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North Korea Tests Ballistic Missile; Terror Suspects Escape in Iraq Prison Break; U.S. Bases Raise Security Due to Terror Concerns; Nearly 17 Million in Path of Extreme Storm; Etan Patz Murder Case Ends in Mistrial; Charged Cops File Motion To Remove Prosecutor; Russia Marks "Victory Day" Amid Global Tensions; NFL Denies Brady Suspension Decided. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired May 09, 2015 - 11:00   ET

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


[10:59:55] VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: We've got a lot more ahead in the next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM. Let's turn it over now to our colleague, Ana Cabrera, in for Fred today. Hey -- Ana.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN HOST: Hi -- Ana.

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. Fred is getting her first Mother's Day weekend off, she told me.

BLACKWELL: Well-deserved.

CABRERA: Good to see you guys.

BLACKWELL: Likewise.

CABRERA: Have a great rest of the weekend.

KOSIK: You too.

CABRERA: It is the 11:00 hour of NEWSROOM. It starts right now.

Thanks so much for joining me again. I'm Ana Cabrera in for Fredricka Whitfield this weekend.

North Korea, catching many by surprise today, firing missiles this morning. A South Korean defense official telling CNN that the country launched three ship-to-ship missiles just off their eastern coast. This follows that underwater test of a ballistic missile from a submarine last night according to North Korean state news.

CNN international correspondent Will Ripley is joining us now on the phone live from Hong Kong, just returned from North Korea in fact. Will -- any indication on why North Korea is suddenly flexing this military might?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well, this is certainly a major achievement for them if it is accurate, Ana. They have been working for quite some time to try to develop a ballistic missile that they could launch from a submarine because it gives them much more flexibility as to where they could launch an attack from. So of course an attack like that would be much more difficult to defend against.

In fact Kim Jong-un in state media today was comparing this to North Korea's three successful satellite launches. But this is really nothing new. It doesn't necessarily signal more North Korea ramping up its military effort. This is a country that's constantly investing a considerable amount of money into its military even though it doesn't have a whole lot of money to go around. It doesn't have enough money to feed adequately all of the people in the country.

But yet they have the mindset that they're under the constant threat of invasion and so they're developing technology like this -- Ana.

CABRERA: As you mentioned, that submarine ballistic missile launch seems to be most concerning in all this, which could potentially open up the North's ability to attack anywhere, and that's what we fear, right? What do you know about what appear to be new capabilities of North Korea?

RIPLEY: Well, if you think back just a couple of days -- Ana, I was sitting with a high-level North Korean official when I asked -- specifically we were talking about the nuclear program and he said that they have nuclear devices. And then I asked if they had a ballistic missile, a long-range ballistic missile capable of striking the mainland United States. And without flinching, he said "yes".

So this is yet one more indication because North Korea views the United States as their primary enemy. I felt it on the ground. I had so many people tell me that they hate the United States. They're angry at the U.S. because they feel that the United States' alliance with South Korea is a direct threat to their sovereignty.

That's the mindset in that country and so they, yes, they're developing technology that they feel could potentially strike back against some sort of an attack from the U.S. Of course, the U.S. has not given any indication that they're planning anything like that. But North Korea feels it could be imminent.

CABRERA: All right. Will Ripley -- thank you so much.

The U.S. State Department is responding and reacting to these missile tests, calling on North Korea to refrain from actions that further raise tensions in the region.

CNN correspondent Sunlen Serfaty is live at the White House now. Tell us more about the reactions from the White House and the State Department following these missile tests.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, the State Department is urging restraint. But I should say they're doing it broadly without confirming directly these new missile tests by the North Koreans, only saying that they're aware of the reports but noting broadly that if it's true, they would be in violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions. A State Department official telling CNN quote, "We call on North Korea to refrain from actions that further raise tensions in the region and focus instead on taking concrete steps towards fulfilling its international commitments and obligations." And the State Department official says, of course, the U.S. government will continue to monitor any activities out of North Korea, especially military.

Back to you.

CABRERA: There's little the U.S. can do to stop North Korea from conducting these tests, isn't there?

SERFATY: Well, that's absolutely right. There is very little that they can do and the U.S. has had very little influence over North Korea in the past. As Will Ripley just noted North Koreans view U.S. as their primary enemy. The U.S. has tried to push them a bit. But that has not helped at all. Of course, there's a long history of provocation from the North Koreans continuing even in the last few months -- Ana.

CABRERA: All right. Sunlen Serfaty, at the White House, thank you so much.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

CABRERA: Just getting some breaking news out of Iraq. Reports today of a huge prison break, it happened just outside of Baghdad where dozens of inmates we've learned may have escaped following a riot. Some of them appear to have ties to terror. And what could be even more troubling is that ISIS is now claiming responsibility for this prison break.

[11:05:12] CNN's Jomana Karadsheh is on the phone right from Amman, Jordan. What can you tell us?

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Ana -- we have two versions of how this prison break happened and what took place. We're hearing from the Iraqi government - Iraqi officials and also as you mentioned ISIS in its claim of responsibility.

According to Iraq's interior ministry, they say that prisoners inside this prison in the town of Khalis -- this is northeast of Baghdad. They gained control of a weapon from a guard and started clashes inside this prison. Five guards were killed. 30 inmates they say were also killed in these clashes. A total of 40 inmates managed to escape. Now, nine of them they say were in prison for terrorism charges.

And we're also hearing from ISIS also releasing a claim online that we're seeing. They describe a different event that took place in this prison. It sounds like a complex coordinated attack, they say, that began with the detonation of about 15 improvised explosive devices they say outside this prison. And they say there was a level of coordination for what they describe as the zero hour for this prison break between inmates inside the prison and militants outside.

They say that there inmates inside the prison were able to gain control of the weapons storage facility and managed to break out about more than 30 inmates who they describe as the knights of the caliphate.

Now Ana, to put this into context we have seen several prison breaks in Iraq over the past couple of years. This is not as large scale as the previous ones we've seen including Abu Ghraib back in 2013 where militants were broken out -- hundreds. And also last year as we saw ISIS, sweeping through northern Iraq there have been also several prison breaks.

And this is a town, Ana, in northeast of Baghdad in the province of Diyala. And this is a province that the Iraqi government, Iraqi officials earlier this year declared liberated from ISIS. So it really underscores that this group is still capable and able to carry out such complex attacks.

CABRERA: All right Jomana Karadsheh -- thank you so much.

I want to talk more about this now with Jonathan Gilliam. He is a former FBI special agent who was also a Navy SEAL. Jonathan -- thanks for being with us. How troubling is it to you that this prison break happened?

JONATHAN GILLIAM, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Well, this whole string of prison breaks is very troubling because it's just another way that ISIS is showing that they have control wherever they want to have control over there. And their fighting techniques are such to where, you know, they go into a fighting and they're either waiting and learning about that area so they can go in and take it over or they just have the ability to muster up brute force and the Iraqis are unable to repel that.

And I think again, this is another example of a lack of an overall war plan by this entire coalition led by the United States, where we don't have adequate forces in a region that is quickly crumbling to ISIS.

CABRERA: But isn't it easy for ISIS to take responsibility for something like this, without really having done any kind of coordination? I mean we're hearing reports that it was some prisoners who were able to gain control of a weapon from one of the guards. And one thing led to another and their ability to get out and then ISIS now trying to tie in some other explosions that happened near Baghdad this morning the prison break. Is it just for them some morale boost that they say sure, we took responsibility. We are responsible for that.

GILLIAM: You know, it very well could be. But I think that they've shown in some of the surrounding towns with the take over of an oil refinery. And the way they can move from town to town, they've shown that they have the ability to do this. Even if they didn't do it, they, they've shown and displayed their ability in a war region, to go in and actually do this. And there were people in there that they probably would have liked to have had back.

And so I don't know if it's necessarily going to come down to the fact to whether they did or didn't. We know they could have and we know that we have no strategic war plan. CABRERA: I want to pivot just a little bit to this terror threat

level that was raised yesterday at military bases and installations. And obviously when you see something like this happening, it all comes together because ISIS is sort of the connecting figure, so to speak, in all of this. We now know that the threat level has been raised to Bravo which you can see in the chart here is sort of the mid-range -- a potential terrorist threat is out there without any guarantees.

[11:09:56] But we also heard from the director of the FBI talk about potential terrorist sympathizers and ISIS sympathizers all over the country that they're trying to track. So do we have a serious concern here in the U.S.?

GILLIAM: Well, I'll tell you one of the -- yes, we do have a serious concern because as we saw in Garland, Texas there are groups already in the United States that are ready to attack. And it didn't take them very long to muster up a plan in order to go into Garland.

What I have a real problem with this color coding system and the way that the military is amped up their force protection -- I'm a big believer and proponent of force protection. I think that the military should have been at a more heightened state all the time because we are in a war time footing. But my problem is it does nothing to secure the surrounding areas. So a base ups their security force protection awareness, but yet right outside the gate is where a lot of the military families live --

CABRERA: Right.

GILLIAM: -- it's where lot of businesses are, the towns need to really follow right in line with that.

CABRERA: Well, we found in the case of Garland, Texas it wasn't a military installation that was attacked.

GILLIAM: Right.

CABRERA: So they could be anywhere.

GILLIAM: And Garland, Texas I'm telling you is the perfect example, because if those two individuals had turned around and went to Wal- Mart right around the corner, they probably could have killed 100 people. You know, you can secure some type of a publicity stunt or you can secure a base. But you have to secure the area around it as well and the public has to become aware.

I think every time I'm on here on the weekends, I try to mention that awareness is key in all of this.

CABRERA: That definitely has increased awareness at least --

GILLIAM: That's right.

CABRERA: -- at the very least an increase in the threat level.

Jonathan Gilliam, thank you very much. GILLIAM: Thank you.

CABRERA: We want to let you know that Monday night CNN is going to go deep inside ISIS. Who are these people and what do they want? Be sure to watch "BLINDSIDED: A FAREED ZAKARIA REPORT". This is CNN on Monday night at 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific.

More breaking news, overseas, former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak could soon be a free man. The 87-year-old has been in prison on corruption charges now for three years. And now an appeals court says he will get credit for time served. Mubarak has controlled Egypt for 30 years before he was overthrown in that 2011 Egyptian revolution. And in his first trial he was actually sentenced to life in prison, but a new trial was granted and he was given a three-year sentence -- still not clear exactly when he will be getting out.

Still ahead, nearly 17 million people are in the path of more extreme storms and this one could be bigger than some we've seen already this year.

CNN's Ryan Young is following the severe weather threat on the ground in Oklahoma City -- Ryan.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're in Oklahoma where already residents are trying to put the pieces back together after storms have already slammed through this area. More storms expected. We're here to make sure everything is ok. We'll tell you where the storm may hit next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:16:19] CABRERA: A double threat of nasty weather bringing hail, flooding, possibly tornadoes taking shape today; nearly 17 million people are in the path of extreme storms in the region already hit by severe weather.

Look at all that hail and all that water, you can see the hail slamming into this flooded backyard in Oklahoma. Palm-sized hail in some cases -- look at the size of that -- posing a huge risk of injury and property damage. All this as tropical storm Ana churns towards the Carolinas.

CNN's Ryan Young is joining me in Oklahoma City, an area already hit hard. We can see the destruction there behind you, Ryan. These poor people can't catch a break.

YOUNG: They really can't. In fact, we storm-chased for an entire afternoon yesterday, six hours inside a roving coverage vehicle. And what we saw along the road are little pockets like this one that have already been damaged from the storm that came through the past few days. We've seen police officers, making sure no one is looting this area.

This was a storage facility so you can imagine people own this stuff. In fact, if you look in the distance here, you can see this family right here trying to get the stuff out of their storage facility before the next storm hits. You can you see the clouds changing, you know everything is going to open up in terms of the sky and the rain is going to drop.

But to show you the path and just how unpredictable storms can be. Look at the hotel that just over there. This storm only cut like about a half-mile path through this area right outside Oklahoma City and just devastated this area. Some of the cars are frozen in place from where this has hit before. And you know they're getting ready for another set of storms.

Yesterday while we were driving around we saw some golf-sized hail hitting the top of our car. People were outside actually waiting for the storm. And then when the hail started coming down they ran inside. So you know they're prepared. Everyone in the area is talking about it. But at the same time you've got to feel for people who are trying to put their lives back together while another set of storms is coming.

CABRERA: Right. And having to prepare for what's next.

Ryan Young, we know you're going to be tracking it for us. Do stay safe. Thank you so much for the update.

Let's turn now to CNN's Ivan Cabrera, my brother from another mother, who is with me in the studio.

IVAN CABRERA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes.

CABRERA: We just met. Seriously, let's talk about what we can expect to unfold in the next few hours.

I. CABRERA: He's in the path again of another line of storms that's going to come in later this afternoon. We're going to be talking about big hail like that. We're going to be talking about heavy rain. The ground is already saturated because of so much rain they've had over the last several days. So we're going to continue with that.

We're now in essentially stage one of a long day here that we're going to be covering. This is a severe thunderstorm watch box that includes Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and parts of western Texas as well. Later on this afternoon I actually think we're going to have tornado watch boxes that are going to come up and we're going to have advisories for that.

Because the atmosphere is destabilizing we have this upper-level low to the north. Just all the ingredients that you need for tornadoes to form are present I think we're going to have an outbreak later on this afternoon -- so we'll watch that closely -- afternoon and into evening from Abilene, Dallas and heading up towards eastern Colorado and parts of Kansas as well.

Here's the line right now it's going to be moving through. Watch Oklahoma City -- they'll be getting in on showers and thunderstorms and then discrete cells will begin to develop. Those are the ones that are worrisome because those are the ones that spawn some strong tornadoes. We'll watch for that. And you see some of those them popping up not only through Texas but up into and Oklahoma and Kansas as well. That would be for later they are afternoon, evening, continuing into 8:00, 9:00 p.m. So we're going to get some -- lose some daylight out there and that's the dangerous part of the storm when you can't see what's coming there.

So you have been warned here. And again, we'll keep you posted as far as the watches and warnings.

Look at the difference here as far as temperatures on the backside of the storm. Denver, thunderstorms today, 70s; tomorrow we're going to be talking about some snowfall as well with one to three inches accumulating. Incredible stuff.

[11:20:09] And I'll leave you with the latest on Ana. Ana, here are the latest from the National Hurricane Center. No big change, coming in tomorrow as a weak tropical storm with heavy rain, some surf on the shore there but not a big hurricane here. It's early.

CABRERA: All right. Fingers crossed then.

I. CABRERA: Yes.

CABRERA: All right. Ivan Cabrera -- thank you.

Still ahead, six-year-old Etan Patz vanished back in 1979. And all these years later, the case ends in a mistrial. CNN's Rosa Flores is following the story in New York -- Rosa.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ana, good morning. You know, it's been more than three agonizing decades for the Patz family and it all comes down to one juror -- one juror who didn't think that there was enough evidence. And that caused another juror to explode with emotion.

I'll let you know and show you how it all unfolded, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: A single juror caused a mistrial in the case involving the disappearance of six-year-old Etan Patz. Remember, he's the little boy who disappeared while walking to school back in 1979. He was one of the first missing children to appear on the back of milk cartons. The defendant in this case, Pedro Hernandez confessed to the killing three years ago, but a body has never been found.

[11:25:08] For more, let's go to Rosa Flores in New York. Rosa -- there was a confession in this case, and yet, no conviction.

FLORES: I know, it's such a tough case when you think of just the agony that this family has been going through for more than three decades.

But you're absolutely right. It came down to one juror, juror number 11, Adam, who didn't think that there was enough evidence. He believes that it was all circumstantial and that he just could not convict. Now, about that confession, he says that he was very curious about that confession, just because of the circumstances around it. He also was a little leery about the mental illness that Mr. Pedro Hernandez allegedly also has and that the defense had talked about at well.

And so, you know, this created a ruckus after this mistrial because one of the jurors just exploded with emotion. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nothing is impossible. They'll get him next time. They'll get him next time. Pedro Hernandez, you know what you did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: Now of course all of this very difficult for the family to be living through all of these decades. And his father also spoke - Etan Patz' father. Here's what he had to say.

I believe we don't have the sound but I'll just paraphrase it for you. He said that he believes that Pedro Hernandez is guilty and now a court date has been set for a court hearing so that another trial can be set. So Ana, this is just going to continue of course, so difficult to the family -- for the family to continue going through these motions when of course they're still grieving, they still don't know where their child is because a body has never been found -- Ana.

CABRERA: All of these decades with no closure. That's got to be so difficult. Rosa Flores -- thank you.

FLORES: You're welcome.

CABRERA: Still ahead six Baltimore officers charged in the death of a man while in their custody are now pushing back against the prosecutor.

CNN's Sara Sidner is in Baltimore with more.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes -- Ana. You know the six officers who have been charged, the attorneys now saying that the state's attorney should step down, step away from the case. We'll have more on that coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, Marilyn Mosby under fire. Lawyers for the Baltimore police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray want her off the case.

Plus will Tom Brady be suspended for deflate-gate, for how long?

And Russia's show of military might, a celebration of the victory over Nazi Germany, snubbed by western allies. NEWSROOM continues now.

Good Saturday morning. Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Ana Cabrera. The six Baltimore police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray are now calling for the prosecutor to be removed from the case.

Their attorneys are asking the court to dismiss District Attorney Marilyn Mosby, claiming that she has a conflict of interest in the case.

CNN's Sara Sidner is on the story. She's joining us live from Baltimore. Sara, this latest move comes just after the U.S. attorney general was there announcing a Justice Department probe of the entire police department.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. You know the Department of Justice has said now that it is going to come in, take a look top to bottom at its department and patterns and practices.

We should mention that these attorneys for these six officers who were charged in the death of Freddie Gray after he was in police custody they are coming back at the prosecuting attorney, at the main prosecutor in this case, who brought these charges forward, and saying that there's a conflict of interest.

They believe that Marilyn Mosby has several conflicts, five that they listed in 109-page document that they submitted to the court. A couple of those I'll lay out for you. One is that she's married to Nick Mosby, who is a council member, who represents the district where Freddie Gray was killed.

Saying there's political gain on his part in some sense, because his constituents wanted to see those charges go forward, wanted to see a conviction. There's also some allegation about her having some kind of personal relationship with some of the potential witnesses.

There's an allegation about her knowing and being friends with the attorney that represents Freddie Gray. Her husband and herself friends with him and he was a supporter in her campaign as well. So there are several things here.

But I don't think anybody should be surprised in any way, that we are now seeing the defense start coming out with its tactics and what it is going to do, very normal in the justice system to see this sort of thing and we'll have to see how it plays out.

We do know this, we talked to Ms. Mosby and her husband at length last Sunday and some of these allegations were already out there because the police union had brought some of these allegations, the one about her husband and the relationship with Gray.

We asked her about whether or not she believes she has a conflict of interest in this case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARILYN MOSBY, BALTIMORE CITY STATE'S ATTORNEY: There is no conflict of interest. I mean, I'm going to prosecute -- I'm the Baltimore city state's attorney. My jurisdiction covers every district in Baltimore City. I have -- there are a number of crimes that take place in Baltimore City and unfortunately in the district that we live. Where is the conflict?

What I have to, to take myself away from every case or crime that takes place in West Baltimore? That makes absolutely no sense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Right, so you heard there, she's adamant that there is no conflict. We should mention this, while she is the lead prosecutor, the chief prosecutor of this office, the state's attorney.

It is unlikely that she herself will actually try this case. More likely that one of her veteran prosecutors, who has tried many cases in the past will take, go forward and there's been a lot of people talking also about her credentials.

Because she is very new to this office, just six months in, she hasn't tried a lot of cases, but certainly she feels confident that she can do this.

[11:35:07] She feels confident that her office can do this. The police officers' union and the lawyers for the six officers don't believe that and they want the office to step back.

CABRERA: Just quickly, Sara, who would decide whether Marilyn Mosby stays or goes, ultimately?

SIDNER: This will be something that's sort of battled out between the two in court. We'll have to wait and see what her response is because there will need to be a response to the petition that was filed in court.

We're going to have to wait and see because there is no independent prosecutor that's been put on this case, and I think it's pretty clear that her office is not planning on asking for that. It looks like going forward this is certainly a tactic from the defense. We'll have to see what happens in the future -- Ana.

CABRERA: All right, Sara Sidner reporting in Baltimore for us. Thank you very much.

We have new developments we are also following in the death of a college student at the hands of police officers in Georgia. Nine deputies involved in the incident have now been fired. Matthew Adubati was found dead in an isolation cell on New Year's Day.

His family said he was put in a restraining chair and was tased. Police say he was combative, but the family lawyer says he's bipolar and that should have been taken into account.

He was arrested for allegedly hitting his girlfriend at this gas station. You can see in this surveillance video that the girlfriend is under a blanket with Adubati clutching her it appears. It's up to the district attorney to decide whether to file criminal charges against the officers at the jail. Ahead, Moscow's massive victory day celebration was about more than just marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. Geopolitical tensions were thick as Vladimir Putin took a veiled jab at the U.S.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:40:47]

CABRERA: You're looking at the massive celebration in Moscow's Red Square today as Russia marks the 70th anniversary of its victory over Nazi Germany and the end of World War II.

Today's military parade features some 16,000 soldiers, 200 armored vehicles and 150 aircraft, and world leaders from China, India and Venezuela were all in attendance, many western leaders skipped the event in protest of Russia's alleged military involvement in the conflict in Ukraine.

And joining me with more now is Jill Dougherty, a public policy scholar from Woodrow Wilson Center and also a former CNN Moscow bureau chief.

Jill, today's events really seemed to highlight the geopolitical tensions with Russia, didn't it?

JILL DOUGHERTY, WOODROW WILSON CENTER: Well, it did. I mean, it was a combination of history and what's happening right now because after all, you know, when you look at that, and Russians celebrated every year, of course, but this is the big celebration of 70 years.

So there was a lot of symbolism, a lot of national pride, Mr. Putin certainly delivering the message to the people of Russia that they're back. They're powerful. They won the war and they're an important country now.

You could also say that he was advertising as you see, later some of the weapons, especially the tanks that Russia eventually will have for sale. But you know, on the other side, the lack of President Obama and other western leaders was a very good indication of what's going on right now.

They are not there because of what's happening in Ukraine and Russia's steps and the conflict in Ukraine, and that means Russia right now is a lot more cut off from the west than it ever has been before.

President Putin I was listening to see whether he would mention the United States and he definitely did that it was a pretty quick note thanking the United States, France and other countries who were part of the allied forces.

But then also saying, you know, this mono-polar world that, that the United States has tried to put in place, he would argue, isn't going to work and there are other countries out there and we certainly are a powerful country so there are a lot of messages going on, Ana. CABRERA: You know earlier in the broadcast we talked about North Korea launching some missile tests today in fact as well as last night, at least last night, in the U.S. when they launched the submarine missile.

We know that Putin had at one point invited North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-Un to be there for the victory day celebrations. Of course, he didn't show up, but just the fact that he was invited sends a pretty powerful message.

What do you think was the message Putin wanted to communicate with the rest of the world or maybe even the U.S. directly by inviting Kim Jong-Un to the victory day celebration?

DOUGHERTY: Well, the Russians have always had a certain relationship with North Korea. It certainly would have interesting to have him there. An indication of the fact that Russia is actually considered an influential party with North Korea and it's been useful in some negotiations, so perhaps that.

But obviously you know when the Russians said early on, a few weeks ago that Kim Jong-Un has other things, domestic situation, et cetera. We all began to wonder what it was and now we know that as usual, North Korea wants to steal the spotlight from anyone and they kind of did.

CABRERA: Timing is everything, Jill Dougherty, thank you so much. Good to see you.

One newspaper is reporting that Roger Goodell will hand down a suspension to quarterback, Tom Brady, next week for his role in deflate-gate. But the NFL is quick to say not so fast. We'll hear what folks in New England are saying right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Deflate-gate, the big question now is, what will Roger Goodell do? Will there be penalties for the Patriots and quarterback, Tom Brady? Speaking before a friendly crowd on the campus of Salem State University in Massachusetts, Brady didn't say much. But he did say he's had to fight controversies before.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM BRADY, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS QUARTERBACK: I think also as a public figure you learn that there's not everyone is going to like you, either. So good, bad, and different, there are a lot of people that don't like Tom Brady and I'm OK with that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: The "Daily News" from New York is reporting Commissioner Roger Goodell will announce some kind of a suspension for Brady next week. But the NFL pushed back say no decision has been made yet.

[11:50:08] Joining me via Skype to talk about potential penalties in Brady's future are Patriots' reporter, Christopher Price of WEEI Radio and weii.com, and also here with me in studio is 9-year NFL veteran and CNN sports correspondent, Coy Wire.

I want to talk with you first, Coy. A lot of people are chomping at the bit to find out what's going to happen here with the Patriots. What are you hearing or when should we expect some kind of a decision.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: I talked to a prominent attorney just yesterday who has been involved with these high-profile cases and very similar situations in the NFL. He said that likely now the report has come out, Brady will meet with Troy Vincent, the VP of operations there at the NFL.

And then will probably have a meeting with Roger Goodell himself to go over things one more time. And he thought it was going to be another week. So it could be as long as next Friday.

CABRERA: A whole week.

WIRE: Until we hear a decision and if there will be punishments.

CABRERA: And there's already been a lot of talk of what that punishment should or could be. Christopher, given the Patriots' history regarding controversies, again, this is not the first, before deflate-gate, we had spy gate.

How much does this particular scandal, one, tarnish the image of the Patriots' franchise and then two, impact the potential legacy of Tom Brady.

CHRISTOPHER PRICE, REPORTER AND COLUMNIST, WEEI.COM: I'll take the second question first, I think it's going to be part of the conversation ultimately when it's said and done. But at the end of the day I don't think this will take too much away from his legacy.

I think he'll go down as one of the greatest quarterbacks if not the best quarterback of all time. Look, the Patriots are used to dealing with scandals like this over the course of the last dozen or so years.

The thing that's interesting to me, I've covered this team since 2001. This is first time it's the quarterback in the crosshairs as opposed to the coach or another part of the franchise.

CABRERA: You see Tom Brady, the golden boy of the sport. A lot of people may have some envy for his good looks, his amazing talent, you know.

WIRE: His hair.

CABRERA: Throwing the ball, married to a supermodel. Is this perhaps being blown out of proportion because people want to poke holes in his image?

WIRE: I don't think so being it's the second case dealing with his team, and with his head coach, the New England Patriots. I think what's interesting with this, there are 31 other teams watching to see what's going to happen.

How will Goodle bring down the hammer in this situation considering that they probably did it again? More probable than not, which is NFL's speak for guilty in that report.

CABRERA: You've been talking to other players, right? What are they saying?

WIRE: Yes, I have. So I talked to a current starting quarterback in the NFL and his take was like, look, if they can't -- if -- even if they don't provide definitive evidence that Tom Brady was guilty he should at least get suspended for a game and be fined money.

I've talked to a hall of fame player, who said he was livid, this is unacceptable. He wanted four to six games for Tom Brady and he wanted the organization to have similar fines that he had during spy gate.

That was $250,000 for the organization, $500,000 for the head coach, Bill Belichick. Now they were cleared of any guilt in this, in the report, but you got to remember in bounty-gate, Sean Payton, as the head coach of the Saints, he was found to be cleared of all guilt, but he was suspended for an entire year.

CABRERA: For a whole year.

WIRE: For a whole year, what happens in your house, you're responsible for. This is the second case for the Patriots.

PRICE: If I could jump in here real quick, I think it's interesting because the league, I believe, really has to tread kind of cautiously here because there's no legal precedent when you are talking about this.

It's not like they caught a quarterback in 2003 or 2004 messing around with footballs and they said, all right, we gave him two games and fined him $100,000. There's no template to work from.

The other thing that's important to remember, sounds like you talked to a couple of quarterbacks, one quarterback out there, I can really -- I can tell you there are 31 other quarterbacks across the National Football League who are watching this thing very closely.

Because if they come after Tom Brady, they're going to come after Elon Manning and Aaron Rogers and every other quarterback because we know, I'm not saying they all do it, but quite frankly, they all do it when it comes to pretreating these footballs, it's fairly common practice across the National Football League.

Ultimately, I'll end on this, there is no smoking gun within the wells report that directly implicates Tom Brady. There are a lot of circumstantial evidence here.

But when you look at bottom line, there are no texts from Tom Brady to either one of the two equipment managers, specifically saying, underinflate the footballs outside the legal psi window. CABRERA: Well, Christopher Price, we'll have to leave it there. Thanks to you. Thanks to Coy Wire. We'll talk with some legal experts to get their take on the report coming up in the next hour of NEWSROOM. Again, we appreciate both of you and your insight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:58:40]

CABRERA: Checking top stories, Jeb Bush giving a commencement address at Liberty University. We understand he just finished in this probable GOP candidate for president is courting support from the Christian base there, a powerful wing of the party.

Bush blasted the Obama administration's, quote, "coercive use of federal power." He says, instead of supporting religious freedom, the White House is taking, in his words, an aggressive stance against it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH, FORMER FLORIDA GOVERNOR: It is not only untrue, but it's also a little ungrateful to dismiss the Christian faith as some obstacle to enlighten thought, some ancient, irrelevant creed wearing out its welcome in the modern world.

Whether or not we acknowledge the source, Hebrew scripture in the New Testament provide the moral vocabulary we all use in America and may it always be so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Bush said, there is no more powerful or liberating influence on this earth than the Christian conscience in action.

First Lady Michelle Obama is also on the commencement circuit at Tuskegee University in Alabama where she is delivering the graduation address at the historically black university today. In the coming weeks, Mrs. Obama will be giving the commencement address in Ohio and at a high school in Chicago.

An event dubbed the Million Moms March happening now in Washington, D.C., live pictures right now, where dozens of African-American mothers from around the country are marching to the Justice Department.