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Interview with Oklahoma Senator-Elect James Lankford; Discovery Channel to Show a Man Being Eaten Alive by an Anaconda; Willie Nelson to Perform at the White House

Aired November 06, 2014 - 15:30   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: So, joining me now from Oklahoma, the state's newly elected Republican senator, James Lankford. He is currently a member of the House.

So, Congressman, Senator-Elect Lankford, I know you say you don't care either way how I address you. Congratulations, and welcome. Nice to have you back -- back on the program.

REP. JAMES LANKFORD, R-OKLAHOMA, SENATOR-ELECT: Thanks, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Let me just first begin with the potential vote of having your new majority leader as Mitch McConnell. I know that Ted Cruz a couple days ago was not exactly committal in talking to Wolf Blitzer about whether he would support that role. Would you?

LANKFORD: I would, actually. No one else is running. That's been the interesting conversation for a long time to say who else is running on that? Mitch McConnell is the only one that is stepping forward putting his name out there saying I want to actually take leadership of this group. I mean, you talk about leading Republicans. That's no easy task on just like you were trying to lead Democrats on the other side. We all have independent thoughts and independent ideas. But yes, Mitch McConnell is the only one gutsy enough to be able to put his name out there and say let's take the leadership. Let's do it.

BALDWIN: So, is he the only one. Would you have any hesitations about Senator McConnell?

LANKFORD: No, I wouldn't. Senator McConnell is trying to step out and be able to lead. He's led a good job. We are trying to block lot of things in minority. But we've actually lead and pass things down. So, he'll step forward. He will take the leadership.

BALDWIN: OK. So you have potential majority leader here Mitch McConnell. You have Speaker Boehner. (INAUDIBLE) op-ed today. I'm sure you've seen it. And basically right of the game. They are saying repeal Obamacare. Do you expect and would you support congressman in an up or down as some are calling it really a show vote on that and then we know what would happen with the president with his name on it, that's not going to happen, or do you see it done piecemeal, series of small or let's publicized voted to at least try to cripple Obamacare. Which would it be for you? LANKFORD: No. I don't think it's a matter of trying to cripple a

law. I do think we should do an up or down vote on whether it should be there. And I would definitely vote no, that it should not be there. I would try to repeal this --

BALDWIN: You would want to do a show vote?

LANKFORD: I would want to get it out there to be able to maintain the message. I've had multiple votes in the house as you know full well to say I think this is a bad idea. You would be surprised how many people still catch me on a regular basis all over Oklahoma and tell me specific stories about their cost increases, what's happening, their doctor is not available, their doctor is leaving out, whether in it is rural, especially in rural Oklahoma, we're having major issues with implementation of Obamacare and it's affecting people on the ground.

BALDWIN: You can't say to those people it would be a waste of time?

LANKFORD: Here's what they say. It's not a waste of time politically for them because it affects them personally at home. And they say my doctor is leaving. This town has three doctors. Two of them just retired and said I'm sick of this. I'm not going to do it anymore. Now they're down to one. This affects them personally. So no, they're not sick of it. They don't see it as a political issue. They want to find answers.

Now, with that, I'm fully aware. Dr. Coburn whose seat I'm actually finishing out the last two years of his, he is famous for saying as long as there's an Obama in the White House, he is going to veto anything that deals with Obamacare.

But here's what I would say. We should go piecemeal. We have the medical device task, we have bipartisan support for. With the 40-hour workweek, it is very, very significant to many Americans. Many votes that are in poor areas are trying to get two part-time jobs because they can't get one 38-hour, 35-hour job. That affects them a lot personally. We want to be able to have some way to get greater choice back. You don't have to be able to pick only the plans Washington, D.C. approves to be able to pick other plans as well. Those are big issues for everyday people. And so, to be able to allow that choice to get back out there makes a difference.

BALDWIN: OK. Forty-hour workweek issue, I know that was something that Boehner and McConnell have mentioned in that piece.

Let me ask you about it because we now have here at CNN a source is telling us that the president has in fact written this letter to Iran's supreme leader. This is a piece of news that has broken in the last hour or two, you know, apparently pointing out this shared interest namely defeating the Islamic state and defeating ISIS, the White House officially not confirming or denying that report. But if it is true, senator-elect, do you think working with, talking to Iran would be a good idea?

LANKFORD: Yes. This is not the first time the president reached out to leadership of Iran. We know of other letters he sent in the past to be able to engage to that relationship. He said that even as a candidate that he would do direct contacts with Iran. So that is no big shock.

The issue for me is right now we are in the middle of negotiations on the nuclear issues. The P5 plus One is about to go through renewal (ph) in the process to be able to find out some way to be able to get rid of nuclear capability in Iran.

If we are connecting relationship with ISIS, with also with a nuclear Iran as well and trying to negotiate those two together, I have major concerns. Because it's not a good thing to say we'll give you any kind of latitude dealing with a nuclear Iran so we can get rid of ISIS.

The world should not have both a nuclear Iran and an ISIS or neither. We need to get rid of both of those. So I do have a problem with try to connect those cases.

BALDWIN: You are saying just one clear, prioritize nuclear issue and not talk to Iran about ISIS.

LANKFORD: Correct. Well, we need to get rid of ISIS. There's not an issue on that. That's clear. They're a rising power. But it's a bigger threat to have a nuclear Iran than it is to have ISIS.

BALDWIN: OK. Senator-elect James Lankford, thank you so much. Talk to you in the future from Washington. Appreciate it.

Coming up, would you watch a show featuring a man being swallowed by a giant anaconda? One network says this new show called "Eaten Alive" where a man is supposed to be devoured by this huge snake. Now, critics are shouting animal cruelty.

Coming up next, we will talk to a snake expert from the Columbus Zoo who has a live python behind him. Brian Stelter joining us as well. Stay right here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A filmmaker will be eaten alive by a giant anaconda for the world to see. This will happen on the premiere of Discovery Channel's "Eaten Alive." But that's to the dismay of a lot of animal lovers and according to Discovery, episode will feature a wildlife filmmaker entering the belly of an anaconda in a custom-made snake-proof suit. I never in a million years thought I would telling you about this. Did somehow, this filmmaker, will exit this massive snake. Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to get on the inside of a snake.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to make it as appealing as possible so the snake says I got this big thing here. I might as well get a free meal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to go headfirst.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Can I just say what the -- it may look riveting as far as TV goes to some. Others will not find this so entertaining. A petition on change.org says this is animal abuse to the highest degree. People are now trying to keep this episode from airing.

Let's have a conversation about this, Tom Staff at the Columbus Zoo. He is chief operating officer with a python behind him.

So Tom, nice to see you again. Tom, the python here is, my friend and colleague and CNN's senior media correspondent, host of "RELIABLE SOURCE" is Brian Stelter.

So gentlemen, welcome to both of you.

Stelter, come on, right out of the gate, this is ratings, ratings, ratings.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN HOST, RELIABLE SOURCES: Absolutely. They started promoting this the night of Nik Wallenda's the walk across the high wire in Chicago which actually didn't do as well as I was expecting for Discovery. Now they are promoting this. It airs in a month. So there's lots of time for anticipation to build. But we already know the guy is out of the snake. They re-taped it. He's OK. What I wonder about is, how's the snake?

BALDWIN: Tom, to you. Because a lot of people -- I can't imagine how an anaconda would survive a person being ingested and then however he gets out. I mean, do you see this as animal cruelty here, I have to assume?

TOM STAFF, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, COLUMBUS ZOO: Yes, absolutely. You know, it's funny. When you hear the clip and it says you have to go in headfirst, the answer is, no you don't. There's absolutely no reason for anyone to even watch this show. It's actually ridiculous.

What we want to make sure that we talk about is Amazon rainforest and the fact that there is millions of acres and we need to keep them preserved. That's the most important part. But the fact about a snake eating a human, there's absolutely no relevance in this at all. I have no idea why we would even watch the show.

STELTER: I do think, though, guessing here about what Discovery's intentions are, besides rating, I bet I will learn about snakes. I bet there will be some sort of informative element. But maybe that's just a bad excuse. I don't know.

BALDWIN: Is that worth to take away, Tom?

STAFF: Well, I can tell you a lot about snakes and I don't have to be eaten by one. You know, it's amazing to see these snakes are very large, some over 30 feet, hundreds of pounds. They are able to unhinge their jaws and they have a very slow metabolism rate. A large snake, like the one that we have behind us can eat once a year. That's how long and slow their metabolism rate is. They are amazing animals. They are part of this beautiful rainforest.

And the thing that I love about the fact that we're talking about rainforests because it's important that we're preserving every last rainforest that we have in this planet. Talking about having a suit and being able to douse yourself with some type of animal blood is absolutely ridiculous. And when we talk about the anatomy of a large snake, there are hundreds of teeth and their pointed toward their body. If you are ever bitten by a large snake, which I hope you never are, but if you are, you actually have to go towards the body to be released. So when we talk about this apparatus, this is absolutely ridiculous.

BALDWIN: Is it possible for the snake to survive this?

STAFF: Well, I would say no. The bottom line is there have been reports that large snakes have consumed large mammals like deer, and matter of fact, even humans. But when they're doing that, it takes hours, hours, for them to ingest this animal or this prey. And so, you know, when we talk about why would we do this, there's absolutely no science. There's no reason for the show other than to get you to watch what would be next would be mermaids and unicorns.

BALDWIN: Stay tuned. Just kidding.

Brian Stelter, this, the gentleman, filmmaker, who is going to be or has been swallowed, he's responding on twitter to the criticisms.

STELTER: Yes. And he says he's an animal lover. He would never be try to put animals in harm's way. But he's also teasing people saying you have to tune in and see what happens, so.

BALDWIN: He says if you know me, I would never hurt a living thing. But you'll have to watch "eating Alive" to find out how it goes down.

STELTER: And maybe to the point we were just hearing, maybe this is why it's not live. Discovery likes live stunts. They were going to have a man jumping off the Everest -- Mt. Everest until early this year when there were many people died on Everest. I mean, Sherpa and others. They canceled that show. There's been talk about other live events like Nik Wallenda. I can see why this isn't going to be live because, you know, as the man was saying, it takes hours for snake consumption to happen. I don't know what to call it.

BALDWIN: I don't even know myself.

Brian Stelter, thank you very much. Tom Staff, thank you. I really appreciate it. There you have it.

Coming up, the one and only Willie Nelson, he is going to be one, you know, smoked pot, actually not in the White House as he told me once upon a time he was on the roof. Clear distinction I'm sure.

Well, as it just so happens, voters in Washington, D.C. made it clear they want marijuana to be legal as well. We'll talk to Willie.

Hi, Willie Nelson. He's standing by. We are going to talk to Willie in just a second from his tour bus. Big night as he's performing for veterans at the White House. We'll talk to Willie coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Big party tonight at the White House. You have the president, the first lady, they are going to be hosting a salute to the troops. A star studded salute as they say. Mary J. Blige, (INAUDIBLE), both will be performing along with my next guest live from the bus, park in the nation's capital, Willie Nelson.

It is so nice to see you, my friend. I have been on that bus before. It's wonderful to have you join me. I have a lot to ask about including some recent news post-election in the form of marijuana. And we are going to go there in a minute.

But first, let's talk about the veterans. I was at a veterans event here in New York last night. Why is this issue, this cause, so near and dear to your heart?

WILLIE NELSON, SINGER: Well, of course, we all know that we owe our safety and our lives to our veterans and to our troops who take care of us day and night all over the world. So today is veterans day and we're at the White House and we're here to salute the troops.

BALDWIN: Veterans Day in just a couple of days. But everyone gearing up for that definitely. Do you know what songs you'll be playing on your guitar trigger?

NELSON: Yes. We're doing two songs. We're doing a song that I wrote many years ago called "We Don't Run" and then we're closing out the show with "On The Road Again."

BALDWIN: A Willie Nelson classic. And let's talk about something that happened this week, Willie.

Marijuana. You, of course, are an unabashed smoker and supporter of legalization voters in Oregon, voters where you are in the nation's capital, both voted Tuesday to legalize marijuana, recreational use of marijuana. Now you add Oregon and D.C. to pro-pot state which we already had, Colorado and Washington.

How long, Willie, do you think it will take before, let's say, it's legal in half the U.S.?

NELSON: Well, I don't think it will be that long now. I think once people have realize basically the bottom line on how much money there is in it, Colorado and some of the other states have shown people already, it's a very lucrative business. So I think it won't take long before the rest of the states come around. And it's -- as they say, it's about time.

BALDWIN: You know, it's interesting, reading articles about the District of Columbia because, obviously, it's sort of district versus federal. It's illegal for federal employees and you have a huge chunk in the percentage of people in D.C. who are federal employees. We're also talking federal lands, federal parks. You can't smoke the stuff there. So I guess my question would be, do you think it would help people in D.C. get along?

NELSON: Well, I really think stress is a cause of a lot of our problems and I really believe the best medicine for stress is pot. And yes, I think it would make us get along better all over the world.

BALDWIN: You know, I would love to have you tell a story to our viewers that we shared on the bus once upon a time and that was one of the last time I saw you as at a concert in Atlanta, where you had President Carter -- I was getting off the bus, President Carter was coming on, did "Amazing Grace" for the finale. It was beautiful. And so, you go way back with President Carter, back to -- you know where I'm going with this. I want you to tell me what you did on the roof of the White House.

NELSON: Well, again, Brooke, it's that short-term memory thing.

BALDWIN: Come on, we've talked about it on CNN before. It involves maybe some rolling papers, Willie Nelson.

NELSON: Well, I just -- I'll tell you this much. Up on top of the White House, it's really a great scene up there. All of the roads come together up there and you feel like you're at the center of the world.

BALDWIN: Is this anything you will address with the current president as you enter into said White House this evening?

NELSON: I probably won't, you know, say anything to the president about it. But I think I realize how he feels about it and I've read some of his books and things about when he was a kid how he may have delved into that matter a little bit. So I'm sure he is very understanding of what is going on and he may be happy to see it happening.

BALDWIN: Willie Nelson, live from the tour bus. I so appreciate you coming on. I wish you the best of luck tonight. And I think it's amazing how you're helping salute and sing for veterans. It's an incredibly, incredibly worthy cause.

NELSON: Thank you, Brooke. Good to see you.

BALDWIN: Bye, Willie.

Coming up, nurse from Dallas, Amber Vinson, now Ebola-free is speaking out. She sat down with my colleague Don Lemon. She responded to all the criticism. People who said she acted carelessly, remember when she got on that plane, potentially exposing others, not knowing when she had Ebola, it was a very emotional interview. Hear from her after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Rock and roll hall of famer AC/DC vowing to rock on despite the arrest of their drummer who is accused of a crime that echoes one of the band's biggest. Drummer Phil Rudd is accused of trying to hire a hit man to kill two men. He's also charged with threatening to kill, possession of meth and marijuana possession. He appeared in court today in New Zealand. He's since been released on bond. But this arrest comes less than a month before AC/DC is scheduled to release its new album and then go on tour. So that's the very latest. We've only become aware of Phil's arrest as the news has been breaking.

This is according to the band. We have no further comment. His absence will not affect the release of our new album Rock or Bust and upcoming tour next year. Straight from the band today's statement.

Dallas nurse, Amber Vinson, is Ebola-free and so are the 163 people who had some kind of contact with her when she flew Texas to Ohio to plan her wedding. But in many ways, the disease does continue to linger.

For one thing, she is still weak. She's still easily out of breath, she says. But most importantly, she talks about the stigma that now follows her. Just to conduct this interview, our own Don Lemon had to approach numerous venues before one finally grant his permission for these two to sit down. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMBER VINSON, EBOLA SURVIVOR: I'm a nurse. I care. I care for me. I would not put myself in danger first. I would not take Ebola to my family and my best girlfriends. I would not endanger families across the nation potentially exposing them to anything. I had no symptoms. There was no way at that time I could not transmit it. So the science of it, no symptoms, you can't transmit it. So getting on that plane was just like whoever sat next to me getting on the plane. They had no symptoms either. You know? So I would not -- it's never my goal or intention to bring harm to anyone.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: That really affected you.

VINSON: Yes.

LEMON: Why?

VINSON: Because it's not me. Like all I do is care. You all I want to do is help. I would never try to hurt anyone.

LEMON: That's hurt. You heard some people say that.

VINSON: Yes, because it is so not me. So far, beyond what who I am. I'm always caring. I'm always, you know, I put others before myself always.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Catch the interview tonight at 10:00 o'clock Eastern.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. Jake Tapper starts now.