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Donors Rally for Colorado Victim; Romney's Attacks Obama over Intel Leaks; Details of Opening Ceremony Leaked; Police Shooting Protest Turns Violent; Backlash Over "You Didn't Build That"; Possible Hepatitis C Outbreak; Jackson Family Feud Explodes; Stowaway Boy Makes it to Rome; Beckham has Role in Opening Ceremony
Aired July 25, 2012 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Happening right now in the NEWSROOM, flashpoint. Overnight protests turning violent. Store windows smashed, fires breaking out. The clashes after an officer shot dead an apparently unarmed man.
Health alert. A medical mystery as an outbreak of hepatitis C spreads this morning. Eight states now investigating. The lab tech suspected of starting it all now in custody.
Chilling and terrifying. New video surfacing of an attack six years ago. A 6,000 pound killer whale at SeaWorld attacking his trainer and pulling him underwater for 15 minutes.
Secret no longer. Brand new information this morning on what we will see during the Olympics opening ceremonies Friday night. Details leaking out from London. Two early hints, James Bond and Harry Potter.
NEWSROOM begins right now.
And good morning to you. I'm Carol Costello. Thanks for being with us. We begin with a single story that captures both the heartbreak and the hope of the shooting rampage in Colorado. This morning, Americans are rallying to help this man, shooting victim Caleb Medley. He is in critical condition right now with gunshot wounds to his head, but that's only part of the story. He is also a brand new father.
Caleb's wife, who escaped the massacre unharmed, gave birth to their son just yesterday. Baby Hugo is the glimmer of joy in one family's nightmare. They have no insurance. And now face a lifetime of debt.
We begin our coverage this morning with CNN's Randi Kaye.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Katie and Caleb are high school sweethearts. They knew Katie was expected to deliver the baby this week, so as a treat, decided to take in the midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises." Katie and the baby inside her weren't hurt when the gunfire exploded, but Caleb was shot in the face. He lost his right eye, has some brain damage, and is in critical condition. His friend broke down speaking with CBS. MICHAEL WEST, CALEB MEDLEY'S FRIEND: We talked about him because we know he can hear us. We told him that he needs to get better because he needs to be a dad.
KAYE (on camera): Doctors here at the hospital have Caleb in a medically induced coma. His brother says Caleb seems to understand what happened. What's unclear is whether or not he's aware he has a new baby boy.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: If you would like to help this family in its moment of crisis, here's the Web site for donations. The address is Calebmedley.com/help. You can find that link on my blog Web site as well. That's CNN.com/newsroom. Click on the tab with my name. You can make a donation. I think they are already up to, what, $195,000. Their goal is $500,000. Caleb's medical bills could top $2 million.
In the meantime, survivors of the shooting spree received a surprise visit from the actor who was on the screen at the time of the shooting spree. Christian Bale met with the victims and their families and visited a memorial for those killed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRYSTAL FLATELAND, SWEDISH MEDICAL CENTER EMPLOYEE: It really showed his humanity and that, you know, he does care about people. And he cares about his fans.
JANIE BOWMAN-HAYES, SWEDISH MEDICAL CENTER EMPLOYEE: It was not a canned speech. It was not -- it was nothing Hollywood. He was the human being Christian Bale.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: With more, let's head to Aurora and CNN's Jim Spellman.
Good morning.
JIM SPELLMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, you know, it's fascinating how this began. Somebody on Facebook posted that they thought that maybe Christian Bale should come here. Then our CNN affiliate KDVR started to hash tag on Twitter, Bale out Aurora. Bale out Aurora. And over 300 million people have used that hash tag encouraging Christian Bale to come here. So we don't know if that was -- made a part of his decision.
But when he came here today people have been so excited on Twitter, on Facebook, and everybody I have spoken to here. As much as the fact that he took the time to come here as how he did it. He asked there to be no media. So all the photos we've seen of him at the hospital visiting people are just, you know, cell phone photos that have popped up on Facebook.
And then he came here to this makeshift memorial across the street from the theater and even joined a prayer circle with people who had just shown up to pay their respects. They didn't even know that was Christian Bale. The way that he did it in this kind of low-key manner, people are seemed to be really excited about that.
As you heard from the person earlier, it was nothing Hollywood about it. It seemed genuine. It's really made people -- it's really -- it's really been an important here to people, even though it's just a symbolic gesture that he would come here and take that time -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Jim Spellman live in Aurora this morning.
Be sure to tune in Saturday and Sunday night at 8:00 Eastern for a special "CNN PRESENTS," "Madness at Midnight." Program will honor the victims, survivors and heroes of the massacre. That's this weekend at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
Let's turn now to other news this morning.
You are looking at Anaheim, California. It's recovering from another night of violent protests. It's the second ugly clash with police since officers shot a man to death who was apparently unarmed. Anaheim's mayor has called for state and federal investigations into the shooting. The victim was a suspected gang member.
Also this morning the crisis in Syria it just keeps getting worse. Rebel leaders have ordered their fighters to attack hundreds of government troops heading towards Aleppo. It's the commercial hub of the country and a crucial test in the 16 months of fighting.
In the meantime, Turkey is trying to stem the flow of refugees flooding into the country. Today it's closing its border gates with Syria.
Mitt Romney says the leaks coming from the Obama White House are causing a national security crisis, and it's a betrayal of the American people. He says the leaks are for Obama's political gain.
Remember one of those leaks about a U.S. cyber attack on an Iranian nuclear centrifuge was published in "The New York Times" back in June. Well, now, Romney is using it to his advantage.
Here's more from our senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This conduct is contemptible. It betrays our national interest.
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Foreign policy is not a top priority for voters this year, so Mitt Romney decided to pummel the president on an issue they do care about, trust and credibility.
ROMNEY: Exactly who in the White House betrayed these secrets?
BASH: Romney used his speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention to blast the president for a series of national security leaks Romney said were politically driven to help the president. Hanging his stepped up attacks on new comments from the Democratic Senate intelligence Chairwoman Diane Feinstein.
SEN. DIANE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: I think the White House has to understand that some of this is coming from its ranks.
ROMNEY: Did a superior authorize it? These are things that Americans are entitled to know. And they are entitled to know it now. If the president believes as he said last week that the buck stops with him, then he owes all Americans a full and prompt accounting of the facts. The time for stonewalling is over.
BASH: That's the kick. Now the kicker.
ROMNEY: What kind of White House would reveal classified material for political gain? I'll tell you right now, mine will not.
BASH: Feinstein later issued a statement saying she is, quote, "disturbed her remarks are being used to impugn President Obama".
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Dana Bash reporting.
When asked about the accusations, here's what White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters, quote, "This administration takes all appropriate and necessary steps to prevent leaks of classified information or sensitive information that could risk ongoing counterterrorism or intelligence operations," end quote.
Our CNN political director Mark Preston joins us now. He's in Washington.
Good morning, Mark.
MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: Good morning -- carol.
COSTELLO: OK, first, let's deal with the political gamesmanship here. There are two Justice Department investigations going on to find the source of this leak. What more does Mr. Romney want?
PRESTON: Well, he doesn't think that the Department of Justice should be investigating this at all, Carol. In fact, in his speech yesterday to the VFW, we called for a special counsel to be appointed to look into these leak allegations. And it should come as no surprise that just about an hour ago, the Romney campaign released a statement from Mike Rogers. He's a Michigan Republican, who also happens to be the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. And Mike Rogers we reiterated Mitt Romney's call for this investigation to be headed by a special counsel -- Carol.
COSTELLO: OK. Let's get down to brass tacks now. So besides American exceptionalism, what is Mr. Romney's foreign policy?
PRESTON: Well, very critical of President Obama's, that's for sure. And we saw that yesterday. You know he ticked off a number of things, including saying that President Obama placated Russia and decided not necessarily to play hard ball with them. And he said that that was a terrible foreign policy decision on president Obama's part.
He also is very critical of President Obama when it came to the issue of Israel, a country that he will visit during this six-day tour that he's now engaged in right now. He is actually in London. He has landed there. But when he is over in Israel, we expect him to talk about his commitment to Israel, while at the same time he won't mention President Obama but he'll make sure to be distinguishing himself from what President Obama has done trying to walk a fine line between the Palestinians, of course, and the Israelis on that.
And then he ticked off a whole host of other things including what he'd do for China and of course a huge issue on the plate right now, Carol, is Iran.
COSTELLO: All right. But what specifically would he do, let's say, to deal with the situation in Iran? And you know, it might have nuclear weapons. It might not. So how would Mr. Romney stop that?
PRESTON: Well, first thing he said is that he would try to cut off the money to Iran. He would try to shut off the money spigot to them and he would enforce strong sanctions. I don't know how much different that would necessarily be from what President Obama is doing at this point. What he did not say, though, is invade Iran, which I think a lot of people who are wondering, given the fact that Iran is getting closer to developing a nuclear bomb.
Under a Romney administration, at least Governor Romney said this yesterday, that they would not get the bomb. So it's interesting to hear him be critical of President Obama, although these are very, very delicate issues, and you certainly can't offer specifics on these things. You have to take a step back and talk on a macro level.
COSTELLO: Mark Preston live in Washington this morning.
The Senate votes today on competing Democratic and Republican plans to extend those Bush era tax cuts. The cuts are set to expire at the end of the year. Neither proposal is expected to pass, but will likely open a frenzied negotiating session after the November election.
Chicago trying to recover this morning after powerful storms knocked out power to 300,000 customers. Some 50,000 still have no electricity. And it might be later today or even tomorrow before everyone's power is restored.
And talking about the weather, take a look at that. New satellite images reveal a sudden Greenland ice melt. The first image show Greenland's ice sheet on July 8th and then one taken four days later. Although about half of Greenland's ice sheet normally sees surface melting over the summer months, the speed and scale of this year's thaw has surprised scientists. They are calling it extraordinary.
So what do James Bond and Harry Potter have in common?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DANIEL RADCLIFFE, "HARRY POTTER": Something hidden here in the castle, and it may help us defeat you know who.
DANIEL CRAIG, "JAMES BOND": The name's Bond, James Bond.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: OK. So not much. But both will have key roles in the opening ceremonies at the Olympics.
Zain Verjee -- how did you find this out, Zain?
(LAUGHTER)
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, there's a hash tag called "Save the Surprise." And the British government didn't want anyone who saw the rehearsals to say anything about it, but of course it's all on Twitter and the whole thing has been leaked. So if you want a big surprise to watch at the opening ceremony on Friday, don't watch any longer. But if you want to get a little nugget as to what are the exciting things they have planned, listen to this. OK?
William Shakespeare's "The Tempest," one of -- one of his most famous plays is actually going to be the theme. You know, Carol, remember it's about a castaways, it's about a theme of wonderment and the idea of wonder on this island. And so that's basically this fantastical idea they want to go for. So you're going to have "Alice in Wonderland." You're going to have a big showdown between Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort. Peter Pan as well. Then of course there will be bond, James bond, 007 will parachute down into the stadium apparently.
So that's just a little bit of the flavor. Now the only thing that we don't know is who is going to carry the flame into the stadium. That they have managed to keep a secret.
COSTELLO: I wonder who that might be? Maybe the queen.
(LAUGHTER)
VERJEE: Yes. As she jogs around the 400-meter track and lights it.
COSTELLO: I'd love that.
VERJEE: Possibly actually.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: Zain Verjee, we wanted to provide you a good laugh this morning.
Zain Verjee, thank you.
Mitt Romney will be among the spectators at this year's Olympics. He arrived in London today to kick off a six-day overseas tour that will include meetings with several leaders, including the British Prime Minister David Cameron. Romney will also attend the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. And with his stint in running the 2002 games in Salt Lake City that inspired this new ad, actually it's an anti-Romney ad.
And guess who put it out? That would be the Obama camp.
Well, we don't have that, and I apologize. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: We have on the phone with us now an Anaheim police officer. He is with the public information office there.
Officer, can you hear me? Are you there?
SGT. BOB DUNN, ANAHEIM POLICE OFFICER (via telephone): Yes, I'm here.
COSTELLO: I'm sorry. I didn't catch your name. Could you introduce yourself?
DUNN: Sure, Sergeant Bob Dunn.
COSTELLO: Thank you for joining us here at the last minute or on short notice, I should say. There have been violent clashes going on in Anaheim since Saturday, since an apparently unarmed suspected gang member was shot by police. Tell us what's been -- tell us what happened overnight in Anaheim.
DUNN: Yesterday, we had our planned city council meeting. Which we had a pretty heavy agenda, meaning that there was anticipated to be large attendance anyway. In light of what happened over the weekend, we anticipated even more people coming to the council meeting, and that turned out to be the case. What happened was that the council chambers turned away because the fire marshal told us there were too many people.
So the crowd began to swell, and that's kind of what began to start the violence.
COSTELLO: OK. And how violent did these clashes get?
DUNN: You know, they threw rocks at the officers as they attempted to effect at least one arrest near the beginning. Those rocks ended up hitting members of the media. After the disbursal order was given, the crowds kind of moved around, sometimes fighting between each other, breaking windows and lighting fires and trash cans.
COSTELLO: And a police dog got loose and attacked a protester?
DUNN: That actually happened last Saturday after the officer- involved shooting when we were dealing with a hostile crowd there.
COSTELLO: OK. So how much damage was done to the city of Anaheim last night?
DUNN: At this point, we're still in the assessment phase. We do know there were quite a few businesses as well as city buildings affected by vandalism. We have crews out there right now making that assessment.
COSTELLO: And protesters do accused police of shooting an unarmed man. Can you tell me how that shooting went down?
DUNN: On that particular day, which was last Saturday, two of our officers were on uniform patrol in the high crime gang neighborhood. They attempted to stop three individuals who then fled on foot. It was during that foot pursuit that the officer-involved shooting occurred. The circumstances surrounding that shooting are under investigation by the district's attorney.
COSTELLO: And from I understand, dozens of people have been arrested. I've seen the figure, 26 out there. Is that accurate?
DUNN: The number I have right now is 24. We are still working through the statistics of last night. 20 of which were adults and four juveniles.
COSTELLO: And what measures are you taking to make sure this doesn't happen again?
DUNN: We're continuing to assess the situation. We of course are working through open source information as well as talking with other law enforcement entities. We have developed a point of plans for the police department and the fire department for several deployment periods. And so we are currently working to assess the situation and deploy as necessary.
COSTELLO: Sergeant Bob Dunn, thank you so much for joining us this morning -- on such short notice. We appreciate it.
DUNN: Thank you. Bye-bye.
COSTELLO: An epic battle erupts over four (AUDIO GAP) when he said, you didn't build that? That's our talk back question this morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. The question for you this morning, what do you think President Obama meant by "you didn't build that"? Those four words are the catalyst for an epic political battle.
Republicans say the president is attacking success. The Obama camp says the president's words were taken out of context. The whole thing has become an endless game of political ping-pong.
The RNC is releasing yet another ad about it today. That was to combat an ad the Obama campaign released yesterday, and that was to refute the first web ad about it from the Romney campaign.
(BEGIN VDIEO CLIP)
JACK GILCHRIST, BUSINESS OWNER: President Obama, you're killing us out here. Your hard work and a little bit of luck, we built this business. Why are you demonizing us for it?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Since the president said those four words, the debate has at times bordered on the absurd. "FOX and Friends," which Romney has appeared on nine times since May, pitched in to help with Eliza and Clara Sutton, two pint-sized entrepreneurs with a lemonade stand.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIAN KILMEADE, FOX NEWS: How do you feel about the president saying that you need help to start this business?
CLARA SUTTON, CO-FOUNDER OF COOL BLAST LEMONADE: I would say that's rude, because we worked very hard to build this business. But we did have help.
KILMEADE: And your help came from?
SUTTON: Our help came from our investors.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: OK. This is a large chunk of what President Obama said on July 13th. You be the judge.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you are a successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges.
If you've got a business, that -- you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen.
The Internet didn't get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet. So then all the companies could make money off the Internet.
The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative but also because we do things together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So the talk back question for you this morning, what do you think the president meant by "you didn't build that"? Facebook.com/CarolCNN, Facebook.com/CarolCNN. I'll read your comments later this hour.
The feds call him a serial infector. A former lab tech accused of infecting patients with hepatitis C. What does that mean for them and others who might have been exposed?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: We want to continue the conversation of today's talk back topic, "you didn't build that". Four little words spoken by President Obama that have sparked a big controversy complete with attack ads and even some T-shirts both by Mitt Romney's campaign. The Obama team says the president's words were misrepresented, and now they are fighting back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Those ads taking my words about small business out of context, they are just flat wrong. Of course, Americans build their own businesses. Every day, hard working people sacrifice to meet a payroll, create jobs, and make our economy run. And what I said was we need to stand behind them, as America always has.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: But the Republican National Committee says that the remark was part of a clear pattern.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: If you are successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed to you thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges.
If you've got a business, that -- you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Joining me now is Sean Spicer, the communications director for the Republican National Committee.
Good morning, Sean.
SEAN SPICER, RNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: So this yes, you did/no, you didn't argument has been going on for two weeks now. Why is this so important?
SPICER: Well, I think that there's definitely a little bit of panic in Chicago right now because they realize this comment clearly struck a chord with the American people.
But the context that you're alluding to is that we've got 8.2 percent unemployment, 23 million Americans out of work. And we should be right now saying -- encouraging that American spirit of entrepreneurship, of innovation and saying, hey, go out there, take that try, do what it takes to build a business.
And the president is saying, you know, there's a lot of smart people. There's a lot of people that work hard. You didn't build that. Someone else did. If it wasn't for government, you wouldn't be successful.
In a sense, it's talking down the people that we need at this very time to be out there helping to turn this economy around.
And it is a pattern. It's a pattern of having a jobs council that doesn't meet in six months. It's a pattern of not receiving an economic daily briefing since April of 2011.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Sean, before we get into that part of the argument, let's go back to your ad where you say you put the president's speech in context. Here is the part of the president's speech where he puts his comments in context.
He said, "The point is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative but also because of the things we do together." So your latest ad still doesn't seem to accurately capture the president's comments.
SPICER: Well, the problem right now is I -- and with all due respect, everyone in the media out there is defending the president saying, you know, he didn't mean this, and he didn't do that. So we're doing our best to say, hey, we'll put up as much as you want and show you the full context.
But the reality is when you go give a speech, and let's face it, the president is a very smart man. He went to Harvard. He's got a team of speechwriters.
You've got to scratch your head and say, why isn't the president out there encouraging it? He starts off by saying there's a lot of smart people, there's a lot of hard working people, but you didn't build that. Someone else did it.
I just don't understand why -- that same speech couldn't have been thank you to all the small business owners. We need more like you. We want --
(CROSSTALK)
SPICER: -- encouraging that American spirit.
COSTELLO: Obviously, I'm taking the other side here because I want to challenge you because that's what I'm supposed to do.
But Democrats would say what the president meant was, if you, Sean, were to start your own political consulting business, let a say, yes, you probably built it on your own, but wouldn't you have Mitt Romney to thank for part of your success?
SPICER: Absolutely. But the point is, there is a big difference -- and all of us have come up with ideas. Sometimes you say, gosh, this would make a great book. I'd love to start this company. I've got a great idea for a website.
But in Americas there's a big difference between thinking about that stuff and the Americans who go out there and put their own blood, sweat, and tears, their own capital and say, I'm going to make this happen. And those are the people that create jobs and those are people that we should be applauding.
There's room for everyone this country. I mean, we need people do every aspect of what's required in this economy. But at the end of the day, if it wasn't for those people, if it wasn't for the people that, you know, the Steve Jobs, the Alexander Graham Bells back in the day, we wouldn't have great American companies. And it takes those people.
And we should be encouraging and applauding and supporting them. Sure. And giving them what they need to do that.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: And they help others along the way.
Just a final note. There are a lot of things that small business owners would like about Mitt Romney. Small business owners, and I'm speaking generally here, don't like health care, right? They don't want to raise the minimum wage. And Obama hasn't gone there, but Mitt Romney certainly hasn't gone there either.
They like those things about Mr. Romney. So why isn't he coming out and talking about these things that would help small business people instead of endless attack ads?
SPICER: Well, first of all, the first thing is I don't know how it's an attack ad when you're saying here's what the president said. All we did was take his exact words and play them and say, here is what he said. You decide for yourself if that's talking down small business.
Second, with respect to Governor Romney, A, his record is sterling in terms of how he's able to create jobs and understand the economy. And second, he has put out an entire plan at MittRomney.com, he's talking about getting regulation and government out of businesses so that they can grow and thrive. He's talked about the corporate tax rate, allowing us to compete internationally and here at home.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Sean, these attack ads are the things that people pay attention to. And mostly what people are hearing. And if you -- there's the latest poll done by the "Wall Street Journal" and NBC News that said people are getting really tired of this negativity going on. They want to hear about ideas.
SPICER: And I just laid out to you -- I can't tell you a speech where the governor doesn't lay out his plan going forward. All -- and with respect to attack ads, if using the president's own words to say here's what he said, what do you think is an attack ad, I think we have come a pretty far way.
But this is -- this can't be any simpler. The president said it. He is one going out there saying, well, I didn't mean this. And you've got everyone in the media out there saying, well, it wasn't taken in context.
I don't know how much more context we can afford to give this guy, because at the end of the day, the pattern is clear. The intent is clear. And the philosophy of what they understand the private sector to be like is clear as well.
COSTELLO: Sean Spicer, thanks so much for joining us this morning. We appreciate it.
SPIECER: Thank you, Carol.
A man police call a serial infector is locked up this morning accused with infecting patients with hepatitis C. And the states he worked: New Hampshire, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Arizona, Georgia, and Kansas -- all of those states now investigating. And they are having thousands and thousands of patients tested.
Federal prosecutors say 32-year-old David Kwiatkowski infected at least 30 people when he worked as a medical tech at Exeter Hospital in New Hampshire.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KACAVAS, U.S. ATTORNEY: He knew he had hepatitis C as of at least June of 2010. He continued to divert drugs and permit tainted syringes to be used on patients under his care.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen here.
That was quite an intro for you and you deserve it.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORESPONDENT: Thank you. I feel ready.
COSTELLO: Now, we got to get serious and talk about this man. I mean, did he deliberately infect people?
COHEN: You know, we don't know the details of what he did. But I was on the phone with a federal official this morning who used the term "drug diversion".
So, I'm going to tell you what drug diversion usually means because this is not the first time this has happened. Let's say I'm the health care worker and you're the patient. I have some pentanol, which is anesthetic that is given to people who are about to undergo a procedure.
I give myself a little bit, and then I give you the rest. If I have hepatitis, you've got it.
Here's another way that it happens. I've got my syringe full of medicine, I give myself all of it. Refill it with saline. Give you saline. And then when it's time for your procedure, and Carol is still awake, they go, oh, something must have gone wrong and they give you some more. And nobody really thinks much of it.
COSTELLO: Oh, how did they find out what happened? Aren't there record -- well, if he did something, he's not going to keep a record, right?
COHEN: Well, it took them a while to find this out. We are talking about eighth states. You named seven of them, and then there's an eighth that we don't know yet. But this went on for years.
And what's interesting is when the federal affidavit, they talked to some of his co-workers in New Hampshire who said, yes, we thought something was kind strange. He came in on his days off to do procedures. He looked a little strange. He had foam around his mouth sometimes.
So, I was sort of wondering why this took a while, because it seemed like it was clear what was going on or at least there was hints that this was going on for a while.
COSTELLO: So we know the states but we don't know the facilities. If I were in a specific hospital in Maryland, let's say, maybe I'd want to get checked out.
COHEN: Well, speaking of Maryland, Maryland has actually put out the names of the facilities in their state where this happened. So, for example, Johns Hopkins, the V.A. in Baltimore, Southern Maryland Hospital, and Maryland General Hospital. So in that state, we do know the four hospitals.
Some states we know some. Some states we know all. We know different things in different states.
But if you were at that -- in that facility in the place where he worked, you will get contacted and told, hey, you should come in and get tested for hepatitis.
COSTELLO: OK.
COHEN: Not a letter anyone wants to get. I mean, how scary.
COSTELLO: And somewhere on your blog you'll list these hospitals. Even if I wasn't notified, I just would want to know.
COHEN: Yes, you want to know, right. If you go to CNN.com, you'll see all of our reporting there. It is going to be a lot of hospitals, again, eight states. This guy bopped around.
COSTELLO: And now we kind of maybe sort of know why.
COHEN: That's right.
COSTELLO: Elizabeth, thanks so much.
COHEN: Thanks.
COSTELLO: First, Michael Jackson's family caught on tape feuding. And now they are trading their accusations out in the open, and they're ugly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, before the iPad, I used to joke that I made useless programs. But they are as useless as a song, a movie, a story, something like that. All of a sudden with the iPad, I could just go directly to people and say check this thing out. It doesn't even -- we don't even have to label what it is, it is called Gravilux. It's called Bubble Harp. See if you like it. And, you know, all of a sudden, they did.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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COSTELLO: The entertainment world is mourning the death of "Jefferson's" star Sherman Hemsley. Actually, we all are.
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COSTELLO: That brings you back to the day, doesn't it? As you know, Hemsley played the wise cracking George Jefferson in the TV classic that aired a decade, that begun in 1975. He later started in a TV sitcom, "Amen".
Police are waiting on an autopsy for a cause of death. Hemsley was just 74 years old.
Let's talk about the Jacksons now. The Jackson family feud escalates, and now Michael Jackson's family members are trading their accusations for the world to see. It involves Michael's mother and her whereabouts and chastising his daughter for tweeting about the family's dispute.
Oh, A.J. Hammer is in, because who better to sort this all out?
A.J. HAMMER, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": Yes.
COSTELLO: I saw a little bit last night on our sister network HLN. You were going at it.
HAMMER: Well, it's a huge fuzz and a lot of drama here. And the fuzz apparently, Carol, is over Michael Jackson's estate.
Randy Jackson is giving interviews and he's accusing the executors of Michael's estate of criminal misconduct, saying that he believes that his late brother's will is actually a fake. And he says that the whole episode that was caught in the security camera that we've been showing you, that was just an attempt by him and Janet and Jermaine to invite Michael's children to come and see their grandmother in Arizona.
On the other side, an attorney for the Katherine Jackson, the grandmother, Michael's mother, released a statement calling Monday's incident an ambush, saying that the three older Jacksons scared Michael's three kids badly enough that they temporarily left their home. The attorney also accused the older Jacksons of scheming to isolate Katherine from her grandchildren, Carol.
You know, it's 24 hours since you and I first folk prompt folk prompt spoke about this yesterday, and the drama hasn't gotten any less. And quite frankly, the situation hasn't gotten any less complicated.
COSTELLO: Well, I feel so bad for Katherine Jackson, because why isn't she stepping forward or going home and putting this all -- putting this all to rest?
HAMMER: Yes. Well, that's the million dollar question. You know, we're not sure what's going on there. Some of the kids have claimed that they are not getting access to the grandmother. Paris has tweeted openly that she is not hearing from her grandmother and now it would be 10 days at this point.
And this is all boiling down to money in many people's eyes because there is a lot of money in play here. The terms of Michael Jackson's will had Katherine inheriting 20 percent of the estate with the kids getting the balance. The rest of the family father Joe and Michael's sibling didn't get anything.
But Randy is countering that. He's saying that's not the point. He says that this is about the executors trying to turn the family members and the Jacksons against each other and he says that some of the siblings are sticking to their claims that Michael's will is actually a fake. They say that Michael was in New York City on the date that he is supposed to have signed that will.
So they are trying to have that will invalidated, Carol. Where that would lead the situation is anybody's guess at this point.
COSTELLO: Oh, my goodness. A.J. Hammer, thanks so much. Wow.
HAMMER: You got it.
COSTELLO: Take a look at this video. This is a woman she's trapped in a raging flood. See her in that circle there? How she got out of this alive.
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COSTELLO: Take a look at this. This is massive -- a massive raging flood in China. It's hard to see, but you'll see in that highlighted area a woman is trapped. The villagers worked together to save her and at least one other person at the risk of their own lives. She is safe and -- she is safe and sound this morning. The ground was really saturated in areas out -- on the outskirts of Beijing because the rain has been coming down for days and days and there is no letup in sight.
Many parents have lost their children, but how about all the way to Rome? Richard Greene is live in London. And this is about a little boy, 11 years old, and he headed out on an adventure all on his own without his parents' knowledge. And he started in London and ended up in Rome?
RICHARD GREENE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He started in Manchester in the north of England. He was with his mother at a shopping center. Somehow he slipped away from her. She reported him missing to the police as you say, 12:40 in the afternoon. And 90 minutes later, he was on a flight to Rome by himself.
Somehow he got himself to the airport two miles away, slipped through passport checks, he didn't have a passport. Slipped through a boarding pass check, he didn't have a ticket. He got through the metal detector. Got onto the plane and he was halfway to Rome, half way across Europe before anybody realized that there was something a little bit strange going on here.
This 11-year-old boy on a plane to Italy from England all by himself.
COSTELLO: So -- so it's a disturbing -- this kid was able to get through security so easily.
GREENE: Yes. And the airport of course, they have suspended staff. They say they're very concerned about this, they are conducting an investigation into how it happened. Now they are very insistent that this wasn't a security breach. They say the kid went through the metal detector. So they seem to think that means there wasn't a security breach.
I am not you know I am not an airport security expert but it seems to me like an 11-year-old boy should not be able to do what he did. But you know the airport is saying what it says.
COSTELLO: Well, why did this kid want to go to Rome?
GREENE: I have not spoken to him myself and I'm not sure. What the airport says is he just -- he slipped away from his mom. The local paper is reporting that he lived near the airport. He was very interested in airplanes. And it -- it looks like he just had a mind to get on one and fly away.
COSTELLO: He just wanted to take a ride. So is anyone facing charges in this incident?
GREENE: Well, I spoke to the police about it. The police say no crime has been committed so it sounds like nobody is going to go to jail over this but the airport certainly is very insistent that they are going to investigate. They're going to find out how this happened. They have suspended staff. And I would not be surprised if those suspended staff are not getting back to their jobs any time soon -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes. Me, too. Thank you very much, Richard. We appreciate it.
GREENE: Thank you.
COSTELLO: We asked you to "Talk Back" on one of the big stories of the day. The question for you this morning "What do you think President Obama meant by 'You didn't build that?'"
Oh, we're getting a ton of responses and I'll read some of them after the break.
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COSTELLO: We asked you to "Talk Back" on one of the big stories of the day. The question for you this morning "What do you think President Obama meant by 'you didn't build that'?
This from Michael, "He simply correctly infers that nothing takes place in a vacuum, that we're all dependent for our degrees of success on systems, regulations and other people. Even often blind luck."
This from Tom, "The comment was a huge blunder but sadly I think his government-oriented mind actually believes it."
This from Lauren, "It doesn't matter what he actually meant. People are going to think and assume what they want."
This from Ron "The 'that' in the sentence refers to the subject of the previous sentence which was infrastructure. No one would ever say that someone who built a business didn't build it. Both parties twist words and facts to fit their narrative."
And this from Kandy, "I wish campaigning was strictly debates. I'm tired of all this nonsense."
Keep the conversation going Facebook.com/CarolCNN.
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COSTELLO: Dreamy soccer star David Beckham says he will have a part in the Olympic opening ceremony but he will not say what it is. Beckham was born just three miles from the Olympic Stadium in London and played a critical part in bringing the Olympics to the city.
He spoke to CNN's Amanda Davies in London.
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DAVID BECKHAM, PROFESSIONAL SOCCER PLAYER: Obviously it was seven years when this whole process started and as being part of bringing the games to the part of London to where I grew up. It's exciting to see everything come together. I was at the stadium yesterday and have not been there for a few months. And to see the change that's happened and also to see the change that's happened around the -- the area as well. It -- really is incredible and it's a -- you can feel the atmosphere building around the stadium now. And it's a -- it's great to see the athletes arrive and the interest become bigger.
AMANDA DAVIES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How many events will you actually get to go and see?
BECKHAM: I don't know yet. You know obviously I've got a busy week but, you know, there will be a few events I'm hoping to get to and take my kids down to. So it'll be fun hopefully.
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COSTELLO: Beckham currently plays for L.A. Galaxy soccer team. The coach of Britain's Olympic team was a bit disturbed when he decided to leave Beckham off the Olympic team last month.
