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LaPierre Links Boston to Guns Rights; Authorities Question Suspect's Widow; Google Glass Test; Orb Wins Kentucky Derby

Aired May 04, 2013 - 19:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Straight ahead on this hour of the CNN NEWSROOM:

Did a top NRA executive suggest that people in Boston would have been safer two weeks ago if they had more guns? We're going to go live to the NRA convention and ask.

Hands on with Google Glass. We've got them in the studio. Are they worth the hype?

I go one-on-one with the mastermind behind shows like "Top Chef" and "Real Housewives" franchise. We've got the dirt on his latest projects, straight ahead.

And Orb is the big winner at the Soggy Kentucky Derby. We're going to go live to Churchill Downs just ahead.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM, everyone. I'm Don Lemon. Good evening.

And we begin this hour in Houston where thousands are meeting for the NRA convention. And the headline, the group's executive vice president, Wayne LaPierre, for the first time links the Boston bombings to gun control.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WAYNE LAPIERRE, EXEC. V.P./CEO, NRA: Imagine waking up to a phone call from the police at 3:00 a.m. in the morning warning that a terrorists event is occurring outside and ordering you to stay inside your home. I'm talking, of course, about, where residents were in prison behind the locked doors of their own homes, a terrorist with bombs and guns just outside. Frightened citizens sheltered in place with no means to defend themselves or their families from whatever might come crashing through their door. How many Bostonians wished they had a gun two weeks ago?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: To Houston now and the executive director of the Violence Policy Center, Josh Sugarmann.

Mr. Sugarmann, your organization focuses on research and analysis for a safer America. First, what do you make of LaPierre's comment? JOSH SUGARMANN, EXEC. DIR., VIOLENCE POLICY CENTER: Mr. LaPierre's comments are basically as cynical as they are hypocritical. In the 1970s, the NRA led the fight to stop the regulation of black and smokeless powder which are the key ingredients used in virtually all pipe bombs that are used across this country and are a suspected ingredient in the Boston bombing.

On top of that, Boston has the lowest gun death rate in the nation, actually second lowest in the nation because they do the exact opposite of what Mr. LaPierre urges them to do. They have very tough and effective gun violence prevention laws. They have very low rate of firearms ownership in the state.

LEMON: So, so how would he suggest that it would made people safer? How would it have made people safer if they had wished or if they had guns?

SUGARMANN: The NRA's answer to any calamity or any type of legislation dealing with guns is very simple, go buy more guns. This is what they said after Y2K. This is what they said after 9/11. This is what they said during hurricane Katrina The list goes on and own.

The NRA is a gun industry trade organization masking as a sports federation. The NRA's main goal is to represent the gun industry that supports fund it. And so, when events like this occur, whether it's Boston or some other event, that's why they come out and their has answer is buy more guns

LEMON: You a member of the NRA joining for research purposes and you've been attending the convention. Anything surprise you this year?

SUGARMANN: I've been a member since the 1980s. What surprised many this year, I think, was how insular the NRA has become. I haven't been for a couple of years. And the language used today at the annual meeting of members, Mr. LaPierre, Chris Cox and others I think would shock most Americans. I think the language they have which is paranoid, which is aggressive, which essentially is absolute. Most Americans would be scared by it, to be honest.

LEMON: James Porter, the incoming leader of the National Rifle Association, has said is saying the NRA -- hang on before I ask that question. I was just thinking about what you said. You said most people would be afraid by it? Why would people be afraid of the NRA? They have a lot of power and money. Why would most people be afraid of it?

SUGARMANN: I think the NRA when you -- I think most people see the NRA in a news clip or a brief citation in the press story. I think if you sat that that audience like I did for a couple of hours and basically heard this paranoid representation of America, the attacks on journalists, the attacks president, the attacks on members of Congress, basically the attacks on everybody or anybody who doesn't agree with the NRA I think most people would find it disturbing.

To me, what I found most disturbing was somehow they took the tragedy in Newtown and made themselves the victims. I never saw a more, a very accurate word, self-pitying representation of an organization. And on top of that, they basically said they have the answer to gun violence and that the parents of the victims of Newtown and other mass shootings, really, they didn't know as much or as well as the National Rifle Association.

LEMON: Yes, you said they have taken the tragedy of Newtown and they sort of turned themselves in the victim. Basically you're saying that they're using that for their own advantage. Many people have said that the administration and people who support more gun control are doing the same thing. How do you respond to that?

SUGARMANN: Only in the issue of gun violence does calling for something to prevent the next mass shooting is that term being exploitive or taking example or taking advantage of a situation.

Imagine if we apply it to a plane crash. You have a plane crash that kills hundreds of people and someone came out and said now is not the time to investigate that plane crash. Now is the time to grieve. Now is not the time to talk about laws that protect people traveling on airplanes, now is the time to grieve.

Only in the issue of gun violence can the NRA, can someone get away with that type of language.

LEMON: So, all of the people who are members, the millions and millions of members, the people -- thousands of people who show up at the NRA convention in Houston, so -- are they all wrong? I mean, what are yes saying? Can they be that naive? Are they being fed propaganda?

I mean, why would they be members of an organization that you pretty are saying is on the wrong side of history at this point.

SUGARMANN: I think it's very important to separate the NRA's leadership from its membership. I think most NRA members understand we have a gun violence problem in this country and want to do something about it.

When you look at the polling data on specific gun violence prevention measures, there's strong support among NRA members, as well as the general public. The issue is the NRA leadership.

LEMON: Yes.

SUGARMANN: And who had I believe a fully engaged NRA leadership who may not have the same leadership today that we see.

LEMON: OK, let's talk about the question I was going to ask you about James Porter. You're talking about leadership now. He's the incoming leader of the NRA. He has said that the NRA is on the front lines of a culture war. Your thoughts.

SUGARMANN: I think when you look at the NRA, their goal is to try and break this debate out of any sort of context that includes guns or focuses on guns, and by framing it as a culture war, that's one new way that they're trying to approach it and trying to reframe it.

We're not having a culture war. We're having a war where we're trying to prevent children being killed in their classrooms, 30,000 Americans killed across this country. That's the war that we're having.

LEMON: Josh Sugarmann, interesting conversation. Thank you very much. We appreciate you coming on CNN.

SUGARMANN: Thank you very having me.

LEMON: Now to the Boston bombings. Nearly three weeks since the deadly attacks at the Boston marathon, we now have the official report detailing how one of the suspects died. Tamerlan Tsarnaev has not yet been buried (AUDIO GAP) torso and extremities. The report also says there was blunt trauma to his body.

Police believe Tsarnaev was run over and dragged by the car driven by his younger brother.

Meanwhile, the widow of Tamerlan Tsarnaev is cooperating with police and the FBI. Katherine Russell has been meeting with investigators about every other day. Her attorney says she's answering questions, not cutting a deal of any kind.

I just want to bring in our Tom Fuentes. He's with me now from Washington. He is our law enforcement analyst and a former assistant director of the FBI.

Tom, good to see you.

TOM FUENTES, FORMER FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Hi, Don.

LEMON: How important is Tamerlan Tsarnaev's wife to this investigation? Is she obligated at all to tell what he knows about her husband even though he's dead?

FUENTES: No, she's really not. She's a citizen and has her rights that he does not have to talk to the FBI. If she does talk to them it has to be the truth or she can be charged with lying to them. But she's under no obligation to do that.

Now, she does have to allow the FBI in obviously if they're serving a search warrant and looking for evidence in that residence, which they have done and they have removed material from it. So, she can't obstruct that process, but that does not mean she has to talk to them at all.

LEMON: Let's talk about some of that evidence. Police reportedly found explosive residue throughout the Tsarnaev home. Can this widow, can she realistically claim that she didn't know what was going on inside her own home when police found things in the home she's living in?

FUENTES: Well, she can obviously claim it. The problem is going to be not whether it's reasonable for her to claim it, it's going to be whether the prosecution can show beyond a reasonable doubt that she knew there was explosives or explosives were being made by her husband and brother-in-law in the home. That's a much further leap to be able to make that case that she absolutely know it or maybe even helped in the process.

As far as the residue, and saying, well, she wasn't aware of it, we don't know how much -- how good of a housekeeper she was. You know, when evidence technicians come in, everybody watches CSI, when they come in and find microscopic levels of evidence, explosive residue or hair or fibers, other material, the normal person cleaning their own home would not find that. You might just think it's dust or, you know, regular debris.

So, it's possible, I'm just saying, that she could claim that they went in there when she was at work, did their work at the kitchen table and made the explosives and then took all the material out and put in Dzhokhar's car and she never knew it. And just maybe saw dust or other debris in the home, but didn't think that much of it.

So, that could be her position. And just finding explosive residue in there is still not enough necessarily to show beyond a reasonable doubt that she absolutely knew what they were doing in there.

LEMON: What they call plausible deniability or something like that. I'm not an attorney but it sounds like that to me. The president says he's going to review the communication between the agencies.

Do you think that it obviously, it can be greatly improved? Is this the first start, a good start?

FUENTES: Well, first of all, I think the premise that there was a failure of communication is not accurate. Now to say -- to look at whether the original FBI investigation in 2011 is was thorough enough based on what was given to them by the Russians, and what they knew, what they found during the three-month investigation, going through his phone records, Internet records, interviewing other people that knew him, and then interviewing him himself, only finding phone calls, let's say, overseas to his mother and father which would be explainable, you know, that's going to be an issue.

And they will look at that and examine how thorough the investigation was at that time. And that's worth looking at and making positive sure that they did.

But to say that people don't talk to each other, Don, I've run two JTTFs myself when I was in the FBI. You're sitting right next to each other. Every member, in this case Boston has 20 law enforcement agencies that belong to that JTTF. Every officer that gets selected to serve on it has to go through a complete background to get a top secret clearance and they have full access to all of the raw traffic.

So, everybody is sitting next to each other. Everybody has access to the same databases. I don't know how you can say that --

LEMON: I understand what you're saying but clearly there was a breakdown somewhere -- FUENTES: Why do you -- Don, I don't except that. Why do you say there was a breakdown? What's the proof that somebody broke down as far as communication? I'm not saying, if you want to argue about whether the --

LEMON: The evidence is on the table. There was a bombing where three people were killed. There was an intercept from the Russian government. There was -- the Russian government told us that they thought this young man had been radicalized. They have been listening to them. He went away to Russia for six months.

And we all had that -- our government had that information. How is that not a breakdown?

FUENTES: Well, that's what I just said. You can say whether the investigation based on that information was thorough enough and that can be looked at. It's a separate issue to say that the agencies don't talk to each other or that the information is still being stove piped or people don't have access to each other's databases. That part of it is not true.

LEMON: OK. Tom Fuentes, thank you. Appreciate it.

FUENTES: You're welcome.

LEMON: All right. An incredible shootout caught on camera, a police cruiser's dash camera. That's straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The Pennsylvania home who made headlines this past week after being missing for 11 years is back in jail. Police say, years ago, Brenda Heitz walked away from her husband and two kids. She had been secretly living in Florida often homeless. She resurfaced last week and yesterday, she turned herself into Florida authorities on a parole violation.

Earlier this year, she served two months after stealing a woman's driver's license.

There's usually a wait going through Customs but not hours. International travelers faced with long lines and missed flights at some airports around the country yesterday. Listen to this passenger describe the long lines at Atlanta's airport.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As more flights come in, it's long. I can't -- there's a ton of people here and everybody is complaining.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, it was caused by a Customs and Immigration computer glitch. Among the hardest hit airports were Atlanta and New York's JFK. We'll continue to update you as we get information on that. Now, some video we must warn you, it is pretty disturbing. Police in Middlefield, Ohio, released the dash cam video of a shootout during a March traffic stop. Our affiliate WOIO has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REPORTER: When a person is pulled over for a routine traffic stop, as James Gilkerson was, right here and immediately leaps out of the car, you have to wonder if they had a death wish. It appears Gilkerson did.

The car door opens and immediately, James Gilkerson begins to fire. He is heavily armed, using a semi-automatic AK-47. He uses a military tactic and circles the police cruiser. But he's hit. At one point after he's hit he shouts "Kill me, kill me."

He fired a total of 37 shoots. The officers 50. Eventually he falls to his knee. Shortly after he falls to the ground, he's hit by many more shots.

We stopped to the graphic video here. The audio continues.

Chief Arnold Stanko (ph) didn't believe Gilkerson was committing what's known as suicide by police.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He got out of the car to kill my officers. That's his intent. However, the officers got the better of him.

REPORTER: Found in Gilkerson's car, ammo clips with hundreds of runs for the AK-47, among boxes, gun powder, another rifle and books and videos describing paramilitary tactics.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These weapons, they are designed for mass destruction, period. They're designed to kill people and just annihilate people.

REPORTER: The officer's police cruiser tells its own story. Bullets penetrate cast iron like butter. Police vest (ph) is no match for an AK-47, and the bad guy was no match for trained officers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They did an excellent job keeping their cool. They did an excellent job. That's why they're here and he's not.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: My goodness. Paul Orlousky from our affiliate WOIO.

It may be the biggest trial of this year. It's now up to the jury. What will happen to Jodi Arias? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The Jodi Arias murder trial and the media circus that's following it is in its final stretch. Arias is on trial for killing her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander in 2008. The jury began deliberation yesterday following dramatic closing arguments. Well, CNN's Ted Rowlands is in Phoenix all the twist and turns -- Ted.

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Don, the jury deliberated for about an hour on Friday before going home for the weekend. They'll be back on Monday morning to begin again. Before they started their deliberations, they sat and they listened to more than seven hours of closing arguments.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROWLANDS (voice-over): For two days, with her life on the line, Jodi Arias sat and watched as both sides argued over . Absolutely without a shadow of a doubt she's a liar.

JUAN MARTINEZ, ARIAS PROSECUTOR: Absolutely without a shadow of a doubt she's a liar.

ROWLANDS: Prosecutor Juan Martinez told jurors that Arias planned Alexander's 2008 murder, driving from Northern California to Arizona, armed with a knife and a stolen gun. He says after having sex with Alexander, she attacked him when his guard was down, while he was posing for these photos in the shower.

MARTINEZ: She knew. She absolutely knew and had already planned it. She knew. She was going to kill him.

ROWLANDS: Family members of Travis Alexander broke down while Martinez showed crime scene photos, showing the brutality of the killing in which Alexander was shot in the head and stabbed nearly 30 times.

MARTINEZ: He was killed in three different ways. His stab wound to the heart would have killed him. The obvious thing, the slitting of the throat would have killed him and the shot to the face would have killed him.

ROWLANDS: Martinez warned jurors not to believe a word of what Jodi Arias told them during her 18 days on the witness stand, when she claimed that she killed Alexander in self-defense and can't remember the details because of PTSD.

JUDGE: Why is it that you have no memory of stabbing Travis?

JODI ARIAS, ALLEGED MURDERER: I can't really explain why my mind did what it did.

MARTINEZ: She's acting the part. And she's lying. She's making it all up. She has lied to everybody.

KIRK NURMI, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It doesn't make any sense. None of it makes any sense as it relates to premeditation.

ROWLANDS: Defense Kirk Nurmi argued that the idea that Jodi Arias went to see Alexander to kill him doesn't make any sense, saying if she planned to kill him, she would have done it right away when she got there, instead of spending the day with him having sex and taking photos.

NURMI: She could have just shot him right there if that was her plan. She didn't. Doesn't make any sense that this is a premeditated murder.

ROWLANDS: Nurmi also attack the victim, Travis Alexander, saying he not only abused Arias, but was a pedophile.

TRAVIS ALEXANDER, ARIAS' VICTIM: It's so hot.

ROWLANDS: He played a portion of a phone sex tape when Alexander compares Arias to a 12-year-old girl.

NURMI: Who says that? You cannot write that off to the heat of the moment. That is sick. And that is wrong. You can't put any spin on that.

ROWLANDS: Combined, both sides argued for more than seven hours.

Prosecutor Juan Martinez had the last word.

MARTINEZ: In this case, Travis Victor Alexander was slaughtered by this woman. She slashed his throat. She stabbed him in the heart and then she shot him in the face and all of that, thinking about it in advance. Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROWLANDS: Don, the jury will be looking at four separate choices for potential verdicts. Two of them are first degree murder. If they come back guilty on either one of those, then Jodi Arias is looking at a potential death sentence. Second degree murder is also on the table with a sentence of potentially 10 to 22 years in prison. And they can also sentence her to manslaughter with a potential sentence of seven to 21 years. And, of course, Don, they could come back not guilty on all charges -- Don.

LEMON: Ted Rowlands, thank you sir.

How much did the wife of the accused Boston bomber know? Reports of evidence found at the home now raising serious questions. That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Nearly half past the hour now. I want to get look at the headlines here on CNN.

The Taliban claiming responsibility for killing five U.S. service members in southern Afghanistan today. They were killed by a roadside bomb in Kandahar province. In a separate attack, two coalition service members were killed in western Afghanistan when an Afghan soldier turned his weapon on them. Their nationalities were not immediately released.

President Obama arrives back in Washington this hour after a three-day trip to Mexico and Costa Rica. Mr. Obama joined Costa Rica's president today for a trade and economic development event. At his earlier stop in Mexico, he talked about immigration and security improvements along the U.S. border.

U.S. officials believe Israel has conducted an airstrike inside Syria. But they don't think the planes actually flew into Syrian airspace to carry out the attack. Data reportedly shows the strike may have occurred as Israeli jets were flying over neighboring Lebanon. Israel has said it will do whatever it takes to stop Syria from arming Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.

There's a lot more than waves washing up on the beaches of St. John's County, Florida. Try cocaine -- multiple packages of the drug have been found along more than 40 miles of Atlantic Ocean coastline. The beaches are closed while the officers look for any additional cocaine bundles. No one knows where the drugs came from.

The "Iron Man" series off to another huge box-office run. "Iron Man 3" hauled in more than $68 million on Friday, setting up one of the biggest opening weekends ever. It's on pace to earn around 175 million through Sunday which would put it second all time to last year's opening weekend of the "Avengers." Amazing.

To the Boston bombing investigation now. One suspect is dead, Tamerlan Tsarnaev. And now FBI agents are looking to people close to him to help fill in some missing information, people like his wife. Here's CNN's Erin McPike.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERIC MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): About 70 miles outside of Boston federal investigators have been spending hours probing Katherine Russell, the widow of Tamerlan Tsarnaev. The FBI hopes she can provide some of the answers that will help solve the mystery still surrounding the bombs that exploded at the Boston marathon nearly three weeks ago.

Now questions are mounting about her and what she knew and whether she too could be in legal jeopardy. This week CNN learned that the younger of the two suspects, Dzokhar Tsarnaev told questioners that the brothers built the bombs in a small apartment where Russell and Tsarnaev live with their young daughter. Investigators found explosive residue on the kitchen table, in the kitchen sink and in the bath tub of that very apartment.

And three days after the bombings, when the FBI identify Tamerlan Tsarnaev as a suspect and his photos were splashed all over national TV, he and Russell talked on the phone just before he died, according to investigators.

(on camera): Federal agents are constantly monitoring Russell. For the past two weeks unmarked cars like this one have been stationed outside her parents' house and those cars only leave when she does. But Russell's defenders insist she had no prior knowledge of the bombings and that she's cooperating fully with authorities.

(voice-over): Her attorney, Amado Deluca told CNN that investigators are showing her pictures and asking her to comment.

Early in the week investigators found at least one fingerprint and female DNA on the remnants of one of the bombs. On the same day an FBI team entered Russell's house in North Kingstown, Rhode Island where she's been staying with her daughter since the investigation began.

That investigative team left carrying DNA samples, seeking a match. As she awaits her own faith, Russell has had to deal with her husband. On Tuesday she asked that Tamerlan Tsarnaev's unclaimed body be turned over to his family and not to her.

His uncle (INAUDIBLE) was in Providence on Tuesday at Russell's attorney's office. And now Tsarni is taking care of the funeral arrangements.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right. So Erin McPike live now from North Kingstown, Rhode Island. Erin, you say the uncle is taking care of the funeral arrangements. Any word on where he'll be buried?

MCPIKE: Don, not yet. There's obviously a controversy in Boston about the burial. And the funeral home director, the owner spoke to CNN today and said they're going to work on finding a cemetery on Monday morning but first they have to wait for a second autopsy which the Tsarnaev family has asked for, Don.

LEMON: Erin McPike. Thank you, Erin. Appreciate that.

The winner in a very wet Kentucky derby, Orb goes to the winner's circle. How close was it? Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We had our eyes on a lot of story lines at this year's Kentucky Derby, security, rainy weather, a female jockey, an African- American jockey too. Joe Carter though got the plum assignment. CNN's sports, he's from CNN's Sports and he joins us now from Louisville.

So Joe, a lot of pre-race talk as usual but in the end a horse named, as the announcer said Orb, stole the show.

JOE CARTER, HLN SPORTS: You should have just done it, Don. You should have sat in the chair and done the announcing. It's very good. Yes. Orb, orb. It's a fun name to say. For the first time in five years, the so-called race experts or house race experts were right. Because we had a favorite win here. It was a rainy day, a sloppy muddy track and it was a (INAUDIBLE) pace, a slow pace, if you will, compared to some of the other races in the past.

But yes, Orb comes from the middle of the pack to win. It's the trainer's first win here at the Kentucky Derby as well as the jockey's first win. Actually this horse, Don, is red hot right now. It's won five straight races including the Florida Derby. So now obviously, a lot of people looking ahead to the next race, the Preakness in a couple of weeks. But second place goes to Goldensoul. Third place to Revolutionary.

Some of the other notable story lines that we followed today of some of the horses and jockeys. Rosie Nepravnik, she was the only female jockey in the race. (INAUDIBLE) her horse. They finished in fifth place. A 50-year-old jockey Gary Stevens and his horse (INAUDIBLE) finished in sixth place, and Goldencents, Rick Patino's horse, as well as Kevin Krigger, the only African American jockey finished in 16th place.

So as I said, Don, it's now on to the Preakness in Baltimore in two weeks. If Orb can manage to win that race obviously the excitement will build because we will be one win closer to a triple crown winning horse for the first time in 35 years, Don.

LEMON: OK. So take us there. I mean, you know, it's like two minutes of excitement and then it's over.

CARTER: Yes.

LEMON: At least the race part.

CARTER: Yes.

LEMON: But there's much more going on before and after. I mean it's really an event. It's the party, race and then partying after.

CARTER: Yes, I mean I think the whole weekend is really an event itself, Don. If you've ever seen the pregame stuff for the race and obviously post game is fine. When you come here that's when you get an opportunity to really tap into what is the Kentucky Derby.

It's your first and only opportunity for those that don't live in Kentucky to tap into your - to really channel your inner southern belle, both for guys and girls. You see the suits and the hats for the guys and you see the great fluffy hats for the girls and you know, all the colorful outfits, and then you got the mid juleps and then you got the roses and you know, the parties on Friday nights. There was about 151,000 people that showed up this year, a little less than last year because obviously the weather was sort of an issue.

But you know, 150,000 people turn out to watch a race that lasts two minutes usually. There's a lot more to it than just the two-minute race, as you can imagine.

LEMON: So talk to us about the security especially after the bombings with big events like this. What did you notice?

CARTER: You know, it seemed fine. I mean everything seemed to go pretty smooth. Obviously there was a lot of new procedures put in place. I would say some people considered it annoying procedures because inconveniences, if you will, because they weren't allowed to bring in coolers, they weren't allowed to bring in duffel bags or backpacks. Women only were allowed to bring in purses that were 12 inches or smaller. But at the end of the day, you know, they put those rules in place so that we would be safe and that we wouldn't have any problems. One advantage obviously or one positive spin to having, not being able to bring in a lot of stuff is that the lines moved a lot quicker. But from what we saw there was a lot of security, both state, federal and local and it seemed to go very smooth. So everything was good and obviously this is the largest sporting event that's gone on, that's taken place since the Boston bombing and it went on without a hitch. So all is good, Don.

LEMON: Joe Carter at a very raining Kentucky Derby. Thank you. Appreciate it.

We went hands on with Google glass. So what the hottest device in tech really like? We'll tell you, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: So we are finally seeing people other than Google weigh in on Google Glass. Recently a cool turn of events. Best selling sci-fi author William Gibson who has written a ton about future tech slipped a pair of this on, for just a moment. On Twitter, he said "I got to try Google Glass, if only or a few seconds. Was faintly annoyed at just how interesting I found the experience."

CNN's Money tech pro Laurie Segall is in New York. In a sentence Google Glass is a high-tech smartphone strapped to your head. Just like it says, its glasses. You've tried these, are they faintly annoying?

LAURIE SEGALL, CNN MONEY: Look, they're faintly annoying because you know how interesting the technology can be. Actually I brought them into the studio with me. Check this out, I can put them on, I can say, OK, Glass, take a picture of Don and it will take a picture of you. I mean this kind of technology - by the way, Don, I like them with the shades, I think they look a little cooler.

This kind of technology is really interesting but it's just at the beginning. I think, you know, it's almost annoyingly interesting because you just want to know how much is going to happen and the developers that are going to build. I actually caught up a developer who is building an application, multiple applications for Google Glass. He gave me a show and tell. Check it out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEGALL (on camera): You're wearing something that a lot of folks want.

JONATHAN GOTTFRIED, DEVELOPER, EVANGELIST TWILLO: I'm wearing Google Glass. If I turn it on by either tilting my head up or touching it, I can look at my e-mail, I can look at photos, text messages. I can use it as a headset for phone calls, I could speak to it, "OK, Glass, record a video." So now I'm recording a video of you recording a video. SEGALL: Right now, I'm seeing that it is 57 degrees, 72 in San Francisco with lots of traffic.

GOTTFRIED: They gave me this device about a week ago and I've been developing some pretty fun applications on it. I'm building the first Twitter application for it and I'm working on Foursquare application for it. I'm building (INAUDIBLE) integrations for it, you know, it's a wide open platform. So anyone can come in and start build these, you know, tools.

SEGALL: So how do these applications work?

GOTTFRIED: The Twitter application allows me to tweet photos directly from glass. So I can take a photo of you right now, I got the camera and I can just click on that and tweet it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SEGALL: And I think, Don, that's the point we should take. That this technology is new and we're just at the beginning. It's the applications that are going to be built on Google Glass that are going to make it really interesting and innovative.

LEMON: Let's see. You have them right there.

SEGALL: Yes. Check them out.

LEMON: You've strapped them on. OK. Those are real - that's the real Google Glass you have there, right?

SEGALL: They're real Google Glass. They've got some dark shades which I think make them a little bit cooler.

LEMON: Game changer?

SEGALL: Game changer. I think the jury is out to be honest with you. I think right now it's like the smartphone was years and years ago. Because you have this cool technology. It's playing around with it a little bit wonky but in the next couple of years you'll see all of the different app developers build applications that will make this more than just Google Glass. It will make it really interesting. And I think we'll see then if this is actually going to be a game changer, Don.

LEMON: Is Google dealing with a low boil freak out some are having about the Glass. I mean, movie theaters and casinos say leave them at home. At least one state is talking about banning them in cars and how comfortable you would be if you were at a public rest room and someone came in with these. What does Google say about that?

SEGALL: Look, I would not be that comfortable. Having worn these today and having the ability to take a picture just by blinking. It's kind of freaky when you think well what if people are walking around like this and taking pictures and we have no idea. You know, this is the kind of technology that's going to be new and we've got to see it out there before we're going to see the reaction to it. Because now there's the hype and people have been talking about it. But now we're actually seeing people with Google Glass and we're going to see how it's going to work. But you are going to see some of that reaction. That's what happens anytime you have a new disruptive technology. Don.

LEMON: Yes, not so much. I mean, there's no privacy any way and this one is just, to me, a bigger invasion. But hey, listen, the world moves on, technology advances.

SEGALL: Right. Well, any way I'm going to put them on. I'm going to go out and we'll see, right.

LEMON: Thank you, Laurie. Be careful though. Don't be distracted.

SEGALL: Thank you. I won't.

LEMON: My one on one with the master mind behind shows like "Top Chef" and "The Real Housewives" franchise, next.

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LEMON: He is the mastermind behind such shows as "Top Chef" and the "Real Housewives" franchise. Now Bravo's vice president Andy Cohen is adding another credit to his resume, best-selling author. His book, "Most Talkative: Stories from the Front Lines of Pop Culture," just released in paperback, and I spoke him on a recent stop in Atlanta. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: How are you?

ANDY COHEN, BRAVO VICE PRESIDENT: Nice to meet you.

LEMON: All right. So before we talk more about your show, let's focus on the book, "Most Talkative." it's out in paperback now.

COHEN: Yes.

LEMON: So you've done so many things. But did writing a book change your life?

COHEN: First of all, I love to write. And so it was just fun to write. And it also was the most personal thing I've ever done. It was - you know, I've never written about things about me. I mean, it's always about someone else or -

LEMON: But doesn't that feel weird? Like -

COHEN: Yes.

LEMON: You're on television every day and then you write - in my book that came out, you write about all these things and you're like "Oh, my god, do I really want people knowing that?

COHEN: Well, not only that. I just kept thinking who cares? I just kept thinking who the hell is going to buy this book? And then I wrote a book that I really loved and I was like, "OK, people should buy this book."

LEMON: Do you think that you are a giant in this industry?

COHEN: No.

LEMON: You are. But -

COHEN: I'm shorter than people think. I'm 5'9". I think that I've had a certain degree of success and I'm quite happy about it and proud of it. I've had a really good 23-year run in TV. You know, and I've wound up in a place where I never expected to be, which is in front of the camera.

LEMON: Do you ever sit back and go, "My gosh, look how far I've come"?

COHEN: I definitely sit back - I say "Wow, I can't believe what I get to do every day." You know, I feel lucky. I feel lucky to be on a book tour. And I love it when people come up and want to talk to me about the housewives or any of our other shows. It makes me feel like great, we're making shows that people want to talk about.

LEMON: What are you most proud of? What is Andy Cohen most proud of in his life?

COHEN: I'm probably most proud of my book just because it's the most personal thing that I've done and my show because both of those are most representative of me.

Probably "Top Chef" is the show that I'm most proud to be a part of. I just think it changed food TV. I think if you look at the Food Network pre "Top Chef" and post "Top Chef" it's a different network. And if you look at - you know, I think the title of "Top Chef" now means something to a whole generation of chefs.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Richard. You are "Top Chef."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What?

LEMON: You say "Top Chef" is one of the things you're most proud of. Let's get Mr. Blaze to come in over here. Would you like an alcoholic beverage?

RICHARD BLAIS, RESTAURATEUR, TOP CHEF: You know what? I'll just have a cucumber soda or something like that.

LEMON: He said that his book, he's proud of his book and he's proud of "Top Chef," which you're a part of. What do you think about that?

BLAIS: About what he's proud of? I mean, that's amazing, that part of - one of the things that I'm the most proud of is, you know, winning "Top Chef." And you know, he certainly is someone who had a part in allowing me to even participate in the show. So yes, I think we share one of our proudest moments. COHEN: Yes, we do.

LEMON: You said being here is a little bit surreal but it makes you feel good to know that -

COHEN: It makes me feel proud and happy to walk into any - to your restaurant, to anybody who's competed on "Top Chef." You know, who's opened a restaurant and people come in. And Richard is - Richard is like the king of "Top Chef." I mean he won "Top Chef" all-stars. He was the guy who people thought should have won his season but choked at the end. Is that -

BLAIS: That's what I said. I did.

LEMON: You choked?

BLAIS: I kind of did. Listen, I went through my sort of like Boston Red Sox, Chicago like, lovable loser sort of moment. And when I came back I think that worked in my benefit.

COHEN: It was great. Absolutely. But he's also one of the most successful guys to come - or women to come out of "Top Chef." And so it's just cool to see everything that he's done with his cookbooks and his restaurants. And Richard is as anxious as he appears on camera.

BLAIS: I'm anxious now, actually. Like a challenge could break out any second.

LEMON: How long are you going to do this, do you think?

COHEN: As long as I can. I mean, I love my show. And I'll always be a producer in - I mean, it's something that I always - I tried to produce this interview when I walked in.

LEMON: Yes.

COHEN: And I had to shut myself up. And I -- you know, I will always - I mean, once you've been doing it, you can't stop.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Thanks, Andy. Thanks, Richard. California wildfires scorching the west coast. Just look at this.

That's what they look like from space. We've got the latest, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Good news for firefighters in southern California. Winds are calming down, helping the efforts to battle a massive wildfire. A forecast of possible rain tomorrow also encouraging. Flames got out of control fast Thursday, devouring 28,000 acres and 15 homes. 4,000 homes still in danger.

This picture taken from space earlier this week shows the smoke coming off California's coast. Now, some see this as a bad omen. California's fire season isn't supposed to start until August or September.

For the first time a woman has been placed on the FBI's most wanted list. Joanne Chesimard went to prison for killing a New Jersey state trooper 40 years ago. She escaped two years later then fled to Cuba where she received political asylum and has been living freely there ever since. The reward for her capture, $2 million.

The big winner tonight in the Kentucky Derby, a very soggy Kentucky Derby, Orb, strutted to the winner's circle.

I'm Don Lemon at the CNN World headquarters in Atlanta. Good night.

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