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Tom Brady Slams NFL After Suspension is Upheld; John Kerry Back in Congress to Defend Iran Nuclear Deal; Lawyer: Trump Had "Meltdown" Over Breast Pump; Time Running Out to Find Missing Teens Alive; FBI: Suspect Planned to Blow Up Key West Beach. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired July 29, 2015 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00] PEREIRA: Tremendous work on behalf of all of these doctors.

CAMEROTA: Hand us the tissues.

PEREIRA: I know. I know.

CAMEROTA: That's a beautiful story.

All right. On that note, time now for "NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello.

Good morning, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: He's such a cutie. Thanks for sharing. He is.

Have a great day. NEWSROOM starts now.

And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

We start with Tom Brady, the iconic NFL quarterback, now speaking out, taking to Facebook less than 24 hours after losing a fight to overturn his four-game suspension. Brady writing, quote, "I did nothing wrong, and no one in the Patriots organization did either."

Brady's punishment was upheld yesterday after jaw-dropping accusations that he attempted to hide evidence that he had game balls underflated for a better grip. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell says Brady had his assistant destroy his cell phone and SIM card, the same phone he used to allegedly send text messages during the now infamous deflategate.

Head coach Bill Belichick is expected to speak in one hour during the Patriots' training camp. We're going to air that for you live. For now sports anchor Rachel Nichols joins me with more on what Brady had to say. Sports agent Jason Chayut is also here to weigh in.

But, Rachel, I want to start with you. What else did Tom Brady say?

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Well, he was very defiant and he was very specific. And he took the lead that the NFL Players Association started yesterday. After all this came out, the players association came out with a statement saying this phone business, it's a smoke screen they said. In fact they went so far to say that the NFL making the cell phone the issue was, quote, "a new low, even for them." So they weren't pulling any punches.

COSTELLO: Supposedly he destroyed the cell phone on the very day the NFL asked about it.

NICHOLS: Well, here is Tom Brady's explanation for that. Take a look at the text of his statement. He said, "I replaced my broken Samsung phone," Tom Brady, by the way, who will name check any company because he gets paid, he knows he's an endorser.

COSTELLO: Oh no.

NICHOLS: "I replaced my broken Samsung phone with a new iPhone 6 after my attorneys made it clear to the NFL my actual phone device would not be subjected to the investigation under any circumstances."

Remember the NFL does not have subpoena power. So Brady was always able to say, I didn't -- not giving up the phone. So his point is, I told them I wasn't going to give up the phone so I can destroy it or do anything I want with it.

Now take a look at the rest of what he said. He said, "I have never written, texted, e-mailed to anybody at any time related to football air pressure before this issue was raised at the AFC championship game in January. To suggest that I destroyed the phone to avoid giving the NFL information it requested is completely wrong." Then he went on to say, "Regardless, the NFL knows that Mr. Wells," that's the investigator. "Already had all relevant communications with the Patriots that either Mr. Wells saw or that I was questioned about in my appeal hearing. There is no, quote, 'smoking gun.' And this controversy is manufactured to distract from the fact that they have zero evidence of wrongdoing."

Again, Tom Brady making the case that the players association did, that this is a smoke screen. And I will say that, after destroying the cell phone, Brady, in his appeal hearing, went to the point of getting his own phone records from the phone company and, even though he was not required to, handing them over to the NFL from that time period, so they could see who he texted.

Now of course as we know, those records don't show what the texts said. So that is what the NFL is hanging on right there.

COSTELLO: Exactly. I'm still getting over the fact he had 10,000 texts on that phone. That's crazy. In a four-month period.

NICHOLS: Well, there's data about how certain age groups text. And apparently Tom Brady, despite being in his late 30s, texts like a millennial.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: My god. OK. So, Jason, you represent these kinds of guys. Is Tom Brady being genuine? JASON CHAYUT, SPORTS AGENT, SPORTSTARS, INC.: Well, I think we'd all

be naive to believe that he threw out the phone, the timing of it is all very questionable. I think most of us who get a new phone in -- general laypeople keep our phone thinking well, what if I lose something in the transfer or what. So I think all of that is questionable. I think at the end of the day it's sort of cliche but really the cover-up seems to be more of the problem than the actual crime.

And the union coming out claiming that, while the process is not -- well, I think the issue is integrity on both sides. I think Tom is claiming the integrity and the hearing and the trial associated with it was all very diminishing and suspect, and the union -- and the NFL is saying the same thing, which is the integrity of the game. So they're both claiming an integrity issue, just from different sides.

COSTELLO: Yes. Is there any doubt that Tom Brady will sue?

NICHOLS: No. I mean, the NFL PA expects to file today in court in Minnesota which is the federal district that has been most friendly to players and the labor side of things. The NFL, by the way, has already preemptively filed their own lawsuit in New York, which is supposed to be a little bit more friendly of a district to management.

[09:05:04] So this is not even over by a long shot. We are going to be talking about this for a long time. And the big thing to watch now is not only where this suit will actually eventually play out, but if the Brady side can get an injunction so he can start playing at the beginning of the season while this is all going on.

(CROSSTALK)

NICHOLS: Because by the way, Carol, training camp starts today.

COSTELLO: One last question for you, Jason, because I think the NFL will have a hard time because, first of all, Roger Goodell has handed out these arbitrary punishments. Ray Rice got a two-game suspension for knocking out his wife. Right? So Tom Brady gets a four-game suspension for supposedly, what, deflating footballs or ordering people to deflate footballs.

CHAYUT: Right.

COSTELLO: Plus, there is no evidence because the texts are gone.

CHAYUT: Right. No, and I think that's a big problem for the public is Adrian Peterson can play. Greg Hardy, if those of us who are familiar with it, read the transcript on what went on in his situation. Ray Rice has basically been banished from the NFL, whether it's because of what Roger Goodell demanded or the reality of the PR associated with signing someone like Ray Rice.

But he deflated footballs and now he's not going to play. The fact that it's in the same conversation is somewhat inherently hypocritical and I think that's a problem for the NFL.

COSTELLO: Rachel Nichols, Jaosn Chayut, thanks to both of you. I appreciate it.

In just about 30 minutes the Secretary of State John Kerry and other top Obama administration officials will be on Capitol Hill addressing the Senate Armed Services Committee as they try to convince lawmakers to back a nuclear agreement with Iran.

Just yesterday Secretary Kerry warned the House committee that not passing the bill will accelerate Iran's path to a nuclear weapon.

So let's talk about the hearings and more, I want to bring in CNN political commentator and senior fellow at the New America Foundation, Peter Beinart.

Good morning, Peter.

PETER BEINART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.

COSTELLO: So the big thing in the hearing yesterday was the supposed side deal between weapons inspectors, the IAEA, and Iran. Secretary Kerry said he hasn't even read that side deal. Am I getting that right?

BEINART: Well, they're claiming that this is a -- these are technical agreements that are usually signed by the IAEA and other countries and that there is nothing unusual here. But this is not a normal situation. This is all getting tremendous scrutiny by Congress and there are a lot of people in Congress who are frankly looking for any opportunity to try to undermine political support for the deal. So I think it's just a good example of the kind of pressure the Obama administration is under on this question.

COSTELLO: Well, yesterday's hearing was quite fiery. We expect the hearing later this morning to be fiery as well. What do you suppose is going to happen with this deal? Is there any possibility that lawmakers might change their minds?

BEINART: To end up scuttling this deal, you would need to have a substantial number of Democrats breaking with the president. Because remember, even if Congress passes some kind of legislation opposing the deal, the president can veto it. He only needs one-third of one House of Congress to sustain that veto. So even if all the Republicans oppose him, there are going to have to be a significant number of Democrats who vote to override that veto. too.

And I think, at the end of the day, Democrats are going to be hard pressed to basically scuttle the most significant foreign policy achievement of this president's administration. So I think at the end of the day it's hard to imagine that Obama loses on this.

COSTELLO: OK. I would like you to put the deal into perspective because it's been described in apocalyptic terms. So give us the real deal.

BEINART: What this does is it puts restrictions on Iran's nuclear program. It doesn't dismantle the infrastructure but it puts pretty significant limits on Iran's pathway to a bomb in terms of how much enriched uranium they can have, how highly they can enrich it, how much centrifuges they can have, all the kinds of things that you would need to do to get to a bomb and then it has a whole process for the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect, to make sure that Iran is living up to those obligations.

Now critics say well, it doesn't mean that inspectors can go anytime, anywhere. But the fans of the deal would say that you have 24-hour electronic surveillance of all of these sites through cameras and tamper-proof seals and that no country has ever submitted to this level of inspections before.

Is it a perfect deal? Absolutely not. But I think the strongest argument that the Obama administration has is that it's better than the alternative and the critics have not by and large really been fleshed out a clear plan for how you could scuttle this deal and get to a better alternative that would put more pressure on Iran.

COSTELLO: All right, Peter Beinart, thanks for the insight. I appreciate it.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELIZABETH BECK, LAWYER WHO DEPOSED DONALD TRUMP: His face got red. He shook his finger at me, and he screamed, you're disgusting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[09:10:03] COSTELLO: Scathing new allegations that Donald Trump called a lawyer disgusting for wanting to take a break to use her breast milk pump. Will it distract from the frontrunner's status? We'll talk about that.

Plus, confessions of the prison tailor who helped two prisoners escape. Hear she says about her relationship with the killers next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Scathing new allegations against presidential candidate Donald Trump. Lawyer Elizabeth Beck claims Trump called her disgusting back in 2011 after she asked to take a break during a deposition so she could pump breastmilk. The allegations which were first reported by "The New York Times" date back to a lawsuit over a failed real estate project.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: He had an absolute meltdown when I said that I needed the break and it was for breast pumping purposes, he got up, his face got red, he shook his finger at me, and he screamed, "You're disgusting, you're disgusting", and he ran out of there.

[09:15:25] And we were not able to conclude his deposition that day.

What kind of a leader of the United States would that be? Is he going to behave that way when he is negotiating treaties with China or Russia?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Trump's team is already firing back. A lawyer for the billionaire candidate says this, quote, "This was in no way a statement about her decision to breastfeed or pump. It was solely the fact that she appeared to be doing it in the middle of a deposition."

All right. So, let's talk about this latest controversy, because that first big debate is coming up next week.

Let's bring in CNN political reporter Sara Murray. She is in Washington.

Donald Trump is already tweeting about this. What's he saying?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes, Donald Trump is tweeting up quite a storm since Elizabeth Beck was on our air, basically saying this woman knows nothing about me. Why is she talking about me? He's also saying that she lost some of those cases and had to pay legal fees, and saying that it seems like the reason he was offended was because she wanted to breast pump in front of him.

Now, as you can see from the back and forth there, it sounds like there was a bit of a disagreement about whether they were actually going to take a break and allow her to breast pump. And, obviously, as many breast-feeding mothers know, you don't really have a lot of leeway in terms of when it's time to breast pump. You need to take that break. You need to do it.

So, I'm sure some women at home who went through this who will not take too kindly to how Donald Trump reacted to this.

COSTELLO: Well, it's also a law in the state of New York that you have to give women a break to use the pump. It's -- anyway --

MURRAY: New York has very permissive laws that allow, they allow for breast feeding in public and private places. They require employers to give you a private space and time to breast pump. So, New York is a state that's very accommodating of this. It's unclear exactly which of those rules would have applied, if any, in this situation. But it is clear that Donald Trump may not have handled himself as calmly as he could have.

COSTELLO: Plus, he does have children, just saying.

Do you suppose this will even matter in the grand scheme of things? Will it come up on the debate stage next week?

MURRAY: You know, it's difficult to know if this will come up during the debate. I do think there are probably some women who would be turned off by this. But there are a lot of voters that this issue just won't resonate for.

But it is clear everyone is looking ahead to the big debate. Last night, Don Lemon asked Donald Trump has he was preparing. Let's look at what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: This debate is coming up. Are you ready for it?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have absolutely no idea how to answer that question. I am me. I don't have pollsters. I mean, I have a lot of money, much more money than all of them put together and all of their phony contributions put together. But you have to understand. I want to be me.

I am what I am. I am what I am. I mean, the debate coach. Look, Romney had a debate coach. Obama had a debate coach. Frankly, I thought Obama was terrible.

I have to be myself, Don. If it's not good enough, that's OK. I'll have -- you know, I'll go on to other things. I'll ride into the sunset, and do some more buildings and create some more jobs and that's OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURRAY: Carol, this is a really interesting comment, I think, because it really seemed like he was sort of trying to ramp down expectations for how he'll do in the debate. Who knows what this "ride off into the sunset" means? I can't imagine that Donald Trump would just pull out of the race if he doesn't have a great debate showing. But he is sounding more demure than he has in then past.

COSTELLO: Well, we'll see. Sara Murray, thanks for your insight. I appreciate it.

And make sure you stay with us. Later this hour, we'll talk about the controversy surrounding one of Trump's top aides who now faces backlash after saying you cannot rape your spouse. He since apologized.

I'll be joined by one of "The Daily Beast" reporters who published the report a little later this hour.

A political bombshell sends Republican lawmakers scrambling to the House floor. Congressman Mark Meadows of North Carolina is apparently on a campaign to oust House Speaker John Boehner. Meadows filed a resolution yesterday to try to boot Boehner, accusing him of centralizing decision-making and, quote, "bypassing the majority of the 435 members of Congress and the people they represent."

The resolution does not say who would replace Boehner. Critics of Congressman Meadows accuse him of staging a battle to boost his own fundraising.

Time is slipping away in the desperate search for two Florida teenagers still lost at sea. Perry Cohen and Austin Stephanos have been missing since Friday. Their overturned boat found two days later 77 miles off the Florida coast. Officials say that after today, the chances of survival are grim.

Alina Machado live in Jupiter.

Good morning.

[09:20:00] ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

The Coast Guard has been busy searching for these missing teens and also following up on any potential leads. The most recent one came last night off the Georgia coast where a Good Samaritan called the Coast Guard to report that he had seen an object in the water. The Coast Guard sent out a helicopter last night to check on it, did not find anything. We know they were back out there this morning just to make sure they didn't miss anything even though their computer models say it's in an area where the teens are not likely to be found.

Now, so far, the Coast Guard has searched more than 30,000 nautical miles and they've only been able to find the teens' capsized boat. Authorities say, as time continues to go by with no sign of these missing teens, the situation is growing increasingly dire for them. The families, though, and friends are still staying hopeful that these teens will be found alive.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW LAVALLEE, FRIEND OF LOST TEENS: They put on Snapchat saying they -- saying "peace out, Jupe." And I don't know what that meant to them. But I think they just went out fishing and saw the storm and decided not to come in, thought they were invincible and could conquer it.

ISABELLA MURGIO, FRIEND OF LOST TEENS: They're really smart, intelligent boys, and I know that they -- they know what they're doing on the water. So, it's just crazy that this happened to them. I know that they're safe and that they're going to come home soon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACHADO: Now, this community continues to rally behind the families. So far, the families have been able to raise more than $133,000, money they hope will go pay -- go fund some of the private searches they hope will continue for a while, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Alina Machado, reporting live from Jupiter this morning.

Still to come in THE NEWSROOM: a Florida man accused of plotting to blow up a Key West beach with a backpack bomb. What the feds are saying about his links to ISIS.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:26:13] COSTELLO: An alleged ISIS follower is in a Florida jail this morning, Harlem Suarez is charged with plotting to blow up a beach in Key West with a homemade bomb. The FBI says Suarez planned to build a bomb packed with nails, hide it under the son on the beach and then detonate it with a cell phone. Key West may not have been his only target.

Let's check in with CNN justice correspondent Evan Perez. He is following this for us.

Key West?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: Good morning, Carol.

That's right. This is what the alleged -- this is what the -- what the FBI says Harlem Suarez was allegedly plotting to do. He had been working behind the scenes with an FBI undercover informant and an undercover FBI agent. Once they realized that they say he had planned to do this, he -- apparently an anonymous source tipped off the feds back in April after Suarez contacted this person to try to recruit -- to recruit with this person to join ISIS, according to this FBI complaint. And apparently that's when the FBI investigation began.

Now, in May, a month after the FBI began investigating, they found out that Suarez had ordered an AK-47 over the Internet and arranged for it to be delivered at a pawn shop in Key West. He never picked up the weapon however because of a clerical error, and that's when the FBI realized he was serious and introduced him to an undercover agent.

We have a statement from his attorney, and I'll read it to you real quick. It says, "I will say at this stage it appears Harlem may be a troubled and confused man, but he is certainly not a terrorist. He comes from a very good, hardworking family that arrived from Cuba in 2004 because they yearned for freedom. They raised their son to love this country."

So, it's certainly an unusual case and it does appear that this young man did not -- was not really thinking through what he was doing, Carol, because you know, you send Facebook messages to -- to someone openly saying that you want to recruit them to ISIS. It's sure to get the FBI's attention.

COSTELLO: And how many alleged ISIS sympathizers has the FBI routed up so far?

PEREZ: You know, so far, Suarez makes 51 just since the beginning of this year. So, it shows you what is happening right now. The FBI says there are hundreds of people they're investigating all over the country. We expect more in the coming days and weeks. And so, this is a problem that is still very difficult for the FBI to get its hands on.

COSTELLO: Ivan Perez reporting live from Washington for us -- thank you.

PEREZ: Thanks, Carol.

(MUSIC)

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

Donald Trump is standing by, one of his top advisers despite a political firestorm. Michael Cohen, the executive vice president of the Trump organization ignited controversy after he told "The Daily Beast", quote, "You cannot rape your spouse." Cohen has since apologized for that remark and Trump says he wasn't speaking for him.

Now, the real estate mogul is taking aim at "The Daily Beast."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (via telephone): Well, first of all, "The Daily Beast" is a failing, financially disastrous -- I guess you'd call it a Web site. It's got nothing going for itself. You know, that whole thing starts off by they have nothing to lose. They can say whatever they want.

Second of all, this was totally a false reporting, and they knew that. And so, I could understand somebody like Michael Cohen, who is an excellent lawyer, being extremely angry about it.

And third of all, to top it off -- and it was so nice that, as you know, Ivana issued a statement which you read that it was totally false and that a thing like that never took place. It was all about her. And then she ended it by saying I think he would make an incredible president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Joining me now, one of "The Daily Beast" reporters who wrote that controversial article, Brandy. Thank you so much for being with me, Brandy Zadrozny.