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New Day

New Flight 370 Search Area Shifts South; Clinton Hits Reset on Wealth Comments; Father Told on TV His Missing Son Found in His Basement; Germany versus Team USA in World Cup

Aired June 26, 2014 - 06:30   ET

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


MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Very difficult as you said, very deep, two to three miles deep. It's still about -- if I do my calculations correctly, that's about 1,100 miles off the coast still, and this is an area that hasn't been mapped, although I understand a Chinese ship is working to map it.

Give us a sense of that, tell us, because you're under the water, on the water guy. Give us a sense of this.

DAVID GALLO, CNN ANALYST: One of the things I had to do was before they really began anything is to have a good map of the bottom of the ocean so you don't end up running in the mountains and valleys and canyons and things. And they've got two ships out there. One is a Chinese ship and the second one is a brand new Dutch ship called (INAUDIBLE) I believe is the name. That's a very modern and very capable, so they will come back with some incredible maps.

And I think what we're going to find is the center of the search area is one of the most rugged places at the bottom of the ocean. There's one cliff there that's about two miles straight up and down so it's incredibly rugged in places. It's also fairly smooth in places, so we'll have to see how they handle this.

PEREIRA: So, they'll bring in many so of the same tools that we saw last time around? We know that the Bluefin had some challenges with the terrain that you're dealing with. You're saying this is more rugged terrain. Will they need a tougher arsenal of tools at their ready?

GALLO: They are in that process right now, Michaela and putting the call out for capable teams and tools and so I think we're going to see an array of autonomous vehicles, robotic vehicles and towed vehicles, vehicles that are towed behind a ship and it's probably going to take a combination of those to cover this kind of terrain and the kind of time that's available. So, we're going to see a little bit of everything showing up on the scene, and that's what's necessary.

PEREIRA: I want to go back to your meeting recently with Angus Houston and some of the authorities there in Australia estimated about 110 days into this now. You say you're confident. You say they are confident. Is there a level of frustration? Is there a level of fatigue, or has

this pause period given them a chance to sort of re-energize themselves to get ready to go again?

GALLO: Sure. I think that whole bit up north on the zenith plateau expecting at any day now they may come across the wreckage on bottom because they thought they heard the pings was a frustrating experience.

When we did Air France 447, we had similar experience.

PEREIRA: Sure.

GALLO: We spent two months in a haystack where there never was a needle. And so, we shared some of those stories and I sense there was. But Angus Houston is an amazing man, you know. He just -- leadership is one thing that you feel when you're in his presence and, you know, he's very calm and he just puts all that stuff behind us as experience and now let's look forward and get moving, moving ahead. So --

PEREIRA: Well, they certainly have to get moving and keep looking forward, at least for those families, because 239 passengers and crew aboard and their families agonizing by the day.

David Gallo, good to have you back with us. Thanks so much for looking this new information with us.

GALLO: Thanks, Michaela.

PEREIRA: All right. Kate?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Michaela.

Coming up next on NEW DAY, Hillary Clinton trying to, I guess you could say, clean up a bit of a PR mess about her personal wealth. How much has it cost her? Our political panel breaks it down.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: I like that. Political wealth, what it cost, good.

Tonight, CNN's original series "The Sixties" returns with the stories of American freedom fighters, the men and women who never fired a shot but certainly blazed the trail for civil rights.

Here's our "Sixties" minute for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow and segregation forever.

(MUSIC)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're marching today to dramatize to the nation, hundreds and thousands of Negro citizens in Alabama denied the right to vote.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're willing to be beaten for democracy and you misuse democracy in the streets.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are confronted primarily with a moral issue.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think you can keep Birmingham in the present situation of segregation?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I may not be able to do it but I'll die trying.

JOHN LEWIS, US CONGRESSMAN: I thought we were going to be arrested, and the major said troopers advance. I thought I was going to die.

(MUSIC)

JOHN F. KENNEDY, FORMER PRESIDENT: I believe the time has come for the president to step in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's all of us who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice.

ANNOUNCER: "The Sixties" tonight at 9:00 on CNN.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Hillary Rodham Clinton heads to San Francisco today, the latest stop on her big book tour promoting her new memoir "Hard Choices."

Clinton has been in damage control mode after making some poor choices with her words, like suggesting she and the former president aren't truly well off. Did she really say that or is it just about interpretation? No matter how you look at it she now wants to hit the reset button.

Here's CNN's Brianna Keilar with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hillary Clinton finally nailing the question about her wealth in an interview with PBS' Gwen Ifill.

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: I shouldn't have said I think five or so words that I said, but, you know, my inartful use of those few words doesn't change who I am, what I've stood for my entire life, what I stand for today.

KEILAR: It took almost three weeks for her to clean up the mess from this comment to ABC's Diane Sawyer during the debut interview for her new book.

HILLARY CLINTON: We came out of the White House not only dead broke but in debt. We had no money when we got there and we struggled to, you know, piece together the resources for mortgages, for houses, for Chelsea's education.

KEILAR: Clinton made another gaffe this weekend, this time in an interview with Britain's "The Guardian" newspaper. She said people, quote, "don't see me as part of the problem because we pay ordinary income tax unlike a lot of people who are truly well off, not to name names, and we've done it through dint of hard work."

She went on to talk about her record and creating a level playing field, according to a transcript of the full interview obtained and verified by CNN. But the damage was done. Tuesday her husband came to her defense.

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT: It is factually true that we were several million dollars in debt. She's not out of touch, and she advocated and worked as a senator for things that were good for ordinary people, and before that all her life.

KEILAR: But Clinton didn't let the former president speak for her.

HILLARY CLINTON: My husband was very sweet today, but I don't need anybody to defend my record. I think my record speaks for itself.

KEILAR: And on the topic of a presidential run in 2016 she made clear, it's not an easy decision.

HILLARY CLINTON: It's a very hard job, and it's a job that, you know, you have to be totally consumed by and that's kind of the definition of being a little bit crazy.

KEILAR: Brianna Keilar, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: Brianna, thank you so much. Let's dig a little deeper -- Chris is ready to do just that -- with CNN political commentators Paul Begala, Democratic strategist and senior adviser to Priorities USA Action, and also, Kevin Madden, CNN political commentator and Republican strategist.

Good morning, gentlemen.

KEVIN MADDEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.

PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning, Kate.

BOLDUAN: OK. So, Paul, what do you make of this explanation? Has she cleaned up her mess?

BEGALA: Yes, first off, not much of a mess.

This is what voters are going to judge. They are going to judge what is in her record and in her heart, not what's in her wallet. I mean, obviously she had to correct the inartful language they use. Voters don't care how rich you are, they care if you're on their side.

If you want to help them lift themselves out of the poverty and middle class, out of the middle class and into wealth, then they will be for you. That's why Americans loved JFK who was a child of great privilege or FDR, who was another very wealthy president. So it's not the wealth it's whose side are you on. The more she can get it to those issues --

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: Didn't she bring this on herself when she described their situation as dead broke?

BEGALA: That's a factually true statement, actually. It was more than dead broke. They were 10 million in debt, but so what? Who cares?

Nobody cares. What they care about are you going to help me get a job? If you run for president, Hillary, are you going to be fore creating new jobs, raising minimum wage, child care help, so working moms can be good moms and good workers?

She's got a great record on those things. Keep in mind, she clocked Barack Obama among working class voters when she ran against him. She's got good rapport and go watch the tape of her CNN town hall meeting. I thought she had really good rapport with the folks in that audience, none of whom were super wealthy.

CUOMO: Well, that's -- right, but let's not confuse the situation. You cannot help me if you do not get me.

So, Kevin, let me put this to you.

MADDEN: Yes.

CUOMO: Obviously, your side and the critical nature of this is you're trying to make a point about who she is versus who she wants to represent. How are you using this?

MADDEN: Well, look, let me agree first with Paul on the first part of what he said, which is that voters tend to not worry about how much in someone's own purse as much as they care about what's in theirs. The problem for Hillary Clinton here is that she set up her own level of distraction with even getting to that message.

Paul is right, the relatability issue is so important. Voters want to know that you understand the problems of people like them, and it's impossible to do that when Hillary Clinton goes about talking about struggles in America through the lens of her own personal experience, because that experience is nothing like the average American's right now.

So, that I think is going to continue. I don't think this is something that is going to be an absolute roadblock, but at the very outset of her steps back into the political arena, it is certainly -- she has created an incredible challenge for herself going forward. BOLDUAN: Let's talk about the latest battle between House Republicans

and the White House -- well, specifically the president.

Let's throw up this graphic, taking a look at executive orders that have been issued, present and past.

John Boehner says that he intends to sue the president over the president's executive actions. As we've pointed out many times before on CNN, he has far less executive orders that he's issued than many of his predecessors. Why then -- and this isn't a new fight, Republicans have been mad about this for a while -- why then Kevin is this a worthy fight to be taking on right now?

MADDEN: Look, first of all, this is not and John Boehner has made it clear. This is not about the volume of executive actions, the context of these political actions.

And what happened now is that you have a president who has exceeded his authority. He took an oath to faithfully uphold laws enacted, and in many cases, he has unilaterally amended and enacted statutes and in doing so has taken power away from the legislature.

So, John Boehner I think is doing in a an effort to defend the institution of Congress and that he believes that this is something that it's their duty to uphold as part of the constitutional oath that they took as members of Congress.

CUOMO: So, Paul, do you see this as a noble attribute of the speaker and the Republicans, or is this just a naked political move?

BEGALA: Well, maybe in between. It may be a canny, savvy, smart political move.

John Boehner is a smart guy. He's a good legislator. I do think -- Kevin knows him, so I don't want to pretend to him. I think, like all speakers he cares desperately about the perquisites of his branch of government. He leads the legislative branch of government.

So, I think there's something legitimate in his motives. At the same time I wonder -- and Madden can tell us -- I wonder if this is a ploy to head off at the pass some of the truly crazy people in his party who might want to impeach the president, or else it might be also legal stretching.

You never know what this -- the five right-wing lawyers on the Supreme Court might do. I mean, I'm old enough to remember when they rejected the vote of the people and installed a guy who lost as president.

So even though I think the president is clearly, clearly within his constitutional mandate in -- in issuing executive's orders -- my lord, that's how Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves. Emancipation Proclamation was an executive order. But you never know.

I mean, so I think Boehner, it might be a really smart move for him. I don't like it as a -- as a -- as a person who served both in -- worked as a staffer for the Congress and White House, but politically it might be a smart move.

BOLDUAN: Kevin, one final point on this I want to ask you about -- and the White House is happy to point this out -- the cost that this could bring to taxpayers. I was reading Sue Davis, a great reporter for "USA Today," she was talking about the last time -- you don't know the cost of what this could -- this kind of legal action could be for taxpayers because they will be footing the bill. The last legal action that the -- the GOP House took against the president, that came up to a total of $2.3 million. How do you argue that?

MADDEN: Yeah, there is a cost. I mean, they have to have a very substantive argument that the costs would be greater if we're allowed to have the executive act in an unchecked manner, not consistent to the Constitution.

To Paul's point, I've even worked for John Boehner. He is -- has two attributes I think that are driving this. He's -- he believes in a very measured approach, which I believe that this -- this lawsuit is, and also he's -- he's somebody who is dedicated to the institution. He believes that when he took his oath of office as speaker of the House of Representatives that he was upholding the laws that were enacted and that this is part of that constitutional duty that he has.

CUOMO: All right, look, this is -- we'll continue it as we see what the lawsuit is and where it goes. Paul, Kevin, thanks for weighing in.

It just -- there's a hypocrisy here that exceeds partisanship. Congress has kept giving the president more and more authority, this president and others. They keep relinquishing their responsibility when it suits them. Just remember the Iraq war. They wanted the president to just go all by himself. He basically had to force a vote. You know, so they pick and choose when their constitutional authority needs to be respected.

BOLDUAN: Well, and both sides are guilty of complaining of this as much, you know what I mean?

CUOMO: Absolutely, both sides do it; it's just their turn.

BOLDUAN: That's why it's frustrating when it seems unlikely, especially in the near term, you're going to see any kind of movement on this legal action.

CUOMO: That's right, and that's what this lawsuit is really about, is another move to not do anything, you know? That's -- that's the unfortunate part for you.

All right, coming up on NEW DAY, an incredible moment of live TV, no exaggeration. Nancy Grace on your left telling the father on your right that his missing son has been found alive and well, but where? In his own basement.

BOLDUAN: Unbelievable.

CUOMO: You get to see his reaction on live TV. You get to judge the whole situation for yourself. Take a quick look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NANCY GRACE, HLN HOST: We are getting reports that your son has been found alive in your basement.

BOTHUELL: What?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Welcome back, everyone. Now to a truly bizarre ending in the search for a missing Detroit boy. The father was told during a live interview with Nancy Grace that his son was found alive in his home, in his own basement. Detroit police say 12-year-old Charlie Bothuell was found behind a makeshift barricade.

Rosa Flores is following developments for us. Rosa?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning. You know, as bizarre as it sounds, finding this missing 12-year-old solves one issue, and that is the missing child case. But it raises so many questions about possible adult involvement because police say, hear this, there is no way this child could have barricaded himself in that basement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We're getting reports that your son has been found in your base basement. Sir? Mr. Bothuell, are you -- are you --

MR. BOTHUELL, MISISNG SON FOUND IN BASEMENT: What?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FLORES (voice-over): A bizarre revelation, live on the air, this father is apparently shocked to find out his missing son is alive.

GRACE: Yeah, we are getting reports that your son has been found alive in your basement.

BOTHUELL: What?

GRACE: Yeah.

FLORES: Questions are swirling around the discovery of 12-year-old Charlie Bothuell. What should have been a happy ending to a missing child case is now shrouded in mystery. The boy's father tells HLN's Nancy Grace that it's impossible for his son to have been in the basement for the nearly two weeks he was missing.

GRACE: Sir, did you check your basement?

BOTHUELL: I checked my basement. The FBI checked my basement, the Detroit police checked my basement, my wife checked my basement. I've been down there several times.

FLORES: Detroit police confirmed that investigators saw no signs that the boy after searching the home four times, including once with a cadaver dog.

BOTHUELL: The FBI searched, Detroit police searched, we've all searched. God, they brought dogs, everything. Everybody has searched. What -- oh, my God, my son.

FLORES: According to police, Charlie was found barricaded behind boxes and a large five-gallon drum, raising suspicions as to whether someone might have hidden him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no way he could have erected this makeshift area of concealment. It would be hard for me to sit here and tell you that someone didn't know that Charlie was there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's the dad.

FLORES: In an impromptu press conference held as Bothuell arrived home from Nancy Grace's show, Charlie's father vehemently denies having any knowledge of his son's whereabouts.

BOTHUELL: For anybody to imply that I somehow knew that my son was in the basement, it's absurd and it's wrong. I love my son. I'm glad that he's home. I thought my son was dead, man.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FLORES (on-camera): Now according to police, the boy was taken for a medical examination, and his parents are yet to see him. Now at this point, no word from police about any adults being charged, but they do say that authorities are still investigating the bizarre circumstances leading to this discovery.

Chris?

CUOMO: I've never heard anything like this before.

BOLDUAN: Talk about -- I mean, bizarre is like not even a strong enough word for what that situation is.

CUOMO: The TV aspect alone. I mean, that's, you know, so -- it was so --

BODLUAN: Two weeks in the basement?

CUOMO: Nancy -- you know, Nancy Grace, there wasn't even any need to hype it, you know what I mean? Because it was such a weird situation to begin with. But if it's true that the basement was searched by all these different authorities and presumably by the parents involved, then how did the boy wind up in the basement alive if he couldn't have put himself there?

PEREIRA: The boy's physical condition will tell them a lot, and -- and hopefully he'll be able to speak to authorities and give an idea of what's going on here.

BOLDUAN: It's too bad that we have to be so skeptical, you know.

CUOMO: Well, it is, and sometimes you get ahead of yourself, you know. You have to be cautious like we do with the kid who was found dead in a car in Georgia. You want to make sure you do that before you condemn parents because they've lost the most.

PEREIRA: Take care of the child first.

CUOMO: But this kid is 12 years old, so there's almost zero chance, assuming he's health and normal, that he's not going to be able to say exactly what happened to him.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

CUOMO: So that is an amazing one. We will stay on this one. We've been light on this story so far, but with these revelations it will demand serious coverage and you will get it from us. That is one of the big stories that's starting your new day.

A big, big question for everybody just a few hours away. Can Team USA get it done against Germany?

Also, there is new evidence this morning against the father who forgot his son in that sweltering car, so we have information for you. Let's get to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've been waiting for this game for quite a long time. It's massive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the biggest game of a lot of our lives.

JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: It's been widened obviously in the last couple of days.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Disturbing evidence that the war is not limited by borders.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's highly unlikely that the Iraqi military is going to go to recapture a lot of the ground that they have lost.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Harris (ph) told police he somehow had forgotten to drop Cooper off at day care that morning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Laid him on the concrete, tried to resuscitate him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say it was all an act.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hands in the air, looking up towards the sky, what have I done?

(END VIDEOTAPE) CUOMO: Good morning, welcome back to NEW DAY.

You gotta believe. We believe that we can win. That's the chant you're going to be hearing from Americans, the excitement building, just about five hours, high noon in the east. That's when Team USA will take on Germany at the World Cup. A win, and they're in. A draw, still may set them up for more. But if they don't win it gets very complicated. They may not get out of the group of death and on to the sweet 16. You can't hype it enough. This is huge, the biggest thing for U.S. soccer that we've been collectively experiencing here in the U.S.

So let's get to CNN's Lara Baldesarra live in rainy Brazil. Lara going the full Kenny this morning for coverage. Tell us the situation on the ground, my friend.

LARA BALDESARRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I've got -- I've got my hood pinned back now.

CUOMO: You're much more believable.

BALDESARRA: Well, now -- now you can see my eyes. This is very good. Yeah, thank you. It just continues to rain here. There's really nothing else to say. The rain just continues to pour, and now we're getting reports in that there's -- there's a lot of flooding all around the town here, and this is no good.

I'm interested to see what this is going to do to the actual state of this pitch. It could have major impact on this game, depending on what it is because, think about it this way. Germany, they don't need to win. The USA, they don't need to win, so you don't want to put out players and risk them for injury, especially if the pitch is really poor. I mean, players, they can lose their footing, and that's not good. And then, obviously, that'll impact them moving forward, which we're hoping that the USA manages to do today.

CUOMO: All right, one more question for you, Lara. What are you hearing about the team in terms of any strategy shifts that this will mean today? Because obviously the weather is huge in sport, specifically this one.

BALDEARRA: We're not hearing too much. Everybody has been very, very tight-lipped. We're pretty much expecting the exact same squad pretty much as we saw the USA field against Portugal, and that worked out pretty good for them except for those last 30 second. But don't expect too many changes. These are -- these guys, they have worked so far and Klinsmann is happen we them, and -- and we'll see how that goes. But yeah, no big changes to report at this point.

CUOMO: Boy, the scene behind you is completely closed out since we last spoke to you. We can hear the rain. It's definitely going to be a factor. Thank you for toughing it out and coming to us this morning. We'll be back to you later on.

All right, so what does this mean? Are you going to put Jozy Altidore with the bad hamstring on the pitch if it's so slippery out there when you need him so much for the rest of the tournament? Who knows?

I'll tell you who does, Greg Lalas. He's a former major league soccer player and editor-in-chief of mlssoccer.com. And the game is so big we're going outside the world of soccer and bringing in Malik Rose, two-time NBA champion. He knows how to win -- game analyst from Comcast sportsnet Philadelphia.

It's great to have you both, fellas. So let's start with the obvious. The conditions matter in this sport. How do they play into strategy what? What Lara was saying about how hard you try? How real is this?

GREG LALAS, FORMER MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER PLAYER: Well, I think it plays in your strategy in that you need to be extra cautious with every single pass that you make because the ball is going to be skipping. And then if the field starts to get really heavy, then the ball starts to get very heavy and can start slowing down.