Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Manhunt Continues for Alleged Kidnapper; Custody Battle Concludes Between Usher and Wife; Woman Overcomes Kidney Transplant Complications
Aired August 10, 2013 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The blue Nissan Versa was discovered covered in brush.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: New developments this morning in the West Coast Amber Alert case. We'll talk to the best friend of Hannah Anerson about the disturbing conversation she witnessed between Hannah and her alleged kidnapper.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Flooding across the country is prompting more rescues, more people are dying. How states are bracing for this weekend's rain.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It would be very strange to me if she would have refused to show a bag.
BLACKWELL: And the case of the Swiss handbag. What the Zurich shop is now saying about the incident that has Oprah claiming racism.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Good morning. Good morning. I'm Victor Blackwell.
KEILAR: And I'm Brianna Keilar. It's 10:01 on the east coast, 7:01 on the west, and you're in the CNN Newsroom. New this morning, the sun is up in Idaho where authorities hope this will be the day they track down James DiMaggio.
BLACKWELL: He escaped into the massive Frank Church River of No Return wilderness area with 16-year-old Hannah Anderson. As for her brother, authorities say, remains found in the rubble of a fire where eight-year-old Ethan Anderson was found, well, those are his. The search for Hannah is now focused on the Idaho wilderness where the last people to say they saw the two say there was nothing that seemed wrong.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREA DEARDEN, ADA COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: There was nothing immediately alarming about this pair. The horseback rider said they did appear to have gear with them. They had camping equipment it seemed to him. I think he described the interaction as odd but nothing alarming. (END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: CNN's Miguel Marquez is in Idaho. Miguel, how confident are authorities there they will be able to find the pair?
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we will find out more. There's a press conference in a couple hours here that we expect to find out exactly how they're going to unfold this search today.
And today really is the day that it starts in earnest. They have been able to get enough law enforcement around this large area of wilderness so they can keep tabs on who is coming and going on roads, paved or unpaved roads on it. But today they get all of those sorts of heavily armed search and rescuers who will go in, helicopter, on horseback, and in four-by-four vehicles into specific areas that they believe that these two individuals could have gotten to in the time between when that horseback rider spotted them on Wednesday and today.
So we're talking 48 -- about 60 hours at this point in between those two points in time, so they could have made some substantial progress from the time that that horseback rider saw them. Brianna?
KEILAR: Miguel Marquez in Cascade, Idaho. Thank you so much.
I spoke with Hannah Anderson's close friend Marisa Chavez earlier this morning. She told me that James DiMaggio seemed to be a nice guy but that he made Hannah uncomfortable in certain situations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: I read that then she said she wanted you with her if she was going to be alone with him, is that right?
MARISSA CHAVEZ, HANNAH ANDERSON'S FRIEND: Yes. Whenever like he'd take her to a meet or to practice, she'd always want me there because she didn't want to be like alone with him.
KEILAR: Did her mom know this? Did she tell you if she told her mom?
CHAVEZ: No, she didn't tell her mom.
KEILAR: Why do you think she didn't tell her mom?
CHAVEZ: I think she had told me because he was helping out with a lot of ride situations and he was a close family friend, like she didn't want to ruin anything between them, and she didn't think anything like of it after that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: CNN will keep you posted throughout the weekend as the search for Hannah Anderson goes on in Idaho.
And across the country, we've also got these flood watches or warnings in place this morning in about a dozen states. BLACKWELL: Rising waters have claimed another life, this time near Colorado Springs. Flash floods are being blamed for deaths in Oklahoma and Missouri as well. And forecasters say more rain is on the way.
KEILAR: Our Zain Asher is in Hollister, Missouri. How are people there holding up and how are they prepping for what's ahead?
ZAIN ASHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Brianna, hey, Victor. Right now it really is all about rebuilding, rebuilding of homes but also of lives. The big question is, how do you go about rebuilding when you have literally lost absolutely everything you own?
Take a look over here. All you see here is pretty much just grass and power boxes. Believe it or not, there was once a mobile home here. The water that came in was so strong it was able to pick up a mobile home and send it flying over there. That's right. My photojournalist is about to show you that home you see over there was literally once where I'm standing right now.
By the way, guys, I am only about 5'7", and the floods that came in, the water was probably three times the size of me. That gives you a sense of what the people here were actually dealing with. All across the country, particularly in the Midwest, we're seeing devastation. Colorado Springs, one death reported out there, Oklahoma City, another death. Missouri, two deaths reported there as well.
We were actually quite excited here because we thought that the sun was about to come out. We saw sunshine about half an hour ago. We thought it perhaps was some good signs for what we were going to expect for the rest of the weekend. Obviously with flash flooding, the weather can change just like that, and obviously now it is overcast and we are expecting more torrential downpours throughout the rest of the weekend. Guys?
KEILAR: Bad news ahead there. Zain Asher, thank you for that.
BLACKWELL: Temperatures hovering around 100 and not a drop of rain in the forecast, that's what fire crews battling a wildfire outside Palm Springs, California, are facing today. Strong winds are quickly pushing the fire east. And 1,500 people have had to pick up and run, 26 homes, one business all gone up in flames.
KEILAR: Also in California, we have some new information this morning about embattled San Diego mayor Bob Filner. He's facing claims of sexual harassment by at least 11 women. He has left a behavior therapy program, this is what we've just learned, a week early.
BLACKWELL: His chief of staff says the mayor will be taking some, quote, "personal time" before he returns to us a. Nick Valencia has been following this story -- if he can get back into the office because there's a development there.
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is. The local paper there and the local affiliate are reporting that the keys -- I should say the locks to the office have been changed. He was supposed to come back on August 19th. It's unclear what this personal time is all about. I just got off the phone with his press aide. I asked her repeatedly the questions we all want answers to about the keys, does he have the keys, what about this personal time, what about the rehab? She didn't answer any of the questions. She referred me to his lawyers. The lawyers' office doesn't seem to be staffed today. I said we want to get your side of the story out here. She didn't want to answer the questions.
BLACKWELL: What about leaving early, this week early out of this intensive in-parent behavioral session?
VALENCIA: So the chief of staff for Filner says he checked in early. That's why he left early. But it's not without criticism, right? His allies are leaving him. He had the last two allies on the city council, they did a 180. Now they're saying he should resign as well.
And a personal open letter from Barbara Boxer addressed to her friend Bob. It read in part, "I must say this directly to you, Bob, you must resign because you have betrayed the trust of the women you have victimized, the San Diegoans you represent, and the people you have worked with throughout your decades of your public service life." He was a congressman for years. He's only been the mayor about a year.
KEILAR: You mentioned he's not stepping aside, and so that's the issue. It could be -- this is something that could play out over months if he doesn't take himself out of this. And that's why I think you're seeing all of these folks in his own party who are saying stop it, the headlines are terrible, just get out of here so we can kind of move on.
VALENCIA: You have to wonder what the mess that the mayor is dealing with, why he appears to be the only one saying I shouldn't resign, I'm going to stick this out. He has no plans, no intentions of resigning. He's been very stubborn about that so far. You know, we're asking the chief of staff, we're asking the right questions to his staff, but they don't want to answer right now.
BLACKWELL: All right, Nick Valencia, keep asking them.
VALENCIA: We'll stay at it.
BLACKWELL: Thank you.
Checking international news, 18 of the 19 embassies and consulates that were shuttered because of the terror threat, they will be open tomorrow. That's according to the State Department. Only the U.S. embassy in Yemen will remain closed because of concerns of a potential terrorist attack by Al Qaeda. Meanwhile, the U.S. consulate in Lahore, Pakistan, that's been evacuated because of a separate threat.
KEILAR: Also, President Obama says he wants to tweak a few terror surveillance programs. For starters, he says he will work with Congress for better privacy safeguards, greater transparency on cellphone surveillance. The president is feeling the heat, of course, over privacy after Edward Snowden leaked details of NSA snooping. And Russia, of course, has given Edward Snowden temporary asylum, keeping him out of the reach of American law enforcement.
Let's listen to a sound bite we have from President Obama during his press conference yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, I don't think Mr. Snowden is a patriot. The fact is that Mr. Snowden has been charged with three felonies. If, in fact, he believes that what he did was right, then, like every American citizen, he can come here, appear before the court with a lawyer, and make his case.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Not a patriot, he said, but also admitting that perhaps the reaction and the changes to these programs are happening more swiftly because of the leaks that Edward Snowden did put out there.
BLACKWELL: Yes. I mean, he said that we would get here at this point anyway, but probably not this soon.
All right, next on Newsroom, the latest on the emotional custody battle between Usher and his ex-wife just days after their five-year- old son nearly drowned.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: It's 14 minutes after the hour now, and we want you to watch and listen to this really emotional moment. This is from Usher's custody battle.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is very difficult --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's ridiculous. This is ridiculous.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Step down, please.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Judge, if I can --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: There's no other way to describe this than a mother in pain. This is Tameka Foster Raymond breaking down in court.
KEILAR: This is where a judge eventually ruled that her ex-husband music mogul Usher would keep custody of their two boys after one nearly drowned this week. And CNN's Alina Machado is here with more on that. This was a terrifying incident that happened with this little boy.
ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was, Brianna and Victor. And this hearing was full of emotion and drama. It was only supposed to last an hour, but it ended up going for two. Tameka foster Raymond became emotional after they played the 911 call from Monday's near drowning incident. She held her head down. Usher's aunt Rena Oden was also in court. You could tell it was very difficult for her to relive that moment.
And then there was, Usher who was calm and in control. He answered questions about the pool incident and explained what happened that day. In the end the judge ruled in his favor and dismissed Foster Raymond's emergency motion requesting temporary custody of their two boys. And after the decision was issued, Usher seemed very relieved. He hugged his attorneys, and then walked over to his ex-wife and hugged her. Here is what they each had to say after the hearing. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you feel about the judge's ruling?
USHER, SINGER: What's most important is I get back to the hospital.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We'll revisit all of this. It was only a very small amount of evidence that was allowed in because this was an emergency, trying to get something changed immediately. But for long term, I will see on the 27th.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACHADO: So this custody battle that's been going on for years is nowhere from being over. Foster Raymond making clear she will continue to seek physical custody of the children. By the way, the 5- year-old who nearly drowned earlier this week is doing well. Usher testified that the boy could be out of the hospital this weekend.
BLACKWELL: You talk about the difference in emotion between Usher and Foster Raymond. We have to remember that she lost a child a year ago, 11-year-old Kyle, also near the water.
KEILAR: Also near the water, and he was taken to the same hospital where the five-year-old was taken. So it's been a difficult time for this family.
MACHADO: And to be clear, that was Usher's stepson, her biological son.
BLACKWELL: Yes. Alina Machado, thank you.
MACHADO: Thank you.
KEILAR: Up next, the search for suspected killer turns now to Idaho. We'll be talking to Washington state police for the latest on the manhunt from their perspective.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: The hunt for James DiMaggio and his alleged kidnapping victim Hannah Anderson has turned to a vast wilderness area in Idaho. KEILAR: Roads into the area are being blocked off as police hunt for the pair, and a few minutes ago we spoke with Sergeant Jason Hicks with the Washington state patrol to learn the latest on the search.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SGT. JASON HICKS, WASHINGTON STATE PATROL: There is an investigative crew on ground in Idaho. We here in Washington in cooperation with the Oregon state police have kept the Amber Alert in effect hoping for new information from the investigative team in Idaho to kind of point us in the direction that we need to go in order to assist them in any way we need to.
KEILAR: But you don't necessarily -- I mean, are you being extra vigilant in your area? Obviously not -- the idea is that this is -- the police recovered the suspect's vehicle about eight miles from where a horseback rider said he spotted the pair. What does this really tell you about the suspect's location?
HICKS: Well, the original assumption was he was headed north to Canada. Based on the location where they recovered the vehicle, that assumption seems to be correct. So now at this point we have no idea what his plans are or where he's going to go. So we feel it's in the best interests of the entire situation to go ahead and keep our troopers on alert, keep this in the forefront of their mind if for some reason he decides to head back into our state and possibly get to Canada that route.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: So that was Sergeant Jason Hicks with the Washington state patrol, and stay with CNN all day as we stay on top of this very important story.
In this week's "Human Factor" Dr. Silka Niederhaus is a transplant surgeon who has a special bond with her patients.
BLACKWELL: Our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta introduces her.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: As a transplant surgeon, Silke Niederhaus has transplanted more than 100 kidneys.
DR. SILKE NIEDERHAUS, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND MEDICAL CENTER: I kind of was interested in being a doctor at age four.
GUPTA: By the time she was 8, Niederhaus, who grew up in Germany, was in the fight for her life.
NIEDERHAUS: I started having blood in my urine and we couldn't figure out why. It came on acutely.
GUPTA: She was diagnosed with a common kidney disease that caused severe inflammation. NIEDERHAUS: By the time I was 11 in March I had to start on dialysis.
GUPTA: Nine months later, she received a new kidney. And it worked immediately at first.
NIEDERHAUS: About a week later I had my first rejection episode.
GUPTA: And then a second, and a third, all of them within a month.
NIEDERHAUS: They said the kidney has had so many rejections it will probably never work.
GUPTA: On average a donor kidney lasts about ten years and doctors gave her kidney a 50/50 chance to last one. But she was not about to give up. She became the first child to try an experimental drug, and it worked.
NIEDERHAUS: I had something I wanted to do, and that was to be a transplant surgeon.
GUPTA: After high school, Niederhaus and her family moved to the United States so she could go to medical school and pursue that dream. Now she shares her own story with her patients.
NIEDERHAUS: The kidney was absolutely not working at few points in time. I walked away 24 years later with excellent kidney function.
GUPTA: That allowed her to fulfill another dream, which was to have a baby with her husband John. Transplant patients typically have high- risk pregnancies. She developed anemia and high blood pressure, but in June Noah was born.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: Just beating the odds throughout life.
KEILAR: And the baby, it's just so cute. You just see all of those years of her just hanging in there and taking chances. Unbelievable.
BLACKWELL: Now it's paying off.
Question, racism or misunderstanding? The latest on Oprah's claims a shop in Europe refused to sell her a handbag. You're watching CNN Newsroom.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: Media mogul Oprah Winfrey says she was the victim of racism on a recent trip to Switzerland.
KEILAR: A store assistant apparently refused to show her a handbag because she said it was too expensive. Take a listen to this clip from "Entertainment Tonight."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OPRAH WINFREY, TV HOST: And I go into a store which shall remain unnamed, and I say to the woman, excuse me, may I see that bag right above your head? And she says to me, no. It's too expensive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Now, CNN's Diana Magnay is in Zurich. How is the store's owner reacting to Oprah's accusations, Diana?
DIANA MAGNAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: She says it has absolutely nothing to do with racism. She said it was a simple misunderstanding, that English wasn't the sales assistant's first language, and when Oprah had been saying I just want to look at the bag, the sales assistant assumed she wanted to look at it and not touch.
Believe what you will, but when you speak to people on the streets here, they say, look, if I was dressed in a particular way and not looking my best and I went into a shop, no matter what color or race you are, basically Switzerland is about looking very expensive. If you don't look as though you can afford what's in the shop, then they're going to treat you in that sort of classic "Pretty Woman" snooty salesmanship kind of a way.
But the shop fundamentally says to Oprah, we're so sorry you were left with this impression that this had been a sort of racist snub, and also the tourism authority here is very embarrassed about the whole incident, also issuing her a huge apology and saying, you know, all visitors to Switzerland are welcomed with open arms, Brianna.
KEILAR: Diana Magnay, thank you so much. That's going to do it for us today.
BLACKWELL: There's much more on CNN Newsroom ahead at the top of the hour.
KEILAR: But first, we'll send you out to Rochester, New York, for a CNN BLEACHER REPORT special with Rachel Nichols.
