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New Details in Migrant Deaths; Manafort Arraigned in New York; Democrats Debate Health Care; Front-Loading Calories for Weight Loss; Deputies Describe Finding Baby in Plastic Bag. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired June 27, 2019 - 08:30   ET

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


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[08:33:34] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We have new details this morning about that harrowing journey a father and daughter took before they drowned. And this horrific photo was taken of their bodies washed ashore along the Rio Grande.

CNN's Michael Holmes is live in Matamoros, Mexico, with the latest.

What have you learned, Michael?

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Alisyn.

Yes, you know, when we crossed across the border by car, over the last couple of days we've done it, it takes us literally minutes. It's that easy. But for Oscar Martinez and his family, when they tried it was an impenetrable barrier, and they tried to cross the Rio Grande behind me. And you can see behind me where their bodies were found.

Now, as for that photograph, the photographer, Julia Le Duc, she knew when she took that photograph that it was powerful, the little girl basically embracing her father in death. But she says the photograph going viral just isn't enough.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIA LE DUC, MEXICAN JOURNALIST (through translator): This should be an invitation to debate and to consider changes on the migratory policies and for the two governments to ask themselves, what are we doing for the immigrants, or, why in the middle of despair a father and a head of a family doesn't care on risking his life and his own daughter's life just to try to make it to the other side thinking that he will find a better future, but only to find death.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And there is a sense of sadness here of course at the deaths of Martinez and little Angie Valeria. But, you know what, there is not a sense of shock. If it hadn't been for that photograph, and Julia says she's photographed 22 bodies along here, 25, actually, along here in the last couple of months. If it hadn't been for that photograph, that man and his little daughter would just be more anonymous statistics in this ongoing crisis. [08:35:24] Now, those bodies going back to El Salvador where they will

be laid to rest, the country that they fled for a better life, but instead the result is a family that's been shattered.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Michael Holmes there, you know, witnessing what's going on down there on the border. Thank you for telling us this story. Appreciate it.

Former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort set to be arraigned this afternoon on New York state fraud charges. His defense lawyer says he will fight.

Our Brynn Gingras live outside the New York courthouse with the very latest.

Brynn, what will we see?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, this is the first time that the former Trump aide will step foot in the Manhattan supreme court facing these 16 fraud charges. Remember, these are all related to fraud.

Now, we remember he was convicted of fraud charges -- federal fraud charges earlier this year, and it was only just an hour after that that the Manhattan district attorney, Cy Vance, announced these 16 state charges and essentially saying that no one is above the law. Of course that timing was very calculated. This essentially will make Paul Manafort pardon-proof from the president if he's actually convicted on these state charges.

So it will be interesting to see how this case certainly moves forward. As you mentioned, his defense attorney says that he plans to plead not guilty today. He will have to make a plea in front of a judge. And there's already been talk about what sort of special treatment Paul Manafort has received.

Now, waiting on this arraignment, he was expected to go to the notorious Rikers jail, but, of course, last minute, the DOJ jumped in and saved him and now he's being housed for this case in the detention center where El Chapo is housed and they announced -- they said basically it's for his protection.

So, again, we'll see moving forward what sort of treatment he receives, but he will be in front of the judge for the first time at 2:15 today.

Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Brynn, thank you very much for that update from the courthouse.

Meanwhile, the Democrat candidates were divided last night over health care. So Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to sort it all out for us. He looks at Medicare versus private insurance, et cetera. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:42:05] BERMAN: His morning, health care front and center. It certainly was at last night's presidential debate. The ten candidates trading ideas on Medicare for all, the public option, private insurance.

CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us now.

Sanjay, we heard a back and forth over whether they should do away with private insurance altogether.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

BERMAN: But the framing was about Medicare for all, which is a phrase we hear a lot --

GUPTA: Yes.

BERMAN: But what does it actually mean?

GUPTA: Well, you know, people generally know what Medicare is. It's a government-run health care plan for people that are 65 and older. You pay into it your entire working career through Social Security and then you get the benefit of that when you turn 65. It would essentially take that plan and expand it to everyone. So -- so it would be a government-run health care plan where you don't -- you're not paying premiums, most out-of-pocket expenses are covered -- not all of them, but most of them are covered, and the same sort of Medicare now available for seniors would be available to everyone.

There's a lot of support for this if you tell people it's going to cover everyone. There's a lot of support for this if you tell people that it's going to cut down on your premiums and your out-of-pocket costs. The support drops off significantly if you tell people that they may lose their existing health care insurance and that there would not be the option for many people of -- of private insurance.

So it's -- it's -- there's different variations of this plan right now. There's some people who say, let's not make it Medicare for all. Let's just lower the age by which people can actually get into this. Instead of 65, let's make it 50, for example. There are people who say, do Medicare for all but also have a private insurance option. But it's all -- it's all sort of evolving.

BERMAN: And to be clear, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders say, no, just Medicare for all. No private option.

GUPTA: That's right.

BERMAN: And that's where you heard the tension last night.

So in terms of how to pay for it --

GUPTA: Yes.

BERMAN: There's even a disagreement on how we should frame that discussion.

GUPTA: Yes.

BERMAN: But talk about the money. How much would it cost?

GUPTA: Well, even -- even how much it would cost is a little bit of a source of controversy. You know, you have various institutes, including Urban Institute, the Heritage Institute, who have all released their numbers.

Sanders released his numbers in 2016. Updated them again last year. If you look at all the numbers, you do see that there's probably a reduction in cost. There's a reduction in how much we pay for health care. We spend $3.5 trillion a year on health care right now. Depending on whose numbers you look at, it -- that could drop by even up to a trillion dollars a year, you know, depending on the numbers.

How do you pay for it? The -- your rate, you have to raise taxes because you're taking money now and spending it out of the federal government.

People who currently have Medicare, John, this is an important point, currently have Medicare, they're not having increased taxes. They already got their Medicare. They're going to keep their Medicare but suddenly have to pay more taxes. They're not -- they're the ones who are probably the biggest losers in all this because they're paying more now for the exact same thing.

BERMAN: A very important discussion, and understanding the terms even more important.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much.

GUPTA: You got it. Thank you.

CAMEROTA: All right, John, here's what else to watch today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ON SCREEN TEXT: 10:00 a.m. ET, Supreme Court releases opinions.

2:15 p.m. ET, Paul Manafort arraigned in New York.

9:00 p.m. ET, second Democratic presidential debate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:45:30] BERMAN: So a newborn baby found alive, tied up in a plastic bag. We will speak to the sheriff's deputy who saved her, next.

First, the weight loss strategy of front-loading calories in today's "Food as Fuel."

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LISA DRAYER, CNN HEALTH CONTRIBUTOR: Eating later in the day is often linked to mindless nibbling during unstructured time, like snacking while watching a movie or talking on the phone. The calories can quickly add up without you realizing it.

But by front-loading your calories instead of eating later in the day, you're giving your body a much better chance of shedding pounds.

Here's why. Research suggests that the calories we burn from digesting, absorbing, and metabolizing the nutrients in the food we eat are influenced by our circadian rhythms and is lower at 8:00 p.m. as compared to 8:00 a.m. To set yourself up for success, don't skip breakfast. It's the optimal time to front load your calories. Also, try eating what you would typically have for dinner at lunchtime with a meal consisting of protein, veggies and grains. You can downsize your dinner by eating half of what you usually eat or by cutting the carbs.

And, lastly, if you're having trouble with nighttime nibbling, use your smart phone. You can schedule an event on your calendar or set an alarm when it's time to close the kitchen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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[08:50:53] BERMAN: So we showed you this traumatic video, the moment an Atlantic area deputy opened up a plastic bag in the woods only to discover this, a newborn baby inside. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shh, look at you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Breathing, crying, trying to comfort her.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, look how precious you are. Yes. Look here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: You can just hear the concern and the caring in the voices. Investigators hope this body cam video leads them to whoever abandoned the little girl. The deputy in that video, Terry Roper, a father of two, says he just went into dad mode. He joins us now, along with Forsyth County Sheriff Ron Freeman.

Terry, I want to start with you.

First of all, thank you so much for being with us this morning, and thank you for being so human and caring in that moment.

What through -- what went through your head as you were in the woods opening this bag?

DEPUTY TERRY ROPER, FORSYTH COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: Well, John, the first thing that came to my mind is, we had to render aid to the baby. That was -- that was the first and foremost thing that had to be done. And once -- and once I got there and was able to see that Baby India had no obvious injuries, I was able just to pick her up and take care of her. You know, your fatherly instinct kicks in. You want to -- you just want to show love to a child that had never known it before. The only thing that she had known was being in a bag. And I was honored to be able to do that.

CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh, and you did is so well, deputy. I mean you just showed her love and compassion and cradled her and you were talking to her in those, you know, sort of beautiful dad tones of trying to soothe her and console her.

And, sheriff, can you tell us anything about the backstory here of how it is that a baby ended up in a plastic bag in the woods?

SHERIFF RON FREEMAN, FORSYTH COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: Well, that's the mystery of our criminal investigation, Alisyn. We're -- we're working hard on that. We've got a lot of forensic evidence that we recovered. That's our goal right now is to find out who abandoned this baby and, of course, what the reasons that they did so. Why did they make such a horrible decision to leave this baby to die? That's our primary focus now.

Baby India is doing fantastically well. She's safe. And so now we're focused on that criminal investigation. And this is why we released the body cam footage. We need the public's help. Out there somebody knows a woman who was pregnant, near full-term or full-term, now she's not and there's not a baby in the picture, that's a little suspicious. And we -- and it's likely, luckily here in the metro area, the metro Atlantic area, and so we need somebody to call us with that tip that will lead us down the right path in this criminal investigation.

BERMAN: Terry, deputy, you refused to leave the hospital the night you found Baby India. Tell us about that.

ROPER: No, no, I didn't refuse to leave the hospital, I just didn't want to. I wanted to see her before I -- before I left, but she -- she still had some medical examinations to go through, so I couldn't really go in and see her and hold her. So I did leave. I came back later that night and saw her when she was still in NICU and then the next night she was transferred to a regular nursery area and the staff at the hospital was kind enough to let me in and hold her again.

CAMEROTA: Sheriff, this is obviously wonderful police work. We rely on all of you to do everything. You know, it's not just an active, dangerous crime scene. Sometimes it requires something like just this human touch and compassion. But can you tell us also about the role of the good Samaritan who called you? Who heard that baby crying?

FREEMAN: Yes. So the true heroes in this story, and not -- and Deputy Roper is indeed, along with his partners who were at the scene, are our good citizens who heard that. A father and his three daughters who had just returned home from vacation had went inside their home and then inexplicably decided to go out because it was supposed to have thunderstorms that night and empty out their car from their trip. The girls heard what they thought was a baby crying. Nobody expects to hear a baby crying in a woods 100 yards from your house. They kept on with their dad back and forth, was it an animal noise, was it a baby. And then they decided to go investigate. Had they not done that, this would be a different conversation. So they're our true heroes of the day, our good citizens here in Forsyth County.

[08:55:06] BERMAN: There's enough heroes to go around here.

I'm still on Team Terry as being one of the heroes here, having seen that tape and the caring there.

And, Terry, you told us you went back to hold Baby India again. You know, when she's in your arms and you're looking at her, how does that feel? What are you thinking?

ROPER: Well, you know, afterwards I was able to think about the situation and I knew that I was the first person to be able to show her that compassion. And it's quite an honor to be that person, to show her the first bit of love. And it's something I'll never forget.

CAMEROTA: Sheriff, how can we help you and Baby India? If someone has any information about how this baby ended up in a plastic bag in the woods, what do you want them to do?

FREEMAN: Hey, you can go to our social media, you can go to our website, or you can dial 770-781-3087. That's our 24-hour number. And just share that tip.

Look, we need -- we need one thing to point us in the right direction. We don't know who left this baby. We don't know who abandoned her and we don't know what the reasons are, so we need to understand that. We're going to -- we're going to make sure that she's taken care of. There was -- there's -- there's about 500 employees at the sheriff's office that are now her surrogate mothers and fathers. We're going to make sure she's taken care of, but we need to know why this happen. So that's -- again, thank you for sharing for us and hopefully this generates a tip.

BERMAN: Thank you for everything you've done and showing love and human compassion.

Sheriff, Deputy, we really appreciate it.

CAMEROTA: Thank you, gentleman. We'll follow it. Bring us any updates.

All right, thank you all for watching. CNN "NEWSROOM" with Poppy Harlow and Jim Sciutto is next.

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