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Hundreds Die in Egypt Violence; Recorders Recovered From UPS Crash

Aired August 15, 2013 - 15:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hour two -- here we go. Thanks for staying with me. I'm Brooke Baldwin. You're watching CNN here.

And on of the questions everyone's asking today, is the US on the verge of losing one of our biggest allies in the Middle Eastt? Egypt, the bloodshed continues.

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BALDWIN (voiceover): The death toll surpassed 500 yesterday, and more than 3000 wounded. Today, with the future of our $1.3 billion aid package in question, the U.S. responded.

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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: While we want to sustain our relationship with Egypt, our traditional cooperation cannot continue as usual when civilians are being killed in the streets and rights are being rolled back.

As a result, this morning, we notified the Egyptian government that we are canceling our biannual joint military exercise which was scheduled for next month. Going forward, I have asked my national security team to assess the implications of the actions taken by the interim government and further steps that we may take as necessary with respect to the U.S./Egyptian relationship.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So you heard the president in the news there. Bright Star, that's the name of the joint military exercise. This goes back decades. That's been canceled.

But the aid continues as the U.S. reviews its funding. And as we continue talking Egypt here, I just have to warn you, some of the pictures are extremely graphic, but it's all part of the story that is unfolding on the streets of Cairo and beyond.

We have Arwa Damon. She is our senior international correspondent joining me live from Cairo, also John King, chief national correspondent, and Sahar Aziz, civil rights attorney just returned from Egypt.

Welcome to all of you.

Arwa, you're in Egypt. I want to begin with you. As we know, it's quieter today. You have reported on these curfews as well. But Egyptian state television is reporting threats from police that they will open fire. Do you know under what circumstances they would actually use live ammunition?

ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they have used it already, as is clear from that devastating death toll that left people reeling today.

The images of people over the bodies of their loved ones, their relatives, have truly been absolutely heartbreaking. That particular warning you're referring to, that comes after a number of government buildings, police stations were attacked by angry Morsy supporters. Many of them were torched. The government then coming out and saying that if terrorists, as they are calling them, do try to attack any government institutions, security forces, its forces are authorized to then use lethal force to respond to that threat.

This is a conflict that has not only seen the security forces go in and use violence to clear those two main demonstration sites, devastating the country, but one that has also seen the ripple-on effect of all that when we have government buildings, police stations coming under attack.

But also another disturbing aspect of all of this, Brooke, we have seen at least 30 churches being attacked in a span of 24 hours. Now we're hearing about reports of more attacks on churches as well.

BALDWIN: And as Arwa's reporting what's happening there on the ground in Cairo, Sahar, you were just there. You just returned from Egypt. You go every year. You wrote in a CNN op-ed that Egyptians are 90 percent Muslim, 10 percent Coptic Christians. And yet you say most want a secular government. Looking at all of this, listening to Arwa's reporting, what will it take for Egypt to get there?

SAHAR AZIZ, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Well, I think right now Egypt is more polarized than I have ever seen it. And I remember on July 3 and the days leading up to it how I would sit in my large family gathering and notice that everybody disagreed.

There was no -- nobody had the same perspective. And there were many different people who thought they supported what was happening on July 3 and others who completely disagreed with it. So I think the first thing that Egyptians have to do is overcome this very deep polarization that, if it's not resolved, is going to result in more violence, more bloodshed and unfortunately a continued military-run country.

BALDWIN: To remind the viewers, July 3 and the run-up, of course, that was the ousting of Mohammed Morsy.

John King, to you in Washington. Sahar, I'm going to get back to you. But the State Department says it is now reviewing that aid, the $1.3 billion the U.S. gives to Egypt each and every year. We heard the president today. He's canceling the joint military exercises.

My question to you is, how much is Egypt really listening to Washington? How much do they really care?

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, that is the golden question at the moment when it comes to this question, does the United States have any influence, is there anything the president can do?

The administration had hoped after the ouster of the Morsy government, one of the reasons it refuses to even use the word coup, although you had a military throw out of a democratically elected president, what else do you want to call it, was that it didn't want to trip the legal wire that would have forced it to cut off that aid.

It views the aid as the leverage. But it also concedes privately in conversations with senior administration officials that it has very little leverage over this military government, this interim government at this time. They believe that little bit would be sacrificed even more if they did suspend the aid, which is why the president hopes not to do that.

By going public today, the day after the secretary of state, the president of the United States is trying, trying to put his stamp out here, saying please dial it back. But, look, it's just clear from recent days, it's not like there's a receptive audience there.

They do hope because of the history of these military exercises, you have generals who can call generals and colonels who can call colonels. But that has been historically what they tell you, Brooke. When you ask, why have this -- why have this relationship, when you ask today, where's the proof it works, where's the proof you have influence, you mostly get silence.

BALDWIN: Sahar, as you talk about this sort of unprecedented polarized environment there, I just have to ask you just more on a personal note. You're a mother. You go back every year. How do you explain to your children, and how would you like to ultimately explain to your children what Egypt is?

AZIZ: Well, I think that's an excellent point, because my children were with me when I was there this past month.

And they were also with me when I was protesting in front of the White House in opposition to Mubarak and in support of the January 25 revolution. And so these last two or three years have been a very good lesson for them in democracy. And when we were in Egypt, they immediately noted the presence of soldiers right after July 3. And they asked me, why are there all of these men with guns everywhere?

When I explained to them what had happened, my 9-year-old daughter asked me curiously, I don't understand. I thought Morsy got elected. How can they just get rid of him? I thought if you get elected you get to stay until the next elections.

And so I think it is a very sad day for many of us, whether we live in Egypt or whether we live outside of Egypt, in terms of what the future holds, particularly for democracy in Egypt and how it will be able to have elections in the future that people will trust, that will be legitimate, that people can go to the ballot box and believe that their voices will be respected and that if for any reason the person that they elect fails, that the way you get rid of him is through advocacy, through informing the public, and through campaigning and defeating him in the next elections.

BALDWIN: Sahar Aziz, John King, my thanks to both you of, and of course Arwa Damon, who is there for us in Cairo.

We're going to have much more on the crisis in Egypt of course throughout the hour. At the half-hour, we will talk with a man here in studio seven, grew up in Egypt attended, one of the churches. You heard Arwa talking about the multitude of churches just being burned to the ground. We will talk to him live in just about 20 minutes from now. Stay tuned for that.

Here at home, NTSB officials have now recovered those data recorders from the deadly UPS cargo jet crash in Birmingham, Alabama. These are pictures. These are new pictures just into us here at CNN showing the aftermath, showing them going through piece by piece. An official says the recorders are so badly damaged, but they're hopeful the devices contain useful information that will solve the mystery of why this plane crashed.

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ROBERT SUMWALT, NTSB BOARD MEMBER: Initial information that we have, subject to verification, is that there was no distress call from the pilots.

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BALDWIN: The only two people on board, the pilot and co-pilot, were killed in the crash yesterday.

In San Diego, Mayor Bob Filner has been staying out of sight. But women who claim he sexually harassed them continue to speak. Now it is a great-grandmother, a senior citizen who works at City Hall. And another troubling development here for Mayor Filner, a memo from the San Diego city attorney says there is a way to remove the mayor without a recall.

CNN's Kyung Lah joins me from San Diego.

Kyung, before we get to this latest person coming forward with these allegations, let's talk about this memo, because how can the city remove this mayor without getting voters involved?

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, according to this memo that we obtained from the city attorney, it's basically another way.

They figured out a work-around, essentially, using a little known section of the city charter, the city charter being the constitution of the city. This deals with unauthorized payments of city money, taxpayer money. And, in this case, when we're dealing with Bob Filner, it's the use of the credit card.

Now, CNN earlier this week reported on some unusual expenses on his card at a local hotel, a hotel right next door to City Hall. The city attorney says that these are, indeed, personal expenses paid by the city. The card has since been canceled. And at this point we're not talking about a lot of money, but enough, says the city attorney, that under this section of the city charter, that if the city council approves it, they can go to a judge and see if they can expedite another route to try to get Bob Filner out of office, Brooke.

BALDWIN: A possible work-around. And then, secondly, just tell me about this woman, this great-grandmother who's now come out with her accusations.

LAH: The reason why I'm not joining you live on television is because we're scrambling to a hotel.

In a little less than an hour, we're expecting to hear from this woman here in San Diego. She is a great-grandmother. She is a senior citizen who works at the senior citizen services desk. And what she is alleging is continuous inappropriate sexual advances by the mayor. We don't have the details yet. We're expecting to learn much more when she speaks.

We have heard of a lot of women coming forward. I have heard a lot of tales, a lot of whispers especially here in San Diego. A great- grandmother? This is the very first time we're actually hearing from someone who's reaching this age, a senior citizen. Brooke, we're very anxious to hear what she has to say.

BALDWIN: Kyung Lah, we appreciate the scramble, we appreciate you jumping on the phone with me. Kyung, thank you very much in San Diego.

And now to coffee. Many of us need that cup of coffee or two or four to get started each and every day. But a new study suggests too much coffee on a daily basis can actually shorten your life.

CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen explains how much is too much.

Hey, Elizabeth.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, more than four cups of coffee a day may be bad to you, according to this new study out from the Mayo Clinic.

They said the people who drank that much coffee were more likely to die during the course of the study. If you're looking at people under the age of 55, they were about 50 percent more likely to die. These are four eight-ounce cups of coffee, not the big venti cups that so many people are drinking these days. What does this study mean for coffee drinkers?

There are plenty of studies out there actually showing coffee is good for you. This is just one study. It may not actually be the coffee that was the problem. It may be the coffee drinkers also tend to eat lots of unhealthy foods. Who knows. But, bottom line, according to the study author, is that if you really want to play it safe, what you can do is just drink fewer than four cups of coffee a day -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: OK. I'm two and done in the morning. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you very much for that.

Coming up next, this unbelievable story. This doctor diagnoses his patients with cancer, sends them through chemotherapy. Thing is, some of these patients don't have cancer. Allegations of millions of dollars in fraud. That is coming up.

Plus, new video just into us here at CNN of a woman, look at this, giving birth on the hospital floor. This little baby couldn't wait. Wait until you hear who came to her rescue.

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BALDWIN: All right. Given everything we have been saying and showing you with regard to what's happening in Cairo, in Egypt, in case this wasn't obvious, there is now a warning from the State Department.

Let me just read this to you -- quote -- "The U.S. department of state warns U.S. citizens to defer travel to Egypt and U.S. citizens living in Egypt to depart at this time because of a continuing political and social unrest. This travel warning supersedes the travel warning issued back on July 3." That is from the U.S. Department of State.

Now to this story. Just imagine you go to the doctor. Doctor tells you, you have cancer, gives you chemotherapy. Turns out you never had cancer to begin with. This is a case of multimillion-dollar Medicare fraud. This doctor in the Detroit area is accused of not just overbilling, but overdosing his patients to get more money, more than $35 million in total here.

A federal criminal complaint against Dr. Farid Fata says he also gave cancer treatments to patients who didn't have cancer, gave chemotherapy to patients in remission or on their deathbeds, and used foreign doctors with questionable certifications to be able to see 50 to 70 patients a day.

Still, some of his patients stand by the doctor.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If it were not for Fata, I wouldn't be here right now. I got to see my grandbaby. And I love him and I think this is a witch-hunt.

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BALDWIN: A judge has ruled that Dr. Fata must provide a $9 million bond to get out of federal custody, $9 million.

A lot of expecting mothers hope their labor will be brief. But there's short and then there's too short. Adrianna Hopkins from our affiliate WSVN has the story of this woman who gave birth before anyone was ready, well, anyone but the baby.

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SUSANA PRIVADA, MOTHER: She's so beautiful.

ADRIANNA HOPKINS, WSVN REPORTER (voice-over): She is just so sweet and a little impatient, not that anyone is complaining. Mommy Susana Privada delivered the 6-pound, eight-ounce Diana in about 30 minutes or so, in a hospital, yes, just not a delivery room. Take a look. This bundle of joy was born in the lobby of Jackson Community Hospital South.

PRIVADA: This is more quick.

HOPKINS: Susana says she doesn't remember much of what happened, but felt two small pains at home, took a shower, then came to the hospital. And her labor went from zero to 60.

PRIVADA: I just asked for the wheelchair. But I say at the same time, it's out. It's out. And I take my panty out and I have to drop to the floor.

HOPKINS: Surveillance cameras catching it all, Susana on the floor, her husband kneeling at her feet, and nurse Libardo Lozada walking in.

LIBARDO LOZADA, NURSE: I was actually running because I didn't want to be late for my job.

HOPKINS: Well, he was right on time. He saw Susana on the ground and quickly came to her aid. And within minutes, the baby was out.

LOZADA: And soon I have it on my hands. I noticed that the baby was with the umbilical cord around the neck. So I had to maneuver the baby.

HOPKINS: He says the baby didn't cry at first, and that's the only time he got nervous.

LOZADA: I started cleaning the eyes and the mouth and a little bit and then a little, you know, on the butt so that, hey, come on. So, baby start crying. And it was happy.

HOPKINS: And that is the story of Diana's dramatic entrance into the world. Mommy and baby are fine and for now will rest in a hospital room.

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BALDWIN: Aww. Well, that's one way to say hello. Adrianna Hopkins, thank you from our affiliate WSVN.

From the top of the tennis world to retiring from the game altogether, the woman who won the most prestigious tournament in all of tennis, Wimbledon, just a month ago announces she is leaving the game in an incredibly emotional news conference.

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MARION BARTOLI, PROFESSIONAL TENNIS PLAYER: This is never easy. And obviously there is never a time to say it or whatever, but that was my -- actually last match of my career.

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BALDWIN: Why the 28-year-old tennis champion is retiring from the sport she loves.

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BALDWIN: A Wimbledon champion is retiring just over a month after her first Grand Slam -- easy for me to say -- Grand Slam tennis victory. A short time ago, Marion Bartoli broke down. She wept during this emotional news conference. Here she was.

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BARTOLI: This is never easy. And obviously there is never a time to say it or whatever, but that was my -- actually last match of my career.

Sorry. And it's time for me to retire and -- thank you -- and to call it a career. You know, I feel it's time for me to walk away, actually.

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BALDWIN: Oh, you can't help but not feel for her. She says she has been in pain on the court. Her body, she says, just won't allow her to play. Her retirement, though, absolutely shocked tennis fans around the world.

And CNN International sports anchor Don Riddell joins me here in the studio.

My goodness, taking deep sighs, wiping tears. You feel for her. She is 28.

DON RIDDELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What a contrast from when she won Wimbledon just six weeks ago, when she was just so happy, so energized and so popular. She's so likable, too. It really is just an incredible shock.

BALDWIN: So what are her injuries?

RIDDELL: She has been struggling with hamstring problems since she won Wimbledon six week ago. But she revealed also she'd been suffering from pain in her Achilles ankle, her shoulder, her hips and her lower back. She's basically talking about her whole body.

And she's saying now that in hindsight she was playing through all of that pain to get to the Wimbledon title. But now clearly she's struggling for motivation and she's made this shocking decision, which I can tell you is taking everybody by surprise. On the day she made this announcement even her agent was telling journalists how they're negotiating two or three more sponsorships, how her marketability has increased, how lots of tournaments want her to come and play.

Clearly they weren't expecting this. But it sounds like perhaps behind the scenes she's been thinking it's time for some time.

BALDWIN: I just can't understand -- it's incredible how young these people start playing, right? By 28, your aches and your pains are really that pronounced. Do you think, though -- fast forward a couple of years. Do you think perhaps she may regret? We can't speak for her, but just the idea of calling it quits at 28.

RIDDELL: Well, maybe not even a couple of years. Maybe by Wimbledon next year, she will be regretting it a bit. When you return to Wimbledon as the defending champion, they roll out the red carpet for you. It's a really, really special experience. Whether or not you're able to defend your title successfully or not, it's a great experience. She's not even going to get to do that.

She may well regret this. But you know what? She's a really, really bright person. I suspect...

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: She knows the next number in the Fibonacci sequence? She sounds like quite the character.

(CROSSTALK)

RIDDELL: If you ask her that in an interview she will laugh and say that's easy.

BALDWIN: Wow.

RIDDELL: She's a great character. The game will really, really miss her. She's one of those people that's just -- she's so easy to like.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Hopefully, she finds another passion, then.

RIDDELL: Yes. She says there's so much she could do that doesn't involve tennis. She talked about getting married, being a wife and a mother. She's smart. She won't be short of things to do.

BALDWIN: Don, thank you.

RIDDELL: All right.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, a unique perspective on what we have been watching unfolding, the crisis in Egypt. You will hear from a man who grew up there, even attended one of the churches that burned yesterday. He is in studio and he will talk to me about what he wants from President Obama and from what will be the next government of Egypt.

Plus, we are just getting word an actress from "That '70s Show" has died. More on that after the break.

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BALDWIN: We are near the bottom of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thanks for being with me here on this Thursday.

The U.S. State Department has a warning that may seem all too obvious for anyone who's been watching CNN at any point in time this week, advising Americans to postpone travel. If you want to go to the Pyramids, you want to go anywhere in Egypt, think twice about it. They're advising the ones who are there to leave.

We have all seen the tragedy of that nation descending into chaos. We started out talking about the protests. And now it looks like we're watching the start of a revolution. Hundreds have been killed, north of 500 people, thousands wounded. And really there is this feeling of helplessness as the events continue to spiral out of control.