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New Day

NFL Responds to Tax Controversy; Amanda Knox Verdict Watch; The Mariachi Olympic Prince; Inside Beatlemania

Aired January 30, 2014 - 08:30   ET

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

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: They have all the money. Elections are about money. And they're going to come down to D.C. and say, leave us alone. And more often than not, it seems that's exactly what happens. So how do you think you get a good chance to make change at the NFL or anywhere else that has big money?

SEN. TOM COBURN, M.D. (R), OKLAHOMA: Well, I think the way you do it is you sunset the corporate tax code, and then you design a new one, and -- which means the lobbyists have to lobby to put something new in, rather than to keep something that's there.

If I were head of the Finance Committee, I would sunset the tax code for the federal - for corporations and then I would design a new bill that has none of this stuff in there and make it an incentive where we promote American business at home, and that we allow people to bring money home from overseas at a different tax rate.

We're the only major country in the world that treat double taxes our corporations on foreign earnings and domestic earnings. I mean foreign earnings in the tax area where they make the money and then tax it again when we bring it home. We're the only country that does that. So we need to reform the tax code.

But the real point is, is you're going to see in the next month or so a tax extenders bill. In that will be Nascar, where we do a special deal for Nascar. You know, in other words, these guys will lobby their special benefit, which means the average Joe out there is actually paying a little bit more every month, every year so that somebody can -- who is well-connected and well-hilled (ph) can get a benefit that does not (INAUDIBLE) to the rest of America. And that is unfair.

CUOMO: Fight it, senators. Senators, I've got to let you go on this because you have important work to do. Fight it. Fight the extension of those bills. Fight those special interests. Take the money out of the game and the people will come back in huge numbers to the process. We all know that's true. We just have to see these first steps.

And you know what? as much as we all love football, it's good to see that you're calling it for what it is and passing this bill and hopefully it goes the right way. We'll see what both sides have to present on the issue, of course. But Senator Coburn, Senator King, thank you for joining us on NEW DAY. COBURN: You're welcome.

CUOMO: Good luck ahead.

SEN. ANGUS KING (I), MAINE: Thanks, Chris. See you at the Super Bowl, buddy.

CUOMO: I hope so.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: What, you got them tickets and not me? What?

CUOMO: And I'm going with them (INAUDIBLE).

BOLDUAN: OK. We're going to take a break. Coming up next on NEW DAY, Amanda Knox anxiously awaiting yet another verdict. An Italian court is deliberating right now. Their decision is expected in just hours. What would a potential guilty verdict mean this time for her?

Also ahead, you can call him the international man of mystery. The only member of the Mexican ski team. He's also a prince and a pop star. Is there anything he can't do? We're going to speak with the man dubbed the most interesting Olympian in the world.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Welcome back once again. Let's get right over to John Berman for the five things to know for your new day.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you so much.

Number one, hundreds of people in Atlanta hoping to find their abandoned cars today. State officials will provide transportation, but they warn that many vehicles were towed after the ice storm and may not be where the drivers left them.

On the road again. President Obama makes stops in Wisconsin and Tennessee today, talking up his economic plan. In speeches at a GE Engine plant and in a high school, the focus will be on job training programs.

A new study suggests the risks for obesity may take hold very early in life. The study found that kids who are obese around age five tended to stay that way, and kids with a normal weight were less likely to be obese later on.

A federal hearing set for today on the constitutionality of Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage. The state's attorney general says he will not defend that law.

And Justin Bieber busted again. The pop star arrested for the second time in a week. This time for allegedly punching a Toronto limo driver on the back of the head repeatedly last month.

We're always updating the five things you need to know. So go to newdaycnn.com for the latest.

Chris.

CUOMO: All right, John, let's head over to the situation in Italy. Right now, a jury is deliberating the fate of Amanda Knox once again. Only this time, it could be the last time. Could be. Why? Well, it's a complicated process there. Remember, this is a story that began in 2007. Knox was first convicted, then acquitted in the murder of her roommate and that would have been it if it happened here because of double jeopardy.

But the acquittal wound up being reviewed and overturned last year. So this morning, she could finally learn her fate once and for all. That's why we're monitoring the situation. CNN's Erin McLaughlin is in Florence.

Erin.

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Chris.

Well, this morning, in that courthouse you see just behind me, Amanda Knox's attorneys making their final arguments, arguing for her innocence, urging the court not to condemn, in their words, two innocent people. The jury and judges then retired to deliberate, the judge saying that we should not expect a verdict before 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time.

And while Amanda Knox has stayed away from the court today, her former boyfriend and fellow defendant, Raffaele Sollecito, did make an appearance in court. His father telling CNN that he is absolutely terrified, but he's here because he wants to face justice.

So, in the coming hours, we do expect a verdict. Whatever -- regardless of that verdict, whatever it may be, both sides will have the opportunity to appeal it to Italy's supreme court. The very same supreme court that overturned the 2011 acquittal decision. If at the end of this entire process, Amanda Knox is ultimately found guilty, Italy could then request her extradition from the United States.

Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Erin, thank you very much for the reporting. It gets very dicey on that issue. But, of course, Amanda Knox, though in the U.S., not free from this. Her life really not moving on until this is decided.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely right.

CUOMO: All right, coming up on NEW DAY, meet the renaissance Olympian -- skier, singer, photographer, prince. He's Mexico's only representative at the winter games, and he will dress to impress on the slopes at Sochi. We'll be discussing with it this man very soon.

BOLDUAN: The prince.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CUOMO: Welcome back.

You ready for a good one? Our next guest is a six-time Olympian, a photographer and a professional musician. He's the founder of the Mexican Ski Federation and the lone Winter Olympian from that country. He's also a 54-year-old German prince.

BERMAN: You're making this up.

CUOMO: I know, I know, I'm trying.

BOLDUAN: Stop it.

CUOMO: You may not know him now, but you will never forget him after this. His name is Prince Hubertus von Hohenlohe. That is his name. And he joins us now.

How did I do on your name, first of all, prince?

PRINCE HUBERTUS VON HOHENLOHE, OLYMPIC SKIER REPRESENTING MEXICO: You did very well. I mean I'm used to this Mexican pronunciations and they're quite terrible.

CUOMO: Now, you do not -- correct me if I'm wrong, but I - I have a very well-trained ear for language. I'm not picking up a distinct Mexican accent.

VON HOHENLOHE: No, but I have an international accent. I - you know, I was born in Mexico and I was raised in Spain and I was sent to Austria, where then I got addicted on skiing, and that's how I have -- sort of a mixed accent. I don't have a Spanish accent, probably.

BOLDUAN: OK, let's talk about the Olympic games. We've got a lot to touch on. You have quite a resume. A resume we would all dream to have, I should say. But let's talk about the Olympics.

VON HOHENLOHE: OK.

BOLDUAN: You're the only member of the Mexican ski team.

VON HOHENLOHE: Yes.

BOLDUAN: How do you think your chances are this time around?

VON HOHENLOHE: My chances? My chances are -- to win? They're very grim. But it's already great that I'm there because, you know, the qualification criteria gets always more and more difficult. And it's a country with 100 million people just manages to qualify one. It just says already that it's an achievement.

And then, you know, it's important for me to have kept like 30 years of this going. And I have actually didn't (ph) do three Olympics in Nagano, Salt Lake and in Turin. So it could have been a record for eternity. Now it's just a nice little record.

BERMAN: So how much time do you spend skiing, your highness? Because I think you have like a lot of other hobbies. I mean, you know, you've released -

BOLDUAN: He's a pop star.

BERMAN: Eight studio albums. You're a pop star.

VON HOHENLOHE: It's not hobbies. It's passions.

BERMAN: You're a prince.

BOLDUAN: Right.

BERMAN: I mean that takes a lot of time.

VON HOHENLOHE: Yes.

BERMAN: I mean how do you split up your time?

BOLDUAN: You're a photographer as well.

VON HOHENLOHE: Yes.

BOLDUAN: You've got a lot of stuff going on.

VON HOHENLOHE: You Americans are - you Americans are still - still think that princes live like in castles and have like all these servants that are waiting for you and they wake up late.

BOLDUAN: Wait, you don't?

VON HOHENLOHE: No, not really. No, we have -- we've moved on. We've moved on from that. 21st century.

CUOMO: And the descendants of your - you're a --

VON HOHENLOHE: No. I mean - I mean I -

CUOMO: Go ahead, prince. Never cut off a prince.

VON HOHENLOHE: No, I just wanted to say that, you know, it's not hobbies, it's passions and it's dreams. And that's, you know, it's -- that's important. That keeps you alive, young, and it keeps you going. And with my participation, I want to have like people, you know, dream that they could also do it. And then also it's like a challenge for -- with age.

CUOMO: Yes.

VON HOHENLOHE: You know that scientists tell that we are the first generation who's going to get old later. I want to see if they cheat us or if it's true.

CUOMO: Well, you're into your 50s now. You're still competing in the Olympics in one of the most physically demanding sports. Obviously something's working for you. You know, when we were reading into your lineage, you go right back to the Aniellis (ph) right -- so there's a little Italian influence in there as well, right? VON HOHENLOHE: Yes, yes. It's quite a mixture. Like some Italian industrialists and some Mexican landowners far back because I have a Mexican grandmother. The family was called Iturba (ph) and then some royal blood mix. So it's a cool kind of euro-trash Mexican mix.

BOLDUAN: I have to say your energy and passion is infectious.

CUOMO: So what do you wear?

VON HOHENLOHE: Sorry?

CUOMO: What have you got under the coat there? I mean we hear about the outfit. You're all about style. You want to make an impression.

VON HOHENLOHE: OK.

BOLDUAN: Oh, gosh. You started something.

VON HOHENLOHE: OK. I'm going to do for CNN a royal strip tease. I don't think you've ever had that.

CUOMO: This is great.

BOLDUAN: Let me check my memory. I don't think that's happened before.

BERMAN: Oh, my.

BOLDUAN: Is this seven seconds later?

VON HOHENLOHE: Took me 30 years to think about it. This is the Mariachi Olympic Prince.

CUOMO: That is --

BOLDUAN: That deserves a round of applause.

CUOMO: That is well-done. Well-done. How about the back? Let's see the back.

VON HOHENLOHE: You like it?

CUOMO: Yes, give us the full 360. Oh, that's nice. You look like the Three Amigos.

VON HOHENLOHE: A 360, yes.

BOLDUAN: Best movie ever, for the record.

VON HOHENLOHE: I look like the royal Antonio Banderas.

CUOMO: You do look like him.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: Permanent blushing. (CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: You wear it very nicely. To me, a little grabby, but very nice.

BOLDUAN: You already won in our minds. You're now my favorite (inaudible).

VON HOHENLOHE: Wow, that's great. I hope I can bring you down -- for sure they will know this guy's Mexican, you know?

BOLDUAN: You definitely -- you need to come visit us and you need to bring two of those suits for my dear friends right here. Prince, it is great to meet you.

VON HOHENLOHE: I have a present. I have a sweatshirt where this suit is printed on. It says "Mexico's Olympic Ski Team". I'll send it to you.

CUOMO: Please.

BOLDUAN: You got it.

CUOMO: Thank you, prince.

BOLDUAN: Thank you.

VON HOHENLOHE: I do.

BOLDUAN: We'll be rooting for you.

CUOMO: Probably exceeds the limit on gifts we're allowed to take. But I'll the case as an attorney.

BOLDUAN: You'll take that challenge?

BERMAN: Make an exception.

CUOMO: For you Berman. We'll make sure you get the gift, just in case it is --

BOLDUAN: Wow. I don't know if we're going to (inaudible) to that. That was fun.

CUOMO: He's going to have to worry about drag if he wears full mariachi and he has like some big hat.

BOLDUAN: Special helmet -- special helmet.

CUOMO: Wind drag's going to be an issue for him -- may affect his chances. We'll have to see.

BOLDUAN: All right. Let's take a break.

CUOMO: Come on, how interesting was that guy?

BOLDUAN: So interesting.

BERMAN: I don't know what to do. What do you do?

CUOMO: Did we oversell it.

BOLDUAN: We never oversell.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Welcome back to NEW DAY.

Fifty years ago next month, The Beatles touched down on U.S. soil for the very first time. Tonight on CNN, we'll look back at their incredible story in "THE 60S, THE BRITISH INVASION", it's called.

But right now, let's get a sneak peek at what Beatlemania was like looking at it from the inside with the woman who was there from the very beginning. Not CNN's Nischelle Turner.

CUOMO: You look good Nischelle.

BOLDUAN: CNN's Nischelle Turner brings the story.

(CROSSTALK)

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: You know, exactly. You know, I got my little Beatles education from this lady. She's amazing. And she's got so many stories. Her name is Freda Kelly and she can claim to be part of one of the wildest rides in all of music.

She worked eight days a week as the secretary of The Beatles' fan club for ten years. And for over five decades, she's cherished and she's been pretty quiet about her relationship with the Fab Four when most people would have and probably could have boasted.

I did have a chance to interview her via remote in Liverpool earlier this week. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Beatles.

TURNER: 50 years ago, America welcomed The Beatles when they made their ground breaking appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show". But Freda Kelly already knew them as John, Paul, George, and Richie. That's Ringo to you and me.

When she was just 17, she was hired to be the secretary of their fan club when they were a local band hoping to make it big in Liverpool.

There's a couple of lyrics from a certain song, "She was just 17, you know I mean, the way she looked was way beyond compare." How many times have people asked you if that song is about you? FREDA KELLY, SECRETARY OF THE BEATLES' FAN CLUB: Well, you know, that's about a lot of girls that were 17 that palled around with them at the time.

TURNER: Are you one of them?

KELLY: Well, I was 17 and I palled around with them at the time. I think it was for a lot of us.

TURNER: Anything go beyond a crush?

KELLY: Perhaps. Not really, no. But that's personal anyway, isn't it?

TURNER: Kelly worked with the Fab Four as they became international sensations and admits to playing favorites.

KELLY: I did have favorites. Of course I was in love with Paul, you know, for a week or two. And then if George gave me a lift home, you know what? I'd prefer George. And then Richie was so nice and asked about your family and your dogs and everything, I thought oh, no, I've got a soft spot for him.

TURNER: She says she had a playfully contentious relationship with John.

KELLY: You always knew where you were with John. When he came in the office, you knew what mood he was in and how far to push him and how far not to push him.

TURNER: You know, it's good to see your face when you talk about them, because at the end of the day, it just feels like you're still a fan, Freda.

KELLY: I am a fan. But you know what? I'm a Beatle fan. I'll always be a Beatle fan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TURNER: It just makes you bop, doesn't it? You know, she told us this story once about how John Lennon fired her because he thought she was paying more attention to the moody blues on a tour date than she was to The Beatles. So he told her she had to go. The other three said, are you nuts? So she said he came back and begged her to stay, even got down on one knee and asked her to come back to work. And of course --

BOLDUAN: One of the few women who can say that.

TURNER: She cherishes that memory, definitely, she does.

BOLDUAN: Good stuff Nischelle, thank you.

CUOMO: That was great. Good interview.

BOLDUAN: And you can see much more on The Beatles' first visit to the states including rare footage and interviews, CNN special "THE 60S: THE BRITISH INVASION" airs at 9:00 p.m. Eastern tonight right here on CNN.

Turner: I can't wait for that.

CUOMO: All right. Coming up, we've got the good stuff for you here. It's all been pretty good stuff. High school basketball stuff.

TURNER: Nice.

CUOMO: Back on the court.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Good stuff.

High school basketball star is back on the court thanks to a big assist from his friends. He's name is 17-year-old Tim Monet (ph). He's got a rare form of cancer. Treatment kept him off the court and out of school. Then great news -- Tim's doctor cleared him to play again. He actually started to beat the cancer. Great, right? Wrong.

School said Tim can't play because he missed too many school days fighting his cancer. It was policy, the school said. Well, the reaction since then, his teammates shaved their heads in support. Next, some 200 students staged a sit-in to protest the move; even a social media campaign with the #lettimplay

And finally the school went back on its decision and Tim is back on the court where he belongs. The school says it was all just a big misunderstanding. Yes, sure it was. Tim says in a tweet, "#Nice try." The power of coming together -- kids even at a young age knowing what the right thing is and the school finally doing something smart in a controversy. That's why it's "The Good Stuff".

BOLDUAN: That's why we bring it to you.

Now we're going to bring you to Carol Costello in the "NEWSROOM".