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Biker Swarm Suspect Identified; Government Shutdown

Aired October 04, 2013 - 15:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour, hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon. Government shutdown, day four, no end in sight, but just a short time ago, the president, well, he chose a sandwich shop, an interesting place to have his say on where things stand on the shutdown fight right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: When families don't have certainty about whether or not they're going to get paid or not. I've got staff in the White House. There are staff all across the country, in rural areas, who are working for the Agricultural Department or who are working for Veterans Affairs, who are on their job, despite the fact that they're not getting paid or have been sent home and want to be on their home because they're looking after their fellow citizens on a whole range of services.

And, as long as they're off the job, nobody's winning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So all that nobody's winning stuff triggered by comments from a senior Obama official to "The Wall Street Journal" who said, in no uncertain terms -- quote -- "We're winning this fight.'

Is anyone really winning? Is this a game? Not if you ask House Speaker John Boehner.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: This isn't some damn game. The American people don't want their government shut down and neither do I. All we're asking for is to sit down and have a discussion and to bring fairness, reopen the government and bring fairness to the American people under Obamacare. It's as simple as that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: OK, excuse me. He says, "This isn't some damn game," really interesting considering this exchange caught on a hot mike between Republicans, Senators Rand Paul and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY: Do you have a second?

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MINORITY LEADER: I'm all wired up here.

PAUL: I just did CNN and I just go over and over again, we're willing to compromise. We're willing to negotiate.

I think, I don't think they poll-tested, we won't negotiate. I think it's awful for them to say that over and over again.

MCCONNELL: Yes, I do too, and I just came back from that two-hour meeting with them and that was -- that was basically the same view privately as it was publicly.

PAUL: I think if we keep saying, we wanted to defund it, we fought for that, and now we're willing to compromise on this, I think they can't -- we're going to, I think -- well, I know we don't want to be here, but we're going to win this, I think.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Dana Bash -- Dana is our chief congressional correspondent.

Doesn't it just make you cringe, before I get to the other stuff? Does that make you cringe, just hearing that? It's like we're eavesdropping.

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No, I think it's great that we get to eavesdrop on those conversations. Are you kidding? It's like being a fly on the wall in their office, because it's not -- I don't think anybody watching is shocked, is falling off their couches or their chairs that there are political negotiations and strategizing going on, on both sides.

LEMON: No, but actually seeing it on television, actually overhearing it is a different story, though.

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: I know. I know.

LEMON: Let's move on. All this game talk and finger-pointing, is there any way out of this shutdown soon?

BASH: You know, that is the question everybody wants to know. And, unfortunately, the news I'm going to deliver is, I don't see or hear any real conversations going on.

What's going on in public, this sort of fight to get the upper hand with regard to the P.R. of this, is all that's going on, no discussions about how you get out because Democrats are really dug in, saying that they don't feel the need to negotiate any more than they have, and Republicans keep saying, why not?

However, there are discussions beginning to go on about the next fight, which is really less than two weeks away, Don, and a very big one, the debt ceiling deadline. So far, we're told those talks are going on sort of within the walls of John Boehner's office, with his inner circle and perhaps others inside the Republican Party, trying to figure out on the House side trying to figure out what they can potentially extract from Democrats.

Even though the president says I'm not negotiating on the debt ceiling, I want to break the fever, Senate Democrats say the same thing, John Boehner and his folks are trying to figure out what they can potentially do moving away from the Obamacare issue, moving towards things dealing with addressing the debt and deficit.

What they might do, what they might ask for, I'm told they're not even sure yet. But even John Boehner said publicly today what he has said privately. He's not interested in the U.S. defaulting on its loans. Now, we should point out that he's also said he wasn't interested in the government shutting down and here we are.

But one thing that he has said, according to sources who talked to Deirdre Walsh is in private that if they come up with this kind of potential plan and it sells to the White House, then he would be willing to put it on the House floor, have a vote that could get Democratic support, and maybe not even the majority support of Republicans. That is very different than what he's doing now, which is why there's such deadlock.

LEMON: All right. Dana, you're doing a great job. I do not envy you, though. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: So at the root of this battle royal going on in Washington, Republicans backed by the Tea Party and their determination to do away with Obamacare.

Joining me now is Don Adams. He's a co-founder of the Independence Hall Tea Party Association.

You heard Dana talking there about the debt ceiling. You said that you want to end the shutdown now, with a big but, so what's your take here?

DAN ADAMS, CO-FOUNDER, INDEPENDENCE HALL TEA PARTY ASSOCIATION: Well, thank you so much for having me.

I think it's really important that people realize the Tea Party is not a monolithic group. There are some of us who from the very beginning thought that defunding was not a realistic strategy, that perhaps delaying the individual mandate and ending the subsidy to congressional staffers was the better approach and better way to go.

LEMON: Would you support a clean bill from the House speaker that does not include a defunding of the president's signature health care bill?

ADAMS: I think it depends.

I think it depends a great deal on the situation. I mean, there's a hurricane now brewing in the Western part of the country. Do we really want a government shutdown in the middle of all this? I think this is problematic, it's very problematic. And I do think that, however, that during the debt ceiling negotiations, there's an awful lot to be gained and the Republicans have more of an upper hand in that situation.

LEMON: This weekend, an ad is going to air in House Speaker John Boehner's own district. It's made by a group that backs the Democrats. I want you to listen then we will talk about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NARRATOR: Speaking John Boehner didn't get his way on shutting down health care reform, so he shut down the government and hurt the economy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So, they're taking a swipe at the Tea Party, Tea Party Republicans, too. What's your response to that?

ADAMS: Well, first of all, I disagree with the premise of that ad.

Mr. Obama refuses to negotiate, has refused to. Mr. Reid is refusing to negotiate. Now, Mr. Obama has already negated a large -- many measures of part of the Obamacare law. For instance, he has done away with the -- at least delayed, excuse me, the employer mandate.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Hang on.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Let's do one thing at a time. Hang on, hang on, hang on. I will let you get to that.

ADAMS: Sure.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: What do you mean the president has refused? Let's talk about that part. You say the president has refused to negotiate. This thing has been -- it's gone to the Supreme Court. People have wanted single-payer. That didn't happen. That was negotiated down.

So now that this is, this health care bill is the law, even the Supreme Court ruled on it, what do you mean by the president refuses to negotiate? I don't understand that.

ADAMS: Well, I'm talking about the current time, and during this time frame, that the president has refused to negotiate or budge on the individual mandate, which is a real penalty on a lot of Americans.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Let me ask you this.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Hang on. Please, no talking points here. Let's just really talk. So if someone...

(CROSSTALK)

ADAMS: It's not a talking point. I'm giving my honest opinion.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: If someone filed a lawsuit against you and the court said to them in the lawsuit, no, you don't get any money, you're done, then why would I negotiate with you on something that the court has decided on already, something that is already law? Why should I negotiate with you?

ADAMS: Look, I already mentioned, the president himself has already said that he will not enforce the employer mandate. I don't understand why he's going to enforce the individual mandate, which is a penalty on Americans.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: I asked -- my question was, why would I negotiate with you for something that the court has already decided?

ADAMS: You're talking about a law -- I'm sorry. The analogy just doesn't work. It's just a really bad analogy.

This is not about a lawsuit. This is about pending legislation.

LEMON: OK, the legislation that is a bill now. It's not really about pending legislation. This bill is now a law. It's not about pending legislation.

ADAMS: Well, the continuing resolution is pending legislation. And negotiations during the debt ceiling are critical and important for the federal government to get the deficit under control and get deficit spending under control.

These are all issues that Americans care deeply about. I think the way this is being played as political theater and entertainment is really rather disgusting.

LEMON: OK, let's move on now.

I want to talk about Ben Stein. He's a hard-core financial conservative, Nixon White House speechwriter. He agrees with you in part. He, too, has got problems with Obamacare specifically, but the difference is he says let it fail on its own. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN STEIN, FORMER NIXON SPEECHWRITER: We Republicans started out the idea of universal health care. We Republicans in 1973 sent a message to Congress asking for universal health care. It was killed by Edward Kennedy for no good reason.

It's a perfectly good idea. There are glitches in the implementation. Let's get them fixed. Or if the plan is so bad that it's going to bring down the whole government and the whole country, let's put it into effect and let it ruin the Democratic Party for generations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So, if Obamacare is faulty, you heard what Ben Stein said, will it fail on its own? Does he have a point?

ADAMS: Well, he certainly does have a point. And that's why our group was more interested in delaying, rather than defunding, because, obviously, by delaying the implementation of parts of this, the American people could then gradually see how this is not working.

And we saw the glitches that were taking place with registration for Obamacare these past -- since Monday. Things are not working out well for the administration. People are not signing up for health care, Obamacare. And there's just an awful lot, I think, that goes into all of this that eventually the American people are going to realize Obamacare is a bust.

LEMON: Yes, OK. Thank you. Thank you, Don Adams. We appreciate it.

ADAMS: Thank you so much. I really do appreciate it.

LEMON: We are learning more now about the woman who was behind the wheel in that harrowing D.C. car chase between the White House and Capitol Hill.

Her name is Miriam Carey. She was 34 years old. She was shot by police and killed. She lived in Stamford, Connecticut, and she had a 1-year-old girl in the back seat. I think it was a 13-, 14-month-old.

CNN's national correspondent, Deborah Feyerick, has been doing really terrific work on this story, and she's piecing together what authorities are finding out about Carey.

So, police searched her apartment. They found a lot of stuff. Tell us what they found.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, one of the most important things that they found, that is medication, because there's a question as to what was going on inside her mind when all of this was going on.

They did find two different kinds of medication. One is to treat bipolar symptoms, also schizophrenia. The other is an antidepressant that they found inside the apartment. A boyfriend had told police back in December that in fact she was delusional, that she thought that President Obama was surveilling her electronically, that also she felt that her city was on lockdown.

So whatever was troubling her, it appears that on Thursday morning, she got into a car and drove to Washington, D.C., to go to the White House. She was turned away, and that's when everything turned bad, Don.

LEMON: Her boyfriend talked to police several months ago, saying that she thought that President Obama was monitoring her, that she thought that Stamford was on lockdown, right? What do you know about this?

FEYERICK: Well, again, this goes to her state of mind at the time.

And again this was a boyfriend. This is according to sources who know what sort of the conversation of the boyfriend and what he told police officers. But he was very concerned about the well-being of the child. It's believed that the little girl was both his and hers. And he called police, saying that he felt the child was in danger.

She was taken in and she was actually evaluated for mental health issues. That was back in December. And so things were happening. But why she decided to do this, why she decided to go now, that's still a huge question. There was an envelope that authorities found at the apartment in Stamford, Connecticut, and the envelope had some sort of a substance in it. That is now in the hands of Connecticut State Police. It's at a lab.

They're testing it to see exactly what it was, but investigators couldn't get in until early in the morning because they had to actually make sure that the hazmat teams went in and just cleared the entire area, made sure it wasn't dangerous.

LEMON: And on the way in, as I bumped into you, we said mental health, mental health. People don't like to talk about it, there's a stigma, but we really need to get a handle on it.

FEYERICK: Such a huge issue, Don.

LEMON: Thank you, Deb. Appreciate it.

Coming up here on CNN, I'm going to speak live with Dr. Gail Saltz about what these medications tell her and the paranoia about President Obama monitoring her.

And later, this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Remove the burdens of those who are the collateral damage of this government shutdown. Dear God, help our lawmakers. They can know the right, but not do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So, he is the man who opens the Senate with a prayer every day, but, this week, his message is getting more and more aggressive as lawmakers bicker. We will meet him and hear his words.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: We're learning the woman shot to death after leading police on a chase through the nation's capital had schizophrenia medication and an antidepressant in her apartment, and her boyfriend reported that she thought President Obama had her hometown on lockdown and her house under surveillance.

Dr. Gail Saltz is a psychiatrist and a psychoanalyst and author as well.

Miriam Carey said she had postpartum depression, experienced postpartum depression. Did that play a role? What role did it play in this, in what happened?

DR. GAIL SALTZ, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF PSYCHIATRY, THE NEW YORK PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL AT WEILL-CORNELL SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: What you're describing are psychotic symptoms, the thought that the president has your place on lockdown, et cetera.

LEMON: Can postpartum depression do that?

SALTZ: Well, postpartum depression, which can occur in up to 10 percent to 15 percent of women who deliver, is really about depression.

LEMON: OK.

SALTZ: A small subset, if they're left untreated, can go on to become psychotically depressed. That's postpartum psychosis. Or other things can cause postpartum psychosis, which means psychotic symptoms, like delusions, like auditory hallucinations.

It's only one to two out of 1,000 births that will have that kind of situation, so it's fairly rare, but it's a psychiatric emergency and it means that someone needs immediate treatment, because they can be a risk to themselves or their baby.

LEMON: Yes, right. Here's the interesting thing. I hear people all the time when they're going through issues in a relationship or whatever, even family members, they will break up with somebody, they're acting erratically, acting crazy. Isn't that the time that you pull closer to that person to help them, instead of leaving them hanging?

SALTZ: Yes. You're speaking of a real problem, which is the stigma and shame that surrounds mental illness, and the fear that you might somehow feel these same feelings this other person is doing makes people pull away, when, you're right, the very thing that they need is not just people just stepping in and supporting them, which they do need, but they need people to take them to an emergency room or make sure that they see their psychiatrist more than once or make sure they're taking their medications, especially when they're talking about postpartum situations, because there's a baby who needs to stay bonded with their mother, but they need another adult who is involved, who is making sure that the baby is really being taken care of.

(CROSSTALK) LEMON: I had recently a friend who had broken up with her boyfriend and said he was acting -- and she is like, I can't deal with him. I said, you need to. You spent 10 years together. You need to put whatever it is you're doing on hold, go back to that person, take care of them, and then deal with the breakup.

(CROSSTALK)

SALTZ: It's humanity, right? It's about being a decent, ethical person.

LEMON: Right. Right.

SALTZ: But let me say in this particular instance, what I think needed to happen is we need, as a community, as a nation, to train our first-responders, because we, the psychiatrists, we don't get to see these people until farther down the road.

It's the police, it's the fire, it's the people who are called because something happened. If they were trained with the signs that say, hey, something psychotic is going on, and they were told, this person needs to go to an emergency room, they were brought, like the Naval Yard shooting.

If that person had been brought to an emergency room and seen a psychiatrist, they would have been basically forced to take medication and it may never have happened.

LEMON: You are great. I'm going to talk to the producers. I want to get you back this weekend if you're available to talk, because I think this is a huge issue that we're not dealing with in society.

SALTZ: It is a huge issue and there are ways we could be dealing with it.

LEMON: And we're looking at it the wrong way, right? Right.

SALTZ: Yes, in a way.

LEMON: Just because you have a mental issue or problem doesn't mean you're a bad person. You're going through something.

SALTZ: Well, let's put it this way. Half of Americans have an issue or a problem, and I don't think half of Americans are bad people. Yes.

LEMON: Thank you. I appreciate it.

SALTZ: It's a pleasure.

LEMON: We will see you soon, Dr. Gail.

SALTZ: OK.

LEMON: All right, so, who was Miriam Carey? We will find out more tonight when her sister speaks exclusively to "A.C. 360" about their loved one who was shot and killed on Capitol Hill. Miriam Carey's sister talks exclusively to "A.C. 360" tonight, 8:00 p.m. Eastern. Don't miss that.

And coming up next, the family of the biker who was reportedly paralyzed during this attack is coming forward. They insist that we're not hearing the whole story. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Well, New York authorities are saying they know who bashed in the window of an SUV driver caught in a biker swarm. Investigators say the biker played a direct role in the beating of Alexian Lien, an SUV driver seen fleeing for his life in this viral video.

CNN's national correspondent is Susan Candiotti, of course, and has the very latest on the suspect's I.D.

So, what do you know, Susan?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We believe that this man, who is suspected of being the guy wearing that shiny helmet, should be turning himself in some time soon. We don't know exactly when.

But you remember, Don, it was one of the most frightening parts of that biker video, right at the end, a family in their SUV, traffic trapping them in, unable to escape bikers. Now bikers know who's the man behind the beating.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Police have now tracked down the motorcyclist who shot this helmet cam video. They found him in this home in Bellport, New York, questioning him and taking the video as evidence. Until now, we've only seen an edited version posted online. It cuts off moments before authorities say Alexian Lien was pulled out of his SUV, beaten and slashed in front of his wife and 2-year-old child.

The family now issuing its first statement since the incident: "Our plan last Sunday was to celebrate our wedding anniversary by having a nice family day out with our 2-year-old daughter. Unfortunately, instead, we were placed in grave danger by a mob of reckless and violent motorcyclists."

Lien's wife defended her husband's decision to peel away from the crowd surrounding their SUV, rolling over bikers in the process, critically injuring one: "My husband was forced under the circumstances to take the actions that he did in order to protect the lives of our entire family."

CNN has learned it was Mrs. Lien who made the last of three 911 calls the couple made as her husband was being attacked. "We would like to thank the brave citizens who risked their own safety to intervene on our behalf. They truly helped save our lives."

New video emerged Thursday showing bikers gathering before Sunday's rally and riding on sidewalks, prompting politicians who released it to call for more enforcement.

ADRIANO ESPAILLAT (D), NEW YORK STATE SENATOR: I don't see why you can have 500 motorcycles that are doing wheelies and out of control, stopping traffic, totally stopping traffic on the highway or on some streets and doing whatever they want.

CANDIOTTI: One of the motorcyclists, Jerome Davis, witnessed the confrontation and told "OUTFRONT" they're not just some wild gang.

JEROME DAVIS, BIKER: It is not a gang. We're not a gang.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: And how would you describe it?

DAVIS: As a gang?

BURNETT: Yes, I mean, instead of a gang. What's the right word, do you think?

DAVIS: Family, unity, friends.

BURNETT: A family?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: Remember, one biker's already been arrested for slowing down and causing that first collision with the SUV.

His lawyer said his client's not guilty, but the case far from over, police still searching for more witnesses, more evidence, going through frames of video bit by bit. And even today, that man who was critically injured, a lawyer for him, Gloria Allred, saying that he was a victim who was only -- that was trying to help the SUV driver when he wound up being crushed himself.

LEMON: Not over yet. We're still going to hear a lot about this. Susan, thank you. Appreciate that.

Coming up, a big mystery revealed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Siri, what are you wearing?

COMPUTER VOICE: Aluminosilicate glass and stainless steel. Nice, huh?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Who is Siri, really? The mystery woman behind the voice revealed.

Plus, CNN iReporters sound off on the shutdown. One vet says he doesn't even know this country anymore.

But, first, have you seen this guy?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: During this legislative stalemate, help our lawmakers to test all things by their conscience.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So he's the Senate chaplain, and he gives a daily prayer before each Senate session, and he does not hide his opinion on what he thinks needs to happen in Washington. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)