Brianna to hear from the mayor of this. And even though the announcement from the attorney general was made today, the mayor now will have the authority to decide whether or not to terminate those two officers who are still on paid administrative leave.

Brianna?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Nick Valencia in Baton Rouge, thank you.

Coming up, police in Sacramento were going to hold a news conference on the unarmed black man that police shot. He was in his grandmother's backyard last week when this happen. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:35:06] KEILAR: Just a note, we are awaiting, as you can see here, a press conference where police in Sacramento are going to speak here. They'll be talking about the unarmed black man, Stephon Clark, who was shot by police in his grandmother's backyard last week.

We're keeping an eye on this. Once it gets underway, we're going to bring it to you as soon as it starts.

In the meantime, President Trump's approval rating ticking up seven points to 42 percent, its highest level since the 100-day mark of his presidency. Forty-two percent still a historic low though compared to his predecessors, but any gain should translate to safe seats in the House. Is it going to be enough, though?

Joining us to talk about that is CNN political analyst and senior political correspondent for the Washington Examiner, David Drucker.

So, when you're looking at this bounce, what do you attribute it to? DAVID DRUCKER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: WELL, it's possible that the president hasn't been tweeting as much or hasn't been is provocative as he has rhetorically as he has in the past.

The economy is doing well. I think that the image of the tax bill has improved markedly. And so you could say that those things are helping the president weather a storm.

I would caution, however that when you tick up from 35 percent to 42 percent, all he's really done in the CNN poll is put himself back in the general average of he where he has sat since day one which is below 40's. Sometimes he's a little higher, sometimes he's a little lower, and even though he's moving closer to where President Obama was at this point in his presidency and some of his other predecessors, President Obama still presided over a lost of 63 Democratic seats in the House in 2010 despite doing a little better than President Trump.

And so this is not all, I guess wine of roses if you will for President Trump and the Republicans.

KEILAR: It's a good reminder of the shellacking, right, isn't it? Wasn't that the shellacking that President Obama talked about --

DRUCKER: Yes.

KEILAR: -- about that loss. OK.

So, it's also important to look at the timing of the poll. So what came before or what came after it.

This was done before the Stormy Daniels interview, which millions and millions of people tuned in to on CBS News. A lot of supporters say, hey, this isn't going to affect Donald Trump. But when you look at the polls, women certainly have an opinion about this, and you asked voters, who do you trust? They overwhelmingly trust Stormy Daniels, Karen McDougal.

Is that something that could shift these numbers, do you think?

DRUCKER: Well, I don't think that the president is going to see a hit to his numbers because the scandals simply because this is something that they are aware of him, expected from him and they voted for him in 2016 knowing that this was a part of who he is.

I do think it could hurt Republicans on the ballot in November because you're looking at a real crisis for Republicans with upscale, white, educated women inclined to vote Republican, usually vote Republican. They really have never liked the president, so this could simply add to their, I guess, disaffection for President Trump and the Republicans, leading them to sit on their hands or actually vote for the Democrats in the election.

I want to point to at one thing in the CNN poll that Ryan (INAUDIBLE) pointed out on Twitter, your colleague -- our colleague here at CNN. What he said was that -- what he noted was that, in the poll, voters that are somewhat not enthusiastic to vote in 2018 approved of the president 47 percent. Not a bad number. Voters extremely are very enthusiastic to vote in 2018, the approval plummets to 38 percent.

And in midterm elections, enthusiasm is an important indicator much more that they are in presidential elections because the turnout is just so heavy in a presidential race.

KEILAR: Let's go to Sacramento where the police are beginning their press conference on the killing of Stephon Clark.

XAVIER BECERRA, CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: -- the mayor of the city of Sacramento, Darrell Steinberg. We have the district attorney for the county of Sacramento Anne Marie Schubert. We have Pastor Anthony Sadler, Pastor Bob (INAUDIBLE), Dr. Oli Mack (ph), and Mr. Mark Habner (ph) who will speak.

I hope you will give each and every speaker your attention, and afterwards we'll take questions.

Today is all about building and strengthening respect and trust between our communities and the men and women of law enforcement who are there to protect us. I believe that's what's essential to have and to achieve, true and lasting public safety for our neighbors and for our peace officers.

With that in mind, it's appropriate to ask, as i said earlier, Chief Daniel Hahn of the Sacramento Police Department to lead us in announcing today's decision. So at this stage, let me turn the microphone over to Chief Daniel Hahn.

[12:40:01] CHIEF DANIEL HAHN, SACRAMENTO CALIFORNIA POLICE: Good morning. I'd first like to thank Attorney General Becerra, I appreciate your willingness to help our city and our community during this critical time and on this significant issue.

On February 18th, our city experienced a tragedy that no one wants to see or experience. Excuse me, March. As our city's police chief who has lived in this community my entire life, I'm dedicated to making sure that we gather all the facts, conduct a thorough investigation and promise we will continue to be transparent throughout the process. Our community deserves nothing less.

I also promise regardless of the final outcome of this investigation, we will explore and implement ways to better serve our community and find ways to prevent this sort of tragedy in our city. That is my promise as this city's police chief and a lifelong member.

It is the same process that we announce -- it is in this same process that we announce the addition of the State Department of Justice being part of this investigation. I have complete confidence in the detectives in my department to accurately and impartially and thoroughly investigate this tragic incident. But due to the nature of this investigation, the extremely high emotions, anger and hurt in our city, I felt it was in the best interest of our entire community, including the members of our police department, to ask the attorney general to be an independent part of this investigation. And Mr. Becerra agreed to be that independent body. Our city is at a critical point right now, and I believe this will build -- help build faith and confidence in the investigation from our community. The Sacramento Police Department will provide full access and involvement for the Department of Justice investigators during the entire investigation. They will also provide an independent review of our policies and our training as it relates to use of force.

I again would like to thank our attorney general for his dedication to the Sacramento community for his willingness to be an independent part of this investigation.

I'd also like to speak to recent events in our city. Protest has a rich and positive place in our nation's history and definitely in our state and city's history. As the capital of California, we often see the rights of protesters exercised in our city. But as we have seen, I'm concerned that as a community, we exercise calm over the coming weeks and months and that we don't have any more tragedies, injuries or property damage as that does not help us move forward and improve the city for all people.

It is with this in mind I want to thank the leaders in our community that are here with us today supporting our city and being safe. The fraternities, the sororities and the pastors that are here today. I thank all of them for being engaged in ensuring that our -- everyone in our city is safe and has the opportunity to thrive.

Lastly, I want to ensure our community that the police department will continue to be transparent and continue to openly share information that we can regarding this investigation. We will release body camera and helicopter video in unprecedented fashion within three days because that was the right thing to do for our community. We provided updates on some of the evidence in the case as we obtained it, and we will continue to do so. We want to be a leader not only in our state, but in our nation in regards to what partnerships with our community look like and transparency looks like, because that is what's best for our Sacramento community.

I would also like to thank the men and women of the Sacramento Police Department who have been working many long hours over the last week. They have shown tremendous professionalism, patience and dedication to our city. They have truly provided a tremendous service to our city during this very trying time. And with that, I'd like to turn it back over to the attorney general.

BECERRA: I thank and respect Chief Daniel Hahn, and quite honestly, I thank and respect everyone in the community who made this call possible for us to come together this way. The California Department of Justice will now step in and provide independent oversight of this investigation into the shooting of Stephon Clark. My team and I at the California Department of Justice will do everything in our power to ensure that this investigation is fair, thorough and impartial

I also want to thank and respect Chief Hahn for agreeing that the California Department of Justice's involvement in this matter will extend to include a review of the policing policies, procedures and practices at the Sacramento Police Department. [12:45:15] Although we will continue to coordinate with the Sacramento Police Department, we will retain our independence as we conduct this review. Our independent oversight of the investigation and our separate review of the department will be based on the facts and the law. Nothing more, nothing less.

At this time, it's hard to say much more than that about either assignment because one involves an ongoing investigation --

KEILAR: All right, I want to bring in CNN Legal Analyst Joey Jackson.

OK, so Joey, this is an update on the killing of Stephon Clark by police officers, and it's important to note just why this has people in Sacramento so upset, why we're seeing that spread far beyond California, because you're talking about an unarmed young man, a black man, shot at -- we know he was shot at least 20 times. We know that he was hit multiple times. We don't know how many, because at this point in time the autopsy is actually being held pending this process that we're hearing about.

So you heard the police chief there, Daniel Hahn, he has largely escaped a lot of criticism. He's the first African-American police chief of Sacramento. But his department is under a lot of scrutiny following this, and you're hearing from the California attorney general there, Xavier Becerra, talking about how the C.A. DOJ is going to looking at this independently.

What's your reaction of what you just heard?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: My reaction, Brianna -- good afternoon to you, is that, it absolutely needs an independent assessment, and so what's the right call to make. When you have a police shooting of this magnitude, and to your point, yes, it's raised concerns in Sacramento, it's raised concerns throughout the country.

For anyone who's seen the video, for anyone who's followed and knows what occurred, when you get a report of someone breaking into cars, it informs a state of mind of the officers who they're encountering. So the question then becomes, how do you then go from that to dying and being shot at 20 times in your grandparents' backyard? Unacceptable. And so there needs to be accountability.

And so when we hear that the state attorney general steps in to have an independent evaluation of the facts and circumstances, now you want to get an investigation whose findings the community can rely upon and can trust.

But from the outset when you look at this, it just looks bad in general, right? There'll be a thorough investigation in terms of what occurred, but the question in everyone's mind, you know, if you're going to ask someone to raise their hand and show me your hands, should you allow them to at least comply before you start shooting them 20 times? And what if anything was the immediate threat that necessitated such force?

And so, I think the minds on the people on the community in Sacramento is to get at the root of the problem in terms of how can this happen, why can it happen, and how do we prevent from the future? And I think an independent evaluation by that state attorney general, Brianna, is critical in making that assessment.

KEILAR: All right, Joey Jackson, thank you, stand by for us. We're going to be right back.

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[12:52:59] KEILAR: New this morning, a CNN exclusive. We have learned that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has decided to testify before Congress about the recent data scandal.

The social media giant has been under fire since news broke that a data firm linked to the Trump campaign improperly used information from some 50 million Facebook users.

CNN senior reporter and author of PACIFIC, Dylan Byers has this exclusive story. It seemed like at some point, Zuckerberg was just going to have face the music and testify. But what made him decide he's going to do this?

DYLAN BYERS, CNN SENIOR REPORTER AND AUTHOR OF PACIFIC: Well, that's right, Brianna. I mean, the pressure from the public, from the media, and certainly from lawmakers on Capitol Hill just became so overwhelming that this was something that Mark Zuckerberg could not ignore. Anything less than his presence on Capitol Hill will satisfy the demands for accountability from Facebook over this issue.

Now, Facebook currently according to sources I have spoken with, they are working on the plan for Zuckerberg's testimony. What that could do, having Zuckerberg on the Hill, it could force CEOs from other companies like Google and Twitter to come forward and answer lawmakers' demand that they too testify on issues of privacy policy, and how they're handling user's data.

KEILAR: And what is this going to mean for other tech CEOs because he's not the only one who has been asked to testify?

BYERS: No. You know, Mark Zuckerberg has really become the face of this issue which is how big tech companies handle our data and whether to not our data is safe. And so, you know, he's become the target of a great deal of criticism but this is not a problem that it is exclusive to Facebook. It's a problem for Google, it's a problem for Twitter, it's a problem for any company that takes our data and shares it with third parties as a way of making money.

They're really tube kinds of tech companies, you know, in the grand scheme of things, Brianna. They're the tech companies that rely on your data and make the sharing of your data their business. And then they're the tech companies that don't and they provide, you know, products and other services. Those companies, Google, Facebook, Twitter, they're the ones who are going to be under the spot light on Capitol Hill within the coming weeks.

[12:55:06] KEILAR: And do we know when this is going to happen? BYERS: Well, Senator Chuck Grassley has called for a hearing to take place on April 10th, that date could change. It's not exactly clear that Facebook is going to be ready to testify by April 10th, but our sources say that this is going to happen in the coming weeks. And that at least Mark Zuckerberg has prepared himself and come to terms to with the fact that this is something he's going to have to do within in the next few weeks.

KEILAR: All right, Dylan Byers, thank you so much for that reporting.

Coming up, more star lawyers refusing to join President Trump's legal team right when the special counsel's investigation is reaching a critical phase. Wolf will pick up after a quick break.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1 p.m. here in Washington, 8 p.m. in Moscow, 1 a.m. Wednesday in Beijing. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

It's the team the president of the United States can't seem to fill. Why more and more star lawyers are saying no to the president to represent him in the Russia investigation.

Also, he's --