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Diplomacy Shapes Obama Foreign Policy; Family Survives Subfreezing Temps in Nevada; Fake Sign Language Interpreter at Mandela Funeral Service; Newtown Still Heartbroken 1 Year Later.
Aired December 11, 2013 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: I want to show you a picture from Air Force One.
You've been on Air Force One. I've been on Air Force One.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Have you ever been on Air Force One?
STEIN: Yes, I have.
BLITZER: There's the current president --
(LAUGHTER)
BLITZER: -- the former president on Air Force One. They released a whole bunch of pictures. There you see the conference room where the -- they're looking at some pictures, some artwork from the former president. There's Ben Rhodes, one of the deputy national security advisors to the president. And George W. Bush, Laura Bush. They were on the flight to and from South Africa for the Nelson Mandela memorial service.
When we see these pictures, Paul, give us a little background. What can happen on a 17-hour flight between Johannesburg and Andrews Joint Base, Andrews as it's now called, outside of Washington, D.C.?
BEGALA: Well, you make friends across the aisle. First off, wonderful for the president to extend the invitation to especially former President Bush and the other parties. Great of the Bushes --
(CROSSTALK)
BEGALA: Secretary Clinton as well. And you know, the president could -- you know, you've been on that plane. He's got a lovely cabin up front. Full bathroom. He could just hide. And instead, he's interacting. They're having fun.
(CROSSTALK)
STEIN: He's a politician.
BEGALA: Thank goodness. I love politicians. STEIN: I do too.
BEGALA: This is nothing but good for the country. President Bush particularly. Nelson Mandela was rough on George W. Bush. And the fact that he as an American former president went to honor that memory, I thought it was very important. It was a good thing he did.
STEIN: When I was on Air Force One, it was a by-plane, but it didn't have --
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Did it have propellers?
(CROSSTALK)
STEIN: Propellers and a big rubber band. Of course, it's good to reach. It's good to reach out to everybody who he can reach out to.
But I want to go back to what I keep saying. Please, Congress, please, Mr. President, don't keep cutting the defense budget. Let's negotiate but always out of strength and then we'll get somewhere.
BLITZER: You're happy with this deal they reached yesterday, House Senate conferees --
STEIN: Yes, I am.
BLITZER: -- that will remove some of the forced spending cuts for the Defense Department?
STEIN: I'm very, very happy. And it's a gigantic plus for Paul Ryan, whom I've always like anyway.
BLITZER: Paul Ryan. It's good to hear bipartisanship coming from Democrats and Republicans in Washington.
STEIN: It's been a very good week for the president. The catastrophe of Obamacare may be in the rearview mirror for him at least for a while.
BLITZER: We shall see.
BEGALA: He needs to reach out to the other side and bring Ben back into the White House. He served in the White House.
Get some Republican advice in there?
STEIN: I'd be happy to be there.
BEGALA: He's expanding his team.
STEIN: Well, I would be happy to be there.
BLITZER: Maybe they're going to bring you back in there.
BEGALA: No, I have a job right here.
(CROSSTALK)
BEGALA: Right here. The most-trusted name in news.
BLITZER: You worked with John Podesta when he was the -- first in the Bill Clinton administration. He's now coming back. The cavalry, they need some help.
BEGALA: John, and he's bringing back Phil Falero (ph), a well- thought-of guy with terrific experience on the Hill. It was very good for the president to add those.
BLITZER: You were there for tough moments in the Clinton administration.
BEGALA: I do. You covered them. You made them tough.
(CROSSTALK)
BEGALA: You could have gone easier on me.
BLITZER: I'm throwing out or floating an idea. Paul Begala, coming back to the White House, helping this president get through the remaining three years?
(CROSSTALK)
BEGALA: He's doing great without me.
(LAUGHTER)
STEIN: Oh, you've got that one to yourself, Paul. You've got that one all to yourself.
BLITZER: Ben Stein, Paul Begala, guys, thanks very much.
STEIN: Thank you.
BLITZER: Still ahead, what would you do if you were stuck in the freezing wilderness with little kids and just a little food? A family was stuck in this Jeep for days. You're going to want to hear what our own Dr. Sanjay Gupta's survival tips for subfreezing weather are. That's straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Out of Nevada where a family of six is recovering, searchers found the couple, their two children and a niece and nephew huddled in their overturned SUV in a remote part of the state yesterday. Remarkably everyone is alive and not too bad off after two days in below freezing temperatures.
Listen to the sheriff who helped find them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RICHARD MACHADO, SHERIFF, PERSHING COUNTY, NEVADA: They had built some sort of fire and were heating rocks to hold for the children to stay warm.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Heating rocks to stay warm.
Let's bring in chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
Sanjay, it's a pretty remarkable story. We're still obviously getting a lot more details. But basically, how did they survive?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know some of the basics do apply here, and I should point we're hearing two of the family members are already being discharged from the hospital. Obviously, good news here. They appear to be doing well. Some mild evidence of exposure, but no frank frostbite, no life-threatening problems.
The basics apply, as I said, Wolf. If you think about it, just in terms of survival overall, the things you need, air water, food, we talk about this a lot in the context of natural disasters but you can see on the screen, just a few minutes without air, three weeks without food, those numbers get amplified when you are in such tough circumstances as they were. So they had some food in the car. They told people that they were leaving so a search was instituted much more quickly. Also, one that people should always remember, if you ever find yourself in this situation, don't leave the vehicle. The vehicle is probably your greatest source of refuge and also will make it much more likely for you to be found. If you leave, it is very likely that you make mistakes and Mother Nature is not very forgiving, as a couple of experts have talked about -- Wolf?
BLITZER: Those subfreezing temperatures, pretty remarkable they didn't get frostbite, Sanjay, or something even worse. So in addition to not leaving the vehicle, what else should folks do if they find themselves in this sort of situation?
GUPTA: A lot has to do with preparation ahead of time. Let me just point out a couple of things. Just simply with regard to how someone dresses. There's an acronym you can remember, cold. Some of this may be obvious, but keeping the clothing clean, in part because clothing that's very insulated, designed to be insulated, if it becomes dirty or contaminated, may lose some of the insulation. Avoid overheating. If you start to sweat, that sweat can lead to actually dispersing body heat more quickly later on. Wearing clothes in loose layers to allow heat to accumulate between the various layers. Too tight and it can reduce circulation, make you more prone to frostbite and keep the clothing dry.
But also, this is no small task to be out in conditions like this. So we just put together a quick list of things that people should have, should think about to keep in their vehicle if they're ever going to be out like this: food obviously, a knife, a flashlight, blankets, pillows, and then a fully charged cell phone. It's that bottom one, Wolf, that probably made the biggest difference. In today's day and age, having a fully charged cell phone allows people searching for you to possibly zero in on your signal, which is in part how they found this family. There are pings that are sort of given off by your cell phone. They were able to geo locate those pings and that helped them get the rescue.
BLITZER: Good advice, Sanjay. Life saving potential advice out there. Appreciate it very much.
GUPTA: You got it.
BLITZER: Another big question today. Look at this. Who is this guy? South African officials say this interpreter was a fake. So how did he get up on stage with President Obama and other world leaders during the memorial service for Nelson Mandela? We're digging into that straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: There's outrage today over an interpreter at the memorial service for Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg. This man was apparently signing for deaf viewers during portions of President Barack Obama's speech and others yesterday. The only problem, the interpreter may have been a fake.
Brian Todd is here. He's been looking at this.
Brian, what, three sign language experts say that what he was signing was gibberish, if you will?
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Several sign language experts in South Africa, Wolf, saying he was not doing this correctly. He's standing right next to President Obama, standing right next to dignitaries from around the world for several hours. The Deaf Federation of South Africa says he's a fake and that they are outraged over this. In a lengthy statement from the federation, they say the man is not a recognized professional sign language interpreter in South Africa, that he's not known by interpreters working in the field. To the best of their knowledge, they say, he's not undergone any formal training in South African sign language.
Specifically, what are they talking about? They say -- this is, again, the Deaf Federation of South Africa. They say that he did not use facial expressions, which is a very important part of communication. You can see some of the video from there. He's not using any facial expressions. They say the signs he used are not used in South African sign language, that he didn't use established recognized signs for specific people that they have in sign language in South Africa, people like Nelson Mandela, like Jacob Zuma, the current and president and former president.
Our people in South Africa spoke to a sign language interpreter down there, a woman named, Delphin Hlungwane, from a group called DeafSA. She talked about the specific gestures you have to do for noted figures. Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DELPHIN HLUNGWANE, SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETER, DEAFSA: He has now flicked his hand. This has no meaning. And I think he's even signed "help" because this is a sign for help. So -- or help someone. And he's indicated this. So who is being helped is not known because the speaker has said former president and nowhere does the sign name for him appear.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: She's speaking to Erin Burnett in South Africa.
South African officials say they could not immediately comment. They are investigating this.
And a key question we're not getting an answer to from officials in South Africa right now, Wolf, or anywhere else, who is he? We don't know his name. We're still checking on this.
BLITZER: Has he been seen before.
TODD: According to "The Guardian" newspaper, members of South Africa's deaf community have raised concerns about this man before at events. He has apparently been used at events sponsored by the African National Congress. The ANC told our people in South Africa that they have used him in the past but they did not hire him for this. So, yes, he has been seen and apparently used at events in South Africa before and concerns were raced about him before.
There is also a security concern here. If he's a fake and just passing himself along, how did he get up close to these officials? We're asking some questions of security officials, as well.
BLITZER: I know you're working the story. You'll have more at 5:00 p.m. eastern in "The Situation Room."
TODD: Yes.
BLITZER: Brian, thanks very much.
We'll take a quick break. More news right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: It's been nearly one year since the awful shooting rampage at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. As the nation marks the tragedy, our own Anderson Cooper takes a closer look at how the community is still in heart break.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, A.C. 360: Mark and Jackie Barden's living room is full of memories of their youngest son, Daniel.
JACKIE BARDEN, MOTHER OF DANIEL: That's a pencil drawing. COOPER: People still send gifts and letters.
JACKIE BARDEN: His kindergarten teacher sent this. He was wise beyond his years and truly understood the importance of sharing joy and taking care of others.
COOPER: Everyone who knew Daniel talks about his kindness.
CHRISTINE RISOLI, DANIEL'S AUNT: He's the kid who, the day after Halloween, you would go over to his house and he would open up his basket and say, what's your favorite kind of candy, and want to give to you. I would say, it's your candy. He said, I enjoy it by watching you enjoy it. That's how he gets enjoyment. What little kid does that, you know?
(SHOUTING)
COOPER: And he was musical like his father.
(MUSIC)
MARK BARDEN, FATHER OF DANIEL: The Christmas before this last year, we had a drum set.
(SINGING)
MARK BARDEN: For Jackie's father, his 90th birthday, the kids and I got together and played "What a Wonderful World" for Papa, and Daniel played the drums.
JACKIE BARDEN: He was really proud of himself.
MARK BARDEN: Yeah.
(APPLAUSE)
MARK BARDEN: On the morning of December 14th, he said, can you show me something on the piano? I said -- I showed him how to play "Jingle Bells." I was watching his little hands, thinking how cut there were, and he did it. He did it very well.
COOPER: Five days later, the Bardens were burying their son.
A note handed to me while covering the story shows the family was already thinking about how they could make a difference on behalf of Daniel.
JACKIE BARDEN: If you could read it, because I can't.
COOPER (on camera): OK.
(voice-over): The letter was written by Daniel's 11-year-old sister.
It says, "My name is Natalie Barden and I wanted to tell the president that only police officers and the military should get guns."
(on camera): How did that focus on guns so quickly come about?
MARK BARDEN: James and Natalie had some good, honest questions like, how did this happen? How does somebody go into a school with a gun and kill children?
COOPER: It really came from your other kids.
JACKIE BARDEN: Yeah.
MARK BARDEN: We were not political. We were not engaged in any issues.
COOPER: That was about to change.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Anderson Cooper's special report, "Honoring the Children, Newtown, One Year Later," will air later tonight, 10:00 p.m. eastern, on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: A fishing trip that turned into a real adventure, and you can see why. Jeff Fanman (ph), a Marine station at Camp Pendleton caught a great white on this California beach and lived to talk about it. His wife captured it on video. She was a little more than nervous.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFF FANMAN (ph), U.S. MARINE CAUGHT SHARK: Got it.
UNIDENTIFIED WIFE OF JEFF: Yeah. Oh, my god. Look at it.
FANMAN (ph): Whoa.
UNIDENTIFIED WIFE OF JEFF: Oh! Oh, my god. Oh, my god.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: It's illegal to catch a great white, so he quickly set the shark free. He says it took him about 25 minutes to reel it in.
She lives half a world away from Buckingham Palace from the United Kingdom in the small town of Dyersburg, Tennessee, but 83-year-old Mary Anderson received the royal treatment for a gift she sent to Prince George. Anderson knitted the prince a pair of booties and the palace sent her a thank you note.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARY ANDERSON, RECEIVED THANK YOU NOTE FROM ROYALTY: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were most touched by the thoughtful gift and sends you their warmest thanks and best wishes.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BLITZER: Very nice.
That's it for me this hour. I'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in "THE SITUATION ROOM."
NEWSROOM continues right now with Brooke Baldwin.
