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David Petraeus Makes Personal Apology; North Korea Threatens with Words, Action; Obama Pushes Immigration Reform; Amanda Knox to be Retried; Celebrities Weigh in on Same-Sex Marriage; Bieber in Trouble; Hollywood Boot Camp for NFL

Aired March 27, 2013 - 13:30   ET

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

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: A man who was once one of Washington's most respected leaders now apologizing for the sex scandal that ruined, in part, his career. David Petraeus, four-star Army general, resigned as director of the CIA after admitting to an extramarital affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell. Last night, Petraeus opened a rare public appearance with a very personal apology.

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GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: I know that I can never fully assuage the pain that I inflicted on those closest to me and on a number of others. I can, however, try to move forward and, as best possible, to make amends to those I have hurt.

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MALVEAUX: Petraeus speaking at a dinner honoring the military at the University of Southern California.

Now to North Korea. Leaders threatening South Korea with words as well as actions. Today, North Korea announced that it is cutting off a key communication line with South Korea. Now, this is a hotline that both countries use to monitor traffic at a shared industrial complex. It was just yesterday the North said it is going to make military units that are now charged with targeting U.S. bases combat ready.

Our Candy Crowley is joining us from Washington.

Candy, obviously, people paying very close attention to this and specifically the Obama administration looking at these threats, trying to figure out whether or not they should take this seriously. What are they assessing?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Sure. Well, they are looking at any number of things, but I think primarily what worries this administration and, in fact, a lot of people in Washington is when you cut off communication, there is huge room for miscalculation. And this is a regime, North Korea, whether it's the father or son, that's been known for miscalculation for, sort of, you know, errant and very quick action when not warranted. So that worries them about the cutoff of the communication. In general, we've seen an increase in threats toward the U.S. in terms of capability, the U.S. doesn't believe North Korea has the capability to launch a nuclear weapon to Guam or Hawaii, which has been threatened. But they totally realize that North Korea is quite capable of a conventional attack, even a foray of some sort into South Korea. They can do great mischief.

One thing we just got from one of our producers, quoting the Pentagon spokesman George Little, and this is about, you know, what they consider sort of a wild promise to hit the U.S. mainland, et cetera. This is what Little said, "We take this rhetoric seriously, whether it's outside the norm, which it sometimes is, or seems to suggest a more direct threat. If you've looked at what they've said recently, it's been extremely provocative and bellicose and a complete mystery why they would deem it in their own interest to launch this rhetoric at us and our allies." Again, that's George Little, the spokesman at the Pentagon.

Obviously, it is the unknown here. This is a very insular nation. They don't know that much about what Un is capable of. And, you know, it is worrisome in the sense that they could make mischief and even more than that do some real damage in that area. We've seen there was an attack on South Korea recently. So they are watching it closely, obviously because of the unknown. And the cutoff of communication is never a good thing.

MALVEAUX: Sure. And on the domestic side, Candy, I know that the president is also pushing forward on his immigration reform agenda. He's sitting down today two interviews with two Spanish-language networks, Univision, Telemundo. What does he hope to accomplish? Does he think he's really going to be able to put pressure on Congress to move forward on this issue?

CROWLEY: If he can get people to put pressure on Congress. I think that's what this is. This is an audience very tuned in to this issue obviously. And what the president wants to do is create this ground swell pressure on Congress. You know, there's this gang of eight that is working on immigration, an immigration bill. They are close to it but not quite there. We sort of think within a couple days, and something else crops up. So they are working on it.

But this has been as you know, Suzanne, a promise of the president, immigration reform, from his first campaign he said he would do it in the first year. And he said this last time around I will do it in this first year. So he hears the tick-tock of the clock. And what better way to put pressure on Congress not from him but from folks from the outside.

MALVEAUX: Absolutely.

All right. Candy, thank you very much. Good to see you as always.

CROWLEY: Thanks.

MALVEAUX: And, of course, you can watch Candy, "State of the Union," every Sunday morning, 9:00 a.m. eastern. Amanda Knox was acquitted of murder back in 2011, but the Italian court that let her go, well, they want her back. How she's going to be retried now for murder.

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MALVEAUX: Amanda Knox, she is vowing to continue to fight to prove her innocence. The Italian Supreme Court ordered a retrial in her murder case that captivated folks around the world. So remember, Knox is the American exchange student who spent four years in prison for allegedly killing her then-roommate Meredith Kercher. Kercher's partially nude body was found in the home that these two shared. Her throat was cut as well.

An appellate court overturned Knox's conviction however in 2011. Since then, the woman who's been known as Foxy Knoxy in the British tabloids has been back in the Unite States.

Our Kyung Lah picks it up there.

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Since returning to the U.S., Amanda Knox has spent the last year and a half trying to live a normal life. In the few photos we do have, she looks happy and relaxed, strolling with friends, enjoying her freedom here in Seattle, her hometown, where she is now living near her two biggest supporters, her mother and father. And starting a life with a new boyfriend, a man named James Gerano (ph), seen with her here in Seattle. They were friends before Amanda went to Italy, and reported the couple lives together in the city's Chinatown district. Gerano (ph) studies classical music and specializes in guitar.

Her life here, far from the legal battles she faced with her ex- boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, a relationship that made headlines around the world. Infamously filmed kissing and cuddling after finding out about Meredith Kercher's murder. Sollecito says they remain friends.

RAFFAELE SOLLECITO, EX-BOYFRIEND OF KNOX: We talk about family, relationship with friends, movie, books, music, anything, like friends. We're good friends. We are now almost brother and sister. We push through a lot together.

LAH: And says he's even visited Amanda in Seattle.

Upon returning from Italy, Amanda also went back to school, studying creative writing at the University of Washington, where her current boyfriend also attends classes. She will take a semester off to promote the book she's written, a memoir about the four years she spent in an Italian jail. The book titled "Waiting to be Heard" will be published next month.

Kyung Lah, CNN Seattle.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: If you want to know more about her life, crime and trial, watch an Anderson Cooper special report "Murder Abroad," airing this Friday at 10:00 p.m. eastern right here on CNN.

And Justin Bieber having trouble with his neighbors. Why they called the cops on the 19-year-old. We're going to have more on that.

And Beyonce and other celebrities weighing in on same-sex marriage. What they're saying, up next.

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MALVEAUX: The Supreme Court wrapping up two days of hearings today on same-sex marriage. And celebrities there are taking sides through social media. An Instagram post, Beyonce here, saying, "If you like it, you should be able to put a ring on it. We will unite for marriage equality." Celebrities not the only ones weighing in on this and supporting gay marriage. And you might be seeing this pink "equal" sign on a red background on a lot of Facebook and Twitter sites. Human rights campaign has been promoting it in lieu of the blue, yellow logo, all part of an effort to get people to support same-sex equality and marriage.

For more on this we're joined by James Andrews, social media analyst.

Wow, this is big. It's very big, right? It's very popular. And it spread immediately.

JAMES ANDREWS, SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYST: Immediately and fast. I think that's what separates this from other movements is the speed and velocity at which it's really taking hold. And it's more than just the gay community. It's just people who believe in the movement and who want to take a stance and use their personal platform.

MALVEAUX: So you take a stance. It is your personal flat platform. Can your employer in some way hold it against you? What your views are and you decide I'm going to say this is what I support and so be it.

ANDREWS: Yes. Word to the wise, caution. Many of us in my world are writing social media governance policies for brands much like CNN and anybody else. You have to make sure you're communicating and taking a stance within the realm and boundaries of what your company stands for. I would make sure you know what your employer social media policy is before --

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MALVEAUX: Could you get fired?

ANDREWS: You absolutely could.

MALVEAUX: You could? ANDREWS: There are instances right now where people are -- Nashville, six weeks ago, somebody took a stance, wore a T-shirt, Instagramed it, got fired immediately for taking a stance against marriage equality.

MALVEAUX: Really?

ANDREWS: Yes.

MALVEAUX: Talk about the bigger picture here. You and I were mentioning Google. There's a big debate that's going on, whether or not there are certain things that you should not be able to Google about somebody, whether it's private information, whether it's a relationship or your financial information. Who actually determines that?

ANDREWS: Well, all of this, including what's happening in Facebook, is the new era of privacy, and your personal brand and professional brand and those lines being blurred. So let's start with that. Secondly, you know, there needs to be some conversation around what information is open to the public.

But the reality is, right now, your brand is a sum total of what comes up on Google. If you're Googleable, if you're name is Googleable --

(LAUGHTER)

-- it becomes more. Your stuff rises to the top. I think it's important for people today before any legislation or anything happens, you realize that everything you're doing, what you like, what groups you join on Facebook, all of that's becoming public information and shaping your brands. When people are looking to hire you, when people are looking to find out about you, they're getting the sum total of all of it.

MALVEAUX: What if you think something is off limits? This is my private life and I don't want this to be out there, can you go to Google and say, don't put this out there? Can you sue somebody? Is the government in charge of that? How does that work?

ANDREWS: Unfortunately, you can't right now. There are services out there that I hear about that will come in and erase things. But I think it's tough. You now have to realize that, for young people especially that are out there taking a stance, taking a position, joining a group, this is part of the world we now live in. And until then, you need to understand and respect the world which is now your public persona and realize that's part of your brand now.

MALVEAUX: Yes. Young people, they reveal everything these days.

ANDREWS: Everything.

(LAUGHTER)

MALVEAUX: I'm almost shocked you know sometimes when you see, you know. ANDREWS: And you can find out. If I'm going to hire somebody, I'm going to look on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. It's all there for the public. So it's a new day. Fascinating.

MALVEAUX: It is fascinating. It's amazing.

My niece, she's 19 years old. It's her birthday. I'm wishing her a happy birthday.

ANDREWS: Happy birthday. You should be tweeting that.

MALVEAUX: I know. But she puts everything on Facebook. I tell her, no, don't do that.

ANDREWS: Right. But this movement is important and it underscores the importance of social media and how social media, at least in the United States, is becoming a place where people are voicing their opinions, much like the Arab Spring. Facebook gets to a billion people. We are now seeing these platforms being used. But the cautionary tale is does your employer, the people in your world, stake holders, will they have a problem with that?

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MALVEAUX: Yes, there's an up side and a down side and we're still trying to figure it all out.

ANDREWS: We are. It's part of my living.

(LAUGHTER)

MALVEAUX: You will stay employed then.

All right, thank you. Good to see you.

ANDREWS: Thank you. Good to see you, too.

MALVEAUX: Appreciate it.

Justin Bieber being accused of threatening his neighbors. Now police are talking to witnesses to find out whether or not he should be charged. Coming up, we're going to have the latest on the investigation.

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MALVEAUX: All right, Justin Bieber might be in trouble. His neighbors accused him of battery and threats after an alleged confrontation outside his California home. Police were called to the gated community yesterday morning.

And Nischelle Turner in L.A. has the very latest.

What's going on?

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: It could be a couple of things. One, Justin is just 19 and acting like a teenage area. It could be he's out of control. It is tough to tell what's going on in his life from the outside, no matter how much time he spends in the public eye.

One factor to take into this latest account may be simple exhaustion. Justin performed in Poland on Monday night before getting on a plane and flying back to Los Angeles in time to get in trouble on Tuesday morning, because Tuesday morning at 9:00 a.m. is when police responded to the calls about a confrontation.

This incident seems to boil down to a dispute between two neighbors. A source from Bieber's security detail tells CNN this neighbor went on to Bieber's property and that there was a verbal confrontation, but there wasn't any physical contact. Now, the source also says this isn't the first time there has been a confrontation between these two, but the accuser, who has not been publicly named, is telling a much different story. In comments to our affiliate, Los Angeles station KTLA, the neighbor's wife said the dispute started after Bieber was racing his Ferrari up and down the streets of his residential neighborhood, and the argument started when the pop star was told to slow down. It escalated from there and ultimately the police got involved.

This bickering is probably not over yet, because the KTLA report quotes the wife as calling Bieber a punk and saying that he was surrounded when this confrontation was going on by other neighbors.

MALVEAUX: Wow. Do we think this is going to go anywhere? Will they file charges? Is there an investigation? Or just kind of like letting this go?

TURNER: Well, you know, Suzanne, there is a possibility that there could be charges. This is according to a spokesperson for the L.A. County sheriff's department. Investigators are still sorting through witness statements, trying to decide if charges are warranted, but even if charges are not filed, we know that these kinds of neighborhood disputes can definitely make things uncomfortable.

Justin is scheduled to be back in Europe performing in Germany tomorrow night. So he won't be here in Los Angeles for long.

And, Suzanne, we should add there is a late report this morning that says maybe Justin, the neighbor saying Justin maybe spit in his face. Sometimes when there is a confrontation and you're yelling something can happen, but we don't know what is going to happen from there. That's what the neighbor is alleging.

MALVEAUX: We hope they get it all resolved.

(LAUGHTER)

Nischelle, thank you.

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TURNER: Absolutely. MALVEAUX: Neighbors, it's tough. Thank you.

We show you the ad, now some execs are out of a job because of it. This ad, it was never approved, but seen in India, featured women bound and gagged in the back of a Ford with the former Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, at the wheel. Another one showed Paris Hilton with what's meant to be the three Kardashian sisters tied up in the trunk as well. Well, the India-based advertising agency that created this for Ford has fired some of the employees involved. Ford has also apologized, although it appears the company had nothing to do with the ads. The ads struck a nerve, as you can imagine, and particularly following a series of high profile gang rapes in India.

During the off season, some NFL football players heading to Hollywood. Many trying to set themselves up for a second career. Life after football.

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MALVEAUX: NFL players learning the ways of Hollywood. Yes, there is life after football. There is a boot camp that has decided to actually offer players career options after the game.

Nischelle Turner, she's got the story.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take two, marker.

TURNER (voice-over): It has all the makings of a typical Hollywood movie set.

(SHOUTING)

TURNER: But the jumbo-sized actors you see here aren't trained thespians. They're actually current and former football players.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Action!

TURNER: Welcome to the NFL's Hollywood boot camp, where gridiron stars endure a four-day crash course in all aspects of film-making, like writing, directing, editing, and, of course, acting.

TERRELL SMITH, FOOTBALL PLAYER: What are you doing here lurking in the shadows?

TURNER: This production is a comedic take on Julius Caesar, a piece they threw together in one day at Universal Studios. Instead of strapping on shoulder pads and helmets, former players, Cory Maze and Terrell Smith are wearing roman robes.

SMITH: You stabbed me.

TURNER: And free agent wide receiver, Ramsey Barden, is donning a roman moral as Caesar. RAMSEY BARDEN, FOOTBALL PLAYER: No, darling, you bore me. TURNER (on camera): Did you hear about it and say this sounds interesting?

BARDEN: Well, they showed that a series of videos as far as off season programs we can get involved in, and a lot of them look interesting and this looked like it would be the biggest challenge to me and the most fun.

SMITH: They have a music boot camp, a broadcast boot camp, culinary, hospitality, the choice is for you. But they're doing a lot, bringing a lot more to the table.

TURNER (voice-over): The boot camp was established in 2012 by the NFL and Film Life's CEO, Jeff Friday, to give players options after their football careers, which, according to ESPN, lasts an average of 3.5 years. The NFL says that number is around six years, but either way, the players need to consider life after football. They need Plan B.

(on camera): Is that something also you talk about, think about what second career is going to be?

JEFF FRIDAY, FILM LIFE CEO: Beyond the stats, these guys retire at 30. And anyone beyond 30 realizes there is a lot of life after 30 years old. It is about two things. About the economics of it all, but really about giving them an opportunity to be successful as adults, because football is really a kids' game.

ROBERT TOWNSEND, ACTOR: From the top. From the top.

TURNER: Just like at training camp, these rookies need coaching. Hollywood veteran, Robert Townsend, is up to the task.

TOWNSEND: These guys really have the skill set and they understand it on a whole other level because, like I said, to survive training camp, when your neck is on the line and you got to make the play, it is the same thing in Hollywood.

TURNER: Nischelle Turner, CNN, Hollywood.

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MALVEAUX: That is so funny.

Big upset at the women's NCAA basketball tournament. Joe Biden saw it all at his home state as Delaware stunned three seed North Carolina. The Blue Hens were down by eight points at halftime, but rallied to win, 78-69. Delaware moves on to the Sweet 16 where they will take on Kentucky in the regional semifinals, on Saturday.

That's it for me. But CNN NEWSROOM continues.