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Officials Charged In Flint Water Crisis; Three Officials Charged; Press Conference In Michigan; Attorney General States That These Officials Failed Michigan Families; Michigan Charges in Water Crisis; Interview with Rep. Dan Kildee; Race for the White House. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired April 20, 2016 - 13:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

We begin with breaking news out of Flint, Michigan, right now. That's the city here in the United States left reeling from lead contaminated drinking water. At any moment now, Michigan's attorney general is expected to announce criminal charges filed against three people in the case.

Two years ago, the state of Michigan decided to save money by switching Flint's water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River and soon after the switch, residents there in Flint began complaining that water had a bad odor.

More than 50 lawsuits have since been filed since January. Residents say they've suffered skin lesions, hair and vision loss and depression. There are also concerns about miscarriages, learning disabilities in children and legionnaire's disease.

CNN's Sara Ganim is covering the story for us. She's been covering for -- since the very beginning. She's at the press conference that's about to begin. Sara, first of all, what do we know about the three individuals, the charges that are about to be filed?

SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Wolf. We know that two people who worked for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to state employees will be charged with official misconduct, tampering with evidence and also neglect of duty. Another person who works at the water plant here in Flint, a local official, Mike Glasgow, charged being charged with tampering with evidence and neglect of duty.

Now, I want to point out here, Wolf, that the -- one of the officials who is being charged at the state level, one of those Michigan Department of Environmental Quality officials, is the person who we know, through e-mails, told the EPA that Flint had optimal corrosion control when it did not. And we know that corrosion control led to the problem, the lead leaching problem here in Flint.

Now, Mike Glasgow, that city official who worked here at the power plant -- I'm sorry, the water plant. I talked to him last month. He talked in detail about how he actually ended up altering one of the lead testing results in 2015 that would have raised concerns about the lead levels in the water here.

But he says that he was told by those two state officials who will be charged here today, he says he was told to do that. He also says that he tried to raise concerns before the water was even switched. But he was, again, told by state officials, those two state officials who will be charged today, that those concerns -- they were going to move forward with the water switch anyway.

He also says that those were the two people who made the decision not to use corrosion control here in Flint. Key pieces of evidence coming from him in that interview, Wolf.

I also want to point out that this is just one of several investigations. The FBI is also investigating the governor's task force, released a report earlier this spring that also laid the blame on some of these people.

The governor releasing a statement today, saying that Governor Snyder has been supportive throughout the investigations because the people of Flint and across Michigan are owed straight answers about how the Flint water crisis happened. The governor has said, from the beginning of this crisis, that the state will vigorously pursue any evidence of wrongdoing and hold people accountable.

Now, today, we are expected to hear from the state attorney general. We'll also hear, a little bit later, from the governor who will be speaking. You know, these are just three people of many people who have been accused, in some way, shape or form, of being involved or have no -- having information and not doing enough during this 18- month crisis.

We're -- it's unclear, at this point, if more charges are to come against more people. But we do know that these were people who were working here in Flint at the -- at the most basic local level. Even the state employees who are charged today, they are a jurisdiction with Flint.

So, we'll be looking ahead, Wolf, to see if more charges may come from other officials up the chain closer to the governor's office, because we all know that a lot of the people here in Flint truly believe that this is a tragedy that could have been prevented if the governor had stepped in sooner -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Sara Ganim on the scene for us. Let us know when the attorney general, Bill Schuette, shows up.

Let's talk about what's going on. Let's bring in Jonathan Turley. He's a law professor at George Washington University. And also joining us is Congressman Dan Kildee. He's the Democratic congressman from Michigan who represents Flint, Michigan. Let me get, Congressman, first your reaction. What do you think?

REP. DAN KILDEE (D), MICHIGAN: Well, obviously, it's a step in the right direction. It's a step towards justice for the people of Flint to hold individuals accountable. I hope that they continue the investigation and go up to the level of the folks who made the decisions to move in this direction.

[13:05:03] And I also hope that justice comes in another form. That it comes in the form of actually making it right for the people of Flint. It's one thing to charge individuals and hold them individually accountable, but the state of Michigan needs to make sure that they correct the mistakes that these people made and make it -- make it right for the people of Flint.

BLITZER: Let me ask Jonathan Turley. He's a professor of law at George Washington University. How serious are these charges? You've read the document. How serious are they, Jonathan?

JONATHAN TURLEY, PROFESSOR OF LAW, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: Well, they're very serious in the sense that they can put these individuals away for five years or so. But this is not an easy criminal case to make, particularly against Glasgow. The charges against him, I think, are pretty weak.

I think defense attorneys would view that as a winnable case on the evidence that we have before us. These defense attorneys are likely to suggest this is a show trial. That they -- we yank these guys out to make examples of them to satisfy what is a legitimate public outcry. But that should, ultimately, be a civil liability case.

Now, having said that, you do have false reporting that was made. But these individuals insist that they misinterpreted the standard, including the corrosive standard as to what constitutes that type of abatement. Those are issues that the jury is going to have to deal with and they're fairly complex. So, this is not an easy criminal case, by any means, in my view.

BLITZER: As you know, Congressman, only yesterday, the governor of Michigan, Rick Snyder, he said he would drink Flint's water for the next 30 days to try to restore faith that they fixed this problem. Is that good enough?

KILDEE: No. And, in fact, that won't restore any faith. The governor basically doing another public relations stunt does nothing to repair pipes. It does nothing to give health care to people who need it to deal with rashes. It does nothing to help these children overcome the developmental challenges associated with lead exposure. It does nothing to rebuild Flint's economy. I mean, the governor seems really focused on rebuilding one thing and one thing only and that's his reputation.

BLITZER: Do you want him to resign?

KILDEE: No, I mean, I think he should step up and do his job, actually. He should go to the legislature and say, we should fund all of what it will take to fix this problem. They keep talking about what they've committed. The legislature hasn't even acted, for example, to approve the expanded Medicaid which the state of Michigan asked for, we fought for, the president of the United States granted. And the legislature still won't act.

So, public relations stunts have no currency for the people of Flint, Michigan.

BLITZER: Jonathan, you've looked at the laws. Is there a possibility this could go higher up, charges could be filed against higher-ranking Michigan officials and maybe even the governor himself?

TURLEY: Well, based on this standard use for this indictment, it can go up. The question is whether they will stand up in court. You know, the issue here is going to be how much the trial court will allow into evidence. There are things called motions eliminated where the defense attorneys or the prosecutors try to keep evidence out.

One of things the defense may want to get in is that this is a type of ubiquitous or common problem that officials make bad calls all the time but you don't criminalize the decisions. They may be the subject of civil liability. They're certainly a subject of political responsibility.

BLITZER: All right, hold on.

TURLEY: But the criminal -- yes.

BLITZER: Yes, Jonathan, hold on for a moment. The attorney general of Michigan, I want to briefly listen into his statement. This is Bill Schuette making the announcement. He's going to be3 telling us about these charges. So, let's just listen in very briefly.

BILL SCHUETTE, ATTORNEY GENERAL, MICHIGAN: Everybody all set? All right. Well, good afternoon. My name is Bill Schuette, and I have the privilege of serving as Michigan's attorney general. Thank you for coming.

Mayor Weaver, I'm so pleased you're here and admire greatly your leadership here in the city of Flint.

On January 15th of this year, I initiated an independent investigation to determine what laws may have been broken in the Flint water crisis. My job, as attorney general, is to enforce the law and that is what I do.

I've said this before, and it bears repeating, that so many things went so terribly wrong and tragically wrong in Flint. Today, today, we are announcing we filed criminal charges in the Flint water crisis against three individuals. We have filed charges against Steven Busch, an employee of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and Michael Prysby, also an employee of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.

We have charged each individual with three felonies, three separate felonies. First, we've charged Mr. Busch and Mr. Prysby with misconduct in office, a felony. Mr. Busch and Mr. Prysby misled federal and local authorities, regulatory officials, and failed to provide safe and clean water to families of Flint.

[13:10:10] When we prove these allegations, and we will, Mr. Busch and Mr. Prysby will be facing five years in prison for this count alone.

We have also charged Mr. Busch and Mr. Prysby with intentionally, intentionally tampering with evidence of lead levels on certain -- on certain water samples in homes of residents of Flint. We allege and we will prove that Mr. Busch and Mr. Prysby altered test results which endangered the health of citizens and families of Flint. This is a four-year felony.

We have further charged Mr. Busch and Mr. Prysby with conspiracy. Conspiracy to tamper with evidence and their joint agreement to conceal test results on Flint water samples. This also is a four-year felony.

We have charged Mr. Prysby with an additional felony of misconduct in office by authorizing an operating permit for the Flint water treatment plant, knowing, knowing that the plant would fail to provide clean and safe drinking water to families of Flint. This, too, is a four-year felony.

We have charged, both Mr. Busch and Mr. Prysby, with two misdemeanors for violating Michigan's Safe Drinking Water Act by failing to require anti-corrosive be added to the Flint water system and by manipulating, by manipulating water samples by directing Flint citizens to pre-flush their taps.

These employees of the Department of Environmental Quality had a duty. They had a duty to protect the health of families and citizens of Flint. They failed. They failed to discharge their duties. They failed. They failed in their responsibilities to protect the health and safety of families of Flint. They failed Michigan families. Indeed, they failed us all and I don't care where you live.

Mr. Michael Glasgow is an employee of the city of Flint working at the water treatment plant. We have charged Mr. Glasgow with felony tampering of evidence by altering and falsifying reports the -- to the DEQ and the EPA.

We have also charged Mr. Glassglow with willful neglect of duty, a misdemeanor, by failing to protect the health of Flint families and by violating his duties under the Michigan Safe Drinking Water Act.

When I announced this investigation, I stated -- I stated this was the beginning of the road back. A road back to rebuilding and restoring. A road back to rebuilding and restoring trust and confidence of Flint families in their government. Indeed, this is a road back to restoring faith and confidence in all Michigan families in their government.

While we're on the road back, and I know this will take some time, but, in Michigan, as I've made it abundantly clear, I've made it abundantly clear that our system of justice applies to everybody. It's not rigged. Known as above the law. Not on my watch. Our investigation, when it is completed, will be thorough. It'll be complete. It'll be exhaustive. We will enforce the law. This Flint crisis team that has been assembled, we will enforce the law. We will protect the victims, the families and citizens of Flint. And we will hold each and every person -- each and every person who breaks the law will be held accountable. We'll follow the facts without fear or favor and we'll go wherever the truth takes us. And, in this case, wherever the e-mails take us.

These charges are only the beginning. And there'll be more to come, that I can guarantee you.

I want to introduce Todd Flood, who's the special council on the Flint water crisis team, a former skilled prosecutor doing a great job. Todd, our special counsel. Say a few words, sir.

TODD FLOOD, SPECIAL COUNSEL, FLINT WATER CRISIS TEAM: Thank you.

SCHUETTE: Yes, you bet. Thanks. OK, pal.

[13:15:11] Good afternoon. My name is Todd Flood. I am the special assistant attorney general and I've been charged with the task of prosecuting and investigating this case. There's no "i" in team.

To right is Mr. Arena (ph) and behind me, home bound here, Mr. Ellis. And to my far left, Mr. Latent (ph), prosecutor. With several more back home investigating this case today, as we speak. And we will turn over every stone. We'll go down every rabbit hole. This is just the first wave.

I'm not going to try this case in the press. I have an ethical duty not to do that. I don't want to be grieved (ph) before I start. So I won't try this case in the press. I can simply tell you that the public health, that's what the DEQ is charged, that's their purpose. That's what the law states. And the public health, that was violated.

So we start today. We start today with the charges and we will continue to go through every single door, interview people. And I have the best team assembled to do that job.

Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Todd.

Let me turn it over next to Andy Arena. Andy's the former head of the FBI here in Detroit. An impeccable reputation. Tough, skilled guy.

Andy.

ANDY ARENA, CHIEF INVESTIGATOR (ph): Thanks, Bill.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You bet.

ARENA: I'll be very, very brief in my comments today. Andy Arena. I'm the chief investigator. WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we're going to continue to

monitor the news. You just heard the attorney general of Michigan saying this is only just the beginning. Only the first set of charges against individuals connected with the water contamination disaster in Flint, Michigan. And then you heard Todd Flood, the specialist attorney general, saying this is just the first wave.

Congressman Dan Kildee, a Democrat of Michigan, who represents Flint, Michigan, is there.

I suspect that they - they have a lot of leads. They're going to go after other individuals who may have caused this disaster.

REP. DAN KILDEE (D), MICHIGAN: Well, I hope they do. And, obviously, we want the facts to take them where they may lead so that people can be held accountable. And I think the important thing about this prosecution is that it makes the point that just because an individual may be, you know, involved in public service or holding a public office, doesn't exempt them from culpability when they knowingly put individuals at risk. And when you think about the implication of this crisis, 100,000 people affected, 9,000 children under the age of six, what the effect on their lives might be is almost too much to imagine. People do need to be held accountable.

But again, I'll reiterate, the other part of this is, we can help fix this problem. And so while I see the need for prosecution, people being fired, whatever, there's nothing that will fix this problem more than making sure that the people of Flint have a chance to rebuild their city. That -

BLITZER: You've asked - you've asked for - what, $720 million that the federal government should appropriate to help the people of Flint, Michigan. Where does that stand?

KILDEE: Well, we're continuing to push it. Obviously, we've had some progress in the Senate. In the House, we continue to press. Actually, my legislation would require the state of Michigan and the federal government to jointly share the cost of the recovery of Flint, Michigan. We can litigate and argue about who caused this in the first place, but at the end of the day, the people of flint are American citizens, they are citizens of the state of Michigan and particularly since the state is really at the center of this total failure, my view is that both the state and federal government have a responsibility to help fix the problem.

BLITZER: Congressman Kildee, thanks very much for joining us.

KILDEE: Thank you.

BLITZER: Jonathan Turley (ph), thanks to you as well.

Coming up, we'll move to the race for the White House. Decisive wins in New York for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, but does it make their paths to the nomination a whole lot clearer? Stand by. New information coming in. We'll be right back.

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[13:23:30] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: New Yorkers, you've always, you've always had my back.

CROWD: Trump, Trump, Trump!

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We've won another state. We have won millions of more votes than Senator Cruz.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm so excited to share with you what America has learned, and it has nothing to do with a politician winning his home state.

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The Trump organizations is complaining all the time about all this and that. And you know why? Because they know they're not going to get enough votes. We're going to be deadlocked.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When we stand together, there is nothing that we cannot accomplish.

CRUZ: I call on you to chart a new American journey forward.

TRUMP: We can't be caught. It's impossible to catch us.

SANDERS: We have the momentum and we believe we have a path toward victory.

KASICH: I can compete in Pennsylvania in a general election, in Michigan, in Wisconsin.

CLINTON: The race for the Democratic nomination is in the home stretch and victory is in sight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump knocked it out of the park in New York yesterday. Each scoring decisive wins in the state's primary. The numbers tell the story. Donald Trump topped a 60 percent threshold, captured at least 89 of the states 95 delegates, three are still unassigned. Hillary Clinton fell just short of 60 percent, but still beat Senator Bernie Sanders by more than 15 percent. She nabbed 139 delegates to Sanders' 108, putting her at roughly 1,930 overall. We'll get into the full breakdown in a few minutes. That includes the super delegates. Trump's dominance in New York now puts his delegate lead at nearly 300 over Ted Cruz.

[13:25:14] But speaking in Hershey, Pennsylvania, this morning, Ted Cruz had this to say about the delegate race.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The math is virtually impossible for Donald Trump. Donald Trump is not getting to 1,237. Nobody is getting to 1,237. The reason Donald's so scared is the last three weeks, and in particular the win in Wisconsin, put the nail in the coffin and made it clear, Donald doesn't get to 1,237. He knows that, which means this race is headed to Cleveland. It's headed to a contested convention. And at a contested convention, I'll come in with a ton of delegates. Donald will come in with a ton of delegates. And it will be a battle to see who can earn a majority of the delegates elected by the people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Pennsylvania is one of five states that will vote next Tuesday, along with Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Delaware. With New York now in the rearview mirror, frontrunners Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, they're out there on the campaign trail, not taking anything for granted. Chris Frates is following the Trump campaign for us. He's in Indianapolis, Indiana, for us right now. Joe Johns is with the Clinton campaign in Philadelphia.

Chris, let me start with you.

Five states vote next Tuesday. But a week after that, Indiana. That's coming up. May 3rd, I think. Do you know - do we know why he decided to go to Indiana now, not Pennsylvania or Maryland, shall we say, today?

CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you're exactly right here, May 3rd is when they vote. And it's no accident that Donald Trump's coming here right after the big win in New York. Just last night we heard from one of Trump's senior advisors, Paul Manafort, who said if Ted Cruz can't win here in Indiana, he should get out of the race. So the Trump people really trying to make this a must-win for the Ted Cruz campaign. Frankly, taking a page out of Hillary Clinton's playbook, who was arguing, you might remember just yesterday, that if Bernie Sanders can't win in New York, it's almost mathematically impossible for him to catch her. So they're taking a page from that playbook and trying to make this a must-win .

And if you look at the demographics of Indiana, you can kind of see why. There are not a lot of college degrees here. Lots of people with manufacturing jobs. Those are two demographics that play well for Donald Trump. And you also have to look at the math. Fifty-seven delegates at stake here in Indiana and he has a shot at winner take all. If he can win, though, 57 delegates, that goes a long way to getting that 1,237, that magic number to clinch, particularly because he's expected to do so well on the East Coast next week.

But, of course, this is going to be a battleground. The Club for Growth saying just today that they're going to put $1 million in advertising against Donald Trump here. You might remember Club for Growth advertised against Trump in Iowa, in Wisconsin, in Utah, in states that Donald Trump lost. So Ted Cruz does have a big ally in his corner here.

And the other thing that Trump's doing that is a little unusual for him is he's meeting with Republican Governor Mike Pence before this rally. He's going to sit down in the governor's mansion with Mike Pence and Chris Christie is with him today as well, and that's unusual. He's supporting the Republican power base here in Indiana. That's not something we've always seen from Donald Trump.

Of course, Mike Pence has a tough re-election race of his own. He's not yet endorsed, though he says he's open to endorsing and open to meeting with all the candidates. In fact, Ted Cruz was - will meet with Pence tomorrow as well. So you're seeing a little bit of a different approach from Donald Trump, wolf.

BLITZER: Chris, stand by. I want to bring Joe into the conversation.

Joe, you're in Philadelphia. Hillary Clinton is holding an event there today with the former U.S. attorney general, Eric Holder. First of all, what's the significance of that pairing?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, this is an event clearly targeting African-American voters who are concerned about crimes committed with firearms. This is an issue that has polled very well for Hillary Clinton in multiple states, especially states with large African-American populations. New York just one example of that. South Carolina, another example of it.

Now, bringing Eric Holder into the mix bridges the last two Democratic administrations. Not just that administration that's currently in place of Barack Obama, but also the administration of Bill Clinton. Mr. Holder, of course, was a deputy attorney general during that administration. He's a very strong supporter of what he's called sensible gun control measures. So Eric Holder sitting down with Hillary Clinton at an African-American church gets her a lot.

But it's important also to say that she has been pushing very hard on this issue of gun control in a variety of different ways and she's even got an ad right now that's out featuring the daughter of the principal who died at Sandy Hook, that shooting spree in Connecticut. So a lot going on there with gun control here in Philadelphia today, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, we'll stand by for that. Joe Johns, thanks very much. Chris Frates, thanks to you as well.

[13:30:03] The numbers paint a positive picture right now for the Trump campaign. They've got a big delegate lead. They've got several friendly states coming up next Tuesday and they've got a new campaign structure in place at the same time.