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Filner Accuser Number 18 Speaks Out; Report: Egypt's Mubarak To Be Freed; Police: School Gunman Was Heavily Armed; Manning Sentenced To 35 Years; Zuckerberg's Plan To Get 5M Online
Aired August 21, 2013 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, he's behind the biggest leak in U.S. army history, Bradley Manning getting sentenced right now. What will his price be? Plus --
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel very violated. I feel extremely violated.
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COSTELLO: Another day, another new accuser and Bob Filner, he's still in office. It's day 31 of Filner watch.
Mark Zuckerberg one on one with CNN talking about his next world changing project.
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CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: How do you do this? How developed is the plan?
MARK ZUCKERBERG, FOUNDER, FACEBOOK: You know, we have a plan, a rough plan what we think we're going to need to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: And a former NFL star out of the closet and trying to level the playing field for other gay athletes. The second hour of NEWSROOM starts now.
Good morning. Thank you so much for being with me. I'm Carol Costello. We are awaiting a ruling to be announced at any minute in the sentencing phase of Bradley Manning's court martial. Manning, as you know, was convicted last month of handing over classified documents and videos to Wikileaks. Prosecutors called the leak the biggest in Army history and have asked for a prison term of 60 years to deter others from similar actions. The defense has suggested a term of no more than 25 years, giving Manning a chance to rebuild his life.
CNN's Chris Lawrence has been following this military court. He's at Fort Meade, Maryland, right now and as soon as the judge announces the sentence, Chris will run out of that courtroom and give us all the details.
Moving on now though to San Diego and Mayor Bob Filner, meet accuser number 18. One month after the first woman accused him of sexual harassment, a business woman, a prominent business woman, Diane York, joins the list. And York says she has photos taken of when it happened. This new accusation comes as Filner's representatives met with the city of San Diego for the second straight day in talks that could end with the mayor's resignation.
Kyung Lah joins us live with the story you'll see first on CNN. Let's go back to that picture again because the latest alleged victim says Filner's hand is there.
KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know, let's provide a little context here. You can't see the right hand of Mayor Filner. This photo taken three months ago, York went to Filner with an issue. She's having a property issue, some legal problems with this particular property. She says as she got up Mayor Filner was taking these pictures with her and his hand went somewhere. Let's hear her as she explains what happened.
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DIANNE YORK, ACCUSES BOB FILNER OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT: After approximately 30 minutes or so of conversation with the issues at hand, we got up to leave and took photos and he placed his hand on my exterior, on the back of my buttocks, is what he did. He totally startled me. I feel very violated. I feel extremely violated.
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LAH: She says she simply didn't know how to react. You may see that she's sort of taken aback. She's smiling because that's normally what you do when you take pictures with the most political figure in your city. She is coming forward now, Carol, because she says she wants to try to make a difference and continue to add the pressure on Mayor Filner as he's in this mediation session. She is going to be filing a complaint, Carol, with the San Diego Sheriff's Department -- Carol.
COSTELLO: It's just -- it's mind boggling. So Filner was supposed to return to work yesterday but he did not. It's unlikely, then -- well, who knows what he will do today, right?
LAH: Yes. Who knows is exactly right, Carol. Basically everyone I've talked to at city hall has said the exact same thing. Who knows? We don't know what he's going to do. We don't know if he's going to resign, make some settlement. That's what you hear across the board. There is a lot of pressure on him politically as well as the city attorney trying to figure out a way to force him out through some legal avenues but, again, back to what you just said, Carol, who knows.
COSTELLO: Who knows? All right, Kyung Lah, thanks as usual. Despite the newest accusation against Bob Filner, the San Diego mayor remains, as we said, on the job. And for weeks now he's even yet acknowledged these women's claims, 18 of them so far. CNN has yet to receive a comment from Filner about this entire scandal. But he has spent the last few weeks undergoing this intensive behavior therapy. One of the first women to come forward, Laura Fink, joins me live this morning. Good morning, Laura.
LAURA FINK, ACCUSES MAYOR BOB FILNER OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT: Good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: So yet another woman has come forward. What goes through your mind when you hear their stories?
FINK: Well, at this point I think the shock has worn off. It's just profound disappointment that yet another woman has had to endure this, this problem.
COSTELLO: And her story's very similar to yours.
FINK: Her story is similar to mine. All of the stories bear a similarity, someone who has power and he abuses that power by taking advantage and inappropriately behaving around women. I think that that pattern of behavior is striking for how long and how pervasive it has been.
COSTELLO: So the mayor says he's undergone this intensive therapy and he also underwent outpatient therapy. Do you think he's serious about this or is it in a joke, in your mind?
FINK: I hope it's a joke but serious is backed up by action and two weeks in therapy cannot account for years of reprehensible behavior. It's going to take more than that.
COSTELLO: Are you surprised he hasn't resigned?
FINK: You know, I'm not surprised because I worked for him for over two years and he's one of the most stubborn individuals that I've ever met and you couple that with sort of the importance of the resignation to his legal case. He's using it as a negotiation point. I think that that's clear. So I'm not surprised, but I'm profoundly disappointed both for the victims and also for the people of San Diego. I'm a native San Diegan. I love my city. It's extremely disappointing that we have a mayor that doesn't represent us.
COSTELLO: What would you say to Bob Filner right now?
FINK: You know, I think I've said everything that I would probably say. I don't know that I can say any more. I think he should resign. I think he should try to pursue a path of integrity from this point forward and I think he should make it as easy as possible considering the damage that he's done.
COSTELLO: Laura Fink, thank you so much for joining us this morning.
FINK: Thank you.
COSTELLO: Egypt's former President Hosni Mubarak could soon be a free man. State media is reporting an Egyptian court has ordered the dictator be released from prison or former dictator. Mubarak was convicted for not preventing the slaughter of protesters during the uprising that ousted him from office in 2011. You commonly hear it as the Arab Spring. Mubarak was sentence to life in prison, but a court accepted his appeal for a re-trial earlier this year.
CNN's Ivan Watson is here. So in your mind, is it clear that they are actually going to release him?
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it really does look like his defense attorneys are trying to get him out on a technicality. He's facing a whole bunch of different charges right now and you have to remember that just last year, Hosni Mubarak was given a life sentence to try to prevent the killing of protesters in 2011 when that revolution started there and that was overturned and a retrial was ordered. So I think it's too early to say it. But the timing of this and the prospect of him being released when that country is still reeling from a military coup and from the massacre of hundreds of people, more than 900 people in just the last few weeks would be astounding.
COSTELLO: Going back to the Arab Spring and the fight for democracy in Egypt, if he's a free man right now, it was all for nothing?
WATSON: Well, if we see him walking free or being pushed free in a wheelchair because there have been constant suggestions that he's about to die by his defense attorneys, which really does look like it's been a strategy, a legal strategy and he's apparently been doing OK, yes, if he is freed, then what was it all for? This man was accused of everything from corruption to basically killing his own citizens.
So -- and prompted and unheard of, unseen before a popular movement, calling for his ouster, and that has been one of the things that has helped come together in the revolution, have agreed on that this man does need to face a court of justice. But as we can see, this trial has been a big mess.
COSTELLO: You're not kidding. Ivan Watson, thanks so much.
Checking our top stories at 9 minutes past the hour, I want to warn you, these are graphic pictures we're about to show you. It's disturbing and you may want to look away. Syrian opposition groups claiming government forces used chemical weapons in an attack on rebel strongholds today killing hundreds of people. CNN cannot verify the legitimacy of this video posted online by opposition activists. They are denying the chemical weapon attack and a top official says he cannot confirm chemical weapons were actually used. We'll keep you posted.
An Australian leader is calling for a boycott against traveling to the United States after an Australian baseball player was gunned down in Duncan, Oklahoma. Police say three teenagers killed Christopher Lane because they were bored. James Edwards Jr. and Chancey Luna both charged with murder. Michael Jones charged as an accessory. In a video posted online, the youngest boy charged, 15-year-old Edwards, you can see him there. He's laughing and showing off his gun. The sister of slain kidnapped James DiMaggio is seeking a DNA test due to her belief that he could be the father of Hannah and Ethan Anderson. Hannah was rescued nearly two weeks ago after DiMaggio allegedly killed her mother and younger brother, and then took her to Idaho. An Anderson family spokesperson tells CNN, the parents did not DiMaggio until Tina Anderson was pregnant with Hannah and that DNA tests identified Ethan as Brett's Anderson's son.
In suburban Atlanta, hunting questions of what could have been this was the chaotic scene outside of an elementary school as frantic parents are reunited with their children. Moments earlier, a gunman surrendered ending a standoff in which he allegedly vowed that cops would die. The school's bookkeeper is credited with talking the gunman into surrendering. Here's what she said on ABC's "Good Morning America."
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ANTOINETTE TUFF, SCHOOL BOOKKEEPER: I began to tell him my life encounters and some of the things that were happening to me and to get him to maybe start talking with me and opening up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did he say?
TUFF: He said that he hadn't taken his medication and that he was going to die anyway and that he was OK with dying and that he was going to kill all of the police officers and that he wanted me to know that he was not going to hurt me and I told him OK. And that it was going to be OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you told him you loved him.
TUFF: Yes, I did.
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COSTELLO: And he put the gun down and laid on the floor and the police came. That's amazing.
Witnesses say 20-year-old Michael Brandon Hill was armed with an assault rifle and a number of other weapons. He opened fire initially as police closed in. He was arrested earlier in the year for making terroristic threats against his brother in neighboring Henry County.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a jaw dropping crash caught on camera, hurdling over a guardrail and into the creek below.
Plus, fire at Yosemite. Flames through the park and, two words, Ted Cruz.
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SENATOR TED CRUZ: I was born in 1970 in Calgary, Canada. I grew up in Texas.
(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: Citizenship, Obamacare, and being hooked on subsidies. His words, not mine. NEWSROOM is back after a break.
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COSTELLO: Checking our top stories at 16 minutes past the hour, a camera captures a truck driving in the median and then look at that, it fell right into a ravine near Lansing, Michigan. The 59-year-old driver had a medical condition, drove off the highway and then dropped 20 feet into an empty ravine. The driver fractured his leg, suffered a partial lung collapse but, guess what, he's expected to make a full recovery.
Watch as huge flames fly into the air at Yosemite National Park. The main road is now closed after this raging wildfire jumped the highway. Officials say the fire is zero percent contained. More than 10,000 acres have now burned. At least two homes have been destroyed and now 2,000 buildings are in the path. The flames look so funky in this fire's path.
CNN's Indra Petersons is here with more on this. The flames looked so funky in this fire.
INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: They are pretty impressive. One thing to remember, Carol, is that we're talking about high winds in the area and then to put it simply, look at all of that vegetation on the ground burning. That's carbon. Once you put it higher up in the atmosphere, it hits oxygen, it still combusts. I'm going to take you over to the map and you're going to see that is why we have red flag warnings across the firestorms. Thunderstorms are moving in. That confuses a lot of people.
People say, that means rain comes in. You get the strong winds and erratic behavior. And then there is a threat of dry lightning and then the third concern is how much rain. If you get too much rain over a burn area you have a potential for flooding. Over half an inch of an hour of rainfall rate, that's the threshold that we see flash flooding. A lot of concerns but the good news is that rain is headed in that direction.
COSTELLO: All right, Indra Petersons, thank you so much.
For Mark Zuckerberg, running Facebook is not enough. He's taking on bigger challenges, like bringing internet access to the entire planet earth and then there's immigration reform. Hear more in our exclusive interview with Mark Zuckerberg. That is next.
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COSTELLO: I'm Carol Costello. We'd like to welcome our international viewers from around the world because we have important breaking news to pass along to all of you. Private first-class, at least he used to be, Bradley Manning has been sentenced now. She would announce his sentence today and she has. He's been sentenced to 35 years behind bars and he's been dishonorably discharged. Chris Lawrence is inside the military courtroom at Fort Meade, Maryland. When he is able to get out, he'll bring us a full report. Bradley Manning sentenced to 35 years in prison and dishonorably discharged.
Defense Attorney Page Pate is here to talk more about the sentencing. Welcome, Page. Prosecutors wanted 60 years. He got 35. Did the judge take into account Manning's youth?
PAGE PATE, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I think so. The prosecutors wanted to send a message that if you leak these types of things you will be punished. He could have faced up to 90 years. I think the judge considered his age. I think the judge also took into account that he seemed to apologize, not so much for what he did, but the harm it may have caused to the country.
COSTELLO: Well, in the presentencing hearing, Bradley Manning's attorney has presented all of the information of what happened during his childhood. He had a terribly tortured childhood. They intimated that perhaps the Army should have known about his problems and not, you know, made -- and not given him such access to sensitive information. That's what I'm saying. Will the judge take that into account, too?
PATE: I think so. You really walk a fine line. You can't blame the military for putting him in the position that they did. At the same time, you have to say, this kid had some problems. What he did was what he thought was right. He wasn't trying to be malicious and aid the army. She found him not guilty of that charge. I think she took all of that into consideration in imposing this sentence.
COSTELLO: I believe in military courts that the army can review the sentencing.
PATE: Absolutely.
COSTELLO: And what could happen? Could they give him less?
PATE: Within six months it goes to an army court of appeals just like in civilian court. They can review the conviction and the sentence. Here, remember, Manning pled guilty to some of these offenses. So really the judge is finding him guilt only applies to certain of the charges which would go up on appeal.
COSTELLO: It's interesting that he only got -- only. I say that only, 35 years, in light of Edward Snowden. You would have thought that might enter into the judge's decision as well.
PATE: I think it had a lot to do with Edward Snowden. They are trying to send a message, if you do something like this, if you leak information and whether it harms the country or not and we catch you, we're going to impose a stiff sentence. But 35 years is still excessive. If you look at other cases like this, I know this is supposed to be the largest leak of its kinds, but other folks that have given information to the Soviet Union back in the '80s, 30 years was a maximum back then. We've seen people sentenced to only months for this type of thing.
COSTELLO: Page Pate, thank you very much. Chris Lawrence still trapped in that courtroom at Fort Mead. When he gets out, of course, we'll take you live to Maryland.
We're going to take a break. We'll be back with much more in the NEWSROOM.
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COSTELLO: So much of this planet is not online, believe it or not, and it's quickly becoming a basic necessity. How do you get everybody internet access? I mean, everybody? Mark Zuckerberg has an idea. Chris Cuomo sat down for an exclusively interview with the Facebook CEO. Chris joins us now. Good morning.
CHRIS CUOMO, ANCHOR, CNN'S "NEW DAY": Hi, Carol. Good morning to you. Mark Zuckerberg says this is the new frontier. This is the major mission for Facebook and for the entire tech community, such that he has put together an organization called internet.org. It is a partnership among some of the biggest names in social media and digital media, to try to do what many would say is the unthinkable to literally get the entire world online.
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CUOMO (voice-over): When you visit the Facebook campus, you get the sense that anything is possible.
ZUCKERBERG: We want the cam pus to feel like a little city, a village.
CUOMO: And now Zuckerberg wants to make the entire world like a Facebook campus in a way by providing internet access to the entire world. The idea is called internet.org. Its target, the five billion people around the globe without access to the net.
ZUCKERBERG: We use Facebook to share news and catch up with our friends. But they are going to use it to decide what type of government they want, get access to health care for the first time ever. Connect with family hundreds of miles away that they haven't seen in decades. Getting access to the internet is a really big deal. I think we're going to be able to do it.
CUOMO: And the word "we" is a key word here because this isn't just Facebook. Zuckerberg has done something extraordinary to achieve the extraordinary, reach out to the biggest companies in social media and mobile data, aka, his competitors in part to work together.
(on camera): How did those calls go?
ZUCKERBERG: That part varies. But in general, these are companies that we have deep relationships with and have worked with on a lot of things for a long time. So this kind of came out of all of the discussions that we had.
