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Jimmy Carter Talks about Cancer Battle; D.A. Andrew Wylie Gives New Information on Sweat, Matt Prison Break. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired August 20, 2015 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm John Berman. This is CNN special breaking news coverage. Just moments ago, candid and incredibly at ease, former president Jimmy Carter opened up about his health and a new serious battle with cancer. Mr. Carter says that four spots of melanoma were found on his brain. He begins radiation treatment for that today. Doctors made the discovery after removing a cancerous tumor from his liver. This was the president's reaction after he learned that the cancer had spread.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY CARTER, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I felt that it was confined to my liver and that they had -- the operation had completely removed it, so I was quite relieved, and then that same afternoon we had an MRI of my head and neck, and it showed up that it was already in four places in my brain. So I would say that night and the next day until I came back up to Emory I just thought I had a few weeks left, but I was surprisingly at ease. You know, I have had a wonderful life. I have got thousands of friends and I have had an exciting and adventurous and gratifying existence, so I was surprisingly at ease, much more so than my wife was.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Surprisingly at ease. And I have to say, if you had the chance to watch this full news conference, it was simply arresting, the poise, the grace, the intelligence with which the former president talked about his prognosis. It was astounding.

Here to discuss right now is Dr. David Spiegel, director for a lung cancer research program and a medical oncologist. Also joined by CNN's presidential historian, Doug Brinkley.

Let's start with the medical news. Four spots of melanoma on the brain. We did not know that until a few minutes ago. He begins radiation treatment for that in a few hours. What does that mean, spots of melanoma on the brain, and what is generally speaking the prognosis.

DR. DAVID SPIEGEL, MEDICAL ONCOLOGIST & DIRECTOR, LUNG CANCER RESEARCH PROGRAM, SARAH CANNON RESEARCH CENTER: You know, in general, we hear cancer in the brain and we think the worst and it's never a good thing but in this case I was encouraged these spots are small. He mentioned two millimeters in size. That's about the size of the tip of a ball point pen. These are spots that often we'll just watch if patients aren't having symptoms. In this case his radiation oncologist, who actually is a friend, a very good doctor. He's in great hands, will probably treat that with a focal form of radiation therapy. Sometimes we use the term radio surgery but this is no cutting. It's often one or two treatments and then you're gone. He'll have four treatments spaced out over several weeks. I think he will do very well with that.

BERMAN: Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us right now, our chief medical correspondent.

Sanjay, you were in that room, and before I get to the medicine here, let me just ask you about the experience itself, because watching from afar here as I just said, it was arresting to hear the ease and the peace with which this former president spoke about the cancer and the battle he now faces.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. I agree, John. It felt that way in the room as well. He walked in punctual as always, he's known for that, a pair of jeans, a sports coat and tie, and sat down. Made a couple jokes initially and then got right to it and described it in a lot of detail. Wasn't looking at notes really and just described what has been going on with him over the last several months. There were a few months that were as you say arresting. At one point he said when I first heard about this I thought I had just a couple weeks to live. That was hard to hear, and I think that there was definitely a hush in the room when he said that as well. But he also talked about the fact that he's now going to pursue this aggressively. He started a type of chemotherapy as you were just hearing, a sort of boosting of the immune system drug, and he's going to start this radiation this afternoon. He had to have a mask fitted to his face because this is a type of radiation that will pinpoint these lesions in his brain. So he's very much moving forward. It was a long press conference, took a lot of questions, but it was an emotional one I think as well.

BERMAN: Sanjay, let me ask you this and I'll get to the doctor in a second on the subject. The former president said he's going to step back from some of his day-to-day responsibilities at the Carter Center and the work he does for Habitat for Humanity. He's going to step back a little but he's still going to stay engaged some. He's still going to be part of meetings. He still wants to focus on what the center and his charity work, what it's doing. Is it reasonable, Sanjay, to think he can stay involved while engaged in this medical battle? He's 90.

GUPTA: I think so. You know, he's 90, but he's an active 90, John. I think we have talked about this, age in terms of chronological years obviously important. Age, in terms of your physiology, much more important. There are 50-year old who act like 90-year-olds and vice versa. He's been moving around. He planned to go to Nepal, John, this fall for Habitat for Humanity. Take a plane to Kathmandu and another plane further south. He said he still wants to do that if he can coordinate it around his radiation treatments. He certainly wants to do these things. He's proven he can, even at his age. I think right now it's a question of doing these things without interfering with his treatments. He is going to pull back a great deal he said from the Carter Center, but he clearly has a lot more to do.

You know, one thing I can tell you, a moment from the press conference, one of the things he's known for is the fight to eradicate guinea worm. It's a terrible disease in many parts of the world. He said, "I hope the last guinea worm dies before I do." He was making a little joke, but it gives you an idea of just how focused and passionate he remains about these things.

[11:35:49] BERMAN: Dr. Spiegel, another thing we got an idea was just how smart president Jimmy Carter has been. He's been politically controversial at times. I don't think it's ever been a question about how intelligent the man is. It sounded like he could be a cancer surgeon. It sounded like he could be an oncologist. Part of the reason is because of a serious family history.

SPIEGEL: You bring up a good point. You know, he's an important part of the team, so he defers -- he mentioned in his press conference he has a radiation oncologist, but he's a patient and a former president. He'll be important in making the decisions. He's well-read in his own family's medical history. He knows a lot about cancer and medicine and health care and has worked at the Carter Center. One of the challenges as a provider is kind of getting out of the room. You want to be in the room and talk to him all the time and get his thoughts on things. So I'm very hopeful for him.

BERMAN: He has an interesting time ahead of him. His family history is with pancreatic. I know he was concerned it had spread to his pancreas. No sign of that.

Doug, you have written extensively about the president over the years. I suspect you were probably the least surprised of anyone to see the poise with which he is now facing this battle.

DOUG BRINKLEY, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Absolutely. Wasn't surprised at all. It's the way Jimmy Carter is. He mentioned the pancreatic cancer in his family -- Mr. Earl, his father, died of it; his mother, Miss Lillian, who worked for the Peace Corps; his brother, Billy; his two sisters, Gloria and Ruth -- all died of the pancreatic cancer. Some think it was because of the pesticides that were sprayed in Sumter County, Georgia, when Jimmy Carter was away in the Navy. He writes letters all the time, even now, around the world asking for political prisoners to be released, documenting human rights abuses all over the world. Only Eleanor Roosevelt has injected the concept of human rights into our global parlance with the dignity and equality of Jimmy Carter.

BERMAN: And now many of that correspondence being returned to Jimmy Carter. He noted how he's spoken to the presidents still alive in the last several days. The Bushes called. He said the Secretary of State John Kerry called. And it's the first time they've spoken in a while. He was joking because, right now, President Carter's foreign policy not always in line with the current administration.

Douglas, he spoke at this point, as he's 90 years old, facing this cancer battle, reflectively about his life and about his career and about his regrets. And there was this remarkable moment in this news conference where he spoke about the Iran Hostage Crisis, which was perhaps the -- it was the low point of his presidency, one of the low points for the United States, period, and he spoke about the failed hostage rescue. Let's listen to that sound bite.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And anything you wish, I'm sorry, that you had not done or that you had done differently?

CARTER: I wish I had sent one more helicopter to get the hostages and we would have rescued them and I would have been re-elected.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: He went on to say, you know, if he had to choose the Carter Center over being re-elected, he would use the Carter Center. And then he went on and joked again, maybe I could have had both though. It was interesting to hear him talk about that, Douglas, because it was such a raw time in his career and in this country's history.

BRINKLEY: Well, he desperately regrets that, that hostage rescue mission didn't work. One thing we have to keep in mind because people do a backhanded compliment to Jimmy Carter, you're a great ex president, which means you weren't a good president. In truth, it's all one in the life of Jimmy Carter. Without his presidency, if he didn't put human rights into the forefront of State Department policy as president, he wouldn't be able to be the human rights warrior, who goes on to win a Nobel Peace Prize. If he didn't do the Panama Canal treaty as president, he wouldn't have been able as ex president in 1989 to say General Manuel Noriega ran a fraudulent election in panama and have all the Panamanians believe Jimmy Carter. If he hadn't recognized the People's Republic of China -- Carter did that, not Nixon and Kissinger -- and created a relationship with the president, he wouldn't be able to go now and election monitor this China like he's done in recent years. He was the first president, sitting president, to go to Africa while president when he went to Nigeria. He had denounced apartheid when he was president. So it's all part and parcel, the presidency and the post-presidency, of an extraordinary American life dedicated to honesty, decency, and democracy everywhere on the planet.

[11:11:00] BERMAN: Very notable at this time. And, Doug, we have to be careful not to eulogize him, because he made clear he's not done yet. He has much more work he wants to do.

Doctor, let me go finally to you. I asked about the prognosis and you said it's strong, it's bright potentially. But again he is 90. He's talking about radiation on the brain and he's talking about cancer. They don't believe it spread anywhere else but there might very well be more cancer cells in the body.

SPIEGEL: Ultimately, it's hard when you're talking about an advanced cancer. Doesn't matter where it's from. If it has spread to different places, in general, we associate that with a poor prognosis. I have to admit, there was a little bit of a relief when I heard of the actual diagnosis, melanoma, because we have had such breakthroughs in the last several years --

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: We think of melanomas as a skin cancer.

SPIEGEL: That's right.

BERMAN: So how does it end up on the brain?

SPIEGEL: Cancer can spread through the bloodstream, through the lymphatic stream, the same system that our immune cells travel through. What's been exciting, John, has been the number of breakthroughs in what would largely be regarded as a cancer that couldn't be treated. Traditional therapies, chemotherapy, radiation, are very are on patients. But just in the last few years, therapies to boost your own immune system to fight cancer are showing great results in melanoma. In fact, at our major cancer meeting this past June, we saw results with the very drug he was discussing allowing patients to live longer, to live better than we've ever seen before with traditional therapies. I'm very optimistic.

BERMAN: Dr. David Spiegel, Douglas Brinkley, and Sanjay Gupta, who had to go, thank you all for this. I think we're about to see a very public battle with cancer. Former President Jimmy Carter begins to reveal it this afternoon.

We have more breaking news. Just moments ago, the man who pulled off the daring prison escape in New York, he appeared in court for the first time since his capture. We have it on camera. See what happened inside and the prosecutor there getting ready to make a big announcement.

Plus, a city on edge. Bottles, brick, tear gas as police and protesters clash in St. Louis. Is there more violence now in store?

And then the joyful tortoise becomes the slightly aggressive turtle. Jeb Bush with a new strategy against Donald Trump. Will the now eagle-taming billionaire unleash his talons, or some equally threatening animal metaphor?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:16:44] BERMAN: Breaking right now, let's go to Plattsburgh, New York, where the district attorney of Clinton County is giving a news conference about that prison break we saw a couple months ago in that region. New information coming out right now. This is D.A. Andrew Wylie. Let's listen.

ANDREW WYLIE, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, CLINTON COUNTY, NEW YORK I'm not sure if he's been out here yet or not, but you'll have the opportunity to speak with him and his office is located here in Plattsburgh just on the other side of the building. He is a court-appointed attorney for David Sweat. The maximum sentences that the court could impose with David Sweat is a three and a half to seven-year indeterminate sentence on the promoting prison contraband. All three are Class D felonies. So it is once again a three and a half to seven-year indeterminate sentence. Those sentences could be imposed consecutive to each other. The sentences in whole would have to be imposed consecutive to the sentence that Mr. Sweat is currently serving. We all know that's a life without parole sentence at this point in time. But those are the sentences that the court could impose along with a $5,000 fine on each charge should he be convicted after trial of those matters or after a plea is entered by Mr. Sweat.

It's a little windy here. You all know I have somewhat of a difficult time hearing on the left side, so if you guys are going to get a question in, just ask me that, I'll try to address those. And we'll take a few questions at this time and if you don't have a copy of the -- hold on. If you don't have a copy of the indictment and you don't get one here, we can e-mail you that. Just send an e-mail to us at da@co.Clinton.ny.us.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: For the people who are just watching now and wondering why a guy who has already been sentenced to life without parole would be processed, charged --

(CROSSTALK)

WYLIE: Right.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What's the point?

WYLIE: The point is that David Sweat and Richard Matt committed a crime in Clinton County. They committed a crime of escape in the first degree and it's my job as the prosecutor in this county to prosecute the people that commit crimes within this county, and that is the bottom line. He committed a crime here in this county, and I am prosecuting him for that crime.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You said --

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Could he get further punishment behind bars, extra solitary confinement?

WYLIE: The status of a new conviction for escape in the first degree, promoting prison contraband could result in the Department of Corrections treating him in a more severe way than they currently would had he not escaped. As we know he was in an Honor Block in Clinton Correctional Facility up through June 5th, 2015, and in the early morning hours of June 6, 2015, it was discovered that he and Richard Matt had escaped from the facility. So he would be subject to those conditions that the Department of Corrections would establish and set on him, which would be special housing. He's currently, I believe, in special housing now limited to 23 hours a day in his cellblock with a one-hour time period out of it, his immediate cellblock.

[11:20:28] UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Can you tell us what happened in the judge's chambers, and in the courtroom, you looked over at him a couple times, you finally got your man. What did you see when you looked over at him? WYLIE: Let me address the second part. And it's not a situation of,

you know, getting my man, because I prosecute people that commit crimes in this county, as I said earlier, and that's what I was elected to do and I will continue to do that. Yes, actually, Jay Cook is the person who got my man. And he is the person who needs to be credited for that, the incredible work that each and every law enforcement agency did, but in particular on that day in June in Franklin County where Sergeant Cook was able to observe, recognize, and then apprehend David Sweat. That's the man that needs to be recognized.

Regarding your first question -- I'll go back to the second, too. And, you know, David Sweat, my observations of him are he's obviously -- you notice he was in a sling today. And it's my understanding in speaking with officials he's still recovering from the gunshot wounds from the time he was apprehended. And that's a medical condition that's being continued with treatment for those gun shot wounds. He was cooperative. He was -- in dealing with the arraignment process today, he did not speak at all. I did not speak with him during that period of time.

Relative to the court calling us into --

BERMAN: You have been listening to Andrew Wylie talking about charges that he just filed against David Sweat. David Sweat is the inmate, the convict, who escaped from the Clinton County Correctional Facility back in June, I believe it was, and was since captured, shot in the process. The new charges include escape in the first degree and promoting prison contraband. And just moments ago, Sweat appeared in court, our first chance to get a look at him inside a courtroom since he was captured. And the judge entered a not guilty plea on escape in the first degree, which is interesting, in and of itself, also a not guilty plea on the promoting prison contraband charges.

Alexandra Field joins us live from Plattsburgh, New York, where this has all been happening -- Alexandra?

ALEXANDRIA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, John. It's the first time we've seen David Sweat in court, certainly, a change of pace for him. He has been kept in a prison a few hundred miles southwest of Clinton County where he escaped back in June, and he's been in solitary confinement since he was released from the hospital and brought to that other prison following the escape and his capture when he was shot twice in the torso.

When we saw him walk into the courtroom this morning with a number of guards surrounding him with his attorney by his side, he was shackled at the feet, he had shackles around his waist and his wrists were shackled. He had a sling and some kind of brace on his arm. You heard the district attorney saying he was still recovering from the gun shot wounds. He did nothing in particular to draw more attention to himself in any way. He only spoke once saying three words when he acknowledged to the knowledge that he had elected to have an attorney represent him as this case proceeds forward.

And you heard a little bit of the breakdown from the district attorney saying that these are charges that could come with a three to seven- year sentence which would be served concurrent to the life sentence without parole that David Sweat is already serving. There have been a lot of questions about why you might bring charges in a case like this. The district attorney said convictions on these counts would be helpful to the Department of Corrections as they try to ensure the most maximum conditions of confinement who will be in prison for the life. There's a separate hearing at the prison he is in to determine how exactly he will be kept, what kind of housing, again solitary confinement he's been in for weeks now.

BERMAN: Alexandra Field for us in Plattsburgh where we did get our first look at David Sweat, looking like he has pretty much recovered from that gunshot wound.

Joining me now is Jean Casarez, who covered the story from the beginning; also Tim Williams, the chief inspector for New York's Fugitive Task Force.

Jean, what about the criticism that the D.A. responded to, which is, why bother? This guy is in prison serving life without parole and now they're going through this legal process to get him on this escape charge, which he pleaded not guilty to, which is strange in and of itself, and the contraband charge.

[11:25:06] JEAN CASAREZ, CNN ANCHOR: And he could have pleaded guilty. He had an opportunity at the arraignment. First of all, every defendant is going to want their case overturned. Every defense attorney would like their case overturned. The life in prison without the possibility of parole, if it would be overturned, he would be out on the street. So this protects that, even though it's a mere seven years, and if it's consecutive terms, it could be 14 years. But it protects that. And the fact is he committed a crime. And it actually cost the taxpayers of New York $58 million in overtime, $23 million in total, this manhunt, and I think justice in the eyes of the prosecutor, and I think the state of New York needs to be served.

BERMAN: Tim, one of the things the D.A. said is that if he is convicted, it would allow them to treat him in a more severe way in confinement. I mean, what would that be? I have a hard time thinking that there's anything not severe right now about how he's being confined.

TIM WILLIAMS, CHIEF INSPECTOR, NEW YORK'S FUGITIVE TASK FORCE: Well, I think, you know, it was said before he was in custody 23 out of 24 hours in the cell. That takes away a lot of freedoms and certainly those are the kind of things that they look for in these types of escapes. That's what leverage they have to get those individuals and this is a wake-up call to prisons across the country, federal, state, local, private institutions, and actually internationally that, you know, these individuals have nothing better to do than think about ways to get out of there and, unfortunately, insiders, sometimes employs and New York State Corrections is a very -- it's a great organization. They have great people there, worked with them quite a bit over the years. They do not -- it doesn't stand for the individuals they hire. They have top-notch people unfortunately a few bad apples, but it's a wake-up call around the country and around the world, escapes in Mexico, similar tactics.

BERMAN: You mentioned leverage. That's really the only unanswered question, did they have more help inside the prison. What were the conditions that allowed this escape to occur? And there is a special investigation going on right now. Does any of this, any of this new prosecution, any of the confinement details involving Sweat, does any of that help with the investigation into how this was allowed to take place?

WILLIAMS: I'm sure it does. I mean, the investigators are going to comb through everything. They want to make sure that anyone that was involved in assisting these individuals with the escape are going to be prosecuted. They want to make sure that everyone -- I'm sure there's going to be training in place and there will be lessons learned from this that the institution will take as far as they're going to want obviously this individual to cooperate, give them as much information on anything that has occurred in the escape and any individuals that were involved.

BERMAN: All right. Tim Williams, Jean Casarez, thanks so much for being with us. Appreciate it.

WILLIAMS: Thank you.

BERMAN: I have more news for you. Violent protests erupting in St. Louis after police shoot and kill an 18-year-old man. Then officers and protesters clash. We'll take you there live.

Plus, Donald Trump says he could force CNN to pay $10 million or he could refuse to attend the next debate. What's going on here? We'll tell you why.

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