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Juror States Things Just Got Out Of Hand; Zimmerman Juror Explains Verdict; Jeantel Offered A College Scholarship; Holder Faces More Pressure; Senate Reaches Filibuster Solution; Your Data May be at Risk
Aired July 16, 2013 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: That's it for me. Thanks for being with us on "AROUND THE WORLD." CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think his heart was in the right place. It just went terribly wrong.
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WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Cloaked in darkness, the George Zimmerman trial juror speaking out and saying she thinks it was Trayvon Martin who threw the first punch. Plus this --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was racial. Let's be honest. Racial. If he you were white -- if he was -- if Trayvon was white, and he had a hoodie on, would that happen?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: She was the last person to speak with Trayvon Martin and the prosecution's star witness. More of her interview, that's coming up ahead.
And what's it like to serve on a jury in a high profile case? This hour, we'll speak to a juror who served in the Scott Peterson murder trial. He says some jurors wound up needing counselling and antidepressants just to deal with life after the verdict.
This is CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting from Washington. She's known simply as juror B-37. And what she has to say has been riveting and revealing. People simply can't turn away. We are, of course, talking about the first member of the George Zimmerman jury to speak out publicly. She says she's convinced Trayvon Martin was the aggressor the night Zimmerman followed and killed the unarmed teenager. This is an interview you will see only here on CNN. Juror B-37 spoke exclusively with our Anderson Cooper.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER 360": When you first sat down on the jury, when you first gathered together, what was it like? Did you know how big --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was unreal. It was unreal. It was like -- it was like something that -- why would they want to pick me? You know? Why would I be picked over all these hundreds of people that they interviewed?
COOPER: And when the trial started, what was the first day like? There were the opening statements, Don West told a joke. What did you think of that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The joke was horrible. I just -- nobody got it. I didn't get it until later and then I thought about it and I'm like, I guess that could have been funny. But not in the context he told it.
COOPER: Going into the trial, did you have an idea in your mind about what happened?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, because I hadn't followed the trial at all. I mean, I had heard bits and pieces of what had happened and the names that were involved, but not any details.
COOPER: So, take me back if you can to that first day, the opening statements. What do you remember about them? What stood out to you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not a whole lot. It seems like it's been years ago that it happened.
COOPER: Really?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It does. It seems like it's been a very long time that we were there.
COOPER: Was there a particular witness that stands out to you? Who did you find to be the most credible?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The doctor, and I don't know his name.
COOPER: The doctor for -- that the defense called?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
COOPER: All right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
COOPER: What about him?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I thought he was awe-inspiring. The experiences he had had over in the war. And I just never thought of anybody that could recognize somebody's voice yelling in like a terrible terror voice when he was just previously a half hour ago playing cards with him.
COOPER: This was -- this was the witness, the friend of George Zimmerman's who had military experience. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, that was -- this was the defense.
COOPER: This was the defense medical examiner.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
COOPER: OK. What was it like day by day just being on that jury?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Day by day was interesting. There were more interesting things than others. When they got into the evidence, it was a lot more interesting than just testimony. Some of the witnesses -- some of the witnesses were good. Some of them not so good.
COOPER: Did you feel -- a lot of analysts who were watching the trial felt that the defense attorneys, Mark O'Mara, Don West, were able to turn prosecution witnesses to their advantage. Chris Serino for instance, the lead investigator, did he make an impression on you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Chris Serino did. He -- but to me he was just doing his job. He was doing his job the way he was doing his job and he was going to tell the truth regardless of who answered the -- asked him the questions.
COOPER: So, you found him to be credible?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I did. Very credible.
COOPER: So, when he testified that he found George Zimmerman to be more or less overall truthful, did that make an impression on you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It did. It did. It made a big impression on me.
COOPER: Why?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because he deals with this all the time. He deals with, you know, murder, robberies. He's in it all the time. And I think he has a knack to pick out who's lying and who's not lying.
COOPER: The prosecution started off by saying that George Zimmerman was on top in the struggle. And then later on they seemed to concede, well, perhaps Trayvon Martin was on top but maybe was pulling away.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
COOPER: Do you feel that the prosecution really had a firm idea of what actually happened?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think they wanted to happen what they wanted to happen to go to their side for the prosecution, the state. There was a lot -- the witnesses that the defense had on plus some of the prosecution witnesses, there was no doubt that they had seen what had happened. Some of it was taped so they couldn't rebuke any of that.
COOPER: It was on the 911 tapes? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. The 911 tapes and the John Good calling and all of that.
COOPER: How significant were those 911 tapes to you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The lawyer tape was the most significant because it went through before the struggle, during the struggle, the gunshot and then after.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: We're going to bring in more of the interview with this juror, B-37, later this hour. Standby for that. And don't forget, later tonight on "AC 360," you can hear the rest of what she told Anderson Cooper. There were 20 minutes of conversation that have not yet aired. You won't want to miss that 8:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
Right now we want you to hear from the young woman who was expected to be the prosecution's star witness. You may remember her. Rachel Jeantel was on the phone with Trayvon Martin only moments before he was killed. The juror, B-37, says Jeantel was not a credible witness. She was testy and combative during some of the questioning during the trial. Jeantel has her own views about this case and she was very, very candid in an exclusive interview with CNN's Piers Morgan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PIERS MORGAN, HOST, "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT": And be honest with me, Rachel, do you think that that was racially motivated or more a case of somebody he thought was a young thug, black or white?
RACHEL JEANTEL: It was racial. Let's be honest, racial. If you were white -- if he was -- if Trayvon was white, and he had a hoodie on, would that happen? Because (INAUDIBLE) that was around 7:00 or something. That's around that people walk their dogs, people still outside, all that.
MORGAN: The jury -- the juror tonight made it clear that the jury never really discussed race as being a motivating factor here.
JEANTEL: Imagine. They're white. Well, one Hispanic.
MORGAN: Do you think they understood the world that you and Trayvon come from?
JEANTEL: No.
MORGAN: Don West gave you a very hard time, the defense attorney.
JEANTEL: Don West.
MORGAN: What is your view of him?
JEANTEL: I'm going to have to say, he's lucky I'm a Christian.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: This morning, Jeantel was on the Tom Joyner radio show. The popular radio talk show host offered the 19-year-old a full scholarship to any historically black college or university of her choice here in the United States.
The NAACP has almost a million signatures right now in an online petition urging the Justice Department to take action against George Zimmerman. And that puts even more pressure on the attorney general, Eric Holder, who's giving the keynote address a couple hours or so from now at the group's annual convention.
Shannon Travis is joining us now from Orlando where the convention is taking place. Shannon, the attorney general, he's in a very, very tough position right now. He's facing enormous pressure to bring charges, yet knowing how tough it is to win a conviction on a federal civil rights charge.
SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Enormous pressure, Wolf. You're absolutely right. I mean, on the one hand, you have potentially about 3,000 people attending this NAACP convention here in Orlando. I've been speaking with many of them. Many of them are urging the Department of Justice to file those federal civil rights charges against George Zimmerman. Let's not forget obviously that the NAACP is pushing online petitions. As you mentioned, nearly a million people are urging the same thing.
And also, as you mentioned, it's going to be pretty tough to do that because in order for the Department of Justice to bring those charges to win, they need to prove that George Zimmerman acted and caused Trayvon Martin's death because of his race which a lot of (INAUDIBLE) experts are saying will be a tough bar to clear in terms of how attorney general Eric Holder will face the pressure here at the NAACP. We're told by -- an administration source tells our Senior Producer Carol Cratty that he will not -- that he will elaborate on the larger issues in the case but he will not go further in terms of talking about whether the -- whether the status of the investigation or whether the criminal charges will be filed -- Wolf.
BLITZER: One thing you should know, Shannon, we're also getting some information from Carol Cratty, our producer, that Holder's remarks at this convention, the NAACP convention where you're attending, he will focus in on how the Trayvon Martin case has affected him personally. This according to a Justice Department official. The speech will reflect the impact of the case over more than a year on Holder, his family and many Americans.
So, he will talk personally about what this case has meant for him. And as all of our viewers know, he is an African-American, I think the first African-American attorney general in our history. So, he's going to get personal in these remarks, and I'm sure those people attending the NAACP convention in Orlando where you are, will be appreciative of that. Set the scene a bit, the mood there. What's going on?
TRAVIS: Well, right now, the mood is pretty much -- people are pretty much just going about the business of the convention itself. A lot of them are obviously anticipating the remarks from the attorney general. In terms of him getting personal, we'll have to stand by and see if that -- if that's satisfying to a lot of people who, again, who are very anxious for the Department of Justice to act against Zimmerman.
BLITZER: Shannon Travis covering the convention for us. We'll check back with you throughout the day. Shannon, thanks very much.
And we'll look forward to hearing from the attorney general of the United States speaking out on the Zimmerman trial and the whole Zimmerman-Martin killing, what that means for him personally. We'll have live coverage coming up here on CNN later today. We'll have much more on this story coming up later this hour as well.
Here are some other stories we're working on this hour. A showdown in the U.S. Senate. After secret talks and closed-door meetings, leaders reached a deal to avoid the so-called nuclear option to stop filibusters on nominations. Plus, this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's just really hot out here. I feel like I'm going to melt.
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BLITZER: It's the kind of heat that makes it hard to breathe, especially if you live here on the east coast. We're going to tell you if there's any relief in sight.
And if you think your smartphone is safe from hackers, think again. We put your privacy to the test.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm going to text him now. So, I'm sending it.
(voice-over): But before my friend even gets the text, these guys are reading it on their computer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Within the last two hours, senators here in Washington reached a tentative deal to prevent the so-called nuclear option. We're not talking about nuclear weapons here. We're talking about a rule change the Democrats were threatening to use to stop anymore filibustering of the president's nominees. It appears President Obama will finally get confirmation votes on most though not necessarily all of his political appointments. Both party leaders in the Senate appear happy with the results.
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SEN. HARRY REID, (D) MAJORITY LEADER: I hope that everyone learned the lesson last night that it sure helps to sit down and talk to each other, or either stand and talk, whatever it is. It was a very, very good meeting.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) MINORITY LEADER: I would like to thank everybody on both sides of the aisle who have engaged in this debate and discussion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Our chief national correspondent John King is joining us right now. John, so what's in the deal?
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, what's immediately in the deal are votes. As you talked about seven of the president's nominees for federal agencies. These are not judges, these are not lifetime appointments, it;s a couple cabinet picks and several people to head government agencies like the new Consumer Protection Bureau.
Republicans held them up some because they disagreed with person, some because of other things. This means the president will get votes as soon as today on five of the seven who are in dispute. Two others, as part of this deal, the administration has agreed to pull back and send up new nominees. Those would be for positions, the National Labor Relations Board, that gets involved union disputes with employers, if you will. So immediately the president's going to get most of his picks. The bigger question is, is this deal going to start a, I'll call it a period of kumbaya, will the Democrats and the Republicans start to actually work together, or is this just a temporary fix and we'll be back on this road in a matter of weeks or months. That's the big question.
BLITZER: So what were the Republicans threatening to do had there been no deal?
KING: The Republicans had been saying if Senator Reid went forward with the so-called nuclear option, which is essentially would minimize -- almost do away with the traditional use of the filibuster in which one senator or small group of senators can block majority will. That goes back to the founding fathers. What Republicans said if Senator Reid went through with that and changed the Senate rule so that 51 votes would be enough to have the nominees go forward, they would retaliate by using other obstructionist tactics blocking legislation.
Maybe it's a tax and spending dispute coming up, maybe the return of immigration reform, there are other issues before the Senate like the student loan, they're trying to figure out a compromise on the student loan interest rates that just went up.
Wolf, this is a problem, particular dysfunction between the Republican leader, Mitch McConnell. You saw John McCain speaking on the floor there. Mitch McConnell is the Republican leader, his relationship with the Democratic majority leader Harry Reid has deteriorated significantly and that affects the business of the Senate.
What the Republicans say, well, Democrats did this too when they were in minority, but there's no question this has escalated in recent months and years especially around this president's nominees for key federal positions. Again, they've cut a deal today. They've worked out a compromise. The bigger question is as Harry Reid said, have they learn today actually talk? Will they work this out going forward? Or is this just a temporary fix?
BLITZER: My sense is probably just temporary, but let's hope for the best. John, thanks very much.
KING: Got a good gut.
BLITZER: Yes. Like most of us you probably carry your life around in your smartphone or at least a lot of information. Well, now that information potentially is in serious danger from hackers. We're going to show you how they are getting into your phone and your most personal information.
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BLITZER: It's a shocking discovery. Your smartphone, that device so many of us carry our lives around in so much personal information, can be easily hacked if it's on a commonly used range extender. Our Laurie Segall shows us how it's done.
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LAURIE SEGALL, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: Not everything you do on your cell phone is private.
I got a phone right here, I can text your phone and you're going to be able to use this to intercept and see exactly what I'm texting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We see the text message after it leaves your phone before it reaches the carrier, before it reaches the recipient's phone.
SEGALL: I'm going to text him now. So I'm sending it. But before my friend even gets the text, these guys are reading it on their computer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you can see right here. Looks like an outgoing SMS from this identifier sent a text message to this phone number with the message, hey, what is up?
SEGALL: What else you got?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How about a voice call?
SEGALL: Let's call. Hi, Andrew, how are you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Okay. How are you, Laurie?
SEGALL: I'm good. I'm good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll play it back for you.
SEGALL: Hi, Andrew, how are you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm good. How are you, Laurie?
SEGALL: I'm good. I'm good.
You can also see picture ifs I text a picture.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Let's do a picture message.
SEGALL: All right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So your phone used your data connection to send a picture message. We intercepted the data connection, logged it and grabbed the picture out of it, show it on the screen.
SEGALL: How do they do it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a small cell phone tower that's sold or provided by carriers to extend coverage into places where you have weak signals.
SEGALL: They're called FIMTO cells. And these security consultants say they're easy to hack.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You do need some level of technical skills, but people are learning those skills in college. This is breaking into one of these devices or a device like this is within the realm of smart people working at home.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Wow. And Laurie's joining us now. Laurie, the phone you had tested was a Verizon phone. What does the company say about this?
SEGALL: Hey, Wolf. They issued a statement. They were very proactive about it. Let me read you what they said to us. They said, "Verizon Wireless takes security very seriously. The demonstrations CNN saw was for an identified issue that was fixed earlier this year on all network extended devices."
They go onto say the fix prevents a network extender from being compromised in the same manner. They also say there were no reports of any customer impact. That being said, Wolf, I mean, this thing's enough. Having your phone hacked by these guys, it's enough to make you a little bit paranoid.
BLITZER: So if Verizon patched it up they say, is it still something the average person needs to be worried about?
SEGALL: In short, absolutely. I mean, it's projected that they're going to be about 50 million of these network extenders out there by 2014. These guys did a hack on a Verizon one. There are all different types of carriers. They say it's very likely that other carriers could have this flaw or similar flaws. So, you know, in short, be cautious. And, also, update your software if you've got that. BLITZER: Yes. Be cautious indeed. Pretty shocking stuff. All right, Laurie, thanks very much.
Speaking under the cover of darkness, a juror in the George Zimmerman case tells CNN whose voice she thinks screamed out on that 911 call.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, AC360: Whose voice do you think it was on the 911 call?
JUROR B-37, JUROR ON GEORGE ZIMMERMAN TRIAL: I think it was George Zimmerman's.
COOPER: Did everybody on the jury agree with that?
JUROR B-37: All the but probably one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: We're going to have more of the exclusive interview coming up including what she thought of the prosecution's star witness, Rachel Jeantel.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Let's get back to the interview everyone is talking about, one of George Zimmerman's jurors breaking her silence in a riveting CNN exclusive interview. She says Zimmerman's heart was in the right place the night he followed and killed the unarmed teenager, Trayvon Martin. And she has no doubt it was Zimmerman's voice calling out for help. Let's listen to more of what this juror, B-37, told Our Anderson Cooper.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: You had the parents of Trayvon Martin testifying, you had the family of George Zimmerman, friends of George Zimmerman testifying about whose voice it was on the 911 call.
JUROR B-37: Uh-huh.
COOPER: Whose voice do you think it was on the 911 call?
JUROR B-37: I think it was George Zimmerman's.
COOPER: Did everybody on the jury agree with that?
JUROR B-37: All but probably one.
COOPER: And what made you think it was George Zimmerman's voice?
JUROR B-37: Because of the evidence that he was the one that had gotten beaten.
COOPER: So you think because he was the one who had cuts, had abrasions, he was the one getting hit, he was the one calling for help.
JUROR B-37: Well, because the witnesses of John Good saw Trayvon on top of George, not necessarily hitting him, because it was so dark he couldn't see, but he saw blows down towards George. And he could tell that it was George Zimmerman on the bottom. He didn't know who it was, but he knew what they were wearing.
COOPER: The juror who didn't think it was George Zimmerman's voice, thought it was Trayvon Martin's voice, do you know why they felt that way?
JUROR B-37: She didn't think it was Trayvon, she just said it could have been Trayvon's.
COOPER: So she wasn't even sure?
JUROR B-37: No. She wanted to give everybody absolute out of being guilty.
COOPER: But you were sure it was George Zimmerman's voice?
JUROR B-37: I was sure it was George Zimmerman's voice.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: And everybody else on the jury was? Except for that one person.
JUROR B-37: I think so. I think they were.
