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New Day

Things Get Personal in Florida Governor Debate; Jeffrey Fowle Reunites with Family in Ohio

Aired October 22, 2014 - 6:30   ET

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

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: We've got a look at headlines. Good morning once again, everyone.

Jeffrey Fowle, the American released by North Korea is set to arrive in the U.S. any moment. They'll land at Wright-Patterson Air Force base in Ohio. We'll bring that arrival to you live.

Fowle was held by Pyongyang for five months because he left a Bible at a club earlier this week (sic). This morning, we've learned that Fowle was given special dispensation by leader Kim Jong-Un and his case has been dismissed. Now, it's unclear what this means for the release of two other Americans that are still being held there, Matthew Miller and Kenneth Bae. We'll be watching that obviously.

Suspected serial killer Darren Vann is due in court in Indiana later this morning. Authorities believe, say, actually, that Vann confessed to murdering a 19-year-old woman at a Motel 6 and gave police information leading to the bodies of six other women in Gary, Indiana. They believe there could be more victims in other states, going back some 20 years.

A car recall over concerns about faulty air bags is now expanding. 6.1 million cars in the U.S. from ten different automakers now affected. Up from 4.7 million, announced Monday. Air bags from Japanese Automaker, part maker, Takata, could inflate improperly, spraying drivers with metal. Concern over the recall drew so much interest, it actually crashed the government's website for drivers to check whether their car was one of the ones affected.

We've got to talk to you about this miracle man. He was completely paralyzed, he was a firefighter, he was attacked in 2010 in a knife fight. He was paralyzed from the waist down. But thanks to pioneering surgery, Derek Fideka, he can walk again. Now, he has some assistance. Surgeons used nerve-supporting cells from his nose, from his nasal cavity, to implant in his spine to help broken tissue grow. The 38-year-old can now leave an independent life. He can even drive a car. The full story will air on BBC Panorama tonight.

Here's the thing, what they want to do now is obviously test to see if they can replicate this, and then it will be considered, truly, a breakthrough. We spoke to one of the lead researchers in this yesterday "@THISHOUR." It's just fascinating to think how this could affect and change so many millions of lives.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: You're so right. Modern medicine, incredible.

PEREIRA: Truly.

CAMEROTA: Thanks so much. Alright, let's get over to meteorologist Indra Peterson, she's keeping track of a nor-easter for us.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Time to see that storm that's been brewing really over the evening hours. Let's take a took. We're transitioning from the storm that was in the Ohio Valley yesterday, and now to this low that's developing off the coastland, or yes, the nor-easter we have all been talking about. keep in mind, a heavy amount of rain are going to be out there. We know the bullseye is out towards Maine, but look at even places just east of Philadelphia, still two to three inches of rain is expected, and that's one side of the equation, so yes.

We already know today, Mid-Atlantic, Northeast, you're looking for showers. By tomorrow, this is a slow moving system. We're still talking about rain. Just the bullseye shifting farther to the north. By the time we get in through Friday, still talking about more rain. But finally, it will start clearing out of here, good timing, I add, right as we go toward the weekend. So that's the rain, let's talk about the wind. They're going to be persistent, really for the next several days. 20, 30, even 40 mile per hours winds will be out there, so watch out for that. Of course the temperatures go down, as well. Another ten degree drop, guys, into the Northeast sea line, as you go toward the weekend, finally warm air fills in, so it's like magic. The rain goes away by Friday and Saturday, and also the temperatures climb right back up.

PEREIRA: She fools us with the pretty colors on her map.

CAMEROTA: I know.

PEREIRA: You know?

CAMEROTA: She lulls into submission.

PETERSONS: I've got to do anything I can at this point, Michaela, because it's not looking good.

CAMEROTA: That's great. Thanks so much, Indra.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Alright, so, talking about things that are not looking good. No fan could have cooled down the blood sport last night. Rick Scott and Charlie Crist, they were just tearing each other apart in their second face-to-face showdown. This was personal. This was nasty. Okay, we're going to give you the highlights and give you the lowlights. They are lucky that they had Jake Tapper moderating last night, or that thing could have just really just fallen apart. He did a heck of a job. He'll be here to talk to us about it.

CAMEROTA: Good, can't wait for that. And three girls from Denver stopped in Germany as they try to make their way to Syria, reportedly to join ISIS. How did they pay for those airline tickets? Did they get help from the extremists? The full story ahead. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Fireworks erupting in Florida as Governor Rick Scott and former Governor Charlie Crist square off last night in their third and final debate. Things quickly turned personal with both men fighting over who had more money. CNN's Chief White House Correspondent Jake Tapper moderated the debate and joins us live. Jake, I watched some portions of this, and I don't know about you, but I felt dirty.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR, THE LEAD: Well, it's very clear that the two men do not care for one another very much. There was a lot of difference expressed, both in terms of politics and policy, and also in terms of personality. It became very, very heated with some really tough personal attacks as the debate went on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: It's one of the most contentious and closely watched races in the nation, and last night in the sunshine state, things got on. It had already been an ugly contest between two men who genuinely seem to dislike each other, and last night they were on the attack.

GOV. RICK SCOTT (R), FLORIDA: You're a mudslinger, you're a divider.

CHARLIE CRIST (D), FLORIDA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: You're just wrong.

SCOTT: Could you - while I'm talking.

CRIST: It's obvious that he has his problems and I don't.

TAPPER: Incumbent Republican Governor Rick Scott faced former Governor Charlie Crist, a Republican-turned-independent-turned-Democrat. Each man attempting to portray the other as out of touch, and directly attacking the other's wealth.

SCOTT: The reason he doesn't care is he's never experienced it. I watched a parent lose the only family car. I watched the father struggle to buy Christmas presents. I went through all of that as a child. Charlie never went through that, Charlie grew up with plenty f money. He's never had to worry about money. He's never had to worry about being laid off.

CRIST: Listen, when I was a little kid, we lived in a small apartment in Atlanta when my dad was going to medical school and he used to deliver newspapers to make ends meet. So you don't know me. And you can't tell my story. And I'm not going to tell yours, but I know you're worth about 100 or 200 millions dollars today, and you know, God bless you for that wealth, Rick, but the way you got it was pretty unsavory.

TAPPER: Clashing over everything from a minimum wage increase to the death penalty, each candidate tried to knock the other off his game. They spent much of their time leveling accusations against the other. Crist, accusing Scott of delaying an execution so the attorney general could attend a political fundraiser. CRIST: I asked him a simple question. Did the attorney general ask you to delay the execution so she could go forward with her political fundraiser?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can answer that, Governor Scott.

SCOTT: The - it was - she asked me to delay it because it didn't work on the dates that she thought it was going to be on.

CRIST: Did you know it was for a political fundraiser?

SCOTT: She - Charlie - she apologized, she apologized.

CRIST: I didn't ask about her.

SCOTT: What would you like me to do?

CRIST: Did you know it was for a political fundraiser?

SCOTT: She apologized, Charlie. What would you like her to do?

CRIST: Doesn't answer questions. Pleads the fifth.

TAPPER: Governor Scott firing back a few minutes later, taking a jab at Crist for bringing voting rights back to felons who had completed their sentences.

SCOTT: Here's Charlie's plan, commit a heinous crime, as soon as you get out of jail, you get to vote. Stalk? You get to vote, as soon as you walk out. You have intentional permanent disfigurement of a child, you walk out of jail, you immediately get to vote. That's wrong, Char

CRIST: That is fundamentally unfair. I said nonviolent criminals. You're lying again, and it's not right.

TAPPER: With just days until the election, polls show this race is a dead heat. The question now is if this finals of a performance will move the needle for either candidate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: The polls indicate, as I said, it's a dead heat. The latest CNN/ORC poll had it 44% Scott, 44% Crist. There's also a Libertarian independent candidate drawing about 9% of the vote. This really is anybody's race at this point, Chris and Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: So Jake, was there a clear winner last night, of the debate?

TAPPER: It's tough for me to say, and also being in that room you get a very different perspective than people at home. I'm pretty sure that each candidate left that room feeling as though he had won, but I can't really say who won, per se, other than the voters of Florida, of course, who got to see a lively exchange of real clear differences in policy and politics.

CAMEROTA: Alright, well we declare you the winner because you're getting lots of praise from blogs and such for your moderating of that debate last night, which wasn't easy. So Jake, thanks so much, and be sure to catch Jake's show "THE LEAD," weekdays at 4 P.M. Eastern, only on CNN.

CUOMO: Alright, we have some breaking news for you. We've been monitoring the situation, and now we can tell you Jeffrey Fowle is back in the U.S. after being detained much of the year in North Korea for leaving a Bible in a place for foreign sailors. You're looking at live pictures right now. That is Wright- Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. That's where Fowle's plane is obviously landing. Fowle, again, detained for five months by Pyongyang after leaving that Bible in a club.

We're going to hear this morning from Kim Jong-Un. He put out a statement, we believe, that he ordered, personally, Fowle to be released and sent back to the U.S. He said in a statement, at least, indifference to the agreement with the U.S., however, Secretary of State John Kerry just said in a presser that this was no quid pro quo. There is no deal, so we're still trying to learn why this happened. We're just happy that it did. Miguel Marquez, do we have you there watching this plane come down?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Chris, this is an extraordinary moment as you see this plane landing here. This is a Defense Department plane that left Hawaii, it stopped once for fuel while it was on its way here to Wright-Pattern Air Force Base. What an incredible trip Jeffrey Fowle has had from North Korea to Guam and then onto Hawaii, one stop for gas, and finally home. He is now taxiing here at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base just outside of Dayton, where he will pull up in a few minutes to hanger here. He will deplane and be met with his family.

With regard to that statement from Kim Jong-Un, part of it does read that the criminal was released, taking into consideration the repeated requests of U.S. President Obama. Fascinating to know that the leader of North Korea took a personal hand in releasing this man. This is a man, who on September 1st, our Will Ripley spoke to in Pyongyang. At the time he was very, very measured, Mr. Fowle, in saying that he broke the laws of North Korea, he admitted that, signed a statement, and he was released. What's not clear is whether he ever had a trial there. We expect to see him emerge from this plane shortly. Chris?

CUOMO: Well Miguel, obviously it's just a great thing to see that it's happening at all, and it raises big questions about the other Americans, about why this happened. However, most urgent right now, Miguel, is what do we know about Mr. Fowle getting to be reunited with his family?

MARQUEZ: Well, this is going to be an amazing scene. The family is here in the hangar just behind us. He will come off of this plane and he will go right in to meet with them. We won't, unfortunately, be able to see that. It will be an extraordinarily emotional time for them. He has three young kids and his wife. He was not too long ago his job here, just outside of Dayton where he works for a local government, had to let him go. He was fired from a $70,000 a year job. The family has been struggling

quite a bit. The children are 3, 11, and 14, I believe. And it has been a very difficult time for them. The family of Kenneth Bae at the same time that all of this is happening, he's been in a labor camp there for two years, they are now making an emotional appeal for the release of their husband and father, saying that he is in very poor health. Mr. Fowle will soon get off this plane, step down, and into the loving arms of his family waiting in the hangar just beside it. Chris?

CUOMO: Alright, Miguel. Thank you very much. Keep us updated on what you understand, and obviously, not a commercial plane. Sent by the United States government to pick him up, take him into Guam. They knew, and so did the media, but didn't say anything until he got to Guam just in case. So, a great development, what it means for the others we'll still see.

CAMEROTA: We're going to ask former Ambassador Bill Richardson about all of that. Meanwhile, three Colorado teenagers stopped before they could reportedly join up with ISIS. This, as we learn more about a looming threat from Khorasan. We'll discuss all that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: Alright, you just saw a very moving moment as Jeffrey Fowle, the American who has been released by North Korea, embracing his loved ones. He has been held in North Korea since May, and those are some very happy family members, and a wife it looks like that is there hugging their father who they have been missing and concerned about.

I want to bring in our Jim Sciutto who is also joining us here to watch this very emotional scene playing out right before our very eyes in Ohio at the Air Force base there. Jim, I think a lot of people weren't anticipating this happening so quickly.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, this is another example of the yo-yo, really, of U.S. relations with North Korea. You have three, you had until today, three Americans held there, all on trumped up charges. This is a nice sign of Korea releasing him, and, in fact, today you have Secretary of State John Kerry, who's travelling in Europe, saying that there might be circumstances soon of re starting nuclear talks with North Korea, which it seemed very recently to be dead.

This is the kind of country this is. You think that all is lost, and then all the sudden they reach out in some way with a symbolic gesture. Of course, the trouble is when you have these positive gestures, too often they're very soon followed by unfriendly gestures. You know, it was only a few days ago that you had North and South Korea exchanging gunfire along the border. It's just such a difficult country to deal with. And here you have Jeffrey Fowle, someone personally and his family caught up in the midst of a confusing, difficult and dangerous relationship.

CUOMO: You know, Jim, it's Chris. Thank you for helping us out on this. I want to go to Miguel Marquez, because for all the political implications that Jim is talking about what this could mean, this is really about a family. Those kids, they couldn't even wait, Miguel, to get back to the hangar. They ran right out and met their daddy just as he came down the steps, carrying his own bags, a moment that they had every reason to believe may not have come for years. What's it like to be there?

MARQUEZ: Unbelievably electric to be here. We expected the family to stay inside the hangar. That's what officials here told us as the plane pulled up. They became excited, they came out on to the tarmac as soon as he came down carrying two bags, carry-on baggage only. His kids came running out toward him, then his entire family embraced him.

We can see somebody with the family shooting him with a cell phone in typical modern style. It is an absolute amazing moment that this guy was able to make it from Pyongyang all the way here to central Ohio in such a short amount of time to be reunited with his family after such fear, after such confusion, and such concern. This is an extraordinarily happy and tearful and, I'm sure, emotional family right now. Chris?

CAMEROTA: Miguel, it's Alisyn here in New York. The family must feel that this is surreal. This must feel like a dream to them because it all happened so suddenly.

MARQUEZ: Yes, this is a family that I think was hoping and praying that he would come back. They were falling on hard times, it is an extraordinarily difficult time for them here. He was employed by one of the cities near here, as a public official. They had to let him go in recent months because they didn't know when he was coming back. They have three children. It was getting to be very, very difficult for them, and they had no certainty that he was coming back.

The interview that CNN did back on September 1st, Mr. Fowle was razor- sharp in his responses, and what he said, and the responsibility he took, and the apology he made. The family a short time later making a plea for his release, indicating in every way that it was his fault, that he was a criminal, that he signed a statement and they wanted him back. And then the statement today from Kim Jong-Un himself, clearly taking a personal hand in releasing him, calling him a criminal, but saying he did it because of the many entreaties, or the phone calls, from President Obama himself.

That plane, his plane to freedom here in Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, the family now in the hangar right there, still in the hands of the U.S. State Department, but soon they will go home. It's about a half-hour drive from here, and I'm sure they are going to have one hell of a breakfast. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: We bet they are. Miguel, stand by if you would. We want to bring in former Ambassador Bill Richardson who is with us to give us his thoughts on what's happening. Ambassador, are you there?

BILL RICHARDSON, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: I'm here, yes.

CAMEROTA: What do you think as you watch this scene of reunion? RICHARDSON: Well, I'm -- I'm very pleased. I think it's a good sign

that the North Koreans released this man unconditionally. They usually demand a price, a special envoy, special concession statement. They didn't this time, so I think it's a signal to the U.S. that says alright, let's start talking, possibly with Secretary Kerry, saying that restarting nuclear talks, that's what we've wanted, the U.S. We've said we have to denuclearize the Korean peninsula. If you want to talk to us, North Korea, you've got to start talking about denuclearizing.

But I think the administration is correct to separate the humanitarian issue. This was done by normal diplomatic channels, the Swedes did it. We sent an airplane. It's a family, it's a human issue and that's what's important. But, there are two other Americans that we need to get out of there very soon.

CUOMO: Bill, Mr. Ambassador, let me ask you something that we just learned here about the family. We understand that the U.S. is supposedly doing what it can do, but were you surprised to hear that this family has been allowed to fall on hard times, that even though he's a civil servant that they wound up taking him off the payroll while he was being held captive, presumably in an illegitimate way, by the United States, that his family has just been kind of left hanging as they wait for this to resolve?

RICHARDSON: Well, that's unfortunate if that's the case. I don't know of the circumstances, but, you know, when we have a prisoner overseas, an American serviceman, and there are many around the world right now in the same situation, we should stand behind them. Help the families, help them with counseling, with assistance.

And again, I think this is a case where the signal has been sent by North Korea. You know, maybe the time has come to stop all this rhetoric, all these detonations of nuclear weapons, and let's start talking. We know very little about this new leader in North Korea, but maybe this wouldn't have happened, this release, without him knowing. So maybe he's sending a signal. And the fact that the North Koreans didn't demand a price, a special envoy, President Clinton to come get him. They did it through normal channels, the Swedish government that represents us there worked very hard to make it happen.

You know, maybe it's a little thawing in a very cold relationship, so we should be pleased. But, besides the family issue, three kids, civil servant, he hadn't been charged, that's good, but there's still Kenneth Bae and another individual. Bae has been there over two years, that we need to press forward, but this is a good sign that maybe the next two, those two Americans, will be released soon, hopefully with this new initiatives by the North Koreans to be nice.

CAMEROTA: Let's hope this is a good sign. And we want to bring in now former press secretary to President Obama, Jay Carney. Jay, good morning to you.

JAY CARNEY, FORMER PRESS SECRETARY TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: Good morning. How are you? CAMEROTA: Doing well. So, I want to talk to you about this statement

that we have here that was released from North Korea, trying to explain what we're watching on the screen and why they released Mr. Fowle. They say quote, "Comrade Kim Jong-Un in deference to agreement between the supreme leaders of the DPRK, North Korea, and the U.S., granted a special dispensation for the American Jeffrey Edward Fowle." What's the agreement you think that he's talking about between the U.S. and North Korea?

CARNEY: I think that is a fig leaf and not, doesn't represent a real fact behind this case. I think that, you know, the North Korean leader needs to take this action, as Ambassador Richardson was saying, in a way to try to thaw relations a little bit, and he needs to, sort of, pin it on the United States.

I mean, it's certainly the case throughout the Obama administration, as was the case in prior administrations, that the United States continues to press for the release of individuals held, Americans held by the North Koreans, and press very hard behind the scenes using traditional methods like the Swedish. But, there's no, there's no agreement here. What I know is true is that the administration is continuing to press for the release of the other two Americans.

CAMEROTA: And why do you think, Jay, that he was released, that Jeffrey Fowle was released, rather than Kenneth Bae and Matthew Miller..

CARNEY: Well, that's an excellent question. I think that one reason may be that Kenneth Bae has been sentenced and he's serving hard labor, which is tragic, and Mr. Fowle wasn't. But, you know, it's hard to know because it's such an inscrutable regime. There's no place on earth more opaque than North Korea and Pyongyang and the reasoning behind the leadership. We have very little direct information about what happens and why decisions are made.