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Why Bin Laden Wore A Cowboy Hat; Asian Pilot Being Interviewed; Passengers Told To Remain Seated; Flight Attendant Hailed As A Hero; Passengers Chided For Grabbing Bags; Former Ohio Captives Speak Out; More Testimony In Zimmerman Trial; Death Toll Climbs In Train Disaster; Egypt To Investigate Killings; New Report Sheds Light on Bin Laden's Domestic Life; George Zimmerman Trial Continues; The Real Cost of Home Renovations

Aired July 09, 2013 - 13:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: A forensic expert testifies about the autopsy on Trayvon Martin. Now, he says it backs up George Zimmerman's account of what actually happened that night. We're going to go live back into the courthouse as soon as it is back in session. They've got a quick lunch break there. We're going to get you back up to speed on earlier today's testimony.

We're also following these other big stories.

An heroic flight attendant talks about the frightening moments after that crash landing at the San Francisco Airport. Today, investigators talk with the man behind the controls.

And three women held captive for about a decade. They are now speaking out. We're going to hear from them for the first time since they were rescued two months ago.

And odd, new details about terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden. Find out why he wore a cowboy hat while working in his garden.

This is CNN NEWSROOM, and I'm Suzanne Malveaux. I want to get right to it. Today's safety investigators, they're interviewing the pilot who was actually at the controls when the Asiana Airlines' plane crashed landed in San Francisco Airport. Now, the interview is a critical part of this investigation, but officials say it is too early to say whether or not pilot error was in fact a factor. Two people died in that accident, more than 180 people injured.

I want to bring in our Dan Simon at the San Francisco Airport. And, Dan, let's start off with this interview. It seems pretty crucial here what the pilot has to say. And we know a couple of things. First of all that the pilot had never landed this type of plane at San Francisco's airport, that Boeing 777, only had 43 hours of experience on that aircraft. Is that what they are focusing on today?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're going to be focusing on everything, Suzanne. This is day two of those interviews. We believe these interviews are still in progress. And, obviously, what the intentions were, what the procedures were, what was follow, what was going through all of their minds as they tried to navigate the runway. Of course, we don't know what the cause is of this accident. We know that the plane was going too slowly to make a successful landing. But, of course, what the pilots have to say, what the captain has to say will be a critical part of the investigation -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: And, Dan, we're already hearing from the crew members, and they've been giving quite a number of stories about this. This is just moments after the crash landing. There is one, in particular, that everybody's focused on. This is a flight attendant who essentially very heroic, trying to get these passengers off the plane and says that the captain told her to hold off on evacuating some of those passengers. What do you -- what do you know about that?

SIMON: This is very, very striking, Suzanne, and will obviously be an important part of the investigation as well. This is a veteran flight attendant. She had been with this airline for nearly two decades. So, put yourself in her position. Here you are, the flight has just crashed and she knocks on the cockpit door and has an exchange with the captain and she asks, should we begin the evacuation orders or the procedures? And the pilot instructs her to basically hold on. This is what she had to say. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEE YOON-HYE, FLIGHT ATTENDANT, ASIANA AIRLINES (translator): First, after the plane stopped completely, I went into the cockpit to see whether the captain was alive or not. I knocked the cockpit door. The captain opened it and I asked, are you OK, captain? And he said, yes, I'm OK. I asked, should I perform evacuation? And he told me to wait. So, I closed the door and made an announcement because the passengers were upset and things were confusing. I said, ladies and gentlemen, our plane has completely stopped. Please remain seated. The plane will not move anymore.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON: Well, if, in fact, that account is true, Suzanne, it's very bizarre and very curious why the pilot would say hold on. You know, here you are. You just crash landed. All the passengers, of course, are very anxious and they want to get off as soon as possible. And to delay that in any fashion just seems to, you know, fly in the face of common sense.

In any event, all that will be looked at by investigators, not just what happened in terms of crash but the evacuation procedures as well -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: And, Dan, the flight attendant that you mentioned that we know that she was the last person to leave the plane, the burning wreckage and she had helped guide a lot of frantic passengers off the plane and she didn't even notice to stop, that she was injured herself. Ian Lee actually has more about what happened after the crash.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) IAN LEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT(voice-over): Moments after the Asiana Boeing 777 settles, emergency slides inflate. Passengers escape the burning wreckage while flight attendants scramble inside to clear the jet. Now, those flight attendants are being called heroes. Veteran flight attendant Lee Yoon-Hye recalls the impact.

YOON-HYE (translator): It was not the landing we usually do and it was even more than a hard landing. So, we bumped hard, bumped again, leaned to both sides and stopped. Then the emergency slide popped from the first door on the right and it popped inward. That's when I knew that the situation was not normal.

LEE: With chaos all around, the cabin managers' training kicked in. Lee struggled to get injured passengers to safety unaware she had a broken tailbone.

YOON-HYE (translator): My brain was clear and I planned what I had to do immediately. Actually, I was not thinking but acting. As soon as I heard emergency escape, I conducted the evacuation. When there was a fire, I was just thinking to extinguish it not thinking that it's too dangerous or what am I going to do?

LEE: Rescue workers arrived quickly to assist the evacuation. They were impressed with the crew's quick action.

JOANNE HAYES-WHITE, CHIEF, SAN FRANCISCO FIRE DEPARTMENT: I interacted with one of the crew managers. She was so composed, I actually thought that she was brought in from the terminal, and she actually had evacuated herself off the plane. So, she was not concerned for her safety but everyone else's. So, I was very impressed with the crew as well.

SIMON: The training flight attendants receive at Asiana is quite extensive, almost 180 hours. The month-long course has a special 22- hour focus on emergency escapes, something the cabin manager is known to have excelled in. Many believe it's this training that prevented a higher death toll.

Ian Lee, CNN, Seoul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Some crash survivors are being criticized now because they collected their carry-on bags before actually getting off the plane. They are accused of putting other passengers at risk during this emergency evacuation. The hot topic on Chinese social media platforms. And like China's Twitter service, one person wrote, I am so disappointed those passengers think their bags is more important than other people's lives. Another said, foreigners, especially Americans, don't understand that in China, human lives are cheaper than money. But others say the passengers may have just been stunned, not thinking clearly. In defending them, one person wrote, grabbing the bag is an instinct response.

Three women held captive for about a decade, well, they are now breaking their silence since their ordeal. This is in that Cleveland house that ended two months ago when they were rescued. Well, Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight, they are speaking out in this newly posted YouTube video.

Our Pamela Brown, she shares with us now what they are saying about their ordeal.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In a four-minute YouTube video, Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight are speaking publicly for the first time to say, simply, thanks.

AMANDA BERRY: I want to thank everyone who has helped me and my family through this entire ordeal. Everyone who has been there to support us has been a blessing to have such an outpouring of love and kindness.

GINA DEJESUS: I would say thank you for the support.

MICHELLE KNIGHT: Thank you, everyone, for your love, support and donations which helped me build a brand new life.

BROWN: More than a million dollars has been donated to the Courage Fund to help the women heal after a decade of alleged abuse and captivity by Ariel Castro. Castro was charged with beating, raping and starving them, even forcing the miscarriage of a baby he fathered. Yet, in the video made last week, the women seemed upbeat, not bitter.

BERRY: I'm getting stronger each day and having my privacy has helped immensely. I ask that everyone continue to respect our privacy and give us time to have a normal life.

KNIGHT: Be positive. Learn that it's important to give than to receive. Thank you for all your prayers.

BROWN: Michelle Knight, held the longest, appeared to suffer the worst abuse. Here, she had said the pain of the ordeal and what she learned from it.

KNIGHT: I will not let the situation define who I am. I will define the situation. I don't want to be consumed by hatred. With that being said, we need to take a leap of faith and know that god is in control.

BROWN: They were once known only as silent victims. Now, Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight want the world to know they have a voice and have reclaimed their lives.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Pamela Brown joins us live. And you've been following this from the very beginning, Pamela. So, tell us a little bit why you think they came out now, the timing of this announcement, and do we think this is the format they'll continue to speak about their recovery? BROWN (live): Well, it's a good question, Suzanne. I spoke to the women's attorney, I spoke to a family friend of one of -- of one of the victims. And I'm told that this is essentially a way for these young women to give a direct thank you to all the people who have not only supported them but also donated to the Courage Fund. As you heard in that story, more than a million dollars has been donated to the Courage Fund.

As the attorney told me, Jim Wooley, he said this was their message delivered the way they wanted it to be delivered. And it was way not only to say thank you, to let everyone know that they're moving forward with their lives, but also to reiterate that they need privacy, they need to continue to heal. And the family friend I spoke with reiterated to me that they are not planning on doing any sit-down interviews until this case is over with, Arial Castro.

MALVEAUX: And, Pamela, I know there's been just such an outpouring of support for these young women. And it's amazing to see the pictures of them as young girls and now as young women. The million dollars that is in this fund, what do they hope to accomplish? Is this part for education or is it for therapy? How do they -- how do they want to use those resources?

BROWN: Well, what we know is that instead of choosing to take this money in a lump sum, that the young women have decided to have it divided up. It will be divided up into four separate trusts, three for the women and then also for Amanda Berry's little six-year-old daughter. And from there, we're not sure exactly how they plan on using the money, Suzanne. But we know that every penny will go into these trusts. And in addition to the money they are receiving, there has also been several offers, several services offered to the young women. In fact, one university actually offered free tuition for the young women. So, a lot of companies and individuals stepping up to help them out.

MALVEAUX: A lot of hard work ahead but obviously a bright future for those three.

Thank you so much, Pamela. I appreciate it.

BROWN: Thank you.

MALVEAUX: Here is what we're also working on for this hour. George Zimmerman's defense team wants the jurors to see a 3D reenactment of the struggle between Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin. Is the judge actually going to allow this? We're live inside the courtroom, up ahead.

Plus, he wore a cowboy hat while tending to his garden. That's right, we're talking about Osama Bin Laden. New details about how Bin Laden lived his last few years and how he tried to avoid capture.

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MALVEAUX: The death toll in the Canadian train explosion is now up to 13. Dozens are still missing however. Investigators say some victims were likely vaporized by the sheer intensity of that fire you're seeing there. About 1,200 people who were evacuated now being back -- allowed back into their homes and the chairman of the company that owns the railway tells the Montreal newspaper there is evidence the train had been tampered with. He doesn't believe it was malicious or an act of terrorism however. Investigators weighing in today saying they have seen no evidence of sabotage.

A fire in the train's locomotive was put out by the fire department hours before the accident.

And in Egypt, they are trying to get a handle on the violence. State media says that the government will investigate Monday's killings. It was called bloody Monday. In Cairo, 51 people were killed, 435 wounded in fighting between military forces and supporters of the opposed President Mohamed Morsy. This was the deadliest day there since the revolution that forced out former President Mubarak from office back in 2011.

Egypt's interim leader, Adly Mansour, has issued a decree giving himself limited power to make laws. He has outlined a timetable as well for new elections.

We are also learning some odd new details, this is about the final years of Osama Bin Laden's life and what he actually did to protect his cover while he was hiding from the United States. A new report, leaked to Pakistani media, says that among other things the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks wore a cowboy hat with a big brim while tending to his garden and playing with his grandchildren. CNN's national security analyst Peter Bergen explains why.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Bin Laden would wear a cowboy hat when he was walking around his compounds to prevent prying eyes or satellites seeing him. He was a quite involved father and grandfather. He was supervising a dozen kids and grandkids' playtime. He was awarding people prizes if they grew particularly good vegetables in the vegetable plot in the garden. And so, it gives a sense of the domestic Bin Laden at the same time explaining why he was able to live undetected in Pakistan for nine years.

One interesting detail, his wife had four kids. One of his wives had four kids on the run. When she had -- she went to Pakistani hospital. They would inform the doctors and nurses that she was deaf and dumb. So there would be no questions asked of Bin Laden's wife who she was, why she was speaking Arabic, why she wasn't a local, these kinds of things. Bin Laden was practicing careful operational security, as was his family and the bodyguards who were protecting him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: That's fascinating report. It was reportedly written by former top officials of the Pakistani government. In it, they blast the Pakistani authorities for failing to keep Bin Laden out of the country, also for failing to prevent the U.S. raid that killed him two years ago. Fast moving tropical storm Chantal churning towards the eastern Caribbean. That's right now. It's packing winds of about 50 miles per hour add well as bringing torrential rain. Could swamp Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. We're going to keep tracking the storm's path as it develops.

They both said it was their son screaming on those 911 tapes. That call with heartbreaking testimony from the mothers of Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman. But is it a good idea to have family members take the stand? Up next. The risk involving having loved ones speak to the jury.

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MALVEAUX: We're watching the courtroom in Sanford, Florida. You can see the live pic there. That is just the seal. They're on a lunch break. They'll be back shortly, probably about 10 - 15 minutes. Testimony set to resume any moment. This is George Zimmerman's murder trial. We'll take you back to the courtroom as soon as that starts, just moments away.

Most emotional testimony we heard so far in the trial has come from, no doubt, the family members. Both from the victim as well as the defendant. You might think the jurors give special consideration to the family's testimony, right? Doesn't always work that way. Here's Randi Kaye.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Dueling testimony from mothers on both sides over just who was screaming during the 911 call.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That screaming or yelling do you recognize that?

SYBRINA FULTON, TRAYVON MARTIN'S MOTHER: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who do you recognize that to be?

FULTON: Trayvon Benjamin Martin.

UNIDENTIFIEF MALE: Do you know whose voice that was screaming in the background?

GLADYS ZIMMERMAN, GEORGE ZIMMERMAN'S MOTHER: Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whose voice was that?

ZIMMERMAN: My son, George.

KAYE: During emotional trials, family members are often star witnesses, put on the stand for their sometimes emotional and personal insight in hopes of gaining favor with the jury. The question is, is it effective? Sometimes yes and sometimes no.

MARK NEJAME, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: A lot of times jurors will disregard family testimony because they simply believe there's so much bias involved that that's not a neutral witness or necessarily a truthful witness.

KAYE: But that hasn't stopped attorneys from trying. Sometimes the person testifying helps. After sentencing one of the killers to death, several jurors from a horrific triple murder case in Cheshire, Connecticut said they were amazed by the strength of the victim's husband and father in court.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Seeing him there, seeing his courage and seeing his strength after everything he's been through, that transferred to us.

KAYE: But, it can be risky and backfire. After Michael Jackson was acquitted of child molestation charges, jurors said they had a hard time believing the accuser's own mother.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just couldn't abide the story of the mother for one. We just thought that shw as not a credible person.

KAYE: In George Zimmerman's case, both sides see it as a risk worth taking. Two members of his family testified and three from Trayvon Martin's.

TRACY MARTIN, TRAYVON MARTIN'S FATHER: As I said over and over, that was my best friend in life and to have him gone is a tragedy.

JORGE MEZA, GEORGE ZIMMERMAN'S UNCLE: I was on the computer and that voice just came and hit me. It hit me in a way I heard that but I felt it inside my heart that is George.

NEJAME: They've got to believe somebody and a lot of it goes down to credibility.

KAYE: And with a case where the facts remain so elusive, credibility may ultimately be the key.

Randi Kaye, CNN New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Anybody that has done home renovations will tell you it's a long process but Christine Romans, she's got some basic steps that will help make it all worth it.

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MALVEAUX: Good news. Americans getting better at paying their bills. An American Banker's Association report says delinquencies on bank- issued credit cards have dropped below 2.5 percent. That's right. That is the lowest level since 1990. Experts say that tising stock prices and better jobs played a big role in that drop. We're doing a quick check of the market. Dow up 74 points. Could be the fourth day of gains if it stays in positive territory. Looks good so far. Today was also the start of earning season with Alcoa reporting bigger profits than expected. All good news.

Home renovations can be a huge headache but are they worth it? Christine Romans is here with a few pointers on how to come out ahead. This is with HGTV's Mike Holmes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINE ROMANS,N CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Mike Holmes knows how to speak money like how to get the most for your money when renovating your home.

MIKE HOLMES, HOST "HOLMES ON HOMES": One slow down, two educate yourself, three find the right contractor.

Educating yourself is really extreme part of this. What products should I be using? What do I need to know? What permits do I need?

ROMANS: Mike is known for his show "Holmes on Homes" on HGTV. He's also the author of a new book called "Mike Holmes Kitchens and Bathrooms."

Kitchens and bathroom projects are the most labor intensive, time consuming, and expensive, and you won't get all of your renovation investment back. Typically when you sell, you'll get 70 to 75 percent of your money back from a kitchen remodel, and 65 percent from a bathroom. Some of the worst returns come from sun rooms and home offices. More than half of that investment you will not recoup. So wht renovate if you won't get all your money back? Because you can't sell unless you're on par with the neighborhood, maybe, or you want to stay -- you want o live in the house and you need an upgrade. In both cases get a contractor who won't cause more problems down the road.

HOLMES: I don't care if he's young, middle age or old. I don't care. Check them out. Is he licensed? Is he insured? Does he carry WSIB or some type of coverage that protects you? These are the little things, but to go up and actually see his work and pay attention to what he's saying. If he doesn't talk a lot, don't hire him. If he talks a lot and you may have run out of patience because of it, that's a good thing because they are trying to teach you. They are trying to let you know what they know. If they don't do exactly what they say they're going to do, and I'm talking about I'll be there at 9:00 and they show up at 10:00, or not till the next day, don't talk to them.

ROMANS: The housing market is recovering, but it's going to be years before home prices are back where they were. That means being very careful about every penny you invest in that house you might not get it back. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: All right. Thank you.

And of course, you see on the screen there, the little box. That's because we're waiting for the trial to resume. They are on their lunch break. They should be back in a couple of minutes or so. We're told that Dr. Vincent Di Maio, he's the forensic expert that we've heard throughout the morning, he's going to return to give more testimony right after the break.

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