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New Day

Authorities: 111 Dead In Boat Sinking; Rezzo Pleads "No Contest"; Twitter Planning Big Stock Market Offering; Husband And Wife Busted; Interview with Sen. Sherrod Brown; Suspect Identified In SUV Battle; Jennifer Lawrence On Body Image

Aired October 04, 2013 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to NEW DAY, everyone. Friday, thank goodness, October 4th. Coming up in the show, we've all seen the video of the driver getting his window bashed in after he rear- ended a motorcycle. So what made him speed off from the scene after the initial accident? And now police say they know who they're looking for. We'll have an update on that investigation that everyone has been following.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, who is the real Siri? Let me check here. Who is the real Siri?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let me check on that.

CUOMO: You see that, cleverly in silhouette. The voice of Siri reveals herself, right here on NEW DAY, a CNN exclusive.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: That is very, very cool.

CUOMO: I felt cool doing it.

BOLDUAN: I know you did.

CUOMO: That is a very high bar. It takes a lot for me to feel that way.

PEREIRA: All right, we'll get to Siri in a minute. Let's bring you up to date on the headlines. We have some stories developing starting with that boat that caught fire and sank off the Italian Coast. Survivors saying that they set to clothes hoping to signal for help after the engine on the boat stopped. Authorities say at least 111 people died. Some 200 souls still unaccounted for, 155 people were indeed rescued, all but one of them said to be from the nation of Eritrea. The boat was crowded with refugees from African nations, seeking new lives in Europe.

Prison time for the former city administrator of Bell, California, Robert Rizzo, pleading no contest to 64 felony charges, including perjury, misappropriation of public funds and falsifying records. He'll be sentenced to up to 12 years in jail and will be required to pay back the city up to $3.2 million. Prosecutors say he handed out millions of dollars in unauthorized loans to himself and other employees.

Well, it took more than 140 characters, but Twitter outlined plans for its much talked about IPO. It's planning a billion-dollar stock market debut. The company shows revenue of $250 billion in the first six months of the year, but a net loss of $70 million because of expenses and slowing growth. The IPO is expected to be the most desirable since Facebook's debut last May.

A husband and wife team arrested for a home invasion and robbery at a multimillion dollar mansion in Coral Gables, Florida. Police say this man and his wife drove to a mansion together last week. He entered that home, tied up the owner and took off with $400,000 worth of jewelry and the victim's $200,000 Astin Martin. This was not a random crime. He apparently once worked with the victim's husband.

We want to show you a big debut. Look at these faces, a pair of white lion cubs making a debut at a South Korean zoo. They are male cubs born in late August. They officially stepped out with the whole family today. The zoo has now eight white lions. There are only about 300 white lions in the entire world, eight of them at that zoo and two of them very, very cute.

Those are your headlines at this hour. Over to you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right, Michaela, thanks so much. Let's get back to that car chase and shooting on Capitol Hill, recovering from morning. It's coming weeks after the deadly shooting at the D.C. Navy Yard. It's raising, of course, questions about security in Washington as many people are still wondering how could this happen?

Well, the Democratic senator, Sherrod Brown of Ohio was outside the capitol yesterday during that incident and heard and saw it all play out. He's joining me from Capitol Hill. Senator, thank you so much for joining me this morning. It's great to see you.

SEN. SHERROD BROWN (D), OHIO: Thanks. Good to be here.

BOLDUAN: A scary afternoon for so many in Washington and Capitol Hill. You were closer to the action than most. What did you see?

BROWN: I was walking just from the capitol towards the office buildings with Senator Casey from Pennsylvania and Senator Murphy from Oregon. We saw a number of police drive by. That's not that unusual with motorcades kind in that part of Washington and then -- we noticed there were a lot more cars driving faster and we looked ahead, maybe 7,500 feet and saw people drop to the ground and we heard several pops, several gunshots.

What happens is police tell you to go the other way, get behind cars, drop down, whatever, and the police rush towards the danger. That's what they do and that's, you know, why we respect people that do that for a living.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. I'm sure -- I want to know when you heard shots what went through your mind? I know you were on Capitol Hill. You were in the capitol during 9/11. Another terrifying moment on Capitol Hill, a very different situation, but when you heard the shots this time, what did you think?

BROWN: First you're confused because it's out of the ordinary. No matter how many news stories there have been about shootings or actions against the government, against people, and then when the police, so many rushed forward and we were told to crouch behind cars and sent back into the building, you think is this something bigger than it is, bigger than it turned out to be?

You just don't know those questions. The news reports fly all over, some contradicting one another because they're relying on people's perceptions. But people's perceptions at the beginning are not very well sorted out, but it was really something, again, I said that before. But to see what police do in these situations and that's what real public service is all about.

BOLDUAN: You're absolutely right. Do you think when you see this situation, obviously, there are a lot of pieces of this puzzle that investigators are trying to put together, do you think the system worked in this scenario in trying to keep not just the lawmakers on Capitol Hill safe, but everyone in Washington safe when this played out?

BROWN: It was also about protecting tourists, protecting people walking by, staff people, everybody. Generally, yes. I mean, we're a wide open system. We want people to be able to visit the capitol, be able to go to the White House. I've noticed just in my seven years in the Senate that the place is a little less accessible to the public every time there's an incident of any kind, because protections are built and barriers are erected and all of that.

Fundamentally, we're a free, open society. We're going to stay that way. I think that law enforcement, both seen and unseen in these situations, do a pretty darn good job in protecting the public while giving people the options to visit the monuments and go into the capitol and walk through the capitol and the history museum and art museum. People have the time to see that and they have the opportunity to see it and it needs to continue that way.

BOLDUAN: I think everyone would agree with that. You know, tragedy and a scare like this can often unify a community. I do wonder if there's any sense that this incident has shocked lawmakers into a little bit of better perspective as things play out in a bitter, partisan fashion right now in terms of these budget battles. Do you think this can shock anybody back to reality so you can get this stuff done?

BROWN: I hope so. I mean, these police officers technically aren't being paid right now.

BOLDUAN: That's absolutely right.

BROWN: They will be. Congress has to act so they will be. I'm sure we will and I just want to make sure we act to pay all federal employees that have done their jobs and, you know, not been paid because of a failure of congress. All we're asking, this could be settled very easily if Speaker Boehner would vote, bring this legislation that's gone through a bipartisan process in the senate, bring it up so all 430 some members of the House could vote.

John Boehner has to decide, is he the speaker of the far right Republican Party or speaker of the United States House of Representatives? If he decides the latter, the government will open later today. It's that simple.

BOLDUAN: Let's hope that a scare like this can teach us all a lesson and hopefully there's more civility on Capitol Hill in keeping good perspective on who everyone is working for, in this case, you're looking at the law enforcement that protected you and all of the tourists that were on Capitol Hill yesterday. They're the ones that need to be paid and back on the job. Thanks so much.

BROWN: Exactly right. Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Great to see you. Thanks you so much.

BROWN: Thanks.

BOLDUAN: Chris.

CUOMO: All right, coming up on NEW DAY, New York City cops closing in on the prime suspect in that biker attack on an SUV. This as the wife of the driver breaks her silence.

Plus, was Oscar winner, Jennifer Lawrence, told she was too fat for Hollywood? Hear what she has to say to her critics.

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CUOMO: Welcome back to NEW DAY. Our Indra Petersons is in Pensacola, Florida, keeping an eye on that approaching tropical storm and your forecast for all over the country. Indra, how are you doing down there? How's the rest of the country?

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I mean, it literally is amazing. I don't know if you can see the sheet, Chris. I mean, it is so gorgeous that it's hard to even imagine that there is a storm right now in the gulf. I mean, it's just beautiful out here, but we know this is going to quickly change, especially as we go through the afternoon today. We're looking for landfall anywhere between Louisiana really all the way to the panhandle of Florida late Saturday night into the early hours of Sunday morning.

Here's how it pans out right now. The latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center actually brought it in at 60 miles per hour. So it has weakened now. Now it's currently got 100 miles off the coast of Louisiana. Where it's expected to go again, we are currently under a hurricane watch here in this area. Now as far as what we're expecting with rain, anywhere from 4 inches to 8 inches, even 12 inches of rain not out of the question.

The thing to remember, one of the biggest concerns, there's been so much rain here all summer long that the threat of even some winds coming through here could uproot trees where you'd typically need a stronger storm to do that. So that is going to be the concern really going through the next several hours and the overnight tonight. That's one concern.

There is another storm out there. It is the one exiting out of the Rockies, this early storm that has dumped 1 foot to 2 feet of snow anywhere from Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, is now exiting, going into the Dakotas where they have a blizzard warning, unbelievable, foot of snow, possible to 60 to 70-mile per hour winds still possible overnight tonight. We're going to be watching for that.

Visibility down to near zero and think about this, you had that really cold air and now it's going to bank up against all that warm air, just east of it. So the potential for severe weather, even tornadoes today is possible from Minnesota down through Oklahoma especially focusing on Iowa today with a moderate risk and then tomorrow that risk actually makes its way in through Chicago so really a lot going on out there -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: We're looking at quite a few changes we could be seeing across the country today and through the weekend, Indra. Thank you so much for that.

Let's get you an update now on the investigation on the frightening incident on a New York City street. You see the video here, bikers attacking the driver of an SUV who hit some of them in their pack with his car. Well, there's new information on just who police are looking for. Susan Candiotti is joining us with the latest on the story. Good morning, Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Let's face it, it was one of the most frightening parts of that biker video, right at the end, a family in their SUV, traffic trapping them in, unable to escape bikers. Now police know who is the man behind the beating.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): CNN has learned this morning that biker scene here using his helmet to pound the window of Alexian Lien's SUV has now been identified. Police say they are close to arresting this biker believed to have played a direct role in the beating of Lien. Investigators are beginning to piece together other parts of the case.

Police have now tracked down the motorcyclist who shot this helmet cam video. They found him in this home in Bellport, New York, questioning him and taking the video as evidence. Until now, we've only seen an edited version posted online. It cuts off moments before authorities say Alexian Lien was pulled out of his SUV, beaten and slashed in front of his wife and 2-year-old child.

The family is now issuing its first statement since the incident. Lien's wife defended her husband's decision to peel away from the crowd surrounding their SUV, rolling over bikers in the process, critically injuring one. "My husband was forced under the circumstances to take the actions that he did in order to protect the lives of our entire family."

CNN has learned it was Mrs. Lien who made the last of three 911 calls the couple made as her husband was being attacked. "We would like to thank the brave citizens who risked their own safety to intervene on our behalf. They truly helped save our lives."

New video emerged Thursday showing bikers gathering before Sunday's rally and riding on sidewalks, prompting politicians who released it to call for more enforcement.

STATE SENATOR ADRIANO ESPAILLAT (D), NEW YORK: I don't see why you can have 500 motorcycles that are doing wheelies and out of control, stopping traffic, totally stopping traffic on the highway or on some streets and doing whatever they want.

CANDIOTTI: Several of the bikers held a press conference last night to further explain their side of it.

ALBERT ELKERSON, MOTORCYCLE BIKER: It's very important to us that everybody knows that we are not here to blame anyone. We're not here to point any fingers. The objective here is to bring the city to a calm.

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CANDIOTTI: Remember, one biker's already been arrested for slowing down and causing that very first collision with the SUV. His lawyer says his client is not guilty. The case is far from over, though, police still searching for more witnesses and suspects, looking through videos frame by frame for every bit of evidence so, not done yet.

BOLDUAN: Not done yet by far. All right, Susan, thanks so much.

CUOMO: Coming up next on NEW DAY, a story everybody's talking about. Pope Francis on the road at the home of the man whose name he chose, visiting Assisi for St. Francis of Assisi talking about what could be the future of the church. We'll tell you what his message is and what it means.

BOLDUAN: And the question of the morning. Who is Siri?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What can I help you with?

BOLDUAN: There she is in silhouette, to be revealed this morning, exclusively here, the woman behind that voice.

CUOMO: It's a woman?

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BOLDUAN: Welcome back to NEW DAY, everyone. Nischelle Turner is here now with a crazy, crazy story about Oscar winner, Jennifer Lawrence.

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, I've been covering entertainment for a while and feel I've heard every story in Hollywood. It's no secret a lot of times celebrities are told you need to be skinnier or lose weight. Jennifer Lawrence talks about this in the November issue of "Harper's Bazaar" and she talks about how early on in her career someone came to her and told her you're too fat to succeed.

You'll never succeed because you weigh too much and what they did, this is where it got kind of weird for me, they gave her pictures of herself like with not a lot of clothes on in a bathing suit and said here use this as motivation in her diet and told her she needed to lose weight. Now the thing that she said, even though we've heard this before is that she was very young and it stuck with her.

And so that's where I really started to have a problem with this because she said it gotten into her head and it really affected her.

BOLDUAN: Sure it does. I think the age part of this is probably the most important thing and I think you agree it's one thing, I don't know, you're in Hollywood and you're probably opening yourself to criticism and scrutiny, but how old is she now?

TURNER: She's 21.

BOLDUAN: She's 21 now and this happened early on in her career, what was she like 17 when she was told this?

TURNER: Exactly and the funny thing is she said, too, and I remember reading this once when "Hunger Games" first came out, someone wrote she had lingering baby fat when she played Catniss Everdeen. This woman, look at this woman, it blows me away. I have to call myself, what do I do when I come in here every day, my God, I'm getting fat. My clothes aren't fitting anymore.

PEREIRA: What do I usually do?

TURNER: You look at me with the face that you're looking at me with right now. What are we doing to ourselves?

BOLDUAN: It's a vicious cycle.

CUOMO: What's the key in that though, doing it to ourselves, right? I got a 10-year-old daughter. She's beautiful. I already hear this talk coming out of her and from her friends.

TURNER: What do you do, Chris?

CUOMO: First it paralyses me because I'm afraid of her not understanding her confidence and what the source of her strength should be and then I get really angry at the people who make her that way and then I realize that my anger would have to be at all of us. Because you know what, the people who were telling that to Jennifer Lawrence were telling her the truth. You don't find a lot of people in Hollywood who succeed in women who aren't really attractive.

TURNER: That hit me right in the gut.

PEREIRA: Wait, wait, wait.

CUOMO: Please.

PEREIRA: I'm sorry, whoa. Don't -- TURNER: He is telling the truth, Michaela, you don't see a lot of very voluptuous women in Hollywood.

PEREIRA: Beautiful and voluptuous are not mutually exclusive.

CUOMO: I'm saying be skinny, we do prize it, we do reward people for being skinny. The skinnier they get we say they look really good and they go over this cliff and they have anorexia issues. But up until that point when they're looking thin, well you look great you lost weight. We create a culture that reinforces the negative stereotype and we complain about it.

TURNER: Here's what I like what Jennifer Lawrence said, she's bound and determined to break the cycle in Hollywood and she said the next time she hears something like that she's going to tell the people to go -- yourself.

PEREIRA: That's going to help her.

BOLDUAN: And that is the last word we should leave it on that.

CUOMO: Great message.

BOLDUAN: Coming up next on NEW DAY, the woman who led police on a high-speed chase in Washington, D.C., has now been identified. We have new details what may have motivated her rampage, that ahead.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This does not appear to be in any way an accident.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: New details on the woman who sent Washington into lockdown, the dramatic chase and shoot-out caught on tape, her daughter in the car the whole time. Why did she do it?

BOLDUAN: Taking aim on the gulf coast, Tropical Storm Karen could become a hurricane soon, we're live in the gulf, tracking it all this morning.