Return to Transcripts main page

New Day Saturday

FBI Investigation To Determine if Trump's Actions are a Threat to National Security; Rep. Steven King's Comments Merit Censure?; Russian Collusion Probe Continues; Jayme Closs Found; Government Shutdown Forcing Federal Workers to Seek Employment Elsewhere; "American Style" to premire at 9:00 Eastern on Saturday Evening; Phoenix Woman in Coma Gives Birth; Rapper R. Kelly Investigated. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired January 12, 2019 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Law enforcement officials became so concerned by the president's behavior that they began investigating whether he had been working on behalf of Russia against American interests.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Investigating a President of the United States to see if an American president is working for the Russians is just -- it's almost too much to wrap your mind around.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can just imagine the reaction from the president. I'm sure he's proposing the witch hunt tweets right now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After 88 days, 13-year-old Jayme Closs alive, after escaping captivity.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I saw a young woman coming towards me saying, "I'm lost, I don't know where I am, and I need help."

(END VIDEO)

ANNOUNCER: This is "New Day" weekend with Victor Blackwell and Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Happy new day to you. Breaking this morning the president is firing back at the FBI after learning they're opening an investigation into whether his actions were a threat to national security.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN HOST: He responded on twitter a short time ago saying, "Wow, just learned in the failing "New York Times" that the corrupt former leaders of the FBI, almost all fired or forced to leave the agency for some very bad reasons, opened up an investigation on me for no reason and with no proof after I fired lying James Comey, a total sleaze," first reported by "The New York Times" we should point out. The counterintelligence probe was happening simultaneously with the obstruction of justice investigation. BLACKWELL: But this started after the firing of former FBI Director

James Comey. The question behind both parts was the president helping Russia against U.S. interests?

PAUL: Now the investigation was handed over to Robert Mueller, of course, it's not yet clear what happened to it after that point. To explain, CNN reporter Erica Orden is with us now. Good morning to you, Erica. What are you learning and how are you piecing this together?

ERICA ORDEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you mentioned, one of the things that has emerged in recent hours is that there was in addition to the criminal probe into possible whether Donald Trump was or has been working as an asset of the Russian government or an agent of the Russian government. And one of the things that was interesting is the "New York Times" story on this is they mentioned that there was a lack of clarity as to whether he might have been doing this knowingly or unwittingly.

What this all really does is put a sharper point or a finer point on what everyone has understood to be the sort of basic inquiry of the Mueller probe, which is whether there was collusion in the Trump campaign with Russia and this is sort of a more specific question, which is, again, whether Trump, himself, has been working as an agent of the Russian government.

PAUL: All right. Erica Orden, we appreciate you being here. Thank you.

ORDEN: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Joining me now to discuss this Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, republican from Pennsylvania, also a former FBI supervisory special agent and federal prosecutor. A perfect day to have you on the show; we invited you here before this story broke. Congressman, thanks for being on "New Day."

REP. BRIAN FITZPATRICK, (R) PENNSYLVANIA: My pleasure. Good morning.

BLACKWELL: All right, so let's start here with your reaction to the headline here. FBI opened inquiry into whether Trump was secretly working on behalf of the Russians. Your reaction to the reporting.

FITZPATRICK: Yes, two things you want to look for there and I haven't seen the "New York Times" story yet. Number one, what type of investigation is it because in the FBI world there's assessments and there's eight different types of those then there's preliminary inquiries, which have limited scope and full-field investigations. That's the first thing.

The second thing, Victor, any time an investigation is opened on an elected official, member of the media, member of the clergy, they're put in a sort of a separate category called SIMS -- Sensitive Investigative Matters, which require the highest level of approvals. So in this case it would have been in all likelihood the deputy director at the time which was Andy McCabe and requires coordination with the DOJ and the deputy attorney general, at which point it would have been Rod Rosenstein.

So it sort of raises more questions but I think one of the reasons all members of Congress should be supporting the Mueller investigation. He was my former boss of the FBI. He's going to do a very thorough job I have no doubt. Not only should we be supporting it, but signing on to legislation as I have to protect that investigation is because we need the conclusions. We should all want that.

BLACKWELL: So President Trump has been tweeting over the last hour about this story about Mueller, about Comey, McCabe as well. His first tweet, he says here that the investigation was opened for no reason and with no proof. You're a former supervisory special agent, give me the truth on this. How much work would it take and the thresholds to cross into investigating a president from potentially working on behalf of a foreign government against U.S. interests, would that happen for no reason and with no proof?

FITZPATRICK: Which is why it helps to know what type of investigation this is, Victor. So, generally the standard is information or allegation, which is fairly low threshold, because investigations are fact-finding matters. You find facts to get to a conclusion. The second key piece here, though, is not only a threshold, but what the approval level would be. And in this case, given the subjects in this investigation, it's the highest levels of the bureau and the Department of Justice. So these investigations are not opened on a whim, for sure.

BLACKWELL: OK, let me get to the shutdown, now the longest in U.S. History, while we have you. You have said that the government should be reopened. What's your case to the White House? Why should they? You're an outlier on your side of the aisle to continue to hope for opening these departments. What's your case to the White House?

FITZPATRICK: The most basic function of Congress is to fund the federal government. It is unacceptable and inexcusable not to do that. Government shutdowns are no venue and no tool that should ever be used to negotiate policy positions. Victor, these are important discussions to be had, border security, DACA, they're very important and we have to solve it for sure. But this is not the train on which to do it. You don't hold 800,000 federal employees hostage and I lived through a government shutdown in 2013, where we had to go through. When I was an FBI agent, I was a supervisor where we had to go through the very tough decisions of designating essential versus non-essential employees. We had a furloughed professional staff and there are national security implications to doing that.

When you get to air safety, having TSA screeners and air traffic controllers being furloughed makes air travel much less safe. The irony here, Victor is we are simultaneously defunding border security. The border patrol, CVPN, and the Coast Guard, the three entities responsible all in the name of a border security argument. It makes no sense. We have to open the government up. Then we need to have these discussions.

BLACKWELL: Let me ask you about Congressman Steve King before I let you go. Some comments were made recently telling the "New York Times" specifically that relates to the terms white nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization. How did that language become offensive? Would you support A censure Congressman King?

FITZPATRICK: Yes. Outrageous, inexcusable and acceptable.

BLACKWELL: Let me take that a step further. What then are your thoughts made about the racist comments by the President of the United States?

FITZPATRICK: I don't think it's ever acceptable under any circumstance whatsoever. We're better than that.

BLACKWELL: Should Congress take official action to send that message to the White House?

FITZPATRICK: I think, yes, any time any racist comment is made, it should be condemned in the strongest terms, by everybody including both chambers of Congress and all parties.

BLACKWELL: All right Congressman Ryan Fitzpatrick. Thank you for joining us. We've covered a lot of ground.

FITZPATRICK: Thank you, sir.

PAUL: I want to talk about the legal aspects of what is the headline with the FBI investigation into the president. Michael Moore, former U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia with us now. You have read, I'm sure the whole spiel.

MICHAEL MOORE, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY: Sure.

PAUL: What is happening in the "New York Times" as well, they said they reported that there was vigorous debate about some former officials with the FBI who were trying to determine if that was the correct route to go. We just listened to the Congressman talk about how they've come their ways to proceed to move forward. In your opinion, what are the legal ramifications here?

MOORE: You know the FBI does have sort of an internal mechanism to decide what status an investigation will take and what they're going to call it. Really, what we've seen in the last number of years since 9/11 has been sort of a parallel track a lot of times with counterintelligence investigations along with criminal investigations. So there is nothing particularly unusual about that happening now.

I think when you look at all the evidence and you look at the fact that we have both the change in the platform, the GOP platform. We had the tower meeting. We had suddenly this craziness with interviews that Trump gave. We had Russian dignitaries and perhaps operatives in the Oval Office. We've had all this stuff that's out there that there is clearly enough for them to start looking.

We don't know what Bob Mueller has beyond that. We don't know what the FBI has beyond that. All we know now is what we know publicly and I think based on what we have publicly especially now that we are learning that they were giving information to a pollster or the pollster was giving information to the Russians from the campaign. That's pretty damming stuff. And really is the first link in what looks to me like a pretty clear connection between the campaign or the administration and at least somebody in the Russian government.

BLACKWELL: Yes, you're talking now about Paul Manafort being caught now giving...

MOORE: That's right.

BLACKWELL: Pulling information over. The president just tweeting, "I've been far tougher on Russia than Obama, Bush or Clinton, maybe tougher than any other president. At the same time as I have said getting along with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing. I fully expect some day we will have a good relations with Russia." Again the president taking the opportunity to stroke Russia through his tweets now.

You talked about this meeting. Let's put up a full screen 4 on the screen. You talked about this meeting soon after the firing of James Comey. This was May of 2017. There was no U.S. Media allowed in the room.

MOORE: That's right.

BLACKWELL: But in the room where Sergei Kislyak the Russian ambassador to the U.S. Sergei Lavrov the Russian foreign minister and according to the report from the "New York Times" the president said, "I just fired the head of the FBI, he was crazy, a real nut job. I faced pressure because of Russia. That's taken off." In the context of what we know now, how do you see this statement specifically?

MOORE: I see it as basically sharing information with the Russians about what the investigation is going on. The fact that he's now pulled the investigator back and maybe that's going to die down. This case, we talked about this for a long time on this show has been about following the money. A lot of this could have been subverted had we just talked about the business transactions and Trump giving us his tax returns and we could have seen where this thing is going.

Now we see for the first time this week that there is money involved. That was money of the Ukrainian government or Ukrainian representative owed Manafort. There is this question of money moving back and forth. Now we are starting to see that. There is no explanation, other than what we know from one of Trump's sons when he said we get our money from Russia, where we get financing. We know that Trump is not giving over his tax returns. We know they're not just picking him out because they think he's the best guy to be president. There is a reason and they're starting to get results from it. He's telling them at that point, within the Oval Office and as you say, without any U.S. media there and beyond the pale. This is I mean, this is sort of like having Kim Jong-un in the office from my perspective. You just don't do it.

BLACKWELL: There are 16 people close to the president or involved in the campaign who had contacts with Russians, didn't disclose them or flat out lied about that...

MOORE: That's exactly right.

BLACKWELL: ... before he became president.

MOORE: Yes.

PAUL: So I wanted to ask you about Mueller's, if this investigation at the end of the day, you made a good point that we don't know ...

MOORE: Sure.

PAUL: ... what Mueller has at the end of the day, even Rudy Guiliani today in the "New York Times" saying that he has nothing and that this investigation means nothing because it's been going on so long. But if it does come back that there is some sort of evidence that has been identified, that President Trump allegedly broke the law, what happens at that point?

MOORE: There is debate about whether or not a president can be indicted, a sitting president. I think one thing that could happen is you can see an indictment, the indictment could be sealed and held until he leaves office. That would be one thing that could happen. He could be indicted after the fact for crimes as long as it's within the statute of limitations. The applicable time period that you can bring a criminal case. Certainly it gives enough information for impeachment. That's a different side. I mean that's on the legislative side of Congress. But from a criminal aspect, I think it's more likely that you see an indictment, filed, sealed and held until he leaves office then you do see a court fight over indicting a sitting president.

BLACKWELL: Let me admittedly ask you to speculate here based on this reporting. We know that Rod Rosenstein has said that reportedly, we'll be leaving as soon as Attorney General, the nominee Barr is confirmed and he wants his own deputy.

We saw Mattis after he wrote that resignation letter and said he wanted to stay until February. The president had him out December 31st. Andrew McCabe, who was a day away from getting his benefits, he was fired within hours of getting those dollars. Do you think Rosenstein makes it until Barr makes a choice for a deputy or is she out sooner than that?

MOORE: He is probably - I think he may be there longer than he thinks and it's not as much because the president might try to get rid of him. I'm thinking because Barr made some statements specifically about the investigation and the Russian investigation that may cause him trouble during the confirmation process.

He's questioned whether or not there is legitimacy or whether or not you can investigate the president for obstruction and this type of thing. That's going to cause some people some heartburn especially when we're seeing. You take on -- nothing is happening in a vacuum. You take on all that's happening now. You take the fact that information from the campaign was going to Russia and to Ukraine and you take all that and look at it. Now will you have GOP Senators, I believe, on the committee saying, wait a minute? BLACKWELL: You think even with his -- this larger advantage this

larger majority that he will have a problem with the confirmation?

MOORE: I think, I do think so I think the GOP is starting to get the sense that the American people are not happy with the idea that this is going unanswered.

[08:15:00]

PAUL: Right.

MOORE: And in the face of - especially we're in the shutdown and everything else. It's just an ongoing number of strikes against the president.

BLACKWELL: All right. Michael Moore. Always good to have you.

MOORE: Good to see you all, thank you.

PAUL: Thanks sir.

We have some breaking news right now. Take a look at these pictures we're getting out of Paris. Two firefighters are dead because of that massive explosion that you're seeing that is a Paris bakery after a gas leak. Initially French police had said four people have died. We are now getting an update. It is two. The two are firemen. The video of the blast, you see it there. You can see fire billowing out of that building, smashed windows, scattered debris across the street. Fire crews did respond very quickly, evacuating people from apartments above the bakery. AFP reports 47 other people were injured in that blast.

BLACKWELL: We've got new details in the case of Jayme Closs. She's the missing girl who was found alive in Wisconsin. You will hear more about her neighbors, about how they found her.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

JEANNE NUTTER, WOMAN WHO FOUND JAYME CLOSS: They got close to her. She leaned into me and just said, "I'm Jayme," and I knew right away who it was because if you live in Wisconsin, you've seen so many pictures of Jayme.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:20:00]

BLACKWELL: There are new details this morning about the suspect who allegedly kidnapped 13-year-old Jayme Closs and killed her parents. According to police, Jake Thomas Patterson planned his actions and took proactive hid his identity from law enforcement.

PAUL: Now Jayme Closs, we're happy to tell you, has been reunited with her aunt and her dog. Take a look at that picture that we received from that reunion. CNN Correspondent Jean Casarez in Barron, Wisconsin right now. Jean, what are you learning, if anything, about first of all how she is doing now and secondly, how this suspect focused in on her?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's the big mystery. Because, obviously, you think, okay, maybe a social media link because they live in two different cities 60 miles apart. And although we're hearing that the suspect actually worked one day in the turkey processing plant several years ago that their parents worked in, there is no evidence at all they interacted on that one day of work he had. They were there for 25 years. So it's still a mystery how he found her, how he targeted her, how he found her home. And, of course, this story begins because he allegedly is the one that shot and murdered her parents before then kidnapping and abducting her.

But as he remains behind bars in a local jail here in Barron County, the sheriff tells me this morning that the crime scene will continue to be processed today. This is an extensive feature because three months in the making, that's how long she was in captivity. Now, it was Thursday at 4:30 in the afternoon that there was a lady, her name is Jeanie Nutter and she was walking her dog in frigid temperature and in the area where she is, it is completely ice. She saw this young girl come out of the forest and she was disheveled and she was cold and had shoes on that were way too big for her and I want you to listen to yourself what Jeanie Nutter told us about seeing for the first time Jayme Closs.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

JEANNE NUTTER, LADY WHO FOUND JAYME CLOSS: When I got close to her she leaned into me and just say, I'm Jayme," and I knew right away who it was because if you live in Wisconsin you've seen so many pictures of Jayme. I just walked really quietly with Jayme, told her everything was going to be all right. I just kept saying to myself, "Just be calm. You don't need her to get upset or excited."

(END VIDEO)

CASAREZ: She took her to a neighbor's house. They called 911. They apprehended the suspect ten minutes later. That's how it all began. And Christi and Victor, I want to tell you that law enforcement plastered this area for the last three months with pictures of her. I've spoken to people. They said everywhere you went you saw pictures of her. Yesterday as I was driving here, I went into a store and I said to the lady behind the counter, "Isn't it amazing she was found alive?" She didn't know because she was working so much. She got so emotional. She broke into tears in front of me and that's how committed this community was to finding this young girl and finding her alive.

PAUL: You know that is just testament to something that I said. This whole story shows we cannot give up on these people who are missing. We just cannot give up on them. Jean Casarez, thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: All right. This is now the longest shutdown in U.S. history. Hundreds of thousands of federal employees going without a paycheck; mothers, fathers, some with kids on the way struggling, asking the question, when will they be paid?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:25:00]

.

BLACKWELL: This morning President Trump reached a bleak milestone. He's presiding over the longest government shutdown in American history.

PAUL: You are waking up to day 22 of the federal employees who have been told to stay home or work without being paid. Democrats, who control the House, have passed bills to fund the government one department at a time. The president is insisting funding for a border wall has to be a part of that deal. Without his support, Senate republicans have refused to call votes on any of the measures. Thirty furloughed workers, meanwhile, who were mistakenly paid yesterday were told to give the money back. According to "The Washington Post," they were paid due to a clerical error. The payments are being recalled, by the way.

BLACKWELL: A union representing thousands of air traffic controllers have filed a lawsuit against the federal government. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association represents about 16,000 government employees being told to work without being paid. Their lawsuit claims their constitutional rights are being violated.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

DAN MCCABE, FACILITY REPRESENTATIVE, NATIONAL AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS ASSOCIATION: We did file yesterday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. It's really got three prongs to it. A couple of Fair Labor Standards Act violations, one which is our membership that's working is not working for minimum wage. The other is that over time has not been paid promptly and the one you just addressed which is actually a 5th Amendment violation saying they have been deprived of all their wages with no due process to get them.

[08:30:00]

BLACKWELL: Now essentially this is on behalf of your members...

MCCABE: Correct.

BLACKWELL: ... but if you're successful this would affect obviously all of the people who are working.

MCCABLE: I mean it's got big implications out there and this really goes to the ones are what we call accepted employees, so the ones forced to go in to do work and not get a paycheck for it.

(END VIDEO)

BLACKWELL: A spokesman for the union says several important safety projects have been shelved for the duration of the showdown.

PAUL: Now getting to one of America's busiest airports is going to be a little more hectic this weekend because of the government shutdown. Rosa Flores is live at Miami International Airport. One concourse at Miami closed for parts of the weekend. That does not sound good. What is it like where you are, Rosa?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Christi, we're starting to see the trickledown effect of the partial shutdown because non-federal employees are being impacted here in Miami. Let me show you around because this is the concourse that will be partially closed. So every afternoon, starting at 1:00 p.m., today, Sunday and Monday this concourse will be closed. Management here at the airport tells us that they looked at the number of TSA agents that were showing up for work and they say that they had to close this, which is one of 11 points of inspection here at the Miami International Airport.

So what they will do is, they are going to send these folks to the other ten locations to make sure they can man those locations properly. I want to show you a map here really quickly of what we are talking about to give you an idea. There are three terminals in MIA and its concourse G. There are six concourses, G is going to be closed and here's how it's impacting non-federal employees. You know when you go to the airport, can you always get a little bite to eat. There is a gift shop. There are four dining locations in that concourse and also a gift shop. Those are going to be closed Christi and so that's the trickledown effect that we're starting to see, because those employees are going to be out of work for the next few days.

Now some of them, will be reassigned to other locations, that's if that particular dining area or that gift shop has another location at this airport. Otherwise, they're also going to be out of a paycheck. So Christi, again, this is just a trickledown effect of what the partial shutdown is doing to not federal employees, which is TSA who are working without apaycheck, but now regular employees at airports as well.

PAUL: Yes, I don't know if anybody saw it broadening to that extent. Thank you so much Rosa Flores. Appreciate it.

BLACKWELL: All right, so you know the number, 800,000 of government workers not getting a paycheck and as Rosa says there, a lot of people keeping all of us safe at airports around the country. We are hearing stories of people selling their cars, books, whatever they have, their electronics, appliances to make up for lost money. Let's bring in now CNN National Correspondent Dianne Gallagher. She sat down with a TSA worker who did not receive a paycheck yesterday. I was thinking about the 30 people who got paid that had to send the money back. That insult...

PAUL: Like insulting, yeah.

BLACKWELL: But also looking at the paystub and seeing a zero there.

PAUL: And also, Victor, not knowing the next time you're going to see numbers in that column. That's the issue for so many of the workers that we've spoken to expecially with the TSA because look, there are 50,000 of them out there who still have to come to work because they've been deemed essential but they don't get any money. I spoke with one. She's a 13-year veteran with the TSA is Little Rock, Arkansas. She is pregnant. She says in addition to financial worries, it's now maybe even affecting her health.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's Aria Smith-Phillips' before work morning routine.

ARIA SMITH-PHILLIPS, TSA AGENT WORKING WITHOUT PAY: Coffee for my husband. Fix my child's launch. I have to get his backpack together.

GALLAGHER: Wrangling a 4-year-old...

SMITH-PHILLIPS: Oh, Hulk(ph) smash.

GALLAGHER: ... while six months pregnant. Not easy. But work, three weeks without pay with no end in sight ...

SMITH-PHILLIPS: I'm not getting anything and I was expecting that.

GALLAGHER: ... makes it even harder.

SMITH-PHILLIPS: I grew up at TSA, 13 years -- 13 years, it was 13 years on Monday.

GALLAGHER: Along with thousands of other transportation security administration officers, Aria has been working throughout the partial government shutdown. But today is pay day and her check isn't coming.

SMITH-PHILLIPS: The reality is the fear of not knowing when I'm going to receive that check and then this is going to cause a ripple effect on our income here.

GALLAGHER: Aria says her husband's job helps to ease their financial burden. But that's not the case for many of her colleagues at the airport in Little Rock.

SMITH-PHILLIPS: We have a list of food pantries that you are able to contact.

GALLAGHER: And that has not always been up there?

SMITH-PHILLIPS: No. No. Got it?

GALLAGHER: And the longer the shutdown lasts, expenses like home repairs, stuff for the baby, daycare, well they become more difficult to swing.

SMITH- PHILLIPS: I can't tell the day care worker, hey, I can't pay you. That's our biggest fear -- the unknown. So I don't know how long we are equipped for it and being six months pregnant, I just can't go pick up a job.

GALLAGHER: A veteran officer, Aria doesn't want to find another job saying she takes her mission seriously, no matter what. SMITH-PHILLIPS: I wouldn't clock in if I'm not going to give 100

percent. I go in, I give 100 percent and not getting paid is really hard.

GALLAGHER: Especially she says when the president says this shutdown is all about national security.

SMITH-PHILLIPS: Shouldn't we be a part of that partial shutdown, the one who receives pay? I think we're pretty essential.

GALLAGHER: Does back pay help if it comes three months later?

SMITH-PHILLIPS: Back pay does not help if it comes three months later because I'm already three months behind.

GALLAGHER: She's hoping the shutdown ends soon so she can spend her maternity leave bonding with her daughter instead of looking for a new job.

(END VIDEO)

GALLAGHER: I think everybody hopes that the shutdown has ended by the time that she delivers her new daughter. But you know Victor, Christi, I spoke to her about what would you tell the lawmakers? Do you have a message for president, for Congress from someone like you?

She said, just please be quick. It kind of upset her they went home because even though there is not much they can do, she said it was the way it looked. That they feel like they're not working for them and while everyone is working in these federal jobs without pay, some of the comments that are being made. They feel it's kind of callous. So that adds insult to injury.

BLACKWELL: The -- the lack of urgency from people who are struggling.

GALLAGHER: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Dianne Gallagher, thank you so much.

PAUL: Thank you Dianne.

So you can hear the shock in their voice when care givers called 911 to report a woman in a coma who was giving birth. We have details on that newly released 911 call for you. Stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:40:00] PAUL: We have something for you to listen to here this terrified caller who talks to CNN operatives telling them a woman in a coma is giving birth.

BLACKWELL: Police have now released a recording and say the woman was sexually assaulted while in that care facility in Arizona. CNN Sara Sidner has the details. SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A woman calls 911 from inside the

Hacienda Health Skilled Nursing Facility. A patient in a vegetative state has just given birth and the baby isn't breathing.

(BEGIN AUDIO)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Phoenix 911, what...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The baby is turning blue. The baby is turning blue.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Where are you at?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is the address ma'am?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The baby's turning blue. The baby's turning blue.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ma'am I need an address.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I need an address.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm sorry.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, is it an house or apartment?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, it's a facility...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, I'm going to get paramedics. Stay on the line; you need to give me the address again.

(END AUDIO)

SIDNER: You can hear the panic in the caller's voice; she initially fails to even give the address where the ambulance can find them. Then you hear a stunning admission. The care takers around her did not know their patient was pregnant.

(BEGIN AUDIO)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Were we able to get the baby out? Is the baby breathing? Is the baby breathing? The baby is not breathing. The baby is blue.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, so are they doing CPR?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are they doing CPR? Yes, they're doing CPR on the baby.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, good just keep going with that. How's mom doing?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mom's doing well. It looks like she is doing well.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How far along was she?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have a set of vitals? We had no idea this person was pregnant. We had no idea this patient was pregnant.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I understand. Does she know how far along she was or anything?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have no idea. This is a complete surprise. We were not expecting this.

(END AUDIO)

SIDNER: CNN obtained court records that show the patient has been in a vegetative state since 1992. She has a breathing tube and a feeding tube and court records indicate she is unable to make any decisions or give consent. Police made clear this is a sexual assault case and they are already collecting DNA samples. The medical facility says that includes DNA from its male staffers.

SGT. TOMMY THOMPSON, PHOENIX PLICE: This woman was unable to move. She was unable to communicate. In other words, she was helpless, but she was incapacitated.

SIDNER: Police say they were told it was a full-term pregnancy. Court documents reveal the same doctor who has been examining her since 2009 did an external well woman exam on April 16th, 2018, noting her firm belly but she would not have been visibly pregnant at the time. About nine months later, she gave birth on December 29th.

(BEGIN AUDIO)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The baby is breathing. Oh my God. Thank God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. OK. Is that the baby in the background? Is that the baby crying?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The baby is crying.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. That's good. You guys did great, OK. They're on their way.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.

(END AUDIO)

SIDNER: Mother and baby were taken to the hospital where they've been recuperating from the birth. Their family hails from here, a couple of hours from the facility on the San Carlos Apache Tribe Reservation. The family says the baby is a boy and he will be loved and cared for but they are outraged for what they call the abuse and neglect of their daughter. The story has evoked fear in some of the families of other patients in the facility.

KARINA CESENA, PATIENT'S MOTHER: We were just so scared. Because who knows what would happen if it was a staff member, if it was a family member, if it was a stranger. We have no idea.

SIDNER: What did you decide to do personally to make sure your daughter who is inside is safe?

CESENA: I stay here 24/7 now.

SIDNER: Hacenda Healthcare Board of Directors called the situation horrifying and said the facility is fully cooperating with the investigation but for Karina Cesena who has a 22 year-old severely brain damaged daughter inside, she has lost all trust and is trying to get her daughter care elsewhere as soon as possible. Sara Sidner, CNN, Phoenix.

BLACKWELL: Well the more we learn about that story the more questions. The family calls it both the alleged abuse and the neglect. Not just how was she impregnated but how did you not know it for the entire nine months of the full term. She'll continue to look into that story.

There is a new docket(ph) series detailing multiple accounts of physical, psychological and sexual abuse allegations against R&B singer R. Kelly. We will discuss the accuser's cries for justice after decades of alleged misconduct. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:50:00]

PAUL: An alarming six-part documentary called "Surviving R. Kelly". I don't know if you seen this yet. It premiered on "Lifetime" last week claiming R. Kelly physically and sexually abused scores of women throughout his career. Here's a clip for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I felt like my silence allowed it to continue.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I worked up the courage to come forward and tell my story.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A part of me always felt like maybe I did something for him to treat me that way.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want my story to be heard so people can take this situation seriously.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But when I found out it wasn't just me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't want it to get any worse.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It kept going and going and going.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just wanted to know, you are not alone.

(END VIDEO) PAUL: Senor writer and managing editor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School Ashton Lattimore, with us now. Ashton, thank you so much for being with us. I know you wrote this op-ed for CNN.com titled, "The Message of Surviving R. Kelly." First and foremost what is the message?

ASHTON LATTIMORE, SENIOR WRITER AND MANAGING EDITOR, PENN LAW OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS: The message is a documentary. It's just that over the years R. Kelly has been supported by a system in a society that's allowed him to get away with sexually, psychologically and physically abusing these scores of young women and girls who are underage, thanks to his music and his fame, nobody held him accountable until now.

PAUL: And the allegations date back to the 1990s in multiple different cases. Joslyn Savage is one of the many women associated with R. Kelly. She is currently living with the singer. According to her family, the last time her family saw her was in 2016. Her father had said I have no proof of life for my daughter. He hasn't had any contact with her since 2017. How much hope do you put in Fulton County investigating this case now?

LATTIMORE: I mean more hope than I would have had before the documentary came out. It seems like finally because the documentary laid out in such painstaking details kind of the decades of allegations against him. Finally the wheels of justice seem like they're in motion. A lot of eyes are on R. Kelly now about these allegations that weren't on him before so he's in more trouble than he has been ever before this. So we'll see what happens.

PAUL: I only have 30 seconds but I want to get this in because you say the perception of black girls is quote "fast, hyper sexualized, older and less innocent than nonblack girls has been the crucial factor for people ignoring their claims. Do you think that that's changing?

LATTIMORE: I think more people are becoming more aware of the stereotypes and hopefully working in their minds to combat them but I think it's a long road ahead and the fact that this was able to go on as long as it was does not speak too highly how we in society take care of young black girls and women.

PAUL: Last question, Lady Gaga pulled her song with R. Kelly. He cancelled an appearance. Do you think this is putting people in the industry on notice that they are being watched now?

LATTIMORE: Absolutely, it's putting them on notice and its putting them under pressure to stop contributing to the ways that he's been able to get away with these things for years and hopefully putting other men on notice who would do these kinds of things that they're not going to get away with it anymore.

PAUL: All right, Ashton Lattimore, thank you for the work you're doing and thank you so much for being here.

LATTIMORE: Thank you.

PAUL: Absolutely. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:55:00]

PAUL: Well, tomorrow night on CNN fashion and culture experts give us a front row seat to the runway of American history. Here's a preview of "American Style."

(BEGIN VIDEO)

KIMBERLY TRUHLER, FOUNDER AND EDITOR: The '40s and '50 were definitely America finding itself.

TIM GUNN, AMERICAN FASHION CONSULTANT: Americans felt very second rate when comparing ourselves to Europe.

VANESSA FRIEDMAN, FASHION DIRECTOR AND CHIEF FASHION CRITIC AT "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Sportswear became the defining style of the United States.

GUNN: The bikini was the biggest thing since the atom bomb.

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, AUTHOR AND PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AT RICE UNIVERSITY: Through the '60s and 70s, our style and fashion represents freedom.

DR. TODD BOYD, CHAIR FOR THE STUDY OF RACE AND PUPULAR CULTURE AND PROFESSOR OF CRITICAL STUDIES AT THE USC SCHOOL OF CINEMATIC ARTS: When you look at hippy culture, it's really oppositional to the Vietnam War.

CHRISTOPHER REID, AN AMERICAN ACTOR, COMEDIAN, AND RAPPER: Disco was very important in terms of people being free to express themselves.

CHRISTIE BRINKELY, FASHION MODEL: In the with '80s, there was a lot of excess in every way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had our Calvin Klein's and our Ralph Laurens and our Donna Karans.

GUNN: Calvin Klein's advertising was rather scandalous.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His underwear ads stopped traffic in Times Square.

BOYD: By the '90s and 2000s, things have become less formal.

TINA CRAIG, DESIGNER: Supermodels brought fashion into every household.

JOHN A. TIFFANY, AUTHOR, TELEVISION SHOW CREATOR AND SPEAKER: Now what's embraced as being yourself.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Style gives you a voice, it's freedom.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "American Style" premiers tomorrow at 9:00 on CNN. (END VIDEO)

BLACKWELL: All right coming up next on Smerconish. He sits down with author and former "New York Times" reporter Alex Berenson. See why Berenson thinks marijuana is so harmful and why he says there is a true link to schizophrenia, psychosis and violence. That's coming up next on "Smerconish."

And we have to take this opportunity. I do. To wish my wife a happy fifth anniversary. My television wife, of course the only wife I will ever have. Happy five years. I know right?

PAUL: And you're my anchor husband. I guess that means I have two husbands.

BLACKWELL: I know right. My first time being a husband. So five years on the show together this weekend.

PAUL: Oh my gosh. You know, I got to find a picture of me. We'll find it for the 10:00. He was such a baby when we started. There was no facial hair.

BLACKWELL: Hair on my head; none on my face.

PAUL: Look at - that shows you how darn short I am.

BLACKWELL: I've enjoyed it. Let's do five more.

PAUL: Let's do it, shall we. All right. Your mouth to God's ears.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

PAUL: We are back at 10:00 a.m. Eastern FOR "CNN Newsroom."

BLACKWELL: "Smerconish" starts now.