Criminal Charges Dropped in Flint Case
SCIUTTO: This morning, outrage in Flint, Michigan, after a stunning legal reset. City leaders now planning a, quote, community conversation after state prosecutors announced they were dropping all criminal charges in their water crisis probe and beginning all over again.</s>HARLOW: Why? I mean, three years of investigating, tens of millions of taxpayer dollars spent, blind-sided residents, some sickened by their own tap water, five years ago. I mean, sickened to the point of they can never fully recover from lead in the water. They are now left questioning if justice will ever be served. Our colleague, Jean Casarez, is on this story. And, Jean, you have been following this literally for years since we first learned about this four years ago. Why drop all charges against government officials at this point?</s>JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's what people are asking right now. And the newly elected last fall attorney general, Dana Nessel, has dismissed all of the charges without prejudice, which means that they can be brought again. And the reason saying, investigative approach was flawed, the legal theories are not correct and they just can't continue on what they say was an incorrect foundation. Now, let's look right here because here's, you will see, what the -- what the charges were. There were 15 states and local officials that were originally accused of crimes, seven officials already took plea deals, eight officials, high top officials in the state of Michigan, were awaiting trial, charges, false pretenses, conspiracy, involuntary manslaughter, serious felony charges. We have spoken to some of the residents of Flint already and here are some of the comments we're getting. They're horrified. They feel blind-sided. They feel that they are -- have been re-traumatized in all of this. The mayor of Flint takes the other position, saying that she hopes that justice can be had in all this. Dana Nessel gave a statement to CNN. We do want to read that for everyone to see. She said, I want to remind the people of Flint that justice delayed is not always justice denied. And a fearless and dedicated team of career prosecutors and investigators are hard at work to ensure those who harmed you are held accountable. But, you know, Poppy and Jim, one interesting thing is the monetary aspect of all this because not only is the state of Michigan paying for the prosecution, they are paying for the defense also. And you start from square one and those defendants are going to have a right to start from square one, too. And so there will be more on this, I'm sure.</s>HARLOW: Yes.</s>SCIUTTO: Well, let's hope.</s>HARLOW: And there's a limited -- sorry, Jim.</s>SCIUTTO: Go ahead.</s>HARLOW: I was saying, there's a limited amount of money. I mean I was there, too, when this stuff was going on and that money could also be used to replace the pipes to these homes, right, to take care of it. So the question is, what does this actually mean for the -- for the people who have suffered by (ph) it. All right.</s>CASAREZ: And at the end of the month, the attorney general is going to go to Flint to talk to the people. But as a prosecutor, you're bound by rules of professional responsibility. You can't get into the details of your case. You can't do it as a prosecutor.</s>HARLOW: Right. Right, right.</s>CASAREZ: So will there be more questions than answers at the end of that?</s>HARLOW: OK.</s>SCIUTTO: Let's hope it's justice delayed, not justice denied.</s>HARLOW: Yes.</s>SCIUTTO: Jean Casarez, thanks so much. New polls show Senator Elizabeth Warren is on the rise ahead of the first presidential debates. Coming up, the state of the 2020 race among Democrats.