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When Will Brian Williams Return to Nightly News; Bruce Jenner Involved in Deadly Car Crash; ISIS Hostage Parents Make Plea; Investigators Turn to Bobbi Kristina Brown's Boyfriend

Aired February 07, 2015 - 20:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: 8:00 Eastern, top of the hour here in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Poppy Harlow joining you live from New York.

A lot of news this evening including this, the insiders at NBC news say that what is happening at their network is a slow motion car wreck. And seasoned journalists are wondering if Brian Williams will again anchor the Nightly News.

Williams announced today that he will not be behind the NBC anchor desk for the next several days. Network executive insist Williams soak himself out of the game and he says he voluntarily stepped down, temporarily, feeling that the swirling credibility scandal makes him too much a part of the news right now. He has to deal with the issue at hand a short time ago. A news anchor on NBC mentioned Williams' decisions to take a break. Listen to Lester Holt.

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LESTER HOLT, NBC NEWS ANCHOR: A word tonight about our colleague Brian Williams, so you may know, has been under scrutiny this past week over his recollection of certain stories he's covered.

This afternoon, Brian issued a statement that says, "In part, it has become painfully apparent to me that I am presently too much a part of the news due to my actions." He goes on to say, "I have decided to take myself off of my daily broadcast for the next several days."

Brian's full statement can be found on our website.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: All right. Brian Stelter, Senior Media Correspondent with us here at CNN joins me now. Interesting development that the other nightly news cast ABC CBS have not covered this until tonight and they did.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yes. All three of the nightly news cast acknowledged Brian Williams leave of absence tonight. This is not just a media story anymore. It's a big cultural story because, you know, I'll try not to get this comparison often. But Brian Williams the closest thing we have to Walter Cronkite in the United States.

He's the biggest news anchor. He has the biggest audience. And for most people, NBC news equals Brian Williams and Brian Williams equals NBC news.

So to have him to step aside, out of all this public lair, for at least a few days and not longer, is real damaging.

HARLOW: But he did make the decision, issued the statement, to the staff there at NBC that he is stepping down to sort this out and that he will be back.

STELTER: Yes. He emphasized that in a statement said that he'll return and he'll regain the trust of his audience. You know, the journalism students goes on to say everyday we have chance to either gain people's trust or regain their trust.

HARLOW: Yeah.

STELTER: Keep their trust.

HARLOW: Yeah.

STELTER: Brian Williams has lost some people's trust in the story, not all but some people's trust and he'll have to work to gain it back over time, but that is if NBC left him. There's been nothing but real silence at NBC in the last 24 hours about his future.

HARLOW: And that's a good point. I wonder what you make of the statement we got from NBC's President Deborah Turness, it's actually a staff memo.

STELTER: Yeah, yesterday. Yeah.

HARLOW: Saying, "Of course, we're internally investigating this. As soon as we have an update, we will let you know."

STELTER: Right.

HARLOW: What she did not do is run to the supporter backing of Brian Williams.

STELTER: That's right. There was no explicit message of support. You could imagine lots of ways they could have expressed support. They could have said, "Brian is the face of our network and more meaningful source or something."

I just talk to a person who's been NBC for years, who, of course like everybody they're talking about this. He said to me, "The company is giving itself a way out if that's what they end up wanting to have." Sounds clear, if that's what they want. But they're giving themselves a way out by having Brian Williams step aside for a bit by having Lester Holt fill in for the time being.

HARLOW: Yeah. STELTER: And by having Brian Williams say it's going to be several days, there's now a ticking clock. Now, everyday, folks are going to wonder...

HARLOW: Is he back on? Is he back on?

STELTER: We're in this very tight-knit TV news business, you know, people are going to be wondering, "Is this the night he's back on?" And every night he's not back on, we'll probably look bad.

HARLOW: You mentioned Facebook and you said this may not have happened, transpire without Facebook.

STELTER: Yeah. You know, we said it all the time, right? We say that social media has changed everything. This is really a case where that's true because Brian Williams' comments on the Nightly News about apparently having his helicopter be hit by an RPG when that didn't happen.

They were broadcast on Friday night and then they're posted on Facebook. And soldiers on Facebook started commenting saying, "Hey buddy, we were on the chopper. You went there with us."

You saw a series comments and that's why Brian Williams had to address this. Because from those Facebook comments came a newspaper reporter from, you know, and then Brian Williams went to Facebook to apologize.

HARLOW: Right.

STELTER: And then went on air to apologize. Some people say that the apology wasn't enough, does not answer questions. But without social media, in this case, this wouldn't have happened, I don't think. And that's all the more notable because Brian Williams has been somewhat resistant to social media. He famously has a Twitter account but a quarter of a million people follow but he's never twitted.

HARLOW: Wow.

STELTER: So there's a little bit of irony or sadness in the fact that it was social media that brought this to the forefront. I also think it's worth pointing out that we didn't have these sites in 2003 when the Iraq War started, you know?

HARLOW: Sure.

STELTER: So, when he started to exaggerate his story about what happened in that mission...

HARLOW: Social media was non-existent.

STELTER: There's no way to speak back.

HARLOW: So, Brian hopefully you'll talk about in the show, Reliable Sources 11 a.m. Eastern right here on CNN. Tomorrow also I'm sure people will be watching news and press on NBC tomorrow to see if...

STELTER: It's on top of anything...

HARLOW: ... anything (inaudible).

STELTER: Yeah.

HARLOW: Thank you, Brian.

STELTER: Right.

HARLOW: Appreciate it very much. Also this, I want to bring you news we've been following here.

This evening on CNN, Bruce Jenner involved in a deadly car crash this afternoon. We now have this brand new video in along with a statement from Jenner's publicist saying that he was not injured in the accident but that's really all they know at this point in time.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department think that one peson is dead, five others are hospitalized with injuries after what turns out to be a four-car crash, absolutely tragic. The person killed was driving one of the cars and was pronounced dead at the scene. We do not know though who that person is who died or the names of those five that are injured and hospitalized right now. This happened on the pacific coast highway in Malibu.

Joining me now from Los Angeles to discuss, legal analyst, Mark Geragos. Mark, I understand you have new information about the investigation that has already been launched?

MARK GERAGOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I do. I've talked with people in sheriff's department. They've already patching in this up not expectedly to a vehicular homicide investigation. They've also asked for and I've -- my sources tell me that they're presently either have or have already in the process of getting blood alcohol results from Bruce and from a number of the other people involved in this.

It's unfortunate but true that they're reporting now that there is a fatality and they're going to turn this over to detectives to do the follow up on this and it's truly a tragedy.

HARLOW: Just to be clear here, every -- all of the reporting that we have says vehicular manslaughter investigation, is that what you're hearing manslaughter?

GERAGOS: That's exactly what I'm hearing. In order...

HARLOW: OK.

GERAGOS: ... to patch (ph) this up to a murder investigation, you would have to have somebody who was responsible for...

HARLOW: Right.

GERAGOS: ... the death in a vehicular accident to have some kind of prior conviction or to be driving, you know, incredibly recklessly or something like that. So far there's no indication if that's the case. HARLOW: Let's be very clear hear, right, because Bruce Jenner is the name across the screen and the photos because he is a celebrity and we don't know the identities of anyone else involved. However, everyone in these cars is being looked there right now in this investigation, is that correct?

GERAGOS: Yes. That is absolutely correct. Everybody who is in it by all accounts so far and what I've been told, it's a multi-car collision. So, he's not the only one involved. You know, it's kind of like dominos where there's a succession of cars involved.

But I will tell you that I'm also told not through the sheriff that his family or these people have already reached out to an attorney and it'll become apparent shortly that is one of the usual suspects. And that he is cooperating by all accounts, and that this would be the normal course of action where would be investigated as a vehicular manslaughter. And there is no indication at this point that it is murder. And in California you can have a murder investigation or a murder charge when it is a vehicular accident, but there's no indication at this point that that's what's going on.

HARLOW: And Mark, our Paul Vercammen reported that Bruce Jenner willingly took, you know, breathalyzer test, if you will, everything on scene, cooperated et cetera. Will there be any blood test or any other type of test done among the people involved in this crash given that they're doing this investigation?

GERAGOS: Yes. I would be shocked if there wasn't and I don't have any information other than my experience in this. Even if there's a breath test taken and even if he came back at a .00 on the breathalyzer, I would be shocked that they didn't take him for a blood test.

And in fact, I would be shocked if his own lawyer didn't recommend that he immediately go to a hospital and get what's called a tox screen where the -- they take the blood and they ran all drugs, because the last thing you want is any kind of a suggestion that, "OK, it wasn't alcohol but it was some other drug."

HARLOW: Right.

GERAGOS: Because that can be just as bad for you.

HARLOW: Yes. Again, everyone being looked at in this investigation. We've appreciate it very much. Mark Geragos, thank you for the reporting.

GERAGOS: Thank you.

HARLOW: All right. Also this top story, the family of U.S.hostage, Kayla Mueller says they are hopeful, hopeful that their beloved daughter is still alive and they have a message for ISIS, the details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HARLOW: Well, two parents in Arizona making an emotional plea to ISIS. Kayla Mueller's mother and father want ISIS militants to contact them immediately about their beloved daughter.

The Untied States has major doubts about ISIS's claims that a Jordanian air-strike yesterday killed Mueller. Her parents say they are hopeful that she is still alive but they have not received recent proof of life from her captors.

A Defense official telling CNN, the target struck Friday by the Royal Jordanian Air Force, with the support of U.S. Military aircrews was a known ISIL weapons storage compound located near Raqqah, Syria. We've seen no indication that hostages were being held at this location. And we continued to review and evaluate all information.

Kyung Lah traveled to Mueller's hometown of Prescott, Arizona to learn more about this young woman what compelled her to help the people of Syria.

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KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Police close off the street leading to the Mueller family home. But Kayla Mueller's mother and father grapple with how their child who gives so much is trapped in war's brutality. But it was the very atrocities of war that drew Mueller in Syria, she felt compelled to help the victimized.

In 2011, she posted this video protest online.

KAYLA MUELLER, ISIS HOSTAGE: I am in solidarity with the Syrian people. I reject the brutality and killing that the Syrian authorities are committing against the Syrian people.

LAH: By the following years, she would make her first trip to the Syrian-Turkish border, oceans away from her quiet hometown of Prescott, Arizon. But even growing up she long to engage in the wrongs of the world. Todd Geisler is a doctor close with the family.

TODD GEISLER, MUELLER FAMILY FRIEND: The daughter is one of those folks that looks for the good in everything and in that vein she goes on ahead and tries to look for her gut center with the way she looks and acts day to day life.

LAH: In high school her local paper showed her marching through town as part of the save Darfur coalition, lobbying members of Congress and staging silent protests against the genocide. As a student at Northern Arizona University, Mueller was president of a group called Stand a student-led movement to end mass atrocities.

After graduating she joined aid agencies that took her to India, Israel, and the Palestinian territories. She came home briefly in 2011 volunteering at a woman shelter and an HIV AIDS clinic Northland Cares. The director telling CNN, "she was truly a remarkable woman. We are all very sad."

But Mueller could not ignore the unbuilding crisis in Syria. The children she told her local paper captured her heart in May of 2013 she spoke at the Presscott to one of his club where her father is a member. She said, "For as long as I live I will not let the suffering be normal."

Just two months later as she left the hospital in Aleppo, Syria she was kidnapped. Her family will hear nothing until 10 months later ISIS demanded a ransom of nearly $7 million or they would kill Kayla Mueller on August 13.

As Jordan begins its air strikes against ISIS, this photo from ISIS and their claim that those air strikes killed Mueller unsubstantiated likely a twisted ploy in the ISIS propaganda game. Mueller's parents in a public statement directly to ISIS urged her captors to contact them privately and added, "We are still hopeful the Kayla is alive."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: Everyone hopeful that she is still alive. Kyung Lah, thank you for that report.

Meantime, as Bobbi Kristina Browns family waited her bed tied and update to the event just before her hospitalization. Why some unexplained injuries are a cause for concern.

But first take a look at what is coming up for those of you in New England all that pink that is a new storm. Another one and it is big covering all of upstate New York, but the biggest dump of snow it will be right on top of Boston once again and it has been a crazy winter already in the Northeast, 22 inches of snow buried Boston last month.

It is a record breaker already and more it certainly on the way forecasters say the storm will be one that puts between a foot but to two feet of snow on Boston in just the next 48 hours.

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HARLOW: Brian Williams, and off the anchor desk right now at NBC Nightly News for the coming several days that is fallout from an honor apology that Williams made admitting that he did not tell the truth in a story about a situation in Iraq in 2003. He told that about his military mission at 12 years ago. NBC's Lester Holt will fill in for Brian William for at least the next few days.

In California, Bruce Jenner was involved in a deadly crash today, take a look at this video just send to us. His publicist is telling CNN the Olympian trans-celebrity was not injured in the accident that happened in Melbourne in the Los Angles. And the sheriff's office says one person is dead and a number of others are injured. We're hearing conflicting reports of either five or six other people inured and being treated at the hospital. This was a four call crash.

A source tells CNN legal analyst Mark Geragos that a vehicular manslaughter investigation has been opened, everyone involved in the crash including Jenner is part of that investigation.

I want to bring in Paul Vercammen he joins us from Los Angles. Paul, what are you hearing about there was injured?

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are hearing that they are all children or minors, that according to the sheriff's office. And that one number is someone out of discrepancy right now the fire department saying that there was six or seven injured in the sheriff's office saying that there were five injured as we said minors.

What we know about this is according to the reports from the scene, it was a chain reaction. And basically, Bruce Jenner's black escalade was in the middle of it. He was rear-ended allegedly and then his car hit a white Lexus which went off into the other lane, was in oncoming traffic. And as you look at these pictures, you will see the black Hammer or HamD (ph) that apparently hit the Lexus, the front end completely caved in. And the woman driving that car was reportedly dead on arrival.

Jenner, he took a field sobriety test just incase and a drug test on scene, they say all witnesses including Jenner have been cooperating with this investigation. This is on a narrow twisting stretch of the pacific coast highway right next to Pacific Ocean, a very dangerous road. And as we said before, five minors, five children injured in the crash. We don't know the extent of their injuries right now.

HARLOW: I hope they're going to be all right. Paul Vercammen reporting live for us in Los Angles. Thank you for that.

Also, the tragedy surrounding the discovery of Bobbi Kristina Brown face down in her bathtub is taking a new twist. The source telling us here at CNN police are investigating some unexplained injuries on the 21-year-old's body. Our Nick Valencia has the detail.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Poppy, investigators looking at the case of Bobbi Kristina Brown have now turned their attention reportedly to her boyfriend, Nick Gordon, the man that she calls her husband.

Police investigators want to figure out what happened in the hours that led up to police finding her face down in that tub. Now, as far as her condition, the hospital has been very quite about releasing her current condition. We do know though that she is still in a medically induce coma and that as recently as Monday, her family was told to prepare for the worst.

Now, police are still treating this incident as a medical incident. But right now, all eyes in attention are on Nick Gordon. Poppy.

HARLOW: All right Nick, thank you for that.

Now, switching gears here to our upcoming special right here on CNN. Imagine being in a serious relationship with your husband and a boyfriend and a girlfriend plus, you know, you date some others on the side. This is part of the CNN special Sex Drugs in Silicon Valley from our own tech correspondent, Laurie Segall.

This is fascinating, you'll had the chance to see the pieces as they run through the week. What -- In reporting this out, what did you find that really shocked you the most.

LAURIE SEGALL, CNNMONEY TECH CORRESPONDENT: Like, well, I went to a high tech swingers party. So, that was very shocking. But let me be like intellectual about it. You know, I figure we just -- how far are willing to go. When it comes to Silicon Valley, people question everything that is where through disruption happened. But they're also questioning like the most personal suicidal values like maybe should we be in one relationship, or are drugs really that bad. Let's try it out and test it out.

HARLOW: That was interesting.

SGALL: Everything from LSD to brain enhancing total illegal like vitamin type drug. Yeah, I mean right now, you're looking at the guy who gave out this is what he calls his stock. He takes about 15 critical smart drug a day and he says that together this combination helps his with his brain fog and they help him stay up longer and cold better. And it's just that idea really trying to maximize and optimize that is based on the Silicon Valley, but when applied to this is really is weird but interesting.

HARLOW: Fascinating, sorry, everyone you're not going to want to miss. Thank you Laurie for bringing it to us.

Coming up next, Laurie Segall special, "SEX, DRUGS & SILICON VALLEY". Next right here on CNN. Thanks so much for being with me. Have great evening.

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