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New Day
Back From the Dead; Bookkeeper Calm Prevents School Tragedy; Dr. Phil Tweet Controversy; Obama's Unclaimed Cash
Aired August 22, 2013 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LAWRENCE YAHLE, TONY'S SON: Praying next to the room. I was in the doorway and something came in me and got me to point at him and I said, dad, you're not going to die today. And when I said that, you know, I stood there for a few more moments and I started walking back to the counseling room to, you know, comfort my sisters and my mom and anyone else. I took about three steps and my pastor, Paul, he - he looked at me and he said, Lawrence, Lawrence. He got my attention. And he said, your dad, he has a heartbeat. So I got to rush to the counseling room and cheer everyone up with that news. So that was awesome.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Holy cow.
Melissa, when you hear it, I mean it just gives you tingles just listening to Lawrence tell this story.
L. YAHLE: Yes.
MELISSA YAHLE, TONY'S WIFE: (INAUDIBLE).
CUOMO: Melissa, could you believe it? As hard as it was to believe that someone as young and strong as your husband was gone, when your son comes down and says he's not gone, you being a nurse and knowing the situation, what did you think?
M. YAHLE: Well, you know, I thought, you know, clinically with what I know as a nurse. Everything within me as a nurse that, you know, it's over. He's not coming back. But everything in our faith, you know, our belief in God and that he answers prayer, that, you know, I knew he was back. God - God let me know that if we just believed that he would be OK. And from that moment on, we all believed and he came through.
CUOMO: So, Tony, you're going to be face with big questions now in your own heart and head, right, about why this happened to you, why you're still here? But one thing's for sure, you're going to be different after this. What do you think about all of it?
TONY YAHLE, CAME BACK TO LIFE AFTER 45 MINUTES: Oh, yes. Yes, it's changed my whole family, pretty much, in an instant. I mean, you know, my main thought, you know, on this is, you know, there's nobody but God that could have done this. The doctors had all given up. I mean, rightfully so. It had been so long. But for me to wake up without any brain damage or anything like that, it is another part of a miracle, I mean, you know, to be, you know, without oxygen for 45 minutes, that's huge, you know? CUOMO: And you don't remember any of it, right? You didn't have any moment there on the table or anything like that?
T. YAHLE: No, I did not. I fell asleep, you know, Sunday night and woke up five days later in the hospital wondering where I was, honestly.
CUOMO: And just like that, your life was changed in a way that you could have never imagined. Tony, it is so great to get to meet you this way. You know, I have to say, you don't do a lot of interviews with dead men and this is just an amazing story of a miraculous comeback. I don't know any other words for it. Your whole family is beautiful and it's great to see you together. God bless. Good luck going forward.
T. YAHLE: Thank you.
M. YAHLE: Thank you.
CUOMO: Wow, what a story.
Kate.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: What a story.
Coming up next on NEW DAY, a brave school clerk talking down a gunman who invaded her school. You do not want to miss her riveting 911 phone call.
And also this. Not even Dr. Phil is immune to Twitter outrage it seems. The tweet that's really got people talking.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CUOMO: Welcome back to NEW DAY, Thursday, August 22nd. I'm Chris Cuomo.
BOLDUAN: And I'm Kate Bolduan.
Let's get straight to news anchor Michaela Pereira for the five things to know for your new day.
MICHAELA PEREIRA: All right. Let's take a look at number one.
The just sentenced Private Bradley Manning now says that he wants to live as a woman and under the name Chelsea Manning. He'll spend the next 35 years of that life in a military prison for leaking classified documents.
President Obama kicking off a two-day bus tour of Pennsylvania and New York promoting education reform, but he is bound to face tough questioning about how he plans to handle the ongoing chaos in Syria and Egypt. Tomorrow, don't miss our NEW DAY exclusive. Chris Cuomo will have a one-on-one conversation with President Obama.
Hannah Anderson says she does not consider herself a victim, but rather a survivor. Anderson telling NBC that text messages sent to suspect James DiMaggio on the day she was kidnapped were simply directions to her cheerleading practice.
We are expecting to learn more about the murder case against former New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez. He's expected in court for a probable cause hearing this morning.
And at number five, a motorcade marking Martin Luther King's iconic march for jobs and freedom almost exactly 50 years later. This morning, civil rights groups begin their journey from Birmingham, Alabama, to our nation's capital.
We're always updating the five things to know. So be sure to go to newdaycnn.com for the very latest.
Guys.
BOLDUAN: All right, thanks, Michaela.
Let's get back now to the school clerk near Atlanta everyone is talking about this morning. She kept her calm after a gunman stormed into the building and she might have prevented a tragedy because of it. And it was all caught on a 911 call. CNN's Martin Savidge is joining us from Decatur, Georgia, with more.
Martin, it is just amazing to hear that 911 call. It's almost like a textbook lesson for hostage negotiation.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, isn't it, though, Kate. I mean it's just such an amazing call. Antoinette Tuff, by the way, has been with the school district about eight years. She's been at this elementary school three years. But it all came down to really one hour on Tuesday that made all the difference. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DISPATCHER: DeKalb police, what's the address of your emergency?
SAVIDGE (voice-over): It's a remarkable call.
CALLER: I'm on Second Avenue in the school and the gentlemen said tell them to hold down the police officers are coming and he said he's going to start shooting, so tell them to back off.
SAVIDGE: Alone in the office of an elementary school, bookkeeper Antoinette Tuff is face-to-face with a man armed with an assault rifle and close to 500 rounds of ammunition.
CALLER: Oh, he just went outside and started shooting. Oh, can I run?
DISPATCHER: What do -- can you get somewhere safe?
CALLER: Yes, I got to go. He's going to shoot me (ph) coming back.
SAVIDGE: It isn't just her life on the line, but the lives of hundreds of students and staff, as well as dozens of police officers now outside.
CALLER: He said to tell them to back off. He doesn't want the kids. He wants the police. So, back off. And -- what else, sir? He said he don't care if he die. He don't have nothing to live for. And he said he's not mentally stable.
DISPATCHER: OK. Stay on the line with me, OK. Put the phone down if you have to, but don't put it on hold so I can't hear.
CALLER: OK.
DISPATCHER: Can you tell me where you are?
CALLER: In the front office with him.
SAVIDGE: He's got an AK-47. She's only armed with her words and puts her own life on the line.
CALLER: I can let them know that you have not tried to harm me or do anything with me or anything if you want to, but that doesn't make any difference, you didn't hit anybody. So - OK, let me ask you this, ma'am. He didn't hit anybody, he just shot outside the door. If I walk out there with him - if I walk out there with him, they -- so they won't shoot him or anything like that?
SAVIDGE: To connect with the suspect, she pours out her own personal story of a marriage that suddenly ended.
CALLER: Well, don't feel bad, baby, my husband just left me after 33 years. But -- yes, you do. I mean, I'm sitting here with you.
SAVIDGE: And her own thoughts of suicide.
CALLER: We all go through something in life. No, you don't want that. You going to be OK. I thought the same thing. You know, I tried to commit suicide last year after my husband left me. But look at me now. I'm still working and everything is OK.
SAVIDGE: There's no hint of fear, no sense she's lying to save herself. Her cool, collect nature moves even the police dispatcher.
DISPATCHER: Ma'am, you're doing a great job.
SAVIDGE: Moments later, after convincing the gunman to put down his weapon and lay down himself, the police barge in. And only then does Antoinette Tuff finally break down.
CALLER: Let me tell you something, baby, ain't nothing so scared (INAUDIBLE) day in my life.
DISPATCHER: Me either. But you did great.
CALLER: Oh, Jesus!
(END VIDEOTAPE) SAVIDGE: That's the moment that really gets me because you realize this woman, Kate, had been holding it together so strong and so long, almost an hour, and then finally she just, the weight comes off her shoulders and what a moment it was. You have to listen to the whole call, it's at cnn.com when you want to do that, because it is amazing.
Kate.
BOLDUAN: It really is just amazing. And you wonder if she even realizes yet what she did and all of the people that she helped in just keeping her cool under such extraordinary circumstances. Thank you so much, Martin, for bringing us that.
And we do want to tell you that Antoinette Tuff and the 911 operator you heard there in that dramatic call, you're going to hear from them. They will appear live together on CNN's "AC 360" tonight 8:00 Eastern.
CUOMO: All right, coming up on NEW DAY, Dr. Phil under fire, all because of a tweet from his account. It was quickly deleted, but not before starting an online outrage. Is it fair? We're going to tell you what he said and you decide.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CUOMO: Welcome back.
Let's see how to say this. There's a lot of energy --
(CROSSTALK)
BOLDUAN: Yes.
CUOMO: -- surrounding a shocking tweet from the Twitter account of TV's Dr. Phil. A tweet from his Twitter account of course it is. This was the tweet. "If a girl is drunk, is it ok to have sex with her? Reply, yes or no. Obviously, he's not confused about this. It was part of something he was doing. It was quickly deleted. But the big question is, what did it mean and what are the ramifications?
CNN entertainment correspondent Nischelle Turner is here.
NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well you know, Chris, you were right. It was intended to do one thing.
CUOMO: Right.
TURNER: But it did something else. Representatives for the "Dr. Phil Show" say the tweet was intended to evoke discussion about an upcoming show that they are taping. However they will not elaborate on what the show topic is. But it seems if discussion is what they were after, it's what they got. Just not in the way they originally thought.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. PHIL MCGRAW, TALK SHOW HOST: You contribute. You pitch in. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I do.
MCGRAW: No you don't.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't contribute --
TURNER: He's a tough-talking TV doc who thrives on delving into the personal drama of others. Now Dr. Phil McGraw is dealing with some unwanted controversy of his own. On Tuesday a tweet posted on Dr. Phil's official Twitter account saying "If a girl is drunk, is it ok to have sex with her? Reply yes or no to @dr.phil."
The question post to provoke discussion for an upcoming episode of his show sparked heated backlash on line. "So Dr. Phil wonders when it's ok for a girl to be raped," read one tweet.
Another wrote, "Dr. Oz was saving lives today and Dr. Phil is trying to hook up with drunk girls. Where is Oprah? She needs to have an emergency team meeting?"
Dr. Phil deleted the tweet as soon as he saw it, but not before a Change.org user captured it and started a petition asking Dr. Phil to apologize.
CARMEN RIOS, STARTED PETITION TO DR. PHIL: The idea of sort of like collecting people's opinions on whether or not something is rape is a super invalidating way to talk about the problem of date rape and acquaintance rape and substance assisted rape.
TURNER: In a statement to CNN, a rep for "Dr. Phil Show" says a tweet was quote, "Ill-advised poll question not written by the TV psychologist." The quote added, "Dr. Phil believes that the position of those incapacitated in any fashion be it drugs, alcohol, age or mental illness cannot and do not have the capacity to give their consent to anything, especially sex."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TURNER: Now, the show's representative adds that Dr. Phil is very upset that this happened and he joins a long list of other celebrities now who have learned the "careful what you tweet" lesson the hard way.
BOLDUAN: That's a very good point. We'll follow up on this one.
TURNER: Absolutely.
BOLDUAN: Thanks Nischelle.
TURNER: Sure.
BOLDUAN: Coming up next on NEW DAY $58 billion in unclaimed money. You want some? Could some of it be yours? We'll have the info for you in a second.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLDUAN: That's right, folks. Welcome back to NEW DAY.
MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: (inaudible) -- strong.
BOLDUAN: Yes well done.
President Obama may want to listen up to this one. He has two checks waiting for him in Massachusetts, of course and he's not alone. The United States has $58 billion, yes, billion with a "b" in unclaimed funds and most people, including the President, may not even be aware that the money is owed to them and that it's even out there.
Christine Romans is joining us with more. This is a good news story.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR: Come and get it free money, it's your money to begin with. The President has two checks sitting for him in the treasury of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts $156 bucks apiece probably for a cable refund back from 2008, 2009. Just sitting there all he has to do is call up and get it.
CUOMO: He's going through Massachusetts on his tour. He can stop by --
(CROSSTALK)
BOLDUAN: So if the President can have these funds out there that he doesn't know about, can anyone?
ROMANS: Absolutely and you guys do, too. I ran you up -- you've got about $10 bucks waiting for you -- at least $10. $10.88 Michaela.
PEREIRA: No way. This changes everything.
ROMANS: And you, Chris Cuomo, you have two -- at least two unclaimed amounts of money sitting in New York, maybe four.
PEREIRA: How much?
ROMANS: I don't know how much because I don't have your Social Security money.
CUOMO: Don't say a word. My wife will get it.
ROMANS: Can I have your Social Security number, Chris Cuomo? I couldn't find any for you by the way.
BOLDUAN: I spend all my money. I know exactly where it is.
ROMANS: But we started going through -- we started going through the anchors and I'm telling you, it started to get really fun because we found money for me, too, in New York. And I'm going to chase after that later today.
PEREIRA: So how do you get it?
ROMANS: Unclaimed.org. That's what you have to go to -- www -- dot- org is important, not dot-com, dot-net, not anything else. And when you get there, this is the legal site that's going to send you to the state Web site. The state by law have to hold this money and this is for things like maybe an insurance policy you didn't know, a safe- deposit box, maybe a Comcast.
CUOMO: So it doesn't mean something you messed up. This is something you could have just been unaware of.
ROMANS: Absolutely. Unaware of -- you could have been unaware of this money is sitting there waiting for you. And it was easy to find. Unclaimed.org -- it will take you --
PEREIRA: I'm there.
ROMANS: -- be very careful not to go to a site that is trying to ask you for money, please.
PEREIRA: That Web site is going to crash -- five, four, three, two.
BOLDUAN: Yes, exactly. Thanks Christine.
CUOMO: That is good stuff.
ROMANS: 10 percent finder's fee, please.
CUOMO: Here is your finder's fee. I'm going to let you stay for the good stuff because it's such a good one. Ready.
Here's today's edition. A soldier comes home -- Army Major Bill Ray's family waited for him in a Milwaukee airport where he was about to return from Afghanistan. They made signs, stickers, the whole deal. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some stickers on for the army and I did welcome. And, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he's such a good guy that he was able to be in the army for that long and get to serve the country for a while.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: That's great. We love when soldiers come home and the troops make it back to their families, right? That's the good stuff. No, here's the clue. That young woman you just heard from that's not Bill Ray's daughter, his granddaughter and by a while, she means more than 50 years. Major Bill Ray first enlisted in 1959. Since then, he has seen just about everything, including three tours in Iraq and after that he retired.
The army asked him back, bring your experience and help us in Afghanistan and he said, yes. Now, he's finally retiring. And guess what he thinks is going to make it stick this time? Turns out his honey-do list. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MAJOR BILL RAY, U.S. ARMY: Last time I got bored I tried this. So, I think this time they've done everything so I will never get bored. Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We volunteer him for everything.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I heard that there's a long list.
RAY: Yes, well, we worked 12 hours a day in Afghanistan. I think I'll be doing about four more when I get home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: can you believe it? What dedication to service. Since the '50s he has been serving our country. Now, that is extraordinary. That's why it's "The Good Stuff" and that's just a really happy story to tell you about.
BOLDUAN: Thank you for your service.
CUOMO: We love the troops. We love their families because of their dedication and commitment and that's just an extreme example of it.
Please, keep sending us the good stuff so we can keep telling you the good news. Tweet us, Facebook, go on the Web site -- whatever you want.
BOLDUAN: All right. Please do. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CUOMO: All right. Thanks for being with us here on NEW DAY. It's time for "CNN NEWSROOM" with the one and only Carol Costello beginning right now.
Carol, I heard there is a check for you in California for $7 million.
COSTELLO: Get out. I'm leaving now. Thanks.
BOLDUAN: You get another hour.
COSTELLO: All right, I'll stay. Thanks, guys. Have a great day.
"NEWSROOM" starts right now.
And good morning, thanks so much for being with me. I'm Carol Costello.
We do begin with breaking news this morning. A bombshell from convicted Army Private Bradley Manning: in a statement to "Today" show the WikiLeaks source says he wants to live the rest of his life as a woman and he no longer wants to be referred to as Bradley, but as Chelsea.
