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Latest on the Leaker of the Government Surveillance Program Information; Cancer Doctor Poison Allegations Detailed; Baby Saved with Surgical Superglue

Aired June 10, 2013 - 15:30   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Bottom of the hour. You are watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

And we now know the name behind one of the biggest government exposes in modern history. Mild-mannered, soft-spoken, this man has rocked the U.S. government and possibly even your trust in it.

His name, Edward Snowden, and "The Guardian" newspaper says he is the ex-computer tech who leaked the documents that showed the U.S. government is not only spying on your phone calls, but tracking the online communications of foreigners. Snowden knows just how much he has put himself on the line because he is now on the run, last seen in Hong Kong.

There in a hotel room, he gave "The Guardian" this interview on camera about why he outed the actions of the NSA, the National Security Agency.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EDWARD SNOWDEN, NSA LEAKER: When you have to make a determination about what it is that's important to you and, if living "un-freely" but comfortably is something you are willing to accept, and I think many of us are, it's the human nature, you can get up every day, you can go to work, you can collect your large paycheck for relatively little work against the public interest and go to sleep at night after watching your shows.

But if you realize that that's the world you helped create and it's going to get worse with the next generation and the next generation who extend the capabilities of this sort of architecture of oppression, you realize that you might be able to accept any risk, whether it's the CIA, I could have people come after me or any of their third party partners.

You know, they work closely with a number of other nations, or, you know, they could pay off the triads, or any of their agents or assets. We've got a CIA station just up the road in the consulate here in Hong Kong. And I'm sure they're going to be very busy the next week. And that's a fear I'll live under, however long that happens to be.

You can't come forward against the world's most powerful intelligence agencies and be completely free from risk because they're such powerful adversaries that no one can meaningfully oppose them. If they want to get you, they'll get you in time.

If I had just wanted to harm the U.S., you know, then you could shut down the surveillance system in an afternoon, but that's not my intention. And I think for anyone making that argument, they need to think if they were in my position, and you know you live a privileged life. You're living in Hawaii in paradise and making a ton of money, what would it take to make you leave everything behind?

The 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 lengths that the government is going to grant themselves powers, unilaterally, to create greater 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 to force their representatives to actually take a stand in their interests.

And in the months ahead, the years ahead, it's only going to get worse until eventually there will be a time where policies will change because the only thing that restricts the activities of the surveillance state are policy.

Even our agreements with other sovereign governments, we consider that possible a stipulation of policy rather than a stipulation of law, and because of that, a new leader will be elected. They'll flip the switch, say that because of the crisis, because of the dangers that we face in the world, some new and unpredicted threat, we need more authority. We need more power.

And there will be nothing that people can do at that point to oppose it. And it will be turn-key tyranny.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And this just in to CNN, the Department of Justice has launched a preliminary investigation. A law enforcement official says the FBI has begun its investigation with plans to search Snowden's home and computers and interview his girlfriend, co-workers, friends, family. The list goes on.

CNN's Jake Tapper, I know, following the story very, very closely. In fact, you, Tapper, talked to "The Guardian" reporter who broke the whole story, interviewed Snowden on camera.

Tell me what he said?

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: We talked to Glenn Greenwald. Again, we were the first to interview him last week, and we talked to him again today about exactly where Snowden is, trying to get to the bottom of his motivations a little bit more, talk about what he might do now that the U.S. is going after him.

We also asked him a question about whether or not "The Guardian," since they are getting so many scoops from Snowden, whether they are paying at all for his room and board and just existence right now.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Is "The Guardian" helping him in any way to pay for room and board?

GLENN GREENWALD, "GUARDIAN" REPORTER: No, it never has, and I actually asked that question when I first spoke with him about how he was financing his stay at the hotel.

And his answer was very convincing. He was making a great deal of money and has been for quite some time as an intelligence professional working for private contractors in excess -- or around $200,000, in excess of that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: The big question right now, Brooke, of course, is if Snowden is backed into a corner and he feels as though he needs to take drastic action or else he'll be extradited to the United States and tried for any number of crimes he could be charged with, would he take whatever remaining intelligence he has and sell it in an attempt to get asylum not for cash but for protection?

And what Glenn Greenwald said is we obviously have no idea what might happen, but that does not seem to motivate Snowden up until now. He spoke at length about how he was releasing these documents, not for money, although certainly he could have made a very nice profit giving these documents to the Chinese or the Russians or any other number of countries but because he wanted the American people to know what was being done in our name.

Brooke?

BALDWIN: Yeah, he made the point he could have sold them and he didn't so far.

Jake Tapper, I look forward to seeing this interview on "The Lead" at the top of the hour. Jake Tapper, many, many thanks to you.

TAPPER: Thanks, Brooke.

BALDWIN: And now, next, a doctor known as one of the top cancer researchers in the whole country, but today she is making headlines for a much different reason. You see, she's accused of poisoning her lover's coffee.

The bizarre details, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Talk about a bizarre case here involving America's top doctors, you have renowned cancer doctor Ana Marie Gonzalez-Angulo is accused of poisoning a colleague of hers who she apparently was dating by putting this chemical used in antifreeze in his coffee. Gonzalez-Angulo is a doctor, researcher and professor at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. She was once profiled by the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANA MARIE GONZALEZ-ANGULO: We had every cancer in the family, so one of my aunts died with lung cancer when she was 35 and I was 10. So that was when I made the decision that this is what I wanted to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: But now this award-winning doctor is charged with aggravated assault.

Joining me now is "Houston Chronicle" writer Eric Berger, and, Eric, the lead line of your piece, "The doctor liked his coffee black."

Let's start there. This happened in January. What do police say happened?

ERIC BERGER, SCIENCE WRITER, "HOUSTON CHRONICLE": Well, what police say happened is the two doctors were together at her apartment or her place of residence, and he asked her to make him a cup of coffee and then complained about the fact that it was too sweet and asked if she could make him another cup.

She said, OK, but she encouraged him to finish the first cup before she did so. And he did and he actually drank another cup of coffee, too, and complained about it being sweet as well.

BALDWIN: So then what happened to him?

BERGER: About 18 hours later, he went to the emergency room. He was not feeling very well, and he ended up having all kinds of kidney problems and doctors say he came close to dying.

BALDWIN: So now we're talking aggravated assault charge. This is what in your piece you talk about, the lawyers for Gonzalez-Angulo totally denying this. They say, quote, "Dr. Gonzalez-Angulo is completely innocent. She is a distinguished citizen and a scientist and these allegations are totally inconsistent with her personal and professional life."

The statement added that the University of Texas police department, quote/unquote, "jumped the gun" in this case and filed charges that should never have been filed.

Is she still working? She is a huge deal in the world of oncology.

BERGER: They both are. That's what makes this such a big story in this community. They are both very talented physicians and very highly regarded researchers. They conduct all kinds of cancer research in addition to treating patients.

Is she, you know -- did the police jump the gun? That's kind of what you would expect a defense lawyer to say.

BALDWIN: And where is she -- what -- is she working currently?

BERGER: She is on paid administrative leave. It's my understanding that he is back and working full time, although he had been receiving dialysis treatment.

BALDWIN: So he is back? At the end of your piece, you weren't quite sure.

BERGER: It's not 100 percent sure, but I know he's attended some cancer conferences and things like that. Si I think that he's generally pretty good to go.

BALDWIN: And, finally, Eric, as you mentioned, the ripple effect, I guess, in the medical community, how is this being felt at M.D. Anderson and in Houston?

BERGER: Well, it's been a tough couple of months for M.D. Anderson. Their president has had had issues that he's been dealing with in terms of financial conflicts of interest and things like that, and so it's kind of one more weight that's falling upon the people there at one of the world's premiere cancer hospitals.

BALDWIN: And no motive, right?

BERGER: I guess all is fair in love and war. They call these things crimes of passion for a reason maybe. But I -- you know, we don't know the motive.

BALDWIN: We don't know.

Eric Berger, "Houston Chronicle," thank you.

BERGER: Thank you.

BALDWIN: From a building demolition to Simon Cowell getting egg on his face, we have all the day's best videos. We call it "Hit Play." It's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: The hottest videos of the day, "Hit Play."

Down goes building 877, this former home of Coast Guard members and their families on Governor's Island near New York City gone just like that, thanks to 200 pounds of explosives.

Oh, Simon Cowell, you've got egg on your face, the "Britain's Got Talent" judge pelted by eggs during the show's live finale. Watch again, a woman playing in the orchestra runs up and unloads on the judges, the two singers, all the while, not missing a beat.

The egger apparently targeted Cowell for his influence on the music industry. She has since apologized saying, quote, "It was a silly thing to do." Simon Cowell's reaction on Twitter? "I really don't like eggs."

Under the influence and under water, check out this Ford pickup truck. It's going to have some damage after being pulled into the Hawaiian surf thanks to a sandy joy ride. The driver arrested for DUI.

SeaWorld escape, an iReporter caught this eight-month-old sea lion making a break for it. Zoo keepers using umbrellas and a giant net to finally wrangle the little guy. An up-close-and-personal look at sea life for this iReporter and his family.

And that is today's "hit play."

Coming up, this is a truly remarkable story about saving a baby's life. Doctors used what they call surgical super glue to stop bleeding in her brain. We'll explain exactly what doctors managed to do, next.

But before we go to break, the CNN show that covers innovators and creators, here is a quick preview of "The Next List."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The best way to test a bicycle is you take them and go ride. Go ride across the road. I invented this bicycle, are a bicycle like any other bicycle, the only difference cardboard, cheap, durable, and can be fully recycled.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Can this bike change the world?

This Saturday on "The Next List," the cardboard bike guy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Superglue used to fix a lot of items, perhaps around the house, but this could be a first.

Doctors are crediting surgical superglue with saving the life of this three-and-a-half-week-old, Ashlyn Julian.

Her mom said she knew something wasn't right.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GINA JULIAN, ASHLYN'S MOTHER: We go from a baby who is very quiet to one who is screaming and screaming and screaming and throwing up. And at that point you know something's not right, something's very wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: This ultrasound revealed baby Ashlyn had a brain aneurysm and surgeons used the surgical superglue to stop the bleeding.

Elizabeth Cohen, I have been waiting for you all day to explain how this works. ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It's the same main compound as the stuff you buy off the shelf. Isn't that wild? Obviously it's sterile and all that kind of stuff.

BALDWIN: How does it work?

COHEN: So this little girl had an aneurysm that bled. If you think about the vessels, there's basically bleeding coming from it, extremely dangerous, and what they do usually is they open the baby up.

I mean, they open up her head and do brain surgery. As you can see, this one was way deep in the brain. They're usually not that deep.

The surgeon said, I really don't want to open up this baby until I have to. And then he remembered other things he'd done with surgical glue. He fed a catheter through her leg all the way up to her brain.

This vessel is the width of angel hair pasta, OK, so he's using an instrument that managed to just put a bit of superglue right at the spot it was bleeding to patch it up like we might use duct tape to patch it up.

And it worked. He didn't have to open her up.

BALDWIN: When you said he was thinking back to the times he used surgical superglue, it makes me think he tried this before. Is this something doctors do?

COHEN: To our knowledge this is the first time superglue had been used in this situation. It's used in other situations.

One of the reasons is this is really rare. Babies don't get bleeding aneurysms all that much.

BALDWIN: Thank goodness.

COHEN: In the medical literature, there have been 17 cases in 65 years, and doctors either kind of do nothing because they're too scared to do surgery or they do surgery where they have to open up the baby's head.

BALDWIN: And she's OK?

COHEN: She's great. She's apparently doing terrific. You can't notice that anything happened.

I asked the doctor what's her life going to be like? Will she have brain damage?

He said these babies brains adapt so well, even if she does have damage, some other part of her brain will take over. So these kids do just fine.

So she had a stroke really and you would never know she had a stroke in most cases. They don't have a crystal ball, but that's what they think will happen.

BALDWIN: Superglue.

Elizabeth Cohen, thank you.

COHEN: Thanks.

BALDWIN: And now to some pretty cool pictures. Guess who was in this helicopter with onlookers ooh-ing and ahh-ing.

Who was it? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right. Just want to share some cool pictures with you.

Britain's Prince Harry here, watch this with me, wowed the crowd Sunday in a surprise appearance at an air show.

Captain Wales, as he's known in the British military, as in the co- pilot gunner's seat helping perform -- look at this -- some high*flying maneuvers in this Apache helicopter.

Prince Harry returned earlier this year from his second tour in Afghanistan where he co-piloted an Apache helicopter in the Britain's Royal Air Force.

And let's say, you know, you're playing a game of football. Maybe you're in the locker room. You see this from time to time, you know, the old friendly slap on the rear in the locker room, as in "that a boy, nice play."

That might be OK, but in the courtroom, no, not OK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have any questions of Mr. (Inaudible)?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Did you hear the slap? Former NFL wide receiver Chad Johnson, also known as "Ochocinco" found out the hard way today.

You see, he and his lawyer were there. They're about to strike this plea deal that would have kept Johnson out of jail despite violating probation from a previous domestic violence charge. That is when he playfully slapped his lawyer on the back side.

The judge, not amused.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is there something funny about what's going on here today?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't laugh. No, ma'am. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But the whole courtroom laughed because you just slapped your attorney. I don't think anything's funny about it, Mr. Johnson. This isn't a joke.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't do it as a joke.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody in the courtroom was laughing. I'm not accepting these plea negotiations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Well, the judge sentenced Johnson to 30 days in jail, which prompted this tweet.

Quote, "Love me through the good and the bad because I'm gone. Love you regardless. See you in 30."

And there you have it.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thanks so much for being with me on this Monday.

Now to Washington, "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts now.