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Student Hailed as Hero; Obama Nominates James Comey as FBI Director; E-Mail is "Smoking Gun" in Jackson Case; Businesses Help Homeowners in Colorado Grow Pot; NJ Prisoners Mistakenly Paid Unemployment
Aired May 30, 2013 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: This is some pretty scary video. New video to show you. It is a freight train smashing into a commercial truck. This happened this week near Baltimore. Just take a look at this. This truck tried to make it over the tracks in time. There was no way that the train could slow down. So the driver of the truck seriously injured. The impact causing about a dozen train cars to derail. At least one of those cars was carrying hazardous materials, so then it caught fire, explodes. Firefighters stop the fire and said that nothing dangerous was leaking from that wreckage.
A 17-year-old student being hailed now as a hero after he alerted police to his classmate Grant Acord's alleged plan to blow up West Albany High School in Oregon. That's right. In his first interview, Truman Templeton spoke with our affiliate about the moment he knew he had to make a call.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMAN TEMPLETON, STUDENT HERO: A tipping point for me was when I was, you know, just worried about being in school. And I thought at that point, OK, this school is supposed to be a safe secure environment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Templeton says Acord had taken other students to his bedroom to see his homemade bombs and also to show off his copy of "The Anarchist Cookbook." Grant Acord appeared in court on Tuesday, but he has not yet entered a plea.
And the family of Joe Paterno, they want to save his football legacy. They are now suing the NCAA in order to do that. Paterno coached Penn State's Nittany Lions for 46 seasons, you might recall. Well, back in 2011, allegations surfaced that Paterno played a role in concealing a child abuse scandal involving his former defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky. Well, he was fired that year. And a few months later, died after a battle with cancer. The NCAA took away 111 of Paterno's wins and fined Penn State $60 million. Well, with today's lawsuit, the Paterno family hopes to overturn the sanctions and restore his winning record. And President Obama planning to nominate a former Bush administration official for FBI director. James Comey served as deputy attorney general for President George W. Bush back in 2003. Now, he says he considered resigning that position during a disagreement over a government wiretapping program.
Our story from Brianna Keilar.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Suzanne, James Comey is currently a law professor at Columbia University and he serves on the board of a financial services firm. But Nine years ago, he was number two at the Justice Department when George W. Bush was here in the White House. And during that time, he was a major player in one of the most dramatic episodes of the Bush administration.
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KEILAR (voice-over): Like a scene out of a Hollywood thriller, a critically ill attorney general is in urgent care at a Washington hospital. Two of the president's top aides rush to his bedside hoping to pressure him to sign off on a secret wiretapping program the night before it's set to expire. This was real though. And what happened that night, March 10, 2004, put James Comey, President Obama's pick for his next FBI director, in the headlines.
JAMES COMEY, FORMER DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL: I was very upset. I was angry. I thought I had just witnessed an effort to take advantage of a very sick man.
KEILAR: Comey was Attorney General John Ashcroft's deputy. And with Ashcroft very sick, Comey was the acting attorney general. With then White House Council Alberto Gonzalez and Chief of Staff Andrew Card visited the hospital room, a last-ditch effort to get his endorsement of a warrentless eavesdropping program he thought was illegal.
Comey caught wind of it and ordered his driver to speed through the streets of Washington, sirens blaring, and beat them there.
COMEY: Attorney John Ashcroft then stunned me. He lifted his head off the pillow and in very strong terms expressed his view of the matter and then laid his head back down on the pillow. He seemed spent. He said to them, "But that doesn't matter because I'm not the attorney general."
KEILAR: CNN contributor, Fran Townsend, was one of Bush's top national security advisors at the time.
FRAN TOWNSEND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTOR: This is a man with a very strong sense, internal sense of right and wrong and what is appropriate. And he's going to follow that sort of moral compass.
KEILAR: As a federal prosecutor, Comey handled the Covar Towers terrorist bombing case following the 1996 attack on a U.S. military facility in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 servicemembers. He also took on the Mafia, putting John Gambino behind bars, as well as the diva of domesticity. Comey brought charges against Martha Stewart and saw her convicted for insider trading.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: As I mentioned, Comey sits on the board of a financial services firm and he was general council for a hedge fund. This may come up as an issue during his confirmation process.
Senator Chuck Grassley, of Iowa, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, has said, if he is confirmed as FBI director, it could mean Comey has to build cases against former colleagues -- Suzanne?
MALVEAUX: Thanks, Brianna.
Could be the smoking gun in the Michael Jackson wrongful death trial. CNN got the exclusive testimony that his family has been waiting for.
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MALVEAUX: In the court battle over who should pay for Michael Jackson's tragic death, a possible smoking gun, an e-mail, now has emerged. AEG, now, that's the promoter for Jackson's last planned concert tour, has maintained all along it did not hire Dr. Conrad Murray. You might recall Murray's the one who administered the Propofol the night of Jackson's death.
Well, John Berman explains, an e-mail appears to show otherwise. Watch.
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JOHN BERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A potential bombshell in the trial against AEG, the concert promoter managing Michael Jackson's "This Is It" comeback tour.
(SINGING)
BERMAN: AEG has long contended that they did not hire Dr. Conrad Murray, the physician convicted of administering the lethal dose of the anesthetic Propofol to Jackson. Instead, AEG maintained it was the King of Pop that hired Murray. But in an e-mail, the Jackson family attorneys are calling the smoking gun, co-CEO of AEG Live, Paul Gongaware, allegedly pressured Murray into having Jackson ready for rehearsals despite his ailing health.
(SINGING)
BERMAN: Gongaware writes, quote, "We want to remind Murray that it is AEG, not M.J., who is paying his salary. We want to remind him what is expected of him."
Gongaware says he doesn't recall the message.
PAUL Gongaware, AEG LIVE: I don't remember this e-mail.
MALVEAUX: CNN has exclusively obtained his videotaped deposition that was shown to the jury.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED JACKSON ATTORNEY: Based on the assumptions that AEG is your company and M.J. is Michael Jackson, do you have an understanding of what that means?
GONGAWARE: No. I don't understand it because we weren't paying his salary.
UNIDENTIFIED JACKSON ATTORNEY: So why would you write that?
GONGAWARE: I have no idea.
UNIDENTIFIED JACKSON ATTORNEY: Let's go on to the next sentence. When you say "his salary," who are you talking about?
GONGAWARE: I don't know.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: CNN digital reporter, Alan Duke, has been in the courtroom since the beginning of the trial.
ALAN DUKE, CNN DIGITAL REPORTER: To watch Paul Gongaware try to dance around it and explain this e-mail was very interesting in court. At times today, there was laughter because of his -- the perception of his evasiveness.
BERMAN: The Jackson family is suing AEG, stating they negligently hired and supervised Murray, who is serving time for involuntary manslaughter. If AEG is found liable, it could cost the company billions of dollars.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: And growing marijuana in your bedroom, legal. Now in Colorado, six plants per person. We're going to take you inside one woman's pot greenhouse. That's right. Up ahead.
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MALVEAUX: Imagine being allowed to grow pot in your bedroom. That is right. It is legal in Colorado, both for medical use and recreation.
Jim Spellman actually looks at the businesses that are helping people grow this at home.
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JIM SPELLMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Chloe Villano, a long- time marijuana advocate, voted along with 55 percent of Colorado voters to legalize pot in last year's election.
(on camera): Who's this?
CHLOE VILLANO, MARIJUANA GROWER: Rudy Villano.
SPELLMAN: Rudy has a little --
(LAUGHTER)
SPELLMAN: -- pot leaf collar --
VILLANO: Yes. It's hemp, yes.
SPELLMAN: -- made of hemp.
What do you like about smoking cannabis?
VILLANO: I just like the way it makes me feel, like as far as like pain.
Did you like the blueberry?
SPELLMAN (voice-over): But Colorado is in a sort of holding pattern. State law allows possession of small amounts of marijuana, and it's available in dispensaries for medical marijuana patients, but it won't be sold in retail stores until next year. It is, however, now legal to grow your own cannabis, and that is exactly what Chloe's doing.
(on camera): Let's see your garden.
VILLANO: OK. Let's go.
SPELLMAN: This is not a big apartment. You're still able to grow marijuana in here?
VILLANO: Yes. You just have to make sure you can control the smell.
SPELLMAN: Even here in your bedroom in this apartment you can grow marijuana?
VILLANO: Yes. I mean, this huge tent is full of 12 plants.
SPELLMAN: Let's have a look.
Wow. You're growing these 12 marijuana plants right here in your one- bedroom apartment in Denver.
VILLANO: Yes, sir.
SPELLMAN (voice-over): Chloe works as a consultant for the medical marijuana industry and, as a medical marijuana patient, Chloe's allowed to grow up to 12 plants. Non-patients can grow six.
VILLANO: Definitely what I would call a cannabis connoisseur. So, you know, as a patient and as somebody who enjoys the plant, I definitely know good cannabis. And I grow some of the best cannabis.
SPELLMAN: People like Chloe are flocking to The Grow Store where they help people set up and maintain home marijuana grows.
General Manager Ted Smith says it's not just new growers but a different kind of grower.
(on camera): What are the new demographics? Who are the new people coming in here?
TED SMITH, GENERAL MANAGER, THE GROW STORE: We have a lot of married couples. We have a lot of 40 and up, 50 and up, and 60 and up individuals coming in.
SPELLMAN (voice-over): Some enjoy growing as a hobby. Some grow for the sake of discretion, everything happening in the privacy of their own homes. And others just want to grow the highest grade weed they can.
SMITH: Today's culture, they want absolutely the finest quality product with the least of, you know, inconsistencies.
SPELLMAN: So between $150 and $500, The Grow Store will set the grower up with the equipment to grow about a pound of marijuana every 12 weeks.
It's illegal to grow cannabis outdoors in the view of others, so growers need a light source, ventilation, maybe an air filter to keep the smell away from the neighbors, soil and nutrients for the soil. Some of the materials are the same used to grow more conventional plants, but some of these products have a distinctly stoner vibe.
SMITH: So this product is called Cushy-Cush, and is a blossom booster.
SPELLMAN: Growing marijuana in your basement or bedroom may be legal, but it's not exactly easy.
SMITH: I tell our customers that if you're just getting into the fray, if you will, that they will be growing in months.
SPELLMAN: Chloe says her marijuana growing is worth it. She hopes her cannabis consulting business will continue to grow. And even when retail stores open, Chloe says she'll keep growing and smoking her home grown weed.
(on camera): So it is comforting to wake up every morning in your bed looking at your marijuana plant?
VILLANO: Awesome. We go to bed together. We wake up together.
SPELLMAN (voice-over): Jim Spellman, CNN, Denver.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Wow.
Is marijuana bad for you? Or can pot actually be good for you? Well, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, he is traveling the world for answers. What does marijuana actually do to you and what does it do to your children? Details in the special, "Weed," that is coming out August on CNN. I want you to check this out, this is flooding in Illinois. So much water, literally breaking down a door. We have details on that up next.
But first, this is an accident that inspired a successful business. This is the focus of this week's "Next List." Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This week on the next list, beauty innovator, Francesco Clark.
FRANCESCO CLARK: Clark's Botanicals didn't start as -- it wasn't a business idea.
GUPTA (voice-over): How he overcame a devastating accident --
CLARK: I was told, you will never get better. You will never move your arms. Don't even think about your legs.
GUPTA: -- to create one of fashion's favorite skin care lines.
ALEXANDRA PARNASS BEAUTY EDITOR, HARPER'S BAZAAR: All of his new products that come out over the years have developed a bit of a cult following. And a lot of people in the fashion industry, models and fashion designers, really can't get enough of his stuff.
GUPTA: That's Saturday, 2:30, on "The Next List."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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MALVEAUX: Parts of northern Illinois recovering from major flash flooding. This is just how powerful those flood waters were. Surveillance video showing the waters crashed through a set of glass doors. This was at Carl Sandburg College in Galesburg. Now, torrential down pours triggered these floods. We're talking about four inches of rain in just an hour. Dozens of campus computers were damaged. Thankfully, nobody was hurt.
And the Chinese baby, you might recall, rescued from a toilet pipe, has been released to his grandparents. Police says they believe the baby's mother when she says the whole thing was an accident. She says her stomach hurt. She sat on the toilet, and the baby was delivered. Neighbors heard the child's cries. Rescuers sawed off a section of the sewer pipe and carefully pulled away the plastic with pliers, and got that baby to a hospital.
An extreme daredevil takes the sport even higher than everybody else ever, leaping off the face of Mt. Everest. Watch this.
(VIDEO)
MALVEAUX: Good lord. This is extreme base jumping. The guy in the wing suit says he now has the record for the highest jump in history, four miles up. Took four days to climb up and about one minute to glide down and pull the parachute. His sponsor, Red Bull, says the jump was timed to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the first time Mt. Everest was conquered. Pretty cool stuff.
Here's an extreme sport that's my speed. Prepare yourself. The National Spelling Bee. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED NATIONAL SPELLING BEE PARTICIPANT: Then the vocab came about. I thought, this is going to be harder than I thought.
UNIDENTIFIED NATIONAL SPELLING BEE PARTICIPANT: I think that's kind of -- might have overwhelmed me a little bit. It was definitely -- it made things a lot harder.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: I love these guys. They are the best of the best spellers in the entire United States and eight countries. And tonight, a championship will be crowned. That champion, those kids we were talking with, there's a new rule that's giving competitors big headaches. Spellers now have to define the word they are given. It is spelling, plus vocabulary. We're talking about 11 million kids starting the preliminary rounds. There are 42 left standing. Finals tonight. Got to watch that. Won't miss that one.
And collecting unemployment checks from behind bars? That's right. Some prisoners in New Jersey cashing in, receiving millions of benefits. We've got that after the break.
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MALVEAUX: CEO of Motorola says the company's new Smartphone will be made in America, or at least assembled in America. The Moto-X will be the first Smartphone manufactured in the United States. Motorola plans to hire about 2,000 people in Fort Worth, Texas. Some of the components still will be made overseas.
The state of New Jersey a bit red faced after an audit revealed prisoners were mistakenly paid tens of millions of dollars in unemployment benefits.
Alison Kosik is joining us from New York.
Alison, how does something like that happen?
(LAUGHTER)
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Makes you wonder, right?
MALVEAUX: Yeah.
KOSIK: If you ask the state comptroller, they'll tell you the millions of dollars paid mistakenly, that was just a simple oversight because state agencies failed to check applicant names against county and state prison data. They realized that the New Jersey state comptroller's office made a big mistake because they didn't audit. They found that state agencies made $23 million in improper payments to prisoners over a 22-month period.
Look at what this includes. More than $10 million paid in unemployment benefits. Mind you, this is the prisoners. More than $5 million in payments for welfare programs, including food stamps. And more than $7 million in improper Medicaid payments.
The laws are pretty darn clear in New Jersey that you've got to be able to work and available for work to collect unemployment. Last time I checked, inmates are not available. And state law specifically prohibits incarcerated people from taking part in food stamp or welfare programs. The state simply forgot to verify. Big oops -- Suzanne?
MALVEAUX: Big oops is right. Are they going to be able to recover any of this money?
KOSIK: They are. They are trying to recover these misspent funds. State agencies have been given a list of names to go after. But these payments were made to thousands of people two to four years ago. You can only imagine that's going to be a really tough job. The comptroller's office is also investigating possible fraud charges in this, specifically for those improper Medicaid payments. And more oversight is coming to make sure this doesn't happen again -- Suzanne?
(LAUGHTER)
MALVEAUX: Let's hope it doesn't happen again.
Alison, real quick, check of the markets?
KOSIK: Looks like stocks are holding their own. The Dow is up 85 points despite a weaker than expected report on economic growth. GDP for the first three months of this year, GDP ticked down a bit from 2.5 percent to 2.4 percent, but investors are just shrugging that off today -- Suzanne?
MALVEAUX: Alison, good to see you as always. Thanks.
That is it for me. Have a wonderful afternoon. Brooke Baldwin takes it from here, live from Boston.
