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Israel Documents Leaked; New Study on Preventing Peanut Allergies; Passenger Train Derails Near Los Angeles; New Twists in Las Vegas Alleged Road Rage Case

Aired February 24, 2015 - 09:30   ET

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

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CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

Days before he arrives for a high profile speech in front of Congress, Benjamin Netanyahu is warning that a nuclear deal with Iran would be dangerous, not only to Israeli, but to the world. His comments echoing this moment at the United Nations in 2012 when Mr. Netanyahu held up an image of a bomb and urged the world to draw, quote, "a clear red line" to prevent Iran from developing nukes. But new reports citing leaked intelligence suggest that Israel's spy agency may have had a different view of that threat. And it wasn't quite so dire.

CNN's senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is in London, and in Jerusalem, Gil Hoffman, the chief political correspondent for "The Jerusalem Post."

I want to start with you, Nick, though. What does -- what do these leaked documents say?

NICK ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the quotes that have been extracted by al-Jazeera and by "The Guardian," and we haven't seen the full amount of documents that they got. Al- Jazeera said they received hundreds of documents that range from confidential to top secret. We don't know what's in that whole array. "The Guardian" newspaper has said that these documents that they received were selective and it's interesting that they've gone with this particular issue first. We don't know why they picked this one.

But what it essentially says is the South African intelligence agency quoting, writing down their notes from a briefing given by Mossad (ph). Mossad saying that a month after Benjamin Netanyahu's speech at the U.N. September 2012, Mossad saying that it doesn't think that Iran is actively trying to weaponize at that point in time. However, it does go on to say that it does believe Iran is trying to close the technology gaps by legitimate means, which will make it much quicker should they take a decision to -- should they take a decision to weaponize.

We should also remember at that time in 2012, the Iranians were still -- they were still enriching uranium, that 20 percent uranium, which becomes a key ingredient for the further enriched uranium which then can make a weapon. And it wasn't until the next year with international agreement that Iran began to neutralize some of that 20 percent -- all of that 20 percent uranium. And this argument that there's a difference between what the politicians in Israel are saying and what the intelligence services are saying, this is some -- this is an issue that's been out there for some time.

So the quotes don't appear that strong. The argument is an old one. And this is the one that they've picked to lead off this particular series of leaks with, Carol.

COSTELLO: So, Nic, if it's all just political, what are we to take away from that in light of Benjamin Netanyahu coming to speak before lawmakers in just a couple of days?

ROBERTSON: Well, certainly, on the surface of this, without careful examination, then the implication would be that this is going to discredit what he may be about to say and discredit potentially others in the United States as well. So, in a way, you know, you could be -- particularly if you were the Israeli prime minister, you might be left wondering why this leak, why now, what's behind it?

And certainly there are other leaks that the al-Jazeera and "The Guardian" are going to run with. We've seen some of those as well. They question how South Africa feels that it's been used in the sort of global intelligence game and issues like that, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. So, Gil, let's go to you in Israel. How are people there reacting to these reports?

GIL HOFFMAN, CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, "JERUSALEM POST": You know, it's -- there were huge reports over the last two days about the Associated Press revealing the contents of the nuclear deal that the United States and the P5 plus one are negotiating with Iran. That's been dominating the headlines, that big scoop that the AP had yesterday. The report from al-Jazeera wasn't taken too seriously and has really been downplayed by all sides.

I attended a briefing today by Isaac Herzog, Netanyahu's opponent in the race, and he made a point of saying that although he disagrees with Netanyahu on almost everything, including his handling of the situation with Iran in terms of coming to Washington and speaking to Congress, when it comes to preventing the nuclearization of Iran and stopping that particular deal, he and Netanyahu see eye to eye completely.

COSTELLO: All right, so you mentioned that tight race that Netanyahu is in with Mr. Herzog. And I want to switch gears just a little bit to talk about this because some people in the United States say that Mr. Netanyahu is only coming to the United States to display his might for voters back in Israel. And here's part of the reason why they think that. Because Mr. Netanyahu is coming to America under duress, he's just hired a high-powered attorney to represent him on criminal corruption charges surrounding Israel's comptroller's claims that the couple, the Netanyahus, spent $285,000 a year to clean their official residence, $2,000 to clean their private residence, $68,000 for makeup, hairstyle and presentation services over two years and $24,000 on takeout, as in food, for one year, which seems pretty serious to us in the United States, but is it in Israel and does it play a part in Netanyahu's decision to come to the United States to talk before Congress?

HOFFMAN: Those issues have definitely made the headlines and definitely the anti-Netanyahu media are having a field day with them. You know, the most anti-Israel media in the world is in Israel and he's had to answer questions about it. And the one thing that his people have made clear is that regardless of what he's confirming and what he's denying, none of what he did is against the law. He's not being accused of anything that would result in any kind of offense. It looks bad, but there's a difference between that and breaking the law, and politically it didn't end up --

COSTELLO: So why did he hire this lawyer?

HOFFMAN: You've got to be ready. You know, being Israeli is about hoping for the best and preparing for the worst. But according to the polls in Israel, Israelis have seen those reports as frivolous, as ridiculous at a time when Israel's facing a threat from Iran and there's been a backlash and it's really boomeranged against those attacking Netanyahu. He's used these reports to strengthen himself and say that he's the serious candidate while others are focusing on things that are nonsense.

And the numbers back him up in America, too. One of the reasons why he's going to Washington, besides the obvious that it helps him out politically, and it does, and besides the obvious that facing off against Barack Obama, a president seen in Israel as hostile, helps him out politically, and it does, is because he knows that when he speaks to the American people, it resonates. When the American people were asked how they feel about this potential deal with Iran, 70 percent were against it in a recent poll. Only 12 percent believe that Iran would honor this deal and keep its promises to the P5 plus one and especially America.

COSTELLO: All right, that's very helpful information. Gil Hoffman, thanks so much. Nic Robertson, thanks to you as well.

Still to come in the newsroom, allergy experts are calling it ground breaking and transformational. New research suggests a surprising approach to treating peanut allergies. We'll talk about that next.

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COSTELLO: All right, some terrible breaking news to bring you right now. You see that train derailment right there. That's near Los Angeles. This is California's Metro Link passenger train. Apparently the train hit two trucks that were on the tracks between Oxnard and Camarillo. There are multiple fatalities here. We don't know how many. But we do know we can't show you many pictures because, well, just they're far too grisly right at the moment. When I get more information on this terrible accident out of Los Angeles -- when I get more information on this accident, of course, I'll pass it along to you. In other news this morning, new research could change the way we

prevent children from developing peanut allergies. More than 600 babies who showed some sensitivity to peanut extract were studied. Some were given small weekly doses of peanut products while others avoided peanuts completely. For every 100 children, only two on the peanut diet became allergic. That number rises to 14 out of 100 if they were never exposed. So could the cure for peanut allergies be peanuts? Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us now to talk about this.

Really?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I think this is a big deal, you know, because it's one of the questions I get more than any other, why do allergies -- are they increasing in all these various areas? And for a long time, you know, we simply didn't know. And I think the reaction from the medical community was, let's just withhold peanuts. Let's just say let's keep kids away from peanuts as long as possible hoping that that addresses the problem. And as you just pointed out, that made the problem far worse even. So this study was a big study. It's published in the New England Journal of Medicine, so it's a very legitimate study. And what they did was they basically divided into these two groups. The kids who got the peanuts early -- and early I mean four to 11 months of age --

COSTELLO: Really?

GUPTA: Though not peanuts, by the way, because that's a choking hazard.

COSTELLO: Yes.

GUPTA: But peanut extract of some sort, they were -- they were, you know, a 7th -- a 10th almost less likely to develop peanut allergies.

COSTELLO: But doesn't it make you wonder why we have such a terrible problem with peanut allergies in the first place because most people, until recently, didn't have peanut allergies, but now kids do en masse.

GUPTA: I think, you know, the --

COSTELLO: They ate peanut butter and stuff, right?

GUPTA: They ate peanut butter and stuff. I think this idea of -- have you heard of the hygiene hypothesis. This idea of keeping things very clean, somehow we thought would be beneficial but, in fact, was making things worse. So, you know, 15, 20 years ago now pediatricians started to do this regularly, recommend to new mothers not to give your kids any peanuts until they -- you know, a few years old.

COSTELLO: Oh, OK.

GUPTA: And that may have, in fact, started to make things worse. There was probably already a little bit of a rise in peanut allergies. Who knows exactly why that is. But the huge rise that we've seen, not only in North America but also in Asia and Africa now, was probably due to the fact that the medical lore became just withhold peanuts.

And, by the way, this may apply to other food allergies as well. You know, eggs, you know, all sorts of different foods that kids are worried about simply inoculating them, if you will, a little bit. Giving them a little bit of whatever it is that they may be allergic to could be beneficial.

Now I should point out, in this study, kids who were severely allergic, obviously, did not get peanuts or any kind of peanut extract.

COSTELLO: Right.

GUPTA: They tested that ahead of time. But for most of the kids, they had no other adverse reactions.

COSTELLO: So, at this point, though, parents should just hold off on doing anything? I mean --

GUPTA: Well, you know, when did this become a, you know --

COSTELLO: Yes, exactly.

GUPTA: You know, my wife and I were talking about this this morning because I always said it's OK to give our kids peanuts early on. And she said, no, my pediatrician told me. But I -- when this becomes more sort of established routine, you know, I don't know. That can take a long time. But what I will tell you is this is a good study and I think it proves what a lot of people have thought for a long time in the medical community, that the idea of just withholding and operating out of fear and not letting kids be exposed to peanuts early on, that probably was never the right answer. Small introductions early in life, in infancy even, could make a huge difference.

COSTELLO: Awesome. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much.

GUPTA: You got it. Thank you.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, new twists and turns in the case of a teenager accused of killing a mother of four in an alleged road rage incident. We'll talk about that next.

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COSTELLO: All right, a little more on that terrible train derailment south of Los Angeles. This is in Oxnard, to be specific. This train was headed to Los Ageneles. It's between Oxnard and Camarillo.

Apparently, there are mass casualties. We do not know if there are fatalities as of yet. The train derailed after it hit some kind of truck that was on the tracks. That's the truck right there. It's hard to determine what kind of truck that was, but you can see the violence of the impact there. When we have more information, of course we'll bring it to you.

In other news this morning, the attorney for a teenager accused in an alleged road rage case says his client feared for his life. 19-year- old Erich Nowsch made his first court appearance yesterday before a Las Vegas judge on charges including murder and attempted murder. He's accused of shooting 44 year old Tammy Meyers in the head in the driveway of her home.

Police say it all started with a confrontation while Meyers was giving her daughter driving lessons. But Nowsch's attorney tells CNN's Anderson Cooper the family's version of events just doesn't add up and that he will argue self-defense.

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C. CONRAD CLAUS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: If you have a stranger stop you on the road and say we're going to -- I'm going to hurt you, the first place you go is not driving straight to your house, it would be to call the police and drive to some populated area that's not near your house. When you get to the house, you might call -- the first thing you're going to do is call the police, not arm yourself and go looking for this person.

The fact that the Meyers family don't tell us at any point for five days that they -- that this was Erich Nowsch that they believed was involved in this situation is suspicious. The fact that the sketch was inaccurate -- I will go so far as to say that the composite sketch provided to the police was misleading -- is also problematic.

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COSTELLO: OK, so let's talk about this with CNN legal analyst Paul Callan and HLN legal analyst Joey Jackson. So, Mr. Defense Attorney, does he have a point?

JOEY JACKSON, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: I think he certainly does have a point. There's a lot of emss here and there's a lot we certainly don't know. I mean, and it is -- (OFF-MIKE) -- is pecular.

And I don't want to speculate, but it certainly is strange when you have an incident where the mother goes back to the home. She then rouses her son, Brandon, out of bed. He then comes, he brandishes a weapon, brings a weapon. I don't know what was justified, what was not justified. There's a preliminary hearing set for the 10th which will determine whether or not Nowsch is rightfully held or not. And at that time, there will be witnesses who testify. We'll get a clearer picture.

But I do have to say, from a defense perspective, there are a lot of questions and very little answers.

COSTELLO: And, Paul, I know you agree with Mr. Defense Attorney.

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, don't (INAUDIBLE). No, all I know is it's a bizarre Las Vegas case. And, frankly, the defense attorney said some very sensible things last night. I mean, he said it's very suspicious, No. 1, why was Ms. Meyers giving her daughter a driver's license in the middle of the night? We don't usually do that at night. And then if she was confronted by somebody expressing road rage and threatening, why not go to the cops, as Mr. Jackson just said?

And, also, you go and get your son and he comes out with a gun? And then it turns out she knows -- they know each other. She was sort of a mentor to Nowsch. Her husband says she gave him money and gave him clothing. So we're going to hear a lot more of this going down the road.

COSTELLO: I think we lost your microphone. Is that what she said to me? We lost Joey Jackson's microphone?

CALLAN: Yes.

COSTELLO: It's not working? OK, so I'm going to ask Paul the next question because something else bizarre that came out of this. And we'll fix it in the meantime, I'm sure. Something else bizarre that came out of that interview with Anderson Cooper, this defense attorney said that police allowed Nowsch to get high on marijuana before he came out of the house. And then they placed him under arrest. And they later, of course, at the police station, they interrogated this kid while he was high. And the attorney has a problem with that.

CALLAN: Well, that's kind of fascinating because, first of all, I've never heard of that happening before. I can understand if it was sort of a hostage situation or you had to get him out of the house and he said, well, I want to smoke some weed first, maybe the cops would let him do it. But as the defense attorney said -- he said I don't have a problem with cops letting him get high before he surrendered. However, they shouldn't have taken a confession from him, or statement from him, knowing that he had used marijuana. And I think the defense attorney has a point there.

JACKSON: Is that accurate though? Do we know that happened? Certainly as attorneys we spin things and we certainly want to put things in the best light for our client; we're advocates. Certainly it's improper, inappropriate. I would have not heard that police would have allowed them to get high in order for them to speak to you, and certainly it would taint anything you say because you're not of proper mind.

So there is very little here that makes sense and there has to be some major backstory here. And if the attorney is arguing self-defense, that there was a gun brandished and as a result he had to defend himself. Whether that's accurate remains to be seen as well.

COSTELLO: All right, we have to leave it there. Joey Jackson, Paul Callan, thanks as usual. I appreciate it.

I want to head back to breaking news out of Los Angeles and this train crash, this terrible train crash between Oxnard and Camarillo. Jeff Lustgarten is from Metrolink; he's on the phone with me now. Jeff, just tell me what you know so far.

JEFF LUSTGARTEN, METROLINK SPOKESPERSON (via telephone): Yes, good morning. The information we have is still very preliminary. But the incident occurred a little before 6:00 this morning. It involved Train 102, which is a Ventura Country line train that travels from East Ventura to Los Angeles. The incident involved a tractor-trailer, as I understand it. Several of our cars of our train have derailed.

There are injuries. I've heard reports of up to 30 but I don't know if that's confirmed, nor do I know the extent of injuries.

COSTELLO: Thirty injuries that you know of so far but no fatalities, right?

LUSTGARTEN: Not that I've heard. No confirmation on that, no.

COSTELLO: And is there any information as to why this truck was on the tracks?

LUSTGARTEN: No, I really don't know at this point. Like I said, it's very early and we don't have any indication as to why the truck was at a crossing -- I do know it was at a crossing. Don't know why the truck was there.

COSTELLO: And I would imagine you have a massive emergency response team in the area right now, because I'm showing our viewers old pictures.

LUSTGARTEN: We do, yes. We definitely have multiple units responding. We also have -- the Ventura County Sheriff's department will be there as well as other first responders.

COSTELLO: Thank you very much. Jeff Lustgarten from Metrolink on the phone with me live. Thank you so much.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM after a break.

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