CNN "State of the Union with Candy Crowley" - Transcript: National Football League
Interview
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
CROWLEY: On this second Sunday of the NFL season, the talk, at least outside the stadium, isn't about throwing passes. It's about throwing punches.
Senator Amy Klobuchar contacted NFL commissioner Roger Goodell this week, along with many other Senate women, asking for a zero- tolerance policy for domestic violence.
She joins me now, along with "Washington Post" sports columnist Mike Wise. I want to thank you both for being here. I feel like the conversation has gone from should Ray Rice lose
his job to should Roger Goodell, the commissioner, lose his job? Should he?
SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D), MINNESOTA: Well, first of all, I'm a former prosecutor, Candy.
And I think what you need to do is look at all the evidence, the facts. I think Bob Mueller's -- his integrity is on the line here. He's a good man, and, hopefully, he will get all the facts out, because I have a feeling there's a lot of people that know stuff about what really went on here.
But on its facts, you have a situation where a man knocked a woman out cold on an elevator. There's a tape that clearly shows what happened. I think most employers would look for all the evidence. Maybe you give a temporary suspension while you're looking at the evidence. But the fact that they gave only a two-game suspension, and then turn around and after the evidence goes public say, oh, oh, we made a mistake, now we're going to let him go, I think that's problematic for the NFL and it's deeply concerning about how they handle these kinds of cases.
CROWLEY: So, as a prosecutor, you're waiting for the evidence on the...
(CROSSTALK)
KLOBUCHAR: I'm waiting to see what -- if there is a major cover- up, if it shows he lies, if they -- there could be many factual situations where, in fact, he should step down.
But I like to see what the facts are.
CROWLEY: Mike?
MIKE WISE, "THE WASHINGTON POST": And I'm going to jump the gun on the senator. I think Roger Goodell does need to go, and for a myriad of reasons.
But, at the very least, Candy, he's going to be -- he's going to come out of this investigation at the very least incompetent, at the very worst maybe duplicitous and lying about what he knew regarding the videotape.
The thing that bothered me -- and not because of the transparency -- the transparency issue, the thing that bothered me most is, Roger Goodell at one point tried to play essentially a marriage counselor with the victim and the perpetrator, Janay and Ray Rice. He put the victim and the perpetrator together.
Every domestic violence agency, every law enforcement agency, that's a no-no. She's -- she -- she is sitting in the -- telling her story in front of the person who essentially abused her. And it -- and -- and it's the tone-deafness of those types of things that show me that this commissioner does not take domestic violence seriously enough.
CROWLEY: And let me -- I want to read you something from the police report, which everybody had access to.
It's public. It was public. It's available to the public -- where it said, "The complainant says that, to the best of his or her knowledge, the named defendant" -- that would be Rice in this case -- "committed assault by attempting to cause bodily injury to J. Palmer," his fiancee at the time, "specifically by striking her with his hand, rendering her unconscious."
KLOBUCHAR: Mm-hmm.
CROWLEY: All right? So they knew that the blow he gave to her rendered her -- it wasn't that she knocked her head against something when he pushed her. It wasn't -- so they already knew that.
So it does say to me that the evidence was right there, and they couldn't stand the P.R. of that video.
KLOBUCHAR: Exactly.
And that appears to be the case here. And this is why there's an outcry from around the country. And when you think about the NFL, these cases, as you know, Candy, happen all the time. Every minute, 24 women are beaten. And the fact that the NFL puts out their players as role models, which they are for so many young men, they can make a real difference here by putting in place tougher policies, by changing the culture within the NFL.
I know that Mike would tell you there's not just one player that has done this. And that's why this is...
CROWLEY: No, it's alarming when you see the number of players that have been, you know, arrested and charged with...
WISE: Fifty-six just under Roger Goodell's watch.
Only 13 games have been -- he's suspended 13 games total of all these players, so -- so the numbers are alarming. Everything about it seems -- and I understand people are upset also that the district attorney and the prosecutor's office in Atlantic City and Atlantic County did not get involved in New Jersey.
That's a separate argument. The -- every player signs a -- a moral conduct clause with his contract. And if you don't abide by that, you're essentially -- you're beholden to the rules of the commissioner.
CROWLEY: Right.
I want to read you something from a letter. John Conyers, Congressman John Conyers, along with others, wrote a letter to the commissioner asking that this be a transparent investigation into what's gone on. And he wrote in part, "We believe that these high- profile professional leagues are in many ways in a position of public trust and should be at the forefront of handling such incidents appropriately."
So, you think back to someone like singer Chris Brown, who publicly also beat his girlfriend at the time, Rihanna. Nobody called on the music industry and said, don't put him on the Grammys. Don't do this.
So, what is the -- where -- where's the line where you're a public figure and, therefore, we're idolizing you, and, therefore, you have to behave in a certain way? I mean, if a newscaster was charged with this, would -- would you then say, don't want to ever put him on the air again? Where is that line?
WISE: Yes, it's a tough one because there is sort of if you're sort of laying dry wall at a construction site are you beholding to the same laws that (ph) people - I think is something about a public figure also --
CROWLEY: Which public figures.
WISE: Exactly which public figure, what entertainment. People go to see - people went to see Robert Downey Jr.'s movies even after his substance abuse problems but they would cry wolf if Lance Armstrong ever took another drug and got on a bicycle. So, I think there is a double standard there.
KLOBUCHAR: You know, when I was a prosecutor we had a poster outside of the door so everyone would see it when they came in. It was a picture of a woman beaten up, with a Band-Aid over her nose holding a little baby boy, and the words read, "Beat your wife and it's your son that goes to jail."
Twice the number kids that get in trouble on domestic abuse, that have witnessed it, that have seen it happen then they're twice as likely to commit it themselves. So, does the NFL which holds these players out to young men all across the country have an obligation here? Yes.
I can't compare it to every industry. I know in a lot of places if they had a video like that they would dismiss an employee without a doubt. However they have this obligation when they are putting out their players as role models to set a different culture.
WISE: And the best thing about this whole thing that's come out, one of them is players current and former, including Scott Fujita and others have taken up to social media and written columns for different news organizations and said, enough already. We don't want this to reflect us. We believe in respecting women, we don't hit women and we don't think any of our peers should either, and we will support a lot as a teammate and the whole ethos of having someone's back...
CROWLEY: Right.
WISE: ...if they earn the right to be part of our family, that's...
CROWLEY: Otherwise, no.
WISE: ...that disqualifies you.
CROWLEY: Senator Klobuchar, I have to do this, we have seconds left, because Adrian Peterson, member of your beloved Vikings, has been arrested and charged with child abuse I believe. He spanked his child with a - well, he thrashed his child with a branch and left visible and bloody streaks.
KLOBUCHAR: First of all, I'm a big Vikings fan. I grew up with the Vikings. My dad had a job similar to Mike's and nevertheless this is a 4-year-old child, Candy. This is a 4-year-old child. This is very serious allegations.
CROWLEY: Zero tolerance?
KLOBUCHAR: And I am very glad the first thing that happened is different than the Rice case. The Rice case didn't come out during the season but the Ravens didn't do something immediately. What the Vikings have done here is they immediately deactivated him, he's not playing in the game today with the Patriots and I'm sure they're gathering the evidence, looking at it, hearing what he has to say but mostly looking at the pictures that are out there and everything and they will make a decision and the prosecutor will pursue the case. Again, this is a 4-year-old boy.
WISE: Having a 4-year-old son myself I understand there's a logic out there, if you spare the rod you spoil the child. This has nothing to do with an argument about corporal punishment. This boy was beat with a switch until he was bloody. End of story.
CROWLEY: Sports columnist Mike Wise, "The Washington Post," thank you so much. Senator Amy Klobuchar, thanks for bringing your -- the fact that you're a female, a former prosecutor and U.S. senator you are a triple hit for us today. Thank you very much.
KLOBUCHAR: Thank you, Candy.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source