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"The Butler" Actor and Director on Set; Man Posts Picture of Wife's Body on Facebook; Extreme Weather Hits Much of U.S.; Flooded States May Get More Rain; Amber Alert Now Includes Idaho; Obama to Announce New NSA Measures; Pennsylvania Police Shief Suspended over Profaity-Laced Videos of Him firing Automatic Weapons

Aired August 09, 2013 - 13:00   ET

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

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Well, people confess to a lot of things on FaceBook, but police say that this Florida man confessed to killing his wife on the social website. It is bizarre and disturbing. It is straight up ahead.

Plus, extreme weather hitting much of the country right now. There are destructive wind-filled (ph) fires in California, deadly flooding across the Midwest and the south. We're going to get live reports as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, ACTOR, "THE BUTLER": You see nothing. You only serve.

OPRAH WINFREY, ACTRESS, "THE BUTLER": You not he got that job his self. The White House call him. He didn't call the White House.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, ACTRESS, "THE BUTLER": I want to hear all the stories.

WINFREY: Well, I don't know how many stories you're going to hear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: That is the movie "The Butler". Later in the hour, we have one of stars, of course the star of the film, Forest Whitaker, and the movie's director, Lee Daniels. They are going to be live in the studio with me later in the hour.

This is CNN NEWSROOM, and I'm Suzanne Malveaux. People post a lot of life events on Facebook. This is really disturbing however. This Miami man posts a picture of his wife's body. That's right, on the kitchen floor. AND He confesses saying, right in here, that I'm going to prison or death sentence for killing my wife. Love you. Miss you. Take care. Facebook people, you will see me in the news.

I want to bring in Nick Valencia who has this story. And, you know, it really is -- I mean, it's just so disturbing where people are taking social media now. And you would think --

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. MALVEAUX: -- is there anything to control this? I mean, Facebook, obviously they took it down, what, after five hours or so? I mean, --

VALENCIA: Some people are criticizing for how long it was up there. It's a horrible story, one that you think is not true. Police say it actually happened. Before we move on too much further into the story, I want to warn you that this is a very disturbing photo. If you are sensitive to graphic images or if you have a child in the room, now is not the time to look at the T.V.

But this is the photo that Derek Medina posted on his Facebook page after he said he shot and killed his wife. They got into a heated argument. He said he shot her in self-defense. Now, there is, as I mentioned, Suzanne, a lot of criticism being directed towards Facebook for the amount of time it took them to take this off their Web site.

We reached out to Facebook and they got back to us with a statement which read in part, the content was reported via our own processes. The content was reported to us and then we took action on the profile removing the content and disabling the profile and we reached out to law enforcement. So, they're saying they actually tipped police officers about this. They say, we take action in all content that violates our terms which clearly are laid out on our site.

Not only Facebook is receiving criticism, but third party sites as well, BuzzFeed, "Atlantic Wire," "New York Magazine." All of which chose to show this image unblurred. Now, we reached out to Buzz Feed for comment. They have not gotten back to us, Suzanne. But this story is not without criticism. Of course, CNN has elected to blur this image, but it's still very graphic when you -- when you take a look at it.

MALVEAUX: And as disturbing as it is to so many people, it's interesting that people pass this along.

VALENCIA: Yes.

MALVEAUX: They kept posting this and posting this and posting this very disturbing image. Do we have a sense -- I mean, who would do something like this?

VALENCIA: That speaks to the age, right? I mean, this saturated social media age where we all have, you know, Facebook or Twitter. And we all seem to overly share sometimes our life experiences. As we talked about earlier in this story, Derek Medina, we're learning more about him as well. The EmotionalWriter.com is a Web site that he says that he published eBooks on. He was a self-help writer, publisher and he spoke ironically enough, about marriage counselling. He spoke about effective communication. And he said, one of his success stories in one of his book summaries was that he was able to -- you know, his wife and he got a divorce and he remarried. He wanted people to learn the meaning of life through this. So, a lot of ironic twists to this story -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: It's kind of sick.

VALENCIA: It is very sick.

MALVEAUX: All right, Nick, thank you. I appreciate it.

We are also following this. This is extreme weather that is threatening millions of Americans here. You've got the west coast, Midwest, Southeast all dealing with dangerous situations here. So, this is southern California. This is a wildfire that is thriving now because the conditions, it's bone dry, it's hot, there's wind. It is exploding in size. More than 500 buildings are in the path of that fire. Now, the danger in the Midwest and the Southeast, this is about water, way too much of it. You've got flooding, massive flooding that has turned deadly. This is in Oklahoma, South Carolina and Missouri.

In Arkansas, people are nervously watching these swollen rivers rise even higher. We've got reporters covering the threats from coast to coast. I want to go with George Howell first in Hollister, Missouri.

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Flash flooding changed everything in a matter of minutes here in Hollister, Missouri and it's all because of this creek right here, the Turkey Creek, by this mobile home community. People tell me that the water just 24 hours ago was as high as where I'm standing right now. A lot of force came through this area, and I want to show you the result of that force. You see that mobile home. Neighbors tell me that that home was on the other side of this property. So, it was picked up and pushed well over here.

And look at this. When you see the shingling that was ripped off the side of this home. But look up there. There are a few things that are still in place. It's always kind of interesting to see the power of what these storms can do, what the water, the rain and wind can do but leaving some things right where they stood. And today, what we see, we see the bulldozers are back, we see people are going into their homes to see what's left over. The good news here, there was one neighbor who went door to door to door knocking on doors to make sure everyone got out safely. Many people here consider him a hero. Again, in this particular community, no one was hurt or injured.

George Howell, CNN, Hollister, Missouri.

MALVEAUX: And now, to the raging wildfire, this is in southern California. There are dozens of homes that have now burned to the ground, hundreds more are threatened.

Dan Simon, he is in Riverside, California. Dan, first of all, just try to give us a sense, a scope of how big this fire is.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Hi, Suzanne. First of all, let me explain that this is an area that normally gets a lot of wind. That's why you have a windmill farm behind me. But it's even windier than usual. And you add fire to the mix and you can have a disastrous situation. Let's show you some of the smoke behind me. The fire right now is burning in the wilderness away from homes, that's the good news.

But firefighters taking this fire very seriously. You have 1,600 firefighters on the line trying to get this fire under control. At this point, it's just 25 percent contained. In terms of the damage, we have 26 homes that have been destroyed and as you pointed out, Suzanne, you still have several hundred more homes that are threatened. You have a lot of people under an evacuation order. Several communities under a mandatory evacuation order and firefighters just trying to do what they can to get this fire under control -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right. Thanks, Dan. Firefighters are hoping for better weather conditions. This is over the next couple of days. I want to bring in our Chad Meyers. And talk about whether or not -- do they anticipate they're actually going to get this? Are they going to be able to control this kind of thing?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEORLOGIST: You know, it's going to be a problem. I mean, we -- let's just go to some of this video because you can see the wind blowing the smoke over the top of some of these hills. And this is the wind that they had yesterday, gusting to almost 30 miles per hour. And when you get a wind gust that that's high, you can actually get the winds to pick up an ember and throw those embers miles downwind.

And that's the issue when, all of a sudden, you think you have a fire line and, all of a sudden, two minutes later you don't. Look at the wind gusts right now, 30, 28, 26 miles per hour. There's a 20 and it is still gusty to -- this afternoon. 78 degrees right now. Let me tell you, you're a firefighter. You're at a fire. You're already getting embers at your feet and, all of a sudden, you look at a forecast, and by the end of the weekend, you're looking at 99, 98 for next weekend. This doesn't get better from here, really.

MALVEAUX: And we're also looking at the floods, I mean, in the other parts of the country. Is -- do they expect any relief at all there? I mean, we've seen dramatic rescues just over the last couple of days of people who have been inundated with all this water.

MYERS: I know. And you would just, just for one minute, can we spread it around a little? Can we just get a little bit out west? Can we get a little less in the east? And it just doesn't look like that's going to happen.

Here's our rain right now. This is the area that's been flooded a lot here. Southern Missouri into parts of Arkansas, even parts of Kansas as well. The weather has moved away from this area but there's still an awful lot of humidity right over that area, and I expect two to four more inches right where George Howell was standing. And the problem is not the two to four inches on a regular day will make flooding, it won't. But when everything is already wet and there's no place for the water to go, it just runs off.

And even up here in cross parts of upstate New York, we're seeing some flooding, also even into the Berkshires, Massachusetts into Connecticut, watch out for some flooded roadways already today. Rain is coming down to two to three inches per hour right now. That's a lot of rain for any roadway to hold.

MALVEAUX: It is tough going for a lot of people across the country. Chad, thanks. Have a good weekend.

MYERS: You're welcome. You, too.

MALVEAUX: Here is what we're also working on for this hour. An embattled Pennsylvania police chief coming under fire for posting violent profanity laced videos online. Well, CNN talked to him exclusively. We're going to give you his response to the critics.

And for the first time, looks like president Obama is going to talk about his decision to cancel a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. We're going to take a look at the growing divide between these two leaders.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OPRAH WINFREY, ACTRESS, "THE BUTLER": I don't know how many stories you'll all hear because they done swore him to some kind of secret code.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: And that is from the movie "The Butler." Director Lee Daniels and actor Forest Whitaker joining us live here in the studio. That's ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: He's capable of anything. That's what authorities are saying about James DiMaggio. He is the man accused of taking off with at least one of two children after killing their mother. San Diego's sheriff department says there is evidence that he has explosives. They are worried that he could abandon his car, leave it rigged to blow up. Well, five states, California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada and just minutes ago Idaho issued Amber alerts for those missing children.

And more prosecution witnesses testify today in the court-martial of the Fort Hood gunman. This is day three of the trial for Army Major Nidal Hasan. About 30 prosecution witnesses have taken the stand in the past two days. Many of them are survivors of the shooting. Well, testimony is moving quickly in part because Hasan is not cross examining the witnesses. He's acting as his own attorney. Hasan is charged with killing 13 people and wounding 32 others in the 2009 shooting rampage. In his opening statement, he declared, I am the shooter.

A new terror threat causes the U.S. to now pull most of its diplomats out of the consulate in Lahore, Pakistan. It's not clear if this is connected to the broader threat that prompted closing 19 embassies and consulates. Well, the State Department ordered all diplomats except for a handful of emergency personnel to leave. Officials say the decision was in response to specific threats against the consulate in Lahore.

Now, the State Department is also warning U.S. citizens not to travel to Pakistan. Pakistan's interior ministry said it was not aware of any threat against the consulate and Pakistan remains a hot bed of terrorism. The city of Lahore, it is now home to extremists who are sympathetic to Al Qaeda.

President Obama, of course, facing the cameras and questions from reporters. That is later today. It's going to be his first news conference in more than three months set to begin in less than two hours, 3:00 p.m. Eastern. He is certain, of course, to be asked about the rocky relationship with Russia among other things.

I want to bring in our Wolf Blitzer in Washington to talk about a preview, if you will. And Jessica Yellen has just learned that the president is going to announce, at least in his opening statements, new measures that are designed to reassure folks about the surveillance programs. What do we know about that specifically, Wolf?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: We don't know a whole lot more other than there will be some new information, according to Jessica, that the president will have in his opening statement. He wants to make the case that the United States, that federal government or the National Security Agency is not invading people's personal privacy. That they're seeking information that will prevent terrorist attacks against Americans here in the United States or elsewhere around the world but are not routinely invading someone's privacy.

So, I think he's going to try to underscore that there's a procedure in place including the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the FISA courts, if you will, that they have a responsibility. The legislative branch, Congress approves all of this, the executive branch. So, I think he's going to try to make the case to assure the American public there isn't this invasion of privacy because as you know, Suzanne, a lot of the recent polls show that a lot of Americans think that Edward Snowden, for example, was a whistle blower, that he was doing a good dead, in effect, by underscoring, by revealing all of this NSA surveillance.

MALVEAUX: And Wolf, of course, there's been a lot that's happened since the last press conference. You have got shutting down all these embassies across the Middle East and North Africa. There's global travel warning for Americans traveling overseas, trouble in Yemen, Pakistan, Egypt and now this rift here with President Putin.

What do we expect the president is really going to be hit hard with?

What kinds of questions do you think he is going to have to address in the next couple of hours?

BLITZER: I'm sure he will be asked questions on all of those issues and a whole lot of domestic issues as well.

It's usually an hour news conference or so. It's supposed to start at 3:00 pm Eastern. He will open with this opening statement; he'll get into the surveillance programs, maybe he'll get into some other issues as well.

But then he opens it up to questions usually from the wire services first, TV networks, print reporters. I'm guessing in the course after an hour there could be 8 or 10 or 12 press reporters who are allowed to ask questions. And the president, as you know, Suzanne -- you've covered the White House --- he gives long answers. And he goes into details. And there's rarely an opportunity for a reporter to do a follow-up question.

Sometimes other reporters can follow up if there's a gaping hole if the president leaves; another reporter will follow up and maybe do a two- or three-part kind of question. But we'll see. I suspect a lot of issues will be raised and then the president will head off on his vacation to Martha's Vineyard tomorrow. He'll be gone for eight or 10 days or so.

MALVEAUX: Yes. The trick we both used -- I think you -- multipart questions, try to get three all into one, if you can.

Tell me a little bit about -- recently the president -- he made it a point to tell Congress that he was going to get stuff done with or without them. And he talked about executive orders, he talked about picking up the phone, talking to CEOs, university presidents, anybody who's going to push his agenda forward.

How important do you think it is, Wolf, for this news conference to set the stage, if you will, for the battles with the congressional Republicans in terms of the budget or raising the debt ceiling, all these kinds of things that we're going to see in the months ahead?

BLITZER: Well, it's very important. Congress is in recess right now. The members are back in their districts or they're traveling, they're on vacation. But a lot of them are doing town hall meetings. And this will be an opportunity for the president to reach a wide audience. Not only the cable networks but I suspect the broadcast networks, they will want to take this news conference live. The president will have a big audience out there, listening to what he has to say.

So it's an opportunity for him to try to set the stage, if you will. And September is going to be a really, really difficult month for the administration, for Congress. They got to pass a budget before the end of the month. They got to raise the nation's debt ceiling. There's a lot of stuff they have to do. And of course, the tensions as a result of these security threats are enormous right now.

MALVEAUX: All right, Wolf. We'll be watching. Thank you very much. Good to see you as always.

Ahead on CNN, he was suspended for shocking videos showing a cursing tirade as he fired automatic weapons. Well, now a police chief in Pennsylvania -- that's who we're talking about -- is telling CNN his side of the story.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING) MALVEAUX: Police chief in Pennsylvania says he only wanted to get some attention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): He certainly did that. He also got himself suspended for posting videos of himself ranting about liberals and gun laws, swearing and spraying automatic weapon fire. Well, Mark Kessler says it's his constitutional right. Our Joe Johns met up with him in Eastern Pennsylvania.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Videos of Gilberton, Pennsylvania, police chief Mark Kessler went viral on the Internet. He curses liberal politicians. He shoots, he rants.

MARK KESSLER, Pennsylvania POLICE CHIEF: That piece of (inaudible).

JOHNS (voice-over): And some in town are -- pardon the pun -- up in arms about it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Should he be able to go back on duty and, God forbid, an unfortunate incident should occur and that the borough could be sued? It would be a major liability issue.

JOHNS (voice-over): They held a meeting to talk about what to do with Kessler. A throng of his supporters showed up with guns. And some in the small town said they felt intimidated.

But that didn't stop the borough council from voting to suspend him for using firearms on the video that Kessler says he donated to Gilberton in the first place.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's my recommendation that a motion be made to discipline Chief Kessler for the use of borough property for non- borough purposes without prior borough permission.

JOHNS (voice-over): So why would the town's police chief and only officer make those angry-sounding videos to begin with? He said it was to highlight his constitutional right to bear arms and freedom of speech, though even some of his supporters say it's his way with words that's part of the problem.

JOHNS: What kind of support do you think the chief has here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe that, again, it's kind of a 50-50. People want to support him but due to the language that he chose to use there, they want to step back away from it.

JOHNS (voice-over): Now the question is what's the future for the chief when his suspension is over?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Joe Johns joins us now.

And so, Joe, the suspended police chief, he was on CNN this morning. How does he explain his behavior, first of all?

JOHNS: Well, he says he's expressing his First and Second Amendment rights, h is right to bear arms, his right to free speech and he's frankly just unapologetic about the whole thing. It was a fascinating conversation on "NEW DAY" this morning with Chris Cuomo. Let's just listen to it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KESSLER: I expressed my First Amendment right and my Second Amendment right. I have no regrets.

Well, they have the right to voice their opinions under the Constitution and I applaud them for that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: OK. So he has an unusual way of expressing himself and getting attention for sure. But, Suzanne, you look at this, he didn't break any laws. There is a law and a right to carry guns openly in the state of Pennsylvania. So he's just trying to make a point, I guess.

MALVEAUX: Joe, you had a chance to spend some time with the guy. You walked, you talked with him.

What was your gut telling you?

Did he seem intimidating?

Did he make a good argument to you that he just wanted to bring his opinions to the forefront?

JOHNS: I think he did. And when you look at this police chief, he's from Pennsylvania. This is a state that's very familiar with guns, like many other states in the heartland. And curse words are very familiar to people as well in the state of Pennsylvania. So he has a lot of supporters. And quite frankly, I have to tell you, he's also on the school board, Suzanne, in the county there.

And frankly, when I went to the school board meeting the other day, not a single person really said anything about him that was negative. So he's got a lot of supporters. There are some detractors as well.

MALVEAUX: All right. Joe, we appreciate it. Thanks again.

Well, this is a movie that touches on key chapters in American history.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have no tolerance for politics at the White House.

FOREST WHITAKER, ACTOR, "CECIL GAINES": I'm Cecil Gaines. I'm the new butler.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): "The Butler" is based on a true story of an African-American man who grew up in the segregated South but went on to serve eight presidents in the White House. In just a few minutes we're going to talk to the star of the film, Forest Whitaker, and as well director Lee Daniels, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: A man who served as a butler for eight U.S. presidents is now becoming a civil rights icon.

Gene Allen spent most of his adult life as a White House butler. Well, his story was revealed in a "Washington Post" article back in 2008. Well, now, Forest Whitaker as Cecil Gaines is bringing that story to life in "The Butler."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

"CECIL GAINES": I'm Cecil Gaines. I'm the new butler.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You hear nothing. You see nothing. You only serve.

OPRAH WINFREY, ACTRESS, "GLORIA GAINES": You know he got that job his self. The White House called him. He didn't call the White House.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to hear all the stories.

"GLORIA GAINES": Well, I don't know how many stories you're going to hear because they done swore him to some kind of secret code.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: This is an amazing film. I'm here with Lee Daniels, director of the film as well as he did "Precious" and "Monster's Ball."

I'm also here with the star of "The Butler," Forest Whitaker, who really exhibits amazing acting range in all the different films that you have done. Thank you so much for joining us here in Atlanta.

WHITAKER: It's good to be here.

MALVEAUX: Good to see you in person.

I had the fortune to see the movie -- this was last week at the National Association of Black Journalists. And we had a conversation afterwards about the film.