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Paula Deen Works Damage Control; Gandolfini Died Of A Heart Attack; All-Woman Jury Picked For Zimmerman; Planes Almost Collide Over NYC; Paula Deen To Release Video On Controversy; Snowden's Former Bosses Investigated; Jackson's Two Months Without Real Sleep; 700-Mile Fence In Immigration Deal; Embarrassing Defeat In House

Aired June 21, 2013 - 13:00   ET

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

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: That'll do it for me. Thanks for watching "AROUND THE WORLD." Have a great weekend.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: You, too. I'll see you on Monday.

HOLMES: You're not off yet. You've got another hour to go.

MALVEAUX: We do, indeed. CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

Celebrity chef Paula Deen is in damage control mode after making rational comments. What she's saying and what she's cooking, up next.

The autopsy report is in. James Gandolfini died from a heart attack. We are learning more about the day that he died. Those details plus what his family is now saying later in the hour.

The jury now is picked. Six women were selected to hear their case against George Zimmerman. Could this help or actually hurt him?

This is CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Suzanne Malveaux. We begin with that close call. This is over the skies of the New York. The FAA is now trying to figure out how a Delta flight arriving at JFK Airport almost collided with the plane leaving LaGuardia. Rene Marsh fills us in on what actually happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The incident happened near at New York's JFK Airport. A shuttle America (INAUDIBLE) E170 was taking off just as Delta 747 was preparing the land. That 747 peeled out of its landing in a standard procedure called a missed approach. The two planes then came way too close. The FAA will not confirm just how close. In statement it said, the two airports were turning away from each other at the point where they lost the required separation. Both aircraft landed safely. It is the latest in a string of near misses across the nation's airports in the past few years.

Last year in Washington, D.C. at Reagan National Airport, three planes barely avoided slamming into one another after a control tower miscommunication. And a frightening near multiple collision in Denver.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Traffic alert, traffic one o'clock less than two miles at same altitude, descend immediately.

MARSH: The passenger plane caught on radar steering directly into the line of several aircrafts.

In 2010, a pilot at Boston low can airport takes a wrong turn right into the path of another aircraft. An air traffic controller frantically works to avoid a disaster.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jet blue two, six, four (ph) hold right there. Jet blue two, six, four hold. Hold.

MARSH: Thankfully, the pilot hears him just in time. Crisis averted.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Rene Marsh is joining us from Washington. And, Rene, what are we hearing now about the close call? Do we have any more information about how this actually happened?

MARSH: Right, Suzanne. We now know from the FAA that at the point that these two aircrafts were very close. They were about a half a mile apart horizontally. Keep in mind, they are supposed to be no less than three miles apart. They were also 200 feet apart vertically. Also keep in mind, they should be at the very least 1,000 feet apart vertically.

So, that just gives you a better idea as to how close these planes came. Again, they were turning away from each other when they were at their closest point. But we did pull in some audio, portion of audio between the delta 747 and the control tower. And what you're about to hear is the control tower telling the pilot the direction and altitude of another plane coming his way. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 172 heavy, are you turning?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir, we're almost at zero, four, zero now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Delta 172 heavy traffic. 12:00, 1,400 feet Embraer, 1,600 feet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. We got him on the fish finder here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. He's eastbound at 1,800 feet (INAUDIBLE.)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, we're turning right to zero, six, zero.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARSHALL: All right. So, that was pretty much the heart of it all. Again, you heard the air traffic controller telling him, hey, this plane is coming your way, be aware. Luckily, again, both of those planes were able to land safely -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Yes, that is -- luckily. I mean, those passengers must have been terrified. Thank you, Rene, appreciate it.

And we are looking at damage control today. This is for the celebrity chef -- chef, rather, Paula Deen. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAULA DEEN, CHEF, "CELEBRITY CHEF": I want you all to just take a look. Look at all the butter in this kitchen. I've probably got about four pounds of butter. We're going to poach --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Yes, she's known for a lot of butter, cooking with a lot of butter. This is the queen of comfort food. Well, she has been under fire this week after admitting that she used a rational slur during in a videotaped testimony in a law suit that she's involved in. A story, of course, going viral. It's created quite the backlash for her. I want to bring in our Alina Machado who joins us to talk about it. And I understand that she might have something to say about all of this.

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's what it sounds like. We were on her official Twitter page. She tweeted about an hour and a half ago that there will be a video statement released shortly. But she didn't say much else beyond that. She then tweeted, just a little while ago, a picture of herself. Apparently, it looks like she is sitting there for an interview. That's the picture that we saw. Also, again, teasing, so to speak, that a video statement from her will be released shortly. We can only presume or assume that this is going to be related to this controversy that's been fueling this week. This all started on Wednesday. News of a deposition that was taken in May surfaced. It was a transcript of that deposition. It was a videotaped deposition, but we only got ahold of the transcript.

MALVEAUX: Sure.

MACHADO: And in that transcript, she admitted to using -- to having used a racial slur in a conversation with her husband that happened years ago and --

MALVEAUX: Was she apologetic about using that at the time?

MACHADO: The deposition isn't -- is related to a lawsuit. It's an ongoing civil lawsuit.

MALVEAUX: Right.

MACHADO: She didn't really go into that. She was more discussing her history and what she may have said or may -- you know, might not have said. It was kind of in response to those allegations. That lawsuit, by the way, was filed by a former employee and that person is looking for damages. So, this is still an ongoing thing. And right after that controversy broke, we -- all we heard was statement from her attorney, from Paula Deen's attorney basically saying that her -- his client does not condone or find the use of racial epithets acceptable and was looking forward to having her day in court. Again, alluding to that lawsuit as to perhaps the reason why we weren't going to hear from --

MALVEAUX: Sure.

MACHADO: -- Deen. We also talked to some experts. We talked to a man named David Johnson. He spent more than 10 years helping celebrities deal with controversies. And he says the first -- he told us that the first 48 hours after a controversy are critical --

MALVEAUX: Sure, absolutely.

MACHADO: -- in terms of how the public responds and how the person responds. And he also said that he felt that Deen would be able to bounce back but because this involved a racial issue, it might be a little trickier. So, we're just waiting to see what happens and what she says in that statement.

MALVEAUX: We're going to see what she says. I want to also bring in a guest as well to talk a little bit about how could she repair her image? This is "Time" magazine T.V. critic James Poniewozik, he's joining us here. And what does she need to do?

JAMES PONIEWOZIK, T.V. CRITIC, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Well, I mean, I'm looking at this as a critic not an image consultant. You know, I think it's easy to get a little cynical about it. But I was thinking that the best thing is to actually be sorry which, you know, we'll have to see what her statement says. But, you know, I think it needs to be more than simply I'm sorry if such and such was offended or the sort of more general I deplore racism. It's more a notion that I did something wrong and I understand why it was wrong. Beyond that, it just seems like damage control.

MALVEAUX: She's already faced quite a bit of criticism before, you know, with the -- with the eating and the diabetes and the controversy around that and eventually acknowledging that she was diabetic herself. This on top of that, I mean, how difficult is it for her to win back some of the people who were loyal fans?

PONIEWOZIK: You know, it's funny because on the one hand, you can say they are two very different things. I mean, one is diet which I don't think that anybody really saw her as a health food cook to begin with and, you know, to some extent that's between her and her doctor and those of the people who follow her. And this, of course, as you know, a certain more -- well, a series in a different way, racial and social issue. But one could say a thing like this could compound and sort of create a sense of just phoniness and lack of trust. So, I think while they are initially unrelated, I think having those two things happen in concession could have a tendency to kind of pile on each other and hurt her fan's relationship with her.

MALVEAUX: All right. Thanks for joining us. We appreciate it as always. And we'll see if she has a statement. If she actually has more to say about this controversy.

And, of course, coming up, this story that we are following. He leaked details about the government surveillance program. Well, now, his background check is being questioned. Did Edward Snowden slip through the cracks? How much does he really know? The latest on the NSA leaker, up next.

And an expert in the Michael Jackson's wrongful death trial says the pop star went two months without real sleep. We're going to tell you how the lack of sleep can damage your brain, coming up.

And for 18 days, Jodi Arias spilled out the details of the night that she killed her boyfriend. Well, now, a made for T.V. movie is reenacting their twisted relationship.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let me see those big, broad shoulders. Yes, that's it. You look good, Travis.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: We're going to talk with the actress playing Jodi Arias this hour on CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: So, we're talking about a border fence 700 miles long backed by a border agent every 1,000 feet every hour of every day. And no green card right away for immigrants living in the United States illegally. Those may well be the billing blocks of an immigration deal underway. I want to bring in our Candy Crowley from Washington. And, Candy, first of all, it's very controversial. We've seen a lot of back and forth this week, particularly the last 48 hours. How close are we to getting something on immigration?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it depends on your definition of something. We are quite likely to get a bill out of the Senate, I would think. The question the Senate has been is how big a number can they pile up?

MALVEAUX: Sure.

CROWLEY: Because what they want is to return up the score so it has big momentum going to the House. So, I think you have a deal that is likely to pass the U.S. Senate, although you never want to say anything absolute when it comes to the Senate. The problem is when it goes over to the House, it is just a very different dynamic on the House side. In the Senate, you have people like Marco Rubio and John McCain who look at this sort of on a -- on a national -- from a national political basis who really believe that the Republicans have got to have some form of immigration reform because it's a path way to the White House, if you will.

And then, there are those on -- Republicans on the House side who look at the district and say, my district doesn't want this. My district wants different penalties for folks who are here without documents. My district doesn't want a pathway to citizenship at all because no matter what you do, it's rewarding someone who did something that is not according to the law. So, there are -- it is just a different prism through which Republicans in the House, most of them, look at this on the conservative side and many of the Republicans in the Senate. So, we'll see, as we saw when the farm bill went down, it is possible to get a bill that angers both the left of the Democrats and the right of the Republicans and what you get is a bill that doesn't pass.

MALVEAUX: That's Washington for you. I want to talk about the farm bill because a lot of people were not necessarily paying attention to that. And that actually failed which was pretty surprising and embarrassing setback for some of the House Republican leaders. How did that unfold? How did that play out, Candy?

CROWLEY: That played out because what you had was a bill. It's exactly what I'm talking about, and I think you can look at this as is this the template for immigration. You had a bill that was in large part the fight was over food stamps. There were major cuts, what many Democrats felt were major cuts in the food stamp program and that caused a lot of Democrats to fall off and say I'm not voting for this thing. On the other hand you had conservative Republicans who said it doesn't cut enough. They fell off and what you have was a middle that's not big enough.

MALVEAUX: That is the problem in Washington these days. Candy, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Going to be looking forward to your show on Sunday. She's going to be talking with Senators Rand Paul and Chuck Schumer. That is on Sunday, "STATE OF THE UNION."

A child, this is amazing, born deaf, hears for the first time. In our studios, he was there, that's right. Coming up his parents explain how he's learning to hear.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Edward Snowden might be out of sight but he's certainly not out of mind. He's the U.S. government contractor who tore the lid off a secret telephone surveillance program. So far, nobody has tried to make him surrender ye,t but the company who hired Edward Snowden, well that's another story. Government inspectors want to know who is doing the background checks on contractors. Here is Chris Lawrence.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: A congressional hearing produced a stunning admission. A private contracting firm may not have done a thorough background check on admitted leaker Edward Snowden.

SEN. JON TESTER, (D) MONTANA: Are there any concerns his background investigation may not have been carried out in an appropriate or thorough manner?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we do believe that there may be some problems. LAWRENCE: The company in question is now under investigation for repeatedly failing to conduct quality background checks.

SEN. CLAIRE MCCASKILL, (D) MISSOURI: Do you believe you're catching most of the fraud, Mr. MacFarlane (ph), or do you believe there's more?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe there may be considerably more.

LAWRENCE: Alarming when 18 employees have been convicted of falsifying background checks. In one case, a record searcher faked 1600 credit checks that she never completed. Even worse, this woman's own background check to get her job by another investigator - someone convicted in a separate case.

The inspector general calls it --

PATRICK MCFARLAND, INSPECTOR GEN., OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MGMT: It's a clear threat to the national security. If a background investigation is not conducted properly all other steps taken when issuing a security clearance are called into question.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The background investigation process is broken.

LAWRENCE : Former Defense Department official John Hamre filled out a standard government form to renew his top secret clearance. What shocked him was the investigator spent hours asking the most basic questions.

JOHN HAMRE, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: Is your wife really Julie? Did you really go to school at Augustana College? Did you really live at this address? I mean they simply read the form to me, and I simply said it was true.

LAWRENCE: Hamre says with the personal information online a computer could do the same background check for $100.

HAMRE: Instead we're spending $4,000 to have people conduct rather -- conduct investigations that aren't revealing anything.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: I want to bring in Chris Lawrence at the Pentagon. Tell us more about the vetting procedure. Who is in charge of this?

LAWRENCE: It's technically, Suzanne, an office called the Office of Personnel Management, a federal agency. But they basically farm the job out to contractors like a lot of work that's done in the federal government. This company, USIS, was the one that handled Edward Snowden's background check.

In about 70 percent of the people who do this work are contractors. Now OPM says they don't have the resources to do the kind of oversight that a program this important requires, but John Hamre told me it's more a matter of how they are managing money and the fact they are locked in a lot of these old practices left over from the 1950's and 60's that don't reflect how people live today. Spending all this time on neighbors and things like that when a lot of people's lives are lived online.

He said about 90 percent of this could be done by a computer and the money that's freed up you could take the people and really get them out there in the field and do some digging to make these investigations more thorough.

MALVEAUX: Point well taken. Thanks.

Coming up, the jury is now picked. We're talk about six women who will hear the case against George Zimmerman. Could this help or hurt him?

An autopsy reveals James Gandolfini died of heart attack. "The Sopranos" star was found by his son, Michael. Now his family is talking. We have what they are saying up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: It was just two days ago since Emmy award-winning actor James Gandolfini died in an Italian hotel. This was during his family vacation. He was just 51 years old. Today we got word from Italian authorities the cause of his death. Stephanie Elam, she joins us from Los Angeles, and what do we know about his final hours?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are learning that it was just natural causes that killed James Gandolfini. Michael Kobold, who's a Gandolfini family friend held a press conference earlier today in Rome saying that nothing out of ordinary was found during that autopsy. Kobold says Gandolfini had been happy, enjoying his Italian vacation with his family.

Earlier on the day he died, he took his son Michael to the Vatican before eating dinner with him at the hotel. After that, Michael was worried about how long his father had been in the bathroom and because his dad didn't answer his knocking, Michael alerted the hotel staff who then knocked down the door and called emergency services. Doctors attempted to resuscitate him for 40 minutes but were unable to restart his heart. We understand that is wife Deborah Lin and their 8-month- old daughter were traveling with the actor. At this point the family is focusing on getting Gandolfini's body back to the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL KOBOLD, FRIEND OF JAMES GANDOLOFINI: The body has been turned over to the funeral director who will be performing whatever he does to embalm the body. In Italy it can take up to ten days to get all the necessary documents and paper work to re-patriot (pg) the body. We are looking forward to working with the Italian government and officials to shorten that process. Looks like they are doing everything on their end which is wonderful so we can get Jim's body back sooner. Once we have the clearance we will put him on a flight to America.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ELAM: The family hopes the funeral will be held either Thursday, Friday or Saturday in New York. This will depend on how long that process takes in Italy.

MALVEAUX: And, Stephanie I understand he was supposed to be heading to this film festival today to get an award. I assume they probably have some sort of memorial or recognition for him today? Is that right?

ELAM: Right today was the day he was supposed to go to the Sicilian town for the Taramina (ph) Film Festival. They are saying they are going to hold a tribute to Gandolfini's lifetime achievements. That will happen in place of the award ceremony. Still marking the life of an actor so well loved and appreciated for the roles he depicted, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right. Stephanie, thank you so much. Appreciate it. For more on his life visit our website, CNN.com.

Now opening statements in George Zimmerman's murder trial that starts Monday. Turns out the jury of peers -- all women and almost all white. They're going to have to try to set aside personal feelings about weapons and what they have heard about this highly publicized shooting of Trayvon Martin which happened last year in Sanford, Florida. Alina Machado has more on the jurors.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Most of the six women who will be deciding George Zimmerman's fate have had some connection to firearms. It's a common thread shared among half the 40 perspective jurors in the pool.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My husband had a .9 mm.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My brother-in-law has hunting rifles.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I fired a gun one time in my life and fell onto my butt.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have two handguns.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have any acknowledge of shooting a gun yourself?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can shoot a gun.

MACHADO: Those answers are not surprising to people familiar with Florida, a state where there are a more than a million concealed weapon permit holders.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Florida's a very firearms law friendly state.

MACHADO: Cord Byrd (ph has spent more than 15 years handling firearm law cases in both state and federal court. He says having an all female jury could help Zirmmmerman's defense. CORD BYRD, FIREARMS LAW ATTORNEY: As Samuel Colt (ph) said, "God made man, but Sam Colt (ph) made a meatball," meaning that anyone can use a firearm to defend themselves against a larger, stronger assailant.