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Tropical Storm Andrea; Woman Found under Building; Government Tracking Phone Calls; Surf is Rough; Chrysler Announces SUV Recall; Reunited with a Hero; Van Slams Through Taco Bell Window; Romney Reflects on Return to Privacy; Poll: Lukewarm Support for Obama Care; Politico: Brewer Backs Obama Care; Paris Jackson Hospitalized for Overdosing and Cutting Her Wrist; Dr. Murray Sent Message to Paris After Hospitalization; Banning Words at a Trial

Aired June 06, 2013 - 13:00   ET

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

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SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Hurricane force winds, heavy rain and possible flooding. Tropical storm Andrea takes aim at Florida. We're going to take you there live.

And, pulled out alive. Rescuers found this woman under the rubble of a building collapse after being trapped for more than 12 hours. Plus, a U.S. spy agency could be tracking your phone calls. That is right. It's legal.

This is CNN NEWSROOM, and I'm Suzanne Malveaux. We start with this, right now the first named storm of the hurricane season bearing down on Florida. Tropical storm Andrea expected to make landfall in the big bend area that -- over the next few hours. It is already bringing high winds, a lot of rain, some damage to Florida's west coast.

Alina Machado, she is standing by. This is in Clearwater, Florida. What are you seeing?

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Suzanne, some good news to start off with. It's amazing what a difference just a couple of hours makes. As you can see, it is still pretty windy but the sun is out. Things have calmed down considerably.

Earlier today, when we came out to Clearwater Beach to survey the damage and see how things were, there were heavy downpours. Those heavy downpours caused some localized flooding like what I'm standing in. And this is about half a foot of water here near the shoreline.

Now, you can see behind me, people are out here enjoying the rough surf. There is very rough surf. We've seen families. We've seen children out here. We've seen people with their surfboards out here. This is very unusual for this beach. Typically, this beach, the water here is very, very calm. But, as you can see, it's rough right now. The beach is open. There is a lifeguard at the lifeguard station. There is a warning flag up. But so far, they feel like conditions are improving and this beach is remaining open -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right. Stay safe. We'll be keeping a close eye on you there. You've got your CNN gear on ready to go. We'll bring -- we'll bring you back in a little bit. Thanks.

So, check this out. If you're a Verizon customer, right, the federal government might actually have your number and the numbers of the people you have been talking to. That is according to "The Guardian" newspaper, the government asked for and got a secret order requiring Verizon to turn over millions of phone records. So, a lot of people upset about this, privacy advocates simply outraged. But lawmakers from both sides of the aisle say this is a legal tool that is used to track terrorists.

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SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CHAIRWOMAN, INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: As far as I know, this is the exact three-month renewal of what has been the case for the past seven years. This renewal is carried out by the FISA court under the business record section of the patriot act. Therefore, it is lawful. It has been briefed to Congress.

Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R), GEORGIA: And it is simply what we call metadata that is never utilized by any governmental agency unless they have -- they go back to the FISA court and show that there's real cause as to why something within the metadata should be looked at. So, that's, I think, been very clear all along for the use of this program. It is proved meritorious because we have gathered significant information on bad guys, but only on bad guys, over the years.

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MALVEAUX: I want to bring in our Dan Lothian at the White House. Dan, there are some people who are very angry about this. They're using words like (INAUDIBLE.) They're saying this is blanket surveillance of all of our phone calls here if you use Verizon. This is not the kind of thing we saw under President Bush where it was calls to and from overseas to the United States. But this is just, you know, between folks here in this country. How does the administration kind of explain this expanse, if you will?

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Right. And, you know, some would say that the reason for that is because we've seen sort of home grown terror network, lone operators like what we saw happening in Boston recently. And so, there is a need, some would argue, for this kind of effort to deal with this homeland threat, as opposed to in the past where it was looking in or listening in on conversations that were perhaps originating in the United States but headed overseas.

The administration very careful in how they're responding to this. I should point out that Josh Earnest, the principle deputy spokesman, will be gaggling, giving a background briefing with reporters a short time from now aboard Air Force one as the president heads out to North Carolina. But earlier, a senior administration official not confirming, not denying the existence of this order but pointing out in a statement that, quote, "information of the sort described in "the guardian" article has been a critical tool in protecting the nation from terrorist threats to the United States." Again, making the case that what we're talking about here is not listening in to any private conversations, but metadata where it's location or a phone number but not the actual conversation that's taking place.

As for Verizon, they have not officially yet commented on what is going on here in this operation, this order. But there was an internal memo that CNN did get a hold of. And in that memo, Verizon saying that, quote, "They continually take steps to safeguard its customers privacy, nevertheless the law authorizes the federal courts to order a company to provide information in certain circumstances, and if Verizon were to receive such an order, we would be required to comply." What's a little fuzzy there though is as according to the FISA guidelines, they do have a process by which they could appeal the legality of something like that. So still, even more questions surrounding what they did.

MALVEAUX: And I think a lot of people just surprised that they discovered -- they realized that the government actually legally is able to do this kind of thing.

Dan, thank you so much.

LOTHIAN: Right.

MALVEAUX: We appreciate it.

LOTHIAN: OK.

MALVEAUX: We actually had a chance to talk to some Verizon customers, get their reaction. What do they think about what's happening here? The government tracking their phone calls and here is how they responded.

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MARY JACKSON: I guess I would just want to know, you know, what the purpose of it is, you know? And then once I could know what the purpose of it is, then maybe I would be OK with it.

SHAWN BELL: I think it's a huge invasion of privacy. And I think it's very scary because, you know, what will that lead to next?

GERI CORNELL If It's helping them to find terrorists or to prevent things from happening, absolutely I would be willing to give that information but I think it should be requested.

DONNA MACK: Who knows what they're going to do with it or whose hands it will get into? No. I don't agree with that at all.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: And Verizon released this statement to its employees saying that they cannot comment on whether or not "The Guardian's" report is accurate. That is coming from Verizon.

We are also following this. Rescuers now in Philadelphia, they are hoping that they can finish up this search for survivors. Yes, survivors of that collapsed building. They hope that this happens this afternoon. Right now, they're still looking for any signs of life amid the rubble. The mayor, Michael Nutter, says that crews have searched about 75 percent of the site where you see there it was the site of a four-story building toppled onto the adjacent Salvation Army store. What happened? We saw this unfold yesterday. Six people died from that collapse, 14 were rescued, many of them pulled from the rubble by witnesses immediately after the collapse. Watch this.

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HAROLD CORBIN: We were on top of the roof pulling them out. They were on an angle where the building had divided where there was just a narrow space to climb in to help because when we got there, all you could hear was, help, and maybe see a hand or something through the rubble. And that's when the guys kicked in. They ran straight up, jumped and started moving stuff.

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MALVEAUX: That's real heroics there. The mayor, Michael Nutter, he is promising a wide range investigation, of course. Don Lemon, he is in Philadelphia. And, Don, it was really extraordinary. I mean, you've been covering this for the last, you know, 12 to 24 hours here. And there was somebody at midnight, right, who was pulled out alive? Is that right?

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, 12 hours after -- 12 hours after a 61-year-old woman pulled out of this rubble and then taken to the hospital at the University of Pennsylvania. She is in critical condition right now. Amazingly though, she was the only person who was not able to walk away, to get up and walk on their own volition, I should say, from this -- from this construction accident or demolition accident. You know, the mayor said, just a short time ago, that, you know, 20 -- they need to search 25 percent more. They've searched a bit more than that since he had the press conference earlier.

But we are seeing firefighters on the scene here. And we are hearing that, you know, they're hoping that everyone is out of there but they may -- there may still be other people in there. As a matter of fact, they are searching now for another possible person, another possible body sadly inside of all this rubble. But there it is going on. And the reason -- I'm wearing the glasses not because I'm reading anything here, these are my reading glasses, because there is so much dust in the area. Every -- pretty much everyone around here is either covering their eyes or put on sunglasses or glasses just to keep all of the dust out, so that's what the firefighters and the rescuers are up against here. And, again, searching the back part of that building. And that wall that you see still standing, the south wall, Suzanne, they're concerned about that. They're trying to shore that up because they think that it is in jeopardy of collapsing as well.

MALVEAUX: And, Don, real quickly here. You said they're still searching. Do they believe that they could find someone who has survived? LEMON: They do believe that they may be able to find, hopefully, someone who survived. They think everyone is accounted for, but they're not sure. You've heard the mayor say it, they're not sure how many people were inside the building because this happened on a public street, people were walking by, there's traffic. There were customers in the store, don't know how many. There were employees in the store as well so they're not sure. They think everyone is accounted for but they just want to, you know, double check and recheck about that.

And then also interesting news on the investigation that we will -- our Susan Candiotti will follow-up a little bit later on for "THE SITUATION ROOM" here on CNN.

MALVEAUX: OK. Don, thank you. We appreciate it.

This is interesting. Just after announcing it would fight a request to recall almost three million of its Jeep -- rather Grand Cherokee Liberty SUVs, Chrysler now announcing a recall of other Jeep models. So, the company says now that more than 400,000 Jeep Patriot and Compass SUVs from model years 2010 to 2012 are being recalled over sensor activated restraint systems. The company says the vehicle's side air bags and seat belts and air bags might not work properly during slow developing rollovers. Now, Chrysler says it's not aware of any injuries or accidents that are caused by that issue. The company is also recalling more than 200,000 2012, 2013 SUVs over a problem with power steering component as well as premature wear. All of that happening with Chrysler.

Here is also what else we're working on for this hour, racial profiling. Want to be a cop? Learn why George Zimmerman's lawyers want those and several others phrases banned from the trial. And he was one of the most watched men, of course, in the world. So, what is it like now for Mitt Romney now that he's out of the spotlight? We're going to hear from him next. Plus --

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my god. Look at you. Look at you. I'm so glad we found you.

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MALVEAUX: That is so nice. Such an emotional reunion. This is the Boston bombing victim meeting the woman who saved her life.

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MALVEAUX: You are looking at surveillance video of a minivan crashing into a Taco Bell in Ohio. You can see this here, the van almost hitting this woman and this man walking inside. Six people suffered minor injuries. Police say the 36-year-old woman driving that minivan might have been experiencing a medical emergency. Close call there.

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MALVEAUX: You're looking at surveillance video of a minivan crashing into a taco bell in Ohio. You can see the van almost hitting this woman and this man walking inside. Six people suffered minor injuries. Police say the 36-year-old woman driving that minivan might have been experiencing a medical emergency. Close call there.

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MALVEAUX: Mitt Romney ready to get back into the conversation about politics, America's future as well. He is also reflecting on life out of the spotlight. How quickly all that attention fades. Romney hosts a conference in Utah starting today. In an interview with our Gloria Borger. He talked about this sudden return to private life after losing the presidential election.

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GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: What it's like one day to be one of the two most-watched people in the world? And, then the next day wake up in the morning and you're off to the Costco, you know, loading the groceries in the trunk of your car. What -- Can you describe what that's like? That's sudden shift?

MITT ROMNEY, 2012 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We lived our entire life, if you will, in privacy, like most people do. And, then there was this extraordinary period of a year or so when we were highly visible and there's a secret service around you wand people are getting everything you want, you're in your hotel room. You can't even leave your hotel room.

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They put exercise equipment in my hotel room, so I could exercise because I couldn't go down to the regular exercise room without being photographed. So, you're in that kind of a very public bubble for a while. And, then when it disappears, and it disappears overnight. When you lose the election, it's just gone. Snap, it's gone. And, it's back to where you were before and that feels right.

MALVEAUX: Fascinating interview. You can see more of this today on "the lead" with Jake tapper beginning at 4:00 p.m. Eastern and on "The Situation Room" with Wolf Blitzer starting at 5:00.

Americans not sure whether or not Obama Care is the right prescription for the nation's health care system. This is just months before the program is expected to fully kick in. So, in a CNN/ORC poll, 43% say they favor the health care law while 54% oppose it. But, got to understand the context here, a big chunk of the opposition is from people who say the law does not go far enough. That it's not liberal enough. I want to bring in Candy Crowley, anchor of CNN's "State Of The Union." Candy, good to see you as always. Give us a sense of what these poll numbers mean here. What do you think about that?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: People are still not sure whether this is going to be a good or bad thing. As we know, the implementation of kind of the negative side of this, if you will, and that is the how to pay for it side, is beginning to kick in. I mean, it's a 2014 is the big year it should be fully implemented. And, you know, the rubber's going to hit the road here. Does this work or doesn't it? In general people have been -- Americans have been pretty split about whether they like it or don't like and as you mentioned there's a sizable chunk that thinks we should just have more -- and lots of times when you talk to those people what they would like of course this federal health care, a sort of one-payer plan.

So, I think it is the uncertainty of it. But, the uncertainty can go either way. Once this is fully implemented, if it does not do as envisioned, I think you'll see those numbers obviously get worse as to who likes it and who doesn't. If on the other hand it proves to be a success, it brings down numbers, people feel satisfied with the health care plans they're getting, well, I think you'll see the numbers change.

MALVEAUX: There's a big surprise in all this, Candy. As you know, unexpected person who is coming to the Defense of Obama Care, that's Arizona's republican governor Jan Brewer who had that moment with the president on the tarmac. A change of heart here? What's behind this?

CROWLEY: Money. And, she's not fully behind all of the elements of Obama Care, but these states have a choice. And this came -- it was sort of part of the health care ruling from the Supreme Court that didn't get as much notice. And, what the Supreme Court said was that the administration could not punish states, which did not expand their Medicaid, that is health care plan for the poor.

And, what the administration visioned was that states would expand their Medicaid plans, include more people in it, sort of raise the amount of income you could have and still get Medicaid from the state. And, in that way expand some of the coverage and Jan Brewer and other republican governors have said, "OK."

And, one of the reasons is that the federal government says, "We'll pick up the tab until 2020 of those that you add." Right now it's split depending on a formula that goes state by state, but the federal government has said if you expand your Medicaid to include more people in your state --

MALVEAUX: Right.

CROWLEY: -- We will pick up the tab for the extras until 20. And, then states start having to pick it up. So, if you can include more people in your state under a health care plan.

MALVEAUX: Right.

CROWLEY: And, the federal government's going to pay for it, it sounds pretty good to some of these republican governors.

MALVEAUX: Money talks. All right. Candy, thank you. Good to see you as always. We'll be tuning in on Sunday.

Paris Jackson has been hospitalized as she waits to testify in her father's wrongful death trial. She talked about his loss a couple of years ago. Watch this.

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PARIS JACKSON, DAUGHTER OF MICHAEL JACKSON: We've adjusted over the past years.

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MALVEAUX: It is a tough, tough time. Has she really adjusted? We've got a live report up ahead.

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MALVEAUX: Paris Jackson, the 15-year-old daughter of Michael Jackson is said to be fine. This is a day after a possible suicide attempt. A lawyer for the family says that she is physically okay and is getting appropriate medical care, but what about her emotional state? Miguel Marquez has her story.

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MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A cry for help is how some family sources are describing a possible suicide attempt by Paris Jackson. Paramedics rushing to the Jackson family home, a suicide hotline counsellor called 9-1-1 after getting a call from Paris. Frightening moments captured in this dispatch transmission played by "Entertainment Tonight".

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE POLICE: Female 15 on Motrin and cut her arm with a kitchen knife.

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MARQUEZ (voice-over): 9-1-1 responded to Jackson's home at 1:27 a.m. Wednesday morning for the possible overdose and a cut to one wrist.

JACKSON: Hello. This is my face. It's kind of a shocker, but yes, this is what I look like.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): A week ago Jackson released this how-to makeup video on youtube. In it she's funny, even silly.

JACKSON: What is she doing there? What? Oh, oh, what?

MARQUEZ (voice-over): And, the 15-year-old with great natural beauty at times acts like any other teenager, unsure of herself.

JACKSON: Yes, I'm pink in the face. Yes, I have acne. I'm so incredibly weird. I need serious help. I am crazy. I am crazy.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Hours before the 9-1-1 call Jackson tweeted, "I wonder why tears are salty." And, quoted, The Beatles, "Yesterday, all my troubles seem so far away, now it looks as though they're here to stay." ALAN DUKE, COVERING JACKSON FAMILY: Paris is a very sensitive and dramatic child. A teenager 15 years old, the emotions that come with that.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Jackson along with her grandmother, Katherine, and her siblings, are suing concert promoter AEG for the wrongful death of her father. Twice she's been questioned.

KEVIN BOYLE, JACKSON FAMILY ATTORNEY: Paris Jackson was asked intimate details about her father and her father's death. It was a very intense situation.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): A tough situation for any kid. Tougher yet for one who has spent so much of her life in the spotlight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALDEAUX: Miguel Marquez is joining us live from Los Angeles. We're all wishing Paris the very best here and her healing, I can't imagine what she's actually going through. But, I understand that there is even more that she's gotten a message from Michael Jackson's doctor, Dr. Conrad Murray recently?

MARQUEZ: Well, it's not clear that she received the message herself, but CNN has confirmed through a lawyer of Dr. Murray that he did indeed send an audio message to Paris Jackson. In it he basically wanted to know what was eating away at her, asking her if there's anything that could ease her pain and that he was there for her.

He also quoted songs, one of Michael Jackson's songs, "You are not alone," also other songs like "Ain't no mountain high enough" and "You've got a friend." He ended the audiotape at least according to the website TMZ by saying Paris was there for him at his darkest moments. Suzanne.

MALDEAUX: So, is the understanding that he sent this after she was hospitalized? Did it happen that recently?

MARQUEZ: It sounds as though it was after she was hospitalized when he heard what was going on and used the phone in the jail in the prison where he is in order to send this audio message. Where exactly it went and whether or not Paris' own ear haves heard it isn't clear.

MALDEAUX: Do we know how she's doing today?

MARQUEZ: Well, it's the same as yesterday. The family's saying that she is getting the medical help that she needs. As I understand she was put on a 51-50 or psychiatric care charge, so they can hold her for 72 hours and take care of her. Certainly, the family has all of the means available to do this. It's just been a very rough time for that family and hopefully they will work it out.

MALDEAUX: All right. Miguel, thanks. We certainly wish her the very best. Later this hour, we're going to talk with Ramon Bayne Jackson's former spokeswoman. She has known Paris Jackson since she was just a little baby. We are going to talk to her in about 15 minutes or so. And, this weekend, CNN launching a new talk show, George Stroumboulopoulos, he is hosting. He kicks off the show with Martin Short and Keanu Reeves. That is Sunday night 10:00 p.m. eastern right here on CNN. If you don't know who he is already, you might want to check out tomorrow's CNN's "Around The World," at noon we are going to be talking to him live.

And, can words be banned at a trial? Well, that's what George Zimmerman's lawyers want. They think things like saying profiled, vigilante, could actually taint the jury.

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