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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
President Obama Apologizes over Obamacare; Toronto Mayor Caught on Another Video; New Document Revealed New Detail on Teen's Death; In Document, Coroner Alleges Kendrick Johnson Crime Scene Has Compromised; New Jersey Mall Shooting 911 Calls Released; Second Suspect Arrested In Mississippi Murder Case; Senate Passes LGBT Anti- Discrimination Bill; FDA Moves To Take Trans Fat Out Of Processed Foods; What Could Be The Strongest Tropical Cyclone Ever To Make Landfall Hits The Philippines; Tunnel From Mexico To San Diego Built To Smuggle Cocaine And Marijuana Into U.S.
Aired November 07, 2013 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Web site went live and melted down. The president apologized for that and for failing to live up to the promise he made at nearly every step of the 2012 campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan. And you can keep it. You can keep it. You'll be able to keep your health care plan. If you like your plan, you can keep your plan. If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. You can keep your doctor. You can keep your doctor, too.
You will be able to keep your doctor. If you like your doctor, you're going to be able to keep your doctor. You'll be able to keep your doctor. If you've got health insurance, you like your doctor, you like your plan, you can keep your doctor, you can keep your plan.
Nobody is talking about taking that away from you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, that was the pledge, as you know, for several million people who are seeing their existing policies cancelled. The truth is somewhat different. Many will end up paying the same or less for better coverage, a significant number, though, might not.
Today Mr. Obama sat down with NBC's Chuck Todd who asked him about the people who now feel burned.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHUCK TODD, NBC NEWS: Do you feel like you owe these folks an apology for misleading them? Even if you didn't intentionally do it but at this point, they feel misled, and you've seen the anger that's out there.
OBAMA: I regret very much that what we intended to do, which is to make sure that everybody is moving into better plans because they want them, as opposed because they're forced into it, that, you know, we weren't as clear as we needed to be in terms of the changes that were taking place. And I want to do everything we can to make sure that people are finding themselves in a good position, a better position than they were before this law happened, and I am sorry that they, you know, are finding themselves in this situation based on assurances they got for me.
We've got to work hard to make sure that they know we hear them and that we're going to do everything we can to deal with folks who find themselves in a tough position as a consequence of this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Let's talk about it tonight with chief political correspondent Candy Crowley, host of "STATE OF THE UNION," CNN, Sunday, also chief national correspondent John King, and chief political analyst Gloria Borger.
So, Candy, an apology for the first time from the president for anything related to Obamacare and for the first time we've heard one about something other than the Web site. What do you make of it?
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I wonder how this will, as they say, play in Peoria simply because this may be too little too late. It's the other part of his statement, I think, that will eventually get all the attention.
You know, I grew up in the Midwest, my father had this saying when you went -- oh, I'm sorry, I didn't do this because, he'd say sorry don't get the hey in, meaning for East Coast translation an apology doesn't correct the problem.
I think we are at that point where the president has to do something and he having signaled that in this interview is going to have to accept some changes to something he didn't want to change.
COOPER: And, John, a number of, obviously, Republicans calling the president to fire Kathleen Sebelius. I was struck by what the president did not say when he was asked about that. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: Do you still have full confidence in Kathleen Sebelius?
OBAMA: You know, I think Kathleen Sebelius under tremendously difficult circumstances over the last four and a half years has done a great job in setting up the insurance markets so that there is a good product out there for people to get. You know, Kathleen Sebelius doesn't write code. She wasn't our I.T. person.
I think she'd be the first to admit that if we had to do it all over again, that there would have been a whole lot more questions that were asked in terms of how this thing is working but my priority now is to get it fixed, and, you know, ultimately the buck --
TODD: Is she still the right person to do it?
OBAMA: Ultimately, the buck stops with me. I'm the president. This is my team. If it's not working, it's my job to get it fixed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: He didn't say he had full confidence in her still. What do you read into it, John?
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, to his credit he said the buck stops with me, but he did have two opportunities to say yes, a simple one-word answer, yes, does she have your full confidence or does she have -- does she have your full confidence or is she still the right person? One-word answer, we're not talking about this tonight.
But the president is not going to give the Republicans a body at this moment. Is the -- is the president disappointed in probably everybody who works for him on this issue? He should be and he should be disappointed in himself as well because, as you just noted, he's the boss but in this highly charged political environment, if the president were to turn on Kathleen Sebelius right now -- Candy just made a great point. He's opened the door to legislative changes, right?
He's opened one door. If he opens another door, not only would he intensify the flames of this but, as Gloria was talking a little bit early today, you'd also have to put somebody else in the confirmation chair.
COOPER: Right.
KING: Not now.
COOPER: And, Gloria, the administration has said the Web site would be fully functional by the end of November. That's not what the president said tonight. I just want to play that, as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I'm confident that it will be even better by November 30th and that the majority of people are going to be able to get on there. Having said that, given that I've been burned already with a Web site -- well, more importantly, the American people have been burned by a Web site that has been dysfunctional, what we've also been doing is creating a whole other set of tracks, making sure that people can apply by phone effectively, making sure that people can apply in person effectively.
So what I'm confident about is that anybody who wants to buy health insurance through the marketplace, they are going to be able to buy it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: What do you make of that, Gloria? GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think he's pretty angry clearly about this, and I just got off the phone with a senior administration official who said, look, we're obviously right now just trying to look for solutions, so, you know, the Sebelius issue, I mean, firing Kathleen Sebelius right now doesn't help them find solutions.
I'm told the president in this interview talked about finding options for those 5 percent, the individuals, millions of people who had their policies cancelled. Maybe it won't come through legislation, Anderson, but maybe it would come through what was called an administrative fixes to me, which means go to those insurance companies and say, can you extend these policies through the new year to get these people through all of this so they don't have to go without insurance?
Which by the way is why we didn't -- probably didn't hear the president criticize insurance companies in this interview because he now is collaborating with insurance companies. He needs them.
COOPER: John, how important is that end of November date, though, for this administration?
KING: Well, it's another credibility test. They have admitted they screwed up, that they messed up the roll up. Now they say they have this emergency type text surge happening and the president was very clear there. He is not convinced it's going to be completely fixed. He was -- I don't think he could have been anymore more clearer --
BORGER: Why should he be? Right.
KING: -- that he does not expect it to be completely fixed. But they better get it damn close -- forgive my language -- to being completely fixed because, again, every -- it's not just what's happening. It's when it's happening. We're in this very sensitive political environment and the president is already at 42 or 44 percent approval rating.
The Republicans smell blood again, but, Anderson, the most important people here are Senate Democrats up for election next year. They only run once every six years, they don't have to run every two years. So they get nervous and they're looking at polling numbers. They're looking at -- an American public that is disgusted with anybody who has a title right now, and so the president sits back and says, be patient, in six months this will -- look a whole lot better.
They say, no, thank you, sir. And to Gloria's point, they don't want just administrative actions because they want to be able to go home and say, I made the president do this. So the Senate Democrats are very important here.
CROWLEY: Right. And more than that, Anderson, for every day or two or three or four or five days saying oops, people still having problems, it undermines the idea that people are going to go sign up. People -- that has been their biggest worry. They always knew eventually the -- they could get the computer and the Web site to work. The question was, who loses faith between now and the time they get to that point because they have to have people sign up or it's not going to work.
BORGER: And --
CROWLEY: So, you know, as that confidence gets undermined, if it isn't ready by November 30 --
COOPER: Right.
CROWLEY: -- in bulk, that's a problem for them.
BORGER: And when you talk to people in the administration about the -- and some Democrats are proposing this, about delaying the penalty, for example. The response is what does delaying the penalty do? That doesn't fix the problem for these millions of people who find themselves without insurance. So what the president is saying is, you know, I need to focus on that right now.
COOPER: Right.
BORGER: And he's right about that politically because these Democrats who are up for reelection are really getting burned on this.
COOPER: Yes. They certainly are. Gloria, thanks. John, Candy, as well.
Let us know what you think, follow me on Twitter @andersoncooper. Tweet using hash tag ac360.
Coming up next, man, what is going on in Toronto? Rob Ford's drunken rant caught on tape. This isn't the crack smoking video. This is another video. You'll see his mother's and sister's almost unbelievable reaction. A live report from Toronto and an analysis from Dr. Drew Pinsky as well.
You've got to see this video to believe it.
Coming up later, take a look at his. A picture of the largest storm in the world tonight and possibly in all of recorded history. A category five super typhoon big enough to cover the entire Eastern Seaboard. We're trying the get in touch with our correspondent who is right in the middle of it tonight, ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: The people who waited for the other shoe to drop from Toronto's crack smoking mayor, Rob Ford, well, they didn't have to wait very long. After admitting to smoking crack, quote, "in one of my drunken stupors," end quote, a video surfaced today showing at the very least one such alcohol fueled episode. We'll show you the video in just a moment.
The "Toronto Star" bought the video and neither they nor we know the precise context of it. Mayor Ford does not say, telling reporters only that he is embarrassed now and was, quote, "extremely, extremely inebriated when the video was made."
Again, this is not the crack smoking video. This is another video entirely. For many who have watched the video, the mayor seems more than extremely inebriated. Way more. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR ROB FORD, TORONTO: Because I'm going to kill that (EXPLETIVE DELETED) guy. I'm telling you, it's first-degree murder.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mike Tyson.
FORD: But I'll fight him. I'll (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give me the phone. I'll --
FORD: No holds barred, brother. He dies or I die, brother. Brother, you've never seen me (EXPLETIVE DELETED) go. You think so, brother? But when he's down I'll rip his (EXPLETIVE DELETED) throat out. And I'll poke his eyes out. I will, (EXPLETIVE DELETED), when he's dead, I'll make sure that mother (EXPLETIVE DELETED) is dead. I'll need (EXPLETIVE DELETED) 10 minutes to make sure he'd dead. It'll be over in five minutes, brother. If I'm done in 10 minutes, I'll --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After you win the bi-election.
FORD: It'll be a bad -- I am a sick (EXPLETIVE DELETED), dude. Like no one's going to (EXPLETIVE DELETED) around with me. My brothers are, don't tell me we're liars, thieves and birds? It hurts. That little prick's a racist (EXPLETIVE DELETED), daddy. (INAUDIBLE). It's personal. Like 80-year-old bird express.
This (EXPLETIVE DELETED), brother. I just need to go, (EXPLETIVE DELETED) by myself in my (EXPLETIVE DELETED) underwear. I want to go with this guy. I need 15 minutes, that's all. No (EXPLETIVE DELETED) interference, brother. If I win, I will (EXPLETIVE DELETED) donate --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These kids are pros, buddy.
FORD: Yes? No problem, bro. No problem. I need 15 minutes. I need 15 minutes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Too much time.
FORD: No, no, no.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Five minutes.
FORD: No, no. Not doing it for me in five. No, no, no, no. Not doing it in five. I'm going to prepare for it. I will call it. And I will (EXPLETIVE DELETED) be in that ring.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: That is the mayor of Toronto, Mayor Ford. A short time ago his sister and mother went on Toronto's CP24 speaking to reporter Stephen LeDrew.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATHY FORD, ROB FORD'S SISTER: Robbie is not a drug addict. I know because I'm a former addict or an addict, if you would want to say, and as an alcoholic, if you want to consider binge drinking, once every three months and you get totally plastered, which he just makes himself -- a fool out of himself and I've even asked him to leave my home at one time I was drunk. Fine.
DIANE FORD, ROB FORD'S MOTHER: It's not acceptable behavior. He is the mayor of the city. He knows that better than anybody.
STEPHEN LEDREW, CP24: You say he's not going to resign.
D. FORD: No, no, no.
LEDREW: He's going to toughen out --
D. FORD: Yes, he did what he did. He made a mistake. He's admitted to the mistake. Not a nice one, but he's done it but he has -- he's been to work every single day. He has not -- I mean, people want to say that oh my goodness, you know, he's ignoring counsel or he's -- he's ignoring his job at city hall.
LEDREW: Right.
D. FORD: He isn't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Diane and Kathy Ford talking to CP24's Stephen LeDrew.
The "Toronto Star's" Robin Doolittle has been writing and tweeting about this. She first broke the crack story. She joins us now.
So, Robin, good evening again. So tell us what you know about this video. I understand it was shot at a supporter of Mayor Ford's house, right?
ROBYN DOOLITTLE, AUTHOR, "CRAZY TOWN: THE ROB FORD STORY": Yes, I mean, the video is a little over a minute long. It seems to have been shot in the summer because there is a reference to a bi-election and there was a bi-election happening in the city at that time. And as you all saw, the mayor, he seems really out of it, hyped up, he's pacing back and forth, swearing, saying he's going to rip someone's throat out. He says he's a sick mother F-er. It's -- it had a lot of counselors saying that they were frightened.
COOPER: Your paper actually offered to show the video to Mayor Ford and his inner circle, before you released it in order to allow them to provide an explanation. They didn't take you up on your offer. Do you know why?
DOOLITTLE: That's very consistent with the Ford administration. The "Star" has been reporting on this mayor and his erratic behavior for well over a year and we broke in lots of stories about his drinking, his absenteeism from city hall, he's had frequent domestic incidents at his home. And we always give them a chance to comment before we publish and they have never taken us up on that.
COOPER: Really, until just, I guess it was yesterday, or so, the mayor never really even admitted to -- to having drunken stupors, right?
DOOLITTLE: No, I mean, we're talking about the alcohol now and saying oh, well, he was drunk, that's his excuse, but up until, you know, seven days ago, he has always positioned himself as sort of this clean-cut guy and our stories earlier this year about his staff wanting to get him into rehab were quite a bombshell at the time, and it's interesting now that his excuse is about well, look how drunk I was. I can't account for my actions.
COOPER: We just heard from - a little bit from Mayor Ford's mother and sister. For our viewers who don't really know this, maybe the viewers in the United States, can you give a little background on his family? I understand there's some pretty colorful characters.
DOOLITTLE: Yes, that was a completely stunning moment. We were all in the press gallery and suddenly CP24 came on and you saw Diane and Kathy Ford sitting there just for -- you don't -- if you're not following it, Kathy Ford has never really been seen publicly before. She has a very sad history. Her estranged husband shot her current boyfriend at the time back in 1998 and murdered him in front of their children.
In 2005 her boyfriend who was a heroin addict shot her in the head as she said in the video that she herself has struggled with drugs. She's not an elected official so the media tends to sort of stay away from that side of things but it was -- everyone's jaw just dropped when we saw that on camera.
COOPER: And you've, obviously, written a lot about this mayor, you've got -- I mean, he's admitted to smoking crack, alcohol fueled rant caught on tape. There's already on top of allegations of sexual harassment, repeated drunken episodes, statements that were questionable at best. What, if anything, will actually it take for him to leave office? I mean, is there -- there is no mechanism really in place, correct?
DOOLITTLE: Right, well, there's renewed calls at councilors to ask the province to have him removed. The premiere of Ontario is very unlikely to do that for political considerations, although city council might formally pass a motion asking her to do this, which would sort of give her some political cover to do it. It's still quite unlikely.
At this point everything is just changing so fast and there could be more videos out there. There are certainly more revelations coming. The police have a different video. It will come out at some point during a court case. There's hundreds of pages of search warrant documents related to a police investigation into the mayor's activities. It's hard to know how this is going to end. COOPER: Yes. It certainly seems day to day. Robin Doolittle, appreciate your reporting. Thank you for being with us.
I also want to turn next to Dr. Drew Pinsky, addiction medicine specialist and host of HLN's "Dr. Drew on Call."
So you see that video, Dr. Drew, there is obviously the video of him smoking crack which has not been seen publicly except that reporter had seen it. Is it hard to believe that these are just isolated incidents?
DR. DREW PINSKY, HOST, HLN'S "DR. DREW ON CALL: No, Anderson, please. First of all, I'm so fearful Robin in the last interview just said she doesn't know how things are going to end. I am so fearful that it's going to end with this man's demise. He has a very serious condition. Let's stop worrying about the crack. This guy is an advanced alcoholic. We now know he has a family history of addiction. You just saw the evidence of that.
We know he is a binge alcoholic to the point of -- complete stupor, and he's having profound consequences from his alcohol use and he's in massive denial. That is all criteria for alcoholism. He is heading down a road that is serious and it -- you can't imagine how frustrating it is as a physician to see people like his sister who's in full recovery making a distinction between alcoholism and addiction.
They are the same disorder. They are both deadly. Same part of the brain involved. Slightly different natural history, but the cultural myopia, the sort of -- the nearsightedness up in Canada to look upon this man's behavior as not a very serious and life threatening medical problem is driving me to distraction, I have to tell you.
COOPER: And we heard from those relatives saying well, look, he never missed a day at work but the fact -- and you said some --
PINSKY: It doesn't matter.
COOPER: You said something very important. One of the criteria for alcoholism is what -- I forgot the wording you said. Well, a significant impact on your life.
PINSKY: Yes, consequences.
COOPER: Consequences.
PINSKY: Consequences, and he --
COOPER: Clearly he has consequences.
PINSKY: He's having consequences everywhere. We're looking at the health consequences, we're looking at the work consequences, he's having relationship consequences, he's having legal consequences and he started to use other substances that alcoholics often do. His primary drug is still alcohol but let's not forget alcoholism is deadly and by several many different means, by the way. You're not dying necessarily of alcoholic liver disease. So this man is in danger. I don't think he should step down. I think this man needs urgent medical attention, deal with his job issues later as you would anyone else with a serious life threatening medical problem.
COOPER: So when he says, you know, multiple drunken stupors or just one of my drunken stupors, but I'm good to go, this isn't impacting my job, I can still do the work that needs to be done, you say that's just not correct, that's just not true.
PINSKY: That's not -- it is not correct, it is denial. It's -- and the fact that the culture surrounding will accept that. You're the guy that likes to drink to stupor, OK. The fact is, with men, particularly, the very last thing to go before the most advanced stages of addiction develop is the job. That's -- physicians get addiction. The place that they stop -- this fear of their life that is affected the last is their work.
Even though everyone around them knows there is a problem, they continue to function at work until things are really advanced then they fail at the job. And here is what's happening. He's failing at the job. So before he gets his job taken away from him, give him a chance to go get help then see what we've got on our hands here. You may have a great politician, you may have somebody that can flourish and do a great job. He deserves that opportunity but if he doesn't -- change directions, he's going to get taken out and I'm afraid this man is going to die.
COOPER: Well, also, you know, I was reading one news that the crack smoking video broke, you know, the mayor denied it and one of the excuses Mayor Ford used that he had a twin brother who has all kinds of addictions and it must have been him on the video.
PINSKY: Yes.
COOPER: Again, that's more family history there.
PINSKY: If he has a -- if he has a monozygotic twin, if he has a twin that's genetically the same as him, not a fraternal twin, then the twin has advanced addiction, the probability of this man developing advanced addiction or alcoholism is overwhelmingly likely. So if that -- if that twin story is in fact true then again more evidence of how series this thing is, this medical problem and this is becoming a circus. Please, somebody help this man.
COOPER: Dr. Drew Pinsky, appreciate your joining us.
PINSKY: Sure.
COOPER: Thanks very much.
PINSKY: You bet.
COOPER: For more on the story, you of course can go to CNN.com.
Just ahead, we have breaking news in the Kendrick Johnson case. A document just obtained by CNN's Victor Blackwell shows the coroner who did the official autopsy believed the crime scene was compromised and the investigation botched.
Plus the FDA puts Americans on notice and it's aiming to flat-out ban artificial trans fat. We're going to take a look at what that means for all of us, especially everybody who likes an occasional heart- clogging snack. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Now breaking news in the story that only gets more baffling with each passing day. It has been nearly 10 months since the body of 17-year-old Kendrick Johnson was found inside a gym mat in his high school gymnasium. Ten months and still no one can say how exactly he died and who is responsible, which is pretty remarkable considering there were 36 video cameras inside and outside the gym.
A judge recently ordered investigators to release those videos, but what we've seen 191 hours worth has only raised more questions. Last night we showed you this clip, you can see Kendrick then he disappears and other students inexplicably appear. Investigators say the videos haven't been edited or altered.
This image was taken by the only camera with the view of the mat where Kendrick's body was found. There was no way to tell who the shadowy figure is there on the left hand side of the screen. All the video from this camera is blurry for some unexplained reason.
Kendrick's parents have never believed that his death was accidental, which is what the official investigation found. Tonight documents just obtained by CNN's Victor Blackwell raised new and really troubling questions about that investigation.
Victor joins me now.
So you got a new document from the coroner who was involved in Kendrick's case. What did you find out?
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, you know, the Johnsons really wanted to get some details from that video, that blurry video just -- you just showed about how this investigation was handled. They say it was bungled at best, used as a cover-up at the very worst.
Well, we now have details from an official on the scene, the coroner, Bill Watson, about that investigation. Here it is. It's Coroner's Death Investigation report. I'm going to read from it. He writes, "The investigative climate was very poor to worse when I arrived on the scene. The body had been noticeably moved. The scene had been compromised and there was no cooperation from law enforcement at the scene."
He goes on to say, Anderson, that, "information necessary for my lawful investigation was withheld."
Now this is one version of the Coroner's Death Investigation report. This is another. This one was sent to us as a result of an open records request from the coroner's office, and it's -- it's signed and dated. This copy was given to us in May by the sheriff's office and again last week as a result of that law enforcement. It does not have the description that I just read nor is it signed by the coroner.
Two versions of the same report.
COOPER: Wait a minute, I have not heard -- I mean, this is stunning. There are two different versions of the same document and the official one that the police and others have given you doesn't have any of what the coroner said about compromised crime scenes, about lack of cooperation from law enforcement? It's basically a completely kind of white-washed version. Is that right?
BLACKWELL: Exactly. There are two versions. And the version that does not have the description was given to us twice by the sheriff's office, initially when we asked for documents in May and again last week as a result of the law enforcement. So of course, we called the attorney who represents the sheriff and the coroner, is the information true? Which information is with held? Why are there two versions?
This is the statement he sent us as a response to our request. In light of the U.S. attorney's review in this matter, the Lowndes County sheriff and the Lowndes County coroner will not comment further on this case. They will fully cooperate and respond to all inquiries to the United States attorney. They won't be responding to our questions in the future.
COOPER: I mean, the best possible explanation I can think of in my head is that they are basically just trying to cover their incompetent investigation according to the coroner, but you can also say they are actually trying to hide something beyond just incompetent investigation.
BLACKWELL: Once we found these two documents and saw the difference, again, this was just given to us last week and this one just a few days as well, two versions, but we wanted to give them the opportunity to explain. No explanation offered.
COOPER: The hours of surveillance you talked about? The family has asked the judge again to get involve with, how so? How do they want that?
BLACKWELL: Well, the attorneys say that they believe this video has been tampered with. They believe that's been edited and that one angle that shows the mat in the corner, they believe that has been intentionally blurred. You can't see the tops of the mats. Of course, that's where they say that Kendrick climbed in.
They are planning to file a lawsuit to ask a judge to take custody of the original hard drive from the school district so that they can hire a forensic expert in computers to determine if it's been tampered, if there are elements that were recorded and either edited or omitted in the passage of this information to the sheriff's office and of course, to the family and to CNN. COOPER: You know, we don't know any evidence about editing on these tapes, but clearly editing of those documents, you have two different documents. I mean, that's just stunning. I'm amazed by that, Victor, great reporting. We'll continue to follow it. Victor Blackwell.
There's a lot more happening tonight. Randi Kaye has the 360 Bulletin -- Randi.
RANDI KAYE, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, authorities have released the 911 calls from panicked people trapped inside New Jersey's largest mall when a lone gunman opened fire Monday night. Shoppers and workers begged for help, some even whispered fearing they might be heard by the gunman who took his own life, but didn't shoot anyone else.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: Somebody is shooting up Garden Street Plaza right now.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 OPERATOR: Somebody is shooting?
UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: Somebody is shooting up Garden State Plaza right now. I'm in the bathroom.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 OPERATOR: All right, stay on the phone with me, sweetheart. How many people are in the bathroom with you?
UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: Three.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 OPERATOR: Are they in the store?
UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: I'm inside the store, in the office with the door locked by myself, but I'm scared and I want to get out the mall. I'm scared and I want to leave.
UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: I don't hear any sirens here, please hurry.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE: A 360 Follow now, a second man has been arrested in connection with the deaths of this Mississippi family found shot in the woods. Investigators are trying to determine if the suspects had anything against the family or if they even knew them.
NFL Hall of Famer Tony Dorsett tells CNN his doctors believe he has CTE, the degenerative brain disorder. The former Dallas Cowboys running back says he struggles with memory loss and personality changes.
For the first time, the U.S. Senate has passed a bill that would protect gay, lesbian and transgender employees from discrimination at work. However, it's unlikely to be approved by the Republican- controlled House.
And Wall Street loves Twitter on its trading debut. Shares closing at nearly $45, that's almost 73 percent above the initial public offering price of $26 a share -- Anderson.
COOPER: A lot of people made a lot of money through that. Randi, thanks very much.
Up next, the FDA takes the first step towards banning trans fat, the ingredient found in cookies, pizza, and many things that taste good but aren't good for us.
Also ahead, breaking news, we're tracking a super typhoon, likely the largest tropical cyclone ever to make landfall in the world in recorded history.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Welcome back. Today, the FDA turned up the heat on artificial trans fat saying it no longer considers the heart flying additives to be generally safe in foods. Now that's a major policy shift, the first step in banning man-made trans fat from the nation's food supply. The FDA has been targeting trans fat, which turns up in a wide range of foods for years.
In 2006, the agency required nutrition labels to list the amount of trans fat in foods. You probably seen that on labels and since then a lot of companies have been phasing them out on their own and the amount Americans consume has been dropping. And yet the FDA is pushing towards an outright ban saying it could save thousands of lives every year.
I spoke about it earlier to senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Can you explain exactly what trans fats are? Why are they even using it in the first place?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. So trans fats are actually very simple, Anderson. It's vegetable oil and then you add hydrogen to it. And the reason why they are used -- when they discovered this, it was like the "eureka" moment because it was thought that these fats would be actually healthier than animal fats, which turned out not to be true. It's inexpensive and it's very stable. It doesn't spoil easily, so people thought it was a win, win.
COOPER: And what kind of foods are they in mostly?
COHEN: They in all sorts of processed foods, French fries, donuts, biscuits, cake frosting and a one of the biggest culprit is actually microwave popcorn, which I think is surprising to a lot of people.
COOPER: It does surprise me. So if the FDA enacts the ban, what happens to those restaurants and the food companies that used them? How does it work?
COHEN: They would just have to start reformulating and this is not an incredibly difficult thing to do. For example, in New York City, several years ago, they told restaurants you get to get rid of trans fats and they did it. It really wasn't such a huge deal. In the grocery store, they would have to reformulate and find other things, but you just switch out the trans fat and put in a different kind of fat.
COOPER: What about consumers? Would people actually notice the difference when prices go up?
COHEN: You know, it's interesting because in restaurants and big chains like McDonalds they stopped frying in trans fat quite awhile ago. Consumers didn't seem to protest. You know, they seem to think it was fine. They kept eating the fries. Taste-wise they won't notice. Sometimes grocery manufacturers have said the price would go up, but we would have to wait and see if that would be true.
COOPER: All right, Elizabeth Cohen, thanks.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: There is no timeline yet for a trans fat ban. The FDA said it will collect comments on its proposal for the next two months. Safe to say the food industry may give them an ear full. Michael Moss wrote the cover story "Broccoli's Image Makeover" in the most recent issue of the "New York Times" magazine. He is also the author of "Salt, Sugar Fat and the Food Giants Hooked us," he joins us now. Thanks for being with us. Does it surprise you that this is just happening now?
MICHAEL MOSS, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, "NEW YORK TIMES": It does absolutely because years, years, we have been hearing the trans fats are bad. They will not only be -- cholesterol level and public advocates have been fighting for years to get companies to come out and the companies themselves, many of them have been responding to consumer concerns, as well.
COOPER: If they are taken out, would a consumer notice? I'm drawn to a lot of like soft batch cookies and stuff, all of which would have trans fats, would I notice the difference?
MOSS: These companies have on staff the most genius food scientist out there whose job is to reformulate their products and that's really important point that your correspondent made, which is they are constantly reformulating usually to get the price down, but one ingredient the price goes up, they turn to scientists and say help us out or let's find another way of doing this.
They are very adept at being flexible to pricing and consumer concern. So as we speak, they are out there looking at other things alternatives to trans fats and no doubt, in some products fiddling with the amount of sugar, salt, because the bottom line, they are looking to maximize the allure of their products, the taste, the convenience, and the low price and they are incredibly good at that.
COOPER: I put it on Twitter who people think and a lot of people say it's a good idea and some people say this is a nanny state, too much. If I want to eat something that's bad for me, I should be able to. MOSS: I'm astounded to that. People don't seem to remember Sinclair and the jungle 100 years ago when he exposed the meat industry and contamination that was going in the meat industry. I'm baffled why people don't think there is that minimum responsibility of the government to make sure that we're not fed products that will make us sick, and the other thing, too, it's important to realize --
COOPER: There is a difference between contaminated meat and trans fats.
MOSS: Thousands of lives we're talking about is what the scientists believe, trans fats are putting at risk every year. They are thinking about regulation, here, too. You have to remember the food industry is incredibly fiercely competitive and there are among them companies that want to do the right thing and when they do it unilaterally. It's a difficult thing because competitors will swoop in and take their space on the grocery shelf, if for no other reason to give them coverage from each other and production from investors because they are incredibly beholding the profits.
COOPER: How quickly do you see this? It's inevitable.
MOSS: The FDA is timid about these things as well. They feel science is at their side. We're at a tipping point of consumer concern. More and more people are caring about what they putting in their bodies and the companies in the amazing moment where they need to start responding to that concern, whether the forced regulation or not.
COOPER: Interesting. Michael Moss, appreciate you being on. Thank you.
Up next, breaking news, a giant storm, possibly the strongest typhoon ever smashes into the Philippines. We're trying to reach out to our correspondent on the scene to get a live update given the strength of this storm.
Also ahead an exclusive report, Miguel Marquez, takes us down inside the bows of the earth a drug tunnel from Mexico to San Diego built by cartels.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Breaking news, what is likely the strongest cyclone recorded in history has hit the Philippines. It's already taking live, two, so far that we know about. Hard to imagine numbers will not climb. Thousands of people in the central part of the country were evacuated as this super typhoon made its way to the Philippines, made landfall with sustained winds of 195 miles per hour. It's the kind of wind you get with a very strong category five hurricane.
CNN international correspondent, Andrew Stevens is in the Philippines. We were going to go to him, but the conditions there are too dangerous right now. Let's get the latest from meteorologist, Chad Myers -- Chad.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: We're expecting an awful lot of damage. This is nothing, Anderson, like you and I have ever experienced not in the Atlantic basin at all, 195 mile per hour hurricane, which is essentially like a category four, an F4 tornado about 15 miles wide, going straight across the country right now and then F3, F2, F1 winds like a tornado literally although this is a hurricane.
The center of the hurricane, very strong winds, very low pressure and of course, an awful lot of rainfall that could cause flooding, and it is likely now, it is claimed now that this is probably, we're going to have to go through and figure it out, this is probably the biggest storm to ever hit land. There probably have to be storms over the ocean bigger, we just didn't see them or fly into them.
We don't know how big this truly is because there are no planes that fly into it. They don't fly planes into storms like we do here in America. I don't think I want to be in a plane wind doing 195 and gusts 235. It is moving fast, moving 25 miles per hour, the next stop is probably the North China Sea and then eventually, South China Sea right into Vietnam, that's the next stop for this storm and there will be no stopping it.
There is nothing in the way. It will keep going as a category four hurricane typhoon cyclone. They are the same thing, just different oceans and different surname. Hurricane is a cyclone is a typhoon. It just depends on where it is.
COOPER: How long will it be on land for?
MYERS: It's moving very, very fast. It really is cruising. It came on shore probably three hours ago, moving to the west at 25. I can see it going 30 miles an hour as far as it's already moved. Our reporter right there under the A in Tacloban City. It would eventually be another six hours and then back into the water away from the Philippines.
The great news about all of this is that the populated, the truly densely populated area is up here, Manila, Luzon Island, up here to the north. This will miss that by 150 miles. The death toll would be astronomical had this 195 mile-per-hour storm gone over Manila.
COOPER: All right, Chad, unbelievable, our thoughts and prayers with all the people in the Philippines obviously right now.
One quick note, in my interview with Dr. Drew Pinsky, I asked what Mayor Ford said about a twin brother. They said he didn't say that and he doesn't have a twin brother. I want to correct that error and apologize.
Coming, we are going to get an exclusive look inside a newly discovered elaborate drug tunnel stretching between San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico. Miguel Marquez takes us inside next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Tonight, a 360 exclusive, a tour of an underground tunnel that stretches from Tijuana, Mexico to San Diego. Federal officials say it was built by the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel to smuggle drugs from Mexico into the U.S. It's not a simple hole in the ground. A lot of thought, time, money and manpower went into constructing it. It's 600 yards long, six football fields long, deep, contains lighting, ventilation, tracks to ferry shipments of cocaine and marijuana. Miguel Marquez tonight takes us deep inside.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the non-descript warehouse where this latest drug tunnel was found. This was the cover for this particular drug operation toys. They would move them from this warehouse to another far into the state of California. This is the plug for the tunnel, simple stuff, just a very heavy piece of cement on a big wire connected to a man that could pull it up. This is the tunnel, down this hole and 600 yards away is Mexico and a whole other world. This is the air system.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Correct and this is the --
MARQUEZ: This would go to the Mexico side?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, and you can see it not done really well. They have a power system to use for the spade and lighting.
MARQUEZ: And for lighting. So this is the sled on mining tracks they would move dirt out of the tunnel and drugs across the tunnel. They would have gone 1,700 feet, six football fields into Mexico to bring it into this area here.
(voice-over): The tunnelers weren't exactly on target as they dug.
(on camera): I take it, Joe, they came up here, thinking they were inside the warehouse and this is just outside the warehouse?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are absolutely 100 percent correct. Yes.
MARQUEZ: They -- how many times did they miss their targets?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That we can see, they missed it like about three times.
MARQUEZ: Digging through clay, the estimate it took about nine months and up to $2 million to construct. They get one shipment through, it worth it. You must assume one of these tunnels is always at some stage of being built.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We do. We operate on that.
MARQUEZ: We're 35 feet, 40 feet below the ground now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Correct.
MARQUEZ: And this was dug clearly with pretty rudimentary tools of some sort.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely. These that you see here are exactly the markings that a numatic spade, a hand held tool would do. The other tools we found down here believe it or not are a pick ax and a shovel.
MARQUEZ: This is amazing. You descend and when you get here it a hole.
(voice-over): Tunnels like this ever more important in the drug trade as border security increases, Mexican drug cartels have to work harder.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are pushing them literally into the air, under the ground and into the ocean.
MARQUEZ (on camera): Despite this being a sophisticated tunnel, it's not as sophisticated as they have been. There are rough stairs up to the surface here. Presumably they say there would have been an elevator. You can really feel the lack of oxygen, as you make your way in through it. It's quite an experience.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Miguel Marquez joins us. I was in a tunnel a couple years ago that did have an elevator. Was this tunnel finished? Did it have drugs moving through it?
MARQUEZ: It was technically finished. They had some drugs moved through it, but the agents knew where those drugs where in another warehouse. That tunnel was packed jammed with drugs, cocaine and marijuana from the U.S. side all the way to Mexican side. Clearly, there was a jam up in the distribution system for those drugs.
It is harvest season in Mexico. They expect shutting down this drug tunnel is only going to create more pressure to either build another tunnel, bring it in over ultra lights or in boats farther up the coast of California. It's going to be a very, very interesting year.
COOPER: It's amazing. Miguel Marquez, thanks very much.
That does it for this edition of 360. Thanks very much for watching. We won't have a repeat of 360 at 10:00. In fact, CNN films has a new movie, "PANDORA'S PROMISE" starts now. Hope you enjoy it.
