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Several Missing After Another Tornado in Oklahoma; Wild Fire in New Mexico; IRS Under Fire; Dow Starts June on Six-Month Run; Teen Swept Over Yosemite Waterfall; Turkish Police, Protesters Clash

Aired June 03, 2013 - 09:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Happening now, deadly chase.

(SHOUTING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold on, brothers.

COSTELLO: Storm veterans caught and crushed by the violent storms that struck Oklahoma. This morning, new questions about the risks these scientists take.

Plus, caught on tape.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is their story.

COSTELLO: The IRS two-step. $50 million of your money spent on conferences. This new team building dance tape released. And remember "Star Trek," or "Gilligan's Island?"

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, everybody. I saw a ship.

COSTELLO: These people handle your money. And this morning the agency heads to Capitol Hill to defend itself over targeting the Tea Party.

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

COSTELLO: Also, a fire powerhouse.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The whole canyon is going blow up and we're going to be screwed.

COSTELLO: California on alert and on fire. A massive unpredictable blaze doubling in size over the weekend.

We're live from the front lines and you're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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COSTELLO (on camera): Good morning. Thank you so much for being with me. I'm Carol Costello. Six people still missing after another wave of violent storms in Oklahoma. This time El Reno, 39 miles from Moore, in the bull's-eye.

A look inside the storm.

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COSTELLO: This semi no match for Friday's tornado. Neither were the hope hopes, schools and churches in its path. Parts of El Reno and Oklahoma City have been turned into piles of rubble. Now many forced to start over.

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ANGELA COBLE, TORNADO VICTIM: There is really nothing left much of anything.

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COSTELLO: And despite the much weaker than the storm that hit neighboring Moore, Oklahoma, this one was just as deadly. Already 16 died in the state of Oklahoma including a family of three from Guatemala who tried to wait out the tornado in a storm drain. Three storm chasers also among the victims. Tim and Paul Samaras, along with Carl Young, the truck they were chasing the storm in now smashed to pieces.

Meteorologist Chad Myers joins us now from El Reno, Oklahoma. Chad, you were chasing the storm yourself. This has got to leave you -- this has got to have you kind of scared?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I was crying yesterday morning on Howie Kurtz' show. I just couldn't believe we lost these men because they were the safest guys out there. There were searchers yesterday in the fields. We went back to the location. They were searching for the camera because there is some circumstance, there's something out there that we don't know about why they got themselves in trouble. Did they stop for another crew? Was there a problem with the car?

They should not have been where they were. They should not have been caught up. They were plenty far ahead of the storm. So were we. We were six miles ahead of the storm. Now, it changed direction. It went left and then it went right, so people could have been caught out.

And for a while with this tornado, it was wrapped in rain. Hard to see just a tornado in the middle of a big rain shower. Think about you standing in a shower with a curtain all around you. You can't see the person in the shower. This is a curtain. It's like that rain curtain all the way around the tornado.

Here's El Reno Tech Center; it's a mess. I mean, the kids were going to work on this plane. Kids were going to work on planes over here as well. Just not going to happen now. There's a lot more work, I'm afraid. We talked about how this plane has really no chance because it has wings, it's going to fly and how cars have no chance, as well.

My friend and person that I live in the same condo complex with, Mike Bettes, got caught in the storm. And here is what he thought about when they asked him are you going to do this again.

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REPORTER: What is it that you thought about when you were up there?

MIKE BETTES, WEATHER CHANNEL METEOROLOGIST: Um...

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MYERS: Mike was asked, "Wwhat did you think about?" And he said, "I thought about my wife and I don't think I'm going to do this anymore." He said, "I think I'm going to retire." That's a veteran of dozens if not hundreds of tornadoes. In fact, Mike was one of the first people on the scene of the Joplin tornado years ago. He has a dog from that storm named Joplin that he brought home from that storm as a rescue dog. Mike's a good man and he got shaken up by this very difficult storm.

COSTELLO: Of course, you guys are meteorologists. You do it in the name of science. But if you go online, Chad, there are a number of companies who actually invite people to go storm chasing with them for a price.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: I was stunned because it's not something people should do.

MYERS: It's not something you should do near a major metropolitan area. We chased Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and we were miles -- in Western Oklahoma, you can see 50 miles down the road. You can see them coming. They're dry out there. There's not as much rain. They don't wrap in rain like they do here. Plus all of a sudden you have an interstate with cars that are stopping. Stoplights. You can't chase through a city.

We see these vans, they lit literally are vans that drive down the highway with 10 or 15 people taking pictures out the window of the tornadoes. And, you know, a van is top heavy. You get a good gust of wind and the same thing is going to happen that van that happened to those semitrailers if you get too close.

It's a little bit dangerous out there. People do it for the thrill; they do it for the shot; they do it for -- some people do it for money. It's not something you should take lightly. We stay plenty far away -- 7, 10 miles away from the storm when we can. And then you have to have somebody navigating, too, Carol, because you can't get yourself on a dirt road. Dirt roads turn to mud roads. Mud roads turn to nothing. You can't get anywhere and you don't want to be on a mud road when all of a sudden the tornado is coming to you. There's a lot more to it than a pickup and a NOAA weather radio.

COSTELLO: All right, you come on home. You're my friend. I just come home now. Thanks, Chad.

MYERS: I'm trying.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.

As the sun rises over California, we're getting a clearer picture of this dangerous wildfire that's now burning out of control. The fire exploded in size yesterday, reaching a massive 25,000 acres, taking six homes with it and threatening thousands more. What's worse -- firefighters aren't even close to getting this thing under control. It's only 20 percent contained, meaning it could rage on for another week.

Stephanie Elam is live in Palmdale. Good morning.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Yes, they're estimating that they will be able to get full containment a week from today. That is because, as you can see, there is a lot of wind out here. And the crews are still coming in, as you can see right here, trying to get a hold of this angle of the fire which is still very active.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one.

ELAM (voice-over): By air and land, a full-scale assault on massive wildfires raging out west. More than 1,000 firefighters are battling the ferocious powerhouse fire, about an hour northeast of Los Angeles. The unpredictable fire doubled in size over the weekend, forcing the mandatory evacuation of nearly 3,000 people and leaving about 1,000 homes in danger.

CHIEF DARRYL OSBY, L.A. COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT: We have 15 homes that were damaged, six were destroyed.

ELAM: But the Los Angeles County Fire Department says those numbers could have been worse if not for their around-the-clock air assault.

NORM WALKER, INCIDENT COMMANDER: We have put everything that we have into this, including night air attack from the Forest Service, three L.A. County fire helicopters dropping water at night and one L.A. City fire helicopter dropping at night.

OSBY: We are the only region in the world that does that.

ELAM: And in New Mexico, firefighters are working to contain two raging wildfires fueled by historic drought conditions. The Tres Lagunas Fire has charred more than 7,400 acres and forced the evacuation of more than 100 summer homes, some campgrounds and six hiking trails.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've had the smoke coming over in years before, but it's never been this close and it's never been that big.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It looks like the whole canyon's going to blow up, literally. The whole canyon's going to blow up and we're going to be screwed.

ELAM: Back in California, firefighters hope Mother Nature will lend a helping hand.

DEPUTY CHIEF DAVID RICHARDSON, L.A. COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT: We're supposed to see a decrease in our winds, as well as an increase of relative humidity.

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ELAM: And now that we have the light of day, we can see that the fire has burned right across the road, has burned up here and is still burning on this side here. And just to put it in perspective how old some of the brush is, they said in some of these areas, it has not burned since 1929.

COSTELLO: Wow. Stephanie Elam reporting live in Palmdale, Califiornia, this morning.

Learning the Cupid Shuffle on your dime. The scandal rocking the IRS just got bigger. At the center of the latest controversy, excess spending on hundreds of conferences to the tune of millions and millions of taxpayer dollars.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A group of SPSC executives. Their dream? To become the next great dance sensation. This is their story.

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COSTELLO: Yes, this newly released video shows some IRS employees learning how to do a dance called the Cupid Shuffle. It was one of two videos that cost about $50,000 apiece to produce. They were used in a 2010 conference in Anaheim, California.

Here is the other one. It shows IRS workers spoofing Star Trek. That one came to light a few month back. And a third video parodies Gilligan's Island and was used for a 2011 training session.

White House correspondent Dan Lothian is at the White House this morning. And, Dan, the acting IRS commissioner makes his first appearance before Congress today. Won't he have fun?

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I know. He certainly will face a grilling and that's only one of three hearings expected here in Washington this week on the IRS controversy. This is something that is just not letting up. And driving a lot of the criticism is Representative Issa, who believes the trail on this IRS scandal leads right back here to Washington.

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LOTHIAN (voice-over): For the first time, we're hearing what IRS workers in Cincinnati are telling congressional investigators about why they targeted conservative groups.

Republican Darrell Issa in an exclusive interview on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION." REP. DARRELL ISSA (R-CA), OVERSIGHT & GOVT. REFORM CHAIRMAN: 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.

LOTHIAN: Issa released just partial transcripts, citing an ongoing investigation. So, the full context isn't clear.

In one excerpt, one worker quotes a supervisor. "He told me that Washington, D.C., wanted some cases." And when asked about targeting Tea Party applications and whether those directions emanated from Washington, the worker replies, quote, "I believe so."

CANDY CROWLEY, "STATE OF THE UNION" HOST: "I believe so." It's totally not definitive, you can understand.

ISSA: That one isn't.

CROWLEY: Right.

LOTHIAN: Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on Issa's House Oversight Committee called his claims, quote, "reckless," saying, "So far, no witnesses who have appeared before the committee have identified any IRS official in Washington, D.C."

Issa says more interviews and transcripts are coming.

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

LOTHIAN: But two Democratic sources involved complain Issa released the transcript's excerpts before making them available to Democrats in what they say is supposed to be a bipartisan investigation. The sources tell CNN the excerpts are taken out of context and Issa's claim they indicate direction from Washington is misleading. They say their impression was the workers were talking about consulting with tax attorney specialists in Washington about how much political activity is acceptable for tax-exempt status.

Issa is also going after IRS spending, saying the agency wasted $50,000 on training videos like this newly released Cuban love shuffle.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm receiving incoming reports from the landing party.

LOTHIAN: And on an already notorious "Star Trek" spoof. The video's shown at one of 225 IRS conferences between 2010 and 2012, costing $50 million, including $17,000 for a speaker on leadership through art at a 2010 conference in Anaheim, where Issa says one high-ranking IRS worker stayed in the Hilton Anaheim's two-bedroom presidential suite that normally runs $1,500 a night.

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LOTHIAN: Representative Issa also took a shot at White House spokesman Jay Carney, referring to him as, quote, "their paid liar," accusing him of making up things that happened at the IRS. Carney had no comment.

COSTELLO: Oh, but David Plouffe did, one of the president's men. He certainly did. He sent out a tweet -- and I'm going to quote the tweet. "Strong words from Mr. Grand Theft Auto and suspected arsonist/insurance swindler". And he's talking about Congressman Issa.

LOTHIAN: Ouch. Yes, and this goes back many years. Again, I should stress just accusations that he stole a couple of cars, that he burned down a building. So it's gotten quite nasty. The White House itself not getting involved in this, but Plouffe, who once ran the president's campaign, was a top adviser here at the White House, no longer here at the White House, but what he says does carry a lot of weight. And so I think everyone is paying attention to these comments that he made in a tweet.

COSTELLO: It's getting a little childish now, isn't it? I mean, can't we just find out what happened? No, we can't do that in Washington. That would be too simple and logical.

LOTHIAN: That's what they're doing with these hearings this week. There are a lot of Republicans, lot of lawmakers in general, who still have many, many questions and they're hoping that these hearings can produce some of the answers.

COSTELLO: Well, we hope so, too, because they're also using taxpayer dollars.

Dan Lothian reporting live from the White House this morning.

It's a new week and a new month on Wall Street, but investors are hoping for some of the same old but fab results from the last six months. Alison Kosik is on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Good morning.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONENT: Good morning, Carol. So much for "Sell in May and go away." Historically, stocks tend to go lower in the month of May and then continue that lower trend throughout the summer.

But guess what? That didn't happen. You look at the track record for the S&P 500 and the Dow for the month of may, they're up 2 percent. The NASDAQ is doing even better. Up 4 percent in May. And the Dow is on a six month winning streak. It looks like investors, they just don't want to miss out on the rally. Looks like the same spirit going to happen today when the opening bell rings in about 20 minutes. Dow futures are up about 70 points ahead of the opening bell.

As for this week, the focus is going to be on jobs. Several jobs reports are coming out. And then the biggie, the government jobs report, that comes out on Friday. The expectation is that employers added 164,000 jobs in May. That's in contrast to the 165,000 that were added in April. So even if those numbers meet, it still means that the labor market is still moving along at a sluggish pace -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Alison Kosik, reporting live at the New York Stock Exchange.

Actress Angelina Jolie said she is happy to see the discussion expanded about women's health sparked by her decision to undergo a double mastectomy. The Oscar winning mom of six hit the red carpet for the premiere of partner Brat Pitt's new film "World War Z". It was Jolie's first public appearance since telling the world last month about her potentially life saving move. Jolie says she feels great, wonderful, and moved by all the support she's received. She looks great, too.

Just ahead in THE NEWSROOM: a teenager on a church trip is swept away by a powerful waterfall at Yosemite. An update on the search for him, next.

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COSTELLO: Park rangers will continue their search today for a California teenager swept over a waterfall at Yosemite National Park. Nineteen-year-old Aleh Kalman was swimming in the Merced River near the nearly 800-foot high Nevada fall when he simply went over the edge.

Miguel Marquez joins us live from Yosemite now.

How did this happen, Miguel?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it seems that he did not heed the warnings. There are signs up in that area where he was. I can show you a little bit here. It's just breathtaking here, Carol.

These are the Yosemite Falls. He was at the Nevada Falls. The big one you're looking at is about 1,400 feet, it's about twice as big as what he fell over. Officials believe that half of that is just a very, very long fall. They don't believe he was able to survive.

We do have a bit better idea how this happened. The river up where he fell which is about a three-hour hike from here is only about 12 to 15 feet wide they say. And he got out to the middle of it, to a rock in the center of it, when he tried to get back, though, to the same shore that he had started on, the same current that he got through before, swept him.

You know, it is the spring runoff right now. You usually have that much water coming down even Yosemite Falls. And even though we didn't have a huge though pack this year, the water still runs very quickly and even though it may look placid on top, it will just rip you right down. People who are with him saw him go right over the precipice and they really don't believe that he survived this -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes, we're looking at pictures of him now, by the way, Miguel.

So there were warning signs posted. Will more be done now to keep people out of that water?

MARQUEZ: It's hard to do. It's a massive park. People love to go out there. It does get hot during the day.

But they have very strict warnings in that area. The rangers have stressed that to us over and over again. They have seen this sort of thing happen before. They have put up as many warnings as they can. But they can't control people at all times when they're enjoying, you know, nature.

It's stunning out here and I think people want to dive in -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And I just don't think they realize the power of Mother Nature. You can't beat her. You just can't. She's beautiful, but dangerous, too.

MARQUEZ: No.

COSTELLO: Miguel Marquez, thanks.

MARQUEZ: Deceptively so.

COSTELLO: Miguel, thank you.

Still ahead on THE NEWSROOM -- police fire on protesters in Turkey as a demonstration over a city park blows up into a nationwide move against Turkey's prime minister.

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COSTELLO: Anti-government protesters are simply exploding across Turkey. Police fired water cannons and tear gas dispersing protesters. The demonstrations began last week over a plan to demolish a park in Istanbul, but have grown to encompass the largest demonstrations against Turkey's prime minister in his decade in office.

CNN's Ivan was in the middle of the overnight violence in Istanbul.

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IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The unrest is far from over here in Istanbul. Thousands of people were about to get gassed now facing off against riot police over there. We've got to move because this is just too painful when it starts. Let's go.

What are you trying to do here tonight?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The tear gas, we're trying to break through the police. We're trying to break through.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are not forwarding. We're defending. We're not forwarding. We are defending.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Yes. WATSON: Now, the demonstrators are bringing in people who have been wounded in these clashes into this 150-year-old mosque for treatment. That boy is clearly bleeding from the head. There are medics here taking care of the wounded. People are getting hurt out here.

And every person that gets hurt, it seems to make the crowd even more angry at their government.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Ivan Watson joins us live now from Istanbul.

So, this whole thing started over a city park?

WATSON: It's really hard to believe. The park is about 200 yards from where I'm standing and last Monday, there were about 40, 50 protesters staging a peaceful sit-in. They didn't want the government for bulldoze the park to make a shopping mall. And that protest was repeatedly attacked by riot police who would pepper spray and blast the people in the park with water cannons and tear gas. And it only caused the protests and sit-in to grow.

Until Friday finally, the reaction, something just broke here, Carol. And it has triggered now the fourth day of clashes and they have spread not only from the biggest city Istanbul to at least four or five other cities around the country where riot police continue to use the same methods against demonstrators.

My colleague in the Turkish capital, Ankara, Nick Paton Walsh, he is witnessing water cannons and tear gas as we speak. And the demonstrators twist, the demonstrators still control what I call the Times Square of Istanbul, Taksim Square, they have barricaded the entrances. The riot police are not here and they're holding protests against their democratically elected prime minister here now for the third straight day -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So they think their civil rights are threatened and that's I guess what exploded after the government tried to break up this protest in the city park, right?

WATSON: Absolutely. What you have is the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been democratically elected. His party does very well at the polls. But many people here concerned that their rights have gradually diminished as he has assumed more and more power and there are very few checks and balances right now in the Turkish political system.

The tear gas we're seeing this week is not something new. This is something that's been increasingly used by the police over the course of the last year. Anytime somebody tries to come out and gather and protest against the government. There is incredible government pressure on the media here as well with people getting fired from their jobs if they become too critical of the Turkish government and the prime minister.

So this has become a very personal battle, a test of wills because between the spontaneous uprising that has emerged in the streets and the Turkish prime minister who seems to only throw more fuel on the flames every time he calls these protesters extremists and members of marginal groups -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Ivan Watson reporting live from Turkey this morning.

Coming up in THE NEWSROOM: chasing after a tornado.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's get ready! Brent, go!

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COSTELLO: It is a dangerous job that many live to tell about, but a weekend storm in Oklahoma proved to be too much for three storm chasers. They died. Their story is next.

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