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Don Lemon Tonight

How Worried Should We Be?; Does President Have a Strategy?; Sheriff Who's Ready for ISIS; Plane Crash Mystery; Joan Rivers Investigation; Suzanne Somers Remember Joan Rivers; Concerns About Terror Attacks in U.S.

Aired September 05, 2014 - 21:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN TONIGHT HOST: Good evening. This is CNN Tonight, I'm Don Lemon.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN TONIGHT HOST: Happy Friday night to you.

LEMON: It's good to see you.

CAMEROTA: Great to be with you. I'm Alisyn Camerota.

LEMON: You're looking live now at One World Trade Center, also known as New York's freedom tower with less than a week to go until the anniversary of the worst terror attack in American soil. But tonight, 13 years after the tragedy of 9/11, how worried should we be about a new terror threat and that's ISIS?

CAMEROTA: And with ISIS in Iraq and Syria, terrorist in Somalia, conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, President Obama has a lot on his plate. So which of those conflicts should take tough priority? We'll get into that. And we'll hear from terror analysts who claim that ISIS is already in the U.S., if so? One Texas sheriff says he's ready for them, we'll show you what he's doing.

LEMON: Plus we're going to talk about this, a small plane crashes hours after the pilot's last message and hundreds of miles off course. We're going to have very latest on that mystery.

CAMEROTA: Also, we'll have the man task with investigating Joan Rivers' death what he's already learned. He'll share with us. And actress Suzanne Somers will be here to remember the fearless and funny comedian.

So let's begin Don with President Obama and a world end of crisis. CNN's Erin Mclaughlin is live in London. Erin, we know the President as we just mentioned has a lot on his plate at today's NATO Summit, so give us the headlines.

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right Alisyn, U.S. President Barack Obama delivering one of his toughest messages to date on ISIS. You know, his been criticized in the past for some mixed messaging on the topic but today, President didn't mince any work, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, CURRENT AND 44TH PRESIDENT OF AMERICA: We can't contain an organization that is running a rough shot through that much territory causing them much havoc, displacing that many people, killing that many innocents, enslaving that many women. The goal has to be to dismantle them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLAUGHLIN: The President also said that he's building a broad coalition, an anti-ISIS coalition comprised of some 10 countries. He also announced that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will be traveling to the Middle East to try and secure some Arab partnership for that coalition. Now Ukraine, also a top topic today at the NATO Summit, the President reacting with some skepticism to the announced cease-fire between pro-Russian separatist and the Ukrainian Government saying quite simply that it needs to be tested, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: And so Erin, the President also announced the (inaudible) major news today. He said that terror leader that was linked to Al- Qaeda, Al Shabaab was killed in a U.S. Military operation in Somalia. What do we know about that?

MCLAUGHLIN: That's right, terror analysts is saying that this really does send a message to terrorist around the world especially ISIS. Ahmed Abdi Godane was killed according to Pentagon sources and during a U.S. Air strike at Southern Somalia over the past weekend, they targeted his encampment. Now, Godane was the leader of Al Shabaab, a terrorist organization from 2008.

He has had a $7 million bounty on his head since 2012 because his been seen as the driving force between the U.S. -- the Al Shabaab aligning itself more closely with an Al-Qaeda agenda. His been seen as the mastermind behind some high profile attack most notably in 2010, a dual suicide bombing in Uganda and then in 2013 Al Shabaab's highest profile attack today to the attack on Westgate Mall, that bloody siege which left them 69 people dead.

Some terror analysts saying that his death strikes a blow to the Al Shabaab leadership but could also potentially open up a window possibly for some sort of agreement between Al Shabaab and the Somali Government, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Erin, there was another interesting tidbit today. This one, courtesy of the BBC, they said that Iran's Supreme Leader the Ayatollah had authorized his top military commander to cooperate with the United States on fighting ISIS. What more do we know about this?

MCLAUGHLIN: That's right. An Iranian Official has been denied that reporting, however, Iraqi's President telling CNN's Christiane Amanpour that the U.S. cooperated with Iraqi forces on the ground as well as some Iranian militia some days ago to help free an Iraqi city of Amerli from a siege, an ISIS siege. Now that cooperation would obviously be significant.

Iran has been very critical in the past of U.S. involvement in Iraq but ISIS and cooperation with ISIS perhaps in both countries, best interest considering that ISIS poses a significant threat right on Iran board, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Erin thanks so much for that update.

LEMON: We want to bring in now Kimberly Dozier, CNN's Global Affairs analyst, Bob Baer is a former CIA operative and Colonel Peter Mansoor is a former aid to General David Petraeus. Good to see all of you. Kimberly, I'll start with you first, we're hearing from a tougher President Obama today saying he is lining up a coalition to defeat ISIS. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: We are going to degrade and ultimately defeat ISIL, the same way that we have gone out through Al-Qaeda and the same way that we have gone after Al-Qaeda affiliating in Somalia where we released today the fact that we have killed the leader of Al Shabaab in Somalia and it consistently worked to degrade their operations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: That was earlier and we also had a NATO Summit, are they closer to a strategy Kimberly?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AGGAIRS ANALYST: It's also interesting to me that Obama has moved from using the language of the intelligence community a couple weeks ago. Officials had spoken to a bunch of reporters and told us that they had to figure out a way to contain this group. But now he's using the language of a counter-terrorist community.

Counter-terrorism officials and that with today talked about disrupting and degrading the network and eventually defeating the group. I also think what you're seeing though is President Obama doubling down on his strategy. He's having a sort of a "George Bush Iraq surge moment" when Bush went ahead with the surge in Iraq against everyone's advice.

What Obama's doing is saying, this has got to be a coalition of many countries not just the U.S. moving forward and I don't care who tries to rush me, I'm going to do this in my own time.

LEMON: And his been -- his going to do it in his own time and many had wondered why he didn't do it here in the United States before leaving on this trip because Colonel Mansoor when the President says, "We're going to go after them like we did Al-Qaeda." Is he basically saying that we'll go after their leadership or -- I mean, take out Al Baghdadi? I mean, will ISIS fail if he does that or if they -- will they fall?

COLONEL PETER MANSOOR, RETIRED U.S. ARMY: No, they wouldn't fall. It would be an important moment to kill Al Baghdadi but this is a group that's much more robust. I think he realized that and this is going to have to be a much more broadly based campaign than the campaign to hunt down and kill Osama Bin Laden that's why his developing an international coalition and looking for regional partners Turkey, Saudi Arabia and developing options right now, military options that he'll roll out over time.

He has a little bit of time to get this right and I think, you know, he was perhaps a little too candid when he says he doesn't have a strategy yet. What he has really doing is considering the available alternative strategies before deciding on one and make sure he gets it right up front.

LEMON: Can I just ask you something, though, because if everyone is going, everyone is sort of on the same page about ISIS, right? Like ISIS is terrible and this is the worst terrorist organization that we have seen but, I mean, is it as bad as everyone is portraying it to be or does it -- is it as deeply rooted as everyone is portraying it to be because it's been a year as you said the President, you know, doesn't have a strategy but it's been a year, how do you develop that strong of a terrorist group within a year?

MANSOOR: This is the reincarnation of Al-Qaeda in Iraq which began in 2004, so it's not a new organization it's just had a rebirth after its defeat during the surge in 2007-2008. It went across the boarder into Syria, it metastasize, used the chaos there of the Civil War to gain adherence, formed an alliance with (inaudible) had been forced to cross the boarder and then came back stronger than ever.

This group, they're modern day barbarians. They go into villages, they kill all the men, they enslave the women and children, this is nothing more than the Huns, or the Goths or the Vandals or the Mongols of the modern age and they're worst than people are painting them out to be.

Left unchecked, they will destabilize the entire Middle East and they will come after the rest of the world in terms of launching terror attacks.

COMEROTA: Bob, you heard the report that it was BBC report that said that Iran's Supreme Leader had approved some sort of cooperation with the United States on fighting ISIS. Would the U.S. ever collaborate or coordinate with Iran?

ROBERT BAER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I think there's coordination right now if indirect. You know, Baghdad is surrounded by ISIS in a sense at least to the North of it. And taking back Amerli require the help of government militia's close to Iran, so I think that cooperation exist but the problem is that what you face in Iraq is a Civil War, I mean, it's a failed state and you're facing a Civil War and if we take sides with Iran and Shia Muslims, Iran is a Shia country, then we get more deeply drown into this, I mean, it worries me.

I can see why we're cooperating with Iran and they're more rational and they're easier to deal with, but at the end of the day whether we get after it because you still have a lot of Sunnis because ISIS is not a small cult that's taken over the tigress river valley, its God support from the Sunnis. So we have to address their grievances, separate them from ISIS and get them to fight ISIS. And right now I don't see that strategy being at least aired about in Washington and I think we have to think about the day after the bombing what do we get and what do we do then?

CAMEROTA: Kimberly we were talking about how full the President's plate is at this NATO Summit. It's ISIS in Iraq, it's ISIS in Syria, he has to deal with Iran, he has to deal with Ukraine and Russia, he has to deal with Gaza and Israel. Do we have any sense of how the administration is prioritizing all these things?

DOZIER: Well, they did talk about taking the first day of the summit to identify all these problems and then the second day, addressing the problems. And these world leaders don't get together without having a lot of this stuff worked out in advance. I think that's why we're seeing the announcement of NATO quick reaction force that will go to any NATO member or possibly ally that feels threatened. As a message to Russia, don't think you can get away with what you're doing in Ukraine anywhere else.

They also talked about Afghanistan and the plan there to slowly draw down troops basically saying that the plan we have is working, we'll get back to you later. The most dynamic part had been on ISIS and I think what they're trying to do is build a kind of coalition that they had before the U.S. was part of the 1991 gulf invasion that Arab coalition that gave the U.S. in one sense cover to operate but in another sense, they are very conscious of the Arab street.

They've got to -- they don't want to seen as invaders and to help ISIS recruit more followers.

LEMON: All right thank you Kimberly, Bob Bear and Colonel Peter Mansoor, I appreciate that. I want to update you on this because investigators have an aviation mystery on their hands tonight. What causes single engine plane to fly hundreds of miles off course hours after the pilot's last message.

Well an oil slick off to Northern Coast of Jamaica is the only sign of a crash site after the plane flew past it's Florida destination and cross Cuban airspace this afternoon. Officials are saying that the aircraft took off from Rochester, New York before 9:00 this morning and when contact with the plane was lost, two F-16 fighter jet set out to investigate.

The plane may have crashed after running out of fuel. A prominent Rochester couple Larry and Jane Glazer was believed to be on board but what caused them to be unresponsive, not yet known.

CAMEROTA: It seems like there are aviation mysteries happening lately where we just don't know what's gone wrong.

LEMON: Yeah.

ALISYN: We'll keep an eye on this one. Well is ISIS already here in the United States? We'll talk to a Texas Sheriff who said if they are, he's ready for them. Also the latest on the investigation into the death of Joan Rivers, and later, her friend Suzanne Somers will help us remember the wickedly funny Rivers. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: This coming Thursday will mark 13 years since the terrorist attack since September 11, 2001. And now, with the dramatic rise of ISIS in the Middle East, some Americans are worried that a bloody attack could happen again on U.S. soil. As CNN's Jean Casarez explained there is reason to be concerned.

(BEGIN VIDEIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This ISIS group, they're smarter. Probably the most evolved terrorist group we've ever seen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am concern but I don't think we can (inaudible) to where they'll be or when it'll be.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fact that we are still in an active time of war, I think we have to be careful.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: With less than one week before the anniversary of the 9/11 attack in New York City, is the U.S. in a position to prevent another attack?

TOM FUENTES: The FBI has 80 offices outside the United States. They are in constant contact with their counter parts in trying to see if anybody anywhere is picking up anything about a possible attack.

CASAREZ: One potential threat, the seemingly increasing number of terrorist now with Western passports but according to experts, there's an even greater imminent concern. Want to be terrorist could already be here in the U.S. People who don't even have to get on a plane but can just read an online terror magazine in English which includes "how to guides" on building bombs and makes outright threats against cities such as Washington D.C., New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and big events happening now like the U.S. Open.

When MIT graduate and Al-Qaeda suspect Aafia Siddiqui was arrested in 2008, investigators found handwritten notes in her purse referring to mass casualty attacks at locations in New York including the Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge where security was recently breached when it's U.S. flags were replaced by bleached white flags.

Even though ISIS has never carried out an attack in the West, some experts believe it would not threat on Al-Qaeda's 9/11 date because its leader Al Baghdadi wouldn't want to.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His very narcissistic and many believed that he may not want to do an attack on 9/11 anniversary because of being in competition with the legacy of Osama Bin Laden. He wants his own legacy. He wants to be regarded as the biggest baddest terrorist that ever lived.

CASAREZ: But experts say that doesn't mean locations aren't vulnerable now especially those that draw large crowds because the ideology experts say is like a germ, you can't control it. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can't quarantine an idea that spread over thousands of websites, YouTube and others on the Internet. There's no real ability to prevent that message from being spread.

CASAREZ: That kind of ideology won't stop Americans either.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are we safe anywhere? I don't know but I can't live my life like that. I can't -- I don't want my children to grow up with fear. I want them to feel safe in school. I want them to feel sage over at the U.S. Open. I want them to feel safe in the park.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's risk everyday you walk out your door. You've got to have -- to some degree have faith in those that you're tax rate dollars kind of go to, to protect you and you got to live your live.

CASAREZ: Jean Casarez, CNN New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So if you live here in New York or if you've been here in the subway system, rural passengers are constantly warned. If you see something, say something. Every one of us has to be on are toes. And one Texas Sheriff says, "He is ready for ISIS."

We're joined now by Sheriff Gary Painter of Midland County, Texas. Good evening Sheriff.

SHERIFF GARY PAINTER, MIDLAND COUNTY, TEXAS: Good evening. How are you?

LEMON: I'm great. I hope you're great as well. You have said that you want to be ready in case of an attack by ISIS or by any other terror group. What's your biggest concern?

PAINTER: Well, the fact that they're already here. That's the biggest thing. I walked the border for about eight years. There are places on the border that you can walk across the up river from (inaudible), there is no water in the river. There's no fences, there's nothing to keep you out.

So -- And we've got 10 to 15 million that are undocumented aliens that are inside in the United States now. And there's no doubt that there have been some people come in that should not be here, that are from places other than Mexico or Hispanic State.

LEMON: You said that they're already here. Why do you believe they're already here? You believe ISIS is already here?

PAINTER: I believe they have sailed here. I believe they have people here and they have cohorts, they have people that are here that are going to throw in with. I believe we have some homegrown people that are going to get mixed up. And we've already see them who are in Syria, where they have been killed and identified as being from the United States. So, I think it would be nice to say that they're not here.

LEMON: But your own Governor Rick Perry recently said that individuals from ISIS or other terrorist states could be coming here across the Mexican border but Pentagon officials have told CNN there is no information that leads us to believe that ISIS is" ISIS was crossing at the U.S.-Mexican border."

So, are you concern at all that you might be scaring your own citizens because you're saying you believe that they're already here?

PAINTER: I think our citizens are aware that there is a strong possibility that these individuals are already here. Sure there's a no positive proof but how many people knew there 10 to 15 million undocumented alien. How do you proved it?

We have people that are in this United States on visas, student visas, work visas that have never reported in. They've had no one to check them, no one that can identify that there's still here illegally until they get stop by law enforcement or something by chance happens. So...

LEMON: My question was that, do you believe that you're scaring your citizens as well? You don't think you were?

PAINTER: I don't think -- no. I think they're aware of the reality that there's probably some people here. There might be some people that get scared and I'm sorry for that but the reality is that we're looking it (inaudible).

CAMEROTA: So Sheriff, you have a department there with 100 deputies, how does a department in Midland, Texas prepare for ISIS?

PAINTER: Well, we go through Emergency Management Training twice a year. We have different scenarios that we go through. We get involve with other agencies, state, federal and other local agencies as well as agencies from the outside. We work with hospitals, emergency management groups, (inaudible), all kinds of people and we get prepared for different kinds of scenario.

Law enforcement -- you have to work with each other. There is no way that you can do your job without depending on the public, without depending on each other. So we always work and go hand and hand with trying to help each other out.

CAMEROTA: We also understand that you received an intelligence briefing about ISIS. What specifically did it tell you?

PAINTER: Well just an information came in about three or four days ago that there was a suspected (inaudible) of ISIS that were seen in the horizon of Mexico that they were operating, they're moving through that country. And there were some activity going on.

And it warn us to be able to look at for, to be -- to expect something and be careful with law enforcement also who are around the border and within the post proximities on the border. LEMON: So quickly, what's your message to -- if there are ISIS fighters who may already be in the United States or in your area across the border? What's your message to them?

PAINTER: Well, if they (inaudible) their ugly ahead, we'll send then to hell.

CAMEROTA: That's a pretty (inaudible).

LEMON: That's pretty much awesome. Thank you Sheriff Painter.

CAMEROTA: Thank you so much.

LEMON: Gary Painter. You know, you've heard what the Sheriff thinks but are ISIS terrorists already here in the United States? We'll get some answers from the (inaudible).

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: With so much focus on how the White House will deal with ISIS in Iraq and Syria, are we missing a threat right under our noses? Is ISIS already here in the U.S.?

Joining us to talk about this is Eli Lake, Senior National Correspondent for The Daily Beast and Rita Katz, Director of the SITE Intelligence Group. Thanks so much for being.

Eli, I let me start with you. Do we have any sense if there are Americans or at least people with U.S. passports who have trained overseas with ISIS and who are now here in the Homeland of the U.S.?

ELI LAKE, SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT FOR THE DAILY BEAST: Well, Matt Olsen, the outgoing director of the National Counterterrorism Center this week said that the U.S. Intelligence Agencies do not think there were any active ISIS cells inside the United States.

What we do know is that in the past there have been Americans who have traveled overseas, returned home and then traveled overseas right back to Syria and so the concern is that why wasn't in the past in that one incident wasn't detected before and there have been ISIS related terrorist attacks in your, a particularly, a horrific event at a museum in Belgium earlier this year.

CAMEROTA: Rita, your concern is that they don't even have to go overseas to train that they could just sprout up here.

RITA KATZ, DIRECTOR OF THE SITE INTELLIGENCE GROUP: Exactly. And, you know, I really -- you're absolutely right. I think that the most troubling thing is the fact that A, we all heard that a lot of Americans have joined ISIS but what the all other ones that didn't join ISIS? We know that at least 100 and more have made their way out. That doesn't mean that these are all the individuals that supported ISIS. I have absolutely no doubt that if they were able to recruit at least 100 and more in the U.S. there are many more that's are in this country and that will be a very happy to follow the online instructions and carry out a pack. CAMEROTA: I mean, you're talking about self-radicalized lone-wolf type people, Rita?

KATZ: Exactly. I mean, if we look at the attack since 9/11. There were about 50 plots for attacks in the U.S. Among those that succeeded, look at the Boston Marathon bombing, the individuals were inspired by Al-Qaeda publications. They follow the manual (inaudible) magazine online and executed the bomb.

You look at the Fort Hood Shooting again in 2009 by a military psychiatrist or even the attack on -- the fail attack in New York Times Square with a car bomb. I mean, I really have to say that just three weeks ago, Al-Qaeda and their (inaudible) Al-Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula issued a magazine calling on Americans -- American supporters (inaudible) to execute car bombs in the United States.

And the details step by step of instructions of how you execute this attack are all online with the message of let's copy, this are (inaudible) style car bombs from Iraq to the United States...

LEMON: So you are talking about, you're talking about...

KATZ: And one last sentence...

LEMON: ... you're talking about terrorist. I want a -- specifically I want to stick with ISIS here because that is the immediate concern.

You heard the Sheriff down in Texas saying, listen if they come here or if they're already here we're going to send them straight to hell. So Eli, do you think that there are ISIS, people who were fighting for ISIS, pro-ISIS fighters here in the United States already?

LAKE: Well, to answer the question I can go on what U.S. Intelligence official say and at this point the assessment is that there are no active ISIS cells in the United States.

There are -- the baseline figure is that 12 Americans have joined ISIS. We know that there were two such Americans that died recently in Syria on the battlefield. And it's, you know, but as I said I think that number 12 is a baseline and what I've heard about today is that it's a very thorny problem because the United States does not have great visibility or human intelligence networks right now in Syria.

And it's also difficult because even though the NSA and the FBI do try to track radicalization as best they can particularly online. You can't really open a case on somebody for going through the initial steps of self-radicalization whether it's going online to certain websites, growing a beard or any of these kinds of things. And it's also not a legal to travel to Europe and then take a bus pass to Turkey and meet somebody at the borders.

So, it's very difficult to try to, you know, open a case on someone before effectively they had joined the organization and are materially supporting a terrorist group.

CAMEROTA: So then Rita, given all of these problems with tracking them here and abroad, what's the answer?

KATZ: The answer is that we really need to be aware of the fact that we are still at war. That doesn't mean that we have to be concerned and change our life. I mean, let's not forget that part of al-Qaeda and ISIS media campaign against the United States is the intimidation. And the calls for attacks are flooding the Internet not only from ISIS but other groups as well.

We have to be aware that this is happening. Authorities, I would say should not think that there no terrorist cells or no ISIS operatives because how you defined operative today? Is it someone who went to training in Al-Qaeda's training camp and have a membership there? It's definitely not because we have seen based on recent attacks in the United States and other countries that all you needed is a computer and studying online what needs to be done.

CAMEROTA: Yeah.

LEMON: OK.

CAMEROTA: Eli Lake, Rita Katz, thank you so much for your expertise.

LAKE: Thank you.

LEMON: And we come right back, the comedy role mourns the loss of one of the great greats Trailblazer Joan Rivers.

Suzanne Somers joins us next to share some memories of the comedy icon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOAN RIVERS: These are all my jokes. These are jokes over the last 30 years. This is just -- every time I write a joke, I try to remember to get in on the card.

Why should a woman cook? So her husband can say, "My wife makes a delicious cake to some hooker?"

Can you wonder why I'm so working at this age?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Welcome back everyone. Earlier today, the Medical Examiners Office set an autopsy performed on Joan Rivers was inconclusive and in our next guest is overseeing an investigation to the clinic where she was treated.

So joining me now is Dr. Geoffrey Keyes, the President of the American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities. Did I say that right, accreditation?

DR. GEOFFREY KEYES, AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR ACCREDITATION OF AMBULATORY SURGERY FACILITIES: You have said that remarkably well. LEMON: Thank you very much.

KEYES: That's a mouthful.

LEMON: I appreciate it. Listen, it's interesting because as we are -- when you mourn someone like Joan Rivers you can help with smile because she would be making jokes about herself. So, you know, it's a celebration of her life really from most of the coverage that we've been having here.

So, Dr. Keyes you've been overseeing one of the three investigations to the clinic where the Joan Rivers was being treated. What will you be looking for in this investigation?

KEYES: Well, I should say, I'm actually the President of the organization or the association, there's an investigative committee that will actually delve into the actual circumstances of her demise but that's basically the way it happens. An inspector goes in and takes a look at how the facility is a adhering to the standards that AAAASF, that's the acronym for the organization.

How they adhere to the standards and then all of those things are brought back and then it's analyze. And this was a routine in inspection that's done anytime. There is this of a problem that occurs.

LEMON: OK, let's talk about the procedure. What do you know about the procedures you had and the sedation that was used?

KEYES: Well, I know that she had endoscopy performance and she had propofol, which is a pretty strong medication that put you into twilight type of sleep and allows most of these types of procedures to be performed.

LEMON: So she's OK - endoscopy which was a fairly routine. She seemed healthy. She was working up to the last minute but she was 81 years old. Given her age should she had been treated at an outpatient facility or should she had been in a hospital?

KEYES: Well the age itself is not a limiting factor to whether or not you have outpatient surgery. Really it's the general health and the status as evaluated by the anesthesiologist and her doctor, whether or not it's safe to do it on an outpatient basis. So that in itself was not a problem.

LEMON: And for all the...

KEYES: She -- If fairly was quite healthy.

LEMON: So if anyone having endoscopy, so -- what are the sets? I don't think I've really know the status for people who are going in to have an endoscopy. Most of them I would imagine 99 percent of them go well but there's always a one chance. Do you know status rate is?

KEYES: Small percentage but, you know, actually (inaudible) of the accrediting association, accredits all surgical specialties and really what you want to look at in general is the incidents of mortality in outpatients procedures for all specialties. This particular procedure is pretty routine, it's diagnostic. It's not actually a surgical procedure although when they do small biopsies you might consider that surgery but it's really a diagnostic study to evaluate what's going on in the aerodigestive tract, looking down the esophagus and into the stomach and areas likely beyond there.

But in general, outpatient surgery of this nature is very safe. The incidents of mortality is probably about one in 50,000. Most of the mortalities that occur that were not directly related to the surgery, they're often times related to things like pulmonary embolism or even patients have deaths that occur weeks after surgery having nothing to do with the surgeon because of their overall medical status like chronic renal failure patients.

LEMON: OK. I had to run here, but I'm going to ask you. Would you be investigating if it wasn't a celebrity?

KEYES: Of course. Any death has to be reported to our association in five business days. And an inspector sent in and the investigative committee oversees the entire investigation.

LEMON: Dr. Geoffrey Keyes, thank you.

KEYES: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: We all know that Joan Rivers was a hard worker. At age 81, she hosted her show on (inaudible). She had her own web series. She presented her own line on QBC. She had written 12 best selling books and was performing standup comedy right until the very end.

Joining us now on the phone is the woman who knew her for years, Suzanne Somers, best selling author, actress and women's advocate. Suzanne, nice to talk to you.

SUZANNE SOMERS, AMERICAN ACTRESS: Hi Alisyn. How you doing?

CAMEROTA: I'm doing well. Tell us how you knew Joan Rivers.

SOMERS: Well, you know, there's -- it's an unofficial club, those of us who work on the road and I work in night club for 25 years. And there were several times when Joan and I co-headlined together. We co-headlined in Las Vegas at Caesars Palace. And so I, you know, I interacted with her in and out of my career all these years. And she's always been great, always been hysterical, always been so funny but what was always interesting to me was off stage, backstage, in her dressing room.

She was -- I remember one time being her dressing room thinking, she's so demure kind of like a little grandmother sitting in the dressing room and then she puts on the eyelashes in the lips and Joan Rivers appears. So she had an ability to slip in and out a it in a very attractive way.

CAMEROTA: And, you know, we're watching old clips of her Suzanne and she first went on Johnny Carson's show in 1965 and one of the most remarkable thing that Joan Rivers is her longevity. I mean her career, how many decade it's been. All of her contemporaries that she started with people like Don Rickles, Richard Pryor, Rodney Dangerfield, she outlasted them. She was working everyday. How did she do it?

SOMERS: Well, just one correction, not Don Rickles. Don Rickles who I know so well is still out there. Can you believe it?

CAMEROTA: No.

SOMERS: He is still doing clubs but she did outlast him. What she did was make aging an inspirational that as long as you keep on keeping on and reinventing yourself, there's no reason to have to retire. I remember being with one doctor I interviewed for one of my books and he said, it's a common fact when my executives retire they usually die within five years. So I think, that comments he made shortly before her death, she said, I'm going to work until I die was prophetic. It was -- there she was, the night before.

You know, when I announced on Larry King that I had breast cancer and it was -- I was young to have breast cancer and it was a shocking news. And she was on the same show. So we were in the green room before and I didn't mention to her what was going on because I was so nervous about talking about it that it then revealed and leak and I just wanted to set the record straight.

So I come back after this very emotional interview with Larry King and for a moment, she was very dear and then she made this laugh sided face like that's all my breast look now and the two of us started laughing. And I thought it can even take breast cancer and make you laugh about it and honestly I left Larry King show that night uplifted rather than bombed out.

So -- Now I think she's an incredible person and she was unique and she was -- no one was like her. She wasn't a copycat. No one will ever be like her either, you can't be Joan Rivers.

LEMON: And it was all an act because anyone who knew a person like you would say she was so classy and so demure...

CAMEROTA: Yeah.

LEMON: ... and her personal life she live a very elegant apartment and if you saw her documentary, she really was -- it wasn't act but rush...

CAMEROTA: Yes.

SOMERS: It was and also what people don't realize, she had amazing taste.

LEMON: Yes.

SOMERS: She has the most incredible wardrobe, whether if you're kind of cloths or not they're all of the highest quality and made for her. And really, if you think about the clothes that she wore over the years, always, often.

LEMON: Yeah.

CAMEROTA: Yeah.

LEMON: That's why she's the fashion police.

CAMEROTA: And that is why she jokes that she wore Oscar (inaudible).

LEMON: Thank you Suzanne.

SOMERS: I hope she's going to wear that VALENTINO gown in the coffin like she want it. (inaudible)

CAMEROTA: That is what she asked for...

LEMON: And the hair.

CAMEROTA: ... for her final (inaudible)

LEMON: The fans, so hers hair could blow like Beyonce. And -- Thank you Suzanne.

CAMEROTA: Always great to talk to you.

SOMERS: Great talking to you both.

CAMEROTA: Thanks so much.

LEMON: Thank you.

SOMERS: Thanks a lot. Bye-bye.

CAMEROTA: So when we come back, someone else who was lucky enough to be mentored by Joan Rivers, comedian Judy Tenuta. She's going to join us.

LEMON: I was just talking about Judy Tenuta last night. It's so funny.

CAMEROTA: That is funny.

LEMON: Yeah, Judy joins us.

CAMEROTA: We'll talk here in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RIVERS: I want my funeral to be a huge show biz that there was lights and cameras and action. I want Cress services. I want paparazzi. I want publicists making a scene. I want it to be Hollywood all the way. Don't give me some rabbi rambling on. I want Meryl Streep crying in five different accents.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: She says she wanted a toe tag by Harry Winston and she wanted her fans so her hair could blow like Beyonce.

CAMEROTA: Like Beyonce and a dress from VALENTINO.

LEMON: Yeah, yeah.

CAMEROTA: And she might get all of that.

LEMON: She talk about all of that. Joan Rivers pave the way for so many great comics including our next guess and that's Judy Tenuta. Hi Judy. How you doing?

JUDY TENUTA, AMERICAN ENTERTAINER: Hi. I'm great. How are you? Considering.

LEMON: I'm --Yeah., considering. So when you got the news.

TENUTA: Well, the first night that I heard what happen I just thought, it's Joan Rivers, she cannot be brought down, you know. So I just thought, "Well, they'll just take her to the hospital and she'll be fine." And the next thing we hear is that she's on life support and then I'm, you know, like everyone else just praying and with faded breath and, you know, hoping that she gets angry enough to get out of there, you know, but, you know.

LEMON: Yeah. She mentored you. What did you learned from her?

TENUTA: Well, you know, the greatest -- 1986 she had her own late night talk show, the Joan Rivers show on Fox and she invited me on and I had a great time and she was like come back anytime. You know, she was just great, very supportive. And then I continue to be on her shows. She had some morning chat shows too in the early 90s. And so...

LEMON: Right.

TENUTA: ... you know, she invited me on those and we just had so much fun. And the thing about Joan is when she would do her own sake, she'd be very, you know, like a machine gun? But when she's talking to you, when she's interviewing you she makes you feel like you're, you know, special.

LEMON: I want to ask you because you mention her, she had a talk show, I remember in the 90s, a daytime talk show, right? And then she had a nighttime talk show.

TENUTA: Yes.

LEMON: When that failed her husband, you know, committed suicide. She'd really went into bankruptcy because they had so much debt. People forget how she wined out of debt by going on QBC, selling things and through that talk show, that daytime talk show. She got out of that debt and built her wealth back again. TENUTA: I didn't even know she was in debt. She never said to me, "Oh, I need $5." You know, she never -- I never knew that. But I just -- because, you know, when you see Joan, she's so elegant and she has the furs. And in her honor I wanted to wear my boa today, you know, we should all celebrate with wearing a boa today.

CAMEROTA: I -- well, very glamorous Judy. You look great. So I mean, and speaking of her style and her flair, you know, it's not easy to be a woman obviously in showbiz and one who got to be 81 years old, still working. She was famous for all of her plastic surgeries but she felt very strongly that she had to stay looking young and attractive to have the career that she did.

TENUTA: And she paved the way for myself and every female comic, you know, there's a lot of great female comics because of her, you know, Kathy Griffin, Richard Simmons. No. Come on, come on. He's funny. But -- no. But seriously -- yes, she paved away for everyone. And what I learned from her, you originally asked me is that she was fearless. She would stop at nothing. I mean, she -- did you notice she has no edit button? She would say anything, right?

LEMON: Yeah.

TENUTA: That's what I loved about her.

LEMON: Yeah. She said they fired me. They've done everything to me. My husband kills himself. What else can happen to me?

CAMEROTA: Well it's true. Judy Tenuta, thanks so much for sharing your memories. It's great to see you.

TENUTA: Thank you and I love Joan and thank you so much.

CAMEROTA: Thanks for being here with your boa. And say...

TENUTA: It could happen.

CAMEROTA: OK.

TENUTA: It could happen.

CAMEROTA: Stay with CNN for much more on the life and times of Joan Rivers. Our CNN spotlight here's tonight at 10 Eastern.

LEMON: She would be happy that people are laughing, right?

CAMEROTA: That's absolutely.

LEMON: That would make her happy.

CAMEROTA: That's what she wanted.

LEMON: We'll be right back.

(COMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: You know, it's really hard to believe that it's been 13 years, right, since 9/11?

CAMEROTA: Yeah. And it's right upon us.

LEMON: And it's right upon us and we're in this great city of ours and we'll be watching that. Of course we're going to be watching Joan Rivers, right? Her funeral is in this weekend.

CAMEROTA: Yes. Her funeral obviously will be star-studded then we hope that she gets all of the wishes that she'd laid out. So articulately of VALENTINO dress, the hair blowing like Beyonce...

LEMON: I thought it was brilliant to say she wanted a toe tag by Harry Winston which means she wanted a big diamond studded of toe tag.

CAMEROTA: Vintage Joan Rivers. That's going to do it for us tonight. Thanks so much for watching. CNN spotlight Joan Rivers starts right now.

LEMON: Good night.