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George Zimmerman, A Marked Man?; Snowden Has "Blueprints" to NSA?; Dramatic Rescue of Trapped Boy; Athletes React to Zimmerman Verdict

Aired July 15, 2013 - 09:30   ET

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

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Behind these recent gains? What else? The Fed stimulus and the promise behind it. That flow of easy money has been the main thing propping up the market this year. And recently Fed chief Ben Bernanke indicated, guess what, the stimulus, it's going to keep on coming. It's motivating investors to keep on buying.

They don't want to miss this speeding train called the stock market. As for today new retail sales numbers are in. They show they're up about .5 percent in June. They actually came in weaker than expected and part of the reason for the increase was that people had to spend more because of higher gas prices, not necessarily because they were out spending money going on a big shopping spree.

We just heard the Opening Bell ring. The Dow is up about 13 points. Looks like the market is OK with retail sales number. Kind of weak because it's kind of backwards but if spending is weakening, the market sees it as a good thing because it means more of that federal stimulus money coming into the financial market -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Alison Kosik, thanks so much.

The verdict is in yet George Zimmerman remains in limbo. We'll tell you about the twofold threat that now hangs over his head.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Two days after George Zimmerman's acquittal he remains free, but in only the most strict of definitions.

Zimmerman faces the threat of new charges filed at the federal level, as well as the potential lawsuit from Trayvon Martin's parents. And an even greater concern may be the physical danger from such a polarizing and racially charged case.

CNN's David Mattingly has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He's been in hiding for over a year, daring to venture out only in disguise and wearing body armor. Since killing Trayvon Martin, life for George Zimmerman is filled with isolation and caution. MARK O'MARA, GEORGE ZIMMERMAN'S DEFENSE ATTORNEY: There are a lot of people who think George killed Trayvon for racial reasons even though nothing supports that. And if they feel that anger enough they could react violently.

MATTINGLY: There have been tweets, e-mails and letters wishing him bodily harm or death. Now that George Zimmerman is free, it's almost certain he won't be able to go back to the life he had before. Pursuing a career in law enforcement.

MIKE PAUL, REPUTATION MANAGEMENT COUNSELOR: That is the absolute worst thing you can do. It might be your old passion, my advice would be you need to find a new passion. And it needs to be helping people in a very different way. A way that is much more compassionate. Not just involving law enforcement.

MATTINGLY: For a view of live after acquittal, Zimmerman may need to look no further than Casey Anthony. The hated young mother found not guilty of murdering her 2-year-old daughter. She has since lived in hiding and in financial ruin. Cheney Mason was her defense attorney.

CHENEY MASON, CASEY ANTHONY DEFENSE ATTORNEY: And you never know who the nuts are and where they are. There are still people that threatened me.

MATTINGLY (on camera): It sounds like there are some very severe consequences for being found guilty in a court of public opinion.

MASON: There are. But you don't have Jell-O and cheese sandwiches in jail.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): It may not be hopeless for Zimmerman. He continues to have strong support from his immediate family. Part of his defense is being paid for by thousands of dollars donated by the public. But even here there could be problems.

GENE GRABOWSKI, CRISIS PUBLIC RELATION MANAGER: He's got to be careful to avoid the appearance of creating more divisions by accepting money or support openly from groups that maybe would create more friction because of the -- you know, the tenor of this case. He's got to be very careful about who he associates with afterwards, even if they are offering financial support.

MATTINGLY: And shortly after his dramatic acquittal, George Zimmerman's first steps back into private life were hidden from cameras and public view. His destination, his plans, a closely- guarded secret.

ROBERT ZIMMERMAN JR., BROTHER OF GEORGE ZIMMERMAN: He has always feared for his safety. We have always feared for his safety and our safety as a family. Clearly, you know, he's a free man in the eyes of the court, but he's going to be looking around his shoulder for the rest of his life.

MATTINGLY: David Mattingly, CNN, Sanford, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Up next in NEWSROOM does NSA leaker Edward Snowden really have documents that could bring the United States to its knees? New reports say he has the blue print to the National Security Agency. Is that even possible?

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COSTELLO: NSA leaker Edward Snowden is said to have blueprint on how this National Security Agency is structured and ran. That's according to Associated Press, which quotes a journalist who first published Snowden's documents. He claims the additional information is so sensitive that anyone who reads it will know exactly how the NSA operates and how to evade or replicate U.S. surveillance.

Snowden, as you know, is believed to be stuck at the airport in Moscow. He's been offered asylum from several countries, but his U.S. passport has been revoked so he can't travel. He's been in limbo for about a month now.

Phil Black joins us from Moscow with an update.

So, Phil, does Snowden really have this NSA blueprint?

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is according to a man who would probably know, you'd think, Carol. Glenn Greenwald from Britain's "Guardian" newspaper has made these comments. He said that the information that Snowden has is enough to do more damage to the United States in a single moment than anyone has ever been capable of doing before, and he is talking about thousands of documents.

And as you mentioned, effectively a blueprint, he says, for the way the NSA was built, the way it does, what it does, and the sort of information that could, in theory, allow someone to evade or replicate that sort of surveillance. But he also says that Snowden has been pretty keen to ensure that degree information is not released publicly -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Come on now. So why did he mention it at all? I mean, he's stuck in a Moscow airport. He can't get out because of efforts by the United States, so is it just a coincidence that he mentions he has this blueprint now?

BLACK: Well, I guess the journalist in question has been questioned on this himself and he's backing up essentially something that Snowden himself has said publicly before, which is he has a lot more extensive knowledge and information on surveillance and intelligence operations around the world than he has previously revealed. He's talking about electronic and other forms of surveillance and intelligence gathering, as well.

Snowden himself has raised this in the past to make the point that if he really wanted to damage the United States as his critics claim he is doing deliberately, then he believes he can do it much more effectively in a much bigger way than what we have seen to this point -- Carol. COSTELLO: All right. Phil Black reporting live for us this morning. Thanks so much.

Coming up in NEWSROOM, a 6-year-old boy, he's buried in a giant sinkhole swallowed by 11 feet of sand while playing on the beach. But someone came to his rescue. We'll show you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: A fun family vacation turned nightmarish for one family. A six-year-old is in critical condition this morning. Authorities say the little boy was completely swallowed by a giant sinkhole. It happened at a national park in northern Indiana. Miraculously, this little boy survived.

CNN's Pamela Brown picks up the story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN (voice over): It's every parent's worst nightmare.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 911.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm at the Mount Baldy Beach. And my friend's son, he got stuck in the sand dune and he's like under the sand and they can't get him out.

BROWN: Authorities says 6-year-old Nathan Woessner was suddenly swallowed by a sinkhole of the Indiana sand dunes lining Lake Michigan.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can anybody see him or is he completely covered by sand?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, my husband and his dad are trying to dig him out.

BROWN: Dozens of first responders rushed to the 11-foot mound of sand burying the boy with excavation equipment in hand they raced against the clock.

BRAD KREIGHBAUM, MICHIGAN CITY FIREFIGHTER: We try to just stay focus you know and the first two hours was complete misery.

BROWN: More than three and a half hours ticked by and then, finally, signs of life.

KREIGHBAUM: At that point everybody was really frantically by hand trying to dig him out. Once I had a hold of his head it is important and I was talking to him, you know just like I would talk to my own son.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I kind of felt for a pulse your heart wants you to feel that and your heart wants you to hear that breath.

BROWN: Woessner unconscious but still breathing was pulled from his vertical position in the sand and rushed to the hospital and in the end it may have been a single air pocket that saved his life.

KREIGHBAUM: When we pulled him out, he really didn't look good. You know only thing you can think of is you know that could be your kid. We weren't going to give up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: That's so scary. Pamela Brown now joins us live now. So two questions could this happen again because that's a popular tourist spot? And how is the little boy doing?

BROWN: Well, to answer your first question, Carol. This -- the area where the little boy fell into the sinkhole, this was a cordoned off area, it was restricted. So that's one aspect of this.

Of course this is a very popular area there are a lot of kids running around the sand dunes there at Mount Baldy. But again you know officials are saying that this is a cordoned off area the little boy shouldn't have been there in the first place but you can imagine that this has certainly been a horrifying experience for his parents and for other parents who have kids in that area Carol.

And for your second question, I just spoke to a hospital spokesperson this morning. I'm told that he's still in critical condition but he has been responding to simple commands and he's also been responding to mechanical ventilation. So some good signs there.

There is going to be a press conference at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time for an update on his condition. His doctor will be speaking so we're just hoping to hear some good news at that press conference for sure.

But still a miracle that he survived this, all because of that air pocket, Carol. Doctors believe that that is how he was able to get oxygen and survive the nearly four-hour ordeal -- unbelievable.

COSTELLO: Just hope he got enough oxygen, right?

BROWN: Yes. Absolutely.

COSTELLO: Pamela Brown, thanks so much.

Some of the most inflammatory reaction to the Zimmerman verdict is coming from the sports world. Yes, the NFL. We'll share on "Bleacher Report", next.

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COSTELLO: Athletes throughout the sports world took to Twitter to express their feelings on the George Zimmerman verdict and some of those tweets, well, they were downright nasty. They were more than nasty, Andy Scholes.

ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: Yes. Good morning, Carol. You know, the first thing many people did when they heard the Zimmerman verdict was get on Twitter. And as we've seen plenty of times, emotional tweeting is never a very smart thing to do, especially if you're a public figure.

Now, while many athletes voiced their disappointment with the verdict, Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Roddy White, he took it to another level. His first tweet read, "Zimmerman got away with murder today. Wow. What kind of world do we live in?"

He followed that tweet with "All them jurors should go home tonight and kill themselves for letting a grown man get away with killing a kid."

Now, White later apologized for that tweet saying "I understand my tweet last night was extreme. I never meant for the people to do that. I was shocked and upset about the verdict. I am sorry."

No word yet from the NFL on whether or not White will be fined for these tweets.

All right one golfer to keep your eye on this week at the British Open is 19-year-old Jordan Spieth. The former all-American and Texas holed this shot from the bunker to force a playoff in yesterday's final round of the John Deere Classic. Spieth could go on to win the tournament for his first professional victory. He's the first teenager to win a PGA tour event in 82 years. Wow.

Well, tonight is the home run derby at Citi Field in New York. And Carol, I know you'll be cheering for --

COSTELLO: Prince Fielder.

SCHOLES: Defending champion Prince Fielder. You know he -- he won it last year. But the favorite to win it this year is Baltimore first baseman Chris Davis. The Orioles slugger crashe his league leading 37th home run yesterday. He's on pace to hit 62 home runs this season. That's incredible.

And we've seen some bad first pitches over the years, Carol, but this one takes the cake Carlie Rae Jepsen at the Rays game yesterday.

COSTELLO: Oh, she threw it like a girl.

SCHOLES: I don't even know how to explain this. She just throws it straight to the ground. She threw out a first pitch in Baltimore not too long ago and she threw a strike. But she didn't do it from the mound in Baltimore. I think she got a little too confident going back.

COSTELLO: Too confident?

SCHOLES: Yes she took a dive.

COSTELLO: Oh, it's embarrassing for all women. Oh. She's such a great gal, though. A great singer. I love her.

SCHOLES: Yes practice maybe.

COSTELLO: Maybe. Andy Scholes, thank you so much. SCHOLES: All right.

COSTELLO: NEWSROOM will continue after a quick break.

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COSTELLO: The heat is locked in the northeast and not in a good way. Indra Petersons is live in New York. It's going to get steamy up there.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: This is where we have to be careful what we wish for, right? We were talking about June being the rainiest month, many places on the East Coast 10, 12 inches above normal and now we are into July. And take a look at this -- many places seeing temperatures five degrees to six degrees above normal. This is the average for the month. And this heat wave that's expected to last no not just today or tomorrow but all the way up to the weekend, so a week long heat wave is definitely going to be bringing those numbers way up.

I mean take a look at the morning numbers. I mean New York already 83 degrees. Harrison 79 degrees. 80s already in D.C. this is our starting point. Now keep in mind we've already seen humidity at 70 percent in addition to that.

About 20 million of us looking at this heat wave from Boston all the way down to Philadelphia. This is where we're looking at these advisories. Thanks to this dome of high pressure it's just going to park itself here and sit here for the entire week.

So we're going to be getting temperatures a good ten degrees above normal. And then on top of that we're going to add all this moisture so that humidity around 50 percent, even at the peak sunshine hours. So in the afternoon, you combine those two. And these heat indices are going to feel like about 20 degrees above normal. I mean 100 degrees. That's what it's going to feel like in New York. Philadelphia 101.

D.C. today feeling like 100 degrees. And if you felt it yesterday, this is so hot and sticky. And of course the danger is really when you see this prolonged heat for several days. And that's exactly what we're going to be dealing with.

There you go. Pittsburgh. The actual high still lasting. It may look like a hint of a cool down by about Wednesday, but by Thursday and Friday that heat is going to soar right back in. The dome of high pressure's only going to build even further to the West.

Now, where is the heat? Well pretty much everywhere. Talking about the Ohio Valley, the northeast, even down into the southeast. The only place we're seeing a little bit of a cool down is about 20 degrees below normal around Texas today. And for that reason it's so important Carol. I always talk about this. People think you can just run into the store, leave someone in the car for a few minutes but here you go. 80 degrees outside -- in ten minutes inside that vehicle, 99 degrees. And we're not dealing with 80 degrees today. We're talking about what feels like 101 already. So please, I caution everyone to not do this.

COSTELLO: Do not leave any kid or any pet in the car. We will take your advice. Or a dog either for that matter, right?

Indra Petersons --

PETERSONS: That's right.

COSTELLO: -- thanks so much. The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM begins right now.

Happening now in the NEWSROOM --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want you to disperse.

COSTELLO: Outrage, fury.

PEOPLE: Hell no, we won't go.

COSTELLO: Protesters take to the streets overnight. Police firing beanbags to disperse angry protesters over the George Zimmerman verdict as calls for the feds to take up the case are heating up.

BEN JEALOUS, PRESIDENT, NAACP: There is reason to be concerned that race was a factor.

MARK O'MARA, DEFENSE ATTORNEY OF GEORGE ZIMMERMAN: If someone believes that it's appropriate to sue George Zimmerman, then we will seek and we will get immunity in a civil hearing.

Plus, another smoking bombshell. The "Guardian" reporting the NSA leaker has a blueprint on how the NSA operates.

(MUSIC)

COSTELLO: Also, he was considered the glue of "Glee" -- Cory Monteith found dead at the age of 31.