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Senator Flake's Unusual Vacation; Friday's Tornado In El Reno Upgraded To An EF-5; Winning Tuesday Streak On Wall Street May Be Coming To An End
Aired June 04, 2013 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Republican Jeff Flake has proven he's a political survivor, but it turns out the Arizona senator is also quite adept at wilderness survival.
Senator Flake and his two teenage sons recently returned from a remote pacific island where they to catch their own food, sleep under the stars in hammocks and, oh, yes, avoid the sharks.
CNN's Brian Todd spoke with Senator Flake about his most unusual vacation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They speared crabs in the surf, spear- fished off breathtaking reefs, subsisted on when they caught, plus coconuts for four days.
They marooned themselves on a deserted Pacific island, and lived to make a most excellent video out of it.
This isn't "Survivor," and while this guy may look like Matthew McConaughey, this isn't Hollywood's latest summer blockbuster either.
This is Jeff Flake, Republican senator from Arizona on a survivalist trip last week with his two youngest sons, 15-year-old Tanner and 13- year-old Dallin.
What is the inspiration for this?
SEN. JEFF FLAKE (R), ARIZONA: Four years ago, I took a similar trip about 20 miles from here, just to a different island, and stayed for seven days and seven nights.
My first thought after getting off that island was where's a cheeseburger. And the next thought was this would be a lot more fun with my kids.
TODD: Just getting there was ambitious. From Phoenix, to Hawaii, to Kwajalein Atoll (ph), to the tiny, 1,000-foot-wide island of Biggarenn. It was 10,400 miles, roundtrip.
What did they bring with them?
FLAKE: We brought no food and no water. We brought some de-salinater pumps to pump sea water.
TODD: Plus a lobster trap that was lost to a shark.
One of those apex predators also provided the Flakes with their most dramatic moment.
FLAKE: I speared a grouper, quite a big one, and it wriggled the spear out of my hand, and I had to dive down 20 feet to retrieve the spear with the fish on the end of it.
By that time, four sharks had closed in on the fish, and we were about 50 yards out, but we didn't want to lose our meal, so we grabbed the spear and Dallin and I hightailed it for shore and with the sharks in pursuit.
TODD: They made it back safely.
Sleeping under the palms and stars in hammocks might seem to most of us like the best part. Nope.
FLAKE: The best part was actually every night we had to pump water for about an hour and both boys would sit down with a pump in their hand and the lead would be put in the ocean and we'd just watch the sunset.
And there were no cell phones, obviously, no texting, no distraction.
TODD: Flake and his wife have five children. The two oldest are married. The middle one's in college.
During the last campaign cycle, Flake wasn't around much and promised this trip to his two youngest boys.
What does your wife think of all this is and is this going to be a Flake family tradition from now on?
FLAKE: You know, she was obviously worried at the dangers, but she valued the time that I would be able to spend with the boys more than the risks there, and so she was a good sport about it. She says, I'll go back to that island when there is a hotel on it.
TODD: In fact, Senator Flake says that the last time he did this, four years ago, he got some very good advice from his wife. She suggested he keep a journal and share it with the media to quell any skepticism about the trip.
That's because that came just around the time then South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford was caught lying about a supposed hiking trip on the Appalachian Trail when Sanford was really in Argentina with his girlfriend.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Brian Todd, thank you so much.
And we're going to talk here in moments, once we get his signal worked out, Les Stroud, who is the "Survivorman." And he'll talk to us about, you know, what he's endured being left alone in the wilderness for weeks on end, and if this is something people really should try to do.
So hang tight for that. We're working on that.
Meantime, some of the hottest stories in a flash, "Rapid Fire." Roll it.
In Turkey, the government is offering a rare apology after days and days of clashes between protesters there and police. Demonstrators were back in Ankara and other cities today, even as the deputy prime minister admitted police used excessive force.
Two people have been killed now, hundreds others injured. Earlier we spoke to a witness who told us she's troubled by the government's policies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YUDIT NAMER, WITNESS TO TURKEY PROTESTS (via telephone): We are actually -- protesters here are actually concerned about this governments' actual interventions in people's daily lives, like abortion rights or medical practices in child delivery or couples kissing, hugging in the street. It's just (inaudible), one after the another.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Also developing today there, public sector unions are joining forces with the protesters.
Are you looking for some past episodes of Bubbled Guppies or Team Umizoomi? Am I saying that right? If you are, you know what I'm talking about. You are in luck.
Amazon and Viacom have struck a new multi-year video deal. It'll bring Prime Instant Video customers exclusive and unlimited streaming access to popular kids' shows, and also to top-rated shows from MTV and Comedy Central.
How about this today? We learned from the National Weather Service that Friday's tornado in El Reno, Oklahoma, was the widest U.S. tornado on record.
They have also increased the storm to an EF-5 in the aftermath.
Those impacted talking about the damage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOBBIE STEENBERGEN, HOUSE DESTROYED BY TORNADO: I guess it was our time. And so, you know, we just have to take it one day at a time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: The National Weather Service released this updated graphic showing the path, the area of destruction. So if you can kind of follow it there, you see that little red line to the right part? That is the maximum width and intensity of this particular tornado.
So we said it was the widest. It was 2.6 miles wide, officially becoming the widest in U.S. history on record.
Officials in Oklahoma are still looking for five people who are missing. Six children and 12 adults were also killed in the storms.
And this is a story about the senior class trip that never got off the ground, ever got off the ground. One-hundred-one students and eight chaperones from this Brooklyn high school were booked from a New York- to-Atlanta AirTran flight early Monday.
Parent company Southwest Airlines says the group violated safety regulations. Some students admit a delay in turning off their cell phones, but one chaperone calls the incident, quote/unquote, "a mountain out of a mole hill."
Coming up, markets have been on quite the tear lately. And if there is one thing we know, the Dow has been having a love affair with Tuesdays apparently.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, did you know this, has posted gains every Tuesday for the past 20 weeks. Minutes to spare until that closing bell here, will the streak end today? Let's hope not.
We'll go live to the New York Stock Exchange to find out.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: The winning Tuesday streak on Wall Street may be coming to an end. With just about 20 minutes to go before the closing bell, stocks are deep in negative territory.
From the New York Stock Exchange, I'm Alison Kosik and this is "Your Money."
The Dow is trading lower by about 40 points right now. Leading up to today, the Dow has closed higher for the past 20 Tuesdays in a row, gaining 1,500 points in the process. That's about double the increase we've seen on Fridays, the next best day for the market.
There are lots of theories on why Tuesdays this year have generally been a winning one for stocks. Some say it could be mutual funds not clearing their weekend orders until late Monday or early Tuesday.
Others say algorithms recognize the trend and buy on Tuesday. It has become a self-sustaining phenomenon.
Some say people just don't like Mondays, so when stocks fall on Monday, Tuesday is a natural reversal, while others say there is just no rhyme or reason at all to it.
As for today, analysts say the pullback could just be a continuation of the big drop we saw on Friday, or investors putting their money out ahead of the May jobs report coming at the end of the week.
There are also still worries that the Federal Reserve could pull back on its stimulus measures sooner than hoped.
One share that is making progress today, General Motors. Shares of G.M. are up about one-and-a-half percent right now.
This week, the automaker is making a return to the S&P 500 after getting the boot when it went bankrupt in 2009. It will replace Heinz, which is going private.
That's it for me. Watch "Your Money" with Christine Romans, Saturdays at 9:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Eastern, or Sunday at 3:00 p.m.
Brooke Baldwin is coming back after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: So we showed you a couple of minutes ago this tremendous survivalist trip that U.S. Senator Jeff Flake took, this adventure, 10,000-miles roundtrip to this teeny-tiny deserted island.
Kind of reminded us, actually, of an episode of "Survivorman" on The Discovery Channel.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LES STROUD, "SURVIVORMAN": This inside of the sprouted coconut shell, I guess it's the liquid solidified. Anyway, it is juicy, delectable treat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: This is an incredible show, and this is a guy who know how to survive. This is expert Les Stroud.
He has been all over the world. He has survived some of the toughest, most unforgiving places alone.
Anyone who watched his show knows that fortunes can turn in an instant and really mean the difference between life and death.
And Les Stroud joins me now from Muskoka, Ontario, here. So, Les, thank you for joining me and, first off, when you heard about the senator's trip to this deserted island with his two sons, what was your reaction?
STROUD: Well, my reaction was somewhat lame, I guess. It's like, yeah, OK, I get it.
It's a little bit of a glorified camping survival trip, I guess, but, yeah, I get it. I get what they're doing. BALDWIN: Help me understand. I guess the closest I've been is hanging out in the jungles of Guatemala for a couple of days with no running water.
It's one thing to filter your water. It's quite another to spear- fish, to deal with heat. I'm sure there are so many variables, no communication.
How tough is that? You know.
STROUD: Well, if you're talking about the realistic version of it, it can be extremely tough. And it's tough psychologically. It's tough emotionally. And the physical is really the third part of it, not the first part.
So it all depends on how the senator and his sons really approached it. A lot of people are starting to do this kind of thing, and there are many ways to approach it. And some can be a little tougher than others, that's for sure.
BALDWIN: So that's what I wanted to ask you about because, apparently, this is a trend. You know this, that more people -- I bet you have people all the time, Les, who come up and say, hey, I want to do this.
And when you think of the senator, sure it was a great bonding experience with his two boys. What do you tell people, if they want to do this?
STROUD: Well, you know what? It would be like -- if you watched on television -- if they're doing it because they see my show and they see "Survivorman" and think, I'm going to go do that, if you watched a downhill ski jumper for the first time on TV and you watched them do the jumping and you'd never strapped on skis, you're not going to go out the next day and do the jump.
If you watched an NHL hockey game and have never put skates on, you're not going to go on the ice the next day with the NHL players and say, and don't hold back.
Survival is no different. You don't watch a survival television program and then just go out there and survive. I didn't start doing "Survivorman." I'd spent a good, solid, longer than 15 years practicing, training, and teaching before I ever thought about spending time out there alone.
You have to venture into something like wilderness survival very well- prepared, very well-skilled and knowing what you're getting yourself into.
BALDWIN: So then quick final question, to use your analogy of the downhill skier, what is the green slope, no moguls, easy-when-you-fall kind of trip to take?
STROUD: Training. There is -- because of the -- because of everything that started when "Survivorman" got on air, the courses are everywhere. There's great teachers, great courses to take. That's where you start.
You go out there with other students and other people, and then you learn how to do things properly.
Then after a while of getting that skill-set, you can start thinking about doing things alone or just completely on your own with your kids.
BALDWIN: Les Stroud, awesome having you on. You watch him on "Survivorman." Thank you, sir. Appreciate it.
STROUD: My pleasure.
BALDWIN: Coming up, for the very first time, we're now getting the audio. We're hearing the voice of Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
He is talking to his mom on the phone, and his mother is sharing that conversation. We'll share it with you, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Just in to us here on CNN, for the very first time, the audio recordings, the voice of the Boston bombing suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, calling his family in Russia last week from this federal prison he's been in in Massachusetts.
His mother is the one sharing that phone conversation, and CNN is just getting the recording. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DZHOKHAR TSARNAEV, BOSTON BOMBING SUSPECT (via telephone) (translated onscreen): No, of course not. I'm already eating and have been for a long time. They are giving me rice and chicken now. Everything's fine.
Everything is good. Please don't say anything."
ZUBEIDAT TSARNAEV, BOSTON BOMBING SUSPECT'S MOTHER: I felt like he would scream that -- you know, what's going on? He would ask the world, what's going on?
But Mama -- instead, he was just calming me down. You know what I mean? He was trying to calm me down. Mama, you don't worry about anything.
Yes, of course, Tamerlan and I would pray because it is an obligation. That's our religion. If not we pray, then what Muslim we are. So that's what Tamerlan used to tell to Dzhokhar, you know?
We are not Muslim, we cannot call ourselves Muslim if we don't thank our Allah five times a day a it's written many Koran.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: That mother continues to insist her sons are innocent and that they're being framed for the bombings.
A Detroit police officer kills a little girl during a raid on a home, all while part of the filming of a reality television show, and today in court the video from the event was released for the very first time.
This was May 2010. Officer Weekley was being filmed, as we mentioned, for A&E's documentary-style TV show called "The First 48."
His team burst into that house searching for a man wanted for murder, and during that raid, his gun went off, shooting seven-year-old Aiyana Jones. She was sleeping on her couch.
Officer Joseph Weekley is now charged with involuntary manslaughter. And to talk about the case is CNN legal analyst Sunny Hostin.
So how will this clip, Sunny, impact the case?
SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, I think, certainly, there is an impact because it's rare that when the government is alleging a crime was committed that you have a video of what the government alleges happened. And so I think, certainly, it's crucial evidence.
But I also think it's evidence that could be very difficult for this defense because this is a high-pressure situation. We can see that just by looking at the video. I've been on drive-alongs and that sort of thing. And I think the addition of cameras adds another layer of pressure on to this type of situation.
And so I suspect that the jury will also consider that. Did these officers act differently because they were being filmed? Was there a bit more aggression involved because they were being filmed?
I can't imagine that that won't be argued in closing arguments.
BALDWIN: Interesting point, I hadn't even thought about that, how that could alter one's attitude and behavior, having just a camera present.
HOSTIN: Sure.
BALDWIN: Sunny Hostin, thank you very much.
HOSTIN: You bet.
BALDWIN: Coming up, a prehistoric breakthrough, not one, not two, three triceratops. Would be -- just kidding.
Found under the earth on a ranch in Wyoming, we will tell you why this discovery has everyone in the scientific community talking and how these dinosaurs met their fate, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: For all you paleo-philiacs out there, the remains of not one or two, but three triceratops have been found near Newcastle, Wyoming. A rancher spotted the skeletons and led scientists to this site.
In case you've forgotten, the triceratops was a three-horned -- thus, "tri-" -- plant-eater.
At least one of the three sets of remains is almost completely intact. How amazing is that?
The scientist here, Peter Larson, saying this discovery is unprecedented. So three triceratops in Newcastle, Wyoming.
That does it for me today. Got a bunch of interviews we're going to put on the Brooke Blog. Go to CNN.com/Brooke.
And now to Washington. "The Lead With Jake Tapper" starts now.
