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Large Crowd Returns to Cairo Square; State Winding Down in Zimmerman Trial; Remembering 19 Fallen Heroes; Police Find Hernandez's Secret Apartment

Aired July 04, 2013 - 14:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Fred, thank you so much. Happy Fourth to you. Happy Fourth of July to everyone watching here.

And as you spend this holiday with your loved ones, keep in mind there are 19 families missing their men, their husbands, their brothers, their sons, their heroes on this holiday. Coming up, we will take you live to Prescott, Arizona, to see how this community is paying tribute to the Granite Mountain Hot Shot crew. And you will hear from their friends and their family on this Fourth of July.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.

Also today, the final witnesses. The state wrapping up its case against this man, George Zimmerman, with a powerful witness in its back pocket, Trayvon Martin's mother. What she could say on the stand and the impact it'll all have on the all-female jury. Also, look at this. A remarkable rescue. A car swallowed by a sink hole. One woman trapped inside. People frantically dialing 911 to help her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A car just fell through the street. It is in a hole. It sunk in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Amazingly, the driver isn't seriously hurt. She is talking about her survival. We'll share her story with you.

Also ahead today, oh, boy, oh, boy, it's a Fourth of July tradition that we can't apparently get enough of. The annual hotdog eating contest at Coney Island. They have just crowned this year's winner, ladies and gentlemen. Ayie (ph), yie, yie (ph). It was a record- setting performance.

Fourth of July here at home. I hope you're having a fun one. But over the past couple of hours, in Cairo, the big, massive crowds have returned to Tahrir Square, folks. Live pictures. Tahrir Square just past 8:00 at night local time. Look at this. As you remember, from the scene this time yesterday, Egyptians by the hundreds of thousands embracing the fall of their religiously oriented government. The first elected government ever overthrown. So what now? Well, this is the new leader. His name is Adli Mansour. He is a judge. Mansour is temporary, tasked with leading an interim government and organizing elections. Now, keep in mind, he was hand- selected by the military. His appointment announced by General Abdel Fattah Sisi, the head of the armed forces there in Egypt.

We saw al-Sisi speaking yesterday. You know, he rolled out the tanks yesterday in support of all of those protesters and later announced the ouster of Egypt's first elected leader, Mohamed Morsy. Morsy, president yesterday, under house arrest today.

Also arrested, an unknown number of Morsy supporters and Islamic religious leaders. Keep in mind, Morsy's election just about one year ago sent shock waves through Washington, which feared his ties to Islamic fundamentalists.

Bottom line today, Egypt has called off its first attempt at democracy. But it is vowing to try again. The coup that toppled Mohamed Morsy was largely bloodless and apparently quite popular, at least for now. Joining me live from Cairo is CNN's Karl Penhaul. Also joining me, Christiane Amanpour, who will join the discussion there from New York.

But, Karl, just first to you. As we're looking at some of these live pictures, here we go again. You know, night number two. The crowd has returned to Tahrir Square. Tell me why.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. Egyptians are certainly up to party for a second night. During the course of the day, we saw the numbers dwindle to no more than about a few hundred in the square. But now as night has fallen and the workday is over, they've come back again in their thousands. Firecrackers are going off and it is certainly a celebratory move.

Judging by the people out there, you would never imagine that their constitution has been suspended. And although they now have an interim president nominated by the military, there are still certainly no presidential elections scheduled for now. But there is one cause for their celebration, and that is the fact that President Morsy is no more and that as far as we know he is detained and there is also apparently underway a witch hunt against many other of the senior members of the Muslim Brotherhood, Brooke.

BALDWIN: And, Karl, you mentioned, let's go back to, you know, the word that we've gotten in the last couple of hours, that Egypt's supreme leader has now, you know, been arrested, as well as a former supreme Muslim leader. Karl, is there any sense that the military has it in for Muslim fundamentalists? Is there any sense how far they want to take this in terms of crushing their opponents?

PENHAUL: That is certainly what a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood has told during the course of the day. He says he no longer believes, in his words, that this was just a simple military coup. He says that things are going on much further and there is a real vendetta now to take the fight to the Muslim Brotherhood and actually dismantle the Muslim Brotherhood. We aren't - we haven't got exact figures right now of how many Muslim Brotherhood members have been detained, but a prosecutor general's office has told us that they have issued arrest warrants for 250 members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Add to that as well the fact that the military went in and closed down five TV stations that they believe were very close to the former government and that is what the Muslim Brotherhood members are saying is a witch hunt that is going on against them right now, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Karl Penhaul, thank you so much.

Christiane Amanpour, a stunning scene. Guys, let's stay with the live pictures in Cairo.

Christine, I wanted to ask you, and I will in just a moment, just about the U.S. role here, but I have to get your impressions of the scene. I mean you were on live right around this time yesterday. It was historic, the toppling of the democratically elected president. And here we have thousands returning to Tahrir Square, fireworks. What do you make of this?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Well, I'm not entirely sure. They were told basically to disband, I think, yesterday after all of this and to continue being peaceful, which those in Tahrir Square are mostly. They've actually won. And perhaps they're just still celebrating their victory.

But here's the thing. What it means is we're going to be watching to see whether street politics is going to develop into actual politics. And this is a crucial moment for Egypt because this overthrow of the first democratically elected government there has put into play a very serious issue. And that is, we don't know exactly how it's going to proceed in these intervening months. We still have no date for elections, either parliamentary or presidential, or, indeed, to rewrite the constitution. They've said a few months, but we don't really know what that means.

But what we really do know is that there are no formed opposition groups that have any maturity at the moment. So this -- this moment is very, very important for those people who have come out in the tens of millions, demanded the overthrow of their elected government, got that, and now we have to see whether they can actually develop some kind of political future. What is their bottom line? How are they going to, you know, move forward?

BALDWIN: I have to ask you about that because, as we talk about this democratically elected leader, Mohamed Morsy at the time, you know, perhaps his roadmap for democracy wasn't clear. And here we have one year later, he's out. You know, you have the opposition now saying they will be holding free and fair elections. Who's to say we won't see this play out one year from now?

AMANPOUR: Well, some -- some people have actually raised that concern. They're very concerned about that. That it's a series of -- of change by street protest. Obviously we saw it in January of 2011 when they all came out and Mubarak was ousted. We then saw it again when the people wanted the military to go back into their barracks. That was last year. And Morsy did put the military back into their barracks, out of the political role which they had had governing the country. And now here they are again. So as I say, this is an emerging democracy with no political parties other than the Muslim Brotherhood.

Now, the Muslim Brotherhood has called for a peaceful, they say, demonstration tomorrow after Friday prayers because, as you know, they reject what's happened. They say that this is the overthrow of a legitimately elected government. And it was the overthrow of a legitimately elected government by the military.

You know, there's a huge war of words, as you know, on social media inside Egypt and around about whether it was a coup or not and everybody's playing these word games over whether it was a coup or not. But in Europe, elsewhere, all the headlines are, you know, coup, toppling, overthrow, deposed, whatever. The elected president has been removed by the military. And the military is in control now. There should be no mistake about it. Although there are judges who are fronting this and there are opposition members who have come out and supported this. So we really, as i say, need to know what happens going forward.

BALDWIN: Right.

AMANPOUR: And it seems to me that Egypt's partners outside need to put on a lot of pressure to make sure, as President Obama has said, that a return to civilian democratic rule happens very, very quickly.

BALDWIN: Christiane Amanpour, thank you. We'll have the conversation again. As you point out, Muslim Brotherhood coming out tomorrow. The big question, how do they react? What happens to that group next? Christiane, thank you very much.

And now to some of the hottest stories in a flash. Rapid fire. Roll it.

There is new hope today in the case of this British toddler who disappeared six years ago in Portugal. Investigators say they have, quote/unquote, "new findings" and "new witness evidence" and there is a possibility Madeleine McCann is still alive. British police have identified 38 people of interest they say they hope to interview. This three-year-old was on vacation with her parents when she disappeared.

Court documents confirm South African's worst fears, that Nelson Mandela could soon die. The documents filed this week stem from a fight within Mandela's family over where he and three of his deceased children should be buried. Current President Jacob Zuma visited Mandela today and said he remains in critical, but stable condition. As you know, he's been in the hospital ever since the 8th of June.

And, oh, boy, you've got to see this. Cursing, yelling threats. Parents at a school board meeting in Spring Valley, New York, faced all of that this week from one of the board's own lawyers. Watch.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're still smirking at me. Please.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, would you please shut up, for Christ's sake.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You really need to get out! You need to get out!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Oh, that is just a taste of what school board Attorney Christopher Kirby (ph) dished out. The board sat quietly while parents demanded Kirby be kicked out of the meeting and fired. Do you hear the bleeping? It's because it only got worse in the parking lot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are you hiding behind, your paycheck?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shut up you fat (ph) (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The board's president says it is deeply troubled by what happened and will meet soon to discuss what should be done.

A woman Toledo, Ohio, survives this harrowing ordeal when a huge sink hole opens up under her car. I mean the pictures tell the story here, folks. Witnesses, they didn't waste any time. They picked up the phone. They're dialing 911, trying to get the police to hurry, respond to the scene.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, a car just fell through the -- a car - a car just fell through the street on Detroit and Bancroft. The hole opened up and it --

911 OPERATOR: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes (ph).

911 OPERATOR: Listen. Detroit and Bancroft. What kind of vehicle?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know. A tan Malibu. It is in the hole. It sunk in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The driver of that car, Pamela Knox, she tried to stay calm during this whole thing, praying while her car sat at the bottom of this hole.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAMELA KNOX, DRIVER WHO SURVIVED SINKHOLE: It wasn't like and then that -- it was over. No, it was falling and rolling. As the car was falling, you know, I just kept calling on the name of Jesus and I just kept saying Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Thank goodness she's OK. She actually had to climb out of the hole -- there she is -- on a ladder. The city says a collapsed sewer caused that sink hole.

Coming up next, as the prosecution prepares to wrap up its case in the trial of George Zimmerman, we're going to take a look at the trial thus far. The biggest hits, the biggest misses in the trial of the man accused of murdering 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. That's coming up.

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MAJOR CASEY JAMES MINOR (ph): I'm Major Casey James Minor from Manhattan Beach, California, currently deployed to Afghanistan. I just want to take this opportunity to wish southern California, the PAC 12 an awesome Independence Day. Happy Fourth of July. I'll be home soon.

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BALDWIN: The courtroom, the stage for the murder trial of George Zimmerman, it's in the dark today. It's a holiday. But already the state's remaining witnesses are in the spotlight. You have Trayvon Martin's family, who've been sitting there in the courtroom. They take possibly the stand tomorrow, along with the medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Trayvon Martin himself.

To talk about this, what we can expect tomorrow, huge day for the state. You have Tanya Miller, defense attorney and former prosecutor, and Michael Grieco, criminal defense attorney in Miami.

So welcome to both of you.

TANYA MILLER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY AND FORMER PROSECUTOR: Thank you.

BALDWIN: And, Tanya, let me just begin with you. You and I sat here yesterday and we were watching a lot of this.

MILLER: Yes, we did. Yes, we did.

BALDWIN: Tomorrow's a huge day -

MILLER: Absolutely.

BALDWIN: Because we know the state will be resting.

MILLER: Yes.

BALDWIN: And we're guessing, we don't have the witness list, we're guessing possibly Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon Martin's mother, takes the stand. What -- how does the state handle this so this is a home run for them?

MILLER: Well, the state, at this point, is going to do what they really missed an opportunity to do with Rachel Jeantel, and that's humanize Trayvon Martin. We are going to hear from his mother. We expect heart-wrenching, emotional testimony from his mother that's going to really bring that back in the forefront of this jury. Remind them that this case is about the loss of a child who was on his way home from the 7-Eleven unarmed.

BALDWIN: And, Michael, as you have this grieving mother on the stand, I'm sure a very poignant witness indeed, how do you, if you're the defense attorney, how do you cross-examine someone like that?

MICHAEL GRIECO, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You have to do it very delicately. Good morning to both of you.

MILLER: Good morning.

GRIECO: It's very tough. When you're dealing with grieving families or when you're dealing with children or any type of sensitive witness, you have to really try to empathize with what's going on and you need to appreciate that, yes, somebody died here. There is a tragedy. But you need to make sure that you are able to point out delicately that the person that's testifying does have an interest in this, that they do have a motivation to lie. You have to be able to attack their credibility without looking like you're attacking because the prosecution is very dependent upon these witnesses to bring in the emotion that's required in order for them to get to a second degree murder conviction.

BALDWIN: Let me stay with you, Michael, because we've been watching this trial play out the last two different - two weeks. These are supposed to be state witnesses. Some of them, at the end of the day, sort of appeared defense witnesses sort of depending on your perspective. Let me just put you on the hot seat and ask you, what do you think the biggest mistake or the biggest miss has been so far, either for the prosecution or the defense?

GRIECO: Well, listen, trial is like a game of chess, you really don't know who's winning or losing. You know, it's what the jurors are seeing. I think that Miss Jeantel's testimony really hurt the prosecution. And if they had known in advance that that was going to be pretty damning testimony for them, they shouldn't have started so early on with that.

BALDWIN: Why do you think that because others say she was real, she was authentic, it resonated with the jurors?

GRIECO: No, I think that she got caught up in statements -- in conflicting statements on both sides of it. The defense did a pretty good job of rattling her, making her seem not credible. I disagree with that. I think just because people are claiming that she was real or that she showed raw emotion, I think they were able to make their points regarding her motivation as well regarding -- as opposed to - I'm sorry, her motivation regarding wanting Trayvon's killer convicted. She had an interest in this.

BALDWIN: Do you agree?

MILLER: I don't agree.

BALDWIN: You're making eyes.

MILLER: I don't agree. I think the biggest mistake, if there's one to be made by the prosecution in this case, was not objecting to the testimony of Detective Serino where he said he believed George Zimmerman's version of events. I just think that was devastating testimony for the prosecution. The jury should not have ever heard anything like that. And I think he was asleep at the wheel. He woke up. He tried to correct it the next day, but I think that's something he should have stopped right then and there.

BALDWIN: Because objections, sort of like I liken this to basketball at the end of the game -

MILLER: That's right.

BALDWIN: The game's closely tied. You want to foul your guy, right, to slow down the momentum.

MILLER: Absolutely.

BALDWIN: It's the same thing in the courtroom.

MILLER: Absolutely. And I think he could have made better uses of his objection during that testimony.

And, you know, Rachel Jeantel, I completely disagree. I think that, you know, her demeanor on the stand, yes, was probably different than what some of the other witnesses presented. Some of the more professional, more polished witnesses. But at the end of the day, it's not about who talks the smoothest, who looks the prettiest. At the end of the day, it's whether or not you believe that person is telling you the truth.

BALDWIN: Tanya Miller, thank you. Come back next hour.

MILLER: Absolutely.

BALDWIN: I have more questions for you.

Michael Grieco, thank you to you as well.

GRIECO: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Let me move on because coming up next here, we're going to take you live to Prescott, Arizona, where on this Fourth of July a memorial service is underway for those 19 firefighters, sons and husbands and fathers lost their lives battling the wildfires over the weekend. That's next.

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BALDWIN: As you are hopefully out and about with your friends and family on this holiday, it's a painful Fourth of July for folks in Prescott, Arizona, because their friends and family and fellow firefighters are mourning these 19 fallen heroes of the Granite Mountain Hot Shot crew who were killed in that raging wildfire. These elite, I'm talking elite of the elite firefighters, they put themselves between this inferno and their community. I want to go straight to Prescott to CNN's Stephanie Elam who is there talking to some of these people.

And, Stephanie, I just have to ask here on this, you know, celebratory day, how are the people there honoring these 19 men?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's almost impossible to not see something, Brooke, that people in this community are doing to remember these 19 young men. Keep in mind, the average age was in their early 20s. So they're very young men. Some of them were expecting children. Some of them were already fathers. Obviously they're sons as well, uncles and brothers. And so you'll see throughout town, you'll see 19 flags that are up. You'll see that there are bottles of water out at the memorial. Or maybe even flowers as well.

But all in all, as this is a big weekend here, and this is a big rodeo weekend, it's a big draw to Prescott, but at this time people are still making sure that they remember their heroes here on this Fourth of July.

BALDWIN: We know right now that there are still, you know, that the fire rages on. There are firefighters out there battling that same wildfire that killed those 19 young men. The Yarnell Wildfire. It's about 45 percent contained. What are you hearing from those firefighters?

ELAM: Well, the one thing I can say that's good is that they've been able to contain it at about 8,400 acres for the last couple of days now. But it is not out and they are still working out there. They're still trying to make sure that this fire doesn't threaten any more buildings. And it's very hard because their hearts are broken. But at the same time, they have to fight this fire.

So one moment that did happen yesterday, the buggies that these 20 firefighters would ride in, that's what they're called, they're called buggies. They would go 10 men to each one. Those made a procession back into town. And it wasn't just here on the streets where there was an impromptu moment to honor these men as the buggies return, but there's also one out on the fire line. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLAY TEMPLIN, FIRE INCIDENT COMMANDER: We did have a hard day today with our fallen comrades' vehicles going down. We also had an operational pause today where we went ahead and considered those tasks we're asked to do, the environment we operate in, the hazards we face, the risk that we assess and how we mitigate those. And that's important for all of us as we move forward and take a moment to make certain that we are doing everything properly when it comes to attacking these fires.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM: And the other thing to keep in mind, it was lightning that started that fire on Friday of last week. And throughout the afternoon, since we've been here, we have seen these storms pick up. And yesterday this really, really strong wind coming through. And this is what some officials say may have happened before last Friday that led to the tragedy -- I'm sorry, last Sunday that led to the tragedy that we had here. So they're hoping that lightning is not more of an issue and that they're able to just get this fire down and get it done with, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Last thing they need. Stephanie Elam, thank you. We'll be talking once again next hour because coming up at 3:30 Eastern Time we're going to have special coverage of the Arizona wildfire's tragedy. We will talk to Stephanie again in Prescott. Also joining me live, a member of the fire department. He was the first to have to break the news to the public. He will tell us how others are now coming to the aid of the -- really the city, this town of Prescott, as we look at the lives of those 19 sons and brothers and husbands. Many of them were fathers. The families who never had the chance to say good-bye. Watch "Remembering the Hot Shots" one hour from now, 3:30 Eastern here on CNN.

Coming up, police find an apartment rented by Aaron Hernandez, the former NFL star. Inside they find ammunition, a white hoodie and a baseball cap. All evidence, they say, that could put the former football star in prison. We've got that for you after this break.

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