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Nepal Hit by Massive Earthquake; More Protests Expected in Baltimore; Bruce Jenner Talks to Diane Sawyer. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired April 25, 2015 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:08] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Happening right now in the Newsroom, breaking news, an earthquake rocking Nepal and the death toll continues to soar as rescuers continue the desperate search for survivors buried in the rubble.

And Baltimore bracing for what could be its biggest day of demonstrations yet. This as new surveillance video released showing what happened when police arrested Freddie Gray, plus...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRUCE JENNER, FORMER OLYMPIC CHAMPION: Being Bruce isn't easy.

DIANE SAWYER, ABC HOST: That's the hard part?

JENNER: That was much harder.

SAWYER: Do you dream...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The secret Bruce Jenner has carried his whole life, and now sharing with the rest of the world. How his message may help others who are struggling. You're live in the Newsroom.

All right. Hello again, everyone, and thanks so much for joining. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. We're following breaking news from Nepal, a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake hitting that country, more than 1400 people have died. The epicenter was less than 50 miles from the capital of Kathmandu and there have been more than a dozen aftershocks.

We're also getting some new video from a surveillance camera that shows the strength of the earthquake. The city has been hit with widespread power failures and the airport remains closed. The tremors also triggered landslides on the nearby Mt. Everest.

It is now late night in Kathmandu and rescuers continue to go through crumbled buildings looking for any survivors.

I've got Ravi Agrawal, CNN's India Bureau Chief, on the phone with me now from Calcutta. So Ravi, what more do you know about the rescue efforts nearing midnight there? You know, how are they going to continue in the search? RAVI AGRAWAL, CNN'S INDIA BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Fredricka, they are going to continue through the night. I mean, the death toll has been rising every single hour that we've been monitoring this since the quake first struck. And, you know, certainly it's going to keep rising because we just don't know how many people are buried under the rubble in Kathmandu. We don't know how many others are trapped in avalanches and other part of Nepal.

We've heard reports that entire villages have just been leveled. So there's so much more on this story that we just don't know, and it's going to begin to emerge in the coming hours and days, and the true extent of the devastation across Nepal. Once it becomes clear, only then will Nepal even begin to be able to rescue people and try and come to terms with the depth of this crisis.

WHITFIELD: And then Ravi, we talked to an American Tourist not long ago who had just arrived earlier in the day and then, you know, experienced the earthquake. And he said the kinds of tools that he has witnessed, you know, being used, bare hands of course, and then he saw one earth mover that was used, but in large part, people are just digging through the rubble with anything they can find to help, you know, move these pieces to find survivors. But what do you know about what kind of support might be making its way in?

AGRAWAL: Well, Nepal is certainly asking for help from its neighbors here in India. I'm in Calcutta, India, which is not too far away from Nepal, but the capital, New Delhi has dispatched planes already to Nepal. They have rescued some Indians from Nepal, and they are trying to find ways to send in relief planes to sort of (inaudible) speed the Nepali the rescue effort. So that's ongoing.

But what we've been hearing from the streets of Kathmandu from people who are there is that people are sleeping on the streets. They're frustrated and scared. They don't know if they can go back in yet because the tremors are still being felt every now and then. They're just absolutely terrified.

And, you know, overall in a place like Nepal, the infrastructure is just not great. You know, for our viewers in the United States, I mean we get used to great emergency response systems. We get used to, you know, great health care systems that are equipped to deal, you know, with situations when you have a massive natural disaster. Nepal is not one of those places. So, the crisis that we're seeing there as it unfolds sadly is -- this is going to get worse before it gets better.

WHITFIELD: All right, Ravi Agrawal, thank you so much. I appreciate that.

I'm joined now on the phone also by Mark South, a spokesman for the International Red Cross based in Kathmandu, Nepal. So Mark, what are you seeing, experiencing there, how do you offer aid to people?

[14:05:1] MARK SOUTH, SPOKESMAN FOR THE INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS: Well, at the moment, it's midnight, it's very dark. As was just mentioned, there are thousands of people sleeping out on the street tonight and any open spaces they can find, so in temples, in schools. These are (inaudible) pictures that are being to people who are too scared to go back home.

Aftershocks are continuing, we haven't felt any for a little while now, but -- I mean more will be expected overnight. The Red Cross is a community-based organization. We've actually spent the last several years training thousands of people in first aid and light search and rescue for exactly this kind of event, as well as big awareness raising efforts so people are aware of the earthquake threat and hopefully know what to do when the earthquake strikes.

But obviously there are -- there are areas of the city which are very hard to access still and areas of the country more widely, which -- it will be time before we even know what's happening there.

WHITFIELD: And is it your feeling that it could be days before you have any other support to come into that area given it is so difficult to get there?

SOUTH: Certainly some areas of the country, it will take a significant amount of time, probably days, for help to be able to reach. But these are areas that it would take days to reach even if there hadn't been an earthquake.

WHITFIELD: All right, Mark South, thank you so much. And all the best in your efforts to render as much aid and support as you can.

SOUTH: Thank you very much.

WHITFIELD: All right. Happening right now, the first of two rallies today in Baltimore. Protesters are demanding answers over the death of Freddie Gray days after he was taken into police custody.

Meanwhile, new video just released by the Baltimore Police Department giving another look at the moments before and during Gray's arrest. The video, coming from some of the city's surveillance cameras, police say it will help as they try to piece together a timeline of what happened. They now admit, officers do, the police commissioner, in fact, saying that the officers made inexcusable mistakes in the arrest of Gray, who died days after he was taken into custody.

CNN's Joe Johns is in Baltimore with more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: New video from Baltimore police showing different angles on the arrest and transportation of Freddie Gray, the camera views released on the police department's YouTube page.

ANTHONY BATTS, BALTIMORE POLICE COMMISSIONER: The video footage of every CCTV camera that may have caught even a single moment of the incident is under review.

JOHNS: One clip shows Gray interacting with police. Minutes later the same camera shows the arrest scene with the police transport van. From another camera, a police van is seen stopped and another prisoner loaded. The footage is from hundreds of surveillance cameras in the area as police try to piece together the video timeline.

BATTS: We're refining our investigation, we're getting closer, and the picture is getting sharper and sharper as we move forward.

JOHNS: But the surveillance video released is not as sharp as the video that was shot by eye witnesses on April 12th showing Gray's arrest. Less than an hour after he was detained, officers transporting him called for a medic. Gray subsequently slipped into a coma, dying a week after his initial arrest. The surveillance video comes as police admit mistakes were made.

BATTS: We know he was not buckled in the transportation wagon as he should have been. No excuses for that, period. We know our police employees failed to get him medical attention in a timely manner multiple times.

JOHNS: And in the strongest language yet, Baltimore police talking about possible charges against officers for the death of the 25-year- old.

BATTS: If someone harmed Freddie Gray, we're going to have to prosecute them. And so, giving too much information out to you on the front here now may jeopardize that prosecution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: The challenges ahead now Baltimore police to deal with whatever crowds may develop from the marches and rallies on Saturday, again, they also have to deal with the funeral Freddie Gray on Monday as well as trying to wrap up their investigation as they've said, by next Friday. Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right, thank you so much, Joe Johns, I appreciate that.

All right. To joining me right now, Jason Downs, Attorney for the family of Freddie Gray. And Reverend Jamal Bryant, president of the Empowerment Movement and organizer of the Trayvon Martin rally in 2012. And just to let our audience know that the rally is soon to get under way and that's why you're hearing the noise and the background music and gathering of people.

All right.

So, Jason Downs, let me talk to you first because when you hear the police commissioner say that mistakes were made, Freddie Gray should have been buckled in that paddy wagon, he should have been rendered medical care. And then you hear the commissioner say, "We don't want to reveal too much information because we don't want to jeopardize any kind of potential prosecution", what do you make of that kind of statement coming from the commissioner? Does that say to you that it's likely or imminent that there will be prosecution of some of those officers, if not at least one?

[14:10:23] JASON DOWNS, ATTORNEY, FAMILY OF FREDDIE GRAY: Well, at this point, it's not clear whether there will be a prosecution of any of the officers involved, but what it does indicate is that statements were made that at least a few of the officers involved in this case made statements in this case, and we would still like to know what the substance of those statements are. There's a lingering question as to exactly what happened to Mr. Gray and how did his spine become severed, and we still don't know the answer to that question.

WHITFIELD: And is it true, Mr. Downs, that there is an independent autopsy that will be conducted on Freddie Gray outside of what the -- you know, the municipality's corner may have already conducted?

DOWNS: Well, at this point, we don't exactly know what the result of the autopsy that was conducted by the state is. We don't know those results. So any independent autopsy would necessarily rely on the original results of the original autopsy because we are not in a position to know the condition of Mr. Gray's body when it was received by the state. And so at this point, we need that information before proceeding with any independent autopsies.

WHITFIELD: And how strange is this that the family would not have that report, would not have some real specificity of the cause of death and the condition of the body?

DOWNS: Well, what the State of Maryland could release right now is the underlying information, the stuff that won't change. The exact condition of the body when it was received, that could be released right now. There is information that is going to take time and that can't be completed right now, but the raw data, the information as it relates to how Mr. Gray's body was received, that could be released today and it has not been released.

WHITFIELD: OK. Reverend Jamal Bryant, the rallies that are expected today, what is your expectation, what is the message, how will this rally be -- or there are two rallies, right? How will they be conducted there in Baltimore?

JAMAL BRYANT, PRESIDENT, EMPOWERMENT MOVEMENT: Very peaceably. It's really an opportunity for the community to express their frustration, their grief and agony with a broken and corrupt police system. This is not an isolated incident with Mr. Gray, it's become a culture of a lapse of integrity. I'm appreciative that the Commissioner is even speaking the word "prosecution" because that's what the citizens of this city want to see, that somebody has got to be held accountable and responsible for the death of an innocent man, and so that's a step for us in the right direction.

WHITFIELD: And, Reverend, I wonder, you know, do you wonder about police being able to investigate itself? While the Mayor said she welcomes any independent investigations, we know the Justice Department will be looking into this as well, but what's your sense of the satisfaction of the community there as to whether they too can trust that an investigation by any entity will be thorough?

BRYANT: I think because we have three investigations going on right now, the city of Baltimore, the state's attorney and the Department Of Justice, we're praying one of the three is going to get it right. It brings us closer in our odds rather than just doing it internally. Otherwise, I would have absolutely no confidence. But with the three of them doing it separately, I think it will bring us closer to getting some answers, not just on the timeline, but why it is that 80 percent of his spine was severed, didn't come from asthma. And I really don't know if it came from not having on a seat belt.

WHITFIELD: All right. Reverend Jamal Bryant, Jason Downs, thanks to both of you, appreciate it. And of course, you know, we'll be watching the demonstrations that take place later on today. Again, they're just in the beginning stages with the music and a just in assemblage of a few people behind you. Thanks so much.

All right, coming up, the entire community talking about this man right here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNER: My brain is much more female than it is male. It's hard for people to understand that, but that's what my soul is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Olympian and reality T.V. star Bruce Jenner announcing that he will transition from male to female. We're going to talk about what this means for the transgender community.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:17:48] WHITFIELD: "I have the soul of a woman." These are the words from Olympic gold medalist and reality star Bruce Jenner. His interview with Diane Sawyer aired last night. It of course confirmed the speculation that he will soon transition from male to female. CNN's Dan Simon has more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRUCE JENNER, OLYMPIC ATHLETE: My brain is much more female than it is male. It's hard for people to understand that, but that's what my soul is.

DAN SIMON, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): Bruce Jenner, the Olympic gold medalist turned reality star confirming the tabloid speculation that he's transitioning from a man to a woman. Speaking openly to Diane Sawyer in a highly publicized ABC special.

SAWYER: Are you a woman?

JENNER: Yes. For all intents and purposes, I am a woman. People look at me differently. They see you as this macho male, but my heart and my soul and everything that I do in life, it is part of me, that female side is part of me. That's who I am.

SIMON (voice-over): Jenner, firmly dismissing skeptics that this is some sort of stunt to promote another reality show documenting his change. He said he knew he was different at eight-years old when he began trying on his mother's dresses. JENNER: Are you telling me I'm going to go through a complete gender change OK, go through everything you need to do that for the show. Sorry, Diane, it ain't happening, OK? Yeah, we're doing this for publicity. Yeah, right.

SIMON (voice-over): The 65-year-old who has been married three times says his former spouses knew about his issues. Sawyer asking the obvious question.

SAWYER: Are you gay?

JENNER: No, I'm not gay. I am not gay. I am as far as I know heterosexual.

SAWYER: You don't know?

JENNER: This is not. As far...

SAWYER: You mean as far as you know?

JENNER: As far as I know, I've never been with a guy. I've always been married, you know, raising kids.

SAWYER: Right. And you can desire a woman every bit as much?

JENNER: Yeah. Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wheaties is the breakfast of champions.

SIMON (voice-over): For children of the '70s and '80s, Bruce Jenner was the guy on the Wheaties box, the greatest athlete on the planet.

JENNER: OK, here we go.

SIMON: For millennials he's been more reality star as the steady male presence on "Keeping up with the Kardashians." He joked that his secret was the one story that truly mattered.

[14:20:02] JENNER: In the entire run, I kept thinking to myself, "Oh, my God, this whole thing, the one real true story in the family was the one I was hiding and nobody knew about it. The one thing that could really make a difference in people's lives was right here in my soul and I could not tell that story.

SIMON: He says he hasn't decided whether to do a sex change. For now it's been cosmetic surgery combined with female hormones. Jenner says his children, ten of them between his biological and stepchildren, have largely been supportive. Several appearing by his side.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just held his hand and I cried with him and I just told him how proud of him I was and how inspired I was.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first thing I thought was just like, it finally makes sense.

SIMON: As for why go through this change now when most his age are looking forward to a less stressful, less dramatic life...

JENNER: I couldn't take the walls constantly closing in on me. If I die, which I could be diagnosed next week with cancer and boom, you're gone. I'm so mad at myself that I didn't explore that side of me, you know? And I don't want that to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON: Now with this revelation, Jenner is now certainly the most famous transgendered person on the planet. He says he wants to be an inspiration for others going through similar identity issues and he says he wants to change the world by speaking openly about his transformation. Dan Simon, CNN, San Francisco.

WHITFIELD: And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[14:25:35] DULCIE MADDEN, CEO, REST DEVICES: The Mimo is actually a wearable baby monitor. So it's a little onesie that a baby wears. It's got two sensors on the front in the little turtle that clips into the side, and it shows a mom or a dad their baby's breathing, skin temp, body position. Are they on their tummy? Are they on their back? Are they awake or asleep?

You can set alerts to let you know if the baby rolls over, if they wake up, if there's a pause in breathing, if they're unusually warm or cool. And then we can show you a timeline of sort of deeper insights into what the baby's sleep is actually looking like and how it's developing and evolving over time.

SAMUEL BURKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Why would I possibly want to know all of that?

MADDEN: Our actual goal is to help be able to figure out how to help households sleep more and to sleep better.

BURKE: Households?

MADDEN: Households. So, if a baby is sleeping, then usually parents are sleeping.

BURKE: When I told people about this story, the first reaction everybody has is, "My god, where is it going to stop? Wearables and putting technology on children. So why in the world would you be slapping technology on your kid?

ELLEN HERLACHER, MIMO USER: I think that's a great question and actually when I first heard about Mimo, I thought the same thing. But then I had a kid, and as a first time parent, you come home from the hospital and the fear and the paranoia set in and you say, "Oh my gosh, I have no idea what I'm doing." And so having the Mimo to give you some feedback on critical pieces of data, is if nothing else, reassuring you that you're keeping your kid happy and alive and healthy.

BURKE: It sounds like it may be better for parents than it is for babies.

HERLACHER: I think it's just as good for parents as it is for babies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Here's another look at our top stories. The attorney for a Tulsa volunteer reserve deputy who shot to death an unarmed man is responding to a new report that the reserve deputy got special treatment. According to a 2009 internal review by the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office, Robert Bates was given special treatment. The report also says his role in the agency violated trading policies.

Bates' attorneys dispute the findings and insist that their client had the proper training. Bates is charged with second-degree manslaughter for the death of Eric Harris.

And a group of drunk fraternity members from the University of Florida and Emory University are accused of spitting, urinating and pouring beer on wounded veterans at a resort in Panama City Beach, Florida. The fraternity members were there for their spring formal. The veterans were attending the Warrior Beach Retreat. According to reports the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity has expelled three members while they investigate the "ugly" situation.

And three pit crew members are being treated for burns after a massive require at the Richmond International Raceway in Virginia. A Brendan Gaughan race car burst into flames while in a pit stop right night during the Xfinity's Series race. Still no word on what caused that fire.

And we're continuing to follow breaking news out of Nepal where a devastating earthquake has left hundreds dead. We'll get the latest on rescue efforts in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:32:28] WHITFIELD: All right. We're continuing to follow this breaking news from Nepal. More than 1400 people have died following a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake. The epicenter was near the capital of Kathmandu causing widespread power blackouts and closing the city's airport.

New video from a surveillance camera shows just how hard the earthquake hit. The earthquake also triggered landslides on nearby Mt. Everest, killing at least 13 people there. Most of them were foreign mountaineers preparing to go to the summit.

It is now late at night there and rescuers continue to comb through crumbled buildings looking for any survivors.

It could be days before help arrives in many parts of Nepal. Some remote regions are hard to access in the best of times. Joining me now on the phone is Sanjay Karki. So Sanjay is the Country Director for Mercy Corp for Nepal. So, give me an idea of what the focus will be for your organization.

SANJAY KARKI, MERCY CORPS COUNTRY DIRECTOR FOR NEPAL: Well, Mercy Corps is a humanitarian agency still working hard to evaluate the most urgent need. We will know more tomorrow in the daytime of what the extent of damages are.

Mercy Corps currently has a large supply of essential household items in stock and we are ready to distribute as soon as it is safe and we know more on the damages. We are also coordinating with other humanitarian agencies in Nepal, along with government agencies and other also committee organizations here in the capital to, you know, distribute essential items and also know the extent of damages and respond accordingly.

WHITFIELD: And right now, it's midnight, too difficult to see, very limited, you know, lighting because there is no real power, people are having to, you know, really make do. What in your view might be the greatest need right now, since people are scared to go to sleep tonight?

KARKI: Yes, because, you know, since like noon, we've been, you know, experiencing a lot of tremors, small, big tremors and -- so we've counted around like 65, 66, you know, tremors that have come since noon. So the situation right now is like people are very (inaudible) to even go inside and, you know, and even like, you know, (inaudible) damages, like what has been there because you see when you drive through the cities -- city, you see a like a lot of broken building, like damaged infrastructures, even like roads.

[14:35:12] So people are terrified. There's sense of, you know, fear, especially, you know, you can see like, you know, women and children crying. So that's the situation.

So with -- I was in a (inaudible) coordination meeting this afternoon around 3:00 p.m. and the estimate was, according to government, around 1200 dead alone in the Kathmandu Valley, which has three cities here in the valley. So that number is I'm sure going to increase because a lot of casualties are still to be accounted for.

WHITFIELD: All right.

KARKI: So we can see that sense of fear still in the capital now. And the extent of damages outside of Kathmandu in the remote areas are still unaccounted for and still coming in, so...

WHITFIELD: Well, Sanjay Karki of Mercy Corps, we're wishing you the best. Thanks you so much for your time. We know the work to be done is colossal. Thank you so much.

So how is the U.S. going to be responding to the disaster in Nepal? We know that already a rescue team is on the way. Let's bring in CNN's Sunlen Serfaty, to what extent will this rescue team be able to assist?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, this is one of the elite rescue teams of the country. It's the Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue Squad. They've been activated. They're standing by and expect, Fred, to be deployed at some point later today to go on the ground in Nepal and to help with the search and rescue there.

This is a 54-member team, they're called Virginia Task Force One. They have been deployed in earthquakes past, most recently to Japan's earthquake in 2011, and they'll operate under USAID.

Now, we know, Fred, that President Obama has been briefed on the situation earlier this morning here at the White House, and we're told the State Department will take the lead coordinating the U.S. aid effort within the administration. We know from a tweet just sent out by the State Department that they have already announced $1 million in initial humanitarian assistance and they've deployed USAID's DART teams, these are Disaster Assistance Response Teams, and they are en route to Nepal now. Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Sunlen Serfaty, thank you so much for that update. Appreciate that.

All right. Coming up, we go live to Baltimore where people are taking to the streets for what could be one of the largest protests that city has seen

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:41:17] WHITFIELD: All right, happening in this hour, the first of two expected rallies in Baltimore under way. Protesters are outraged over the death of Freddie Gray, an unarmed black man who died after suffering a severe spinal cord injury while in police custody. They have found -- shut down the city, the demonstrators have.

CNNs Miguel Marquez is at one of the rallies. So, Miguel, quite a few people have turned out. Explain to me what's happening.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, it looks like all of these rallies have had morphed into one. And certainly, the phrase of the day is "shut it down". They're also talking about fighting for Freddie Gray's rights.

Let me give you a sense of what's happening here, there are several hundred people here at the corner of Mount and Presbury Street. This is the location where Freddie Gray was arrested just down the block from where we are. He was then pulled down the way and pulled out of the van, his leg shackled and then taken to two other locations before taken to the police station, which is right down the way, and that's when they called emergency services. He suffered three broken vertebrae and a crushed throat at the hands of police.

Police now launching a huge investigation to try to figure out how this happened. These people have been marching around the neighborhood trying to pick up steam here. They're going to go shortly, in about 20 minutes or so, up to North Avenue and then downtown, promising to shut this city down to show them who is in control, Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: All right, Miguel Marquez, keep us posted. Thank you so much there in Baltimore.

All right, Bruce Jenner sharing his secret with the world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRUCE JENNER: Being Bruce isn't easy.

SAWYER: That's the hard part?

JENNER: That was much harder.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you dream...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: We'll ask our panel how his message is being received.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[14:41:24] SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Seeing Memphis Grizzlies' star Jeff Green in action, it's clear he's a player with heart. But in 2011, his game was interrupted.

JEFF GREEN, MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES PLAYER: I was in a complete shock.

GUPTA: A routine team physical revealed an aortic aneurysm near the left valve of his heart. Jeff, who was 25 at that time, needed surgery.

GREEN: It was nerve wracking. I couldn't run. I couldn't touch a basketball. I couldn't get stressed out. It was tough.

GUPTA: And rebounding from open heart surgery, that wasn't easy either. Jeff didn't touch a basketball for nearly six months. He lost muscle in the mechanics of his game.

GREEN: It was a slow progression. My body was different. The timing was off. I was fatigued but I wasn't concerned about getting hit. The biggest thing for me which is being in shape and being able to function out there on the floor.

GUPTA: The experience did give Jeff a greater appreciation for basketball.

GREEN: Now I attack every game as, you know, this could be my last.

GUPTA: It also gave him a greater appreciation for life. He often visits young heart patients providing encouragement and they compare scars.

GREEN: To see me come back from the heart surgery, see me up there playing, and they look up to that. I look forward to that and, you know, they love it so, you know, I'm going to continue to do it.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, breaking his silence, Olympic gold medalist and reality star Bruce Jenner is now confirming what many have speculated for months, that he is transitioning into a woman. Jenner revealed his new transgender identity in a lengthy interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAWYER: We see the forms (ph)?

JENNER: Yeah.

SAWYER: You see what?

JENNER: A confused person at that time running away from my life, running away from who I was.

SAWYER: With fear?

JENNER: A big-time fear, yeah, yeah. Scared to death. Didn't know what my future held at that time.

SAWYER: Help -- everybody is struggling with what this is.

JENNER: That is me. That is her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And Jenner is not alone. A recent study estimates that nearly 1 million Americans are transgender. But Jenner is without question the most public and high profile figure so far to come out as transgender.

Joining me right now from New York, our Senior Media Correspondent and host of CNN's "Reliable Sources," Brian Stelter and Jeff Gardere, Psychologist and Professor of Behavioral Medicine at Touro College. Good to see both of you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: All right, Brian, let me begin with you because this wasn't a total surprise, right? I mean, you look at the tabloids all the time, pictures, you knew that Jenner was experiencing something, but now he says it. You know, for all to hear and understand. If his objective was for people to better understand what he was going through. Was that successful?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: I think it absolutely was. You know, Jenner was the last person to finally speak about Bruce Jenner's transition. Like you said, it had been speculated about for months. And it was very clear he had thought exactly about what he wanted to say and how he wanted to say it. Obviously, he picked his interviewer as well, Diane Sawyer. And ABC handled this expertly. You know, they had 17 million viewers last night. That is by far the biggest rating for this show, "20/20" in years. It's even higher than ABC was expecting, and it just goes to show what a landmark moment this is.

WHITFIELD: And it really is an incredible journey because, Jeff, the interview also spent sometime talking about the alarming correlation between transgender people and suicide. Jenner sharing, you know, a story where the tabloids leaked, that he was having an Adam's apple reduction procedure and how humiliating that was, how desperate he felt. Let's listen to what he had to say and how he put it.

JEFF GARDERE, PSYCHOLOGIST: OK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[14:50:18] JENNER: That night, I thought, "Oh, it's like over," and I was in this -- walking up and down this hall right here, back and forth, back and forth, all night long. Heart is pounding and I thought, "Wouldn't the easiest thing to do right now?" And I could see where people get to that, just go to the room, get a gun, boom, you know, pain's over, it's done, you know, go to a better place. And I thought that, "I can't do something like that," I mean, I want to know how this story ends.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And he wants to be in control of that story, Jeff, but, you know, what he was talking about what you didn't see in that clip is, you know, he talked about how humiliating it was that there was paparazzi outside and the pictures and the jeering after the procedure. So he wasn't conflicted about the procedure, but it was the humiliation that came with, you know, the paparazzi, people who don't understand his journey. So how help people understand in how powerful a moment that was for him to share, and how his message and his journey may really be saving a lot of lives.

GARDERE: Well, I think Bruce Jenner is going to become -- and I know he is a role model for a lot of transgender people out there, people who are in the shadows because they do not have the support that they should be getting from family, many of them. And certainly our society doesn't understand transgender individuals and accept them as being equals and accept the journey that they must take, which can be very difficult without that support.

So, in many ways, I think he's opened the hearts and opened the doors of our minds to the fact that there are a lot of people out there suffering. LGBT youth, for example, are three times more at risk for suicide than perhaps heterosexual youth. And just think about, Fredricka, all the individuals who don't have the money and the power of a Bruce Jenner and who can't have an Adam's apple reduction or some sort of reassignment surgery. They're much more at risk for cutting, for self-mutilation, for depression, for suicide.

So this was a landmark moment and I hope that the show that he does with this continues to be very positive in helping transgender individuals to be accepted as equals and to help them through their journey.

WHITFIELD: And, Brian, talk more about that upcoming show and the series which will chronicle his experience. What do we know about what will be revealed? How much he, you know, expects to share? Is this -- does this mean he'll also kind of sever the ties with the "Keeping up with the Kardashians" now? And this will be his own series and stick to this story line?

STELTER: Yes, a little bit unclear of what that kind of cross pollination will be? When you think of the E Cable channel, you don't necessarily think of the most nuance, careful, sensitive story telling on television, right? But in this case, they've got several consultants on board to our several experts in transgender issues. They say, they want to do this the right way and really show, you know, average viewers, who aren't used to seeing these stories on television, to show viewers the experience of this transition.

Now, we haven't heard the name and the show yet. We also haven't heard if Bruce Jenner will choose to be referred to as "she" instead of "he". Right now, the guidance that is he wants to be referred to for as "he", as a man, but we know that he's transition to a woman will be happening in the months and in the year to come. So presumably at some point, there might be a new first name, there might be a new appearance and all that could play out on the reality show.

WHITFIELD: And then, Jeff, you know, one of the final questions, I guess, that was asked or -- you know, Bruce Jenner was asked to even ask himself was, you know, am I going to be all right? You know what, what in your view, you know, is that next chapter? I mean he looked awfully relieved, he looked happy, you know, around the corner for him, is there more of that relief or will there be some challenges?

GARDERE: Well, I think, there will be challenges as there are for transgender individuals. Certainly, having family support is the best thing that any individual, especially a transgender individual can have as they go through the transition.

So certainly, there will be issues that he'll have to go through in dealing with members of the public and family, but as long as he gets that social support, as long as a transgender individual gets that social support, it makes that very difficult road a little bit easier.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much Jeff Gardere, Brian Stelter, good to see both of you. I appreciate it. Brian will be watching you tomorrow morning, 11:00 Eastern time, all right.

STELTER: Thank you

WHITFIELD: We'll be right back with much more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [14:58:48] WHITFIELD: All right. Checking other stories, we're following right now of the last three men accused in the hazing death of a Florida A&M University Drum major have been convicted. A jury found them guilty of manslaughter and hazing with the result of death. They will be sentenced in June.

Robert Champion died November of 2011 after he was beaten on a school bus during a hazing ritual after a football game.

And Starbucks says it has fixed the computer glitch and its stores in the U.S. and Canada are all back in action. The company's cash registers malfunctioned with 7000 stores last night. Customers didn't leave disappoint, however with their frappuccinos because guess what, they get a nice surprise. They got free drinks until the system was fixed.

All right, thanks for being with me this afternoon, I'm Fredricka Whitfield much more in the Newsroom straight ahead with Amara Walker, and that begins right now.