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Bulger Case Goes to Jury; Bus Driver Speaks Out; Sleeping Boys Killed by Python; Boos Greet A-Rod in Chicago; Amazon Founder Buys "Washington Post"; New Book on JFK, Jackie O., Marilyn Monroe.
Aired August 06, 2013 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: The Florida school bus driver who witnessed three teens beating and stomping on a 13-year-old said intervening would only have made things worse.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SHOUTING)
JOHN MOODY, SCHOOL BUS DRIVER: Leave that boy alone. Leave him alone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: You hear him shouting there. The victim, the boy, ended up with a broken arm and two black eyes. Police say the kids were from a drop-out prevention school, and the victim was beaten up for telling the school one of teens tried to sell drugs to him. The driver, John Moody, called for help as required by school policy. Police have now criticized him for not stepping in but the school and the prosecutors say the 64-year-old did nothing wrong.
Moody told CNN's Piers Morgan he did what he could.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOODY: It's been policy that bus drivers do not jump in the middle. Me jumping in would have been more dangerous for other students on the bus and myself. It's no telling what might have happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Moody retired two weeks after the attack. He says he's had many sleepless nights because of it and he wishes he could have done more.
This, of course, is what everybody is talking about, a story that could send a chill through any parent or anybody, frankly. This is two young boys away from home at a sleepover. This is in a little Canadian town called Hamilton, in Brunswick. Both of them, these little boys killed in their sleep. Police say the killer is an escaped 100-pound python.
Andrew Spencer has the story. ANDREW SPENCER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A friend of the two boys lives at this apartment above his father's pet store where he sells exotic reptiles. Sometime after the two boys went to sleep, one of the reptiles escaped. Canadian Royal Mounted Police say a 100- pound python, like this one, escaped the enclosure and crawled through the ventilation system into the apartment above the store and strangled a 5-year-old and a 7-year-old boy.
UNIDENTIFIED CANADIAN ROYAL MOUNTED POLICE OFFICER: The owner's son was there but wasn't in the same room that the two victims were.
SPENCER: Alexander Trodlay (ph) sells exotic snakes. He says it's rare for a snake that big to escape.
ALEXANDER TRODLAY (ph), SELLS EXOTIC SNAKES: The snake is probably way underfed. For a snake to get out at that size it has to be really hundred hungry and not in good conditions.
SPENCER: Others are not surprised.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The fact you have an apartment with animals below, the risk is there.
SPENCER: The RNCMP has started a criminal investigation.
I'm Andrew Spencer, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Unbelievable.
A-Rod was suspended for alleged involvement in a banned drug operation but Major League Baseball didn't even have a steroids policy until 10 years ago. So the question is, could Major League Baseball have done more?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: After Alex Rodriguez said he would appeal his suspension, he booed in Chicago. This was during the Yankees game with the White Sox last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(BOOING)
ANNOUNCER: Alex Rodriguez.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: He was one of 13 players who were punished by the league for taking performance enhancing drugs. The 38-year-old denies the accusation. Of all the players, he got the worse of the punishment. He cannot play for 211 games beginning on Thursday. With an appeal, the suspension will be on hold.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEX RODRIGUEZ, NEW YORK YANKEES: Obviously, disappointing with the news today. No question about it. What we've always fought for is for the process and I think we had that. At some point we'll sit in front of an arbiter and give our case. That's as much as I feel comfortable telling you now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: We'll talk about the process with Lance Williams. He's with the Center for Investigative Reporting. He's been following from the very beginning.
Lance, you hear what he has to say. These players are randomly tested for banned drugs but never got a positive result. They're accused because they appear in this list of clients for this lab in Miami. Why did the tests not show they were using?
LANCE WILLIAMS, CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING: The testings are imperfect and this illustrates that. They are administered randomly. You can beat them if you're dedicated to using banned drugs. If you get into banned drugs beating the test is your first goal.
MALVEAUX: How is it that the tests aren't keeping up with the drugs that are used to mask the results? Is there so much money in major league sports they don't want to spend the money to keep up with the cheaters?
WILLIAMS: The way tests are done in all sports now is to check urine and blood. You have to be within a few days or weeks of the use of the substance, depending on how fast it clears, to catch it. Scientists say other tests are possible that could be absolutely foolproof but developing them would cost many millions of dollars and divert funds from curing diabetes.
MALVEAUX: Where does that leave baseball? Is it a matter of a money issue? They don't have the money to out do the cheaters who have managed to get ahead of the tests?
WILLIAMS: You have to give baseball some credit here. 10 years ago, when the scandal broke, there was nothing done about Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi or the other admitted athletes involved. Five years ago, there was another scandal involving clinics in Florida and baseball players and, once again, baseball didn't do anything. The commissioner has taken a lot of criticism over the years, but he's really gotten proactive, and that's one of the take-aways.
MALVEAUX: And big picture, Lance, what does this mean for sports in general when talk about being competitive here when you realize so many of these top players and perhaps the scores behind them are false. This is based on cheated performances.
WILLIAMS: It makes being a sports fan a lot more complicated from back in the day. You kind of detach the game from its past. That was one of the pleasures, comparing Hank Aaron to Babe Ruth. You can't do that anymore and it's just too bad but it's one of signs of the time. I think baseball is trying to fix the problem. Players are saying, hey, we want them to clean up the game. That wasn't going on five years ago either.
MALVEAUX: Thanks. Lance Williams, appreciate it, as always.
Amazon's founder makes a big purchase. He pays $250 million for "The Washington Post." Could this actually help the newspaper business survive? Up next.
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MALVEAUX: One of the country's most historic newspapers, "The Washington Post" is changing hands. Jeff Bezos spent $250 million of his own money to buy it. He's the guy who founded amazon.com.
Zain Asher is joining us from New York.
Wow, Zain, I grew up reading "The Washington Post." It's one of my favorite papers. Everybody wants to know what difference does this make?
ZAIN ASHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Suzanne, this is very interesting. People are asking, is he using his sort of tech savviness to turn the papers around. All of these billionaires seem to have a soft spot for newspapers. A lot of them seem to enjoy the challenge of using their business savvy to revitalize it.
By the way, as I mentioned, this is an exciting time for newspapers. We've seen a drop in circulation, which means they are a bargain investment and that could mean solid return if these billionaires could help turn them around.
Jeff Bezos is paying $250 million for "The Washington Post." One of the most innovative people in tech, he's an ideal candidate to help "The Washington Post" transition fully into the digital age.
Another billionaire, John Henry, the owner of the Boston Red Sox, buying "The Boston Globe." This is really about him boosting his standing in the local community. He was able to get it for about $70 million, which is 90 percent than what "The New York Times" paid less for it about 20 years ago. People are saying this is more of a passion project. He wanted to ensure the city has a viable daily paper -- Suzanne?
MALVEAUX: There's a lot of debate, Zain, whether or not this is a good thing or bad thing. Obviously, we're going to the digital age. You have newspapers that are folding. You have a new audience in a new way people are reading and getting their news.
ASHER: Exactly. A lot of billionaires see this as a huge opportunity. They are saying as long as the price is right, you got a lot of newspapers struggling. "The New York Times" bought "The Boston Globe" for a billion dollar and John bought it for $70 million. People are saying if the price is right, billionaires will continue to invest -- Suzanne? MALVEAUX: Zain Asher. Thank you, Zain, as always. Appreciate it.
The day pretty much a headache for a lot of people traveling around the world, particularly flying, because -- this is what's happening. The reservation system that's used by hundreds of airplanes, it broke down. It's been leading to all these delays here. The system is called Sabre. It's back up and running. Thank goodness. There were a lot of delays. Usually, there's a ripple effect when things like this happen, as you can imagine.
Chad, I want to bring you in here to talk about that. And the map behind you a little scary when you take a look at all those planes.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It did not affect anyone in the air. It was just you on the ground earlier today. If you wanted to give a bag to the attendant and they were going to give you tag for it, they didn't know computer wise where it was going to go. They had to do it all by hand. It slowed everything down. 5,800 planes in the sky now. The good news is they're not this big.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
MALVEAUX: That's a good thing.
MYERS: You would never see sunshine if they were this big. Everything is back up and normal. You may run into a few minute delays here or there simply because one plane didn't get on the ground soon enough, and that does ripple effect, because they have these things on a schedule. When the schedule goes down at all, the planes, the next one and the next one are five, 10, 15 minutes delayed as we finally get them on the ground.
The system is back up now. They will give you a tag and put it on your bag. They'll put it on the machine and it will go with your plane. But for a while, earlier today, they were back in the '60s, they were writing tags and handing them to you.
(LAUGHTER)
And hoping that your bag got where it was supposed to.
MALVEAUX: It was old school.
(LAUGHTER)
MYERS: It was old school.
MALVEAUX: All right, Chad, glad things are back to normal. Appreciate it.
MYERS: You're welcome.
MALVEAUX: How much did Jackie Kennedy know about Marilyn Monroe's and JFK's alleged romance? There is a new book that says the two women talked it out, but is this true? Up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: So just how much did First Lady Jackie Kennedy know about her husband, President John F. Kennedy's long-suspected affair with Marilyn Monroe. According to a new book, she knew first hand.
Zoraida Sambolin has the juicy details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZORAIDA SAMBOLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Never before have such details been heard about the relationship between President John F. Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, and the first lady.
In a new book, "These Few Precious Days, The Final Year of Jack with Jackie," author, Christopher Anderson, claims that the Hollywood starlet actually called Jacquelyn Kennedy on the White House phone confessing to an affair she was rumored to be having. The first lady allegedly responded by saying, "That's great. You'll move into the White House and you'll assume the responsibilities of first lady and I'll move out and you'll have all the problems."
NICK RAGONE, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: The claim that Marilyn Monroe actually called Jackie O. at the White House, it does seem farfetched, but then again, with Marilyn Monroe, seemingly anything was possible.
(SINGING)
SAMBOLIN: The book also claims the breathy sex symbol, singing here in "Some Like it Hot," confided her most intimate details to a friend, convinced the president would leave Jackie for her, even fantasizing, quote, "Can't you just see me as first lady"?
RAGONE: The idea that President Kennedy would leave his beloved wife, who the nation adored, for a sort of aging movie star probably was a fantasy only in Marilyn Monroe's mind.
SAMBOLIN: The book also tells of Jackie reportedly telling her doctor that of all her husband's alleged affairs, the one with Marilyn was the most troubling.
RAGONE: Jackie Kennedy, she was a smart political wife and she feared Marilyn Monroe, not as somebody who would be emotionally intimate with President Kennedy, but rather, somebody who could take down the administration in scandal and she viewed her as a loose cannon and unpredictable.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: That was Zoraida Sambolin reporting.
Sharks can be scary. Movies like "Jaws," "Sharknado" show. People also love them as well. Powerful creatures as Discovery show "Shark Week" keeps proving over and over again. Gotta love them. Sharks equal viewers, the big business behind the bite, up next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Got to love "Shark Week." It is now back. Yes, that's right, it is back -- the Discovery Channel, for the 26th year in a row. It's one of my favorite series.
Jake Tapper is taking a look, whether you love them, the sharks, or are whether you're terrified of them, now "Discovery Channel" keeps "Shark Week" swimming.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC)
JAKE TAPPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sleek and agile, a beast that has evolved overtime to reach maximum effectiveness. It focuses on its target and at least once every summer it strikes millions of us with force.
(MUSIC)
TAPPER: It's "Discovery Channel's" "Shark Week," and for the 26th year the channel proves there is big business behind the bite.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely unbelievable.
TAPPER: "Shark Week," over the years, has meant hundreds of millions of dollars in ad revenue for Discovery that allows the channel to draw a different demographic for the week, a younger, more affluent and gender-balanced crowd.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just moments away from releasing Snuffy.
TAPPER: This year, they're banking on Snuffy, a fictional seal being returned to his home --
(SHOUTING)
TAPPER: -- only to be swallowed whole by a great white.
(SHOUTING)
TAPPER: When we visited Discovery's headquarters in Maryland, a prop of Snuffy was hanging proudly near Mike Sorensen, Discovery's senior director of development, who spoke to us from his shark week couch.
MIKE SORENSEN, SENIOR DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT, DISCOVERY CHANNEL: Snuffy has become this kind of icon out there with over five million hits online so, you know, I think for us it's really continuing to grow this outside of just a week of TV and really embrace the audience desire to watch sharks.
TAPPER: This year, Discovery is diving even deeper into social media, churning the waters of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube with links and promos for "Shark Week" programming. And that doesn't even include the cross promotions like Tom Shoes selling this limited edition pair, giving $5 from each to Oceana, a conservation organization.
SORENSEN: People are out there having "Shark Week" parties. Last week, we heard about a "Shark Week" drinking game. People plan their vacations around "Shark Week." I think this year more than any other year, we took everything into perspective and launched a much more robust campaign.
TAPPER: But what's all the fuss over fins? Sure, we know they're scary. Spielberg taught us that.
(SHOUTING)
TAPPER: And we know their very presence can make the most ridiculous movie a hit.
(SHOUTING)
TAPPER: Thanks, "Sharknado."
But what is it about "Shark Week" that causes the public to sink its teeth year after year into Discovery's bait? Is it this year's shark cam that tracks them through the depths or is it "Shark After Dark," the live late night show making its debut this year?
(CHEERING)
SORENSEN: There's so much about sharks we just don't know, so many mysteries left to be solved, and I think that curiosity is what fuels our shows that we make. That's really the driver for us.
TAPPER: Despite grabbing viewers with the blood-and-guts footage that many say demonizes their cash cows, Discovery says conserving sharks is truly at the heart of the annual event. That and, well, ratings, of course.
(MUSIC)
TAPPER (on camera): And this year's "Shark Week" is already breaking rating's records. Sunday night's review had five million viewers. It's the highest rated show in the 26 year of the series.
Jake Tapper, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: I am one of those people who's a loyal follower. And I'm watching "Shark Week." I don't know if you notice, the guy with Discovery Channel was sitting on a shark couch. It had a fin and everything. "Shark Week" this week.
Take a look at this as well. Workers in Montreal trying to remove a backhoe from a big sinkhole that opened up on a city street. Wow, you see it there. The backhoe's operator wasn't actually seriously hurt but it was taken to a hospital to be checked out. Nobody else was at the site because the street was closed for construction work, thankfully. That's it for me. Have a great afternoon. Brooke Baldwin takes it from here.
