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Donald Trump Gets Pushback From Lindsey Graham; Explosion From Underground At Rhode Island Beach Sends One Woman To Hospital; Notorious Mexican Drug Lord on the Loose Again; Inside Drug Lord "El Chapo's" Safe Houses; Pontiff Visits the Country's Poor; Trump Returns to NYC, Skips Pageant Tonight; Car Drives in Reverse for Miles in L.A. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired July 12, 2015 - 14:00   ET

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

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[14:00:13] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, he's done it again. One of the most notorious drug kingpins in the world on the run after escaping from a Mexican prison a second time. The jaw-dropping details on how the cartel leader, known as El Chapo, got out.

Then Donald Trump triples down with another plan to tackle illegal immigration.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So I had an idea. I think it's good. Every time Mexico really intelligently sends people over, we charge Mexico $100,000 for every person they send over.

WHITFIELD: One Republican rival says it's time for the party to reject Trump, or the party's candidates will lose. We break it down with our political panel.

Plus, a car caught on camera driving in reverse on a winding L.A. road. The question, who's behind the wheel?

You're live in the CNN newsroom.

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WHITFIELD: Hello, everyone. And thanks for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

A developing story. A massive manhunt is on right now for one of the world's most notorious drug loaders, Joaquin Guzman, better known as El Chapo, escaped from a maximum security federal prison just west of Mexico City.

During a routine check, guards noticed he was missing and found a hole in his cell. The hole led to a mile-long tunnel that was lit and ventilated. Guzman is the head of the Sinaloa cartel, considered one of the most powerful and violent in Mexico. It is also known for being a major heroin supplier to the U.S. Guzman is wanted on American soil on multiple federal drug trafficking and organized crime charges, and there is a $5 million bounty on him.

CNN's Juan Carlos Lopez is following the story from Washington for us.

So what more do we know about the escape?

JUAN CARLOS LOPEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, it's pretty safe to say that many in the law enforcement community in the U.S. are shocked and upset that one of the world's most wanted criminals did it again.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LOPEZ (voice-over): This is how the Mexican government confirmed the escape of Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman from (INAUDIBLE) federal maximum security prison. According to Month Alejandro Rubido, head of Mexico's national security commission, Guzman received his nightly medication at 8:00 p.m. local time. Prison guards noticed later through the video monitoring system that followed his every move that he wasn't in his cell. Guards then rushed to the cell and discovered a rectangular hole in the cell shower that led to a vertical tunnel with stairs and from there to the escape tunnel.

Ana Maria Salazar is an analyst based in Mexico and a former Pentagon official.

ANA MARIA SALAZAR, FORMER PENTAGON OFFICIAL: Question, apparently this particular prison is considered to be the secure -- one of the most if not the most secure prison in Mexico and it had been evaluated by international authorities and gotten a very good evaluation. It was considered to be very secure.

LOPEZ: Guzman's Sinaloa cartel is known for its expertise in tunnel building along the border for drug trafficking. The tunnel at the maximum security prison 55 miles west of Mexico City reflects that knowledge, 1500 meters or almost a mile long from point a to point b, ventilation through plastic ping, electricity and lighting and even a motorcycle-powered buggy in a very detailed work of engineering. The tunnel ended at a construction site in a neighborhood adjacent to the prison. Eighteen guards were detained and transferred to Mexico City for interrogation. And (INAUDIBLE) international airport was shut down. It's Guzman's second escape from a maximum security prison. Facilities designed with drug loaders such as him in mind.

SALAZAR: One would have assumed that he would have been the most watched-over criminal in the world. And apparently that just didn't happen. This is a huge embarrassment for the Mexican government, obviously, and of course it's going to raise a lot of questions as to what's happening with the Mexican criminal justice system.

LOPEZ: On January 19th, 2001, Chapo Guzman escaped from the maximum security prison in Puente Grande Jalisco in western Mexico. Back then his plan was simpler. He escaped in a laundry cart and remained on the lam for 13 years until February 2nd, 2014, when he was captured in Sinaloa apparently with intelligence provided by the DEA and the U.S. marshal service.

(END VIDEOTAPE) LOPEZ: And Fredricka, attorney general Loretta Lynch issued a statement related to the Chapo Guzman escape and this is what she said. The U.S. government, and I quote, "stands ready to work with our Mexican partners to provide any assistance that may help support his swift recapture." That is the official reaction or the unofficial reaction, obviously, and much harsher terms, 13 years is what it took to find one of the most wanted men in the world and now he's escaped again.

[14:05:18] WHITFIELD: All right. Juan Carlos Lopez, thank you so much.

So El Chapo is known for being the -- one of the most violent and brutal of Mexico's drug kingpins, but he was also known for his Robin Hood reputation in his hometown.

Sara Ganim joins me now with more on that.

So what more can you tell us about this man known as El Chapo and the reputation that he's had?

SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Fred. Quite the reputation. You know, here in the United States, the reason that this is so important, we talk about illicit drugs here, heroin, cocaine. It's likely that those drugs, if you encounter them in the United States, have come from his cartel, one of the largest in the world, by some accounts the largest in the world, and it's not the first time that he escaped from behind bars of a Mexican jail. Take a listen.

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GANIM (voice-over): They call him El Chapo, or shorty for his small 5'6" frame, but his legend is enormous. And now the world's most powerful and deadly drug trafficking kingpin has broken out of prison in Mexico, again.

Joaquin Guzman is the notorious drug boss who runs the Sinaloa cartel, widely believed to be the biggest supplier of heroin and cocaine in the United States. Authority say this time he escaped through a hole in the shower area of the Altiplano prison.

MONTE ALEJANDRO RUBIDO, NATIONAL SECURITY COMMISSION (through translator): The tunnel is a vertical pass about 10 meters deep and had a ladder and stairs. This tunnel has PVC tubing, ventilation and lighting.

GANIM: His latest escape adding to El Chapo's legend, in Mexico he's a towering figure of intrigue, the subject of books, songs and folklore. And he's wanted on both sides of the border. In the U.S. on federal trafficking and organized crime charges. In fact, U.S. officials wanted him extradited, fearing exactly what happened, that he'd pull off another escape.

REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL (R), TEXAS: When El Chapo Guzman escaped captivity, prison, in 2001. He has 12 years left to his sentence. But I'm concerned about that happening again in Mexico. GANIM: Born into a poor family in the Sinaloa state when the drug

trade was evolving, Guzman amassed a powerful empire, one that he continued running from behind bars after his first arrest in 1993. His reputation only grew as he spent 13 years on the run after escaping from prison in 2001. Sneaking out in a laundry cart, in a plot that allegedly cost him $2.5 million in bribes. He was caught and rearrested just last year at this resort in his home state of Sinaloa. Now a massive manhunt for the cartel leader is under way, yet again.

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GANIM: Now, obviously U.S. officials not happy about this escape. It's clear that he was able to control his cartel from behind bars, but being outside and having and enjoying that freedom and protection from the people who work for him obviously gives him a lot more power and gives the cartel a lot more power. U.S. officials had wanted to extradite him, to bring him back here on charges and hold him here out of fear that this would happen again, Fred, and then it did.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Sara Ganim.

We are going to talk more about this now with CNN law enforcement analyst and former FBI assistant director Tom Fuentes and award- winning staff writer for "the New Yorker" Patrick Keefe who has written extensively also about El Chapo.

All right. So Patrick, you first. Who is El Chapo in terms of, you know, the enormity and the influence of the whole drug cartel trafficking business, and how is it he became so powerful, even behind bars?

PATRICK RADDEN KEEFE, STAFF WRITER, THE NEW YORKER: He's an amazing character. I mean this is a guy who grew up basically a farm boy, who by most accounts is more or less illiterate even today. He never really got much of an education. But he became during the 1970s a pretty formidable drug trafficker and escaped from prison once, as we head. And then when he was on the run, on the lam, actually really developed the Sinaloa cartel into the biggest drug cartel, I would say in history, and became responsible for a huge portion of the drugs that crossed the border into the United States every year.

WHITFIELD: And is there, I guess, a singular, you know, way to explain how it is he rose to the top as, you know, the most powerful of cartel leaders? What was it about him, his influence, the way he conducted business, especially after the way you mentioned he's still illiterate, he didn't have much education. What is the secret?

[14:10:05] KEEFE: Well, I think he is a very canny businessman. I mean, he's been very violent and he is certainly hasn't shied away from using violence. His organization is probably responsible for literally tens of thousands of murders over the last decade or so. But he's also a smart guy who put together a very intricate arrangements. It's funny all this talk about tunnels. Chapo Guzman, he actually invented the border tunnel. He's the guy who 25 years ago first thought to burrow underneath the border and the similar other cartel has actually dug about 100 if not more tunnels underneath the border to move drugs. So it's not surprising when you think about it in that respect that he would use a tunnel to escape this maximum security prison.

WHITFIELD: And that's what makes this so remarkable because it would seem the common knowledge of the tunneling, this engineering firm associated with him for creating all of these tunnels, that the Mexican government, this prison, even though this is the maximum security, the most maximum security of their federal prisons, they would know that and have him in a place where perhaps it couldn't be penetrated. That, you know, anyone working on the outside for him wouldn't be able to build a tunnel like this.

KEEFE: Exactly. And look, this has been a huge fight since his capture between the United States and Mexico, with the U.S. saying basically you guys aren't competent to hold this guy. You need to extradite him to us so we can try him. And Mexico is saying, you know, it's a matter of sovereignty. We really can hold on to him and we can try him here.

The thing about Chapo Guzman, is you got to remember, it's also about bribes. This is a guy who over the course of his career has probably paid hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes all up and down the Mexican government.

Last time he broke out of prison, it came out afterwards that he had actually had -- there were 71 people who had worked at the prison, including the warden, who ended up being charged in his escape. So I think it's very likely that we'll find out in the coming weeks, months, may be years that there was a very high degree of collusion in the government in his escape.

WHITFIELD: So then, Tom, maybe you can, you know, touch on this, you know, even more extensively, because we already have learned that 18 guards are being interrogated now. We heard that at the top of our show here. So talk to me about the likelihood of the manipulation that he may have presented that really helped facilitate his escape.

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I think what we see in Mexico compared to the United States is when we talk about bribery or other reasons for corruption of police officers, corrections officers, other government officials, it's on a scale that we just can't imagine.

For example, you know, we have two guys escape from New York prison because they seduced a female employee and made friends with a couple of corrections officers. That's one thing. But in Mexico, what happens is that they threaten these officers or a guy like Guzman will say we're going to dip your kids in acid. We're going to dismember them. We're going to peel their skin off while they're alive, and they do it. And as mentioned, being responsible for tens of thousands of murders, that's nothing for them. At every level of their government they do that.

WHITFIELD: God. FUENTES: And so, even a police officer that wants to be honest or a

corrections officer that has integrity, suddenly when they're faced with their entire family, their children, spouse, parents, cousins, everybody that knows them being horribly tortured and murdered, it becomes a little bit different for them to take on and maintain their integrity.

WHITFIELD: Wow, remarkable.

All right. Tom Fuentes, Patrick Radden Keefe, thanks so much to both of you gentlemen. I appreciate it.

We'll, of course, talk more about this case later on.

Also later this hour, an amazing inside look of the safe house used by "El Chapo."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're at a secret tunnel entrance used by "El Chapo" Guzman in the Sinaloa state capital (INAUDIBLE). We're in just one of five safe houses that he operated here and it really enabled him to stay on the run for so long. If you take a look down into this space here, you'll see the tunnel begins and goes on for another three kilometers until the nearest other safe house.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And next, Donald Trump is getting some pushback from one of his opponents for the Republican presidential nomination. Sunlen Serfaty has the latest on that.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. One of Trump's Republican opponents called him a wrecking ball for the Republican Party, but Trump is not backing down from those controversial comments on immigration. I'll have the latest coming up next.

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[14:17:47] WHITFIELD: All right. Donald Trump is refusing to tone down his rhetoric and back down from his comments on immigration. Before a crowd of 5,000 in Phoenix, Arizona, last night the Republican presidential candidate said the United States should charge Mexico $100,000 for every, quote, "illegal immigrant they send across the border," end quote. This morning one of Trump's Republican rivals issued a stern warning to the GOP about Trump.

CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is live at the White House with more on that -- Sunlen.

SERFATY: Well, Fred, no sign whatsoever that Donald Trump has the intention to tone down his rhetoric and he did seem defiant last night at the event in Phoenix in the face of all this criticism, almost relishing in the size of the crowd last night. As you said, 5,000 people came out, you know, showing that at some level his approach and his message seems to be resonating among some voters who do view illegal immigration as a serious problem in our country.

But at the event in Phoenix, there was a moment about 20 minutes into Trump's speech where some protesters unfurled a banner interrupting his speech. Here's how Trump responded.

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TRUMP: I wonder -- I wonder if the Mexican government sent them over here. I think so. Because I'm telling you, I tell about the bad deals that this country is making. Mexico, I respect the country, they're taking our jobs, they're taking our manufacturing, they're taking our money, they're taking everything and they're killing us on the border.

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SERFATY: And this talk continues. After the barrage of criticism that Trump has received from many Republicans, also from Arizona state establishment Republicans, many who snubbed that event and didn't show up. Today one of his opponents, Senator Lindsey Graham, he called him a wrecking ball for the Republican Party, what this potentially does with their outreach to Hispanics. Here's what Lindsey Graham said on "STATE OF THE UNION."

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SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is a defining moment for the Republican Party. We need to reject this. To all the candidates who think that Donald Trump is telling the truth, I think you've lost your way. As to the Republican Party, if we do not reject this way of thinking clearly, without any ambiguity, we'll have lost our way, we'll have lost the moral authority in my view to govern this great nation and I hope we will reject this kind of thinking.

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[14:20:17] SERFATY: And Graham called for others within the Republican Party and those candidates running for president to step up and to continue to reject even stronger this rhetoric from Trump -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Sunlen Serfaty, thank you so much.

We're going to talk more about this now with my political panel. Joining me from New York, columnist, Democrat and the co-author of "the party's over" Ellis Henican and Republican strategist and lawyer Brian Morgenstern.

All right. Good to see you both.

So Brian, how about you first. So what is at stake for the Republican Party if it does what Graham suggests or if it doesn't do what he suggests, reject Donald Trump?

BRIAN MORGENSTERN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, I think the party is going to reject Donald Trump without rejecting the proposition that we should enforce immigration laws. And the voters will do that once they realize Donald Trump has been trolling them.

After the 2012 election he came out and called Mitt Romney maniacal for his language on immigration and said that the party was insensitive to people who are inspired to come to this country. And yet, now he thinks it's OK to come out and call them all rapists and murders. It is just not credible.

And furthermore, the voters will reject him because he's not conservative. This is a guy who has advocated for single payer government run health care and massive tax increases. He's not really a Republican. He had Hillary Clinton at the front row of his wedding. He has donated to her Senate campaign, called her a great senator. So this is a blip until the voters catch up.

But again, the party will distance themselves from Trump while still embracing the notion that we should embrace immigration laws and deport criminals who, you know, commit violence in our country.

WHITFIELD: OK. And so, Ellis, it was reported last week, you know, that Reince Priebus called him, said tone it down, but then Donald Trump said no, it was more of a congratulatory call. But if the party were to try to rein him in or silence Trump, I mean, what does that say about the entire democratic process of, you know, being able to encourage anyone who wants to to run?

ELLIS HENICAN, COLUMNIST/CO-AUTHOR, THE PARTY'S OVER: Well, it says that his opponents are a bunch of wimps, doesn't it? I mean, it's only the Lindsey Grahams and the George Patakis, and the ones who frankly the nobodies in the race who really have spoken up in any serious way yet, right? It is the problem.

They're in a jam these guys are, right? Because you know the passion in the party, the real enthusiasm is in that anti-immigration, you know, social conservative wing of the party. And so, while they don't like Donald's rhetoric, they can't really disagree with his policies because they all pretty much embrace them so they're having trouble navigating that. Someone will have the guts to stand up and poke their finger in his eyes but nobody has really done it in a serious way.

WHITFIELD: All right. Donald Trump in center stage, you know, he, I guess according to some polls he and Jeb Bush are kind of neck in neck, but Trump couldn't contain himself when talking about Jeb Bush in this way. Listen.

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TRUMP: The poll just came out and I'm tied with Jeb Bush and I said, that's too bad. How could I be tied in this guy? He's terrible. He's terrible. He's weak on immigration.

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WHITFIELD: So, Brian, we haven't heard from Jeb Bush in response to that, don't know if we ever will. But I mean, Donald Trump is not making any friends among his, you know, fellow contenders. He is essentially insulting everybody, you know, while also pushing his own, I guess, point of view. But how are the other candidates to handle him? They can't ignore him. And then it seems like commenting means they're going to get engaged in the same kind of fight.

MORGENSTERN: Sure. Well, if I were Jeb Bush I would respond with Donald Trump's own words in Donald Trump's own book when he called Jeb Bush quote "a good man, bright, tough and principled, exactly the kind of political leader this country needs now and very much will need in the future."

WHITFIELD: So you're saying and Jeb Bush will be saying at that he's a hypocrite?

MORGENSTERN: Yes. Because Donald Trump has been -- I won't filibuster it and keep talking, but you know, I just set several examples of where Donald Trump has made 180-degree turns. And so, once the voters learn this, I think it will shake itself out.

WHITFIELD: Ellis, last word on that?

HENICAN: Yes. And Donald doesn't care. Yes, so what, I might have said that. I'll say something different tomorrow. This is not a nuance guy. This is a guy who is putting his finger right on the pressure point and having a lot of reaction. It's working.

WHITFIELD: And he's having fun seemingly.

MORGENSTERN: He's a troll. He's the best troll we've seen since, I don't know, Al Sharpton.

HENICAN: Stay in, Donald, stay in.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well, Ellis, Brian, we are going to see you again later on and we are going to find some other things to talk about. We are going to talk Trump again, you know, he is an influence. But there are other things to talk about on the run for 2016. So remember, all the latest news on the race for 2016, go to CNNpolitics.com.

All right. Also coming up, an explosion from under the sand at a popular beach in Rhode Island sending one woman to the hospital. What happened? What could have caused a blast? The latest on the investigation, next.

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[14:28:49] WHITFIELD: A popular Rhode Island beach reopens after an explosion from under the sand sends a woman to the hospital. It happened at Salty Brine Beach near in (INAUDIBLE). And the blast was so strong that it threw the 50-year-old woman from her chair onto the nearby jetty.

Here's CNN's Christi Paul.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Rhode Island authorities have removed sand from the area looking for clues after reports of a small explosion and injury of a 50-year-old woman, but the exact cause is a mystery.

LARRY MOURADJIAN, DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT: Explosion is the word that came during the initial reports. There's a -- I can tell you from personally witnessing the site that there appears to have been some ground disturbance there.

PAUL: The woman was sitting in a chair at the tide line. Witnesses reported a boom. The force pushed her up against nearby rocks and then she fell into the sand.

MOURADJIAN: There are fractures in this wet sand. The gaps that occur are something like when lightning hits a beach. There's definitely something that happened there.

PAUL: The state bomb squad and the state fire marshal office are investigating along with the ATF.

CHIEF KURT BLANCHARD, RHODE ISLAND ENVIRONMENTAL POLICE: We have no indication that this is anything beyond. It was some type of noise. It was some type of energy transfer. We have no evidence or indication that there was a device. This could be natural. IT could be manmade. At this point, it is still under investigation.

PAUL (voice-over): Nobody else was reported hurt but the beach at Narragansett was declared off limits for the rest of the day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I literally just stood up and walked away from there, but it blew right out of the chair. I mean, I've never heard of anything like that. And I mean, we're at the beach all the time.

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WHITFIELD: All right, Christi Paul, thanks so much for that.

The notorious Mexican drug lord known as "El Chapo" on the loose again. Next, details on the manhunt.

Plus, we'll take you inside one of the infamous safe houses full of hidden tunnels.

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WHITFIELD: All right. Hello again, everyone. Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

So one of the world's most notorious drug kingpins is on the run after escaping from a Mexican prison. Joaquin Guzman, better known at "El Chapo" escaped from a maximum security federal prison this morning just west of Mexico City.

Guards noticed he was missing after discovering a hole in his cell leading to a mile-long tunnel with lighting and ventilation. Guzman is the head of the Sinaloa Cartel, considered one of the most powerful and violent in Mexico. It is also known for being a major heroin supplier to the U.S. Guzman, who replaced notorious gangster Al Capone as Chicago's public enemy number one is wanted in the U.S. on multiple federal drug trafficking and organized crime charges.

And this isn't the first time "El Chapo" has used tunnels to elude authorities. His cartel is believed to be responsible for a network of tunnels leading to different safe houses.

Last year, our Nick Parker got a rare glimpse inside the drug lord's safe houses in Mexico, where he did hide after escaping prison in 2001.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[14:35:00] NICK PARKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on-camera): On this quiet residential street in the Sinaloa state, capital of Culiacan, with a school just across the street, is one of five Chapo Guzman's safe houses. We are going inside to take a look.

(voice-over): Before even entering, cameras and reinforced steel doors reveal the priority of security.

(on camera): I think one of the first things that really hits you when you come in is just how modest and basic it is. You know, a small little kitchen. Some of the bedrooms here are pretty dingy. The marines tell us this was part of his strategy to have a very modest accommodations so that you can hide in plain sight.

In almost every bedroom of the house, there two TV screens, one for security and one for TV. When you go to the bathroom, the picture of a normal house really does transform beneath this bathtub a secret tunnel. So if you climb down the steps, you find yourself in the tunnel itself and you can see it has been quite carefully constructed out of wood. You have to crouch a little bit, but you are quite mobile.

And there is an electricity system running throughout it. The nearest other safe house from here is three kilometers in this direction. The constructed part of the tunnel ends here. And if you go through this door, you find yourself in the sewage system of Culiacan, an ideal escape route. And the tunnel system comes out right here in another safehouse just down the road and as you can see it is a very similar set up to the previous one.

(voice-over): I n all the houses, evidence of life suddenly suspended. The minutia is often interesting, a child slide, Christmas decorations and a fondness for mayonnaise.

(on camera): This safehouse is perhaps the most significant of all of them. This is where Chapo Guzman escaped when he was being pursued by Mexican Marines. They broke down this door and found they missed him by 8 minutes. And this is where he fled to through this bedroom and into this bathroom where as you can see, there is another escape hatch underneath this bathtub.

Mexican marines tell us they discovered this entire network of underground tunnels and safehouses when they arrested the head of Chapo Guzman's security and he gave them this information. It once again underlines the very central role of intelligence in the arrest of one of the world's most wanted men.

Nick Parker, CNN, Culiacan, Mexico.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Wow, fascinating detail. Now let's talk about this person, "El Chapo" and his ability.

CNN contributor Casey Jordan with us now. She's a criminologist, behavior analyst and an attorney.

Good to see you.

CASEY JORDAN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Great to be here.

WHITFIELD: So we understand now as a result of the escape, somewhere -- the number is about 18 guards are now being interrogated because perhaps there may have been a relationship built between "El Chapo" while in prison and any of these guards to help facilitate this escape.

So talk to me now about how manipulative "El Chapo" is known to be and how perhaps bribery may have been, you know, part of his currency.

JORDAN: Well, in Mexico and worldwide globally, Guzman, his influence is vast. He really is the stuff of legend. He's iconic. It's not just a matter of manipulation; he has the money to bribe people who you would think are unbribeable. I mean, his fortune is worth about a billion dollars.

So if you're thinking about corrections officers, I mean, before when he escaped in 2001, it was people all the way up to the warden were on his payroll. So for a man of his financial stature and socially everybody either fears him or admires him. The idea of getting out within a year of being recaptured actually isn't that astonishing.

WHITFIELD: Wow. Yes, only a year.

So what do you suppose that kind of conversation was like between he and any of the people in the prison who may have facilitated in his escape? Of course, we don't know how yet.

JORDAN: Right.

WHITFIELD: We're still waiting for all those kind of details. But if indeed it's the case that any of the people who work at the prison were complicit, how do you suppose he went about convincing, requesting, demanding anything?

JORDAN: Yes, I think demanding might be the issue. I don't think that anyone wants to actually take money just to look the other way while a tunnel is being dug from the outside in. But in the last hour, you've had several guests who really did confirm the fact that his power mostly depends on coercion. If you're not going to take the money that he offers you to look the other way while a tunnel is being dug to his cell, then he will threaten your family and he will promise to, you know, hang your loved ones from the bridges and disembowel them. This is not just made up stuff. This happens all the time.

So if you are between a rock and a hard place as a lowly paid corrections officer in Mexico, you're really -- your choice of doing the right thing, especially if you don't know if your colleagues are on his payroll or not, turning him in or reporting the fact that he tried to bribe you is probably not going to go anywhere if the boss you're reporting to is also on the bribery list. So it really is a thankless, impossible situation for somebody who works in that prison.

[14:40:00] WHITFIELD: All right, Casey Jordan thanks so much. Appreciate it.

JORDAN: Thank you again.

WHITFIELD: And of course we'll have more on Guzman's escape coming up in the next hour and we will be right back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There's Serena Williams and there's the rest of women's tennis. The 33-year-old Williams defeated 21-year-old Garbine Muguruza in Saturday's Wimbledon lady final. It was Serena's sixth Wimbledon win in eight appearances and her 21st Grand Slam title in 25 tries. It was also her fourth straight major victory, the second time she's completed a so-called Serena slam.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think something that could be on her mind is trying to win 22 Grand Slam titles so she can tie Steffi Graf and then going into next year, she has four more chances to get ahead of Steffi Graf. But the Grand Slam, I think it's sort of like the number one ranking. If it happens, it happens and it's only going to happen if you play your best tennis.

UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: If she wins her fourth straight U.S. open later this summer, Serena will complete her first-ever calendar slam. It would be the first time a women's player has won all four majors in the same year since Steffi Graf in 1988.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[14:45:00] WHITFIELD: All right. The last day of Pope Francis' South American tour is dedicated to the poor and to the young.

This morning the pope visited a poor neighborhood in Paraguay and this comes a day after he delivered a speech about how the poor, saying they are often sacrificed on the, quote, "altar of money." CNN international correspondent Shasta Darlington is in Paraguay.

So Shasta, the pope has really put a lot of focus on the need to end poverty and at least address poverty. Overall how successful was this visit?

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN BRAZIL BUREAU CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, this morning, Fredricka, we really saw him, what I keep saying is walking the walk. He literally waded into this sprawling, very muddy shantytown here in Paraguay called Banado Norte.

They were thousands of residents there chanting his name, reaching out, trying to touch him. And he had a lot of uplifting words for them. He said that he had been looking forward to visiting them personally since the day he left Rome.

He also said that he was really happy to be there on their land. And those two words he emphasized they are important because these are squatters. Like many shantytowns across Latin America, these are people who come from the countryside trying to get jobs in the city. They don't own the titles to the land, but they're trying to get the titles.

So for him to call it their land that elicited lots of cheers. He then went on to celebrate a huge mass in a nearby, also very muddy field where about a million people who were there. Lots of Argentines. Even the Argentine president crossed the border to see him.

But as you mentioned, there has been a lot of controversial language. The pope has not been pulling any punches here. So in that speech yesterday, he talked about the need to have economic growth without sacrificing human lives on the altar of money and profit.

These words you can imagine are going -- not going to go down easy in the United States where they are waiting for him in September.

Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: All right. An highly anticipated journey that would be as well.

All right, thank you so much, Shasta Darlington.

All right, the Miss U.S.A. pageant, well, it's tonight, but the show's co-owner, Donald Trump, guess what, he's not going to be there, we hear.

Our Athena Jones is in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where the competition will be taking place.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka, that's right. This competition will get under way in just a few hours from now. We thought that Donald Trump would be here because he said he was coming. We'll tell you why he says he's not.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:51:08] WHITFIELD: All right. Donald Trump will not be attending the Miss U.S.A. pageant tonight. Instead, he is back in New York.

And earlier in the week, the pageant was on his schedule, but then yesterday he tweeted this saying, quote, "I will not be able to attend the Miss U.S.A. pageant tomorrow night because I am campaigning in Phoenix. Wishing all well." End quote on the tweet.

So CNN political correspondent Athena Jones is in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where the pageant will be held.

So what's going on here really and who knew that Donald Trump is a twitter?

JONES: Oh, he's quite a twitter. He's been very, very active on Twitter, Fredricka. We've seen that over the last several weeks. But I can tell you this, you mentioned Donald Trump said more than once as recently as the end of the month that he was planning to be here to support these contestants.

But last night, as you mentioned, he tweeted that he wasn't going to be able to come because he was campaigning in Phoenix. And so I reached out to his campaign and asked what events he has today. I was told he has no official events today, traveling back to New York. And yet we found out from our other political correspondent who was covering Trump yesterday, she says that through FlightAware, it shows that his plane actually left Phoenix yesterday and landed in New York.

Now, we're reaching out to the campaign to learn more about when exactly Trump returned to New York. But the bottom line is here he's been to this pageant, this Miss U.S.A. pageant, which he is part owner of, often. He often comes. He's only missed a couple of pageants, but he's not going to be here this time around tonight.

Fred?

WHITFIELD: And so, you know, Athena, I know the contestants, the last thing they want to be involved in is the politics of, but because of all that's taken place with this co-owner of the pageant, how much of the discussion have you heard from any of the contestants about whether they want to make comment about or whether they welcome the fact that he is not there because of the comments that he has made?

What's the sentiment?

WHITFIELD: Well, the focus here from the organizers and the contestants has really been about the pageant itself. We have not spoken today to the contestants or yesterday. They spent yesterday and today on the stage.

In fact, you can hear the door when the door opened. You can hear them dancing and singing as they continue their dress rehearsals ahead of tonight. But I can tell you that the pageant organizers are very happy that REELZ, the cable channel, has picked up the event. They did so within a couple of days after NBC and UniVision dropped the pageant. It's a family-owned company so they were able to make that decision quickly.

But REELZ is only paying about $100,000 to air the event and it's only available in about 67 million homes so not nearly as broad of a potential audience as you would have seen on NBC and on UniVision.

And yet organizers say that REELZ has done a very good job of promoting the pageant, much more than they have seen in the past so they say it's something of a mixed blessing.

Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right, Athena Jones, thanks so much in Baton Rouge.

All right, coming up in the next hour, we'll be talking to a former Miss U.S.A. contestant.

But first, look at this. Yes, the car driving in reverse. Cruising down this winding road in Los Angeles, narrowly missing a number of cars. The big question, who is behind the wheel? Why are they doing this?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:58:00] WHITFIELD: All right, yes, it's enough to make you do a double take. Police in Los Angeles are now looking for a driver who put people in danger by doing this, by driving in reverse for miles on some of L.A.'s busiest roads.

Peter Daut of CNN affiliate KCAL reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Amazing. Amazing, guys.

PETER DAUT, KCAL REPORTER (voice-over): You're looking at what the LAPD is calling some of the most reckless driving investigators have ever seen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow, dude.

DAUT: Cell phone video showing a car going backwards, all the way down Laurel Canyon Boulevard. Listen to reaction from a stunned witness who recorded what he could barely believe was happening.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This guy's going backwards on oncoming traffic. Amazing.

DAUT: The driver of the Audi staying in reverse for several minutes, and along windy turns.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unbelievable!

DAUT: At one point the car appears to almost hit a pedestrian. Several times the Audi crosses the double yellow lines, narrowly missing oncoming traffic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Only in L.A.

DAUT: Watch what happens when the car eventually approaches busy Hollywood Boulevard.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow! Look what he's doing. Look what he's doing.

DAUT: Still in reverse the driver moves around other vehicles, and into the left turn lane.

KEVIN ZANAZANIAN, RECORDED VIDEO: Definitely was a shocker for me.

DAUT: Kevin Zanazanian recorded the video on his cell phone. The realtor says he first noticed the Audi around 4:45 Thursday afternoon, near Mulholland. He says there were two people in the car. A man behind the wheel, and a woman in the passenger seat.

ZANAZANIAN: It was definitely like a movie, and I just think that either this individual had an argument or a fight or something, or possibly just want to be a cool guy.

DAUT: We showed the video to LAPD investigators, who say the driver could be arrested for numerous charges.

SGT. TITO MARIANO, LOS ANGELES POLICE: Reckless driving, unsafe speed, crossing double yellow lines, failing to drive on the right half of the roadway.

DAUT: And given the numerous close calls, police say it's incredible no one was hurt.

MARIANO: Imagine if your family member is being struck by someone doing something irresponsible.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Wow, that was Peter Daut of CNN affiliate KCAL reporting.

All right, we've got so much more straight ahead in the NEWSROOM and it all starts right now.