Three Arrested in Alleged Plot to Kill Officers; Obama Tries to Defuse Tensions, Bridge Gap; Trump Calls on Justice Ginsburg to Resign
CUOMO: DL Hughley, I feel you're doing both of those things. Thank you for being here. Let's continue the conversation.</s>HUGHLEY: I will indeed. Thank you.</s>CUOMO: Our coverage continues as well. Let's get right now, "NEWSROOM" with Ana Cabrera, in for Carol Costello -- Ana.</s>ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, stolen guns and a mass search for bullets. The target police. How officers foiled the plan. Plus consoler-in-chief again.</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are not as divided as we seem.</s>CABRERA: Can the president's meeting with law enforcement and civil rights leaders bring change. And she says he's a faker. He says her mind is shot. The feud between Justice Ginsburg and Donald Trump just got more intense. Let's talk in the CNN NEWSROOM.</s>CABRERA: Good morning, and thanks for joining me. I'm Ana Cabrera in for Carol Costello on this Wednesday. We begin with a national debate over the police killings of African-American men and the very personal heartbreak of one victim's son. Just minutes from now, we will hear from Cameron Sterling, just a teenager. He will speak at Louisiana convenience store where his father Alton Sterling was shot to death. You see him there just crumbling under the weight of his grief there on the left with his mom. Meanwhile, Baton Rouge police are saying they uncovered a plot to harm local officers in Louisiana in the wake of Sterling's death. Two men are now under arrest as well as a 13-year-old who is not being identified because of his age. A fourth suspect still remains at large in what police are calling a credible threat. CNN's Polo Sandoval is joining us now with the latest. And, Polo, do police know who they're searching for?</s>POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, that's still a question this morning Ana. We do know that officials have mentioned that there was a possibility that there may have been a fourth individual that they were trying to track down, but at this point we are still waiting for more information from investigators because we have to remember this all started over the weekend with a break-in at a local pawnshop. Reports now indicate that there was at least eight guns -- eight handguns that were stolen from that business. Throughout the course of the investigation, officers were able to track down at least three individuals and arrest them as well as recover many of those guns. However, during the interview process with some of these individuals, a very disturbing detail that emerged here from Antonio Thomas, the 17-year-old that's currently in custody. He said to detectives, quote, "They planned to look for bullets to kill police." Now it's unclear whether or not he actually meant it or if there was actually a plot in the works to target officers in and around the Baton Rouge area, but at the same time, we have to remember it's been about seven days or so since the Dallas shooting. So information like this, statements like this is something that would not be taken lightly by investigators as they continue to keep a close eye on the protests and those demonstrations which I have to tell you so far have been relatively peaceful. Obviously things did clear up over the weekend, did lead to several arrests, but last night there was a fairly small demonstration on the street corner here in Baton Rouge, and there are, I guess you could call them marshals that are essentially keeping that crowd on the sidewalk, keeping things under control as we await to hear from 15- year-old Kevin Sterling later today at the very spot where his father was shot and killed just over a week ago -- Ana.</s>CABRERA: So heartbreaking. Polo Sandoval, thank you very much. The families will hold funerals now for three of the police officers killed in last week's Dallas ambush. Senior Corporal Lorne Ahren, Sergeant Michael J. Smith and DART officer Brent Thompson will be remembered in separate ceremonies today. This after President Obama and George W. Bush spoke at a private memorial service for all five of the slain officers yesterday. Now today the president tries to bridge a growing chasm, bringing together leaders in both civil rights and law enforcement. CNN's Athena Jones is at the White House where this afternoon's meeting will be held. Good -- good morning, I should say, Athena.</s>ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Ana. That's right, this long and difficult conversation about race and policing continues here today. You talked about the president needing to try to bridge a growing chasm. We heard from him in Dallas yesterday saying that amidst the anger and the pain, it's as if the deepest faults of our democracy have suddenly been exposed, perhaps even widened. And yet a central part of his message is that we aren't as divided as it seems and that it is possible to find common ground if people who offer different perspectives just to listen to one another and try to understand one another. Take a listen to more of what he had to say in Dallas.</s>OBAMA: We cannot simply turn away and dismiss those in peaceful protests as troublemakers or paranoid. We can't simply dismiss as a symptom of political correctness or reverse racism. To have your experience denied like that, dismissed by those in authority. We also know what Chief Brown has said is true that so much of the tensions between police departments and minority communities that they serve is because we ask the police to do too much and we ask too little of ourselves.</s>JONES: And we expect those two points the president raised there to come up in this afternoon's meeting, for him to urge all sides to listen to one another. And also to address this idea that police are asked to be social workers, parents, teachers, drug counselors. There's a lot that has to be discussed when he meets this afternoon with activists, civil rights leaders, faith leaders, law enforcement leaders, also elected officials will be part of this conversation. The goal, of course, trying to figure out how to keep people safe, how to build trust between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve, and of course, to find that common ground. But the president's central message today will be that progress is possible. Just look, he'll say, most likely as he did yesterday at some of the recommendations from his 21st Century task force that came up with all kinds of ideas over a matter of months. A series of meetings and testimonies, came up with recommendations for how communities like the Dallas PD and others, what they can do to improve the trust in the community and he has held up Dallas as an example of a police department that is -- that is done a lot to try to implement those recommendations. So we expect the recommendations to be part of the discussion today as well -- Ana.</s>CABRERA: There are certainly an effort to make changes and to make progress. Athena Jones, our thanks to you, to give you an idea of the current climate and the challenges this country is facing. I want to take you live right now to Minnesota where protesters are again taking to the streets, you can see them here. This is in Minneapolis on Interstate-35 where you see traffic is at a standstill right now on the interstate because of protesters currently trying to advance on to the roadway there. We will continue to watch these pictures. Of course, Minneapolis and that area is where Philando Castile was killed last week. Sparking a lot of outrage especially after his girlfriend who was in the car next to Castile during this fatal traffic stop started live-streaming the aftermath sparking a lot of emotions again in this part of the country. This picture from Minneapolis this morning where protesters have shut down Interstate 35. Let's turn to politics. Lots of news to talk about morning and the next 48 hours could be some of the most important in Donald Trump's political career. The presumptive GOP nominee is set to be getting much closer to picking his choice for vice president. And the rumor mills largely focused on a couple of people. Indiana Governor Mike Pence and former House speaker Newt Gingrich, but this morning a source now tells CNN another high profile Republican is also still in the mix. Let's get to CNN's Sara Murray covering all the fast-moving developments for us. She's joining me now from Indianapolis -- Sara.</s>SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Ana. Well, I think we need to be skeptical about ruling anyone out this morning until Donald Trump rules them out himself. And what we are hearing is that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is still very much in the mix for this. We know that Donald Trump campaigned of course with Mike Pence last night, and part of that is still about getting, you know, more of a sense of how comfortable he is around Governor Pence. The two had very different personalities. They don't know each other particularly well and Trump said in an interview with the "Wall Street Journal" that he wants someone he has good chemistry with but he also wants someone who could be an attack dog. Now we certainly saw Mike Pence on the attack last night. He went after Hillary Clinton about her e-mails and her personal e-mail server. He went after her about Benghazi. But Chris Christie is still in the mix in part because he is very close to Donald Trump and that they've known each other for over a decade. They have a pretty good working relationship. And we all know that Christie knows how to go on the attack. And when I talk to sources about this, they said, look, Chris Christie already knows how to handle the campaign trail. He's proven himself an adept campaigner, but he is also a guy who could go out on the debate stage, interview debate, and not only defend Donald Trump's positions, but also go on the attack against Hillary Clinton and whoever she chooses as her running mate. These are all things that Donald Trump will be considering in the final hours. We're expecting him to make a decision before the end of the week most likely on Friday. And so we're very much in the throes of the veepstakes and on high alert at this point, Ana.</s>CABRERA: He sure knows how to create suspense for sure. Sara Murray, thank you very much. Now the battle between Donald Trump and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is growing more intense this morning. Trump tweeting, "One demand, Justice Ginsburg of the U.S. Supreme Court has embarrassed all by making very dumb political statements about me. Her mind is shot. Resign," he writes. Now this attack is after Ginsburg hit Trump during multiple interviews including one with CNN when she called Trump a faker, saying Trump has no consistency about him. He says whatever comes into his head at the moment. With me now is CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin. Welcome, Jeffrey. Good to see you.</s>JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Hi, Ana.</s>CABRERA: So Ginsburg hasn't just gone after Trump once now, she has criticized him multiple times and even after she herself was criticized for making her initial comments, are you surprised?</s>TOOBIN: I am surprised because this is really unprecedented behavior for a Supreme Court justice. You know, Supreme Court justices express their opinions about all sorts of things relating to their work, you know, whether the -- what the Constitution means, what the laws mean, but there has been a very strong tradition for judges not to express direct political opinions about elections. And Justice Ginsburg's statements have really been very unusual and frankly, in my opinion, very inappropriate for a Supreme Court justice.</s>CABRERA: We read Trump's tweet saying, Ginsburg's mind is shot, and he called on her to resign. What are your thoughts? Should she?</s>TOOBIN: Well, no, I mean the -- it's quite clear that Ruth Bader Ginsburg's mind is not shot. She remains a very active part of the Supreme Court. She writes as many opinions, she participates in oral arguments in an extremely vigorous way. This has nothing to do with an intellectual decline. I think, you know, she is 83 years old and like a lot of people, I think she's become more like herself as she has gotten older, and she has gotten more outspoken in her political views. But, you know, there are -- there are guidelines, they're note laws, but there are guidelines for judges that are very clear that they should not express views about pending elections. And I think those are wise rules especially because, you know, as we all remember, 16 years ago, the presidential election wound up in the Supreme Court. And I think if that were to happen again, which obviously isn't likely, but if it were to happen again, Justice Ginsburg almost certainly would have to recuse herself after expressing these opinions. So I think for all sorts of reasons, it's a good idea for justices not to express these kinds of views.</s>CABRERA: You know, it's really interesting because her comments really have sparked a lot of, at least conversation. The "New York Times" editorial board writing that Trump is right, in fact I want to read you a quote from the paper this morning, saying, "Washington is more than partisan enough without the spectacle of a Supreme Court justice flinging herself into the mosh pit." I heard you say she did cross a political line, possibly an ethical one from a political standpoint. Do you think her comments are going to help or hurt Donald Trump?</s>TOOBIN: You know, I think by the time we get around to November, there probably will not be one person in America who is voting for or against Donald Trump because of what Ruth Bader Ginsburg said. We got a long way to go. There's a lot of stuff that's going to happen. But I think it's characteristic. The "New York Times" editorial page is a pretty liberal institution. Very supportive of Justice Ginsburg in general. Even they are saying, you know, she shouldn't be the talking this way. And I have heard, basically no defenses of what Justice Ginsburg has been saying, even among people like me, who are generally admiring her. She is certainly one of the most distinguished lawyers in the history of the country, not just in the history of the Supreme Court. She was the founding mother of the feminist movement. She argued many important cases before the Supreme Court before she became a judge. So this is a very formidable person, but that doesn't mean she's always right, and I think it's quite clear she's not right in what she's saying about this election.</s>CABRERA: All right, Jeffrey Toobin. Again thanks for your time this morning.</s>TOOBIN: All right, Ana.</s>CABRERA: Still to come, a swing state surprise. Both candidates fending off controversies, Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, but one just got a bump in some new polls.