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Boston Probe Leads to Moscow; Storm Kills 20 People in Three States; Growing Pressure on Holder; Issa Blames White House for IRS Scandal; White House Denies Any Involvement; Angelina Jolie Steps Out in London; Tornado Victims Still Missing; Policy Keeps Girl from Transplant; Interview with Eric Burdon; Two Cars Crushed in Missouri Tornado

Aired June 02, 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: Hello, everyone, Don Lemon here. Top of the hour -- you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

We're going to begin with a developing story about the deadly Boston marathon bombings. The attack, the attack might have been prevented if U.S. and Russian intelligence agencies had cooperated with each other. That is the conclusion of U.S. lawmakers who went to Moscow on a fact-finding mission in the wake of the attacks.

At issue is whether U.S. and Russian intelligence agencies dropped by the ball by not sharing critical information that could have alerted Boston authorities of the threat. CNN's Phil Black is in Moscow with the very latest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. congressional delegation spent much of the last week here meeting with Russian officials trying to determine what lessons can be learned about intelligence cooperation in the aftermath of the Boston marathon attack.

The delegation was led by Republican Dana Rohrabacher, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee. His conclusion, there was no one specific failure that prevented the authorities from identifying these threats sooner, but he believes there was a chance the attack could have been averted if Russia and the United States had worked more closely together.

REP. DANA ROHRABACHER (R), CALIFORNIA: Not some specific, oh, we didn't pay attention to this detail or that detail, but instead they didn't pay attention to the big picture. And the big picture was all screwed up. And then in that our people were not cooperating as they should have and vice versa.

BLACK: Republican Steve King said the delegation received new analysis on the Boston bombing suspect, Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his mother in a briefing with Russia's Federal Security Service the SFB.

REP. STEVE KING (R), IOWA: Their opinion that -- that Tamerlan and his mother were both of radical attitude before they came to the United States. And I think that adjusts much of the conventional thinking within the United States.

BLACK: Members of the delegation thanked an unusual voice in Russian/U.S. relations for the access they received during their visit, action movie star Steven Seagal. And Seagal said he deserved credit for setting up the meeting with a Russian deputy prime minister the country's security service.

STEVEN SEAGAL, ACTOR: And I asked him for that meeting. And I knew about that meeting before they did. That's the truth.

BLACK: The last 18 months has been a very difficult time in Russian/U.S. relations. The members of this delegation say they'll now return to Washington arguing these two countries must not let other differences deter greater cooperation in dealing with the mutual threat of terrorism.

Phil Black, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: All right. Phil, thank you.

Tornadoes that touched down in three states this weekend killed a total of 20 people and a few people are still unaccounted for. The areas surrounding Oklahoma City saw the worst of it. An EF-3 tornado knocked down homes, tore down power lines, and caused flash flooding.

Three of those killed were well known severe weather professionals known as storm chasers, Tim Samaras and Carl Young died when the tornado picked up and flipped their vehicle. Tim Samaras's son was with them and was also killed.

A few minutes ago, I spoke with a fellow storm chaser who knew them all personally.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REED TIMMER, STORM CHASER: And he's someone I've looked up to my whole life through and you know, he's a great father, a great chaser. I mean, I can't -- I can't say enough. I mean he's so --

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Hey, Reed --

REED: I'm just so sad. I know that he wouldn't have been in that position by choice unless he was trying to save somebody's life. But he also wouldn't put his own life -- I just don't -- it just doesn't make sense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, that line of severe weather that pounded the plains is still making trouble. Look at these violent thunderstorms moving up and down the East Coast right now. We'll keep an eye on them for you. In the meantime rescue crews in Oklahoma City are still searching for several people missing after the tornado hit on Friday. And they believe these people were taking shelter in large storm drains.

On the phone with me now is Oklahoma City Fire Chief, Keith Bryant. Chief Bryant, give us an update, have you located any of these missing people?

KEITH BRYANT, FIRE CHIEF, OKLAHOMA CITY (via telephone): Currently we recovered five of the people that were missing from the storms. There were two groups of people. There was a group of four in the Oklahoma River. We have not recovered any of those individuals yet. And the group of seven that entered the storm drain up in the northwest part of the city, we've recovered five of those, the most recent one about a little less than an hour ago.

LEMON: And it's always sad for that. I have to ask you, for this particular time, when you said you know they were discovered in the river and the other ones were in a storm drain. The people who were in their cars during this time, why were so many people in their cars this time, Chief?

BRYANT: Well I don't know I mean, I can only speculate. I mean maybe the fact that the -- the storm of May 20th was still fresh in their minds and -- and knowing the devastation that it caused the structures during that storm, maybe they chose to try and get in their cars and flee the area. We know we could have a tremendous amount of traffic during Friday night storms. And again most of the people that have perished in this storm did so in their vehicles. We responded to numerous rescues of people in vehicles trapped in high water with downed power lines and so forth.

LEMON: You talked about the four people that were discovered -- your emergency crews made a sad discovery today -- was four additional people that you talked about my question though is, how hopeful are you that you may find any survivors. Or are you not very hopeful right now?

BRYANT: Well we're operating -- we're in recovery mode. So we don't have a lot of hope that we'll find anybody alive that was involved in either of these incidents, unfortunately. You know, because of the other five that we've already recovered and we know that those people were in the same type of conditions. So we don't believe it's unlikely. But we're still searching with the urgency to try and locate those victims.

LEMON: The storm drain, do you don't -- do you generally advise the public to take shelter in storm drains when tornadoes hit?

BRYANT: Oh, absolutely not. But again, maybe with May 20th still in their mind, they thought at the time that that might be a better option than, you know, sadly, ironic, was the fact that the storms of Friday night, if they would have stayed in their residences, they more than likely would have survived the storm.

LEMON: Yes. So from the storm drain, was that -- was that flooding that they perished in flooding or was it something else? Was it the winds?

BRYANT: No, it was absolutely the high water.

LEMON: The high water.

BRYANT: Depending on the area of the city, there was six to 10 inches of rain that fell in a very short time period. So those storm drains filled up very rapidly and that water is moving through there very swiftly.

LEMON: Chief Bryant, thank you. Good luck.

You know, like I told you earlier, three veteran storm chasers were among those killed when that powerful tornado picked up their -- their truck and tossed it really like a toy.

CNN's Miguel Marquez reports that other crews say only good luck kept them from the same fate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The Weather Channel's storm chase car tossed like a toy -- Mike Bettes and his team lucky to survive.

(on camera): What is it that you thought about when you were up there?

A near-death experience for him, but three other experienced storm chasers lost their lives. Tim Samaras, his son, Paul and teammate, Carl Young, were all killed near Reno, Oklahoma.

Soledad O'Brien spoke to Tim Samaras in 2004.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How close was too close?

TIM SAMARAS, STORM CHASER: The tornado was about 100 yards and closing.

O'BRIEN: And how fast do they close on you?

SAMARA: This particular tornado is moving about 15 to 20 miles an hour.

O'BRIEN: Wow.

SAMARAS: Yes. In fact, we can see telephone poles being ripped out of the ground and absorbed into the tornado as it did the first drop.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to die.

MARQUEZ: Brandon Sullivan and his storm chasing team also had a close call.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You ok?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

MARQUEZ: They survived, not a scratch, but there were some very scary moments.

In a massive storm spawning a series of tornadoes, most of the nine people killed died in their cars.

MARY FALLIN (R), GOVERNOR OF OKLAHOMA: One of the things we think happened this week with all the congestion on the roads is that people were out trying to find other buildings and places to go to.

MARQUEZ: Another hard lesson in this season of storms, unless you are certain you can make it to a safe place better to shelter where you are than to try to outrun a tornado, no matter how fast or souped-up your car may be.

Miguel Marquez, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Large areas in California and New Mexico on fire tonight. A wildfire in the Angelis National Forest more than tripled in size overnight to about 20,000 acres; 2,000 homes have been evacuated and the fire is only 20 percent contained. High winds and low humidity are propelling the fire as it chews up dry brush.

And in New Mexico, two fires have spread to about a dozen square miles. Here, again, some 200 homes had to be evacuated.

Republican Congressman Darrell Issa says the latest IRS scandal goes all the way to the top.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DARRELL ISSA (R), CALIFORNIA: This is a problem that was coordinated in all likelihood right out of Washington headquarters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: The congressman pulling no punches, even calling the White House Press Secretary a paid liar. That's just ahead.

And later, the scene today in a country considered to be one of the strongest allies, our strongest allies, in the Middle East.

Police crackdowns, tear gas, water cannon -- why this is happening right now. Why is it?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The political pressure mounting on Attorney General Eric Holder. Republicans zeroing in on Holder's testimony last month that he was not aware of an investigation of a Fox News reporter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ERIC HOLDER, ATTORNEY GENERAL: With regard to the potential prosecution of the press for the disclosure of material, that is not something that I've ever been involved in, heard of, or would think would be a wise policy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So Holder, as it turns out, had signed off on a 2010 warrant that listed a Fox reporter as a, quote, "co-conspirator in a case involving classified leaks". And today the House Judiciary Chairman said his committee is waiting to hear Holder's explanation for his comments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. BOB GOODLATTE (R), VIRGINIA: Yes, it is fair to say we are investigating the conflict in his remarks. Those remarks were made under oath, but we also think it's very important that the Attorney General be afforded the opportunity to respond.

So we will wait to pass judgment on that until after we receive his response unless, of course, he's not forthcoming with that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well Republican Congressman Darrell Issa went a step further today. He told CNN's Candy Crowley that Holder's comments in his words amount to a lie by most people's standards.

In Florida, Congressman Joe Garcia says he is saddened and disappointed by absentee ballot fraud allegations against his former chief of staff. Garcia, a Democrat, held a news conference yesterday to announce that he had fired Jeffrey Garcia who is apparently not related to him.

The "Miami Herald" which broke the story reports that investigators are looking into absentee ballot request flagged by elections software as possibly being fraudulent.

There were some fireworks on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" program today. Republican Congressman Darrell Issa says his investigation suggests the Obama administration ordered the IRS to target conservative groups and he called White House Press Secretary Jay Carney a, quote, "paid liar".

Here's Athena Jones.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Partial transcripts of interviews House investigators conducted with IRS employees in Cincinnati raise new questions about who directed them to target conservative groups seeking tax exempt status.

Here's House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa speaking on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION". ISSA: As late as last week, the administration's still trying to say there's a few rogue agents in Cincinnati, when, in fact, the indication is they were directly being ordered from Washington. My gut tells me that too many people knew that this wrongdoing was going on before the election.

JONES: In one excerpt, an employee is asked whether a supervisor gave any indication of the need for the search -- any more context. The worker replies, "He told me that Washington, D.C., wanted some cases." But these partial transcripts aren't conclusive. When the worker is asked, 'Tut with respect to the particular scrutiny that was given to Tea Party applications, those directions emanated from Washington. Is that right?" The worker replies, "I believe so."

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN HOST: It's totally not definitive as you understand it.

ISSA: That one isn't.

JONES: Both Republicans and Democrats were present for the interviews with the two employees. Issa said the full transcripts of these and other IRS worker interviews will be released.

ISSA: This is a problem that was coordinated in all likelihood right out of Washington headquarters, and we're getting to proving it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: Congressman Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the oversight committee, released a statement calling Issa's remarks on "STATE OF THE UNION," quote, "reckless". Cummings said that Issa's comments are inconsistent with the findings of the inspector general and that so far no witnesses who have appeared before the committee have identified any IRS official in Washington who directed them to target conservative groups.

Athena Jones, CNN, the White House.

LEMON: All right, Athena.

The White House says 14 objective news sources, three Republican congressmen, two former inspectors general and the inspector general report on this case, itself, all contradict any allegation that the administration was involved in a conspiracy to target conservative groups.

Angelina Jolie makes her first public appearance since her double mastectomy. You will hear from her, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Angelina Jolie reemerged in public today. We saw her for the first time since she had that double mastectomy. She's in London with fiance, Brad Pitt, for his movie premiere. And as you might expect, it turned into something of a media sensation.

Our Erin McLaughlin has more now from London.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Every eye, every camera was trained on Hollywood's golden couple tonight as they arrived together for the premiere of Brad Pitt's film, "World War Z". Angelina Jolie looked absolutely stunning; she was wearing a floor-length backless black gown. She took time to sign fans' autographs and also take pictures.

This was, after all, her first public appearance since she announced her decision to undergo a double mastectomy, a decision she took as a preventative measure after testing positive for the BRCA1 gene which makes her more susceptible to both breast and ovarian cancer. She talked about her ordeal before going into the premiere.

ANGELLINA JOLIE, ACTRESS: I've been happy to see the discussion about women's health expanded and that means the world to me. After losing my mom to these issues, I'm very grateful for it and I have been moved by the kind support from people -- really very grateful for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLAUGHLIN: This is also a big night for Brad Pitt. He not only stars in "World War Z", his company also helped to produce it. So he has a lot riding on this film. He says he's thankful to have Angelina by his side.

Erin McLaughlin, CNN, London.

LEMON: All right, Erin.

Coming up, could the Boston Marathon bombings have been prevented? A group of lawmakers just back from Russia, well they say, yes.

Plus, a deadly tornado in Oklahoma takes many people by surprise including experienced storm chasers. Find out why this tornado was unusual and especially dangerous.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Now to the big stories in the week ahead: from the White House to Wall Street, our correspondents tell you what you need to know. Let's begin tonight with the President's plans for the week.

I'm Athena Jones at the White House. President Obama hosts a national conference on mental health here on Monday, and on Tuesday he welcomes Chilean president Sebastian Pinera. On Wednesday the President honors the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens here at the White House. On Thursday he travels to Charlotte, North Carolina, for an economic event before heading on to California for fund-raisers. On Friday, while in California, the President will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: I'm Paul Steinhauser at the CNN political desk. The Supreme Court issues opinions by tomorrow. By the end of June the high court is expected to rule on such big cases as affirmative action, voting rights and same-sex marriage.

Congress is back this week kicking off what should be a busy month on Capitol Hill. Among the highlights, the House holds more hearings on the IRS, Benghazi and AP controversies and the Senate will tackle immigration reform.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Poppy Harlow in New York. There's a lot of economic news on tap this week that Wall Street will be watching very closely. We'll get the latest construction spending and factory orders figures as well as the May car and truck sales. Those are all good indicators of where consumer spending stands.

Wall Street will also be keeping a very close eye on Europe this week as the Eurozone releases its revised estimate of first quarter GDP -- that's the broadest measure of economic growth for that region.

Then back here in the United States, we'll get the May jobs report. That comes Friday morning. It is all important and you'll remember in April we saw 165,000 jobs added to the U.S. economy; that was better than expected. So we will see if that trend continues.

And of course, we'll track it all for you on "CNN Money".

A.J. HAMMER, HLN HOST: I'm "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT'S" A.J. Hammer and here's what we're watching this week. It's our stars behind bars special. Mike Tyson's stunning prison revelations, Hollywood's biggest stars caught on police tape. And you have to see our countdown of the best worst celebrity mug shots ever.

Be sure to catch "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" Monday through Thursday at 11:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific on HLN.

LEMON: All right. Coming up on half past the hour, I want to get you caught up on the headlines right now.

More violent clashes today between police and protesters in Istanbul and Ankara; even coastal resorts have not been immune to the unrest. A heavy-handed response by Turkish riot police is helping provoke a strong anti-government backlash across the country.

In the capital, police have been using tear gas and water cannon to try to break up demonstrations calling for the prime minister's resignation. One Turkish news agency says more than 700 people have been detained since Tuesday although most have been released.

Two lawmakers, just back from a trip to Moscow, say the Boston Marathon bombings might have been prevented if U.S. and Russian intelligence agencies had cooperated with each other.

Here's what Massachusetts Congressman William Keating said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. WILLIAM KEATING (D), MASSACHUSETTS: One of the things that the head of counterterrorism said to us was that he believed that if we had the level of information sharing and cooperation that is taking place right now, if we had had that back at that period of time, then the bombing might have been averted. It underscores the importance of this information sharing. It underscores how important it is for us to cooperate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: And Republican congressman Dana Rohrabacher who led the delegation says both sides were focused on details, but, quote, "They didn't pay attention to the big picture which was all screwed up."

The trial of accused south Boston mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger, well it gets under way this week. Bulger, who is now 83 years old, is accused of being involved in 19 murders. He managed to elude police for 16 years before he was captured two years ago in California. Bulger's lawyers said he may take the stand in his own defense.

In California, search teams spent the day looking for a missing teen. He got caught up in a fast current and was swept over a 600-foot waterfall in Yosemite National Park yesterday. Park rangers using dogs and helicopter haven't found any sign of him.

Let's get an update now from this weekend's tornado disaster zone. I just spoke with the fire chief in Oklahoma City. That's where emergency crews are still looking for some people missing since Friday night. These are people who were seeking shelter from the tornado but something else happened that was just as deadly.

So live now to CNN's Nick Valencia; he is in El Reno, Oklahoma. Nick, what's the very latest from where you are?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Don. You just mentioned it -- they're still looking for two independent groups of people. We understand that there are both adults and minors in those groups. At least six people still unaccounted for; that according to the Oklahoma City Fire Department and Police Department; these active searches going on. They found two more bodies earlier today that raised the death toll (AUDIO GAP) here.

Officials wouldn't comment, Don, on whether or not they expect the death toll here to rise. But signs are very, very ominous at this point.

LEMON: Nick, you're in El Reno, about 25 miles west of Oklahoma City.

VALENCIA: Yes.

LEMON: Where are you exactly right now and how widespread is the damage there?

VALENCIA: Don, it's really widespread. We're outside of a technology school. This used to be a park. You look behind me here, I mean, that's an airplane. They study aviation here at this school. Airplane completely torn apart. There's other pieces here off to the side, you won't -- you won't see that. We don't have the room to pan.

But there's -- crumbles of concrete everywhere, Don. It's not the widespread devastation that we saw in Moore, Oklahoma. Our crew there was one of the first on scene. We saw a lot of damaged houses. Just really, really widespread devastation.

Here the good sign, Don, is that it's a rural community. It's -- houses are few and far between here. There's a lot of wide open space. That tornado brought in some heavy winds through here. But the good thing is there wasn't that many people in this area at the time -- Don.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Very sparsely populated. Thank you. Appreciate that, Nick Valencia.

Coming up, an agency policy is keeping this little girl from getting a much needed lung transplant. Why her parents are shocked the Obama administration hasn't mandated a change.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The mother of a dying little girl says the Obama administration is choosing to let her daughter die. Ten-year-old Sarah Murnaghan has been waiting a year for a lung transplant she desperately needs to live, but policy requires children to be at least 12 before they can qualify for an adult lung.

On Friday, Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius refused to intervene, instead ordering the transplant guidelines to be reviewed. Sarah's mother says that's not enough.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANET MURNAGHAN, DAUGHTER NEEDS LUNG TRANSPLANT: I have a lot of faith for great change for children in the future, but for children today, they're still dying and Secretary Sebelius is going to allow that to continue. It is in her authority, but she's chosen to let my daughter die.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: She's now making a direct plea for anyone to donate a lung in Sarah's name. The Health and Human Services Department says it is very sympathetic to the situation and aims to be fair.

So joining me now is Dr. Devi Nampiaparampil. I got that out.

DR. DEVI NAMPIAPARAMPIL, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, NYU SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: Yes.

LEMON: Nampiaparampil, right? Sarah has had cystic fibrosis since being born. Why is her health rapidly deteriorating recently? Can we determine that?

NAMPIAPARAMPIL: Well, I'm not sure about the exact cause, but most people with cystic fibrosis are predisposed to getting infections, especially lung infections or sinus infections. And so what happens is they tend to get exposed to a lot of different bacteria over time. And with different antibiotics they develop resistance to a lot of them and develop more dangerous bacteria.

LEMON: If she gets the transplant, does that increase her -- sort of likelihood, right, of surviving or getting better or living longer?

NAMPIAPARAMPIL: It definitely increases the likelihood. So with cystic fibrosis, the worst thing is the way that it affects the lungs. The infections of the lungs can cause people to die. And when they have the young transplants, they're getting lungs that actually don't have the cystic fibrosis gene or the problem with the protein. They still are at risk for developing those infections, though, because the rest of their body has the problem.

The problem of cystic fibrosis is actually that one of the proteins that regulates your electrolytes is damaged so it can affect your sweat, your digestive system. It can affect your sinuses and it can affect your mucus.

LEMON: All right. We'll be following this story very closely of course, and a lot of people are paying attention to this. The guidelines are being reviewed. Again, there's going to be more developments in this.

Let's talk about something else. This MERS virus that is scaring a whole lot of people -- or Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome. Help us understand exactly what it is and why it is deemed to be so dangerous.

NAMPIAPARAMPIL: Well, MERS virus is a virus that affects the lungs as well. So it can cause pneumonia, it can cause high fevers. And it's concerning because it's deadly. So, so far there have been reports of about 50 people who've been infected with it. Over 30 people have died already. So just looking at the likelihood of fatality once you've infected it, it's very high. It's very dangerous.

But if we look at the larger picture, where about four million people have already traveled to Saudi Arabia recently for pilgrimages. It's called the -- Umra. If only 50 people have actually been infected with all this travel, then the risk of contracting it is relatively low. But spreads pretty slowly.

LEMON: What makes it so hard to stop the virus?

NAMPIAPARAMPIL: Well, viruses in general are different than bacteria so they don't have their own cells. What they do is they join with human cells and they infect the human. So in terms of drugs, normally what you do is you get a drug that attack bacteria, kill bacteria and your human cell is all right.

In this case, what happens is it's difficult to develop a drug that will kill the virus without killing the human cell as well.

LEMON: Yes.

NAMPIAPARAMPIL: So they are very hard to stop.

LEMON: Right. We have a little bit of time here. I want to ask you something that I didn't speak to you about but it's something I read about in "The New York Times."

(CROSSTALK)

NAMPIAPARAMPIL: OK. I guess. Let's see. OK.

LEMON: If you don't know, tell me, we're just talking here.

NAMPIAPARAMPIL: Sure.

LEMON: There was this -- there is this strain of meningitis that has been going around as you see that in there, and they're inoculating --

NAMPIAPARAMPIL: Yes.

LEMON: -- gay men in clubs. I read it in "The New York Times."

NAMPIAPARAMPIL: Yes.

LEMON: What is going on with that? They're saying oh my gosh, this is -- you know, people are wondering if this is going to be like AIDS in the -- in the 1980s.

NAMPIAPARAMPIL: Well, you know, the thing with AIDS in the '80s is that people didn't know what was happening. There's a lot of stigma associated with it. In this case meningitis has been around for a long time. This is a new strain that we're hearing about. So there is some concern for that. But this, the vaccine is recommended not only for gay men but also for children, for teenagers, you know, adolescents. So we shouldn't have that stigma but it is important for people to get treated.

LEMON: Yes, after I read it, I was having dinner with people. I noticed people coughing in restaurants. I was like, oh my god, should I go out and get inoculated? But everyone should probably have that particular inoculation.

NAMPIAPARAMPIL: I mean, I think it's safer but the recommendation is still for -- you know, for different groups like children, teenagers and gay men so --

LEMON: Good stuff. Thank you. I enjoyed having you here.

NAMPIAPARAMPIL: Thanks. I enjoyed being here.

LEMON: Let's have you back. Yes

NAMPIAPARAMPIL: That'll be great. Thank you.

LEMON: Thank you, Dr. Devi. We'll have you back. Appreciate it.

Racial backlash, against, of all things, a cheerios commercial? It's a story that got our whole team talking. I'm going to play it for you right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: We have an update now on all those wildfires in California and New Mexico. Wildfire in the Angelis National Forest more than tripled in size overnight to about 20,000 acres. Two thousand homes have been evacuated. The fire is only 20 percent contained. High winds and low humidity are propelling the fire as it chews up dry brush. The fire has grown today by 5,000 acres.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NORM WALKER, INCIDENT COMMANDER: Fire started around the powerhouse, San Fran Canyon. And if you see the size of his hand, that's about what it got in the first day. And the second day, it made another significant run right there. And this is an extremely old and dry fuel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: And in New Mexico, two fires have spread to about a dozen square miles. Here, again, some 200 homes had to be evacuated.

So, you know, it's one of America's most beloved cereals, breakfast cereals. I'm talking about Cheerios. No doubt you have seen plenty of commercials over the years touting their healthy -- their heart healthy benefits. But the latest Cheerios commercial has a lot of people talking and not for all good reasons. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mom?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, honey?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dad told me that Cheerios is good for your heart. Is that true?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Says here that Cheerios has whole grain oats that can help remove some cholesterol. That's heart healthy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kim.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Cute commercial. Cute kid. The commercial isn't that much different from other Cheerio ads except in this one, there's an interracial family. A lot of people love that there was a mixed family in the ad. Others, well, they have used it to vent their racist views. Apparently some of the comments got so bad that Cheerios had to shut down its comment section.

At last check, the commercial's YouTube page had more than 18,000 likes, and about 1300 dislikes.

He's a lead singer for some of the biggest rock 'n' roll acts of all time. Coming up, my conversation with Eric Burdon of The Animals and War. He opens up about his new album, drug use, and the last moments he spent with his good friend, Jimi Hendrix. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Now to part two of my interview with musician Eric Burdon who was part of the British invasion 50 years ago. Burdon recently released a new album, including a song dedicated to his departed friends, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morris.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC)

LEMON: What do you think is the most personal song or album that you've made?

ERIC BURDON, MUSICIAN, THE ANIMALS AND WAR: This one. And I hate to be put in this position because when I see other artists selling their current material, it's always, this one's the best one I ever made. Well, to be quite honest with you, I think this is the best I will have done, and it took me a long time to get to this point. And now I realize that I have to, next time out, I have to get even better.

LEMON: Did you have to get better?

BURDON: Yes, and I think --

LEMON: At 70 years old?

BURDON: Yes, and I think I found a way to do it.

(MUSIC)

LEMON: "Forever 27." You write about your friends.

BURDON: Yes, I wrote a song called "Forever 27."

LEMON: "27 Forever."

BURDON: About the amount -- the long list of people who suddenly passed away at the age of 27, and now they're artists.

LEMON: Do you count Jimi Hendrix as one of those 27s?

(MUSIC)

BURDON: That so I was trying to convince at the time that he should slow down and take a look around. He was confused, didn't know where to go. Didn't know where to go next. He'd been built as this, you know, left handed rock star, and some of the best jazz men in the world were waiting for him to get over with that. He didn't make that, which is a shame.

LEMON: Were you there with him in the final hours?

BURDON: Yes, in the last 48 hours. He jammed with us. With myself and my band. And I could tell that he -- he was feeling that this is where he belonged. You know, that he'd been -- he'd been away from the brotherhood too long. That this is where he was back home, you know, with my band War. And then he left. You know, I said, see you. It was the last I ever saw of him.

The next thing I heard was a telephone call from his girlfriends and I can't wake him up. Janis Joplin went the same way at the same time. Jim Morrison went the same way at the same time. And they were the three most prevalent examples of this in my life.

LEMON: You said Janis Joplin. Did she hit on you? Did she flirt with you?

BURDON: Yes, yes, yes, yes. We were good friends, you know. Party animals.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: What do you mean by that?

BURDON: I remember getting on stage with her one time in L.A. and that was a big mistake. I ended up lying on the floor and she stood on top of me with her high heels shoes and she kept on singing, me pinned to the floor. She had real power. Real power back then in her voice.

LEMON: Sometimes at big award shows.

BURDON: Yes.

LEMON: Some people will get on stage with people like a Patti Labelle or, you know, Barbara Streisand or someone. And they're -- they look frightened to death to be singing with those people.

BURDON: Yes.

LEMON: Is that because of the power they have?

BURDON: I got over that only I had to because I was singing the top of the bill with Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry because the Animals were so popular at that point in time. You know, we had the biggest selling record in the world at the time. There's this thing amongst artists, you know, like their benevolence is extraordinary, like Chuck Berry took me out to dinner and told me, you know, like keep your wallet in your pocket with just a couple of dollars in and keep your main stash in your socks and don't let drugs do to you what drugs and drink do you what it did to me.

And I was like, (INAUDIBLE), wow, this is so cool. You know, and he gave me great advice which I didn't take any notice of but it was there.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: I was going to say, did you follow that advice? You went through your periods, too. Did you go through a period of drug use and all that stuff? BURDON: Oh, yes. Yes. But I had my own -- I had my own levels. I believe, I have to say, people indulging in narcotics or whatever, you just have to remember, it's the right measure, the difference between life and death.

(MUSIC)

LEMON: I always ask people this. So who are you? Who do you think you are?

BURDON: I only know who I aftermath when I get on stage in front of my band, then I know who I am. And you're going to say, who are you then? And I'm going to say, somebody that can -- have a conduit to people en masse for some reason.

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: He's awesome. Great advice. The best advice, he said -- you know, sometimes you learn from people when you do an interview with them. And he said that success, and I took this to heart. Eric, he said success is not about being the flavor of the month, it's about longevity. Thank you for that. Thank you for that.

Thanks, Eric Burdon, and also our thank to the Apollo for allowing us to shoot. You saw those faces on the wall there. Their legendary wall of fame.

We'll be back, Apollo. Again, our thanks here at CNN.

Legendary rocker, Lou Reed, reportedly is recovering from a liver transplant. According to the "Guardian," the 71-year-old Reed had surgery last month at -- at the Cleveland Clinic. Reed had been scheduled to perform at the Coachella Music Festival in April but was forced to cancel. Reed's wife, performance artist Laurie Anderson, tells "The Times of London" that he's already working and doing Tai Chi. Our best to him.

A group of people say they are lucky to be alive after this. A gas station canopy crashes down on top of them during those deadly tornadoes Friday night. They share their incredible story of survival next.

But first, here in the U.S. yellow school buses are a common sight. But in some countries the lack of transportation can make it hard to get to school. The CNN film "Girl Rising" airing June 16th deals with the challenges some girls face with getting an education. Take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EULALIA, STUDENT (Through Translator): My name is Eulalia. I have six brothers and sisters. Where I live, there are no schools. Every Monday we ride a motorcycle to go to my school. When my dad is not home, I walk to school. It takes two hours. EDWIN, EULALIA'S FATHER (Through Translator): I want to help Eulalia go to school because I want her to have a better education than mine.

EULALIA (Through Translator): I like math, especially multiplying. During the week, I sleep in the school dorms. For me, it's difficult to be far from my parents. When I'm with my classmates, they make me smile. On Saturday and Sunday, when I'm at home, I do my homework with my mother.

MARUJA, EULALIA'S MOTHER (Through Translator): She teaches me addition, subtraction, things like that. I can't read very well either, so she shows me how to read.

EULALIA (Through Translator): I want to be a teacher.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Tornadoes are killers. But in an incredible number of cases, people do survive. And often you're left to wonder how they do it.

Our reporter Chris Stanford of CNN affiliate KMOV has one family's story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREA JONES, STORM SURVIVOR: It went boom. It just completely landed on my car.

CHRIS STANFORD, KMOV REPORTER: It is incredible to imagine, Andrea Jones and her two kids were inside that blue Chrysler when this gas station canopy came crashing down.

JONES: At that moment, I'm just thinking, you know, this is it for us. I thought seriously.

STANFORD: The three of them were trapped.

JONES: My children have never been that frightened in their lives.

STANFORD: Andrea thought of her children first.

How old?

JONES: He's 10 and she's 6.

STANFORD: And is this Tony? Hey, Tony. You remember this guy?

Anthony Johnson was working at the gas station and came to the rescue.

So when you knew that there were people inside there, what did you do?

ANTHONY JOHNSON, RESCUER: I didn't hesitate because, you know, I was -- I was fine so I wanted to make sure everybody was OK.

STANFORD: He didn't know the people stuck inside or even if they were alive.

JOHNSON: I just opened the door up and there they were. And I was like, hey, let's get out of here. I don't know if this thing is going to blow up or what. You know, it's amazing. I couldn't believe they went crushed. I mean, it's an act of god.

STANFORD: When you look at your car and where it's sitting right now, today, you have to be thanking your lucky stars you're alive?

JONES: Yes. Everybody I spoke to, even the firemen, were like you guys were very lucky. That thing could have completely crushed you guys, it could have completely fell in or it could be -- we were at a gas station. It could have blew up.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: I'm Don Lemon, "ANTHONY BOURDAIN, PARTS UNKNOWN" begins right now.