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New Day

Stomping Out Bullies; Washington Post Reporter on Trial; Special Report Looks Back at 35 Years of CNN. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired May 26, 2015 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:33:00] MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, here we go with the five things to know for your new day.

At number one, 37 Texas counties are now under a state of emergency after record-setting rain and wide-spread flooding. So far it's blamed for six deaths in Texas and Oklahoma. Twelve people remain missing.

The Iraqis launching an operation to reclaim territory from ISIS, including Anbar province. The city key of Ramadi already surrounded on three sides.

A violent Memorial Day weekend in Baltimore. Police reporting 30 people shot, seven of them fatally. The murder rate up 47 percent in the city this year.

In Iran, the first session is over in the espionage trial of "Washington Post" reporter Jason Rezaian. He's accused of spying for the U.S. Allegations the State Department calls absurd.

The daughters of blues legend BB King claim he was poisoned to death by close aides. Police say there's no evidence to support their accusations, but they are taking the claims seriously.

For more on the five things to know, be sure to visit newdaycnn.com for the latest.

Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Mic.

When Michael Silvia was a teenager, he witnessed a tormented classmate shooting another student after being bullied. Now that deadly incident always haunted the "Stomp" cast member. So now he's using it to impact your world. And if you want to learn more, and you will after this. Go to cnn.com/impact. Here's the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO (voice-over): After 10 years traveling the world with the hit show "Stomp," Michael Silvia decided to shift his focus to a younger audience. But Silvia didn't just want to perform for students, he wanted to use his skills to teach an important lesson. MICHAEL SILVIA, THE AWARENESS THROUGH ARTS FOUNDATION: The real reason

why we're out here is to talk about bullying. Who knows what bullying is?

CUOMO: The motivation behind Silvia's message is personal.

SILVIA: In high school, somebody brought a gun to school, shot one of my friends. This kid was getting bullied, and he saw no other option other than to go grab a gun and bring it to school and stop the bullying.

CUOMO: Two students died that day and several were injured. This stuck with Silvia and led him to create The Awareness Through Arts Foundation. His mission, to use music and dance to get kids to express themselves about bullying.

[08:35:09] SILVIA: Hey, I'm there to let people know that it's OK to speak up. If you are getting bullied, if you are the person bullying, it's OK to go talk to somebody.

Who likes to dance?

CUOMO: And he doesn't just want to show up once a year for a single assembly. Silvia's next goal is to create after school programs and curriculum that he can give to schools free of charge to keep the dialogue open year around.

SILVIA: I don't want them to go home and just play on their video games. I want them to have creative outlets. I want them to think. To also be able to complement each other.

Good job!

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: "Impact Your World," stories of people giving back. Volunteers of America helps more than 2.5 million Americans each year. Help us help America's most venerable. Visit voa.org to learn how.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY BOURDAIN, CNN: Are you happy here?

JASON REZAIAN, "WASHINGTON POST" REPORTER HELD IN IRAN: Look, I - I'm at a point now, after five years, where I miss certain things about home. I miss my buddies. I miss burritos. I miss having certain beverages with my buddies and burritos at certain types of establishments. But I love it. I love it and I hate it, you know, but it's home. It's become home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:40:25] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Well, that was "Washington Post" reporter Jason Rezaian talking to Anthony Bourdain in Iran last year shortly before Rezaian was arrested and thrown in jail, accused of spying by the Iranian government. This morning, Rezaian's trial began. And joining us now is Jason Rezaian's brother, Ali Rezaian.

Ali, thanks for being with us on NEW DAY.

ALI REZAIAN, HIS BROTHER JASON REZAIAN ON TRIAL IN IRAN: Thank you for having me, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, so we understand the trial of your brother began this morning. It ended about four hours ago. It only, I think, lasted a couple of hours and then was adjourned. Do you know what happened in that courtroom?

REZAIAN: You know because the trial is closed to the public, you know, essentially a secret trial, it's illegal by Iranian law for anybody to divulge what's going on in there. You know, what we do know is our expectation was that they would be reading the charges to Jason and that he would have probably some opportunity to respond to that. His lawyer was present with him and that was it. Both my mother and my sister-in-law went to the court hoping that they would be able to go in there, but because they closed the court, they were not able to go into the trial. They sat there and basically waited all day.

CAMEROTA: And just to remind our viewers what happened, your brother and his wife were arrested in Tehran last July for what authorities said was spying. And, of course, that's a charge that you and your family, as well as "The Washington Post," vehemently denies. So why do you think Jason was targeted?

REZAIAN: You know, I think it's really hard to tell. It's a very complicated situation over there. You've got different factions within the governments that have their own political agendas and go about trying to get them in different ways than we do over here. You also have, you know, kind of the larger conversation about the bilateral and the multilateral conversations that are going on. You know, we are not really sure why. What I can tell you is, Jason was always the most meticulous journalist in Iran. He knew that he needed to play by the rules, follow the rules. In fact, his credentials were just renewed the day before they came and took him off to prison. So it just came out of the blue.

CAMEROTA: According to "The New York Times," the Iranian government presented two pieces of evidence in - during the trial. They said that they had an American visa application for Jason's wife, as well as a form letter sent by Jason to Barack Obama's 2008 White House transition team offering help to improve relations between Iran and the U.S. Do you think either of those are evidence of spying?

REZAIAN: Well, in my opinion, of course not. Both of those are consistent with what we believe were parts of the case file, but I don't know what was presented in trial. What I can tell you is Jason was trying to get a permanent residency for his wife, which is, you know, kind of pretty standard procedure. And as a result, he reached out to the U.S. consulate in the area where he would have to go to do all his paperwork and asked them to expedite the process. That was - that was the extent of that particular conversation. And then during the transition, before President Obama was sworn in,

Jason filled out a form letter online saying that he had knowledge of the Iranian culture, he had been living over there, and he really wanted to help our countries understands each other better and offered his help to basically become part of the administration and was hoping to be able to get a job to help bring the countries together and not be so adversarial.

CAMEROTA: Your brother is now the foreign journalist who is held - been held longest in Iran.

REZAIAN: That's correct.

CAMEROTA: What do you know about his health?

REZAIAN: You know, we know that he's been isolated for the entire time. You know, at this point he's got a cell mate and that's really the only person that he interacts with besides the guards and when his interrogators come along. You know, over the course of the time he's had multiple different issues, including a variety of infections that went untreated for, you know, well over a month in each case, to the point where they had to take him out of the jail to go and get, you know, specialists to look at them. We're very thankful that they did that because we were really concerned that there would be long-term damage to Jason. You know, we still don't know the extent to the damage that's happened to him while he's been inside, but we do know that mentally it's very difficult for him because of the isolation that he's had day in and day out for 10 months.

CAMEROTA: Oh, absolutely. Have you or your family been able to receive any help from the State Department?

[08:44:55] REZAIAN: You know, we're in communication with the State Department. You know, they speak with the Iranians. They make requests, as well as sending requests through the protecting power of Switzerland. But, you know, those conversations have been ongoing and continue to go. You know, President Obama speaking out about it a few weeks ago at the Correspondents' Dinner, I think shows a commitment of the government as well as the Senate resolution that passed two weeks ago unanimously calling on the U.S. government to do everything in its power to get Jason and the other Americans released.

CAMEROTA: Ali, we understand the hearing ended today without any other future date for a next hearing, though one will be assigned, we assume. What do you want people listening to do to help?

REZAIAN: One thing that I would love for folks to do is to go onto change.org/freejason. There is a petition there that you can sign, we have got nearly 450,000 people have signed it from 140 countries. On social media, you can go to #freejason and follow the story. Folks that want to reach out to their congressmen, their senators, there is a process for that. And we have also got some information up there about reaching out to the Iranian Ambassador to the UN.

CAMEROTA: Ali Rezaian, thank you for being on. We obviously will watch this story closely. REZAIAN: Thank you very much for having me.

CAMEROTA: Best of luck.

Let's get over to Chris.

CUOMO: Here is a happier headline for you. In just a few days, CNN is going to mark a milestone. Stand (ph) power, baby. Through thick and thin, we have been with you for 35 years. A look back at the biggest stories we have taken you to with the man whose face should be on a CNN coin. Anchor Wolf Blitzer, the captain, joins us next. There he is. Give us the coin face.

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[08:50:22] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I dedicate the cable news network.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Approximately four shots were fired at the president.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: For 35 years we have been everywhere.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One pocket of turmoil in the Egyptian capital.

BLITZER: And every story, 35 years of --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: CNN.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: CNN.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: CNN.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN ANCHOR: CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Just a little look there. 35 years of broadcasting here at CNN as we approach the anniversary of our very first broadcast, that would be June 1st, 1980. My co-anchors were not even born yet. But CNN is going to air a one hour special tonight looking back at some of the biggest stories with personal accounts by the people who actually covered those moments in history. The special is going to hosted, of course, by CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer who joins us now. 35 years. What does it mean to you, Captain?

BLITZER: I have been blessed to be with CNN now for 25 of those 35 years, so it's great. Just going through all those 35 years and helping a little bit to put this piece together tonight, this one-hour special that we are going to do, brought back so many memories, not only for me, but I am sure when everyone watches it, all the news junkies out there, everybody will remember some of the biggest stories of the past 35 years. I think it will be a powerful hour for anybody who has the time, the inclination. If you can't see it live, DVR it tonight because you will be impressed.

CAMEROTA: And Wolf, we do have an example. Of course, CNN has been the gold standard for breaking news for all of these years and here is a moment, the breaking news about the first Gulf War. Let's watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB FURNAD, FORMER CNN EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT: We have now been on the air 20 minutes.

PETER ARNETT, FORMER CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Now, these sirens are sounding for the first time. The Iraqis have informed us --

FURNAD (on camera): And the line goes dead.

They just cut the line!

(on camera): Everybody is stunned and it's totally silent and you can feel the tension in that room.

(voice-over): And of course, our biggest fright was that the bomb had hit the hotel where they were.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello, Baghdad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The line is dead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: "The line is dead," you hear, and they didn't know where the bomb had hit.

BLITZER: It was really a dramatic moment and it really put CNN on the map, our coverage of the first Gulf War, especially when the air war started on January 17th, 1991. I was the Pentagon correspondent, the military affairs correspondent at the Pentagon, and I was very aware of the enormous pressure that was put on Ted Turner, who was the founder of CNN, Tom Johnson, who was then the president of the CNN, by General Colin Powell, who was then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, by the President of the United States, to get those reporters, John Holliman, Peter Arnett, Bernie Shaw, out of Baghdad, because that Al Rasheed Hotel, where they were staying, that was a target for the U.S. airstrike.

And they made a decision, together with the photojournalists, the producers who were there, we really stayed behind, we had a fore wire, which was some sort of communication device that allowed them to report live on that first night of the air war, that first night of the war, and I was reporting from the Pentagon, but like so many other people, millions of people, hundreds of millions of people around the world, I was so worried that these journalists at CNN in Baghdad were going to be killed and thank God that they got out okay and they did an amazing job reporting what was going on.

PEREIRA: It's really incredible when we look back at this other footage and you just were recalling some of the stories that we've covered at CNN, and I am taken back to when I was a kid and watching some of these moments play out.

Wolf, you know, I know the faces have changed, we're new faces to the network, and a lot of changes have happened, but the fact is, breaking news has been the bread and butter for the 25 years you have been here and for the 35 years that CNN has been around.

BLITZER: Right, I mean, it's absolutely true. When there is a huge breaking news story, whether the first Gulf War, whether what happened in Boston at the Boston Marathon, what happened on 9/11, CNN is there, will go nonstop. As Bob Furnad, you just heard him say, he was one of our executive vice presidents, he was in the control room talking to all of us, you know, we blow out all the commercials and we go. This is what viewers here in the United States want, viewers all over the world. We have an enormous reach.

And when Ted Turner founded CNN and created it on June 1st, 1980, he didn't only want it to be a 24/7 cable channel in the United States, he wanted it to be worldwide and it's become, obviously, that. Take a look at how many 24/7 news channels there are on television nowadays. They are local, national, international. He had a brilliant idea and it has really paid off.

CUOMO: Well, there may be a lot of channels, but there is one CNN, Wolf, and because the people that we're going to see in the special tonight and you as well. CNN remains gold standard when it comes to telling people what they need to know no matter where -

(CROSSTALK)

[08:55:06] BLITZER: Let me just add one thing. I just posted on CNN.com a sort of personal first-person reflection on that first Gulf War, so if you go to CNN.com, I think it's entitled "The Whole World is Watching." Check it out, let me know what you think.

CUOMO: Will do.

CAMEROTA: We can't wait to watch tonight, Wolf. Thanks so much.

PEREIRA: Thanks, Wolf.

CUOMO: The CNN Special Report, "BREAKING NEWS: 35 YEARS OF CNN" airs tonight, 9:00 Eastern and Pacific. Share your CNN memories online using #CNN35.

CAMEROTA: "The Good Stuff," next.

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CUOMO: How did you mark Memorial Day? One man is marking it by putting the finishing touches on his very own Vietnam War memorial. Gulf War vet Steve Conto is from Wisconsin, he started building his replica memorial in his yard three years ago to honor those who fell from his state. He started with just a few counties, now he's accounted for the names of every Wisconsinite lost to the war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) STEVE CONTO, BUILT REPLICA VIETNAM WAR MEMORIAL ON HIS LAWN: I have been blessed by a full life, they were denied being fathers, being husbands, grandfathers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[09:00:04] CUOMO: The memories matter. Steve's memorial will be open to the public in his yard through May 30th.

CAMEROTA: Wow.

PEREIRA: So beautiful.

CAMEROTA: That's great. I'm sure he'll get a lot of visitors. Alright, thanks so much for that. Now "NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello.