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Missing Nevada Family Found; State of U.S.-Cuba Relations

Aired December 10, 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: So, Casey, tell me about -- I know teams are out there looking for them, has to be hampered by bad weather out there.

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It has been hampered by bad weather overnight.

But according to CNN producer Chuck Conder, who is en route to the scene right now, he is telling us that they have actually found the family. That's the latest we have for you, Brooke. I do not know what condition they are in. This has been a search that has been ongoing since Sunday night. So we're now into the second day, obviously a lot of concern about the safety of this family, given the temperatures that have dropped by some accounts to as much as 20 below zero overnight.

We talked just a little while ago with the sheriff's office in the county there, Pershing County, and they said they had as many as 200 people from different areas out there searching a 6,000-square-mile area. But, as I said earlier, Chuck Conder, CNN producer, telling us that the family, in fact, has been found. We will have more details when we can get them, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Wait. So, just so I'm clear, Casey, as you're saying from our producer that the family has been found. Do we know that this -- Casey, you with me?

WIAN: Yes, I am with you, Brooke. I have just got a little more information.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: You're just getting information. Go for it. Go for it. Tell me what you know.

WIAN: They have been found by searchers on the ground in an area known as Trinity Canyon, and they are said to be in good condition, which is an incredible development given those conditions and the temperature that had existed in that area over the last two days.

They were last seen on Sunday afternoon. The search began Sunday night. They were said to be driving in a Jeep, perhaps got separated from the vehicle. Searchers were really hoping that what they had done is gotten together and huddled in that vehicle and somehow managed to stay warm. We don't know exactly the condition they're in other than the fact they're said to be in good condition, which is obviously great news for their families, Brooke.

BALDWIN: That is absolutely incredible, as I know, the temperatures are bitter, bitter cold there. Casey, just do what you need to do. Keep -- continue reading whatever information you are. I'm going to come back to you here on this incredibly encouraging development, that this family, these kids, these four little kids and this man and this woman have been found in good condition in Trinity Canyon.

So hang tight with me, Casey.

Chad Myers, let me just pivot to you as we're just going to do this on the fly. As we're getting this breaking news, can you just walk me through exactly where we're talking about in Nevada on a map and talk about just the conditions that these rescuers and this family had to endure.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Sure.

Sean, try to get me a map of that area, if you could please. Between Reno, Nevada, and Winnemucca, Nevada, if you think about Lake Tahoe and then a little farther to the east of there, in kind of the Seven Canyons area. There's an area where seven little hills are all lined up and parallel. It's a wildlife refuge. It's a beautiful area.

But it was also very cold. Temperatures approached 16 degrees below zero in the morning. You think about 16 below, that's 50 degrees almost below freezing. So we're 16 below zero, not 16 below normal. That's 100 and something degrees below your skin temperature in the morning. The good news is there wasn't much of any wind out there to help that out. I guess we're not going to get that map.

But right now 16 degrees is the air temperature. It was sunny. We had a lot of great air cover out there. We had helicopters out, planes out. Boy, to find this family and extended family all got back together and they are in good condition, a testament to something. Probably had a lot of gas in the car.

That fuel was used to heat the car, keep it warm. The sun helped an awful lot too during the day. Even though it only got to 20, sun coming in is like a greenhouse effect in your car does help. And staying with the car will always be the most important thing you can do if you're out there alone because if you are in the car, it's much bigger. It's easier to spot and you're away from the elements, especially those elements at night when it got so very cold out there, Brooke.

BALDWIN: It's incredible. It's absolutely incredible.

And I can tell our viewers that we do have a CNN crew en route to this location in Nevada. So stay tuned to CNN throughout the next couple of hours as we will hopefully have those pictures for you and see this family and these young kids A-OK. Just to be precise, and I'm quoting as I'm looking down at this confirmation from CNN, this is the Pershing County Nevada Sheriff's Office.

To quote the sheriff's office, these people were found in fairly good condition again in an area called Trinity Canyon. They were spotted by searchers on the ground. They're being taken now to the hospital.

So, Casey Wian, let me just go back to you. Tell me if you learned anything new in the last 60 seconds that we haven't been talking. Two, in case people are just joining us, breaking development here as this family has been found in Nevada after they just disappeared going out to play in the snow on Sunday. Remind all of us just what they were doing there.

WIAN: Well, they were going out, as you mentioned, to play in the snow.

If you look at the Facebook pages of the two adults, boyfriend and girlfriend, James Glanton and Christina McIntee, they went into these remote areas a lot. They have a lot of pictures posted in the snow and in the sort of wilderness terrain that's there. It's very clear that they had a lot of experience going to that area. They went to that area to play in the snow.

They were not heard from Sunday evening, and rescuers began searching for them around 8:00 in the evening, obviously hindered by the dark, a lot of concern because, as we mentioned, those temperatures were very, very cold. There was a Jeep, a picture of a jeep posted on one of their Facebook pages. We assume that's the same Jeep they were in. It was not an SUV-style Jeep. It was one of those open-style Jeeps. That probably did not give them a whole lot of protection, if, in fact, that was the vehicle, not much insulation.

(CROSSTALK)

WIAN: But somehow they managed to survive overnight under incredible conditions. They were spotted. The other -- the only other detail I have that you did not mention, they were spotted by binoculars. It had been hoped that the helicopters and the aircraft that were searching for that vehicle might be able to spot it from the air.

BALDWIN: Wow.

WIAN: That apparently did not happen. It was actually spotted by crews searching for them on the ground through binoculars. As you reported, they're said to be in fairly good condition on their way to a local hospital, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Through binoculars. How about that? Because part of the concern had been their car would have been encased in snow. So perhaps they were able to take off an article of clothing or something colorful just to get the attention of those rescuers. Thank goodness they did. We will stay on it with you, Casey Wian. As soon as you get more information, we will pop you in front of that TV. Thank you very much.

Coming up, we're going to switch gears and talk about this handshake that has everyone talking. Here it is. Will President Obama's moment with Raul Castro at Mandela's massive memorial, will that lead to something bigger or not between Cuba and the U.S.?

Plus, as the handshake went down, CNN interviewed Elian Gonzalez, who just left Cuba for the first time since becoming a political pawn as a child. Who could forget that time more than a decade ago? we will hear from him grown up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Global leaders honored Nelson Mandela today at a massive outdoor memorial in Johannesburg, but it's a single handshake that is getting a lot of attention today. President Obama led the U.S. delegation to that ceremony that included three former U.S. presidents.

In his remarks delivered in the pouring rain, the president reminded the audience that Mandela's greatness was not that he was a saint, but rather a flawed human who never gave up his ideals of racial equality.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's a word in South Africa, ubuntu, a word that captures Mandela's greatest gift, his recognition that we are all bound together in ways that are invisible to the eye.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Far from being a somber affair, there were some lighthearted moments like this. Look at this, the prime minister, the Danish prime minister and President Obama leaning in to take a selfie. It was this moment, however, that seemed to capture the spirit of celebration unlike any other.

It shows President Obama shaking the hand of Cuban leader Raul Castro. Now, the White House says this thing was not planned, but I can tell you it did not at all go over well with at least one Republican lawmaker in Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN (R), FLORIDA: Mr. Secretary, sometimes a handshake is just a handshake. But when the leader of the free world shakes the bloody hand of a ruthless dictator like Raul Castro, it becomes a propaganda coup for the tyrant. Raul Castro uses that hand to sign the orders to repress and jail democracy advocates.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Our CNN chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, who was there live in Johannesburg, where it's just after 10:00 your time, Christiane, and also chief national correspondent John King joining us in Washington.

But, Christiane, I want to begin with you. You were there. When we talk about this Castro/Obama handshake, was that the most talked about, most fascinating moment that you saw there or that you heard about?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's become because everybody's talking about it, but to me it was all the people who had been allotted to speak amongst whom was Raul Castro. You saw Obama kiss the president of Brazil. They were all seated on the dais. Obama had been under a covered way and he had to come up there. So he had to walk past all these leaders to get to the podium in order to deliver his speech.

And, you know, he's polite and there were all these world leaders and he shook their hands one by one. He kissed some of them. Mind you, he kissed President Rousseff of Brazil, who's very, very upset with President Obama over the national security leaks and the idea that she herself had been spied on and eavesdropped on.

There was a lot of that kind of stuff going on. But I think that, first of all, it's not the first time an American president has shaken hands with a Castro. Clinton did it with Fidel. Raul Castro has tried to introduce some slightly less extreme policies than Fidel, but of course there is still a dictatorship in Cuba.

And the president actually made reference to that in his speech. He said there are many people here and elsewhere, many leaders who claim to be the inheritors of Madiba, as he said, but do not in fact follow his example and do not tolerate dissent in their own countries and do not have freedom in their own countries. So, those messages were loud and clearly delivered as well.

BALDWIN: So perhaps more important, listening to the words of President Obama instead of honing in on this handshake.

So Christiane, she points out the context of this whole thing. John King, let's talk politics. We played the Congresswoman Ileana Ros- Lehtinen's comments earlier today. We also heard from Senator Marco Rubio, not directly criticizing him, saying, listen, he wished the president would have maybe lingered with Castro, talked a little bit more, pressing him on human rights. What's your take?

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Look, it comes with the territory. As Christiane notes, the president was going through an international moment either way. Either he shakes his hands and we're talking about it in this context or he snubs him and we're talking about it in that context if he just blows by him and doesn't talk to him.

(CROSSTALK)

KING: Look, the United States has been at this since the Eisenhower administration. There have been -- Barack Obama is the 11th U.S. president to have to decide how to deal with either Fidel or now Raul Castro.

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, you can understand her, Brooke. Look where she comes from. She's a Cuban-American. She comes from a community, many of them refugees, many of them exiles, many of them with painful personal stories, either in their own families or their relatives back home still in Cuba. So you have to understand her politics as well. But she would be the first to tell you that even in her community, there's a generational split now.

If you talk to the older members, they want the sanctions in place until the last minute, until the Castros are gone. A lot of the younger members of the community, especially those involved in the business community, say, look, this hasn't worked. Like it or not, we have been doing it since the Eisenhower days, ratcheting it up here and there, and it hasn't worked, so let's try something new.

So we live in a world where everything in an instant becomes political. The president knew this was going to happen. The administration knew this was going to happen. They say this was just good manners on a day of unity and reflecting on a great leader. The president, the politics part comes with the territory. We will see if anything comes of it a week, a month, or a year from now.

BALDWIN: Right. Well, you look at history, there's been ping-pong diplomacy, there's been basketball diplomacy, perhaps handshake diplomacy.

John King and Christiane Amanpour, thank you so much. Appreciate both of you today.

And speaking of Cuba, who could forget the gut-wrenching image from 2000, 7-year-old Elian Gonzalez being grabbed by these federal agents for deportation back to Cuba? Fast forward to today. He's grown up, he's talking to CNN about that experience. Gonzalez, remember he was rescued off the Florida coast when his mother fled Cuba with him.

Tragically, she drowned. Gonzalez's father fought this bitter legal battle to get him back. That debate fueled hot emotions on both sides at the time.

CNN's senior Latin-American affairs editor Rafael Romo has been poring through this interview with Elian Gonzalez today.

Just first, Rafael, set the stage for me. Where was Elian when he spoke to us? I have to ask, was he coached?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: He sounds very much like he's been coached.

He is traveling outside of Cuba, Brooke, apparently for the very first time since he was repatriated back in the year 2000. He's attending a youth conference in Ecuador. This is a conference for young people around the world of a -- to put it mildly, let's say, of a leftist political persuasion. Now, we wanted to know if he was affected psychologically, had any long-lasting effects after the ordeal that he lived in Florida, and this is what he told us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELIAN GONZALEZ, RESIDENT OF CUBA (through translator): I haven't had any long-lasting psychological trauma. It hasn't affected me, but it has been hard on my family because those were difficult moments. But in spite of everything, I'm in Cuba and that's great because it has been 15 wonderful years in which I have experienced great growth without precedence as a Cuban revolutionary youth espousing the cause of the Cuban revolution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: And, Brooke, it's kind of difficult to imagine, but he's now 20 years old. He's at a military academy studying industrial engineering.

And he sounds very much like a young spokesman for the Cuban regime THE SITUATION ROOM, definitely talking all the points that we hear at Cuban rallies and political speeches, so very much part of the system, if you might say.

BALDWIN: Before you go, just with Raul Castro on the brain because of this handshake with President Obama, what about his father, Fidel Castro? Did this reporter ask Elian about how he feels toward Fidel?

ROMO: Interesting you ask, because just before he traveled to Ecuador, he was interviewed by a Cuban newspaper who asked him specifically how does he feel about Fidel Castro?

And this is exactly what he said. Listen to this, Brooke. He said, "Fidel Castro for me is like a father. I don't profess to have any religion, but if I did, my god would be Fidel Castro."

There's really no need, Brooke, to say much more than that to learn how he truly feels about Fidel Castro.

BALDWIN: Elian Gonzalez, who will forget that time back in 2000? Rafael Romo, thank you very much. Fascinating statement today.

Prank calls may not seem like that big of a deal, right? One man in California is facing serious charges for this. Police say he targeted college and professional coaches. That's not the end of the story. He actually recorded the conversations. Next, we will play a call for you and reveal some big-name coaches allegedly caught up in this whole hoax. Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: You heard about this story? Some of sports' biggest coaches allegedly targeted by a prankster.

This is what happened. He would call them, he make them some kind of job offer, but he didn't have any connection to the teams at all. This is just part of this huge, huge hoax. And now that man is under arrest, and police are asking a lot of questions.

But take a look at this, because some of the alleged victims include former Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy, Minnesota Vikings head coach Leslie Frazier, Clemson head coach --

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Dabo Swinney. BALDWIN: Dabo Swinney. And it wasn't just football coaches. Thank you, Rachel Nichols.

NBA head coach Mark Jackson was also allegedly duped.

So, Rachel Nichols from CNN Sports, host of "UNGUARDED," joining me right now.

This is crazy.

NICHOLS: Yes, absolutely.

BALDWIN: Walk me through how this -- how did they find this guy? What was he thinking?

NICHOLS: His name is Ken Tarr. He's 32 years old and he lives in L.A. and he fancies himself a bit of a professional prankster. He has turned his attention to sports recently.

He will call a coach and he will claim to be not a representative of the team, but say attached for a team, a freelancer exploring the possibility of a job. He recently did trick former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy, saying he was calling to offer him the USC football job, which was hotly contested.

I want you to listen to what we have next. This is him calling Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson, talking to him about the Lakers coaching job, which by the way is not even open. Veteran coach Mike D'Antoni has that job right now. This guy videotaped this and he e- mailed it to the Web site Deadspin. So, take a look.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

KEN TARR, DEFENDANT: I work as a liaison whenever there's a head coach opening for a variety of different people. I'm more of a consultant, and at this point I have been hired from the L.A. Lakers to explore a variety of different candidates for the head coaching position beyond this season. It's a complicated issue because it's not something that a lot of people can fully discuss their availability, and I'm just trying to gauge interest at this point in seeing as things will progress.

MARK JACKSON, NBA HEAD COACH: Yes, obviously you know how sensitive an issue this is. You work for a company or you work as an individual?

TARR: I work as an individual. I respect that, Mark. I will have people reach out to you at the proper time.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

NICHOLS: You see as soon as Mark Jackson starts asking questions, who are you exactly, he starts to pull away.

But he's done this with a few coaches, and there's nothing illegal about pulling a prank, per se, but it is illegal in the state of California to tape a phone call if the other party doesn't know it. So Tarr has been arrested on felony eavesdropping charges. The police working the case said he'd been making these calls to coaches across several different sports. So, we don't even know how far this reaches, Brooke.

BALDWIN: How did he get -- these are big, big coaches. How did he get their phone numbers?

NICHOLS: A lot of times, you just call the office. And if you leave a legitimate enough sounding message --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Sound like you know what you're talking about.

NICHOLS: Right. Somebody will call you back. Sometimes, you can do an Internet search, get a cell phone number. He had his methods. You get the feeling he was sort of casting a wide net. And these are the guys who called him back.

BALDWIN: That's insane. And that it was felony eavesdropping that they got him on.

NICHOLS: So, if somebody calls you with a big job offer or maybe a movie role offer, I would think twice.

BALDWIN: Think twice before taking that, Rachel Nichols.

NICHOLS: But it could be legit. You don't know. You're a star, girl. You're a star.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Right.

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: Thank you, Rachel. Same to you, my friend.

"UNGUARDED" Friday nights, watch this woman.

Coming up here, we do have much more on our breaking news, encouraging here. We broke this at the top of the hour. This family, and these four kids, this girlfriend, boyfriend found in relatively good condition in this remote area of Nevada, fantastic news after two days in the brutal cold. So we have that coming up.

Also, those of you watching every single step this man takes, this is Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. We are getting word this mayor, who admits to smoking crack, the mayor of the fourth largest city in North America, will be speaking live at any moment. And, as you know, it is always an interesting moment. So don't move a muscle. We're back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)