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Ex-Police Officer Wanted in Connection with California Shootings; Armstrong May Confess Doping Under Oath; Atheist Movement Grows in U.S.

Aired February 07, 2013 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: A massive manhunt is under way for a former cop accused of killing police officers. He is considered armed and extremely dangerous. We will tell you why police believe he may be seeking revenge.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.

Predictions for a big blizzard, an historic snowstorm that can cripple the Northeast. Up to 30 inches of snow forecast. What you need to know.

And Grammy ground rules. Memo to anyone taking the stage at the awards show. Cover up your breasts, your behind and -- ehem, something more than that. We'll see how those Grammy dress codes sits with today's panel.

And if you read a work e-mail or take a call from your boss at home, should you get paid overtime? A new lawsuit could mean bigger paychecks for those at-home interruptions.

Hi, there. I'm Brooke Baldwin. We want to begin in Southern California. As you know now, people are on edge as this police officer, fired from his job, is on the run. He is 33-year-old Christopher Jordan Dorner. He is wanted in connection with a string of shootings.

I want to you take a good long look at this description including that vehicle that he's been driving around Southern California in.

Here's the thing. We just heard this news conference from the police chief in Los Angeles, Charlie Beck, calling this a vendetta. We're told this man wants revenge, had this vendetta against all police. Not just LAPD, but Southern California in general. Now police are racing to find him before he hits again.

Dorner is accused of shooting three officers, killing one this morning. Police believe he also killed Monica Quan, the daughter of retired LAPD Captain Randall Quan and killing her fiance over the weekend.

Any minute now the Riverside Police Department will be giving us even more details here about the search for Dorner from Riverside, but as I mentioned, Police Chief Charlie Beck talked moments ago. Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF CHARLIE BECK, LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT: Of course he knows what he's doing. We trained him. He was also a member of the Armed Forces. It is -- it is extremely worrisome and scary. Especially to the police officers involved, you know, the Riverside officers were cowardly ambushed. They had no opportunity to fight back, no pre- warning. You know, imagine, imagine going about your workday, having to worry about that threat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Dorner is a highly skilled marksman, considered armed and extremely dangerous. Here's a timeline of the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN (voice-over): 2008, Christopher Jordan Dorner, just three years on the job as a Los Angeles cop, is fired. He allegedly made false statements about a training officer. Dorner leaves the force bitter.

In a lengthy letter apparently written by Dorner and provided to CNN today by an LAPD source, he alleged threatened to use his Navy training to harm police officers involved in his case and the families. Quoting here, "I will bring unconventional and asymmetrical warfare to those in LAPD uniform whether on or off duty".

Now to Sunday night, an Irvine couple is shot to death in the parking deck of their upscale complex. The victims here, Monica Quan and her fiance. Quan's father, Randy, was a retired LAPD cop who worked with Dorner.

Wednesday night, police named Christopher Jordan Dorner the chief suspect in the Sunday night murders. Police warn the public he is armed and dangerous. Dorner is a Navy reservist who is known to be a skilled marksman.

Thursday around 1:30 in the morning Pacific Time, KTLA reports Dorner is spotted in Corona. Two L.A. police officers are in pursuit when Dorner, according to KTLA, gets out of his truck and starts firing. One officer was grazed, the other not hurt. Dorner flees.

Then a short time later, another shooting involving cops. This time in Riverside where Police say two officers on routine patrol are shot after being ambushed at an intersection. One officer is dead, another critically wounded. Authorities are linking both Thursday shootings to Dorner.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Paul Vercammen is live for me in Riverside right now.

And, Paul, just tell me where this manhunt stands at this minute.

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: Well, right now no sign of Dorner and tension is high in Riverside, as you see the officers behind me who have set up a gauntlet. This is not very far from where early in the morning, and you can see down the street in the distance, Dorner approached those officers on patrol, allegedly fatally killing one of the officers and wounding another. We understand that officer now in stable condition.

Also, this manhunt is spread wide. We understand Dorner has ties to Las Vegas. We also understand that he made an attempt last night to boat jack, in other words he was trying to commandeer a boat and possibly cross over the border into Mexico.

No one has seen him since the shooting at 1:30 a.m. this morning West Coast Time here in Riverside. And that's why you have multiple, multiple scenes like this where officers have cordoned off parts of streets. That because the threats by Dorner in his manifesto so serious saying that he will come back and seek this revenge -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: I want to talk more, Paul, about this -- revenge. Because the big question other than where is he is the why. And -- we heard from the chief, Charlie Beck, speaking a little while ago talking about how this -- in this manifesto that this man left online, he's targeting LAPD, he's targeting law enforcement in general.

One of the questions he was asked, will the killings continue until you publicly clear this man's name? This is apparently what he wants according to this manifesto. And the chief said that is not going to happen.

Let me just read quickly, quote, "Terminating me for telling the truth of a Caucasian officer kicking a mentally ill man is disgusting." This is just one line from this manifesto.

Paul, why in the first place does he need his name cleared? What's happened?

VERCAMMEN: From what we understand in reading the manifesto and police reports, he was fired for making false allegations. He suggested that an officer had done what you refer to in that quote graphic which was kick a mentally ill man. So after he was fired, obviously a lot of ill will with the LAPD. So if you read through the manifesto he is seeking revenge for being terminated and again he says for being accused of, you know, making these false accusations -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: OK, Paul Vercammen, we're going to come back to you a little later. Thank you. Forming in Riverside, California.

But now to the -- to the military angle. I want to go to our Pentagon correspondent, Chris Lawrence, here because we know he was a U.S. Reservist.

Tell me more about what he did in the military.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brooke, he basically did security for some river patrols. He was a lieutenant in the military, in the U.S. Navy. He was recalled to active duty from the Reserves about six years ago and spent about six months in Bahrain doing some security work there.

Although he talks about asymmetrical warfare there is nothing in his service record that indicates any sort of special operations training or anything like that. But in his manifesto, he does say, I didn't need the U.S. Navy to instill honor, courage, and commitment, but I thank them for reinforcing it in me.

BALDWIN: What about -- we know that the police chief in California and L.A. saying he has multiple weapons at his disposal including some assault rifles? He -- he was -- he's a marksman. How good of a shooter is he?

LAWRENCE: It's a good question. We've been checking our sources here.

Basically, Brooke, there three levels of marksmanship. There's marksman, sharpshooter and the top level is expert. With the M-16 rifle he qualified as a marksman. Good, but the lowest level of the three. But with the nine millimeter pistol, he qualified as expert. It is basically the highest award a sailor can receive for weapons qualification. And to gain that he would have gone through several courses of fire, both standing and kneeling, both strong side and weak side firing.

Now weak side firing is something that a lot of shooters have trouble mastering. But it can't come into play, say if you are in a covered position. If you're dependent on your strong side, you would have to expose a lot more of your body to get out. But if you are proficient in weak side firing, you could stay concealed and make yourself much less of a target and still fire.

BALDWIN: OK. Chris Lawrence, thank you. At the Pentagon for us taking on the military angle.

I want to talk a little bit more about this manifesto. I want to go to Corona, California, where Kyung Lah is live for me.

And Kyung, tell me more of what you're learning about this manifesto Dorner apparently wrote.

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's an 11-page single-spaced manifesto. It is extremely detailed. He goes into his history, Brooke, as well.

I want to just quickly set the scene, though, where I am at. You can see that there are police cars behind me. The officer vehicle that spotted and gave chase to Dorner that really started all of this carnage this morning. This is where it all began today. And so really understand, looking at in manifesto, exactly what's going on in this man's head.

He writes that he wants to terminate the family members of the officers who he knew in the LAPD. I want to pull one bit of it that I found particularly fascinating. He writes, "I have," quote, "exhausted all available means at attaining my name back. I have attempted all legal court efforts within appeals at the Superior Courts and California Appellate courts. This is my last resort. The LAPD has suppressed the truth and it has now led to deadly consequences. The LAPD's actions have cost me my law enforcement career."

And then he goes into the dates of his -- of his law enforcement career as well as his naval career.

The reason why we're focusing on this is this really tells us what kind of a suspect police are looking at. They said he is armed and he's dangerous. He is extremely dangerous because he also writes, Brooke, that he will not stop until he gets that public apology. The L.A. police chief clearly saying that is not going to happen. They want to apprehend this man -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Right. The chief saying he will not be clearing his name.

Kyung Lah, thank you. We appreciate it.

We're going to take you back to Southern California where we have crews everywhere. But we have to talk weather. I want to show you some pictures here. From Boston, Massachusetts. Looking lovely right now, the Charles Rivers, the WZBB, clear skies now. That is about to change in a very big way because they are talking about a blizzard to rival 1978. Twenty-seven inches of snow that year. That storm was blamed for 54 deaths and millions of dollars in damage. The storm could be bigger.

Chad Myers, I want to talk to you about this and apparently, what, we're about a day away from hitting the East Coast.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Right.

BALDWIN: And we keep talking Boston but this could really hit New York City.

MYERS: Sure. Providence, Hartford, Boston, all the way up to Nassau, New Hampshire, and even into Maine. All of the big cities across the northeast under the gun here.

Now if you're right along I-95, it's going to be a line where north of you somewhere it's going to be 20 to 25 inches. South of you somewhere it's going to be two. So that's a really big range. But it's because the warm air is going to sneak into part of the forecast but not get to the northern part of the forecast.

New York City right now, this computer we're talking about, is 15.3 inches of snow. And Providence, Rhode Island, 28.3. The mayor of Boston, we just showed the picture, has said please, everybody off the road by noon.

BALDWIN: Wow.

MYERS: City schools are closed. Get off the road. We don't want you stuck on the freeway in a blizzard. And this is what's going to happen. People are going to get out three inches of snow on the ground. They think they're going to be OK, but they are not. Because there's a wreck (ph) in front of them. They're going to get stuck in this. They're in three inches now, but two hours later, they're going to be in eight inches of snow and they're not going to be able to get out of the car. And the National Guard is going to get called in. This happens all the time.

Get off the road, stay home tomorrow.

BALDWIN: And now here's a heads up. I hear you speaking loud and clear.

Chad Myers, thank you so much for --

MYERS: Welcome.

BALDWIN: -- this huge snow event coming up this weekend.

Now to some of the hottest stories in a flash. "Rapid Fire." Roll it.

In the next 15, 20 minutes or so in Washington, President Obama's nominee for the CIA chief goes before a Senate committee where he may be grilled about our use of drones and extreme interrogation techniques. I am talking about John Brennan whose confirmation hearings are set to begin in 15 minutes from now.

Brennan is a strong supporter of drone strikes and you can expect some tough questions on the policy of using drones to target Americans overseas suspected of terrorist activity.

And a neighbor's phone call leads to the rescue of a 17-year-old boy in Kansas City, Missouri. What a story here. He was frail, thin, curled up on a concrete basement floor and handcuffed to a pole. He told police he had been locked in the basement ever since September, fed only instant oatmeal, ramen noodles and bologna sandwiches, and was allowed to use the bathroom three times a day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHLEY REPPY, FAMILY FRIEND: Police told me he had lost a lot of weight. He looked very grayish kind of, you know, like that pale gray color. They said he was very dehydrated so --

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What are did you feel seeing that?

REPPY: I was heartbroken honestly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: There is a court hearing under way in this case. We will have much more on the story ahead in the show.

It is trying to destroy the bunker in Alabama where a man held that 5- year-old boy hostage for nearly a week. This is video, shows how officials describe this particular small space. You know the story. FBI agents rescued using military equipment here. This child Monday killed the kidnapper. The sheriff says, quote, "No one should see this place."

Hackers has hit the Federal Reserve Web site and reportedly stole banking executives' personal information. The Fed says the security breech was not brief and did not affect critical operations. The group Anonymous claiming responsibility for this attack. Hackers have been targeted -- targeting several U.S. banks in recent months.

He confessed to Oprah now he may have to answer to federal officials here. Lance Armstrong is handed a new deadline to come clean. We're on that case.

Plus a makeover for the Grammys. You heard about this? CBS putting the stars on notice and telling them to cover up those private parts.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Well, things are not exactly looking great for Lance Armstrong post Oprah confession. This week we learned sports insurance company MCA Promotions is now coming after him. They paid him millions in bonuses for his Tour de France wins and now guess what? They want the money back.

Armstrong could also be facing federal changes. ABC News has learned that investigators are looking into charging whim obstruction, intimidation, witness tampering and now we know this. In an effort to clean up the sports of cycling USADA, the U.S. Anti-Doping Association, is giving Armstrong two more weeks to decide if he wants to speak with them under oath.

So joining me now, Holly Hughes, criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor, and Ken Lindner, who has written this "New York Times" best selling book, it's called "Killer Emotions," and represents a bunch of folks in the industry including myself.

So welcome to both of you.

KEN LINDNER, AUTHOR, "YOUR KILLER EMOTIONS": Hi, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Holly, let me just begin with you here on the legal angle. I guess if he comes clean to USADA, what legal fallout could he face?

HOLLY HUGHES, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY, HUGHES & MANNING: Well, basically if he comes clean, he's confessing to crimes, and what always trips these athletes up, let's think about Marion Jones, Barry Bonds, what did they get in trouble for? Not the underlying crime, but for lying about it. For obstructing justice. The government doesn't like it when you mess with them. So --

BALDWIN: Because they want to know what he did, how he did it, who he did with.

HUGHES: Right. And basically they want him to drop a dime on everybody else. That's why they're extending this period. They're giving them two more weeks. They're saying, come to the table, bring us names, give us some evidence so that not only do we get you, Mr. Armstrong, but we get everybody else. We want the big fish. Everyone that's involved in this. They don't like to be lied to and he could face up to five years on each of the perjury and obstruction charges alone.

BALDWIN: Ken Lindner, you talk a lot in your book about emotions, right, and how that sort of directly proportional to choices one may make. Perhaps poor choices in a career. We know that he had -- what kind of relationship did he have with his father?

LINDNER: Well, apparently he was abandoned by his dad. And, Brooke, I found that oftentimes our quest and the energy that you put in to attaining fame is directly proportionate to how broken, how unloved, how unlovable you felt as a child. And these emotions catalyze you to seek indiscriminate approval, recognition, and love, all the things that Lance Armstrong apparently never received from his dad.

BALDWIN: I want to get back to sort of self-sabotage and this culture of winning.

LINDNER: Yes.

BALDWIN: Which is not just Lance Armstrong, some of the other athletes you mentioned, Holly. But, you know, when he was talking to Oprah, he said yes, I was a bully. What more can we learn about charges of intimidation, for example?

HUGHES: Well, it depends. I don't know if he went after people who were also involved in the doping scandal. You can be a bully all you want, but it depends on who you are bullying. And if his bullying was in direct correlation to don't tell on me, don't go out there and admit to this drug use, don't implicate me, don't use my name, because if you -- and it doesn't even have to be a direct threat to be intimidating. They can be you'll pay.

It can be something as vague as you'll regret it for the rest of your life. Lance Armstrong is a hero. And a lot of people love him. So, you know, if Lance Armstrong says something to you, like, and again this is a simple allegation, we don't know what he said, but if he said, I'll make you sorry if you tell on me, that can be considered intimidation. Anything you do to try and prevent another witness from testifying truthfully to the government.

BALDWIN: Why would one want to do that? Just quickly, Kenny. Why -- why? The quest to win is so strong?

LINDNER: Well, you know, the thing about Lance Armstrong and so many other people --David Petraeus, Arnold Schwarzenegger and others -- is that their emotions are so strong that they are not consequence- cognizant. We are a very quick fix society. And we often opt for the emotion assuation quick fix. I don't think Lance Armstrong, because of his emotions, ever was cognizant clear enough to think about the consequences, the heinous consequences of this acts.

BALDWIN: We'll see what he said to USADA, won't we?

LINDNER: Yes.

BALDWIN: Ken Lindner and Holly Hughes, my thanks to both of you. Appreciate it. Thank you so much.

LINDNER: Thank you.

HUGHES: Thank you.

BALDWIN: And her Super Bowl performance was a stunner as she has retained millions. But PETA is taking aim at Beyonce's halftime show. We will tell you why, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Here at CNN this week, we are taking a good long look at what makes America unique, specifically our melting pot of diversity. It may surprise you that one in five Americans say they follow no religion at all.

In today's "I Am America," our Carol Costello looks at the reasons why.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Here's a riddle. What do comedian Kathy Griffin, actress Julianne Moore and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg have in common in.

BILL MAHER, TALK SHOW HOST: I'm hopefully one of America's most famous atheists.

COSTELLO: They join Bill Maher in counting themselves among those in America who say they do not believe God exists that.

Various surveys put the number of atheists in America around 5 percent. And according to this Pew study in 2012 one in five people claim they have no religious affiliation at all.

But why? The answers vary.

There's a very activist atheist movement under way getting its message out on social media. Take these Facebook pages, for example. Each has hundreds of thousands of likes. Activist atheists have also taken to YouTube. Meet Amazing Atheist guy. That's what he calls himself. Here he's rallying against Christian evangelicals who after the Newtown massacre tried to put the blame on godless schools.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: God didn't save the kids because he is not allowed in school. So all of a sudden God disrespects the law of man?

COSTELLO: Last year a massive crowd braved the cold on the National Mall for what was billed as the reason rally.

SEAN FAIRCLOTH, DAWKINS INSTITUTE: I am here for those children in Texas and other states who are being told lies about history and science printed in taxpayer-funded textbooks.

COSTELLO: Atheist.org is putting its message up on billboards across the country. This one in Patterson, New Jersey, home to a large Muslim population, reads, "What do you see?" Thirty-seven million Americans know myths when they see them. And it's written in both English and Arabic.

Carol Costello, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Carol, thank you.

Remember back on Sunday and that little leather number Beyonce wore on Sunday? I don't know if you loved it. Well, PETA hated it. The outfit was made with strips of python, iguana and cow hide. The animal rights group released the statement to CNN, quote, "We would take a bet that if Beyonce watched our video exposes, she probably might not want to be seen again in anything made of snakes, lizards, rabbits or other animals who died painfully.

As for Beyonce's camp, no word from them.

Coming up next, more on this manhunt under way right now for this ex- cop suspected in the shooting death of several people in Southern California including a police officer. Now this man has released a manifesto warning of more attacks to come.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)