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Netanyahu to Address, Rally U.S. Jews; Investigators Meeting Before Plane Debris Analysis; Rio Struggles to Overcome Crime and Pollution. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired August 04, 2015 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:29:51] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

This morning at the White House, President Obama welcomes the world's top diplomat, Ban Ki-Moon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations visits as Mr. Obama prepares a major speech on the U.S.-led nuclear deal with Iran. The Secretary-General has applauded the agreement but President Obama is trying to sell it to skeptical Americans.

And Israel's prime minister steps up his efforts to get Congress to kill it. In just a few hours he'll hold a webcast with Jewish- American leaders to make his case that the deal strengthens Iran and endangers Israel.

So let's talk about that. Rabbi Marvin Hier is on the phone. He is the founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. Good morning -- Rabbi.

RABBI MARVIN HIER, SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER (via telephone): Good morning.

COSTELLO: Do you plan to watch Netanyahu's webcast?

HIER: I'm giving a speech in Toronto at the same time otherwise I would have. I met with the Prime Minister four weeks ago on Iran in his office. And I could tell you that he is very much opposed to this deal as are many Americans and Jewish leaders, and for good reason.

Remember, Iran is an existential threat to the state of Israel. Israel is not separated by the Atlantic Ocean. Iran is not stupid enough to attack the United States of America, but the Iranian leaders, even the recent book that the Ayatollah put out, makes it very clear, the destruction of Israel is to them nonnegotiable, and so with who are we making a deal?

All we did is kick the can down the road for ten years. After ten years they will have the bomb, and they will have all that money.

COSTELLO: Do you think that Netanyahu's webcast will change the minds of those Jewish leaders who are softening toward the deal?

HIER: Well, let me tell you this, the first thing that's important to know is that in Israel there's a unanimity of opinion, a massive -- both sides of the aisle, the leftist Labor Party is adamant that the deal with Iran is a horrible deal. So it's not only Bibi Netanyahu of the Likud Party, it's Isaac Herzog of the Labor Party. And Israel is the United States' closest friend in the Middle East. And both parties say it's a terrible deal.

Now, you know, to Israel, it's an existential threat. There are six million Jews living in Israel. And the prime minister of Israel, President Obama's principal responsibility is to look after the citizens of the United States. Likewise, Prime Minister Netanyahu must look after the citizens of the state of Israel. And he says it's an existential threat, and the Labor Party leader from the left agrees with him.

COSTELLO: As far as Democratic support in the U.S. Congress, it appears right now that President Obama has enough support for that Iran deal, you know, not to get vetoed. So what price will those Democrats pay when it comes to the Jewish voters?

HIER: Well, look, obviously there's going to be many Jewish voters that are going to be very upset, and you know, I saw a press report this morning that the United States -- and the United States is the closest ally in Israel said that they would defend Israel if Israel is attacked.

Let me comment on that. What's important here is not what will happen after Israel is attacked. What's important is to make sure that Israel is never attacked. In other words, it's not enough to have Israel's back. You've got to have Israel's front.

COSTELLO: All right. Rabbi Marvin Hier -- thanks for your insight as always. I appreciated it.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a key meeting for investigators looking into what might have caused the disappearance of MH-370. We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:38:30] COSTELLO: Investigators meeting today before they begin analyzing this piece of plane debris that washed ashore last week, possibly from a missing Malaysia Airlines flight that vanished off the radar nearly 17 months ago now.

It's unclear how long the analysis will take. French investigators will be working inside a lab that was previously used to examine wreckage from an Air France flight that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean six years ago.

Saima Mohsin is in France where that meeting and the analysis is taking place. Tell us more.

SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, well, yes, just one day to go until that crucial analysis will take place inside this lab in the south of France. It's got the best technology in the world to do so and, of course, those bodies traveling from right across the world to be a part of the investigating team. Now, on Monday the Paris prosecutor's office in Paris, Malaysian

officials met with French air safety board and decided how they want to move forward. Now, they have agreed that they're not only going to do this under international investigative guidelines but they're also going to do it under French judicial procedures as well. And that is, Carol, because there is a manslaughter case here in France led by the four French nationals families should there have be a hijacking or terrorism involved in this.

Now, today we've also learned, CNN has been told by a source that the United States Transportation Safety Board, Boeing, and Malaysian officials are meeting here in Toulouse to decide how they want to examine and proceed tomorrow.

[10:40:00] Now, what's likely to happen tomorrow, Carol? Well, that piece, the flaperon that has been confirmed as being from a 777 aircraft but not yet from MH-370 that was delivered with a police escort is in a sealed container in this lab.

Now, everyone has to be present, all these bodies -- the United States, Malaysians, Chinese, which have decided to join as well, and French will have to be present. Now, standard operating procedure, Carol, is that they will be filmed when they first open the seal. They're likely to carry out x-rays, sonograms, and then take this part apart piece by piece until they can conclusively determine that it is from MH-370.

And as the Australian safety board said to CNN earlier on Monday, they want a direct link between this part and MH-370. They don't want to get anything wrong. There are 239 passengers' families and loved ones holding on to every development and, of course, we're going to bring you that as and when it happens, Carol. And they want to make sure they absolutely get this right -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Saima Mohsin reporting live for us this morning. Thank you.

Other top stories we're following this morning, tensions building between top ranking Taliban officials. This as the head of the terror group's political office announces his resignation today just days after a new chief was appointed. The Taliban's leadership has been struggling since last week's death of former leader Mullah Omar.

The little girl seen here in the arms of this Florida officer has been found after she'd been missing for one year and it's all thanks to a CNN viewer. Her mother, Megan Everett, was accused of kidnapping her. The mother is behind bars this morning just one day after CNN's "THE HUNT WITH JOHN WALSH" told her story.

A woman who saw the show Sunday night called in a tip and the child was recovered unharmed.

Several Republicans say the fight to defund Planned Parenthood is not over. This, less than 24 hours after a measure to bar all federal funds to the group failed on the Senate floor. The funding fight now shifts to a must-pass government measure this fall, but the White House says President Obama will veto any measure calling for cuts to Planned Parenthood.

Now to video of a secret tunnel discovered under a warehouse in Tijuana, Mexico. Mexican military officials say the tunnel was unfinished, just over 400 feet long and headed to the California border. Officials believe it may have been built by the Sinaloa drug cartel, that's the cartel created by El Chapo, the drug lord who escaped from prison last month by way of a secret tunnel. Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the summer games are just one year

away and some of those competition sites in Rio de Janeiro could be hazardous to athletes' health. We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:47:25] COSTELLO: Rio de Janeiro has just one year before the 2016 Summer Olympics and it's far from ready. One of the biggest obstacles is the capital's reputation for violent crime even at the hands of police.

A new report from Amnesty International blames Brazil's security forces for thousands of deaths over the past decade. Rio officials quickly criticized the report as reckless and unfair and say crime has actually gone down.

That aside, Rio has a terrible water pollution problem that must be addressed before next summer. Some places where sailing and rowing events will be held are literal cesspools.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIO MOSCATELLI, BIOLOGIST (through translator): If I fell into this water right now, he says, I could contract anything from a conjunctivitis to an intestinal disorder or even Hepatitis A.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: CNN's Shasta Darlington joins us from Rio to tell us more. Hi, Shasta.

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol. I know it looks beautiful here, but there are a number of controversies emerging exactly a year before the Olympics. So this is a big deal for the government here.

On the one hand, this report by Amnesty is accusing police of using not only excessive but illegal force, which has led to the death of more than 5,000 people at the hands of police right here in Rio over the last decade. And the worst part is this doesn't even come as a surprise to most Brazilians who have gotten to accustomed to this level of violence.

Now, as you mentioned, the Rio state government says it's unfair because they say they've done so much to try and rein it in starting in 2007. They sent police and army troops into these very precarious communities known as favelas to try and pacify them and take them over from the drug lords. And they say since then the number of deaths involving police has actually fallen dramatically by 85 percent. But the fact is the number of homicides is still ridiculously

high in Rio and something that has to be dealt with. And as you mentioned, it's just one of the problems.

While that's mostly happening pretty far from tourist destinations, the raw sewage is right here in the heart of Rio. It's in the lake where athletes are going to be rowing and canoeing. It's in the bay where they're going to be sailing and according to a new investigation just a few teaspoons full of this liquid could be so high in levels of human feces that athletes could become violently ill. Not the kind of thing you want to be thinking about when you're training -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Not the kind you'd like to be thinking about ever. Shasta Darlington -- thanks so much. I appreciate it.

[10:49:58] The man accused of killing a Memphis police officer during a traffic stop will be back in court tomorrow. Tremaine Wilbourn surrendered to federal marshals two days after the shooting. He was out on a supervised release following a robbery conviction. Wilbourn remains in jail held on a $9 million bond. Officer Sean Bolton's funeral is Thursday.

The National Baseball Congress says it is suspending the use of bat boys and bat girls in the wake of Kaiser Carlile's death. The nine-year-old died this weekend after being accidentally struck by a player's bat. In an emotional news conference, players describe Kaiser as their little brother who always had a smile on his face.

This might be the most amazing video you will see all day. A guy surfing on a dirt bike, but it nearly got him killed. Not a smart move. We'll show you more next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:55:01] COSTELLO: Checking some top stories for you at 54 minutes past.

This morning Desmond Tutu released from a hospital in Cape Town. The archbishop He had been receiving treatment for a persistent infection. Before being discharged he expressed concern to South Africa's health minister that the first class health care he received is not available to most South Africans.

Take a look at this. Several buildings were flattened when two cranes collapsed in the Netherlands. The cranes were helping to renovate a bridge over a canal near a row of homes. They were lowering a steel ramp into place when, you know, that happened. At least 20 people were injured. Some of them seriously.

The death penalty is still on the table for the Colorado movie theater shooter James Holmes. Jurors rejected a plea for leniency on Monday moving the trial into the third and final phase which will include victim and family impact statements along with the sentencing. 12 people were killed and 70 injured in the shooting three years ago. Delta and American airlines are refusing to allow big game

trophies on their plane. The ban includes the shipment of lion, leopard, elephant, rhinoceros and buffalo trophies. A petition on change.org has been asking airlines to make that change. The announcements follow the international outrage over the killing of an African lion named Cecil.

Daredevil stuntman Robbie Madison has back-flipped his motorbike over the Tower Bridge in London, jumped over a replica of the Arc de Triomphe in Las Vegas. But his latest feat took him right into some of the world's biggest waves.

Jeanne Moos shows us the amazing results.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It makes walking on water seem lame. Stunt biker Robbie Madison didn't just ride on water. He rode the waves in Tahiti. No way you say?

ROBBIE MADISON, STUNT BIKER: It's an overwhelming experience.

MOOS: That took three years of experimentation culminating in a dirt bike on two skis with the tires protruding through cutouts and a custom made paddle tire propelling the bike from the rear like an old steam paddle boat.

How many times over the course of the project did you actually sink the thing?

MADISON: Upwards of about 30, 40 times easily.

MOOS: No wonder his bike wears air bags so they can recover it. The video coincidentally released the same weekend as the annual dog surfing contest in California. And though the pooches managed some cool moves on their surf boards, none of them hot-dogged like this.

Madison's past stunts have ranged from doing a flip over London Bridge to a leap over a Greek canal. He's even been a stunt double for James Bond. Though none of that compared to this.

MADISON: It was one of the most terrifying situations that I have ever been in.

MOOS: But you don't actually see the scariest part of the stunt when Madison was missing for several minutes. Launching from a barge with a ramp, he caught one of Tahiti's monster waves.

MADISON: It picked me up and it slammed me and the motorcycle drove into my back. I lost all the air out of my lungs.

MOOS: For four minutes he was stuck under water, able to surface for a breath maybe three times. He says he gave up fighting, even saw the peaceful whiteness of a near death experience.

To be continued when the behind the scenes video is released later this month.

Never has a dirt bike been cleaner.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Wow. Now to this heart-pounding rescue caught on video in northern California. A sheriff's deputy pulls a man out of a car and off the tracks moments before a train comes barreling through and smashes into that car you see. The driver was stuck on the tracks, but the deputy saw him in trouble and pulled him to safety with barely a second to spare.

And the University of Illinois at Urbana, Champaign has won a dubious honor. The Princeton review says it is the top party school in the entire nation. The school's chancellor called the pseudo- ranking a promotion for the review. The University of Iowa, by the way, came in second, while the University of Wisconsin at Madison was third.

On the other end of the spectrum, Brigham Young University topped the list of, quote, "stone cold sober schools". So there you have it, parents.

Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello.

"AT THIS HOUR" with Berman and Bolduan starts now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: There are only ten spots on varsity, and hours from now Republican candidates find out whether they make the debate cut.

But CNN has run the numbers, and we already have a pretty good idea of who is sitting on JV.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: Who was Michael Brown as a person? Doesn't matter, says the former officer who shot and killed him, but Darren Wilson doesn't stop there. His new revelations about the shooting and the aftermath in Ferguson.

Cuffed in class. A third grader punished by a police officer put in handcuffs. The reason behind it and why this is not -