Tom Brady Fights Back Against Deflategate Report; New Developments in Case of Freddie Gray
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Brady fights back. Terribly disappointed. His agent blasted Deflategate report. Oh, my, what happens now?</s>KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Will a nun take the stand in the Boston trial. A showdown brewing over the inspiration for "Dead Man Walking." Why legal teams in Boston at odds over this.</s>BERMAN: Is there a campaign to discredit the prosecutor in Baltimore. New links that prosecution against the six officers just doesn't add up.</s>BOLDUAN: Hello, everybody. I'm Kate Bolduan.</s>BERMAN: I'm John Berman. The report all but calls him a cheater, says he lied to investigators, suggested he traded shirts for softness. Now Tom Brady is fighting back against the NFL report on Deflategate, a display, perhaps, meant to show he has a big set of gripes.</s>BOLDUAN: Oh, gosh.</s>BERMAN: Just a few minutes ago Brady's agent released a statement that, frankly, I find startling.</s>BOLDUAN: A long statement, too. Here is part of it. In it he writes this, "The Wells Report, with all due respect, is a significant and terrible disappointment. Its omission of key facts and lines of inquiry suggest investigators reach a conclusion first and then determine so-called fact later." He also says this, "suggests in his view that it may be more probable than not that the league cooperated with the Colts in perpetuating and perpetrating a sting operation." Let's bring in CNN's Rachel Nichols for more on this, as well Tim Green, former NFL defensive end for Atlanta Falcons, and also an attorney and "New York Times" best-selling author of "Football Genius." Rachel, are you surprised, they came out swinging on this?</s>RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: This was not a modest, hey, we disagree with the report. This was punching big holes, bringing up the conflict of interest issue, which, of course, we know we've been talking about that on this show and all over CNN for months. Richard Sherman from Seattle Seahawks brought this up as well. Then they are saying basically there are huge parts of Tom Brady's testimony they didn't include in this report. So this is a big contrast or at least some contrast to the statement from Robert Kraft of New England Patriot yesterday. The owner also disputed the report. That part is similar. He said at the end, we will take whatever punishment the league hands out and we understand that is part of this investigation. What Tom Brady's agent is saying here, they want to fight this, at least in the court of public opinion if not all the way up to appealing, and they have a right to.</s>BERMAN: Tim Green, I don't think the commissioner likes people who talk about. This doesn't just disagree with the report but does it in a cheeky way. More probable than not the league cooperated in a sting operation. Could Brady and his agent be making things worse before Goodell decides what punishment to mete out?</s>TIM GREEN, ATTORNEY, FORMER ATLANTA FALCONS DEFENSE END & AUTHOR: Well, I think so. The corroboration between the investigator and the league doesn't make sense because the league has no interest in finding Tom Brady guilty, finding employees of the New England Patriot guilty. That just doesn't make sense to me. If you read the report, and Ted Wells is a criminal lawyer, so his standard of evidence is always innocent until proven guilty and guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. It's interesting to me that as an attorney, he uses evidentiary standard for a civil case in this preponderance of the evidence, more likely than not. I think Ted Wells seems pretty even handed and fair. He's still leaving some room for doubt, some room for Tom Brady and his agent to dispute and say, hey, look, I agree with the agent in that we don't see the full picture. There are things that Tom Brady, probably reasons and rational he has that aren't included in the report, where if it was a criminal case and on trial, you would have that opportunity, you would see both sides of the issue certainly going all the way back to Robert Kraft. He's disappointed, standing by his quarterback. In the end he's saying, look, we're one of 32 teams and I understand the importance of us just sitting down now, being quiet and taking whatever punishment the league hands out. I think most important is this --</s>GREEN: Excuse me -- is that Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick were found to not have any involvement in it at all.</s>BOLDUAN: Tim, real quick. A lot of fans are really wondering as they read through this, how many page in the report?</s>BERMAN: 200 plus.</s>BOLDUAN: 236. You're a former player, you know the culture of the league, does this go far enough to establish Tom Brady is a cheater?</s>GREEN: Well, I guess, look, you think a reasonable person is going to say yeah. Tom Brady, at least he knew, probably knew or probably maybe even had some involvement. But if you read the text, I felt like I was in law school again, that 240-page report, there's a lot of things where they were talking about tom was upset because the balls were overinflated. They were talking about having to bring the pressure down. You could really build a cogent argument about how Tom Brady was not talking about deflating them beyond the rules but make sure they are not overinflated.</s>BERMAN: This is not a court of law. It's the commissioner's office, the standard is more probable than not. Rachel Nichols, when you have terms that are frankly not too subtle like "deflator," when somebody calls them selves the "deflator," doesn't leave much to the imagination.</s>NICHOLS: That's your nickname around here.</s>BOLDUAN: Let's focus on that.</s>BERMAN: But, Rachel, what does Roger Goodell do now in now that he has the report, angry response from Brady and his agent, what and when are we going to hear from the commissioner.</s>NICHOLS: One thing that's important, he's sort of pushing off the sentencing for this, the executive vice president. Part of that is because Roger Goodell has come under a lot of criticism for his own dealing of punishment over the past year or so and the idea of having somebody else in the office do it is a way of distancing himself a little bit especially since he is so close to Robert Kraft, the Patriots owner. This has been a big question mark. By Troy Vincent being the one that decided the punishment, in Roger Goodell, Troy Vincent is the decider here, to bring up one of our political terms, he's trying to wade through this conflict of interest issue. We should say preponderance of the evidence, civil suit standard, that is in the integrity clause in NFL rules. That is set out all they have to prove, more criminal version of beyond a reasonable doubt. That's not something they were told to go find.</s>BERMAN: Get ready to learn Jimmy Garoppolo. He's the Patriots quarterback that could be playing.</s>BOLDUAN: Tom Brady will be sitting on the sidelines or maybe not. Tim Green, Rachel Nichols, thank you so much. Great to see you both. Let's turn to Baltimore now, new developments in the case of the death of Freddie Gray. CNN sources say major discrepancies are emerging between police investigation and the prosecutor's investigation.</s>BERMAN: So what we are told, police findings could undercut make of the most serious charges brought by state's attorney, Marilyn Mosby, against six officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray. It needs to be said the leaking of this information could very well be designed to undercut Marilyn Mosby.</s>SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. It really isn't surprising you have these kinds of leaks coming from either the attorneys and some of the officers or other officials who have actually been able to see police investigation they did as well as the prosecutor's case that was laid out, the base for the charges against the six officers. There's a couple of things. These sources say they believe that the autopsy report does not support homicide. They also believe that the evidence the police have lay out a case for manslaughter, not second degree murder, and that two attorneys, for two of the officers, say they actually wan to see the knife that Freddie Gray had on his possession when he was apprehended, when he was tackled by the police initially because they believe that that knife is illegal for him to have. If they can show that knife is, in fact, the type of knife that is illegal, it gives them probable cause for that arrest. Therefore when you have the false imprisonment charge against those two officers, they are hoping that will dismiss the charge. Those are the things behind the scenes. Do want to tell you as well this morning what we did see on the corner of Pennsylvania and North Avenue, that was the scene just more than a week ago where CVS was burning down. It is now boarded up. We saw the mayor as well as community leaders stress a new initiative from the city. They are calling it one Baltimore. The mayor saying the recovery effort is so critical at this time that the cameras, media, many people will go away in the months to come but that the community needs to come together. That is what she is trying to accomplish. That is what we saw in the corner just moments ago as they wrapped up that press conference. As we move forward, later today, we're going to see a presidential hopeful Republican, Ben Carson, meeting with religious leaders. There are a lot of activists, politicians, even musicians getting involved in this. Monday Prince is going to be giving his own concert in support of some of these community organizations. Kate and John?</s>BERMAN: Suzanne Malveaux, thanks so much. Up next, big news around the world. Russell Brand not exactly breaking records at the box office any more, so why is he a factor in a crucial election? Voters are making their selection right now. Plus sex, blackjack, escorts, this is not some bachelor party. It's Pentagon employees, charges on their credit cards. So how are they explaining themselves?</s>BOLDUAN: And explaining themselves back home. And will one of America's most famous nuns testify on behalf of the Boston bomber. Right now, a showdown over the inspiration for the movie "Dead Man Walking."