Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Missouri Residents Start Clean-up After Storm; Manhunt Underway for Tel Aviv Gunman; War on Terror; Obama to Unveil Executive Action on Guns; 2016 Presidential Candidates Hit the Campaign Trail; Affluenza Teen Remains in Mexican Custody; Top 10 Health Stories of 2015; Natalie Cole Dies at 65. Aired 1-2p ET

Aired January 02, 2016 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:29] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Hello, again, everyone. Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Well, some residents are beginning to clean up from that catastrophic flooding in Illinois and Missouri. Others are bracing for the worst. The Southern Illinois officials are anxiously monitoring a second levee after one levee has already overtopped. Overtopped levees can lead to erosion or worse breaches.

Last hour, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon is touring the flood-damaged areas. Cities like Eureka and Cape Girardeau were completely evacuated. This as residents are returning to their homes today to survey the damage and begin the cleanup.

CNN's Dan Simon is live for us now in Eureka. Dan, how are they doing there?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi, Fredricka. Dozens of homes in this St. Louis suburb have significant damage. And you can see, today it's really all about the aftermath and homeowners have been putting all of the damaged goods and belongings in front of their garages, hoping that it gets picked up. You can see, all along this street, there have been sort of this community response. You can see some workers coming here. These are volunteers, basically neighbor helping neighbor, trying to get this neighborhood cleaned up.

We're going to talk to the homeowner here. This is Dean Emmert. He's lived in this house -- how long, Dean?

DEAN EMMERT, EUREKA HOMEOWNER: Sixteen years.

SIMON: Sixteen years. You've never seen anything like this, a wintertime flood.

EMMERT: Correct. Yes. We had a spring one a few years ago in 2008, but it didn't come nearly this high.

SIMON: What was it like, that Tuesday night, when you saw the floodwaters rising?

EMMERT: It was pretty stressful. We were -- I was kind of up all night, watching the water. And about 3:00 a.m., my daughter came upstairs and said we were starting to get water on the floor. So we got everybody up and we ended up trying to get everything we could upstairs that we could reach. And then it just kept rising from there. So.

SIMON: Fortunately, the top level was spared, but it was your basement that really got the damage, right?

EMMERT: Right, we had about a foot and a half of water, something like that. And I drew marks on the walls so I could kind of see where it was -- when it was going up and going down.

SIMON: The thing I've been struck by this morning is we've seen dozens of volunteers, this Saturday morning, coming out, and just helping everybody, you know, put all this stuff in dumpsters.

EMMERT: Right, that's a huge help because I know that some of these people who live alone, especially, don't have -- I don't know how they'd get stuff up -- clean it up. And they've been -- the last couple of days, there have been a lot of volunteers out giving food, and I suppose blankets, too. We haven't had it as bad as some areas, I don't think, but yes, it's been a real blessing to have people help out.

SIMON: I see some furniture here. I see some appliances.

EMMERT: Yes.

SIMON: A bed frame. Anything in particular that is really distressful?

EMMERT: Well, you know, the biggest thing, we had a lot of pictures down there, so -- like especially when our kids were young. A lot of those we lost. You know, I mean, they're all things and we still have the kids, that's the important thing. Everyone is safe. But, you know, there's -- yes, there were moments when you look at things and you just want to cry. But, you know, there's a lot of things we still have so we've been blessed. So.

SIMON: Yes.

EMMERT: Yes.

SIMON: All right, well, thanks for your time. We wish you the best of luck.

EMMERT: Thank you. Appreciate it.

SIMON: Fredricka, again, the floodwaters have receded in Eureka, but now it's just about all these homeowners trying to get their homes cleaned up, trying to get all of the debris packed away. We've seen dumpsters dropped off and that's really what it's all about. Hopefully all this stuff will get cleaned up and they can get on with their lives. But in the meantime, as you can imagine, pretty stressful -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Very stressful. It's a lot of work. All right. Thank you so much, Dan Simon.

So while those residents begin to clean up, Southern Illinois is bracing for more flooding. Meteorologist Allison Chinchar is in the CNN Weather Center forecasting what's ahead.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Allison.

And this just in, relatives have identified the suspected gunman who killed two people near a pub in Tel Aviv Friday. The alleged gunman's uncle says the father called Israeli Police and told them to arrest his son, who was still on the run. 31-year-old Neshaw Mellen.

In a statement today, Israeli Police are also asking the public for, quote, "help in exposing all aspects of the event, including the possibility of a victim in an additional area and whether the murderer acted alone," end quote.

Earlier, I asked the Israeli Police National spokesman to explain what that means.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICKEY ROSENFELD, ISRAELI POLICE NATIONAL SPOKESMAN: After the initial attack, it was 3:00 in the afternoon, there was a further incident that took place in the Tel Aviv area, so first of all, we're looking to see if there's a connection between the two incidents. That's our first initial response. And at the same time, as we're carrying out the house-to-house search, we want to find out and make sure all of the leads that we have are concrete. We want to find exactly where the suspect is hiding, if he's hiding in the Tel Aviv area.

We have to understand the central area of Tel Aviv is a main populated area with hundreds of tourists that have come in for the new year and we have to prevent any further incident from taking place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Our Ian Lee is following the story from Jerusalem.

So, Ian, what's your understanding as to the use of the identity now being revealed? How that might help in the ongoing manhunt?

IAN LEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, it will definitely help if anyone has seen this person or knows his whereabouts, that they will be able to help -- help the police by telling them, you know, listen. This is where he's at. But we have seen some new video, security footage video of him before the attack.

This security video is going to be crucial in helping not only determine how this happened, but also where he went afterwards. The police will be looking to see what escape routes he took. But, talking to the family today, we are learning more about him as a person. His father, according to his uncle, recognized him from the security footage. He went immediately and looked at his safe. He noticed a gun was missing.

His father is a volunteer with the police. He said that you have to arrest my son immediately. We're also learning that back in 2007, when he was initially arrested for trying to take a gun from a soldier, that he was on medication at the time. He has, as the uncle says, a psychological disorder, that he has been depressed because he has had a hard time holding down a job.

Just building a picture, a profile of this man, who carried out this attack, according to police. This is their main suspect right now. But, they do, very much, Fredricka, consider him armed and dangerous. They're trying to stop him, neutralize him, as they say, before he can commit another incident.

WHITFIELD: All right. Ian Lee from Jerusalem, thank you so much.

All right. Still ahead, a new terror group recruitment video featuring the most familiar face on the campaign trail to the White House here in the United States. Details on that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:11:44] WHITFIELD: All right. Disturbing new images from the terror group, Al Shabaab. The al Qaeda affiliate releasing a new recruitment video featuring Donald Trump. The video proclaims America as, quote, "racist," and shows Trump talking about banning Muslims from entering the United States. That message comes on the heels of an earlier declaration by Hillary Clinton, the Democratic contender, that a different terror group, ISIS, was using Trump as a recruiting tool.

So far there has been no official response from the Trump campaign to the Al Shabaab video.

Let's talk about more about this video. Jonathan Gilliam is with me now. He's a CNN law enforcement analyst and a former FBI special agent.

Good to see you.

JONATHAN GILLIAM, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Always good to be with you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: OK. So set aside this political sparring here in the U.S. over this. How valuable, potentially, is this kind of video as a recruiting tool, to now, you know, envelope someone who is running for the White House?

GILLIAM: I don't think it's that viable of a recruiting tool. What I think it is, is it shows us -- it's very valuable for them in showing the politicians that they are listening and they know how to use their rhetoric. And that's actually been done before when the journalist was beheaded last year by ISIS in Syria and then repeatedly, they had different hostages that were killed.

They were sending the same type of messages directly to the White House. And I think this is very interesting because what you see is them using presidential candidates' rhetoric and in particular, the sparring between presidential candidates for their own political gain. And that's very interesting, that they have become that savvy.

WHITFIELD: And what does it say about, I guess, the modifications that are being made and trying to be current? You know, trying to look like everything can change on a dime in terms of how they recruit the message that's being sent out.

GILLIAM: Well, us speaking about freedom and pushing that message forward about what we stand for is the way that we counter this. They -- listen, they have been able to recruit successfully amongst millennials. That's who's going to be their most athletic and really spirited fighters. And that's who day go after. And you all have done a very good report recently about some of the videos that they've put out and how well they've been put together, to specifically target millennials.

Now you're seeing this. These are tech-savvy people. And we have to be very aware of this, not to give them cannon fodder, but in the long run, Fred, this is the facts. They are a group that does discriminate. They are a group that does take hostages. They kill people based on their sexuality, religion, and color.

Listen, they're -- you know, they're saying about America exactly what they do and so I think the majority of people are just going to cast that aside.

WHITFIELD: And then how significant do you believe the arrest was recently in Rochester, New York, of a man accused of plotting to shoot people on New Year's Eve there, and then claiming, you know, to be inspired by ISIS, and investigators even saying that they believe he may have had some contact with someone overseas as it pertains to this kind of plot.

Is this a significant development in your view?

[13:15:10] GILLIAM: Well, we've seen this before so it's not significant in the way of the fact that they're reaching out to people to try to get them inspired so they'll carry out an attack. That's not new. But what is -- I wouldn't say this is new either but this is a message that's really being sent out there by the FBI and by our intel community is that we have sources and we have people in positions where when our enemy is making a maneuver, we can counter that maneuver very easily and hopefully continued success in that area.

So it's a message back to our enemy, saying that we are capable, just as capable as you are at threatening us. We're just as capable at finding these people.

WHITFIELD: OK. And all of these discussions really pertain to the protections in place, particularly over the holiday break here in the U.S.

But now let's talk about Iraq and we understand that the fight against ISIS has taken a different turn, particularly in Ramadi. How do you assess what's happening there?

GILLIAM: Well, I think, as you see now, when there is a success on the non-ISIS side, you start to see that camaraderie and that success actually will propel those fighters, those people that actually come from that area that are fighting against ISIS, it really helps them out tremendously, because in the long run, we can give them training, but unless we're embedded with them and we're actually carrying out the fight with them, it's really going to be up to them to have the spirit to go in there and fight like warriors.

And I think when they have successes like this, it does create that warrior mentality, and I mean, this doesn't sound like a lot to a lot of people, but we have found in the past that training natives in certain countries, they're not good at fighting anywhere outside of their specific home.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jonathan Gilliam, thank you so much.

GILLIAM: You got it, Fred. Have a great weekend.

WHITFIELD: All right. You too.

Straight ahead, President Barack Obama expected to announce an executive action on guns in the coming days. Details on those and other items on his agenda in his final year in office, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: President Barack Obama returning to Washington tonight after vacationing with his family in Hawaii. And ahead of his upcoming State of the Union address, he's expected to announce an executive action on guns next week.

[13:20:09] CNN's Jim Acosta tells us what else we can expect to hear from the president.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For President Obama the final round is about to begin.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In 2016, I'm going to leave it out all on the field.

ACOSTA: Up first in the president's eighth and last year in office, Mr. Obama's long-promised response to mass shootings in the U.S. Sources familiar with the plan say it will be a package of executive actions on gun control, expected before the January 12th State of the Union and aimed at the gun show loophole, which allows some firearms sellers to avoid conducting background checks on their customers.

OBAMA: All across America survivors of gun violence and those who lost a child or a parent or a spouse to gun violence are forced to mark such awful anniversaries every single day. And yet Congress still hasn't done anything to prevent what happened to them from happening to other families. The president will review the slate of administrative changes with

Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Monday. The White House argues the president's actions will be within his executive authority and in line with polls that show broad support for tightening background checks.

OBAMA: Change is always going to take all of us. The gun lobby is loud and well-organized in its defense of effortlessly available guns for anyone. The rest of us are going to have to be just as passionate and well-organized in our defense of our kids. That's the work of citizenship, to stand up and fight for the change that we seek.

ACOSTA: Vowing to fight the move, the nation's biggest gun lobby, the NRA, says the president is doing what he always does when he doesn't get his way, defying the will of the people and using executive action.

Another controversial proposal coming in the new year? The president will ask Congress to shut down the terror detention center at Guantanamo, a facility Mr. Obama may close on his own if lawmakers balk at the White House plan.

OBAMA: It will be an uphill battle.

ACOSTA: The president also hopes to travel to Cuba and perhaps more than a dozen other countries in what's shaping up to be a global farewell tour.

But the president's agenda could be upended by setbacks in the war on ISIS, a foreign policy crisis that could complicate White House plans to have the president campaign heavily with the 2016 Democratic nominee, a prospect that may well put him and Hillary Clinton on the trail together again.

OBAMA: I think we will have a strong Democratic nominee. I think that Democratic nominee will win. I think I will have a Democratic successor.

ACOSTA (on camera): But, first, the president will lay out his plans for his final year in office at the fast-approaching State of the Union address, which is less than two weeks away. White House officials say don't expect a long laundry list of proposals, in part because the president is almost out of time.

Jim Acosta, CNN, traveling with the president in Honolulu.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, coming up, the New Year is here and so is election year 2016. Candidates are wasting no time hitting the trails. Our political panel, weighing in, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Mortgage rates remain the same this week. Have a look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:26:30] WHITFIELD: All right, a live look right now at Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders campaigning in Amherst, Massachusetts. He's just one of many 2016 presidential candidates on the campaign trail today.

And in the next half hour, Republican Senator Marco Rubio attends an event in Hilton Head, South Carolina. He has another event later on this afternoon.

And then Donald Trump holds a rally in Biloxi, Mississippi. That's tonight.

All right, CNN investigations correspondent Chris Frates is in our Washington bureau with a look ahead at the race for 2016.

What's on the horizon, Chris?

CHRIS FRATES, CNN INVESTIGATIONS UNIT CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Fred, well several Republican campaigns did some year-end tinkering to their campaigns, bringing new strategies and players to this new year. And the last-minute changes come as the GOP field begins hurtling towards make-or-break contests in Iowa and New Hampshire that are only a month away.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to have a great time next year. It's going to be an amazing year. We're going to make America great again. And we're going to do everything in our power to make sure that happens.

FRATES (voice-over): And Donald Trump has been off the campaign trail the last few days, but that hasn't stopped him from going after his rivals on Twitter.

"I would feel sorry for Jeb Bush in how badly he is doing with his campaign. Other than for the fact he took billions of dollars of hit ads on me."

Hoping to regain some mojo in the New Year, Jeb Bush changed things up this week, cancelling advice in Iowa and South Carolina and moving dozens of staffers to key early states to try to cut into Trump's momentum.

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He's not a serious candidate. He has a broad appeal but it may not be as deep as people imagine. So we're going to put together a ground game, if you will, in Iowa and New Hampshire and here in South Carolina that I think will be second to none. And that's how we will do -- we'll win and both going to do well, so I'm excited about it.

FRATES: Trump leads by wide margins in national polls, but his lead in Iowa is more disputed. With the Iowa caucuses less than a month away, Ted Cruz is gaining on the billionaire. The Republican senator is up with an ad they are selling his

conservative credentials and he starts a six-day Iowa bus tour on Monday. To help blunt Cruz's rise and stay on top, Trump says, he'll soon start spending at least $2 million a week on his own advertising.

TRUMP: Well, I'm going to be doing big ads in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and they're going to be very substantial. And I think they're very well done. I've seen the first two or three of them. We're very proud of them. And we're going to be talking about a lot of things, including the border, including trade, including ISIS and security for the country.

FRATES: And Ben Carson, rang in the new year with a new cast of advisers as the three top aides resigned on New Year's Eve. The struggling contender promised to reinvigorate his campaign ahead of Iowa's February 1st caucuses.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRATES: Now Democrats are also getting back on the campaign trail, as we saw Bernie Sanders there in Massachusetts, campaigning and over the next two days, New Hampshire gets a double dose of Clinton. On Sunday, Hillary Clinton makes several stops in the Granite State, and on Monday, former president Bill Clinton makes his first solo appearance of the campaign to stump for his wife -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: And Chris, you mentioned Ben Carson making some major changes. Three, you know, top jobs changing. What's the feeling about how this will work or change the strategy for Carson?

FRATES: Well, certainly the Carson people hope that this clean slate helps him out. They've lost their campaign manager, deputy campaign manager, and communications director, as well. Two other staffers.

[13:30:02] They spun it this weekend by saying, you know, this was a routine change. They pointed to Ronald Reagan changing up his team before the New Hampshire primary, and they were trying to make the case that this campaign is not in a tailspin.

But as we saw, you know, Ben Carson has struggled with foreign policy. You know, namely and famously, calling Hamas hummus in a foreign policy speech, making a couple other blunders. And now he is trying to revamp this team. He said they did a deep dive into the campaign. They saw that they need to do some work. That was pretty obvious. The question is, is this work too little, too late? Can Ben Carson go to Iowa and now convince people of the fact that he is prepared on foreign policy?

That's a tougher hill to climb by having to convince him after the flubs than if he had, you know, not made such big mistakes early on, Fred. So we're really going to have to wait and see if that retooling brings a new energy and life to his campaign or if it was too little, too late.

WHITFIELD: Right. All right. Chris Frates, keep us posted. Thanks so much. FRATES: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: So Bernie Sanders' campaign just announced the Vermont senator raised $35 million in the last three months of 2015. Surpassing their expectations. Hillary Clinton raised $37 million during the same period.

Let's bring in our political panel, CNN contributor Bakari Sellers, back with us, a former Democratic state representative from South Carolina who supports Hillary Clinton.

Good to see you again.

And Tara Setmayer, a conservative, a CNN political commentator. Good to see you. Happy New Year, Tara.

TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Same to you.

WHITFIELD: OK. So, Bakari, you first. Will this money for Bernie Sanders, might it influence the way in which he campaigns this day forward?

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN COMMENTATOR: Well, definitely. Bernie Sanders did an amazing job. He did yeoman's work raising money in the fourth quarter. So did Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton raised over $55 million. $37 million for her campaign and $18 million for the Democratic National Committee. Both candidates did amazing. And I do expect Bernie Sanders to get a lift from this money.

One thing that everybody has to watch, even casual observers, is the burn rate. Bernie Sanders' spent a whole lot of money that he raised and his burn rate was extremely high. That's something that the campaign is going to have to monitor.

But, look, Bernie Sanders is right on Hillary Clinton's behind in every single state. He's doing a great job campaigning. He's building excitement, he's bringing people to the polls. And Hillary Clinton is going to keep having to keep her foot on the pedal if she's going to have to be the nominee.

WHITFIELD: And then, Tara -- go ahead, Tara Setmayer, I think I had you related to the Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor. But, anyway, a recent CNN --

(CROSSTALK)

SETMAYER: My name's German.

WHITFIELD: OK, you know, I was channeling a little bit of my Espanol. OK. A recent CNN poll shows Sanders as a favorite, you know, Democratic presidential candidate over millenials, over Clinton. But, you know, it's kind of hurting with seniors, his generation. So millennials are energetic. They have shown up in big numbers for Sanders' events. They have really been touting that. But is the expectation that they're going to show up at the polls on the day that it really counts? SETMAYER: Yes, the whole Bernie Sanders' candidacy is fascinating in

that he -- you would think it would be the other way around. Hillary Clinton is supposed to be the one that would have brought in the millennials and she's going to carry on the Obama momentum. And that didn't happen.

It's been Bernie Sanders, because his message has been more populist, more anti-Wall Street. He's actually garnered more energy and he seems newer, even though he's been around Washington forever, but he's bringing something new, where Hillary Clinton is old news, and she's not really resonating right now.

So that lack of enthusiasm for her candidacy has continued on for months and months now, even the fact that Bernie Sanders is beating her in some polls in New Hampshire, even though it's her neighboring state, but still the fact that he would even be anywhere close to her right now, I think it's fascinating for a lot of people in the Democratic Party.

But that's also because Elizabeth Warren has chosen not to run, and she was a major threat to Hillary Clinton for the same reasons that that Bernie Sanders is. They have a similar message, except that she's a little younger and hipper. So the fact that Bernie Sanders has been able to garner that kind of support with millennials I think speaks a lot about the weakness of Hillary Clinton's candidacy.

WHITFIELD: And Bakari, how do you respond to that? Because we are seeing some incredible staying power here.

SELLERS: Well, Bernie Sanders, again, I mean, he's doing an amazing job campaigning. And if anybody told you a year ago that Bernie Sanders' campaign would be this formidable, they were probably lying to you. No one knew this was coming. But the Democrats do have a secret weapon. Outside of Marco Rubio, there's absolutely no Republican candidate that's talking to millennials in any way, shape, form, or fashion.

But one of the things that Democrats have on their side is the big dog, Bill Clinton, and the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama, who will be out campaigning with whoever the nominee is. We expect a lot of excitement and young people are going to show up to vote. We're tired of not being talked about.

WHITFIELD: All right. Let's talk about --

(CROSSTALK)

SETMAYER: I'm sorry.

WHITFIELD: Go ahead, Tara.

SETMAYER: I don't know how much of a factor Bill Clinton will be during with millennials. I mean, most of them -- a lot of them weren't even born during the '90s. They don't remember the Clinton era and you have 40 million more voters eligible now since Bill Clinton. [13:35:05] So I don't know if he's going to have an impact with

millennials per se as he may with other demographics, because he is still so popular, regardless of how you feel about his personal indiscretions, but I don't know if he's going to have that same impact with millennials per se because they don't remember him. Kind of like the Ronald Reagan side with us.

WHITFIELD: Interesting point. All right. Let's talk about the GOP race, one month until the Iowa caucuses and still a big GOP field. We're talking, what, 11 now as opposed to the 19 when it started out? So when will the Republican field narrow again? Is Iowa, you know, that -- going to be that marker, Bakari?

SELLERS: Well, I think you'll have five, six, or seven candidates that come out of Iowa. There'll be a few to go into New Hampshire. But I think South Carolina is pretty much the stopgap. I think going into that Super Tuesday, that SEC primary, you will probably have three or four candidates remaining. You'll have Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, simply because he has money, and one other candidate.

I don't see Kasich or Christie making it past New Hampshire, and after Carly Fiorina's tweet yesterday and the utter defeat of the Iowa Hawkeyes, I don't expect her to make it out of Iowa, either.

WHITFIELD: All right. Do you want a last word on that, Tara?

SETMAYER: Yes -- no, I think that's fair. I think now that we are in the home stretch to finally start voting, you're going to see -- that's what makes a difference. Momentum matters. So when you have the big three in the beginning, Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, who places where and how far behind makes a difference when you go into that super -- that SEC Super Tuesday that's coming up in March.

So I think that's when people start to see who's winning and who's losing, literally, not just, you know, Internet polls and hopefully the field will winnow down because we just cannot continue to have these many candidates. This doesn't serve anybody well.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: All right. Tara Setmayer and Bakari Sellers, thanks so much. Good to see both of you. Happy New Year.

SELLERS: Happy New Year.

WHITFIELD: And tomorrow morning, just a little reminder, Bernie Sanders and Carly Fiorina will both be on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION." That's at 9:00 Eastern on CNN right here. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:40:13] WHITFIELD: All right. Three days after being extradited from Mexico, Tonya Couch, the mother of that affluenza teen, could be looking at 10 years behind bars for helping her son flee the country. Tonya Couch is back in the United States with bail set at $1 million.

She faces charges of hindering the apprehension of a felon. Her son, Ethan, was serving probation for the DUI deaths of four people in Texas.

Ethan Couch is still in custody in Mexico because his lawyers filed to seek protection and block deportation.

The two led U.S. Marshals on a manhunt that ended after authorities traced their cell phones to a resort town in Mexico.

I want to bring in my legal guys, Avery Friedman, a civil rights attorney and law professor in Cleveland, and Richard Herman, a New York criminal defense attorney and law professor, back with us from Las Vegas.

All right, good to see you guys, again. All right. First to you, Avery, what an incredible case, huh? Tonya Couch selling their $343,000 family home a few months ago. So how would any kind of pre- planning, if there was such a thing, influence how this case moves forward?

AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Well, I think it would make a big, big difference, Fredricka, because she sold the house, by the way, last August. And it seems to me that if there was a plan to take off and head for Puerto Vallarta, they would have done that in August. They did it in December. So I'm not sure that there's a connection, but in any event, they took off, they knew -- both the mom and Ethan, the kid, knew that there was a hearing before their PO, the probation officer.

I'm not sure actually how she hindered in the apprehension because they caught both the kid and the mom in the same way, by monitoring the cell. They found out they ordered a Domino's Pizza. They found out where they were, as soon as they found out, they got Mexican officials and they were both arrested. Mom was sent back. The kid is fighting deportation. I'm not sure why the mom didn't do that. But that's kind of where it is right now. She's heading back to Texas on, as you mentioned, a $1 million bond.

WHITFIELD: Right. And so, Richard, it is confusing as to why they both wouldn't, I guess, have made the same kind of legal moves so that neither could be -- you know, could be taken out of Mexico, but even then, back to that, how is it that he, Ethan, has this kind of protection so that he would not be extradited when Mexico and the United States do have, you know, an extradition agreement?

RICHARD HERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Fred, remember when we were little we played that game time bomb where you wound the thing up and you passed it around in a circle and eventually it goes off? Ethan's mom --

WHITFIELD: Hot potato. I remember it as hot potato, maybe. OK. But go ahead.

HERMAN: It's just a matter of time. He's coming home. The mother has to come home. They can't stay in Mexico. We have treaties with Mexico. He's coming home and here's what he's going to face when he comes home. He's going to face maybe 120 days if this case gets moved to adult court or an expiration of his probation when he hits 19 years old. That's it.

As for the mother, she's a first-time offender here. As a reset, the facts may be a little favorable to her. She is not going to get 10 years in prison. I'd be flabbergasted if she got a year in prison.

WHITFIELD: Really?

HERMAN: I think she's going to get only 12 days. And you know, that's how this case is winding up here.

WHITFIELD: As highly publicized this has become and the kind of outrage that has followed, whether it be his, you know, 10 years' probation or whether it be fleeing the country with your mother?

HERMAN: Well --

(CROSSTALK)

HERMAN: The judge who gave him the probation, that's where the outrage should be. But if he comes home and the case gets removed to adult court, he's going to get hit with 10 years further probation.

FRIEDMAN: That's not going to happen.

(CROSSTALK)

HERMAN: So you're going to have this moron ends a kid is going to violate that. And when he does, he'll be subject to 10 years of prison per death. So the story's not over.

WHITFIELD: OK. Avery?

FRIEDMAN: Yes, yes. The part I agree with is, he's under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court. I don't know how prosecutors are going to get this to an adult case where he's subject to criminal justice.

This is a juvenile case. On April 11th of this year, the probation expires. He's done. So bottom line, this kid, again, has pulled it off. This is a family with obviously little if any values that they've instilled in him, but it doesn't matter. He's responsible for it. I think mom does have some trouble if they can show that -- if law enforcement can show that they hindered this investigation.

But, you know, Fredricka, I think this is going to be a tough one and, you know, if they can establish it, I think she's got big trouble.

WHITFIELD: All right. Richard, last word?

HERMAN: I don't think so, Fred. I think that the society has looked at this and looked at this spoiled brat kid, who actually was -- whatever he was drinking or whatever he was doing, he killed four people and he got a slap on the wrist.

[13:45:08] WHITFIELD: Right.

HERMAN: You want to focus anger, you look at the judge who sentenced him to that probation. And they should go back into that scenario and see what influences may have impacted that judge's decision to give this kid probation.

FRIEDMAN: Don't agree.

WHITFIELD: All right. All right. Gentlemen, we'll have to leave it there. Hey, have a great, happy new year. Thanks for being with us twice today. What an extra treat. We love that.

All right. Richard, Avery --

FRIEDMAN: Happy new year.

WHITFIELD: Thank you. Bye-bye.

All right, next, an unprecedented measles outbreak and antibiotic- resistant superbug. And bad news for bacon lovers. The top stories that affected your health this past year, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: 2015 was a year packed with headlines about America's health, from the drop in new diabetes cases to the skyrocketing cost of some prescription drugs.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta runs down the top 10 health stories of the year.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're going to war with a corporation that owns a day of the week.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The NFL's under increased scrutiny with the release of the new movie "Concussion." Will Smith plays this real-life doctor who discovered Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy or CTE. It's a progressive degenerative brain disease.

(On camera): What we're seeing here, is this definitely caused by blows to the head?

DR. BETSY NABEL, NFL'S FIRST CHIEF AND MEDICAL ADVISER: It's never been seen in any reported case except in a case of repeated blows to the head.

GUPTA (voice-over): I asked Dr. Betsy Nabel. She's the NFL's first chief and medical adviser all about this.

NABEL: Over the past three or four years we've had over 30 rule changes.

GUPTA: Nabel says she hopes those benefits will trickle down to college, at high school, even youth football.

OBAMA: I think that we've always known or at least in the 20th century we understood that environment has an impact on public health.

GUPTA: In April, I sat down with President Obama as he kicked off his campaign to reframe climate change as a public health issue.

[13:50:07] Later he made major progress at the Climate Change Conference in Paris with the signing of the COP-21 agreement. Critics say it's short on specifics but the President claimed victory back at the White House.

OBAMA: This agreement represents the best chance we've had to save the one planet that we've got.

GUPTA: In October, the American Cancer Society issued new breast cancer screening guidelines, recommending that women start getting mammograms at age 45, not 40.

Look, this is pretty controversial. But part of the reason for the change is that false positives are higher in women under the age of 45.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wasn't getting any blood flow to the left side of the heart.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All I could do is believe in his words.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They don't feel the need to tell you what happened there before.

GUPTA: Investigation by CNN's Elizabeth Killeen uncovered mortality rates more than three times the national average for pediatric open heart surgery at one Florida hospital. From 2011 to 2013, at least six babies died after undergoing operations at Saint Mary's Medical Center.

The hospital disputed CNN's calculations but closed down the program in August and the hospital CEO resigned.

In September, Turing Pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli was dubbed the most hated man in America after he jacked up the price of Daraprim, a medication used to treat infections in HIV-AIDS patients by more than 5,000 percent.

MARTIN SHKRELI, TURING PHARMACEUTICAL CEO: We also feel that this is a more appropriate price for Daraprim. And we're certainly not the first company to raise drug prices.

GUPTA (on camera): In just the last few weeks, Shkreli has been at it again, seeking FDA approval for KaloBios Pharmaceuticals to raise the price of another anti-parasitic medication.

(Voice-over): The week before Christmas, he was indicted on an unrelated securities fraud. Shkreli ended the year having lost two more jobs but confident he'll be cleared of all charges. On August 12th, President Jimmy Carter made a candid announcement.

JIMMY CARTER, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: I found out that I had definitely cancer.

GUPTA: Then on December 6th at age 91, he delivered another surprise. This time at Sunday school.

CARTER: When I went this week they didn't find any cancer at all, so I have good news.

GUPTA: President Carter was treated with a new kind of medication that helps boost the immune system to fight off the cancer.

(On camera): Not only President Carter but thousands have already benefited from this type of therapy.

(Voice-over): For the first time in 25 years, the number of new cases of diabetes has dropped, from 1.7 million to 1.4 million. It's good news, but 29 million Americans still have diabetes, 86 million more are pre-diabetic.

(On camera): I want to also point out this new study showing what happens when you go without sugar for just 10 days.

(Voice-over): Triglyceride levels drop, bad cholesterol dropped, blood pressure dropped, and all of that in just 10 days without added sugar.

This year saw an unprecedented measles outbreak, with the epicenter in California. Now big reason, children not getting vaccinated. I talked about this with the surgeon-general.

DR. VIVIK MURTHY, U.S. SURGEON-GENERAL: The vaccine is safe and it's effective, and it's something that I want to urge every parent to provide their children with.

GUPTA (on camera): We don't know what causes autism, but we do know that vaccines do not.

(Voice-over): Remember this story? The antibiotic resistant superbug outbreak. That time involving endoscopes. Turns out the cleaning protocols weren't working so some hospitals were actually forced to improvise.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One dollar disposable brush. We're going to do just to be on the safe side. We're going to take it under water and brush in there.

GUPTA (on camera): The reason I bring this up is because I believe that this could be the biggest health threat facing us today. Antibiotic resistance. We have taken too many drugs and as a result they don't work the way they used to. The race to find new antibiotics is on.

(Voice-over): Look here, you see in the deep sea just off Norway, frantic dredging going on to try and uncover the next generation of antibiotics before it's too late.

(On camera): But perhaps no story garnered more attention and outrage than this one.

Well, you know, I think that depends on how much you want to tolerate risk and how much you love bacon. You know?

(Voice-over): On October 26th, the World Health Organization classified processed meats like bacon, sausage and ham as carcinogenic to humans. The report outlined that simply eating 50 grams of processed meat each day, that's the equivalent of two slices of ham, increased the risk of cancer by 18 percent.

(On camera): Unprocessed red meat such as steak is now classified as probably carcinogenic. All of this is food to thought for the New Year.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Well, that's a whole lot of food for thought. Thanks a lot, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

[13:55:02] All right, coming up, after floodwaters devastated areas of Missouri this week, residents are returning home today to see what can be salvaged. We're live in Eureka, Missouri, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Multiple Grammy winner Natalie Cole died on New Year's Eve at the age of 65. She had several hit songs but was perhaps most well-known for her "Unforgettable" virtual duet with her late father, Nat King Cole.

Here's CNN's Jeremy Roth.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): She was the daughter of a singing legend who found her own musical success. As the child of Nat King Cole and orchestra singer Maria Hawkins Ellington, Natalie Cole was exposed to a rich performing tradition from a young age. Her 1991 version of her late father's standard, "Unforgettable," a virtual duet alongside his voice, helped the album sell millions of copies and win six Grammys in 1992.

Cole was open about a year's long struggle with drug abuse. She was diagnosed in 2008 with hepatitis C and went on a public search for a kidney transplant.

Here's Cole on CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE" in 2009.

NATALIE COLE, AMERICAN SINGER, SONGWRITER: It's like a virus, you know, and they treat it very aggressively. And -- but I've had it forever and I had it from drug use.

ROTH: A nurse at the hospital where Cole was being treated was so moved by the star's struggle that, when her niece suddenly died, she arranged for Cole to receive her kidney. Meanwhile, her family says, in her absence, they're now left with, quote, "heavy hearts," but add that she died how she lived, with dignity, strength and honor.

Natalie Cole was 65 years old.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Hello, again, everyone. And Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. While some residents are beginning to clean up from that catastrophic flooding in Illinois and Missouri, others are bracing for the worst. In Southern Illinois officials are anxiously monitoring a second levee after one levee has already overtopped. Overtopped levees can lead to erosion or worse, breaches.