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Hillary Clinton Endorses Terry McAuliffe; Two Prisoners Escape From Florida Jail; JPMorgan Chase Reaches Tentative Deal for $13 billion With Justice Dept.
Aired October 19, 2013 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone, thank you so much for joining us. Top of the hour. I'm Don Lemon. Of course, you are here in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm in New York.
Bizarre twists in the hunt for two Florida killers freed from prison by mistake. We now know both Charles Walker and Joseph Jenkins spent time with their families in Orlando, going to church, visiting grandma. Apparently they were not hiding at all for days or even a couple of weeks. Now a manhunt is under way to put the killers behind bars -- back behind bars.
A short time ago Walker's mother stood before cameras pleading with her son to turn himself in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LILLIE DANZY, MOTHER OF ESCAPED INMATE CHARLES WALKER: Charles, is there anything too hard for God? God knows who you are. I know who you are. Your family knows who you are. And we want you to return home safely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, both men were serving life sentences for murder. Forged paperwork duped prison officials in to thinks the men's sentences had been reduced.
CNN's Nick Valencia tracking this story near the prison in Carrabelle, Florida -- Nick.
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Don, at a press conference that wrapped earlier this afternoon, we heard from both family members of the two escaped convicts currently on the run. First at the microphone was the mother of Charles Walker who said she first learned about her son's release earlier the day that he was released on October 8th. She said that he showed up in her hometown on a bus and that she made no attempt at concealing his whereabouts to authorities or to the public. They even attended a church service together.
Take a listen to her plea, her beg, to ask her son to turn himself in to authorities.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DANZY: We love you. We believe in you. We want you to surrender yourself to someone who you trust who will bring you back in safely. We don't want any harm to come to you. I know you are a man of faith. You have a strong family bond and strong family values. And I know who you are. You know who you are. And I just want you home safely, son, please come home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VALENCIA: Also, at that press conference, we heard from a father a self-described father figure of Joseph Jenkins, the escapee inmate who got out on September 27th. They said they picked him up here at this correctional facility behind me and took him back to the Orlando area taking him to his grandmother's house and his mother's house and also back to their house. They set up a birthday party for him. Evidently his birthday was on October 1st and they had a party for him. But he was a no-show, they say that was the last time they saw him.
Also at this press conference was the sheriff's department. They spoke saying they still have reason to believe that both men are in the Florida area, perhaps even still there in Orlando, in orange county -- Don?
LEMON: All right, Nick, mystery. Thank you so much. We appreciate that.
And make sure you join us tonight at 8:00 eastern when we look at the big crime stories of the week from the Florida inmate, accidentally released that Nick just reported on to the Missouri teen whose family was ran out of town after she cried rape to the Utah doctor accused of murdering his wife in the bathtub as well. We are covering these stories from all their angles. "Making The Case" is tonight at 8:00 eastern right here on CNN.
And just like that, the United States government reopened and sputtered back to life this week. Federal workers poured out of the metro stations in Washington again after that many workers really sarcastically call their 16 day vacation. Of course, it was no vacation. It was a federal furloughed. They kept hundreds of thousands of workers, employees, home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, this was a very welcome sight to crowds of D.C. visitors. The city's world famous museums, monuments reopened their doors this week.
CNN's Chris Lawrence is at the World War II memorial for us today -- Chris? CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, D.C. as a whole is just as bitter and divided as ever, but the mood is decidedly more upbeat here at the memorial. You'll remember this was the scene of so many showdowns during the shutdown. Massive protests, barricades put up, politicians grandstanding. Now it has returned to what it has always been. And we are seeing hundreds of veterans and tourists coming back to the memorial from all over the country to pay their respects and see the memorial.
I spoke with one World War II veteran who is flat-out disgusted at the behavior of his elected representatives in Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRY WISNEWSKI, WWII VETERAN: They are being paid a lot of money, all of them. They should be able to sit down like sensible people and settle these things and not doing this kind of stuff. How can they say this is the way we settle it, block people from going to see the memorial, that's foolish.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAWRENCE: That's certainly one way to describe it. But now, the pressure is on to come up with a deal. All the last deal did was really just set a new deadline to come up with a more permanent agreement. That's going to have to happen by the end of the year if Congress wants to meet that deadline because otherwise, the government could face another shutdown in the middle of January and come right up against that debt limit again in early February -- Don?
LEMON: All right, Chris Lawrence. Thank you very much for that, Chris.
Breaking news to tell you about on CNN. CNN has confirmed that JPMorgan Chase has tentatively reached a $13 billion deal with the justice department to resolve several investigations of its mortgage business. A U.S. official tells CNN this. JPMorgan Chase would pay $9 billion in fines and penalties plus $4 billion in consumer relief that includes loan modifications. Apparently JPMorgan executives and workers could still face charges in the future.
The official tells CNN the tentative deal does not include a non- prosecution agreement that JPMorgan Chase had pushed hard to include. We are going talk about what this might mean for you and for me in the next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM, so make sure you stay tuned for that.
In the meantime, a popular college application Web site says most of its glitches are fixed. Common app lets students apply to multiple schools at once. More than 500 colleges and universities accept it. But just within the last few months it had issues that caused some college hopefuls to panic. Students couldn't submit forms and were charged twice for the same application. The site even deleted parts of the student's essays.
The statement on the company's Web site claims it has fixed most issues and today the early application deadline for lots of colleges, but some big schools like North Carolina and Georgia tech extended their deadlines because of these problems. We'll keep you updated.
Hillary Clinton back in the spotlight. She is stumping for a political ally Terry McAuliffe in Virginia in the gubernatorial race, but is it a ramp-up for a 2016 presidential run?
Plus this, an entire city rallies to find an autistic boy who ran away from his school and is now missing the latest on the search just ahead on CNN,
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Welcome back, everyone. Like my new big LED wall back there? I certainly like it. Kind of nice, right?
Let's talk about politics now, Hillary Clinton jumping right in the middle of one of the hottest political battles in the country, the Virginia governor's race, she's headlining a women for Terry McAuliffe today helping out a fellow Democrat and could she be getting in practice just for a run for the presidential race in 2016?
Peter Hamby is in Falls Church.
Peter, are we getting a preview of 2016 here? I mean, it seems like we just -- well, we really did just finish the last one.
PETER HAMBY, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes, Don, this is interesting. Like you said, this is practice for her. She hasn't been in the political spotlight doing a purely political event in public since she ran for office in 2008. She's been, you know, doing high stakes diplomacy around the world. She spent this year giving paid speeches to interest groups and charities. And this is the first time we got to see her actually, you know, you know, kicked some dust off the tires and see what she had.
Take a listen to what she was saying earlier today. This event just finished. For this campaign event in Virginia for Democratic gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe, listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: He will be a 24-7 governor for Virginia. So we're coming down to the homestretch. I've been in a lot of elections.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAMBY: You saw her flash a little bit of a clever smile there, a knowing smile. Look, she knows the political spotlight is on her. This speech was mostly about Terry McAuliffe who has a sturdy lead over Republican Ken Cuccinelli here in Virginia.
Terry McAuliffe is actually a close friend of the Clintons, so this was sort of a low-risk event for her. She knew the spotlight was going to be on her. She stepped into it for a good 20 minutes and this is an event by Hillary Clinton who is a political superstar is guaranteed to get tons of media attention this week in Virginia and that's exactly what Democrats want, Don.
LEMON: Hey, Pete, obviously, she was well received, correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm going to go into my question here. Listen. He needs, McAuliffe needs women, right? He is running against Ken Cuccinelli. And Hillary Clinton's presence is probably going to add to that. How important is her endorsement today?
HAMBY: I mean, it's a huge deal for Terry McAuliffe. Look, he already has more than a 20-point load among women if you look at some polls. This is what is keeping him afloat. It's the same playbook that Democrats ran in swing state after swing state in the presidential election in 2012, Ken Cuccinelli, the attorney general, had worked as a state legislature and attorney general to curtail abortion rights. The Democrats are framing this as Cuccinelli is out of the mainstream conservative who is going to take away your birth control. And Terry McAuliffe has, you know, it is like I said, a 20- point lead among women.
So, this was a perfect event for Hillary Clinton. It was billed as a woman for Terry event and Clinton stepped in and spoke fluently about the issues she cares about, about women's issues, about girls, about women's health. So, this is only going to keep Terry's lead among women afloat, Don.
LEMON: All right, Pete Hamby, appreciate it, thank you, sir.
Five heart attacks, five past surgeries, an artificial pump, finally a transplant. Dick Cheney's health history is pretty well known, but I bet you don't know what our Sanjay Gupta uncovered in an interview with the former vice president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DICK CHENEY, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Basically, what I did was I resigned the vice presidency in effective March 28th of 2001.
DOCTOR SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: So nearly, for your entire time as vice president, there was a letter of resignation sitting there.
CHENEY: Pending.
GUPTA: Pending.
How did President Bush react when you told him about this?
CHENEY: He seemed a little bit surprised but he thought it was a good idea.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: The full interview airs Sunday on "60 minutes" and Tuesday on "AC360."
Lost, an autistic boy missing on the streets of New York. We'll have the latest on the frantic search.
Also found, a 4-year-old girl in Greece. The people who say they are her parents are not her parents. Who is she? That mystery just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GUPTA: Got a lot to get on "SG MD" today. And one of the things we'll be talking about is the new study that said you could be addicted to Oreo cookies, I'll explain that, and also what could be happening in the brain. That and much more "SG MD" 4:30 eastern.
LEMON: OK. Parents with a missing teen with autism are trying to recruit more people to search for their son. It has been more than two weeks and there are no signs of Avonte Oquendo (ph).
The 14-year-old was last seen October 4th on this surveillance video running away from school from his school in Queens. It was really the last anyone's seen of him. Avonte (ph) doesn't communicate well. He doesn't communicate verbally and has trouble feeding himself.
Alexandria Field is following the story for us.
You spoke with the parents today. How are they holding up? I spoke with them on Thursday evening and it was tough but they were holding up. As each day goes, what --
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You can see it in their eyes, Don. They are in a profound amount of pain as all of us might imagine, you can see the pain reflected in the eyes of everyone surrounding them right now, but they are holding up and they are trying to put the message forward that they need help finding their son. The gut wrenching part of the story is that we are talking about a boy who cannot ask for help himself, and so his parents are speaking out again today asking for help finding him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VANESSA FONTAINE, MOTHER: It's terrible. It's just like a nightmare I can't wake up from, you know? Every day waiting to see my son come home, praying that someone has found him. I don't wish this on anyone.
DANIEL OQUENDO, FATHER: Everybody, you know, take the time out to look, five minutes, come out your house, walk around the block. Be aware of your surroundings. When you're going to work, walking to the train, just keep your eyes open.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FIELD: Hundreds of volunteers have already joined in the search for Avonte, more than 100 police officers are also involved in this search, but the parents are making it clear today that they want people to come out. They want people to actually sign up to do really another exhaustive search of New York city. It's been 15 days. They need a lead to find their son. LEMON: Yes. And, you know, it's his picture is everywhere. You go into a taxi and you see it on the taxi TV. You hear it in the subway systems. We went along for a ride in the search van where the mom's voice, are they still doing the voice, hi, mom, this is Avonte, come to the flashing lights.
FIELD: They are trying to get the message out that Avonte is missing and needs to be found. It has been, again, been 15 days, Don. So, they are trying to get that picture out there. They are trying to make sure that this story reaches everyone that it can reach.
LEMON: There's that van. They recorded that mom. His mom said, Alexandria, let's listen to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FONTAINE: It's mom, Avonte.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Yes. It Is mom, Avonte, come to the flashing lights, come to the flashing lights. She would say to him, hi, it's mom, when he would get home from school because she wants a response hi, mom, back from him. Because he's autistic, right? And so, she was trying to set up some sort of pattern with him. What we are looking, here though, that marshy area by the school, that is where they were you said there's a new focus now and why the new focus?
FIELD: In the last couple of days we've been told that police have been searching a train depot in Long Island City not far from the school where Avonte disappeared. Earlier on in the investigation bloodhounds had gone up and he picked up his scent in that marshy area that you just pointed out. We are seeing it right now. Soon after that, they picked up his scent in a subway station. After that, they seemed you have lost his scent. They've searched 468 subway stations in New York City. That's every station in the city.
LEMON: What's this new thing that I don't know about that you know about is the shirt. What is that?
FIELD: Basically, you cannot cast the net any wider right now they so are utilizing every resource that they have. The technology that is being used here is fairly advanced, it's similar to facial recognition technology, what the detectives have done is they have taken an image of the shirt that Avonte was wearing. They put it into a database. That database will try and pick on similar images that were recorded by surveillance cameras, it could lead them to where Avonte went after he left the school. It's just another step in this exhausted effort.
LEMON: It is image or photo imaging technology, very interesting.
Thank you, Alexandria Field, and welcome, thank you. It's good to have you here.
FIELD: Thanks, Don. Thank you. LEMON: Police are trying to track down the parents of a 4-year-old at the center of the mystery. A pail blond blue-eyed girl was found in the search of aroma or a gipsy home in Central Greece. Officers became suspicious of the couple she was with because she looked nothing like them and a DNA test proved it. Greek authorities hope the releasing of the girl's picture will help them find her parents. Police arrested the couple posing as her parents on charges of abducting for a minor.
For more than 300 years now, the chant death to America rang all across Iran. But as relations between the two countries seem to be warming up, has the rally cry turned to a whisper? That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Edward Snowden happy, he's healthy and he says he has no regrets. That's all according to Snowden's father who just been a few days in Russia visiting with his son who still wanted in America on spying and other charges .
Lon Snowden told our Anderson Cooper that he supports his son and he shot down the idea that Edward Snowden is trying to get rich.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LON SNOWDEN, EDWARD SNOWDEN'S FATHER: His intention if it was to profit, he would be in a much different circumstance now. If his desire was to profit from this, he would have already signed a book deal. He's not interested in doing that at this point in time.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR, AC360: He could have gone on television programs and probably been paid by television programs around the world and done stuff, and he hasn't done any of that.
SNOWDEN: Absolutely.
COOPER: It sounds like the information your son has given to Glenn Greenwald and others there's a lot more still to come.
SNOWDEN: Glen has that, you know, my understanding "The New York Times" has information, "Pro Publican," "the Guardian," so yes, my understanding there's much, much more to come.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Remember, Snowden was a contractor for the National Security Agency. Russia granted him asylum in August after he leaked details of some classified U.S. surveillance programs.
The U.S. is considering easing sanctions on Iran but only if it takes major steps to curb its nuclear program. Iran and six world powers including the U.S. met in Geneva this week to discuss their nuclear future. Republican senators have vowed to oppose a lifting of any sanctions in the near future.
For years chants of death to America have been a staple for anti-U.S. protesters in Iran. But that doesn't exactly fit in with the new charm offensive from the new Iranian president.
CNN's Reza Sayah took to the streets of Tehran to see if those chants are dying down.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Midmorning in Tehran. Thousands head to Friday prayers, a weekly gathering of Iran's ultraconservatives and die hard regime loyalists. We are here for one thing to see if we hear chants of death to America, a staple of the Islamic republic of Iran since the 1979 revolution.
(voice-over) In recent weeks key Iranian moderates have suggested dropping the slogan to show solidarity with President Rouhani's push to improve relations with Washington and reach a settlement on Iran's nuclear program.
But within minutes of our arrival, they came. Chants of death to America. Perhaps not as forceful as in the past. Even so, they signal a split in Iran between factions who want to improve relations with Washington and those who warn that Washington should never be trusted.
Shortly after Friday prayers familiar anti-American rituals designed for television cameras and a call for a march that draws a small but spirited crowd.
(on-camera) Now, this crowd is not very large, a few hundred people and the chants aren't very loud. Even so when Americans see these images and they hear these chants, it can be a little disconcerting. But these Iranians will tell you don't mean that they want to attack America or that they're against American people. They just don't trust the American government.
Death to America means 64 years of the American government meddling in Iran's affairs and countless crimes against humanity, says Alireza Mataili.
Death to America means America wants to colonize us and serve its own interests, says this cleric. If that continues we'll chant death to America to the day we die."
We shouldn't come to terms with them, says this woman, they are the enemy of the people, the enemy of Islam.
For now the hard line anti-American factions seem to be in the minority due in large part to the landslide election of moderate President Rouhani. But Friday prayers showed they're still here, still chanting "death to America."
Reza Sayah, CNN, Tehran.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: All right, Reza, thank you very much. We'll be back at the top of the hour with live coverage including interesting stories including the two inmates in Florida who are now missing.
And also, our Dana Bash sits down with Senator Ted Cruz now that the government's back open, what does he have to say.?.
Right now we'll go to "SANJAY GUPTA, M.D."
See you live at the top of the hour.