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U.S. Continues Aid; CrossFit Trainer Gunned Down; Stocks Taking a Tumble; Facebook Can Make You Sad: Lingering Fear After Egypt's Bloodshed

Aired August 15, 2013 - 14:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And a Paralympic committee tells a swimmer she can't compete because she's not disabled enough. We're on the case.

And here we go. Good to see you. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Want to begin with the biggest story in the world right now -- Egypt. And as more blood spills on to the streets of Egypt, the relationship between the United States and Egypt's military government is on rocky ground, tethered by a $1.3 billion aid package. And just one word has the power to pull the plug on this U.S. cash flow to Egypt. That one word is "coup." So if the world is used for President Mohamed Morsy's dismissal, that would be this automatic trigger. It would force the U.S. to cut all foreign aid. And, just this morning, President Obama made a decision.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: While we want to sustain our relationship with Egypt, our traditional cooperation cannot continue as usual when civilians are being killed in the streets and rights are being rolled back. As a result, this morning we notified the Egyptian government that we are canceling our biannual joint military exercise, which was scheduled for next month. Going forward, I've asked my national security team to assess the implications of the actions taken by the interim government and further steps that we may take as necessary with respect to the U.S./Egyptian relationship.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So you heard the news from the president, canceling these joint military exercises, but keeping that cash flow, at least for now. But before we get into the potential fallout for the U.S., I want to just talk about what started all of this. Of course, the escalating violence happening right now in Egypt. And just a warning, some of the pictures we are going to show you here are graphic.

Let me go straight to Arwa Damon, our CNN senior international correspondent, who is live there in Cairo.

And, Arwa, let's just begin with the sheer numbers as they obviously continue to rise. You have more than 500 dead, more than 3,000 injured. State of emergency declared. Tell me how quiet things are on the street? What's the situation at this hour? ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You also have a curfew that's been put into place that was changed. It was 7:00 p.m. yesterday. Now it's at 9:00 p.m. But really all day, and even now at night, Cairo's streets are oddly quiet when you would compare it to what should have been a normal day here.

That casualty count is really quite staggering. This is among the bloodiest days of Egypt's recent history. The country's still reeling from what took place yesterday, where not only did we see the security forces moving in to clear out those two main demonstration sites, but also dealing with numerous flare-ups, not just here in the capital, but throughout the entire country.

We've also seen a number of police stations being attacked by angry Morsy supporters. Government buildings as well. The ministry of interior announcing that it had given its troops orders to use lethal force should anyone want to try to target the security forces or any other government institutions. And we have also had at least 30 churches being attacked throughout the entire country by angry mobs, going in, looting, and then torching them, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Arwa Damon for us in Cairo. As we mentioned, the president speaking today. He says further action can be taken, of course, in the coming days, if the violence that Arwa's reporting on continues there in Cairo and really beyond.

And there are really three options on the table here for the United States. First, we mentioned this word "coup." If we call it a coup, that would automatically trigger the U.S. cutting off that aid. Call it a coup, but then issue a national security waiver to continue to allow that aid, that's option two. Option three, you see, don't call it a coup, keep the money in place.

CNN's senior international correspondent Ivan Watson joins me now, along with CNN military analyst, General Spider Marks.

So, gentlemen, welcome to both of you.

And, Ivan, I know you have done so much reporting through all of this, really. In Cairo, when you look at the three options, which could have the most detrimental impact for the United States?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I guess, if you cut off the coup - if you call it a coup, as it is, I believe, and cut off the aid, then you've lost substantial leverage with the generals that look to be very much ruling Egypt right now. On the other hand, they made it very clear with their actions in the last 24 hours by sending in the security forces, knowing full well that there would be substantial loss of life, that they really don't care what Washington thinks or says. That it was more important for them to crush these encampments, which I visited in. I never saw weapons there beyond baseball bats and kind of makeshift weapons, basically, for them to protect themselves, the Muslim Brotherhood demonstrator. But I think that's the message that we're very much getting from the junta in Cairo. They just don't care what their U.S. ally really says. BALDWIN: General, what about Ivan's point, that they don't care? And let's even take the aid off the table for now and go specifically to what the president announced today a bright star (ph). This is this joint military exercise. You know, it goes back to the 1980s, canceled. Does Egypt care? Is this a big deal for them?

GEN. JAMES "SPIDER' MARKS (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, frankly, I think the United States clearly has lost influence, not only in the region, but elsewhere. And I don't know how many people really care about what we say.

Now, we spend a lot of time parsing words that come from the administration and certainly ourselves as well. It's more important what we do. I think the president was wise to cancel bright star (ph). It's entirely too complicated right now. The focus in Egypt has to be on trying to achieve some stability. And what we can do as a nation and as a member of the United Nations is to try to help facilitate that. And the conduct of an exercise right now that, as you've indicated, has been in place for over three decades, probably is a good decision not to have that thing go off next month, which it has been almost uninterrupted for the last 30 years.

BALDWIN: Ivan, let me take you back to the money issue because as you know, we all know the U.S. hands over a lot in foreign aid. Egypt is our top five. Our contribution, though, when you really sort of look at how other contributions stack up, and you can see here on the screen, it's really a fraction in comparison to the $10 billion to $15 billion in aid that Egypt actually gets from other countries in the region. So really my question to you is, how much does the United States really need to continue? How much does the United States really need Egypt as a friend? As part of the bigger picture in the region?

WATSON: Well, of course, Egypt has long been a pillar of U.S. Middle Eastern foreign policy. It's a neighbor of Israel. Of course, a very important American ally in the region. The question of the actual money, I think if the U.S. wanted to influence events and make it clear to the ruling generals that this kind of behavior is not tolerable, it should try to adopt some kind of multilateral approach. You can't do it unilaterally. But the one point, whatever billion dollars that the U.S. has been given annually to Egypt is a drop in the bucket compared to the amount that the Gulf Arab states, who happen to be close American allies as well, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, it's a drop in the bucket compared to what they have offered, money that they've shoveled to the government in Cairo in just the last six weeks. So if the U.S. wants to be heard, probably a good way to do that would be to convince close allies like Saudi Arabia and Qatar and the UAE to maybe not hand over more than $10 billion in aid in just six weeks to the government in Cairo.

BALDWIN: So, general, given what Ivan said, given our friendship with Egypt, given the strategical, geographic importance of this country, what if the U.S. and Egypt cut off ties altogether? What would happen then?

MARKS: Well, if we did that, here's the - here's the likely scenario. You have a radical Shia Iran to the east. You've got a radical Sunni Egypt to the west. You've got Israel right in the middle. The U.S. has very little -- at that point, very little influence it can wield to try to alter the balance. I mean it's a horrible outcome. It's terrible what's taking place in Egypt right now. If we don't spend the time and money right now, the costs down the road will be exceptionally high.

BALDWIN: Ivan Watson, General Spider Marks, guys, thank you very much.

To San Diego. Mayor Bob Filner, as you know, been staying out of the spotlight. But women who claim he sexually harassed them continue to come out of the woodwork. So today there is now a great grandmother, a senior citizen, who works at city hall. She claims Filner made, and I'm quoting her, continuous inappropriate sexual advances. At least 14 other women have made similar claims against him.

And in another troubling development for this mayor, a memo from the San Diego city attorney says the mayor can be legally removed from office if it's discovered he allowed unauthorized payments from the city treasury.

Now to some of the hottest stories in a flash. "Rapid Fire." Roll it.

First up here, a car bomb exploded in Lebanon's capital today. A new militant group is claiming responsibility, vowing to strike again. Fourteen people were killed and more than 200 injured in suburban Beirut. And you can see the smoke, the crowds, the fire. The bomb exploded in a stronghold area for Hezbollah, a Shiite militant group based in Lebanon. Ambulances - you hear the sirens there - obviously rushing to the scene, tending to children. The new militant group posted a YouTube video taking responsibility and vowing more attacks on Hezbollah.

NTSB officials have now recovered those data recorders from that deadly UPS cargo jet crash in Birmingham, Alabama. The recorders, now headed to Washington for further examination and investigators hope they will solve the mystery of why this plane crashed yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT SUMWALT, NTSB BOARD MEMBER: Initial information that we have, subject to verification, is that there was no distress call from the -- from the pilots.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Both the pilot and the co-pilot, the only two people on board, were killed.

BALDWIN: And on New York's Coney Island, this kiddy roller coaster is shut down today after it proved a tad too frightening for one little guy. A five-year-old boy apparently panicked last night, wiggled out of his restraints while the ride was still moving.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DENNIS VOURDERIS, DENO'S WONDER WHEEL: He climbed out of the car at the top of the hill and that's where he fell in between the cars. The preliminary reports are indicating he was wedged in between the car and the track.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The boy was taken to the hospital with a broken leg and cuts.

Coming up next here, a popular trainer for the CrossFit, you know that workout program? He was murdered at his gym in the middle of class. But could his past provide clues to find his killer?

Plus, police in Seattle handing out free Doritos at a pot smoker's festival. Wait until you hear the message written on the back of the bags, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right. I want to show you a scene out of Winter Garden, Florida, because people are outside this gym. They are holding one another. They're crying after a murder happened inside. A gunman shot a CrossFit trainer in front of his class this week. Police have put together a sketch of the shooter. We wanted to share it with you here on CNN. This is what we've gotten from "The Orlando Sentinel."

The paper reports he walked by eight students, aiming for Richard Millsap, a 33-year-old father of two. And you see here, these are FaceBook photos of Millsap. His widow posted this on the page, quote, "Richard was the true embodiment of eat, sleep, W-O-D," It stands for workout of the day. "For him, CrossFit meant getting fit to carry the cross. And he was perfect when God rested his soul."

This was not the first time Millsap was targeted. "The Sentinel" reports that just last October he survived a shooting when three bullets hit his car. So Joining me now, Desiree Stennett, a reporter for "The Orlando Sentinel."

You wrote about this. And, Desiree, the obvious question is, why? I know police are working on finding that answer through the investigation. In the meantime, tell me about Richard Millsap. What kind of guy was he?

DESIREE STENNETT, REPORTER, "THE ORLANDO SENTINEL": Well, like you said, he was married. He had two children, a seven-year-old daughter and a two-year-old son. He opened up his CrossFit gym a few months ago in March. And according to the people, the friends that I've spoken to and the pastor of his church, he -- he was very passionate about CrossFit, the lifestyle, as well as the church. In fact, he named his business after the church he went to, the mosaic church in Oakland, Florida, just outside of Winter Garden.

BALDWIN: So, take me back to this class on Monday. What exactly happened?

STENNETT: Well, it was about 6:45. And they were in the middle of class. There were eight students plus Richard Millsap. And the gym is inside of a warehouse district in Winter Garden. It's far off of the main -- maybe five or so minutes off of the main road. And it's one of the places where you only go there if that's exactly where you're headed. You don't just stumble across this place.

BALDWIN: Got you.

STENNETT: And in the middle of class, according to the police and the reports, a gunman walked in with a hat and sunglasses, passed other people who were in the gym, and opened fire and then ran away. One person in the class did try to chase him down, but the suspect had a getaway car waiting and he fled.

BALDWIN: So here's, again, the suspect's sketch. Take a good, long look at this.

There is something, Desiree, that you dug up on Millsap's past. He beat someone up at a pizza place in April of last year and then October someone tried to kill him. Who do police think might have it in for him?

STENNETT: At this point, police have told us that they don't know. They're hoping that they can get some sort of tip from the community. He was arrested in April of 2011 for a fight that happened in a pizza place near the downtown bars. It was a pretty relatively minor arrest. He was arrested on aggravated battery charges, but those were lowered to misdemeanor battery charges and he was sentenced to a year of probation. He didn't do any serious jail time for that.

And the shooting that happened in October was very strange. He was leaving a park after a basketball game and he said that he saw a car that seemed to be following him. And then all of a sudden the car pulled up next to him. He -- they put the window down. He saw two people that he didn't recognize inside. And one of them started to shoot. Three bullets hit his car and thankfully he wasn't injured in that shooting. But he told the cops that he had no idea who it could be.

BALDWIN: Are police connecting any of this or looking into what happened at the pizza place?

STENNETT: At this point, the police are not connecting any of these incidents to this shooting on Monday, or at least not publicly, anyway.

BALDWIN: OK.

STENNETT: Of course, they're conducting an investigation and I'm sure they'll look into both of those cases as well. But at this point, this Monday's shooting seems to be unrelated.

BALDWIN: Desiree Stennett, "Orlando Sentinel." Desiree, we'll be following your reporting in the paper. Thank you very much for coming on.

STENNETT: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Coming up, can Facebook make you sad? A new study says that logging on to the social network could make you depressed.

Something else that maybe makes you sad, as I'm looking over at the big board, down about 230 points right now. Closing bell hits in about an hour forty from now. We'll tell you what's going on. Back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Big selloff on Wall Street today. The Dow is trading lower by more than 200 points at this hour. Investors have a lot of disappointment because of some of these headlines we're sorting through. Alison Kosik is live at the New York Stock Exchange.

Alison, what's going on?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know what it is, Brooke, it's a perfect storm of disappointing news. Earnings from two big companies blaming the economy for a tough business environment. Tech company Cisco announcing its cutting 4,000 jobs as well to save money. The other company, Wal-Mart, announcing its not only cutting its earnings outlook, but also its sales outlook because of what these companies are calling a challenging economy. So that's what's got all the major averages selling off with the Dow losing 219 points. All 30 stocks traded on the Dow are in the red. If this sticks, this could be the biggest selloff of the year. Actually the third biggest selloff of the year, Brooke.

BALDWIN: OK. Now to this story, Facebook. Why is Facebook making people sad? Do tell.

KOSIK: You know what's funny? I know you're on Facebook.

BALDWIN: Yes.

KOSIK: You probably tool around and look at it. You know, most people only put the positive stuff on their page. You know, if you were going to go on there --

BALDWIN: You're like your best self on Facebook, I'd (ph) be like (ph).

KOSIK: Yes, no one's going to put, oh, I'm all alone on this Friday night. I mean you're not going to put that on there. It's like Facebook --

BALDWIN: Some people do.

KOSIK: I - well, more power to them. You know, they've got guts. But here's the thing. There's this study that shows that when you see your Facebook friends' wonderful lives, it actually makes you sad. Researchers at the University of Michigan found that the more people check Facebook, the worse they feel about their own lives because people compare their lives to others and they wind up feeling inferior. The study showed the more people looked at Facebook over a two-week period, the more their life satisfaction went down. But, hey, here's a novel idea, face to face interaction - BALDWIN: (INAUDIBLE).

KOSIK: Yes, face to face interaction, as this study found, made people feel better. What a shocker there.

BALDWIN: Wait, you're talking about talking to people? Like face to face?

KOSIK: Yes, that made people feel better. So, you know, even bigger, there was an even bigger study out of Utah. It also found correlations between Facebook and these negative feelings. So, you know, I guess sometimes you can only take so much of looking at your friends' fabulous vacations before it really kind of gets to you if you're not going on great, fabulous vacations. That's the moral of the study.

BALDWIN: All right. Alison Kosik, I am - I like face to face chatting at well.

KOSIK: Me, too.

BALDWIN: Alison, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Coming up, we are back on the biggest story in the world, of course, Egypt, and the military-led government cracking down on protesters. Hundreds of people are dead. And the images we're seeing out of -- really it's not just Cairo, it's beyond Cairo. It's tough to look at. But there's a question, where is Mohamed Morsy, the ousted leader? Stay right here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Just about the bottom of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin. And I want to tell you about 16-year-old kidnap survivor Hannah Anderson because she has continued to post these new photos and messages to Instagram. So, below her photo, Hannah wrote this, "God gives his toughest tasks to the strongest soldiers, #hannahstrong." She also posted a photo of her deceased mother and brother who were killed during Hannah's kidnapping and she wrote this, "my two beautiful angels." She also dedicated a post to them on a piece of paper reading, quote, "in the clouds I'll meet you again."

Meanwhile, graphic new details are emerging about her mother and her brother's murders. So court documents show family friend James DiMaggio tortured Hannah's mother and eight-year-old brother before killing them. The mother's body was found in the garage covered with a tarp, a crowbar near her head. Also according to these court documents, DiMaggio and Hannah exchanged 13 phone calls that day before their phones went silent. DiMaggio was later killed by FBI agents who rescued Hannah.

Egypt's hope for democracy is slipping away, vanishing in the time it takes to pull a trigger. Cairo today looks more like a battlefield than the capital of this prosperous nation. The numbers are staggering, 525 dead, more than 3,700 wounded. And the dread hangs over the entire nation, wondering what's next. For more I want to bring in Karim Haggag in Washington, D.C. Mr. Haggag, welcome to you are. You are a visiting professor at the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies and an Egyptian diplomat on leave from the foreign ministry. So, Mr. Haggag, the Muslim Brotherhood says it won't end its glorious revolution, their words. The military not backing down either. Are we perhaps looking at the beginning of a civil war, sir?