Ferguson Police Chief Expected To Step Down
PEREIRA: All right, welcome back to NEW DAY. A potential shake up at the Ferguson Police Department. Government sources telling CNN that Chief Thomas Jackson is expected to step down as early as next week. However, Chief Jackson says he is not being pushed out. Local officials hope his removal will quell tension in that town as residents wait a decision on whether or not the grand jury will bring charges against Officer Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown. For more on this, we want to turn to Tom Fuentes, a CNN law enforcement analyst and former FBI assistant director, and also CNN commentator and legal analyst, Mel Robbins. Good morning to the two of you. Thank you so much. I'll start with you, Tom, we know that the chief in Ferguson has been absolutely resolute. Saying, quote, "This is mine and I'm taking ownership of it." Talking about what has happened in Ferguson and the Michael Brown case. There's been backlash. We know there's been pressure. Look at the tweet, the Ferguson PD issued. The chief says he has not resigned, he has not been told to resign. He has not been fired. If he leaves, it will be his choice alone. What's going on here? Our sources say that he's out.</s>TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, Michaela, at the end of the day, it will not be his choice alone. And I think he probably will be out at the end. One of the difficult things for him has been even what he's done himself. He's taken ownership for every problem that's resulted since the time of the shooting. Even items he couldn't own. For example, one thing he could take ownership of is that he didn't brief the public from the first day of the shooting from the first hours. To be out there and explaining to the people what was going on and why it was going on. Particularly in the beginning, the body of Michael Brown was lying on the street for four hours because of Missouri law. He had no control over that. Once he was pronounced dead, the medical examiner takes control. The local police are not allowed to touch the body or do anything with the body until the crime scene investigation is over. And at that particular time at 12 noon on that afternoon, the crime scene investigators were 30 miles away at another crime scene. By the time they got there, an hour and a half had elapsed and they had to do their work. Jackson had no control over that the militarized look of the police that came, that was the county sheriff's office, he had no control over that. So some of the things he's taken ownership of, he didn't own.</s>PEREIRA: Mel, I'm curious what your thoughts are. You think this move would be wise? Will it help? Will it make a difference?</s>MEL ROBBINS, CNN COMMENTATOR AND LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Michaela, first of all, I agree with absolutely everything that Tom just said. Secondly, I don't think this is going to make a difference at all. Because what the folks that are protesting are upset about, is that there hasn't been an indictment. If we think back to the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin case, a very similar scenario took place. The shooting occurred in February and then the chief was asked to step down in April and that did nothing to calm the protests.</s>PEREIRA: Mel, a quick follow-up before I get back to Tom. Some are saying this smell as little funky. That this might be a way of sort of trying to appease people in the community ahead of no indictment of Officer Wilson, what do you think of that?</s>ROBBINS: I absolutely agree with that. I mean, if you look at the case from like a Google Earth point of view. There's nothing but a PR massage going on. As reported by the "New York Times," the "Washington Post," by us, by the "St. Louis Dispatch," there have been unprecedented leaks by this grand jury. And what it tells me is that we're marching towards no indictment. I think the officials both on the ground in Ferguson and also at the federal level are starting to worry there will be a powder keg that erupts. I would be shocked at this point if we have actually an indictment.</s>PEREIRA: We're hearing reports that police have been stocking up on riot gear, tear gas, less lethal ammunition, plastic handcuffs, are you concerned that things are going to overheat there?</s>FUENTES: They're going to overheat. That would be absolutely true. I agree with Mel, whether he's resigned, or is fired, it won't matter at the end of the day if Wilson isn't arrested, prosecuted and jailed for shooting Michael Brown, nothing less will appease anybody. You have members of the community and other leaders saying statements in the press like there will be carnage. There will be violence. There will be destruction. And they're saying not just in Ferguson, but across the country, in other African-American communities. The police better be planning and they better be stocking up because they've been told, this is going to happen.</s>PEREIRA: Let's hope there are steps in the right direction. Because we know how tense things are there speaking of, there's reports and rumors that perhaps the man tapped to take over Chief Jackson, would be Chief Belmar, who is the St. Louis police chief. Mel, do you think that will help or do you think that is just sort of a different misstep?</s>ROBBINS: I think it's a different misstep. I think the biggest misstep here is this grand jury has more holes than a chunk of Swiss cheese for crying out loud. You do not have leaks coming out of a grand jury. And in a system where you're supposed to be giving the public confidence in the judicial system because of the leaks, Michaela and Tom, it's doing the opposite. It's making people feel like not only is this not transparent, but it's actually stacked against anything happening. And what's so scary about this is that everybody should be focused on the truth coming out. And the only thing coming out of the grand jury is a narrative that is supporting Officer Wilson. And even if it's true at this point, because of how this has been handled, no one is going to be satisfied with the result. Not Officer Wilson. Not Michael Brown's family and certainly not the folks that live in Ferguson -- Michaela.</s>PEREIRA: Mel Robbins, Tom Fuentes, thank you. We all can say a collective prayer that things remain calm in Ferguson and beyond. Thank you so much for joining us today -- Chris.</s>CUOMO: All right, Mich, thanks for that discussion. We're hearing that the U.S. is gaining a new ally in its battle to wipe out ISIS. This is going to come as a surprise. It's not about men. It's about women, who have been taking on extremists for over a year. We're going to take you to the conflict zone and give you the latest.