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NSA Leaker Gave Up Paradise; Jury Selection Starts For Zimmerman; Elderly Women Escape Limo Fire; Super Glue Saves Baby; Apple Fans And Investors Watch And Wait; Immigration Tops Senate Agenda; Who is Edward Snowden?

Aired June 10, 2013 - 13:00   ET

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

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Why would a 29 year old give it all up? Well, ahead, details on the man who leaked the top secret government spying program.

Plus.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The whole system's guilty. The whole system's guilty. The whole --

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MALVEAUX: Emotions running high as the search begins for a jury in the George Zimmerman trial.

Also this hour, Apple holds its first major event in months. Can company bring back its cool factor?

This is CNN NEWSROOM, and I'm Suzanne Malveaux. First, he is the source of one of the biggest leaks in the history of U.S. Intelligence. It's not who you might think. This is Edward Snowden. He's a high school dropout. He was living in Hawaii working for a private contractor for the NSA, the National Security Agency. Well, he was making $200,000 a year. He is now hiding in a hotel in Hong Kong on the verge of maxing out on his credit cards.

Dan Lothian, he joins us at the White House. Dan, obviously, I imagine the administration is reacting to this guy. I mean, there clearly is a Justice Department investigation going on. What are they saying?

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, no official reaction yet from the White House itself. The DNI did put out a statement and they're trying to get to the bottom of, you know, all the information that was apparently released by this young man. But, you know, this becomes a very complicated situation because, as you know, you know, the White House or the U.S., rather, does have an extradition treaty with Hong Kong but Hong Kong is still under China and semi- autonomist. And so, China could essentially step in at some point. So, that complicates this whole situation.

And we have to back up just a little bit as well because Snowden has not yet been charged with any crime. So, he still has to be charged with a crime then there would have to be some kind of international warrant and then you can talk -- start talking about extradition. But at least some members up on Capitol Hill already calling for that. Representative Peter King saying that if in fact all of these claims turn out to be true, that Snowden should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and that these extradition proceedings should begin.

MALVEAUX: And, Dan, tell us, what kind of situation is the president in here? Because obviously his administration very tough when it comes to leakers and heading leak investigations really extensively. But at the same time, you just had President Obama meeting with the leader of China just a couple of days ago right here in the United States.

LOTHIAN: Well, you're right, mean, the relationship with China already is very sort of prickly, if you will, on some big issues such as when it comes to surveillance issues and those kinds of things with China very, very tricky. And so, it just complicates it. Every time you put China into the equation it becomes much more difficult. But also, as you pointed out, the president himself has been very outspoken about this issue of leaking. In fact, recently, he talked about how that's something he dislikes immensely. And so, for this administration, it's yet another issue. Just one of several that we've had this kind of arena over the last several weeks. And it's also distracted this White House from its main goal, what it wants to be focusing on right now, which is the economy and carrying forth the president's second term agenda -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Yes, they've been having very -- a lot of difficulty trying to move their agenda forward with all the things that have been going on there in Washington. Dan, thank you. We really appreciate it.

Edward Snowden, he says that the public should decide whether or not massive government surveillance programs should be in place and he says that's why he leaked the information. In an interview with "The Guardian" newspaper, Snowden was asked what he is most afraid of and why Americans should be worried?

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EDWARD SNOWDEN: Even if you're not doing anything wrong, you're being watched and reported. And the storage capability of these systems increases every year consistently by orders of magnitude to where it's getting to the point you don't have to have done anything wrong. You simply have to eventually fall under suspicion from somebody even by a wrong call and then they can use the system to go back in time and scrutinize every decision you've ever made.

Greatest fear that I have regarding the outcome for America of these disclosures is that nothing will change. People will see in the media all of these disclosures. They'll know the links that the government is going to grant themselves powers unilaterally to create control over American society and global society. But they won't be willing to take the risks necessary to stand up and fight to change things.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MALVEAUX: So, Snowden goes on to say that the scope of the surveillance program is a threat to democracy.

Onto another story that has grabbed our attention, Sanford, Florida. The question being was it self-defense or was it murder?

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The whole system's guilty. The whole system's guilty. The whole system's guilty.

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MALVEAUX: Protesters demonstrating outside the trial of George Zimmerman while jury selection is now underway. Zimmerman faces second-degree murder in the killing of Trayvon Martin last year in February. The 17 year old was unarmed and walking to his father's home in a gated community. When Zimmerman approached him and they apparently fought. Well, the case has sparked protest and, of course, ignited a national debate around race and gun laws.

For more on the legal proceedings, I want to bring in our Legal Analyst Sunny Hostin who joins us from Sanford, Florida. Good to see you as always, Sunny. Zimmerman's attorney, Mark O'Mara, says that he's going to ask potentially for a change in venue if it looks like they can't get a jury. Why has it been so hard to seat this jury here? I understand they've -- they're going to call about 500 people?

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, I actually don't think it's going to be that difficult, Suzanne, to seat a jury. They are going to go through about 500 perspective jurors and they're going to go through them by groups of 100. They've already had 100 jurors fill out a jury questionnaire. I just left the court room. The judge and the defense team and the prosecution team, they're all looking through these questionnaires.

And then, once they whittle it down to about 21, they're going to bring those 21 jurors into the court room and then ask them the questions that you usually see being asked on "Law and Order" and those types of television shows. So, while I don't know that they're going to find a juror that hasn't heard about this case, I mean, just as you must said. There were folks outside demonstrating just this morning. I do still think that they can find jurors that put aside whatever they have heard and actually just listen to the evidence for the first time in the courtroom. And this judge, Suzanne, is moving so quickly. I expect that they will seat a jury at least this week. I don't think we're going to be waiting two or three weeks to find a jury.

MALVEAUX: So, Sunny, tell us about what we've seen recently here because the judge ruled that the jury is not going to hear about Trayvon Martin's school records or the text messages, the photos that looked like they could be damaging to his image in some ways here. Does that help or hurt his case or them trying to find jurors that will not already be prejudged and think badly when they take a look at that stuff? HOSTIN: Yes. Well, I think the defense team has done a very good job of putting that image of Trayvon Martin out there. The image that they wanted to have out there in the public. You know, they used to say often times in law school, never give up the opportunity to poison the well or poison the jury pool. And that may have happened here but I suspect that we're not going to hear any of that evidence in front of the jury at least for opening statements. Some of it, though, may come out. The judge didn't say she would exclude it all together. She said, if they can meet a bunch of evidentiary thresholds, perhaps it'll come in. And so, again, if you have a jury that's willing to listen to the evidence that comes in, I don't think that it helps the prosecution all that much. I don't think it hurts the defense all that much. I really think it's a wait and see how this case rolls out.

MALVEAUX: And, Sunny, do we expect George Zimmerman is going to take the stand?

HOSTIN: That's the question everyone's been asking outside of the courtroom and the courthouse this morning, Suzanne. He's already given so many interviews. We saw the Sean Hannity interview. We've seen the interviews that he gave to police, some of those are taped. I don't know that he would have to say anything other than that. Remember Conrad Murray?

MALVEAUX: Yes.

HOSTIN: He didn't get on the witness stand, but we heard what he had to say, right?

MALVEAUX: Right.

HOSTIN: And so, I think that's something that could happen here because it never, even is a slam dunk for a defendant to get on the witness stand. And this prosecutor, Bernie, he's a tough cookie.

MALVEAUX: All right. We're going to be watching closely. It's going to be a fascinating trial. Sunny, thanks. Good to see you as always.

Here's what we're also working on for this hour. They were hoping for a fun night out to celebrate a friend's birthday. Look at this. This group of women, most of them in their 90s, barely escaped their limo after it caught fire.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's very fresh because when I looked out there were red flames and black smoke. And then now, you can see the results.

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MALVEAUX: Wow. Plus, Super Glue can fix a lot of things, right? But you're not going to believe this. Doctors used a special Super Glue to save this three-week-old baby's life. Pretty cool. And remember when the iPhone was the it thing to have, right? Well, not so much. Not anymore. Competition gaining ground. Some people say Apple may have lost its cool factor. This hour, the company is expected to unveil some new products. We've got those details up next.

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MALVEAUX: The Grand Jury in Philadelphia is going to investigate last week's deadly building collapse. The district attorney made the announcement earlier today. Now, this comes after authorities charged a crane operator with involuntary manslaughter and other accounts. Well, police alleged that Sean Benschop was high on marijuana when the collapse happened. The crane was being used to tear down a vacant building when a four-story wall collapsed on a Salvation Army thrift store. That was right next door. Well, six people were killed 13 others injured. The D.A. says that the Grand Jury will determine if anyone else should be held criminally responsible for that collapse.

And Santa Monica College students, they have returned to class this morning. Now, this comes days after a man opened fire on campus killing five people. All the buildings are open except the library now. Now, that is where police shot and killed the gunman, 23-year- old John Zuwarhe (ph). He allegedly murdered his father and brother, then set the house on fire before Friday's shooting spree. A law enforcement sources says Zuwarhe had mental health issues in the past.

And it has been a month since the deadly limo fire near San Francisco. That is when fast moving fire broke out while a bachelorette party was being celebrated. Well, five people, they were killed inside of that including the bride. Well now, there's been another limo fire this time near Long Beach, California. Ten women, mostly in their 90s, were taking the limo to a birthday party when the fire broke out. This time all the passengers survived.

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MARY CHAPMAN: When I looked out, there were red flames all over the place and black smoke and then now you can see the result.

The three of us that we think were more able bodied, we got out first so we could help the other ladies. They were on walkers. They were --

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MALVEAUX: The cause of the fire is not known but the owner of the limo says it is three years old and has been well maintained.

An immigration overall moves forward tomorrow. The Senate is scheduled to hold its first big vote. This is on immigration reform bill. This is supported by a bipartisan gang of eight senators. And, on the House side, a split between Republicans on a similar bill may soon actually pose a critical test for the House speaker.

Wolf Blitzer is joining us from Washington. Wolf, it's good to see you as always. Let's talk about this. This is a battle that's largely taking place within the Republican party. You have one group that's trying to win over or win back the support of Latino voters who President Bush had tried to hard to work and win over and then you have the other groups, the conservative activists, who still believe this compromise bill really amounts to amnesty. What do we see in terms of more important -- more powerful in the party and who's likely going to win this debate?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, in the Senate, you need 60 votes to beat back a filibuster, and assuming that all the Democrats -- it's a big assumption because maybe not all the Democrats -- there may be a conservative Democrat or two votes against it. Right now there are 54 Democrats in the majority, 46 Republicans. So if you have 54 - let's assume that all the Democrats vote in favor of this - this gang of 8 proposal. There are four Republicans in that gang and they got 54, that would bring it up to 58, you still need two more Republicans, which they could probably find.

It's going to be tight. It's going to be tough. And as I said before, it's not even 100 percent guaranteed that every Democrat will vote in favor, although I think most - almost all of them will.

So, in the Senate it looks like there's a chance that when all the dust settles they'll get to that magic number of 60. Having said that, then the legislation goes to the House of Representatives where the Republicans are in the majority and it's anyone's guess what will happen there. If it's a really decisive lopsided 80-20 vote in the Senate or even 70-30 vote in the senate, that'll put a lot of pressure on John Boehner, the speaker, Eric Cantor, the majority leader, to get the Republican votes you need. But, it's going to be dicey in the House of Representatives. There's a lot of sensitive issues there. We'll see happens. It's by no meant, though, a done deal.

MALVEAUX: And Wolf, the goal is at least for the final vote to come before the July 4th break. What happens if they don't make the goal? Because the president has said he wants to sign something - some kind of bill by the end of the summer.

BLITZER: Well, I think that the tentative plan is that something -- if it's going to past the Senate, it should pass by July 4, by that recess. The House, presumably, is going to take it up in August. If it's going to pass they'd like it to pass by the end of August before they go into recess then.

So, the president -- if it passes the House, passes the Senate, there may be different versions. We'll have to go to a conference committee to work out differences. Then it goes back to both chambers for another round of votes, so let's see what happened.

A lot of people were confident that when President Bush came with comprehensive immigration reform, and he had the support of Ted Kennedy, had the support of John McCain, there was going to be a deal. But, guess what. That collapsed. There was no deal. It's looking better this time because of this gang of eight, including Marco Rubio, the conservative Republican senator from Florida who is on board and other Republicans who are on board. But, I've got to tell you, they've still got a long way to go.

MALVEAUX: We're going to be watching all of that - the fight, if you will, to the very finish line. Wolf, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

People love gold and love investing their money in it but is it really the best bet. We'll look at that.

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MALVEAUX: A California family is happy to be on solid ground today. That is because they were stranded in a middle of a river, this is near Auburn, California, for more than four hours on Saturday. Amazing pictures. Dramatic rescue. It was a nine member fire rescue crew that finally reached them and got them from that rock. You can see they were all on that rock. Two other bystanders were also rescued after they became stuck on the rocks while trying to actually help that family. Amazing.

Want to do a quick check of the markets here. The Dow finished last week with a bang, up more than 200 points on Friday. Things a little bit slower today, down 1.77 there. You see Dow hovering around 15,000. Investors also keeping their eye on Apple. That's because they've got a big conference going on today, and always has people looking out for the new product announcements. Alison Kosik, she is watching that for us. We'll check in with her in a couple of minutes.

And investing in gold, considered a sure thing at one point, but gold prices have dropped now, 20 percent since September. Question is, is gold losing its luster? Christine Romans explains in this weeks "Smart is the new Rich."

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ROMANS: America's latest gold rush. When even reality TV fans are watching shows like "Gold Rush" and "Yukon Gold," is that a signal the bubble has burst? For centuries, investors has depended on gold as a safe store of value in the face of rising prices. Now the precious metal's luster seems to be fading. Gold prices are down more than 20 percent since September. What's going on and why now? Is gold still a safe haven?

Economic growth numbers out of China are reason enough for investors to worry. Slow in growth in the world's second largest economy would mean lower demand for precious metals with industrial uses, like gold, but some aren't buying it.

STEPHEN LEER, LEEB CAPITAL MANAGEMENT: A lot of people are taking that as evidence the world is slowing. No inflation, commodities are dead. Get out of gold. That's not the deal. This is real Desperation on the part of west, to set off some sort of panic so no one will ever go near gold again.

ROMANS: The move out of gold would suit many central banks just fine. Lower gold prices imply higher confidence in their monetary prices. Right now it could be summed up in two words, "print money." That confidence may have pushed investors away from gold, and into stocks, which are now trading near all time highs.

It can't last forever. All that extra money in the financial system could fuel inflation, and that would make gold attractive again as a safe hedge against rising prices.

T. DOUG DALE, SECURITY BAILEW: My suspicion is is that gold's looking for a bottom either this month or next, and you'll likely see gold resume its upward trend in coming years.

ROMANS: Christine Romans, CNN, New York.

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MALVEAUX: He's the man behind one of biggest leaks in U.S. history. He gave up a six-figure salary, left the country to do it. Up next we'll take a look at why would someone walk away from all that.

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ROMANS: Bagpipe music filling the air outside St. Ann parish Sunday morning. It was a prelude to a mass honoring the youngest victim of the Boston bombing. Martin Richard was one of three people killed in the explosions on April 15th. His mother and sister were among the wounded. The mass was held on what would have been Martin's ninth birthday.

An autopsy is being performed on a decomposed body found in car. This was inside of a car that was pulled from a bayou in New Orleans on Saturday. This is hard. This is tough. The car was submerged in water and police say the Honda Accord belonged to the elementary schoolteacher, Terrilynn Monette. She's been missing since March.

South Africa's president is asking his country to pray for Nelson Mandela. The 94-year-old icon was rushed to the hospital over the weekend with a lung infection. He's now in intensive care and his condition is being called serious but stable. One of Mandela's friends told a South African newspaper it may be time to let Mandela go.

A surprising revelation from Vatican City, Pope Francis says he didn't want the job. That's right. The pope was talking to a group of school kids when a little girl asked him if he wanted to be pope. It was pretty unexpected, very honest response. He said I didn't want to be pope. His also told the children that his decision to become a priest was difficult, but he made it because he loves Christ.

This guy says he gave up paradise to warn Americans about secret government surveillance programs. We're talking about Edward Snowden. He said he was willing to sacrifice all of it. What does he mean by all of it? Well, he was 29 years old living a comfortable live in Hawaii. He was earning 200,000 dollars a year, had access to most secret computers in all of U.S. intelligence, but Snowden says that the surveillance program by the NSA was too broad.

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EDWARD SNOWDEN, LEAKED DETAILS OF NSA SURVEILLANCE: The NSA specifically targets the communications of everyone. It ingests them by default. It collects them in its system and it filters them, and it analyzes them, and it measures them, and it stores them for periods of time, simply because that's the easiest, most efficient, and most valuable way to achieve these ends.