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George W. Bush Gets Stent Surgery; Fort Hood Shooting Trial Begins Today; Amber Alert In California; Boos Greet A-Rod In Chicago; TSA's Not Just On Duty At The Airport; Severe Weather In Kansas, Missouri

Aired August 06, 2013 - 10:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Brianna Keilar in for Carol Costello. And we begin with breaking news about the health of former President George W. Bush. We are learning that just this morning he underwent a stent procedure. This comes just one day after doctors discovered a blockage in an artery during a physical examination.

And I'm joined right now by CNN political director, Mark Preston. So, Mark, back in April, we were both in Dallas there for the opening of the Presidential Library and Center. President George W. Bush, his library, and you can see the video here. He certainly looked pretty good and he's always been pretty fit, even if this is something that, you know, is somewhat regular, as we may hear from a medical profession here in a second, pretty good health, right?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Pretty good health. You know, Brianna, and somebody who really has talked a lot about how he turned his life around, how he stopped drinking in his 40s, and how he's really decided to try to focus on his health, you know, one of his big things to do, what he does to blow off some steam is to go mountain biking. And he does that along his ranch down in Texas.

You know, he just turned 67 years ago old back in July and he just became a grandfather earlier in career. And of course, as you said, there was the dedication of his library and presidential center down in Dallas, where not only do we see President Obama attend, but we saw President Clinton, President Carter, and of course, his father, President George H.W. Bush, all on stage.

So yes, a big surprise this morning to hear this happening. But as you said, Brianna, we're probably going to hear this more and more as you and I get a little bit older with some of our friends who perhaps have some heart issues.

KEILAR: Yes, certainly. And I think this is just sort of part of getting older and obviously he does get his routine physical every year and they were table to catch this. And Mark, thank you so much.

We're going to go ahead now and bring in Dr. Habib Samady. He's a cardiologist with Emory Clinic here in Atlanta. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent is on the phone. Dr. Samady, can you just explain what this procedure is to us, installing a stent?

DR. HABIB SAMADY, CARDIOLOGIST, EMORY CLINIC (via telephone): Sure, Brianna, so a stent procedure involves getting to the heart arteries through a hollow little catheter, similar to IV tubes that are placed in all emergency rooms. But we put these hollow catheters in the arteries instead of the veins, and navigate under x-ray guidance up to the heart and gauge the arteries of the heart and then on a little wire rail, we deploy these metal coils that we call stents. These are very inert metal coils that are deployed at high atmospheric pressures and essentially pushes the cholesterol plaque against the wall and recreates a pretty good lumen to restore blood flow to the heart.

KEILAR: Sanjay, can you talk a little bit about the concerns here of there being some sort of blockage, if maybe there would have been any symptoms that he could have experienced, although we are hearing that this was discovered during a routine physical.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. And I had heard the same thing, but the concern is that if there's a blockage in one of the blood vessels, you may not be getting enough blood flow to the heart itself. And, you know, people can have all sorts of different things going on, and I'm sure the doctors probably asked President Bush if he had, besides chest pain, which would be sort of one of the most obvious symptoms, that he had differences in how well he was exercising, was he getting tired more easily, becoming short of breath, any of those types of things.

He may not have had any of those symptoms and they just found this on a routine physical. What likely happened is he had had abnormality in his EKG while he was under stress, and ultimately got an angiogram, which Dr. Samady was just explaining, get some dye that is essentially pushed into some of the blood vessels and they found that area of narrowing and put in the stent to hold the blood vessel open.

KEILAR: So Dr. Samady, the thing that sort of struck me was when his office put out a statement, they said, he's in the hospital today. He'll be spending the night. He's looking forward to getting back to work tomorrow. I mean, is that sort of normal, that if you have a procedure like this, you're just kind of up and at them the next day?

SAMADY: Yes, Brianna, I think one of the sorts of advances in these percutaneous techniques, in ways to unblock arteries through the catheter-guided approach is, one of the advantages is it allows people to ambulate pretty quickly. At times, we can even have a patient undergo one of these procedures in the morning and nowadays, we can either go through the wrist arteries or through the legs, particularly if we go through the wrist, we can ambulate the patient that afternoon and let them go home that evening.

KEILAR: Yes, it's really amazing that the recovery time there. And Sanjay, I'm wondering from you when you're looking at someone going through this sort of process, although it does seem routine, even though a lot of times you think about the heart and certainly there's an area of major concern, what would for the former president, what would be health concerns related to this for his future? GUPTA: Probably more than anything, it would probably just serve as a bit of a wake-up call. You know, I've heard he was a pretty health- conscious fellow, he was running quite a bit while he was president, and my understanding was he always placed a strong focus on his health. Anyone can develop coronary artery disease as well, and I imagine whether it requires some additional tweaking, if you will, of his diet.

I don't know if he's on cholesterol medication, things like that, but to your point, Brianna, we've got a million angiograms performed every year in the United States, about 600,000 times, they result in some kind of intervention, you know, an angioplasty or stenting so it is a fairly common procedure. And hopefully we'll get rid of any potential problems down the line for him.

KEILAR: We certainly wish him a very speedy recovery. It sounds like he's doing well. And thanks so much for your insight, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, our chief medical correspondent, and also, cardiologist, Habib Samady, thanks so much for joining us.

Well, so this hour, the controversial trial is beginning for the army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people in a 2009 shooting rampage. According to prosecutors, Major Nidal Hasan premeditated the massacre on his fellow soldiers, who were preparing to ship out to Afghanistan as well as to Iraq. This was the deadliest soldier-on-soldier attack in recent U.S. military history and he could face the death penalty if convicted. Hasan has chosen to represent himself in court, and that means legally, he could cross-examine the victims, the very people he shot.

Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence is joining me now. Chris, do we have any sense of how some of these folks may be responding to what really seems to be shocking that they would have to confront the person who allegedly shot them.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: It's not going to be easy, and we've heard from some of them that they are prepared to have to face him in court, this hearing really just getting started right now at this minute. And Brianna, that's not the only thing that's unusual about this.

Normally in a military hearing as serious as this, the defendant, the soldier would be dressed in a full-dress uniform. He'd be clean shaven. Not Hasan. He successfully fought not to have to wear that uniform and he's grown out a full beard as well.

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LAWRENCE (voice-over): When this army major goes on trial today for allegedly murdering 13 fellow soldiers and civilians, he may not put on much of a defense, Major Nidal Hasan only plans to call two witnesses, 32 people survived the massacre at Fort Hood in 2009. And when prosecutors bring some of them to the stand, Hasan himself will be doing the cross-examination.

NEAL SHER, FORT HOOD VICTIMS' ATTORNEY: It is going to be very difficult. It will be painful.

LAWRENCE: Survivors have waited four years to tell their story in court.

MICK ENGNEHL, FORT HOOD SHOOTING SURVIVOR: All of a sudden, like, you just hear, Al Akbar somewhere, and pow, pow, shooting everywhere.

LAWRENCE: Retired soldier, Mick Engnehl says he clearly remembers Hasan pointing a gun at him and pulling the trigger.

ENGNEHL: Felt like a baseball bat hit me right in the side of my neck and then just blood went everywhere.

LAWRENCE: And while the physical scars are fading, unseen injuries linger.

CHRISTOPHER ROYAL, FORT HOOD SHOOTING SURVIVOR: Since the shooting, I just, I don't know what happened, but my short-term memory is just -- it's not existing.

LAWRENCE: Hasan's former attorney says he's got a right to represent himself, even if survivors have to be subjected to his questions.

JOHN GALLIGAN, FORT HOOD SUSPECT'S FORMER ATTORNEY: There's sensitivities on the issue, I think, are subordinate to his constitutional right to act as his own attorney.

LAWRENCE: Hasan has claimed he was protecting the Taliban from soldiers who would soon be deploying to fight them in Afghanistan. The judge has ruled out that defense so it remains to be seen how he'll defend his actions.

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LAWRENCE: Now, since the shooting, Hasan has earned about $300,000, courtesy of the same government that's trying to convict and kill him. While military prosecutors are pushing for the death penalty, the Army says it has no choice, but to keep paying Hasan his military salary, because he's still a United States soldier and hasn't been convicted -- Brianna.

KEILAR: And I get it, Chris, that they're sort of going through this process that's there, but that's pretty unbelievable, $300,000. Is there any chance that he gets to keep that money?

LAWRENCE: Well, if he is convicted during sentencing, the military judge could assign a fine so some of that money could perhaps go to that. The money could also possibly go to repay some of the defense experts who will be called during this trial. And of course, there's always that potential for a civil suit by the victims, although in this case, you've got so many, you know, almost three dozen, that money doesn't go very far when it's spread out that much.

KEILAR: Certainly, and in this trial, I mean, just I can tell from your report, going to be very difficult for the folks who were there on the witness stand. Pentagon correspondent, Chris Lawrence, thank you.

Well, to Southern California now, where authorities have issued an amber alert for a missing 16-year-old girl and her 8-year-old brother. Over the weekend, their mother, a child, and a dog were all found dead in a burned out home. And San Diego police have named James Lee Dimaggio, a friend of the mother's, as the suspect. Authorities say he may be driving a blue Nissan Versa.

Our Miguel Marquez is on his way to San Diego. He's joining us now by the phone. Miguel, what else can you tell us about this and, obviously, there's tremendous concern for these two children?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Yes, very high alerts across the entire area here. The area where this happened is actually Boulevard, California, which is about 60 miles southeast of San Diego, right near the Mexican border. The closest Mexican town there is Mexicali. It is a concern that this individual may be trying to get over the border, into Mexico, or into Canada, according to police.

Police still have a crime scene outside the house, but they believe that they'll be relinquishing that fairly soon. And they are quite sure that the individual, the woman inside the house was killed before the garage set on fire and then they found this young person. They're not saying how old that person is, in the house, and whether or not it's a boy or a girl.

But they know that it is a child that was found in the house, dead along with the dog and the two others, these two kids, a 16-year-old and an 8-year-old are now with this man, who they say had a platonic relationship with the woman who is now dead -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Do we know anything else about the suspect, James Lee Dimaggio?

MARQUEZ: We know very little about him. We know that he was the homeowner at this place in Boulevard, California. We know that he had a relationship, a long relationship, with her, but it was described as a nonsexual relationship by police, by authorities here. And that is the most we know at the moment. We're hoping, expecting that there will be more information here shortly.

KEILAR: So what are police -- they're saying, obviously, the suspect may be driving a blue Nissan Versa. What are they saying to people as they -- are they telling them, you mentioned Mexico, you mentioned Canada, are they saying sort of over this entire swath of the west coast for people to be keeping an eye out?

MARQUEZ: Look, I think police are hoping that something breaks very soon. On every phone, they now have the amber alert system and it comes up on your iPhone and everywhere else. It's certainly on the highways, everywhere across here. They're hoping that by getting the photographs of the two people, Hanna Anderson and Ethan Anderson, she's 16, he is 8, and also James Lee Dimaggio, who is in his 40s, they can get those pictures out and hopefully get somebody to see them and give them a good tip, that they will be able to capture them. Police or sheriff's department at the moment, San Diego County Sheriff's Department, the lead investigative agency, they don't have, at least as of the last few minutes when I spoke to them, they don't have any hard information at the moment as to where they are. But they're hoping that by getting this information out there, as quickly and as fully as possible, but they will get a break.

It is a concern, though, that the house where this happened was so close to the Mexican border, trying to get a hold of Mexican authorities as well to see if they have been alerted by San Diego authorities, if there are any, you know, drag nets or attempts there to bring this individual in -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Miguel Marquez, thank you for that report.

Still ahead --

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Alex Rodriguez.

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KEILAR: Tough night for A-Rod, both off and on the field. The baseball star says it's all been a nightmare.

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KEILAR: The boo birds were out in Chicago last night for A-Rod.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Alex Rodriguez.

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KEILAR: It was Alex Rodriguez's season debut last night, but it was also the first game that the Yankee third baseman played since baseball levelled a 211-game suspension against him in a doping scandal. CNN's Jason Carroll was actually at the game. He also attended the A-Rod news conference. Jason, what did he say and also what was it like to be in that stadium?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I can tell you, post-game, Rodriguez first of all came out and said how much he loved the game and how much he loved the fans. But as you heard there, it seemed like each time he was up at bat, Brianna, the fans in the entire stadium, seemed to be booing and shouting insults. But throughout all of this, Rodriguez says he wants to prove himself on the field and with his appeal.

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CARROLL (voice-over): The sounds of boos and cheers echoing throughout U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago on Monday night as Alex Rodriguez debuted for the Yankees, just hours after Major League Baseball announced it was suspending him for allegedly using performance-enhancing drugs. The embattled third baseman talked about what it has been like living under a cloud of suspicion.

ALEX RODRIGUEZ, NEW YORK YANKEES THIRD BASEMAN: The last seven months has been a nightmare. Probably the worst time of my life.

CARROLL: Rodriguez was one of 13 players suspended Monday, the other 12 players receiving 50-game suspensions for using performance- enhancing drugs. The PEDs allegedly provided by the now defunct anti- aging clinic in Florida, Biogenesis. Rodriguez's punishment far worse, the top paid player suspension effective Thursday is through the 2014 season, 211 games without pay, which could cost him $31 million.

Major League Baseball commissioner saying in a statement the suspension is based on his use and possession of numerous forms of prohibited performance enhancing substances including testosterone and human growth hormone over the course of multiple years. MLB officials also alleging Rodriguez attempted to cover up his violations and obstruct their investigation. Rodriguez says he'll appeal.

In the past, Rodriguez has also denied a connection to the former head of Biogenesis and taking PEDs from the clinic, but when asked more than once to clarify on Monday, Rodriguez dodged those questions.

RODRIGUEZ: We will have a forum to discuss all of that and we will talk about it then.

CARROLL: Some fans did show their support for Rodriguez, but most felt this way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he did cheat. He needs to be punished in some way.

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CARROLL: Well, under baseball's rules and regulations, Rodriguez is allowed to keep playing ball while he appeals. That appeal process should take anywhere between a month or even longer, and will ultimately be decided by an arbitrator. But Brianna, it's already very clear that many fans have already made up their minds.

KEILAR: Could you tell there, Jason, how Yankees' fans were responding compared to Chicago fans?

CARROLL: On both sides, we heard people who came out and basically said, look, Rodriguez is a cheater, he's paid too much money. There was one woman who came out and basically said, you know, if he did take steroids, if he did take these performance enhancing drugs, why isn't he playing better ball? At least he should be playing better ball? But there was one guy who came out here, and he said, look, I feel as though Rodriguez deserved a second chance, but overwhelmingly, whether you were a White Sox fan or a Yankees fan, most of them really felt as though it was time for Rodriguez to go.

KEILAR: Interesting. Jason Carroll, thank you for that report. But how do you feel about a special TSA team searching you before you see your favorite sports team or concert? This is the same group of people who were recently accused in a report of everything from stealing money from luggage to sleeping on the job and now they have even more duties. The TSA's expanded duties now include security checks at passenger train, subway, and bus stations across the nation.

Now, those places may not be so surprising, but now music festivals and concert venues are on the list too, as "The New York Times" points out this morning. And joining me to talk about this is Todd Curtis. He is the creator of airsafe.com. So, Todd, do you think the TSA should be conducting these security checks at these venues that have nothing to do with transportation?

TODD CURTIS, CREATOR, AIRSAFE.COM: Well, the TSA already has authorization to do these sorts of checks in conjunction with local law enforcement. There's been an ongoing program that the TSA has had to do this. But what has happened recently, especially, in light of some of their behavior at some of these events that some have questioned whether or not they're an appropriate use of TSA resources.

KEILAR: OK, and so we've had this recent report as well, saying there have been some abuses, that some TSA agents have stolen money. Is that a concern or, I mean, just in terms of sort of, I guess, abusing their responsibilities, certainly, at least some individuals, is that a concern when it comes to these new venues?

CURTIS: Well, this is a different program. The -- what you discussed, TSA officials stealing money from airport baggage and such, that's been going on for quite some time. This latest controversy is with a specialized team of TSA officers, who are assisting in special events and in doing things such as going to train stations, subway stations, bus stations, in an unannounced way to bolster security. And also to throw, presumably, the potential terrorists off their game, because they don't know when these special teams, which are handpicked, by the way, will be in place.

KEILAR: OK. So, it seems like they're operating maybe at more of a higher level, some of the strategy behind exactly how to secure some of these events. Do you think that we should be encouraged that they would be involved?

CURTIS: I don't think so, for the following reason. The TSA officials, the TSA security officers don't have law enforcement authority. They don't have the power to arrest. They don't have the power to use force. And in fact, they have a special exemption from the usual restrictions that law enforcement has. In a typical law enforcement situation, there has to be some sort of probable cause, a warrant, et cetera, for law enforcement to search.

But these teams, which are called viper teams, because they're doing something specifically, dealing potential terrorism events, they have an exemption. They can search people without probable cause and without a warrant. And that's the thing that's rubbing some people the wrong way, especially in some of the specific events that happened in the last couple of years, where even the local law enforcement authorities who are working with them thought they stepped over the line.

KEILAR: Certainly, yes, and that's why you have some civil liberties groups who are saying, you know what, this may violate some constitutional rights. Todd Curtis with airsafe.com, thank you.

CURTIS: Thank you.

KEILAR: Now, coming up on NEWSROOM, lightning, rain, powerful winds, what you need to know about extreme weather across the country.

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KEILAR: Kansas pounded by severe storms yesterday, pretty amazing pictures there. Let's go ahead and bring in meteorologist, Indra Petersons, who are monitoring all of today's weather. I know, Indra, you are kind of a self-described weather nerd. I know you would like to be out there witnessing that in person, but it's also very dangerous.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. Weather geek, that is definitely me. It is hard to resist, but you're right. It's very dangerous. We're talking about rainfall rates over 2 inches an hour. I mean, about 7 inches on Sunday morning in Kansas and this morning in Missouri, that system moved just a little farther to the east and they dealt with heavy rainfall rates, about 7 inches of rain until about 6:00 in the morning, starting at midnight, so an unbelievable amount of rain.

They had flash flood emergencies in the area with a lot of these floodwaters rushing into people's home where they had to be evacuated, really, the problem is the systems are training, meaning storm after storm over the same place, day after day. And unfortunately, as we go through the forecast, we're continuing to see a cold front push through the region, so even more showers expected in the region.

Yes, slightly nudging to the east, we'll start to see more rain in Kentucky and Tennessee tomorrow. But either way, we're still talking about this heavy, heavy rainfall that continues to fall. I want to give you a quick update. We do now have Tropical Storm Gil, instead of Depression Gil. It actually strengthened out there. As you can tell as we go through the forecast, it's expected to continue to strengthen.

Good news, staying south of Hawaii. I mean, get the good surf. But very close behind it, we're talking about Hurricane Henriette, and that's a now category one category hurricane and that is moving closer to Hawaii. So we're going to be watching that -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes. You can just sort of see the cone there of uncertainty. It makes you really sort of worried for Hawaii. We hope it stays away. Indra -- all right, you sure will. Thank you so much, Indra.

Now, just ahead, a new report says that UCLA's deans are flying first class while students are struggling with sky-high tuition which keeps rising. And we'll have the report. We'll talk with the student body president of UCLA after the break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)