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Florida Escapees Back Behind Bars; Four-Year-Old Girl Found in Greece with a Couple Who Are Not Related to Her; Edward Snowden Happy in Russia; Martin MacNeill Accused of Murdering His Wife

Aired October 20, 2013 - 17:00   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 here. I'm Don Lemon you are in the CNN NEWSROOM. It is top of the hour.

We're going to start with this; two killers who slipped out of prison with phony documents are back behind bars right now. They were busted on Saturday evening while hanging out at a hotel at a motel rather in the Florida Pan Handle. But this is not an open and shut case. Today, Florida police want to know who else is involved. Charles Walker and Joseph Jenkins escaped separately and managed to get about 80 miles from the prison. Police found them at the Coconut Grove Motor Inn in Panama City unarmed waiting for a ride.

Let's go to CNN's Nick Valencia now watching these developments. He is in Panama City, Florida.

So Nick, police say these guys had to have a lot of help during their time on the run. Do they have any names or any leads yet?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Don.

And that's where we're going to start. I just got off the phone with the Florida department of law enforcement and they tell me that arrests are imminent. They will be looking at people that helped Charles Walker and Joseph Jenkins avoid being captured while they were on the run. They are also going to look at those people that may have helped Walker and Jenkins get their hands on those forged documents.

I want you to take a listen to this press conference held earlier today from the commission of Florida department of law enforcement when he was asked about those forged documents. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is speculation, an underline speculation, that there was a source for a certain sum of money that these documents could be constructed for $8,000. Whether that's true or not will be determined.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: When I talked to the FDLE, they wanted to stress to our viewers that that is the investigation is very preliminary to the very early stages investigating how much the documents may have cost. They also said that this is not the first time. Others inmates have tried to used a fraudulent schemes to escape and said other two cases unsuccessfully have been tried. So that leaves a lot of people here to wonder, you know, if they've had a couple of years to look at these cases and know that these fraudulent schemes were out there, why haven't they been able to stop this time around -- Don.

LEMON: You know what, Nick? These men were on the run for what, three weeks. Who in the prison system is in trouble because of this escape? And what's being done to make sure it doesn't happen again?

VALENCIA: Well, you'd be surprised. When we talked to the department of corrections on Friday, I'd asked the press information officer, who's going to be to blame here? Who's going to get in trouble? She said no one is to blame here. We followed all the proper procedures. We don't have legal stature to push back against the courts. The courts punted back saying, you know, it's not some high-tech scheme here, some high-tech analysis that we do at the court. We process the paperwork and we push it on and the department of corrections are the ones that ordered it.

But also, you know it's the state's attorney's office that also are embarrassed by the situation. They're supposed to be the authority when it comes to this. And you know, they don't want to take any responsibility or any other culpability when it comes to these forged documents -- Don.

LEMON: Nick Valencia, appreciate your reporting. Thank you very much.

You know, one reason those men were able to slip out of that prison is they had very real-looking signatures on some phony documents.

I want you to take a look at this. It is a signature of Judge Belvin Perry of Florida's Ninth Judicial Court. If that name is familiar, it's because Judge Perry presided over one of the country's highest profile for her trial, the trial of Casey Anthony. His name is on those papers that the killers used to fake their way to freedom.

And live in Florida right now, in Orlando, as a matter of fact, is judge Belvin Perry.

So, judge, you have seen those forged signatures. Are they even good fakes to you?

JUDGE BELVIN PERRY, FLORIDA'S NINTH JUDICIAL COURT: Well, Don, they are excellent fakes because it appears to me that what they did was looked at documents that were probably on the Casey Anthony case and cut and paste my signature and pasted on new documents. So they were actually genuine-looking documents.

LEMON: OK. Just to be, for my own edification and for some members of the audience, these papers never came across your desk?

PERRY: These papers never hit my desk because number one, the case were never assigned to me, Don. I never had anything to do with Walker or Jenkins. They were cases that were assigned to other judges. LEMON: So no one ever said hey, judge, did you sign these papers? No one contacted you? Wrote you? Called you? E-mailed you?

PERRY: Don, more than likely, what happened was somebody appeared in the clerk's office, dropped them in a box, they were processed as they ordinarily do process documents that was absolutely no contact with my office. No one even checked to see if, in fact, the cases were assigned to me and they went on about their merry way and were transmitted to the department of corrections. And the department of corrections got them and acted upon them.

LEMON: So, obviously, there is something needs to be done. How does this make you feel, I mean, your name was used to escape, your signature. Obviously, you are not abuse by. Are you angry? Are you going to fight for change? What?

PERRY: Well, am I angry? No. I don't like it. It didn't make me angry. But let's face reality. When your named in documents that you've signed plastered on the internet for anybody and everybody to see and someone with basic knowledge can paste and cut your signature, it doesn't surprise me that it did happen. It was just a matter of time. It shows that we need to do a little bit more in authentication of documents. And that's a process that we're going to start doing now.

Remember, we have a fragmented system here in the state of Florida. The court and the clerk of court are two separate offices. They are not joint offices ran by the courts.

LEMON: Well, that sounds like someone needs to make sure that you guys are in communication with each other, at least. I mean, if this is an indication of that, I don't know what is.

My question, though, is this whole incident put eggs in the face of Florida law enforcement. Everyone is pointing fingers saying, you know, not my fault pointing the other direction. Should anyone particular agency stand up and say hey, look, we screwed up. The buck stops with us?

PERRY: Well, I think what we need to do is wait until the investigation is over with to see actually what happened in this particular case. People tend to forget. There was Jeffrey Forbes who filed his documents in January of 2011. One, a reduction of his sentence using falsified documents that bared the signature of another judge and had his sentenced reduced so he was eligible for release in 2016. I think once we find out what happened with that one and trace who knew what, when and where, then you can make some decisions as to if anybody is to blame for any of this.

LEMON: Judge Belvin Perry, thank you for your time. We appreciate it.

PERRY: Thank you, Don.

All right. In other news now, people get caught with guns and knives at the airport. It happens all of the time, unfortunately. But this is over the top. Here's what authorities of New York's JFK are saying. The airport says that a Long Island man tried to board a JetBlue flight yesterday carrying a bag filled with more than a dozen knives, five pairs of scissors, more than a dozen lighters and other so-called implements of destruction. 'The Daily News" says Timothy Schiavo admitted to owning the stock in the bag. He is charged with criminal possession of a weapon.

The shutdown is over but the screaming over Obamacare may have just started. Now, there are calls to fire a member of the president's cabinet. That's next.

And in Australia, it's up in flames. Over 50 separate fires burning. Some of them on the out skirts of Sydney. Live report just ahead here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The problem with -- well known. Tomorrow, the president will talk about its failures and talk about the issues of benefits in the rose garden in an event. But today, on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" this morning, one of the Republican power players said that about Obamacare road program this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Look, it has been a fiasco. Send Air Force One at the Silicon Valley, load it up with some smart people, bring them back to Washington and then fix this problem. It is ridiculous. I mean, everybody knows that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, the Obama administration says about a half million people have applied for Obama care, but we don't know how many have actually enrolled. Republican says scrap the program or fix it now.

I want to bring in CNN's Chris Lawrence. He is in Washington, D.C. now.

What can you tell us about the president's Rose Garden event tomorrow, Chris?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well don, a little after 11:00 in the morning tomorrow, the president is going to come to the Rose Garden. He's going to bring with him certain small business owners, consumers, some pharmacists, those that do support the Affordable Care Act. He's going to tout some of the successes, talk about how some of these folks have been able to enroll in the program. Some people, I suspect, some of those examples will be people of who did not have health care coverage before.

And he's also going to address the glitches. He's called them unacceptable. He's going to try to shift attention from the computer problems to say look, the Affordable Care Act is more than a Web site. It's a program. And that seems to be where the White House is trying to shift the emphasis now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kathleen Sebelius, Some of your colleagues are saying she should resign. Do you agree with that?

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: Absolutely, she should resign. Why? Because the program that she has implemented, Obamacare, is a disaster. It is not working. It is hurting people all across the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: We go to the question where at the top of the page. Go ahead Chris.

LAWRENCE: Well right there, I mean, we obviously heard our owned Dana Bash talking with Senator Ted Cruz there. You know, he was very blunt calling for Sebeluis head. A lot of critics, especially Republicans are saying, look, if she was the CEO of a company and the company had as disastrous a roll out as this may have been, they would be fired. So, they are calling for her head. But earlier this morning, house minority leader Nancy Pelosi told CNN that the suggestion that is really a should be fired is quote "ridiculous." And the White House is continuing to back her as well, Don.

LEMON: Can we talk about the number? About a half million applications, you know, for the program but it needs some seven million to sign up in order to support the cause. What's the administration saying about that, Chris?

LAWRENCE: They're touting these numbers. Those are the two that you're going to hear repeated a lot by the White House. Nineteen million unique visits and a half a million people nearly who have completed the application process.

But what you're not saying yet is how have actually enrolled and that is the key. In filling out the application means you are putting in your salary, your information, who in your family may need health care coverage. But that's not the same as going through the process and actually picking a health care plan. The White House still wants to get to about seven million in the next six months. So it's still a long ways to go on that front.

LEMON: All right, Chris Lawrence, thank you very much. We'll see you next hour here on CNN.

You know, Jon McCain has had some pretty strong words toward the president about his health care law. And he is also taking shots at fellow Senator Ted Cruz who really led a charge to join the house effort to defund Obamacare at the height of the government shutdown.

Some call Cruz's all-night stand on the Senate floor heroic, but McCain called it a fool's errand. Here's what Cruz had to say in response in an exclusive interview with CNN's Dana Bash seen earlier today on "STATE OF THE UNION."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRUZ: Well, look. I respect and admire John McCain. He is a war hero. He is a man of incredible personal courage. I will say this, when you've got Senate Republican saying we cannot win. We will surrender. This is a fool's errand, it sabotages the effort. In my view, I think the House Republicans marched out on principle to say we are listening to the people who are hurting because of Obamacare. And I wish that Senate Republicans had come in like the Calvary to support them. Instead, they made a different decision. They made a decision not just to support the house Republicans, but to come in like an air force and dive bomb them.

You know what I think has hurt Republicans, is all of the Senate Republicans who have attacked Houses Republicans, who have gone on television --

BASH: I think he is talking about you, sir, not House Republican.

CRUZ: Well, but look. He is talking about everyone who has engaged in this fight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: And more from this exclusive interview with Ted Cruz coming up later in the next hour here on CNN in the NEWSROOM.

Next, Bush fires. Down under. A lot of them. Hundreds of homes and buildings destroyed including some just out Sydney. A live report is just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

LEMON: Syrian rebels released this video which they say shows them detonating a car bomb in a suburb of Damascus today. And a separate bombing at the checkpoint outside Hamas, at least 37 people were killed including some Syrian soldiers. State run media says that number could rise. The U.N. now says more than 100,000 people have died in the Syrian civil war.

A day of violence across Baghdad claims dozen of lives in multiple attacks. At least 37 people were killed today when local authorities say a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a packed coffee house, immediately after a roadside bomb went off outside the same cafe. It happened in the mostly Shiite neighborhood in the southwest part of town. Other bombers targeted a security checkpoint, police station and the mayor's office in Anbar (ph) province.

A unique and deadly tactic in the Mexican drug war, a former leader of the Tiauana Cartel was shot and killed by two men. One of them may have been dressed as a clown. Francisco Rethel Aralano Felix (ph) died in a barrage of bullets at the beach front hotel in Cabo. The justice department says, along with selling drugs, his family-run business responsible for kidnappings and murders.

The search intensifies in Greece for the parent of a little girl at the central of an international mystery. A four-year-old girl was found with a couple authorities think kidnapped her. They are trying to find her real parents. Investigators have released the child's photo in a desperate public flee for help. They say they found the blond, blue-eyed girl last week during a raid inside a Roma, a Roma gypsy camp.

The couple she was with say they were her parents. But DNA tests revealed they were not her parents. That couple now faces kidnapping and fraud charges. The little girl is in protective custody now.

Talk about a giant leap of faith. Thirty-four daredevils today jumped off the Ballingay (ph) Bridge in southwest China. Well, the bridge which opened in 2009, is more than 1200 feet above the ground. Look at that. That's just enough time for the jumpers to fall for a few seconds before deploying their shoots. And if you like that video, there's more like it coming up in our next hour. Pretty amazing stuff.

We want to go now to eastern Australia. A state of emergency has been declared because of nearly 60 wild fires. Fire officials say more than a dozen of them are now out of control, at least 200 homes have been lost. The threat right now is so high that the greater Sydney area has banned all out door fires and canceled all burn permits.

Gabrielle Boyle of Seven Network joins us now live from the command center in Sydney where it's now Monday morning.

Gabrielle, where are the worst fires?

GABRIELLE BOYLE, SEVEN NETWORK: Well, they're calling this a very volatile situation. The worst fires here in new southwest are about 90 minutes' drive from Sydney Bay day in an area known as the blue mountains. It's a popular tourist area. It is also a very popular residential area, beautiful rolling hills, cliff top, a very scenic area, but also a very dense, rugged bush land.

And there are three major fires currently burning in the blue mountain. And the fear is that those three fires could meet up and cause even more damage. Four firefighters working to control (INAUDIBLE).

We've currently got around 1300 firefighters working to control places across the state of new South Wales. They're saying 55 fires currently burning, 11 of those uncontained or uncontrolled. And that's where fire service chase will be concentrating their effort today.

This morning, I'm joining you from the rural fire service headquarters. This is the nerve center where the control room of operations here in New South Wales. Every fire that is burning across the state in the New South Wales is being closely and carefully monitored from these headquarters. I've got state of the art equipment here. Guys and girls represented from every emergency services department be it police, paramedics, all of the crews.

It is going to be a long, hot, dry couple of days right across New South Wales. We're currently expecting temperatures of around 31 to 35 or 36 degrees here in Sydney in the broader area. And those temperatures will be even higher in the coming days. Winds expected to increase in dry conditions. Certainly volatile situations here in New South Wales at the moment.

LEMON: You mentioned the number of firefighters out there. Are they making any headway, Gabriele?

BOYLE: Look. They're doing their very best. They are absolute heroes, it has to be said. This is a prolonged fire situation. These fires have been burning for several days. And the fire commission or the boss here tells me just as of a few minutes ago that they expect these fires to burn for days, potentially even weeks.

It really has to be seen to be believed. The fire front is just so broad and the dents, rugged, impenetrable bush land here in New South Wales, is a major concern as well. It is just so difficult for these fire fighters, no matter how hard they try, to control those conditions.

LEMON: All right. Gabrielle Boyle, thank you very much. Good luck there. We'll check back with our friends in Australia.

You know, we've had close calls from asteroids, but we never tried to catch one. That could soon change. How NASA is trying to reel in one of these space rocks next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The biggest catch in the next few years might not happen on any football or baseball field. It could go down in space. NASA has a plan to reel in an asteroid and put it into orbit around the moon.

Tom Foreman shows us how they plan to do it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Amid all of this popular talk about the idea that an asteroid could hit the earth one day, NASA has a very serious proposal. Why not go into space and try to capture one so we can learn more about asteroids. And this is how they proposed to do that.

A very powerful rocket would take off from earth and it would launch what's called an asteroid redirect vehicle, which is essentially a robotic spacecraft which would shoot off into space driven by the most powerful, solar electric propulsion system we've ever seen.

Now, it wouldn't actually go beyond the stars. But just to give you a hint that it would go many, many hundreds of thousands of miles off into space looking for a very small target because the asteroids there after would only be about this big, as big as two or three big pickup trucks. Although this would weigh as much as three freight train engines. It would be rotating slowly. That's a challenge because they have to stop that before they can transport.

So, let me scale this down to size so you have a better idea of what we are talking about. Because as the redirect vehicle comes toward it, it will deploy a giant technical space bag. And over a period of hours, gradually ease that over the rotating asteroid and squeeze down on it to stop that rotation. Then, the whole chabang (ph) will take off flying back toward the earth and more importantly, toward the moon, where it would go into a rotation around the moon, about 40,000 miles above the lunar surface. This way, scientists could travel out there, astronauts, to visit and conduct experiments on it.

Why would we this though? This will cost many, many billions of dollars at a time when the country doesn't have much money. Well, the scientific community says because it will give us very important knowledge about new, deep space technologies, propulsion systems, solar energy, all sorts of things that we use all the time on earth.

Secondly, it would actually give us an idea of what to do if we had an asteroid coming toward earth. We've handled one. We'd have some idea how to handle another. And just importantly to find out what sort of minerals and things are contained inside these asteroids, whether or not that's something we could mine for purposes on earth or perhaps to be used in future exploration further into space.

Bottom line, they say, yes, it's expensive. But it's called exploration because you never really know what you might find.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Interesting. OK. My question -- Rosa Flores is here, by the way. She is going o give you some other headlines. Why tempt fate?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I know, we do it on earth plenty. Let's not catch one of those. I know with my calculations they go wrong.

LEMON: Yes, I know.

Let's real it in and try to figure it out.

Rosa Flores joins me here in New York with some of the other stories that are making headlines to tell you about -- Rosa.

FLORES: And you're going to want to tweet some of these, Don.

We're going to start off at the box office. And here's a little hint. Don't lose your balance over the top spot. But we start off with number five, "Escape Plan" opened at $9.8 million. "Cloudy with the chance of meatballs 2" at number four at just over 10 million. At number three, the remake, "Carrie" raking in $17 million. "Captain Phillips" with all of its news headlines came in at number two with just over 17 million dollars. And at number one, with a sky-high lump sum of $31 million , yes, you guessed it, "Gravity." The third straight weekend box office victory for the popular flick that has grossed $170 million in just 17 days. The only other film to turn a triple this year? "The butler."

Well, the video of this next story could be out of a movie. Take a look. A gator haunting shoppers at a Wal-Mart in Florida. We're not sure if he was there for the low prices or the tasty customers. But the six-foot long reptile repeatedly set off the sliding glass doors. Security blocked off the entrance of that store while authorities lured the gator away, but the fellow, take a look, was in no hurry, taking his sweet little time hanging outside. And we should add the gator eventually walked off without making any purchases. May believe he's on a budget.

(LAUGHTER)

FLORES: And, yes, this is a different type of crunch in key west. It was a race against time for 50 stone crab eating contestants. Their task? To be the first to crack and eat 25 stone crab claws. So, what does it take to win?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARY GRAVES, CONTEST COORDINATOR: It's knowing how to crack the crab. The second most important thing is you must know how to pick the crab clean. Because you get penalized 30 seconds for every morsel of meat that's left in any part of the crab.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: Now, we should add that the winner cleaned his tray in 17 minute and 35 seconds. The contest kicked off at 2013 stone crab. You're from Louisiana, Don.

LEMON: Yes. I can eat stone crab, any kind of crab. I can eat crawfish without actually peeling the tail.

FLORES: No.

LEMON: So, I could win that easily.

FLORES: But you know, like the guy was saying, like there's a trick to it. You've got to be able to snap them properly. You can't leave any meat in there or they deduct points.

LEMON: What else you got?

FLORES: I've got a little something.

This next story, Don, has some music that might put Don to dance, folks. Take a look.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

FLORES: Twenty-one brave people in Cleveland burn themselves into the Guinness book of world records. Can you believe this, Don? The category? Most people performing full body burns. Now, you know, every Guinness world record has different degrees of difficulty. Well, this one folks was just flat out dangerous, but controlled. Firefighters were on site to blast the participants with extinguishers.

Now, it was all for a good cause. The event raised money for the Cleveland food bank. Now, I definitely would not be able to do that. like I'd be terrified, Don. All of those flames. I'd be like, no, put me out. Put me out.

LEMON: That is just nuts.

FLORES: My grandmother would say. (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

LEMON: We used to have someone here who said that. Not in this very chair, but --

FLORES: Will remain unnamed?

LEMON: Are remain unnamed.

Up next, sex, lies and a mistress named gypsy. Why the murder trial of a Utah doctor accused of killing his wife centers around a bathtub.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: It is not often you see a bathtub in a courtroom. But prosecutor's wheeled one in to a Salt Lake City court to prove a point. Former Utah doctor Martin MacNeill is accused of killing his wife, Michelle, a mother of eight to be with his mistress named Gypsy.

CNN's Jean Casarez is tracking the trial.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JUDGE DEREK PULLAN, UTAH FOURTH DISTRICT COURT: The court will call the matter state of Utah versus Martin MacNeill.

JEAN CASAREZ, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT, IN SESSION (voice-over): The sensational murder trial of prominent doctor and lawyer Martin MacNeill began Thursday in a Provo Utah courtroom.

SAM PEAD, PROSECUTOR: He explained to a final witness that he could get away with things and stated that one of the things he had gotten away with was killing his wife. That he was glad the bitch was dead.

SUSANNE GUSTIN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Investigators cherry picked certain parts of Martin's life. That they perceived to be indicative of guilty. And, as a result, in their zeal to try to prove they're perceptions, the investigators engaged in practices that were not aimed at finding the truth.

CASAREZ: MacNeill is accused of killing his wife, Michelle, a former beauty pageant contestant. The MacNeill's lived what seemed to be a charmed life. Yet, their almost 30-year marriage came to a tragic one April morning in 2007.

MARTIN MACNEILL, ACCUSED OF KILLING HIS WIFE: My wife has fallen in the bathtub.

911 OPERATOR: Who's in the bathtub?

MACNEILL: My wife.

911 OPERATOR: OK. Is she conscious?

MACNEILL: She's not. I'm a physician. I need help.

911 OPERATOR: OK, sir, sir, I need you to -- sir, I can't understand you, OK? Can you calm down?

MACNEILL: She is under the water and I need an ambulance.

CASAREZ: Michelle was found dead in her bathtub in their home in Pleasant Grove, Utah by their younger daughter, Eda, who was 6-years- old at the time. MacNeill was accused of killing Michelle so he could be with his mistress.

He says his wife accidentally died. Prosecutors say they will show evidence that he poisoned her with an overdose of medication when she was recovering from a facelift. A facelift prosecutor say he forced her to have. Medical examiners found a powerful mix of drugs including valium, Percocet and ambien in her system.

CHAD GRUNANDER, PROSECUTOR: I will say that we're aware of the challenges we face in this case. But we make no excuses.

CASAREZ: Since her mysterious death, Michelle's two oldest daughters have been showing support for their mother and accusing their father of the unthinkable.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My mother was just a wonderful human being. She deserves justice. She should never have trusted my father.

CASAREZ: Among the state's star witnesses will be at least one of his daughters, part of the effort to send him away. Prosecutors say MacNeill was carrying on an affair with Gypsy Willis who moved in to the MacNeill hiome as a nanny shortly after Michelle's death.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My mom deserves this. She deserves justice.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My father orchestrated this whole plan and in how to murder my mother.

CASAREZ: In an important pre-trial ruling, Judge Derek Pullan determined jurors will not be allowed to hear what Michelle allegedly told one of her daughters that quote "if anything happens to me, make sure it wasn't your dad."

MacNeill has pleaded not guilty to charges of first degree murder and obstruction of justice. He insists his wife's death was an accident and that he was at work the morning she died.

GUSTIN: The prosecution has continued to cling to its faulty belief despite evidence in the case that shows that Michelle MacNeill died of natural causes.

PEAD: This case is a puzzled with many pieces, pieces that are required to show you a complete picture of what happened to my Michelle MacNeill on April 11th of 2007.

CASAREZ: Jean Casarez, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Up next, the American accused of spying is happy and healthy and living in Russia. That's according to his dad. And Edward Snowden's father says there are many more secrets that are still yet to be revealed. And knock on wood, it has been a quiet hurricane season, but why? We're looking at the science behind hurricanes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Edward Snowden is happy and healthy and he has no regrets. That's all according to Snowden's father who just spent a few days in Russia visiting his son who still wanted in America on spying and other charges. Lon Snowden told our Anderson Cooper that he support his son and he shutdown the idea that Edward Snowden is trying to get rich.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LON SNOWDEN, EDWARD SNOWDEN'S FATHER: His intention, if was to profit, he would be in a much different circumstance now. If it his desire was to profit from this, he would have already signed a book deal. He is not interested in doing that at this point in time.

He could have gone on television programs and 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 your son or that the information that your son has given to Glen Greenwald and others that there is still a lot more still to come.

SNOWDEN: Glen has that, you know, my understanding "The New York Times' has information, "the guardian," so, yes, my understanding is there is much, much more to come.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Edward 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.

LEMON: So back in the spring, scientists were predicting it would be a busy hurricane season. And after super storm Sandy last year, some feared this year could be devastating. So what happened to those predictions? Karen Maginnis takes a look at the science behind the hurricane season. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From the air, the damage continues to leave many in awe. And from the ground, the personal stories of struggle are a constant.

HARRY SMITH, SEASIDE HEIGHTS CITY COUNCILMAN: This is heartbreaking. I've lived here my whole life. I'm like a fourth generation here and like I said this whole is devastating.

MAGINNIS: That was a year ago. After super storm Sandy slammed into the northeastern United States. Today, the Atlantic hurricane season has been a dud. Take a look at the numbers. Only two hurricanes have formed in the Atlantic this year. And neither one has been a major hurricane, a category three or greater.

So what's the science behind the lack of hr canes this year?

MARSHALL SHEPHERD, UGA SCIENTIST: That's got to be the question of the season. And I think there are a couple of culprits. There's been quite a bit of wind shier in the upper atmosphere. Hurricanes don't like wind shiers.

MAGINNIS: Experts also say a combination of dry air and dust from western Africa could also suppress hurricane development.

SHEPHERD: It's a bit odd to have a lack of activity relatively speaking in both the pacific and the Atlantic. And so many people think there may be some type of atmospheric mode, like the El Nino or the (INAUDIBLE). Similar are meant for projecting seasonal forecast may not handle this very well.

MAGINNIS: But with six weeks remaining in hurricane season, there's still plenty of time for storms to develop. And the factors that could have inhibited development earlier in the season may weaken or even disappear. It only takes one storm to make it a devastating season. Two of the strongest hurricanes ever recorded in the Atlantic basin, hurricane Wilma and Mitch occurred in mid to late October.

SHEPHERD: Our mind of viewers that super storm Sandy or hurricane Sandy happened on October 29th or so, we're not even to that yet. So, we do have to keep our guard up.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Karen Maginnis reporting there.

Thank you, Karen.

You may not recognize (INAUDIBLE), but I promise you know his work. If you ever watched Saturday morning cartoons.

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LEMON: Take you back, doesn't it? Lou Scheimer died this week at the age of 84. But his legend lives on through his countless creations like Fat Albert, He-Man and the masters of the universe, the animated versions of star trek and others too really numerous to list here. And as he also did voices for some of his creations, he is a true pioneer.

Senator Ted Cruz finally speaking out after the shutdown. You are not going to believe what he told CNN exclusively.

And Anthony Bourdain samples South Africa tonight on "PARTS UNKNOWN" in a suburb of Johannesburg. He visits a small restaurant that provides a large taste of Africa.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On today's menu --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I made this for you. This is a gusi and beef, a Nigerian meat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They usually use a --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Beef stew with melon and pumpkin seeds. Ubiquitous corn meal porage (ph). I made to a texture more crumbly than patty.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good taste.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes. Awesome. Good food here. Menu change every day? Have you a lot of great food in a small space. There are no seats. His customers remain part of the street center. They mingle, talk, observe.

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LEMON: Make sure you watch Anthony Bourdain's South Africa trip tonight, 9:00 p.m., right here on CNN.

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LEMON: Well, a few topics get people more fired up these days than Obamacare. And if you really want to stir things up, throw on Ted Cruz's name. Throw it in to the discussion. The freshman senator's single-handedly stopped the political world in his tracks with his Obamacare, anti-Obamacare standing on the Senate floor. Some called him a troublemaker, including quite a few Republicans.

We got a rock star's welcome -- he got a rock star's welcome and standing ovation in an event at his home state of Texas yesterday. And afterwards he sat down for an exclusive interview with CNN's Dana Bash seen earlier today on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION."

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CRUZ: A lot of people are hurting because of Obamacare. A lot of people are hurting because they can't find jobs and Obamacare is the biggest job killer in the country. A lot of people are hurting because they are losing their insurance and their insurance premiums are skyrocketing because of Obamacare. And Washington politicians are ignoring them. They are not listening to them. And I think the reason why you see Congress at five, 10, 15 percent approval ratings is because D.C. politicians, career politicians aren't listening to the people. And what you just saw there is people just expressing relief that somebody is actually listening to the people and trying to help give them a voice in Washington.

BASH: Giving that, are you planning on doing this again on January 15th when the current bill that was just pass to reopen the government, when it finishes?

CRUZ: There will be time enough to talk about specific strategies, specific tactics. What I can tell you is that I think we need to keep as top priority, providing meaningful relief for all of the millions of --

BASH: But you are deliberately not ruling it out.

CRUZ: What I'm saying is the top priority -- there are a lot of politicians in Washington that want to put Obamacare behind us. Say, OK, fine. No more. No more discussing Obamacare. And you know what? The American people are not satisfied with that. Right now, you've got a president who has granted an exemption from Obamacare for big business. He has granted an exemption from Obamacare for members of Congress.

The American people are getting hurt. Young people, single moms, Hispanics, African-Americans, people are struggling and they are losing their jobs, they are forced into part-time work. They can't afford their healthcare. They are losing their health care.

What Congress is saying is we're not going to do anything to help you. We caused the problem and we're not going to fix it. And my view, we need to keep as our priority, providing real relief for the people hurting because of Obamacare.

BASH: As you know, your fellow Republicans pretty much unanimously agree with you they want to get rid of Obamacare. But they just realized that it is impossible to do with a Democratic majority in the Senate. The Democrat and Obama in the White House. Mitch McConnell, your leader in Washington, says it is not going to happen again. There will be no government shutdown ever again, as for as he is concerned. And he hopes newer members like you, you've been in Washington ten months, have learned a lesson. Doesn't sound like you learned a lesson, senator.

CRUZ: Well, I will tell you. The lesson I learn is that what we have seen the last couple of months has been extraordinary. We have seen millions of Americans rise up. Over two million Americans signed a petition at don'tfundit.com. And melted the phone lines down the Capitol Hill.

Just a couple of months ago, official Washington scoffed that that might happen. We also saw the House of Representatives stand up. exercising profile and courage, listening to the people and saying we got to provide real relief from Obamacare for the people who are being hurt from Obamacare. That again, couple of months ago, all of official Washington said would never happen.

Now, the reason this failed is simple. Senate Republicans didn't unite. You know, you mentioned that you don't think this could ever succeed. Let me ask you hypothetical. Imagine this same battle played out with one thing different. Imagine if after the house had passed a bill funding all of the federal government but defunding Obamacare, imagine if Senate Republicans had come together and united and stood side by side with House Republicans and had said we are with the American people, we want to fund our government. We want to fund every aspect of our government, but we want to answer the American people who are being hurt because of Obamacare. We would have ended up with a very different result. The deal this week was a lousy deal for the American people.

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LEMON: Well, that deal he is referring to keeps the government funded through January 15th and extend the debt limit through February 7th. So be prepared for round two.