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U.S. Closes Embassies Over Terror Threat; Fewer Jobs Added in July; Snowden Living with Americans in Russia; MLB Commissioner Considers Lifetime Ban for A-Rod; MLB Commissioner Considers Lifetime Ban; Outrage Over Russia's Anti-Gay Laws; Alias Causing Trouble for Weiner

Aired August 02, 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: I know. I was so stunned by that comment. I couldn't get off it. But have a great weekend.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Can't get away from the news. That Carol Costello was all news all the time.

(LAUGHTER)

BOLDUAN: Take it. We'll take it.

COSTELLO: I know, I'm such a nerd.

BOLDUAN: You know it.

COSTELLO: I do.

NEWSROOM starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Happening now in NEWSROOM. Jobs, jobs, jobs.

JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Good jobs, middle class jobs, well-paying jobs.

COSTELLO: The White House with the new numbers, Obama and middle America.

From coast to coast as fast food workers march for fairer wages, the country looks for work and a paycheck it can live on.

Also, Anthony Weiner, aka, Carlos Danger.

ANTHONY WEINER, NEW YORK MAYORAL CANDIDATE: I'm going to leave this to the people of the city of New York to decide. Period, end of conversation.

COSTELLO: Securing a major endorsement over night? Here's a hint.

JIMMY MCMILLAN, RENT IS TOO DAMN HIGH PARTY: The rent is too high.

COSTELLO: Remember that guy? MCMILLAN: The Rent is Too Damn High.

COSTELLO: One more time.

MCMILLAN: The Rent is Too Damn High.

COSTELLO: Plus.

CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST, "CONAN": Major League Baseball said that Friday it will announce which players it's penalizing for steroid use. So far the rumor is all of them.

COSTELLO: Speed ball, steroids, the boys of summer, and the big waiting game for the rest of us.

And "I'm not a crook."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything about that trip was televised. I mean, it was a production from start to finish.

COSTELLO: "Nixon," a fantastic new flick and it's only on CNN.

NEWSROOM starts now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Good morning, thank you so much for being with me, I'm Carol Costello. And happy, happy Friday. We start this hour with a snapshot of one of the most important numbers in our nation. How many people have a job and how many people don't.

Just 30 minutes ago the Labor Department says we gained 162,000 jobs last month making the unemployment rate 7.4 percent. Slipped a bit. Of course, those are just numbers. You can't see the numbers or feel the numbers. So what do they really mean?

When we see pictures of striking fast food workers this week, marching for a wage they can live on, what do those numbers really mean?

So to try to shed a little light on that, we're going to talk to our biz expert Christine Romans and "Wall Street Journal" editorial board member Stephen Moore. They'll join us in just five minutes. But we have to tell you about this first because the U.S. embassies across the Muslim world will close on Sunday.

It's a rare and scary move and it comes after threats of a possible terrorist attack. We're talking about embassies and consulates in Libya, Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait.

You can't help but think of what happened in Benghazi. A deadly attack on the U.S. consulate that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans.

Officials call today's threats serious and credible.

Christopher Hill is a former U.S. ambassador to Iraq. He's on the phone right now.

Thanks for joining me this morning, Mr. Ambassador.

CHRISTOPHER HILL, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning. How credible is this threat?

HILL: Well, the U.S. government is constantly monitoring Web sites, all kinds of sources, and so I think it's fairly clear that they have a credible threat. But it's probably clear, too, that they're not sure exactly where it is. It's somewhere in the Middle East. It doesn't mean it's a threat to everybody. It's simply a threat that they cannot pin down to one country.

And so out of an abundance of caution as the State Department spokeswoman said they've decided to go ahead and close all of the posts and presumably they will be reviewing security and seeing what more they can find out about this threat.

COSTELLO: Rumor is this is an al Qaeda threat. We keep hearing that al Qaeda has been substantially weakened yet they're closing U.S. embassies across the Muslim world.

HILL: Well, presumably it's a -- it's an organization that has at least a regional reach, if not a global reach. And so it's some sort of serious organization and so the inference that it could be al Qaeda. And to understand al Qaeda today is to understand a kind of franchise operations so it's hard to determine whether it's in this case centrally directed or not.

So I think it really speaks to the abundance of caution and, as you said in the set up, has to do really with Benghazi when there was also a threat to the region.

COSTELLO: So you're saying there were lessons learned after what happened in Benghazi?

HILL: I think you're going to see that the State Department, it takes all these threats very seriously. I think they always have. But I think in the light of Benghazi, it's really necessary to, you know, to move as broadly as possible.

Again, it doesn't mean it's a threat to everybody. It's not a -- necessarily a case where, you know, several embassies are being threatened. But they do have to include all the embassies that could be in this threat and that's why they've decided to do this.

COSTELLO: Ambassador Hill, thanks so much for joining us this morning. We appreciate it.

HILL: Pleasure.

COSTELLO: So let's get to our other top story this morning. The jobs report. And this one hurt. Just 162,000 jobs added. The unemployment rate did tick down to 7.4 percent, but that's a change of 0.2 percent. So let's talk about this with our CNN business anchor Christine Romans. She's in New York. And Stephen Moore who's the senior economics writer at the "Wall Street Journal." He's in Washington this morning.

Welcome to both of you.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR: Hi, Carol.

STEPHEN MOORE, EDITORIAL WRITER, WALL STREET JOURNAL: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Good morning. So the jobs report is -- the stock market, though, my god, that's fantastic. So wealthier Americans or those with 401(k)s, they're making money, but wages remain stagnant. So talk about a mixed message.

How should we characterize our economy, Stephen?

MOORE: You know, I've been somewhat upbeat about the economy. I'm disappointed in this report. It's not a bad report, it's just not as good as a lot of us had hoped. You know, a lot of people had expected it closer to 200,000 jobs.

We did reduce the unemployment rate. That's kind of the headline number. The problem is we have more problem dropping out of the labor force again.

And, as you know, Carol, that's been the persistent problem during this -- during this recovery period. The other thing is, another tick up in part time work. Hours worked per week fell and, you know, you showed those pictures of, you know, restaurant workers striking. Unfortunately, that's where all the jobs are right now. A lot of the new jobs are in those kind of low-wage service industries.

ROMANS: Yes.

COSTELLO: And, Christine, talking about wages, they ticked down this time around.

ROMANS: Yes.

COSTELLO: They didn't lose much, but they're going in the wrong direction.

ROMANS: They are. And so is the workweek. The workweek is getting a little shorter, too. That's because of all those new part-time jobs. You talk about bigger -- burger flipping, bartending, part-time hotel room cleaners. Those are the kinds of jobs we're creating. Home health aid -- you know, health care really growing part of the economy but also growing very sharply and strongly at the bottom end.

Those are about $19,000 a year jobs. So we have an issue in this country of quality and quantity.

MOORE: Yes. ROMANS: When are we going to start creating the jobs that are going to pay better and be that ladder to the middle class? One thing interesting in this report is as well, something called the labor participation rate. A lot of people are making a lot out of this. Economists very worried looking at this.

It is the lowest since 1978. That means we're actually fewer and fewer and fewer people, a smaller share of people, who are ready, willing and able to work are actually engaged in the labor market right now. Since 1978. The lowest share since 1978. That's something that is really troubling.

COSTELLO: OK. So last question. Who is at fault for this? Because some people would blame the do-nothing Congress, right? Because they're not doing much to help the economy grow. Things are stagnant there at best, Stephen.

MOORE: Well, you know, it's interesting because it is -- there is a lot of people who believe -- Christine and I have talked a lot about this on her show -- that Obamacare has been a deterrent to hiring full-time workers because of all these mandated new benefits. But look, it's interesting if you look at this new report for the first time, Christine, and as long as I can remember, at least a couple of years, government employment actually ticked up a little bit. As you know, it had been falling. So state and local governments are actually starting to hire again.

COSTELLO: Yes, we're moving to the worst part of the sequester. A lot of people say the worst part -- the worst effects of the sequester with the last few months. So maybe, ironically, that is some sort of a good sign that we're able -- we're navigating through that provided that Congress doesn't give us any, you know, crazy curveballs in the next few months.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: Yes.

MOORE: That's a big if.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: Christine Romans, Stephen Moore, many thanks to both of you this morning.

MOORE: Thank you.

ROMANS: You're welcome, Carol.

COSTELLO: Today marks Edward Snowden's first full day of freedom and he's spending it getting settled with some fellow Americans in Russia. They offered to host the NSA leader after Moscow granted him temporary political asylum.

Now the move has heightened diplomatic tensions just days before a planned meeting between President Obama and Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Phil Black is in Moscow to tell us more.

Good morning, Phil.

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Yes, Edward Snowden has spent his first night away from that transit zone in almost six weeks. And so far he's keeping a low profile. His lawyers says his priorities right now adjusting to this new-found freedom, ensuring his personal security and surrounding himself by people that he thinks he can trust. And he says those people are American.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLACK (voice-over): That man with his back to the camera is Edward Snowden and this was the moment he left Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport after six weeks there.

That's according to his lawyer Anatoly Kucherena who's standing next to him in the photo. Kucherena takes some of the credit for the sudden approval of Snowden's asylum application. This document grants Snowden permission to live in Russia for one year which also keeps him beyond the reach of the United States for that time.

Kucherena describes Snowden's current location as secret and safe.

He says he's staying with other Americans who live in Russia. He says they're people Snowden doesn't know personally but who reached out by the Internet and offered to help while he was staying at the airport.

The lawyer says Snowden will now take a few days getting used to his new freedom and recovering from his airport ordeal. After that, he'll do some media interviews, then, well, he doesn't know. Edward Snowden must now build a new life in a country he officially entered for the first time just one day ago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACK: So, Carol, Snowden is already making friends and now he's working to get some family here, as well. His lawyer is already working on the formalities to get his father a visa so he can travel to Moscow to be with his son as soon as possible -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Something else. I understand that Snowden is getting a lot of job offers in Russia? Tell us about that.

BLACK: There's been one very public job offer, a high-profile one from a hugely popular social networking site he had called in contact. It's often described as the Russian version of Facebook and the founder of this company says he's proud of his country, Russia, for helping Snowden in this way and he'd love Snowden to join his team of star developers because he thinks he'd have a particular interest in protecting the personal information of the people, the millions of people who use this social networking site -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Phil Black, reporting live from Moscow this morning.

Alex Rodriguez, a step closer to rejoining the New York Yankees. That is if Major League Baseball will let him. A-Rod begins a new assignment tonight in Trenton as he rehabs from that quad strain. But the real strain for A-Rod is off the field. He says people try to strike a deal in a doping scandal.

Rachel Nichols has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RACHEL NICHOLS, ANCHOR, CNN SPORTS (voice-over): Alex Rodriguez is in the middle of a delicate dance with Major League Baseball, and as the Yankee third baseman's career hangs in the balance, baseball fans are left waiting and waiting and waiting.

So what's the hold up? Baseball is giving A-Rod the chance at a lesser suspension, if he admits to wrongdoing and promises not to appeal. Similar to a plea Bergen. That's the route former National League MVP Ryan Braun chose. After his admission of guilt, Braun was suspended only 65 games. Down from the 100-game mark baseball had reportedly started at.

Initially A-Rod's representatives insisted they had no interests in making a similar deal, but baseball officials have spent the past few days working to change their minds. They've reportedly presented "volumes of evidence."

They also leaked that the commissioner is considering a lifetime ban for A-Rod. A threat meant to further pressure him at the bargaining table. Publicly A-Rod still remains noncommittal. In a recent interview with CNN, Rodriguez declined to address his situation directly.

ALEX RODRIGUEZ, NEW YORK YANKEES THIRD BASE MAN: There's so many pieces, leaks here and leaks there. I think it's important that we have a process. I think we have a good system with Major League Baseball and let's let -- let's let the process play out.

NICHOLS: It's a process that has turned into a waiting game, possibly the most important game Alex Rodriguez has ever played.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Rachel joins us live now. So Rachel is it going to be for these two sides to hammer out a deal?

NICHOLS: Well, it's not going to be easy, Carol, because even if Alex does cooperate, it's not like baseball is going to give him a light punishment here. They feel that officials have alleged that Alex was more involved in this Miami clinic than almost any other player. They actually believe that he tried to impede their investigation by trying to buy up some of the evidence himself.

So, no matter what happens here, even if there is some sort of plea bargain-type situation, Alex is going to have to admit wrongdoing, he's going to have to amiss a significant amount of time, maybe up until the 2015 season and, obviously, have to give up all that salary that would go with it. And there's a lot of people who think that might just be too tough for him to swallow, too tough for him to agree to.

So that means that Major League Baseball would go ahead and levy the punishment, the ban Stick, the lifetime band, and that is a big threat hanging over Rodriguez that could cause him to swing the other way.

That is total ex-communication from baseball, that is giving up not just the salary he would miss for the suspension but all the salary after that. And certainly into his retirement not being allowed to associate with the game.

Now A-Rod's representatives have been saying privately, hey, that might not hold up. But here's the catch, Carol. If Alex fights a lifetime ban, if they go ahead without any kind of cooperation between the two sides, he can't play during that time. So he's essentially going to be suspended anyway.

It's a little bit of a catch 22. It's going to be interesting to see how it works out.

COSTELLO: But when we finally know an answers, a definitive answer like "Today" --

(LAUGHTER)

NICHOLS: They think that Monday is probably the drop dead deadline. Of course, nobody is saying that, but if you do the math, the other players who, by the way, are waiting for all of this to play out, a lot of them trying to work out their own deals in the meantime, will be suspended for 50 games. If you do the math going back, a guy like the Texas Rangers Nelson Cruz, if he's suspended starting Monday and you go through those 50 games, he can come back and play in the post- season with his team.

So, baseball doesn't want to penalize a team like the Rangers because Alex Rodriguez can't make a deal. Plus, at some point, you just got to put an end date on it. We're all dying over here.

COSTELLO: I know.

NICHOLS: So, Monday may be the end date. It could come sooner, though. Let's see what happens.

COSTELLO: Rachel Nichols, many thanks.

From New York to Los Angeles, people are dumping Russian vodka into the streets. Gay activists leading the protest saying it's an effort to draw attention to Russia's strict anti-gay laws. So, bars and clubs nationwide are boycotting Stoli vodka. The boycott is inspired by an online camp pain called Dumpstoli.

But the activists may have it wrong. Just look at Stoli's Web site. It's full of rainbow colors. The makers of Stoli who buy in the United States say it supports gay and lesbian and opposes the Russian government's policies. At the same time, others are calling for a boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia.

Here's CNN's Kyung Lah with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Visible signs from Sochi as Russia prepares for the 2014 Olympic Games. Half a world away, short track speed skater Blake Skjellerup trains in his event physically and mentally, the only gay athlete known to be planning to compete in the game.

BLAKE SKJELLERUP, SHORT TRACK SPEED SKATER: I would say I'm a little bit worried, not so much afraid.

LAH: Not afraid despite the risk. Speaking via Skype from his training camp in Calgary, Skjellerup is well-aware of Russia's intolerance of gays and lesbians.

New law signed by Russian president jails and fines people who express any support of people's equal rights for gays. Gay pride rallies, banned. Police have the power to arrest anyone who appears to be spreading, quote, "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations."

Despite the International Olympic Committee assurances that athletes will be protected, Russia's sports minister and a prominent lawmaker say the new laws against gays and lesbians will be enforced, even for visitors like Blake Skjellerup.

(on camera): What kind of statement are you making by attending the games?

SKJELLERUP: I think it's important to stand up for this and I think it's important for somebody to say something and that person at the moment is me. I feel like a small responsibility on my part to voice my concerns.

LAH: Russia's laws have already sparked grassroots protests in cities around the world. The LGBT community in Los Angeles pouring out Russian vodka into the streets. Cultural politics and the Olympics have collided before, black American Jesse Owens competed in the 1936 games in symbolic defiance of host Hitler's Nazi German regime.

In the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, Americans Tommy Smith and John Carlos raised black fisted salutes in support of the black power movement.

For 2014, gay athletes have united under groups like Athlete Ally, saying power is to show up and not boycott the games.

Tennis champion and four-time Olympian Rennae Stubbs is a gay athlete and activist and calls Sochi 2014 the LGBT's era of civil rights. RENNAE STUBBS, ATHLETE ALLY AMBASSADOR: To be there and to say, hey, we're here, we're here to compete. We're as equal as everybody else. We want to go there, I think as a gay athlete, you want to go there and compete, but also go there and compete and show everybody in the world that we're on level pegging with any straight athlete. It doesn't matter to us.

LAH (on camera): We're now not just hearing from the athletes but U.S. lawmakers are joining in on the fray. Senator Jeff Merkley from Oregon says that he plans on introducing a resolution to the floor of the U.S. Senate that will oppose, say it opposes these Russian laws, as well as call for the protection of the athletes, as well as spectators who go to Russia for the games.

We should point out, though, that this is a resolution. It won't have any real teeth in Russia.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Just ahead in THE NEWSROOM: it was an eight-year wait, but, boy, was it worth it? Showtime at Yellowstone, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

Pope Francis reaching out to Muslims as they prepare for the close of Ramadan. The pope calls for Muslims and Christians to respect one another and he said his message is, quote, "an expression of esteem and friendship for all Muslims."

Aaron Hernandez said he can't wait to prove all the haters wrong. The former New England Patriots tight end wrote a jailhouse letter to a pen pal. TMZ obtained that letter and it has some choice lines. Like, quote, "All the people who turned on me will feel like crap," end quote.

Hernandez has been charged with first degree murder in the death of his friend Odin Lloyd. He has pleaded not guilty.

Talk about a surprise show, check this out. That's Yellowstone National Park Steamboat geyser, the world's tallest, waking up. It erupted this week for the first time in eight years. The high- pressure burst of steamy water shooting 300 feet into the air.

Meteorologist Indra Petersons is at the weather center. And the reason this is so amazing is because this is known as unfaithful.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, pretty much. It's been so long. What's so cool is even after that geyser we saw that steam there for a good 24 hours after.

Now, a lot of people always say, you know, what are geysers? How do they work?

Well, it's important to remember, Yellowstone is still a volcanic crater. And don't forge, we'll go back to old school biology, or sciences here. We're talking about the core the center of the earth and then the mantle and the crust.

Now that you got that, remember what we're dealing with, is when it rains, you see the water percolate into the crust. Your heat sources, this magma out of the mantle -- those two come together and once in a while you shoot out a geyser.

Now, that's because it's the thinner plumbing channel. If it was thicker, you would get hot springs out there. So, that's what we saw out there, pretty impressive, especially when it is one you don't get to see as often.

I want to give you a quick forecast. Yes, it is the weekend. We love it. Let's talk about where it's going to be nice and what days. That affects our plans.

Anywhere from the Midwest to Indiana today, that's going to be your best chances for showers, as well towards Florida. Thanks to the remnants of Dorian there.

By Saturday, that storm moves over to the mid-Atlantic. We're going to be looking for rain in that area. By Sunday, pretty nice towards the east but another storm will pick up just east of the Rockies going into the Northern Plains.

So, overall, everyone will have one nice day this weekend. That's a good note.

COSTELLO: We'll take it.

PETERSONS: Yes.

COSTELLO: We'll take it.

Indra Petersons, many thanks.

Still ahead, Anthony Weiner sexting already has him in hot water. Now, some are taking issue with the alias he used to hide his internet liaison. The Spanish community, well, they don't much like Carlos Danger.

We'll talk about that when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for being with me.

Anthony Weiner's online alter ego is causing more trouble for the New York City mayoral candidate. This time, it's the Hispanic community pressing Weiner for the name he chose for his latest escapade. The Spanish language network Univision asked Weiner why he chose Carlos Danger.

Rosa Flores has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Regardless of what he says --

ANTHONY WEINER (D), NYC MAYORAL CANDIDATE: I'm going to leave this to the people of New York to decide. Period. End of conversation.

FLORES: Anthony Weiner can't erase the doings of his Latin alter ego, Carlos Danger.

His Hispanic opponent for mayor, Erick Salgado, tells CNN it's offensive not only to him but the entire Latino community when Weiner masks bad behavior under the pseudonym Carlos Danger.

During an interview with Univision, he was asked, quote, "Why did you pick a Hispanic name?" His response? "It was a joke in my personal life between me and one person."

Presumably self-proclaimed sexting partner Sydney Leathers. She trashed Weiner on Howard Stern's radio show earlier this week.

SYDNEY LEATHERS, SEXTED WITH ANTHONY WEINER: I think I was like flattered that he trusted me enough to send that in the moment and also just completely baffled that someone so book smart could be so stupid in life.

FLORES: The embarrassing details have prominent Democratic figures like James Carville giving him the cold shoulder.

JAMES CARVILLE, POLITICAL CONSULTANT: If I were working this campaign, what I'd probably say look I can't take this anymore and resign, yes.

FLORES: Weiner says he's not looking for the support of politicians but rather middle class New Yorkers. But he did gain at least one new supporter, a perennial political candidate who's run on some unique platforms.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rent is too damn high!

FLORES: Lacking political clout but full of character and confidence, never giving up -- much like Anthony Weiner.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FLORES: Now, Anthony Weiner plans to hit the campaign trail starting today at 10:00. Now, earlier this week, he was in the area of Flushing in Queens and he spoke a little mandarin yesterday. He spoke some Spanish.

COSTELLO: Oh.

FLORES: And, Carol, we'll just have to see today to see what surprise he has for us.

Carol.

COSTELLO: Can't wait. Rosa Flores, many thanks to you.

Opening bell is just about to ring on Wall Street. Let's go there now. Investors getting their first chance to digest the latest jobs report. Alison Kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange.

Good morning.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Looks like it's kind of a thumbs down. You're looking at stocks starting out in the red. The reason is because the jobs number came in below expectation, showing that employers added only 162,000 jobs in July. And then, also, they added fewer jobs in May and June than originally thought. So what you're going to wind up seeing investors do today is kind of unraveling what these jobs numbers are going to mean for the Federal Reserve.

You look at the unemployment rate. It fell to 7.4 percent. So you're seeing that unemployment rate, Carol, creep ever so slightly closer to the Fed's target for when it raises interest rates. But the problem is, that lower unemployment rate that came in, it may be for the wrong reasons because the number of people counted in the labor participation rate fell. So people literally left the labor force, they gave up looking for work. That's really not the reason you want to see the unemployment rate tick lower. You want to see people getting jobs and that's the reason you want to see the unemployment rate go lower.

So, the good news. What's the good news? The good news is, the Dow and the S&P 500 is beginning the day at record levels. It's also a Friday in August, so it could turn out to be a pretty quiet day as the session wears on as everybody kind of gets out of here and takes their long weekend.

Carol.

COSTELLO: I like ending with the glass half full. Thank you, Alison Kosik.

KOSIK: I do too.

COSTELLO: Up next in the NEWSROOM, coming face-to-face with a monster. Michelle Knight's emotional statement about her years of abuse and what her incredible courage means to other victims across the world.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: People across the globe are still talking about the incredible Michelle Knight, no longer victim, but a woman with a voice. Knight is only 4'7", but when she walked up to the judge with Ariel Castro glaring at her, those watching her couldn't help but say, yes. Watch. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE KNIGHT, SURVIVED IMPRISONMENT BY ARIEL CASTRO: Ariel Castro, I remember all the times that you came home talking about what everybody else did wrong and act like you wasn't doing the same thing. You said, at least I didn't kill you. You took 11 years of my life away. And I have got it back. I spent 11 years in hell. Now your hell is just beginning. I will overcome all this that happened, but you will pay in hell for eternity. From this moment on, I will not let you define me or affect who I am. You will - you will live -- I will live on, you will die a little every day as you think about the 11 years in atrocities you inflicted on us. What does God think of you hypocritically going to church every Sunday, coming home to torture us. The death penalty would be so much easier. You don't deserve that. You deserve to spend life in prison. I can forgive you, but I will never forget. With the guidance of God, I will prevail and help others that suffered at the hands of others. Writing this statement gave me the strength to be a stronger woman and know that there's good - there's more good than evil.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Incredible. So let's talk about this. I'm joined by Sondra Miller. She's the interim executive director of the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center.

Sondra, welcome.

SONDRA MILLER, INTERIM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CLEVELAND RAPE CRISIS CENTER: Thank you. Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning.

You've counseled hundreds of rape victims. What message did Michelle Knight send them?

MILLER: Michelle said, you did not silence me, you did not take my voice away. I am strong and that healing is possible.

COSTELLO: I'm telling you, I talked all night last night with my friends about Michelle Knight and, I mean, we were all empowered by her, you're right.

MILLER: Yes. She is a hero among heroes. And I don't think we can overestimate the amount of courage that it took for her to walk in that courtroom and say what she said yesterday.

COSTELLO: Ariel Castro clearly had an emotional reaction to Knight's presence in court. You could see his face was flushed. He kept looking at her as she sat in the courtroom. And he reacted strongly when Michelle Knight said that he would spend the rest of his life in hell. I know he's a monster, but what do you suppose he was thinking as Michelle Knight was talking?

MILLER: I don't know that any of us can pretend to know what is going through his head, but I hope he was thinking about how long those years are going to be ahead of him.

COSTELLO: It clearly bothered him, though, that she was in court.

MILLER: Yes. And for some survivors, it's so empowering to walk up and read that statement. It's just like taking your life back and taking back power from a person who tried to take it away from you. It can be very therapeutic and very empowering.

COSTELLO: Amanda's cousin also read an impact statement in court. She said Amanda Berry doesn't want to talk about what happened, doesn't want anyone to talk about what happened, doesn't want anyone to write about what happened. But here's Michelle. She's out there. Why the difference between these victims?

MILLER: You know, not -- no two survivors have the same reaction to trauma. And I think we have to give Amanda, Gina and Michelle, we have to give them as much choice as possible because their choices have been taken away from them for so long. So for Michelle, this may have been very powerful, very therapeutic. But for Gina and Amanda, that doesn't take anything away from them that they didn't want to show up in the courtroom. We have to trust that they are going to make the decisions that are best for them.

COSTELLO: And just a last question. We couldn't help but notice that in Michelle Knight's impact statement, she didn't mention Amanda Berry. Should we make anything of that?

MILLER: I don't think so. I don't think we need to read anything into that.

COSTELLO: All right, Sondra Miller with the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center. Thank you for joining us this morning. We appreciate it.

MILLER: Thank you, Carol.

Still ahead in the NEWSROOM, a pro football player and a fallout from a racial slur. Riley Cooper does not get a warm welcome at the Philadelphia Eagles training camp, despite Michael Vick's forgiveness.

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COSTELLO: Checking our top stories at 43 minutes past the hour.

In the Middle East, a terror threat prompting the State Department to close U.S. embassies across the region. Embassies in Egypt, Israel and other nations will shut their doors on Sunday. Republican Congressman Ed Royce tells CNN he believes the threat is al Qaeda linked.

Edward Snowden now staying with Americans in Moscow after Russia granted him asylum for a year. The NSA leaker left the Moscow airport yesterday, where he'd been holed up for six weeks. Snowden's attorney says his clients hosts are people he doesn't know personally but who reached out to him on the Internet.

Remember this. There were big, big celebrations when 33 workers trapped underground for months in Chile were finally rescued nearly three years ago. But today there's only outrage because prosecutors say no one is to blame for the collapse and now they're closing the case. Two of the miners say they want the mine's owners to be held accountable.

In D.C., a court hearing is happening this hour for the woman accused of splattering green paint inside the national cathedral. The hearing is to determine if this woman will remain in custody. She's been charged with felony destruction of property.

Fans of the hit film "Avatar" are going to love this. Fox Studio says three, count them three sequels are in the works on the highest grossing movie of all-time. Director James Cameron will be back at the helm. The first sequel is expected to hit theaters in December of 2016.

Up next in the NEWSROOM, an intimate look at the Nixon presidency as you've never seen it before. Discover the footage the FBI had locked away for 40 years.

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COSTELLO: It's Richard Nixon like you've never heard or seen him before. Hundreds of reels of behind-the-scenes footage shot by President Nixon's closest aides have just been released from the government's vault. Now it's part of a new CNN film titled "Our Nixon" airing Sunday night at 9:00 p.m. Eastern -- 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time I should say.

You can listen to Nixon talk about TV, about hippies, about homosexuality and the downfall of the Greeks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD NIXON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I told Bob the other day I was trying to tune into the damn baseball game and then the game went off, and CBS came on with a movie.

They had two magnificent handsome guys and a stupid old fellow in it. They were glorifying homosexuality.

HALDEMAN: Was that a panel show?

NIXON: Hell no. It was a movie.

HALDEMAN: No, that's a regular show, it's on every week. And usually, it's just set in the guy's home and it's usually just that guy, who's hardhat.

NIXON: That's right, he's a hardhat.

HALDEMAN: And you know he just looks like a slob. Looks like Jackie Gleason and he has in his hippie son-in-law. And usually -- the general trend of it is to downgrade him and upgrade the hippie son-in- law.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's real family entertainment, isn't it? NIXON: (EXPLETIVE DELETED), is it? I do not think that you glorify on public television, homosexuality. You ever see what -- you know what happened to the Greeks. Homosexuality destroyed them.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Of course, he's talking about "All in the Family." Joining me now is Brian Frye, he co-produced the documentary. Good morning, Brian.

BRIAN FRYE, CO-PRODUCER, "OUR NIXON": Good morning Carol, how are you?

COSTELLO: I'm great and I'm glad you're here because I watched this movie and I thought it was terrific. What it really does.

FRYE: Thank you so much.

COSTELLO: What it really does, it immerses you back in the time. You really feel like you're back in the 70s and you really gained to better understanding of the times of who Nixon really was.

FRYE: Thanks. That's really the feeling we wanted to evoke. I mean obviously, I was not alive then myself but we really felt like we -- we got a feel for who these people were while we were working on and making the film. And hopefully that came through in the movie that we made.

COSTELLO: The other thing I noticed is that I mean you can learn things from the past, we all know that. But when you watch this movie, you really know that. Is that another -- well maybe I should ask you that question. What can we learn from Richard Nixon and his men?

FRYE: Well I mean I think one thing we can learn is, you know, sort of what -- what not to do, like how not to react to people who -- who criticize you or who treat you badly. And I think we see at least some of that with -- that the current administration. I think that, you know, President Obama certainly has learned not to -- not to break the law when responding to people who have been -- who have been critical of him.

COSTELLO: The other thing that really struck me, and we all -- we've all heard that Richard Nixon was so paranoid, right? So he was talking about, to one of his aides about a speech he had given and he was saying how great it was like what a great delivery he had. He was really complimenting himself.

But at the end of the conversation, he said, "Oh I didn't hear back from so-and-so. Can you call him and ask him what he thought about the speech?" What does that tell you about Nixon?

FRYE: It was really typical of Nixon's reaction or his sort of his relationship to his aides as well. He -- I'm -- as much as he is kind of criticized I think today for being paranoid, I think he -- there was a deep kind of narcissistic streak to him as well, where he really needed the approval of the -- the people who worked for him and the people he knew. And he always wanted to know what people thought of his speeches, what people thought of everything that -- that he did.

So after every speech, he spoke to H.R. Haldeman, who was his chief of staff. They had like an hour's-long sort of rundown of all the press, you know, talking to all the different cabinet members and so on. So it's -- you know, that was very typical of his relationship to his -- to his staff members.

And we really wanted to capture that relationship in the film. I mean the movie is really about Nixon's relationship to his staffers, to the people who -- who worked for him. And a sort of Nixon seen through their eyes was the sort of the Nixon we wanted to capture.

COSTELLO: Well, you did. It's a terrific film. Brian Frye, co- producer of "Our Nixon". Thanks for joining us this morning.

FRYE: Thank you so much Carol.

COSTELLO: And again "Our Nixon" airs this Sunday night 9:00 p.m. Eastern, only on CNN.

All new in the next hour of NEWSROOM: Having it all without children. It's a choice more and more women are making. But why?

Plus, ex NFL star Aaron Hernandez proclaiming his innocence in a jailhouse letter, saying, "God has a plan for me and at least I'll know my true supporters."

And Glee -- goes on. After the death of actor Corey Monteith, the show decides how to move forward. That's all new in the next hour of NEWSROOM.

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COSTELLO: Alex Rodriguez's representatives continue to negotiate with Major League Baseball to try and reach a deal. In the meantime, A-Rod returning to the field. Andy Scholes is here with "Bleacher Report." Good morning.

ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: And good morning Carol. Right now it's business as usual for A-Rod. Tonight he'll be back on the field in Trenton, New Jersey as he begins another rehab assignment. The Yankees announced that A-Rod would play for the Trenton Thunder tonight and tomorrow.

A-Rod's reps in Major League Baseball continue to try to work on that deal that would allow A-Rod to avoid a lifetime ban and instead serve a lengthy suspension for his role in the Biogenesis drug scandal. A- Rod could rejoin the Yankees early next week but Major League Baseball is expected to announce his suspension before then or at least we hope they do.

And Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Riley Cooper continues to deal with the firestorm he created when he used a racial slur towards a security guard in a Kenny Chesney concert. Cooper's apologized for that incident, it was caught on video. Quarterback Michael Vick came to his defense saying he knows what kind of person Cooper really is. However Running back, LeSean McCoy wasn't as kind saying he no longer respects Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LESEAN MCCOY, NFL PLAYER: It's new. Hopefully it wears off but at this point, I just -- I speak for myself and other teammates, I know it's definitely different.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: They called it the X Games for a reason. During practice yesterday, Javier Villegas, very scary moment, going for the backflip, he bails, falls very hard. Carol he ended with a broken and dislocated right hip. He had to have surgery late last night.

There was another scary moment at the X Games. Bob Burnquist, competing in skateboard big air competition, goes up for this jump Carol and he face plants, as you can see. He was in a lot of pain. Guess what, Carol? Got right back on the board and ended up getting the bronze medal in the competition.

COSTELLO: Good for him.

SCHOLES: He's definitely a lot tougher than I am, I can say that.

COSTELLO: Man, I would have been crying and started sobbing right there -- unbelievable.

SCHOLES: I would have been down for the count. I'm not getting up after that one.

COSTELLO: Thanks, Andy. The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM after a break.

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