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Vigils to Continue after Verdict; Outrage over Tsarnaev Cover Story; Snowden to Leave Russian Airport; Investors Watching Bernanke Testimony; Cuban Missiles Found on North Korean Ship

Aired July 17, 2013 - 09:00   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And now water.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is sweat on just about every inch of my body. So it's pretty gross.

COSTELLO: Maryland sizzles and 200,000 lose water service for days.

Also, Florida Stand Your Ground law under fire.

ERIC ATTORNEY, ATTORNEY GENERAL: Separate and apart from the case that has drawn the nation's attention, it's time to question laws that senselessly expand the concept of self-defense and so dangerous conflict in our neighborhoods.

COSTELLO: And Juror B-37 takes some heat.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I believe he played a huge role in his death. He could -- he could have -- when George confronted him and he could have walked away and gone home. He didn't have to do whatever he did and come back and be in a fight.

COSTELLO: Her fellow jurors say B-37's opinions are her own.

Plus, accused Boston bomber dreamy cover boy? "Rolling Stone," why?

And enter sandman. A Yankee gets star treatment at the home of the Mets and yes, the great Mariano Rivera delivers.

MARIANO RIVERA, NEW YORK YANKEES PITCHER: I think that the only one that would top this is the World Series.

COSTELLO: You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

And good morning, thank you so much for joining me. I'm Carol Costello.

It's a self-defense law on the books in several states and now Attorney General Eric Holder takes aim at those Stand Your Ground laws. He wants them gone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOLDER: We must stand our ground to ensure that our laws will reduce violence. And take a hard look at laws that contribute to more violence than they prevent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: In Florida ordinary people can use deadly force if attacked in or outside of their homes. And Eric Holder is not alone in fighting for its elimination. Those Stand Your Ground laws are just of the reasons these people that dream defenders converged on the governor's office in Florida. That defense wasn't even used in the George Zimmerman criminal case but it's that verdict that is fueling the outrage.

White House correspondent Dan Lothian starts out our coverage live from Washington.

Good morning, Dan.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Well, you know, this is the most extensive comment from a top member of the Obama administration in the wake of the Zimmerman verdict. The attorney general coming out very strong on this. Telling his own personal story, but also condemning Stand Your Ground saying that these kinds of laws allow and might even encourage violent situations to escalate.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LOTHIAN (voice-over): As demonstrations against George Zimmerman's not guilty verdict continued across the country, Attorney General Eric Holder for the first time took aim at Stand Your Ground laws.

HOLDER: It's time to question laws that senselessly expand the concept of self-defense and show dangerous conflict in our neighborhoods.

LOTHIAN: Speaking to the NAACP in Orlando, this first African- American attorney general also got personal, revealing his own experience with racial profiling as a young, black man.

HOLDER: But I was stopped by a police officer while simply running to catch a movie at night in Georgetown in Washington, D.C. I was, at the time of that last incident, a federal prosecutor.

LOTHIAN: Now his Justice Department is under pressure to bring criminal civil rights charges against Zimmerman. More than a million people have signed a petition on the NAACP Web site.

A federal investigation was opened last year and Holder says his department will continue to review evidence from the FBI and the Florida criminal trial. Meantime, Reverend Al Sharpton is calling for vigils around the country this weekend.

REV. AL SHARPTON, CIVIL EIGHTS ACTIVIST: I think the president has made a statement of consternation. We don't need consternation, we need legislation and we need some federal prosecution.

LOTHIAN: White House spokesman Jay Carney said the president acknowledges passions are running high.

JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: He echoes the call for calm reflection that Trayvon Martin's parents made in the wake of the verdict.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LOTHIAN: Now the President Obama did a round of interviews yesterday with Spanish language television stations and while he talked about immigration and other topics, the issue of the Zimmerman trial did not come up -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Dan Lothian reporting live from the White House.

And in just a few minutes, we're going to talk to the Florida state representative Dennis Baxley. He co-sponsored Florida's Stand Your Ground legislation in 2005. What does he think about all the controversy surrounding the law? He'll talk about that coming up.

Four days after George Zimmerman was acquitted, we're hearing from some other jurors who returned that not guilty verdict. They're distancing themselves from Juror B-37. The unidentified woman who spoke exclusively to CNN's Anderson Cooper. Apparently those other jurors don't appreciate the renewed scrutiny or her version of the events.

Here's the statement from four of her five fellow jurors. Quote, "We, the undersigned jurors, understand there is a great deal of interest in this case but we ask you to remember that we are not public officials and we did not invite this type of attention into our lives." We also wish to point out that the opinions of Juror B-37 expressed on the Anderson Cooper show were her own and not in any way representative of the jurors listed below."

Now the jurors identified themselves only by their jury pool numbers and not by name. Here's a sampling of CNN's exclusive interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUROR B-037: I feel bad that we can't give them the verdict that they wanted. But legally we could not do that.

ANDERSON COOPER, ANCHOR, CNN'S AC 360: Do you think Trayvon Martin played a role in his own death? This wasn't just something that happened to him. This is something that he also --

JUROR B-037: I believe he played a huge role in his death. He could have -- when George confronted him and he could have walked away and gone home. He didn't have to do whatever he did and come back and be in a fight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: We will hear more from that juror and the exclusive CNN interview in just about 30 minutes. Of course, that's at the bottom of the hour.

The magazine is an icon in the music industry. So is "Rolling Stone" giving the rock star treatment to an accused terrorist?

This morning "Rolling Stone" is facing an online firestorm for this cover boy shot of a doe-eyed Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Of course he's accused of carrying out the Boston marathon bombing, along with her brother who was later killed in a police shootout. The comedian Mo Rocca asks, "Who knew 'Rolling Stone' was the magazine for dream boat terrorists cover boys?" Should rename it to Neil Tiger beat."

And then there's this tweet from Boston radio host John Dennis. He asks, was "Was 'Rolling Stone' -- was 'Rolling Stone Rag' unable to find a picture of Hitler looking like a rock star?" And from the world of Facebook Lindsay Williamson says, "What a slap in the face to the great city of Boston and the marathon bombing victims."

We'll tell more about this later in the NEWSROOM.

The other brother accused in the marathon attack has been tied to a triple murder. A year and a half before the bombings. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in a shootout with police. Now people who knew the men killed in 20011 are asking why police they didn't focus on Tsarnaev at the time and whether that could have prevented the Boston bombings.

National correspondent Deb Feyerick has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John Allan still remembers Tamerlan Tsarnaev's reaction when he learned their mutual friend Brandon Mets had been viciously murdered.

JOHN ALLAN, OWNER, WAI KRU MIXED MARTIAL ARTS CENTER: He kind of laughed it off saying, you know, that Brandon probably got what he deserved. Making bad choices that those were the repercussions he had to face.

FEYERICK: Tsarnaev was never interviewed by state troopers in connection with his friend's murder or the murder of the other two victims Eric Weissman and Raphael Teken. But Allan and others we spoke with question whether the drugs strewn over the dead bodies were an a effective smoke screen distracting investigators from interviewing people who could have put Tamerlan Tsarnaev squarely on the radar.

(On camera): Did Tamerlan ever tell you that police had come to speak to him about what he knew about Brandon --

ALLAN: No.

FEYERICK: About the drugs and about anything?

ALLAN: No. You know , I mean, around here we call it -- people call it NHI. FEYERICK: Which is?

ALLAN: No humans involved.

FEYERICK: OK. Which means?

ALLAN: There were three drug dealers that were murdered over drugs and money.

FEYERICK (voice-over): That at least was the perception. Even though only one of the three victims had drug-related charges. But four months after those murders, Tsarnaev left Boston and traveled to Dagestan where it's believed he became radicalized. Law enforcement sources question whether the outcome could have been different if investigators had reached Tsarnaev in the first place.

JAMAL ABU-RUBIEN, OWNER, BROOKLINE LUNCH: They always like to bring a lot of people here.

FEYERICK: Jamal abu-Rubien saw victim Brendan Mess a few times a week. He owns the Brookline Lunch Diner in Cambridge where Mess often ate with Wiseman and Tekken . He says police never questioned him and so he never told them about a meeting weeks before the murders which made Mess and Wiseman very, very nervous.

ABU-RUBIEN: He sounds different, he acted different they got with them and they were all like nervous. At that time he was really serious and he wasn't himself.

FEYERICK: Neither he says was Eric Weissman, co-owner of Hitman Glass. A high-end bomb company. Journalist Bobby Black who knew Wiseman believes too many solid leads weren't followed.

BOBBY BLACK SENIOR EDITOR, HUGH TEAM: Anyone who knew Eric would know that he was in no way some kind of dangerous drug dealer. He was a college age kid who, you know -- love to ear ---

FEYERICK: And they didn't take the money, they didn't take the drugs.

BLACK: And I think that the police writing it off as that early on possibly may be the reason they didn't investigate further which would have possibly prevented the Boston bombings.

FEYERICK: (on camera): The murders took place here in the house behind me on the second floor. This is still very much an active investigation. A source intimately familiar with the killings defends how the case was handled. Saying that state and local police acted professionally and according to protocol.

Deborah Feyerick, CNN, Waltham, Massachusetts.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: So I'm going to tell you the obvious now. Temperatures are soaring across the nation. The northeast just really sweltering, highs over 90 degrees but combine that with humidity and it feels like a soccer hitting 120 degrees in some places. Megan got worse about 100,000 people in the D.C. area will not have water for up to five days because of a broken water main. That means no cool showers, no flushing toilets, no tap water.

CNN meteorologist Indra Petersons is live in Times Square.

OK. That sounds awful.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, I like your -- because that's exactly what's it's like even these early morning hours. We were up at 2:00, 3:00 this morning but we're still talking about 80 degrees with 70 percent humidity. And here's the problem. It's not just the hot humid air but how long does he wave (INAUDIBLE). I see the deadliest killer of all weather man since today large metropolitan cities are going to be affected.

We're talking about southern New England, we're talking all the way into New York. Neither as far south to Philadelphia but today it's spreading farther west so now we're talking the Ohio Valley, the Midwest, even Minneapolis, Minnesota, dealing with what feels like 105 degrees. And again, it's very dangerous and people always underestimate it. So hopefully everyone follows the rules. They stay out of the peak summer temperatures in the afternoon and of course drink plenty of fluids -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I hope so. Indra Petersons, thanks so much.

Eleven minutes past the hour. Let's check our top stories. Eighty- three survivors of the Asiana crash in San Francisco are pursuing legal action against Boeing. Attorneys say they also plan to sue Asiana Airlines and possibly manufacturers of parts of the plane. Three people died as a result of the crash and more than 180 people were injured. So far the investigation into the cause of the crash has focused on pilot error.

In politics, some fellow Republicans are blasting Dick Cheney's daughter for announcing she will run for the Senate in Wyoming. Forty-six-year-old Liz Cheney will be up against Republican Senator Mike Enzi next year. Enzi has that seat since 1997. Cheney did not criticize him and her announcement but other Republicans call her move bad form and say Cheney cannot get elected.

Senator Lindsey Graham says president Obama should consider boycotting the 2014 winter Olympics in Russia, if Russia gives asylum to Edward Snowden. Snowden is accused of espionage for leaking info secret NSA surveillance programs. Graham, a Republican, told thehill.com I would just send the Russians the most unequivocal signal I could send them. It might help because what they're doing is outrageous.

Other Republicans call that a bad idea. Well, White House press secretary Jay Carney said the Snowden situation should not cause, quote, "long-term problems for U.S./Russian relations."

A Russian lawyer helping Snowden says the fugitive will leave the Moscow airport in the next few days and his situation could actually be resolved within a week. He officially applied for temporary asylum in Russia after being holed up in the airport for three weeks but today Russian president Vladimir Putin said ties between the United States and Russia are far more important than any intelligence scandal.

CNN's Phil Black joins us from Moscow with more.

Good morning, Phil.

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Carol, Good morning. Yes, so, Edward Snowden's lawyer says that it is possible that he could be walking out of this airport facility behind me within a matter of days. After some three weeks here, something that would no doubt delay Edward Snowden but certainly upset the United States.

Edward Snowden's lawyer that is possible because now that his temporary asylum application is in, he becomes eligible for a short- term official status that allows him to enter Russia formally and would allow him to wait here while that application is being decided and ruled upon. That process could in theory take months, but his lawyer predicts it is more likely to be days or weeks.

We asked his lawyer just what Edward Snowden is planning to do once he enters Russia formally, his is what he said.

EDWARD SNOWDEN, NSA LEAKER (Translator translator): As far as I know, he's planning to stay in Russia to learn the Russian culture, Russian Language who live here. I gave him a Russian grammar book when I met him and he was very happy and said it is the first present he received in Russia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACK: So, if his application is successful, it would give Snowden the right to stay in this country for at least a year. He could apply then to stay longer and grant him all the same rights as a Russian citizen. His lawyer says that as part of his application, he is promising to live up to that condition set by Russia's president, which is he would have to stop what he's been doing. He would have to stop leaking information, stop criticizing America's electronics surveillance programs -- Carol.

COSTELLO: We'll see, Phil Black reporting live this morning. Thanks so much.

In money news, another wild ride on Wall Street today. The Fed Chief Ben Bernanke is speaking on Capitol Hill -- actually, he spoke, he'll speak in just about an hour. He's expected to tell lawmakers that the American economy is growing despite, quote, "strong head winds."

Alison Kosik is on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. He's following the story.

So, what might this mean?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, to give you an idea of why Ben Bernanke is on Capitol Hill. This is the usual twice a year temperature check that congress likes to take on the Feds. So, we've already learned a little bit of what the fed chief is going to say, his prepared remarks were released early which, by the way, isn't usual that these remarks are released early because it's giving members of the Financial Services Committee to look at what he's going to talk about and formulate what they want to ask him.

So, what we learned so far in his prepared remarks is that the economic recovery continues at a moderate pace. He says the labor market is improving, but it's far from satisfactory. Now, one thing that Wall Street is looking for is talk about that stimulus. So, he also says that the Fed does intend to continue that stimulus.

So, what you're going to be seeing today is Wall Street really focusing on Washington today. We've already seen a bit of a reaction in the premarket. Stocks look like they'll open a bit higher based on these pre-released remarks that he's made. Investigators are also looking over some new housing data, actually down beat housing data and also looking at upbeat earnings report from Bank of America.

I will have more on all of this coming up when the opening bell rings in about 20 minutes -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Sure will. Alison Kosik, thanks so much.

What a moment last night. The major league all-star game in New York, bottom of the eighth inning, the American League up 3-0.

Yes, enter Sandman future Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera entered the game to standing ovation from fans and from players from both teams. Rivera who is retiring after this season called the moment special and priceless and in typical form he pitched a 1, 2, 3 inning and was named the game's most valuable player.

The American League won the game 3-0 breaking a three-year losing streak thanks, I might say, to Detroit's Verlander.

You know I had to get that in.

Just ahead in NEWSROOM: "Stand Your Ground" -- the controversial law raised in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. Now, one of the law's sponsors responds to the criticism. We'll talk to him, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Twenty minutes past the hour. Time to check our top stories.

The penalty retrial for Jodi Arias is now set for September. That's when a new jury will be selected to decide if Arias will be sentenced to death or life in prison. On May 8th, Arias was found guilty of murdering her ex-boyfriend, but the jury could not agree on life in prison or the death sentence.

In Louisiana, authorities have found the body of a missing 6-year-old girl. She was stabbed and stuffed in a trash can near her home. Alicia North had been missing since Saturday. Police charged the nephew of the girl's stepfather in her death after spotting him near the area armed with a knife.

The man accused of trying to export money from Paula Deen has pleaded not guilty. Thomas George Paculis was arrested earlier this month. According to the FBI, he e-mailed Deen's lawyer, threatening to reveal true and damning information if Deen did not pay him $250,000. Paculis contacted Deen's lawyer after a deposition in which he admitted using the N-word, which was made public, as you know.

In money news, want to download a song to your smartphone or tablet. Watch a commercial first. At least that's what a Boston-based company Aquto is hoping you'll do. The startup will allow customers to pay for data use in exchange for watching ads, taking surveys or otherwise devoting time to an advertiser. Aquto says customers can use the earned data credit immediately or store them for when they hit usage limit.

Still ahead in THE NEWSROOM: packed deep beneath bags of sugar -- missile parts and MiG-21 jets. We're getting a closer look on what was aboard that ship heading from Cuba to North Korea.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: We are getting a closer look at what was packed beneath bags of brown sugar on a ship heading to North Korea, let's say it wasn't oatmeal. That ship was stopped by Panamanian officials and it was -- it was heading from Cuba to North Korea and it's still in limbo this morning. That's after a violent confrontation with the crew and the discovery of enormous missiles tucked under 10,000 tons of the aforementioned brown sugar.

CNN's May Lee is at the port in Panama, right?

May Lee, take it away.

MAY LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. That's right, Carol. I'm here where the ship right behind me -- if you can see over my shoulder -- that is the North Korean vessel that was seized a few days ago by Panamanian officials.

Now, of course, as you mentioned, when they boarded the ship, they uncovered hidden weaponry -- all sort of missile parts and some airplane parts, engines and so on. Right now, what's happening is they're continuing to investigate. They're continuing to search the ship because what we found is that they have only searched one cargo area of the ship.

There's four more areas that they need to go through. Imagine the type of labor they have to put in to be able to unload everything and then try to search each and every one of those cargo holds.

So, it's probably going to take some time before they know how much is actually on this ship -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So, do we know the connection that Cuba, the Cuba/North Korea connection and what that was about? LEE: That's still a mystery. And this is what is so fascinating about this story is that you know, as a lot of us know, Cuba has been trying to soften relationships with the U.S. to a certain extent. So, it's very odd.

I think everyone is finding it very odd that Cuba is, all of a sudden, shipping weapons to North Korea to apparently get repaired. But we're still uncovering the stories for many, many unanswered questions that we need to find the answers to -- Carol.

COSTELLO: May Lee live from the port of Panama this morning -- thanks so much.

Just ahead in THE NEWSROOM: "Stand Your Ground". The shooting death of Trayvon Martin. Now, one of the co-sponsors of that Florida bill responds to all the criticism. He's next.

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