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Small Plane Crashes into Home; DiMaggio's Nissan May be in Idaho; Obama to Unveil Surveillance Changes; Usher and his ex-wife Battle Over Custody; Wife's Body Posted on FaceBook; About-Face on Weed; Possible Break in Amber Alert Case

Aired August 09, 2013 - 14:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Good to see all of you on this Friday. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

We begin with breaking news here, just into us, as we've learned of three people now missing because of a plane crash into a home in East Haven, Connecticut. Take a look at these pictures. Here's what we know. Two children are missing, a 1-year-old and a 13-year-old, after a small plane crashed into this home in East Haven.

We are just now getting some of these details for you here. So far, officials are telling CNN that these two children and the pilot of this turbo-prop plane are missing after this plane crashed into at least one home. You can see the damage here and multiple fire units responding to this right now. Other homes, we're being told, potentially damaged. The mayor of East Haven describes the scene as, quote, "total devastation." He says that the mother of those two children was also home when the plane crashed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The victims might have been young children. We are doing everything we possibly can for the mom who is here with her -- her priest and family. And we'd just like to say, our hearts go out to her and her family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The plane was approaching an airport nearby. And this news conference underway here, hearing from the mayor and the fire chief. Let's take a listen.

GOV. DANNEL MALLOY, CONNECTICUT: Indicated that this is the first time something like this has happened since 1973. Whether that's true or not, I can't report. But I have spoken to neighbors while I was here and the mayor has also spoken to neighbors. And there'll be time to take a look at that. I think what we have to do is figure out what happened, first and foremost, who's been injured or deceased as a result of this incident. And then, obviously, put together best ways to prevent this sort of thing from happening again. This is a standard approach to the airport for instrument assisted landings.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's your understanding at this point that the fire -- there no more danger (INAUDIBLE).

MALLOY: There is no more damage -- danger. Water is being shut off to the house.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was there anybody in air traffic control that you can question (INAUDIBLE)?

MALLOY: There - it was -- it was manned. It was manned. So that -- please report that, OK? Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At this point do you know how many people were in the plane?

MALLOY: We are receiving reports of anywhere from one to three people who would have been in the airplane. Obviously the pilot would be one. There's a possibility of two additional. But we can't confirm that and we have not been able to confirm that with any viewings in the house as I speak.

Now, understand that this is a disaster site. There's a lot of damage and a lot of fire damage and a fair amount of water that's probably now about thigh deep in the basement. So all I can confirm is what I confirmed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is this a corporate jet or --

MALLOY: I don't believe it is. I think it's a personally owned jet. But - but I -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Private jet.

MALLOY: Private jet, but I mean it's --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Private plane.

MALLOY: Plane. I'm sorry, plane.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twin engine.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How many - twin engine. How many (ph)?

BALDWIN: So this is the governor of Connecticut. This is Dannel Malloy. He is standing next to the mayor and also a number of fire officials there.

Just to be clear, this happened just about two hours ago, East Haven, Connecticut. So as soon as we get more information for you, we will bring that to you coming up.

Big afternoon here. Breaking news out of Connecticut. Breaking news now also out of California and Idaho. This time in the hunt for the missing teenage girl from southern California, police say a vehicle matching the description of suspect James DiMaggio's blue Nissan Versa has been spotted in Idaho. Let me go straight to Miguel Marquez, who is in Los Angeles.

And, Miguel, tell me what you know.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know that authorities are rushing -- of several different agencies are rushing to this area of Idaho. This is the nearest town to it is Cascade, Idaho. It's in the River of No Return Wilderness Area. They stress that this is a very, very rough area. That the car matches the description, but they have not seen the license plate yet or they won't confirm the license plate yet. They won't also tell me what shape the car is in. They say that they are rushing law enforcement up to the area to get people at every known egress and access to the area so that if Mr. DiMaggio, Hannah Anderson or Ethan Anderson are in that area, that they will hopefully find them and apprehend Mr. DiMaggio and, perhaps, bring this to a happy conclusion, at least for Hannah Anderson.

But the strongest indication so far in this case that a positive identification has been made on that car, authorities will certainly be approaching it very, very carefully because they're concerned about possible explosives.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: And this is the biggest break in the case, Miguel, that we've seen thus far. We know that there's going to be a newser in just about 25 minutes from now, a news conference. So we will bring that to everyone live, as you say, as we all hope, good news, positive news comes out of this latest breaking development. Miguel Marquez for us in Los Angeles. Miguel, thank you. Stay tuned for that.

Meantime, CNN has learned that President Obama will announce new measures aimed at restoring public trust in government surveillance programs. He is set to hold a formal news conference in less than an hour there in the East Room of the White House. Our chief White House correspondent, Jessica Yellin, is joining me. She broke news of the changes to the spying regime. And here he is, Wolf Blitzer, joins us from Washington as well.

Jess, let me just begin with you and your news from this administration source. What should we be hearing from the president when it comes to this surveillance program?

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, in less than an hour now, he's going to lay out more detail that, as I understand it, is intended to help with transparency in the program. Help the general public feel that they have a better understanding about how the programs work and why they do what they do. Why the leaks we've gotten from Edward Snowden, what kind of system they fit into. Beyond that, there'll be more detail when he speaks and I think we'll have a lot more detail coming out later today.

But, you know, this has been a topic of very heated discussion for some nine weeks now, ever since Snowden released these documents. And I expect the president to be pressed pretty hard on all of this. You know, why didn't he bring this out himself, in essence, if they want so much transparency? Why did it take Edward Snowden for him to release this information? This will be his third full press conference of this term and 14th - I think 15th time he's taken questions from the press, Brooke.

BALDWIN: And just to put this in perspective, Wolf, to you, we know that the president's approval rating, it was slipping even before this whole NSA story, you know, first erupted. Is this announcement today in the East Room a political necessity for the president?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR, "THE SITUATION ROOM": I think it is, Brooke. I think the president's got to do a better job explaining to the American public why this NSA surveillance program exists, because there are a lot of skeptical people, including in his own party among the Democrats, why does the United States government need to do all this, go through all these -- have this massive program collecting information on everyone's phone numbers, e-mails. Even though there is a process, a legislative process, a judicial process, to make sure it isn't in violation of people's privacy, a lot of Americans don't believe that. They're very nervous about it. They don't like it. And I think the president recognizes and certainly his aides recognize they have to do a better job explaining the necessity of this in the war against terrorism, if you will. And I think that's what the president hopes to do, score some points and reassure the American public that their privacy is being protected.

BALDWIN: Right. Right. Wolf and Jessica, thank you both. Stand by for me.

As we mentioned, the president will be speaking from the East Room at the top of the hour. We will bring that to you live in full. We'll actually begin our special coverage at 2:50 Eastern Time, 10 minutes before the president is scheduled to speak. Thank you.

Now to an Atlanta courtroom where R&B star Usher arrived just a short time ago for this emergency custody hearing. His ex-wife, Tameka Foster Raymond, wants a judge to grant her immediate custody of their two boys. So Usher, you see him here, he is expected to speak at today's hearing. We're keeping an eye on the proceeding. We can tell you, as we did earlier in the week, that the reason for this, one of their boys almost drown, got caught in this drain at Usher's pool on Monday. And we're seeing him here first time since the accident. And we have a picture for you. It's an Instagram photo. We're looking at Usher entering the court, Fulton County Superior Court.

Here's the Instagram photo. This is the photo his mother Tameka Foster Raymond posted on Instagram. Foster Raymond says Usher has wrongfully shut her out of parenting. She says Usher is always gone, out of town, leaving their sons in the hands of third party caregivers and she says she's done with that. She's had it.

Let me bring in my legal experts. We have defense attorney Tanya Miller and former prosecutor Monica Lindstrom.

So, ladies, let's begin with, who has the burden of proof here? Who needs to prove he or she is the better parent for the boys?

TANYA MILLER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Tameka.

MONICA LINDSTROM, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Well, essentially, Brooke, what's going on is the judge is going to look at what is the best interest of the child. It's not so much who has the burden. But now that she's brought up the issues, it needs to come to the court and the court decides, what is the best interest of the child here? Have circumstances changed so much that the original custody order now needs to be changed?

BALDWIN: So, Tanya, back to you. You say Tameka. What does Tameka need to prove, what does she need to say? And also, how much of that long, lengthy battle in which, you know, Usher won primary custody, how much does that, you know, leak into today's proceeding?

MILLER: Well, it's going to be important for today's proceedings because in order for Tameka to modify this custody agreement that's already -- this order that's already been issued by a previous judge, she has to show that the circumstances have changed since the last time they were in front of the court. She -- this isn't an opportunity to keep coming back and litigating this issue just because you didn't win it the first time. In order to have a change in custody, there has been to be a change in circumstances and she has to show the court that it is now in the best interest of the children to be in her custody. And it's an emergency, so it needs to happen now.

BALDWIN: So, Monica, procedurally speaking, could today be the day that the judge says, OK, Tameka, you know, you get what you want? Or is this just the moment when everyone listens, hears this out and then later on decides?

LINDSTROM: The judge could absolutely make a decision today because it was an emergency petition and the judge granted a hearing this quickly. So the judge knows that it's an emergency situation. Even though the child or the children are not in danger right now, he still granted the hearing. And what's unfortunate is, accidents happen every day. The judge is not going to change custody just because of one accident. Like Tanya said, there needs to be the change in circumstances. So he very well could change custody today.

BALDWIN: OK. Like we said, we have -- and you can see him earlier today. We have cameras around this Atlanta, this Fulton County Superior Court. And as soon as we start to see some action, some speaking, we will bring this custody proceeding to you live. Monica and Tanya, thank you both very much.

Coming up, murder on FaceBook. A man allegedly posts a picture of his wife's body on the social networking site. So what happens next? Stay with me.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Now to this awful story, this horrifying FaceBook post that has caused a lot of shock, a lot of outrage. Thirty-one-year-old Derek Medina appeared in a Florida courtroom just a short time ago and we're going to show you the video as soon as we get that. But let me tell you about this guy. He is charged with first degree murder after turning himself in to Miami-Dade Police. Police say Medina confessed to killing his wife and then this guy posted a photo of her bloodstained body on his FaceBook page for anyone and everyone to see. Just a heads up, you have kids in the room, get them out. We're going to show you this picture just for a second as it's part of the context of this story. But this is what police say Medina posted to his page. I know it's tough to look at, but this is what he says. Quote, "I'm going to prison or death sentence for killing my wife. Love you guys. Miss you guys. Take care, FaceBook people. You will see me in the news. My wife was punching me and I am not going to stand anymore with the abuse so I did what I did. I hope you understand me."

OK, so this is a quote from this man who confesses to doing this. Nick Valencia's been working the story for us today.

And I mean it's disgusting all the way around.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It doesn't get easier to look at that photo, yes.

BALDWIN: Who is this guy?

VALENCIA: He's a self-help e-book publisher and author. We found out his website existed earlier this morning. It's called emotionalwriter.com where he gives marriage counseling tips, talks about effective communication.

BALDWIN: Really?

VALENCIA: He talks about his own marriage, Brooke, and how he was married for three years, divorced and then remarried the same woman. He wants his readers, he said, to find the true meaning of life. So a very ironic twist considering his alleged action.

BALDWIN: So he puts this -- apparently this picture of his dead wife on FaceBook.

VALENCIA: Yes.

BALDWIN: How long was that photo up?

VALENCIA: See, now here's where criticism is going and directed at FaceBook.

BALDWIN: OK.

VALENCIA: It was up for five hours. And just a few weeks ago --

BALDWIN: Five hours.

VALENCIA: Five hours. At least five hours. And just a few weeks ago, FaceBook said that they were going to be more strict and police these types of images.

BALDWIN: Right.

VALENCIA: They take down breast-feeding photos faster than they took down this photo. And third party websites also are receiving criticism. Buzzfeed.com, Atlantic Wire, "New York Magazine," all three of these third party websites published this photo unblurred. They're receiving a lot of criticism.

We reached out to buzzfeed.com. We have not heard back yet. But it goes without saying, people are blaming them for perpetuating this image. Because unless you were friends with the guy, friends of friends or friends with his wife you would --

BALDWIN: Why would you do anything with this picture?

VALENCIA: Well, you wouldn't have seen the photo.

BALDWIN: Right.

VALENCIA: But some people, believe it or not, they shared it over 150 times, Brooke. They shared it on their own FaceBook pages. Just gruesome. I've been reporting this story all morning and it doesn't get any easier to look at.

BALDWIN: No, it's awful. Nick Valencia, thank you very much.

VALENCIA: You bet.

BALDWIN: And now, coming up next, it's a story that has everyone talking. Dr. Sanjay Gupta will join me live to talk about why he has just changed his mind on marijuana. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: We have been misled for decades about medical marijuana. That is CNN Dr. Sanjay Gupta's stunning conclusion after reporting and reading research, you know, getting all this information together for just about a year. His new documentary may make you rethink what you thought about weed. And Sanjay's sitting next to me here in the studio.

I mean, I read your op-ed yesterday. I watched you on Piers. I said, holy cow, this is the good doctor apologizing and changing his mind. Why?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, I think part of this is, you know, when you look at the science of this and, you know, if you do a search for medical marijuana, look through the journals, you find about 20,000 papers. And I realized that the vast majority of them were designed to look for harm of marijuana, designed to look for the perils, the problems of marijuana. And very few, about 6 percent I found, were actually designed to look at benefit. And I realized that sort of was giving a very distorted image. And that sort of lead us, you know, out of the country, looking in other countries like Israel and Spain, at the search that was going on there.

But I think most of all talking to patients who, you know, admittedly, I put this in the op-ed, I dismissed them. I said these are, you know, high visibility malingers who are trying to get high. And I - and I -- that's why I was so critical of medical marijuana in the past. But there are legitimate patients who have legitimate problems who for -- marijuana works for them and nothing else does. In fact, let me give you just a quick - a quick example.

BALDWIN: Yes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I always have two (INAUDIBLE).

GUPTA (voice-over): Meet 19-year-old Chaz Moore (ph). He uses many different strains of marijuana. Many of them high in CBD to treat his rare disorder of the diaphragm.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My abs will, like, lock up.

GUPTA: That's why he's talking this way. Almost speaking in hiccups. Like he can't catch his breath. It's called myoclonis diaphragmatic flutter.

GUPTA (on camera): This fluttering here, it's annoying and - but it becomes painful pretty quickly, I imagine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Yes.

GUPTA: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. After like 15, 20 minutes is where I can like start to really feel it.

GUPTA (voice-over): He's about to show me how the marijuana works. He's been convulsing now for seven minutes.

GUPTA (on camera): How quickly do you expect this to work?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Within, like, the first five minutes. And I'm done. Like --

GUPTA: That's it.

GUPTA (voice-over): It was actually less than a minute.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Less than a minute, you can tell.

GUPTA: Yes. I mean, and, you know, this is a guy who had been in the ICU. He's been seen by plenty of doctors. Was on several different medications, including narcotics, including muscle relaxants. Some pretty high powered stuff. And, ultimately, it was, you know, marijuana, of a certain strain, that worked for him. The strain was important. It was a high CBD strain, they call it, and low THC. THC's the stuff that gets you high. CBD's the stuff that has the more medicinal quality. So, you know, there's different strains for different things as well.

BALDWIN: But - so there is this teeny tiny caveat, because we talk all the time, you're a dad, not just a doc.

GUPTA: Yes.

BALDWIN: And as a dad, you wouldn't exactly say to your girls that it's OK to try this stuff until their brains, what, are fully formed?

GUPTA: Yes, I mean, look, I don't - I don't think that I want my kids doing this stuff if they don't need to.

BALDWIN: Yes.

GUPTA: I mean, you know, this isn't about recreational use. I very much focused on a medicinal use. The mid-20s sort of thing came from because that's really when brain development really comes to a stop, so of mid-20s. Not 18 or 21. Those are all sort of arbitrary numbers.

But, you know, I really - it's an interesting trade-off, Brooke, because, on one hand, people say, look, this is going to deem it as safe. Kids are going to start using it. I don't want that. But I also don't want the counter event, which is say because of those concerns, legitimate patients can't get a treatment that could alleviate their suffering. That shouldn't be the trade-off here. And I'm not sure exactly what the answer is. But the fact that we can't give people the treatment that they need that we know can work, I don't think that's responsible.

BALDWIN: It's incredible and I can't wait to watch your documentary. So it's called "Weed." This is Dr. Gupta's fascinating documentary. It airs Sunday night, 8:00 Eastern. Set your DVRs. Watch it live. 8:00 Eastern only here on CNN. Sanjay, thank you very much. We appreciate it.

GUPTA: Thanks for having me, Brooke. Appreciate it.

BALDWIN: Coming up, as we mentioned at the top of the hour, this breaking news here out of this Amber Alert story we've been watching for you for the last week. We're waiting on this news conference. In just about five minutes from now, out of San Diego, on the search for that missing teenage girl. The news that we have today is that the car police have been looking for has been found in Idaho. Stay with me. We'll take it live, coming up.

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