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Soldier-Turned Anti-War Activist Dies; Are Obama's Iraq, Syria Wars Legal; Why Obamacare Architect Videos Not Shown on ABC, CBS, NBC; 911 Calls Released in Washington State School Shooting
Aired November 13, 2014 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN: Just about the bottom of the hour. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.
Thomas Young - Thomas Young gained fame by fighting in the Iraq War and then fighting against the Iraq War. The soldier-turned-activist was featured in a documentary condemning it. He died on Monday. He was 34 years of age.
And while his loved ones certainly are grieving his loss, they are likely not surprised because Young wanted to die. In fact, starting last year, he worked to end his life.
CNN's Martin Savidge spoke with Young and his family back then about all of those reasons why.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The moment after he was shot, Thomas Young tried to pick up his rifle. When his arms wouldn't move, he realized it was bad.
THOMAS YOUNG, SOLDIER-TURNED ACTIVIST WANTED TO END HIS LIFE: I knew something was terribly wrong so I started to scream, take me out, somebody kill me.
SAVIDGE: Instead, doctors saved him and sent him home paralyzed. Now the soldier, once willing to lay down his life for his country, only wants to lay down and die.
YOUNG: I watched my body deteriorate.
GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!
(CHEERING)
SAVIDGE: Young enlisted just days after 9/11 wanting to fight those who had attacked America.
CATHY SMITH, MOTHER OF THOMAS YOUNG: I was nothing but proud. My son was going to go defend our country. SAVIDGE: Instead of Afghanistan, in 2004, Young found himself in
Iraq, a nation, he says, did nothing against the U.S. On just his fifth day, a bullet severed his spine.
From his wheelchair, he became an outspoken critic of the U.S. presence in Iraq.
YOUNG: It bothers us to see how he's handling the war but problems we face don't get through to him. They don't seem to care, because they don't have any personal investment in the war.
SAVIDGE: By 2007, his life was a documentary, called "Body of War," but the sniper's bullet continued to take its toll. In 2008, a blood clot traveled to his lung affecting his brain.
SMITH: When he woke up from the coma, he lost the ability to speak.
SAVIDGE: Since then, his life has been on a downward slide. He seldom leaves his bed, can't swallow food, a tube feeds his stomach. Last year, his colon was removed. Now he wears a colostomy bag. His bed sores penetrate to the bone. He takes more than 30 pills a day.
THOMAS: Every so often, they have to increase the dose because the pain starts to get worse.
CLAUDIA YOUNG, WIFE OF THOMAS YOUNG: This is a roller coaster. This is an impossible journey. Much harder for him than it is for me, but I have to simply bear witness which is very hard.
SAVIDGE: His wife, Claudia, says it's not that Thomas wants to stop living, he just wants to stop suffering.
Unable to swallow pills, unable to pull a trigger, unwilling to implicate anyone else, Thomas plans to starve himself to death.
CLAUDIA YOUNG: I support his decision.
SAVIDGE: And the woman who gave him life understands.
SMITH: A lot of what Thomas was and who Thomas was is gone now any way. I've already mourned that. I'll just pick up the pieces.
SAVIDGE: But not everyone agrees with his choice. Since announcing his decision, some of those religiously opposed to it have literally beat a path to his door to try to stop it.
CLAUDIA YOUNG: They feel like they have a right to impose their view on our unique human life and situation.
SAVIDGE: Young has still to choose an exact date when he will start to carry out his plan. But with so many gravely injured vets returning from back-to-back wars, he's certain he won't be the only one looking to find the right day to die.
Martin Savidge, CNN, Kansas City.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Martin, thank you for that.
Meantime, from day one, President Obama has stressed that this is a fight against ISIS and the goal was never to make changes to the regime in Syria, but that policy may not be so hard and fast as it stands today, because sources tell CNN that President Obama has now asked his national security team for another review of the U.S. policy toward Syria after realizing that ISIS will be tough to beat while President Bashar al Assad is in power.
But with another big policy change possibly on the horizon, some in Washington are once again raising this question, without congressional approval, is any of this even legal?
Joining me now, Jim Sciutto, our chief national security correspondent.
Jim Sciutto, we heard earlier this week that it was Rand Paul calling president's military action illegal, and now we're hearing from Democrats weighing in. Virginia Senator Tim Kaine calling it illegal and a panel, you, sir, just moderated yesterday. Tell me first what he said.
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Tim Kaine -- this is interesting -- because this is one of those issues that both splits both parties but also unites them because there are people in both parties who think there is the legal justification and people in both parties who think there isn't sufficient justification. And you can argue the president has acknowledged this to some degree because he's said he wants to go to Congress for authorization going forward.
So Tim Kaine is a Democrat. He's got a very ambitious opposition to this because he's not only believes the current war against ISIS needs additional authorization, but that the way this country goes about entering war with the president and often without congressional decision, which is given to it by the Constitution, that he thinks that whole thing needs to be turned upside down.
Here's what he to say yesterday at an event I moderated at the Wilson Center here in Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIM KAINE, (D), VIRGINIA: We have to have a legal authorization to cover this current military mission against ISIL because in my view from about mid august to now, there has not been legal authority that is sufficient to authorize this mission.
I've introduced legislation with Senator McCain to do this. We'll go back into the War Powers Resolution of 1973 and come up with a better process for this discussion that will take place always and will take place between Congress and the president, a process that respects both sides of the constitutional prerogatives.
(END VIDEO CLIP) SCIUTTO: Brooke, this goes back to a basic issue that many Americans weren't aware of, that the legal justification for not only the war against ISIS but all military action since the September 11th attacks is one authorization for the U.S. and military force, and one phrase in that authorization, which talks about how the president can take action against al Qaeda and its associated groups, and that definition of "associated" has expanded to include groups in Yemen, in Somalia, and now in Iraq and Syria again.
And it's folks like Senator Tim Kaine and Republicans, frankly, as you mentioned, like Rand Paul, who say we have to go back to the drawing board and be on firmer legal ground.
BALDWIN: You mentioned this issue is decisive but also unifying. When this gets taken to Congress for congressional approval, what would happen then?
SCIUTTO: As always, an open question with this Congress. I asked Tim Kaine that question yesterday. I said, is this an issue where we might have rare agreement and some rare bipartisan potential, and he said yes. The trouble is you do have a split within both parties so folks on both sides who think the other way. They think that you have enough. And then you have this other group, many Republicans among them, who want to add more legal authority, for instance, the use of ground troops, which the president doesn't want to use.
BALDWIN: Jim Sciutto, thank you very much --
SCIUTTO: Thank you.
BALDWIN: -- for me from Washington this afternoon.
Coming up next, we're getting word that a fourth video now has surfaced showing this architect of Obamacare talking about misleading the American public. He first made headlines, suggesting the American voters' "stupidity" -- his word -- led to this lack of transparency tries to get this bill passed. But these videos, and now we hear of this fourth video, and remarks haven't even been mentioned on the big three evening newscasts. Why is that? That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: The hottest story that may have slipped your attention concerns Obamacare. An architect, a consultant, whatever you want to call him, he made recorded comments in 2013 that just surfaced, causing heartburn for the Obama administration. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JONATHAN GRUBER, MIT ECONOMIST & OBAMACARE ARCHITECT: You get a law that said healthy people will pay in -- you make it explicit that healthy people pay in and sick people get money, it would not have passed. OK? Just like people -transparency -- lack of transparency is a huge political advantage. And, basically, call it the stupidity of the American voter, or whatever, but basically that was really, really critical to getting the thing to pass. And you know -- (END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: You heard that right. Let me quote him again. "Lack of transparency," says Jonathan Gruber, "huge political advantage," he says. "Basically, call it the stupidity of the American voter, or whatever, but basically that was really, really critical" for health care reform to pass Congress.
We're going to plug into that in just a moment. I have the former House speaker, Newt Gingrich, standing by, and we also have today a fresh response from the White House. I definitely will run that past you.
Do me a favor, sir, and standby.
But first, let me bring in Brian Stelter, host of "Reliable Sources."
Because as we pointed out at the top, you may not have heard about this because, thus far, it's not getting any play from the big-three networks, and my question to you is, why?
BRIAN STELTER, CNN HOST, RELIABLE SOURCES: One of those stories that begins in the conservative media and now is beginning to percolate elsewhere. But it's notable as some conservative media watchers have pointed out that none of the big-three evening newscasts have covered this topic, nor the big morning shows, until this morning when CBS began to cover it.
I asked NBC and ABC why they haven't taken it on. They declined to comment. CBS said, look, we are covering it. Look at our morning show.
BALDWIN: Yeah.
STELTER: But it's an example of one of these stories that becomes politicized on the right, but is barely heard about in the middle or in the left.
BALDWIN: Let me use a phrase that some folks like to use and that's "mainstream media conspiracy."
STELTER: Yeah, and in my experience, in "The New York Times" now, and CNN, is whenever you think it's a conspiracy, it's really just something much more mundane.
BALDWIN: Yeah.
STELTER: In this case, I think it's the fact that this is a video that is a year-plus old and it's something that -- we're talking about a story that's been debated and debated and covered endlessly. Often times, in newsrooms, there's a sense of what's new here.
That said, the quote, the word "stupid," that's news.
(CROSSTALK) STELTER: And the way it's being used -- and the way it's being used by conservatives is also news. That's why it should be covered by the nightly newscasts and covered by CNN.
BALDWIN: Newt Gingrich, I know you have something to say about this. But first, I hear you.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: I hear you. Hang on. Let me first, if I can squeeze this in, this is from Josh Earnest, White House spokesperson today. This is what he said: "I disagree vigorously. The fact of the matter is the process has been extraordinarily transparent," responding to Gruber's notion this was intentionally not transparent.
You know, we cover the story inside-out here at CNN. In your assessment, was it not clear at the time that healthier folks would bear this greater financial burden because of those who would require more care? There was a huge push to get young people involved, was there not?
NEWT GINGRICH, FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER & CNN CO-HOST, CROSSFIRE: First of all, all insurance plans assume that there's some aggregated risk pool and that the healthy are helping those who aren't healthy, and you put in money when you're healthy in the hopes of, when you're not healthy, you'll get some of the money back. That's basic insurance. But there's a contradiction in what he said.
BALDWIN: How so?
GINGRICH: The American people weren't stupid. They were lied to. If you watched the reaction to Obamacare, as they begin to learn more about it, they turned against it. So it's not the American people's stupidity. It's a president that said you can keep your doctor, you can keep your hospital, et cetera, which were not true. And he has since admitted they weren't true.
But the arrogance behind what he said fits the whole administration. The president is already indicating he may well veto the Keystone Pipeline if gets out of Senate this week. 70 percent of the country favors it, but Barack Obama knows better. On item after item, the country, 74 percent, wants him to not sign an executive order on illegal immigration. He's going to sign it anyway, because Barack Obama knows better.
(CROSSTALK)
GINGRICH: There's an underlying arrogance about the American people.
BALDWIN: I won't comment on the arrogance issue that you point out. I want to ask you, because the White House is specifically now distancing itself from Gruber, and it sounds like he was fairly integral in the building of this piece of signature legislation.
GINGRICH: Yeah.
BALDWIN: What do you make of that distance?
GINGRICH: They are desperately trying to recover from a disastrous election and they know this is poisonous. Here's one of the key architects in the White House, and was sent by White House to Congress to help write the bill, and he's talking in an academic setting, being honest, saying, if people understood Obamacare, it never would have passed the Senate and become law, and we were fortunate because much of the stuff was not understood and was not out in the open. That's an honest statement on his part. The fact that the White House is now, in effect, lying about having lied just tells you nothing has changed.
BALDWIN: All right. Newt Gingrich, I'll leave it there with that.
And, Brian Stelter, thank you so much.
We'll see if the big-three at night pick it up.
Thank you both very much.
Nearly three weeks after a student opened fire inside a high school cafeteria in Washington State, we are hearing now for the first time those terrifying pleas to 911 for help. One of those calls was from the teacher who tried to stop that teenage gunman.
(BEING AUDIO FEED)
CALLER: I need help. I need help now. He is wearing all black. I'm staring at him right now, sitting next to him. He is a high school student. I do not know how old he is. I tried to stop him before he shot himself.
(END AUDIO FEED)
BALDWIN: You will hear more of those 911 calls, including sound from one of the mothers of one of the victims. Stay here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: We are just hearing for the first time the 911 calls, terrifying 911 calls that came in from a story we covered live on our show. The school shooting in Washington State. We now know 15-year- old Jaylen Fryberg is the one who opened fire on his classmates, including some of his own family members.
Michaela Pereira is with me to talk through some of these frantic phone calls.
MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's just so heartbreaking to hear the 911 audiotapes. In one of them you hear this teacher frantically begging for help during all of this chaos, chaos that was caused by this one student.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN AUDIO FEED) 911 OPERATOR: We have reports of gunfire.
(END AUDIO FEED)
PEREIRA (voice-over): Chilling newly released 911 calls capture the terror during the school shooting.
(BEGIN AUDIO FEED)
CALLER: I just ran out of the school. The door was right there, and I'm out of the school right now.
(END AUDIO FEED)
PEREIRA: Students, teachers and staff flooding 911.
(BEGIN AUDIO FEED)
CALLER: I just left the cafeteria and guided students out the side door.
(END AUDIO FEED)
PEREIRA: As inside the cafeteria, Freshman Jaylen Fryberg shot five of his classmates, injuring one, another died on the scene. Three later succumbed to their injuries.
(BEGIN AUDIO FEED)
CALLER: We have many injuries, Marysville-Pilchuck High School. Wee need emergency help right away.
(END AUDIO FEED)
PEREIRA: And we're hearing for the first time the student who tried to stop Fryberg.
(BEGIN AUDIO FEED)
CALLER: Blood is everywhere. I do not see the guns.
(END AUDIO FEED)
PEREIRA: -- before the 15 year old turned the gun on himself.
(BEGIN AUDIO FEED)
CALLER: I need help. I need help now. He's wearing all black. I'm staring at him right now, sitting next to him. He's a high school student. I do not know how old he is. I tried to stop him before he shot himself.
(END AUDIO FEED)
PEREIRA: As word spread quickly around the community, frantic calls from parents began pouring in. (BEGIN AUDIO FEED)
CALLER: I just got a phone call from my daughter from Pilchuck High School.
(END AUDIO FEED)
PEREIRA: Zoe's mother messaged her daughter, "Are you OK," but the 14 year old never responded.
MICHELLE GALASSO, MOTHER OF STUDENT: They finally had to tell us that our child had passed at the school. He took away one of the best things that I ever brought into this world.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: It's tough to hear that, especially hearing the words from a mother who lost her daughter, and she now has the power to forgive.
PEREIRA: Which is amazing. Most people would probably say we understand if you can't forgive. She actually says that she forgives this young shooter who was a kid himself. Here's her word. I have to forgive because I can't waste my wife hating or being angry. She met his mother. She went up to her and hugged her and told her she loved her because she knows this is a woman that is also a mother that is now grieving.
BALDWIN: Grieving for her own son.
PEREIRA: Yeah.
BALDWIN: Michaela Pereira, thank you so much.
PEREIRA: My pleasure.
BALDWIN: Just ahead, in a very provocative move, Russia is considering sending bomber jets to patrol the Caribbean Ocean in the Gulf of Mexico. Why? Why now? We'll discuss this. Stay right here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: A woman living with diabetes for a decade lost 100 pounds on her own and then she signed up for CNN's Fit Nation challenge to drop another 100 pounds.
Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, shows us how she's transformed herself in this week's "Human Factor."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At over 400 pounds, Sia Figiel was revered in her Samoan culture.
SIA FIGIEL, AUTHOR & DIABETIC PATIENT: I was considered by people as a woman of strength, but there is no strength in pain, in hurt, in living with uncontrolled diabetes. GUPTA: Complications from her diabetes forced her to have all of her
teeth removed.
FIGIEL: It was on that same day I decided to be an activist against obesity and diabetes.
GUPTA: Already an acclaimed author, she used her platform to become a crusader speaking to schoolchildren and parents about the dangers of obesity. To jumpstart her own weight loss, she joined the 2014 Fit Nation team and began training for a triathlon. In eight months, she lost weight by swimming, biking and running, and she also gained a lot of confidence. On September 14th, she became a triathlete.
FIGIEL: I just feel like I'm a new person. I feel like I've been rebirthed. I've been baptized.
GUPTA: Not even a nasty bike crash could keep Figiel from reaching the finish line.
FIGIEL: They wanted to take me in the emergency vehicle. I said I can't do that. My family is out there. My team is out there. I cannot ride in a car. I came to do a race.
GUPTA: She finished the race with her team by her side.
FIGIEL: My team was there. They brought me in.
GUPTA: More than 100 pounds lighter now, she's not ready to stop.
FIGIEL: I'll do it again.
GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Malibu.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
