Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

New Details on Alleged LAX Gunman; NFL Player Accused of Bullying; Cleveland Kidnapping Victim Breaks Silence

Aired November 04, 2013 - 15:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hour two, CNN, I'm Brooke Baldwin. We all know the NFL cracks down on illegal hits and touchdown celebrations, but now you can add alleged bullying to the list. Miami Dolphins lineman Richie Incognito is now suspended indefinitely as the NFL investigates allegations of misconduct toward a fellow teammate.

Dolphins lineman here Jonathan Martin left the team last week, taking a leave of absence. And this cause of this abrupt departure really remained a mystery until yesterday, when Martin's lawyer made formal allegations of player misconduct.

And it did not take long for several media reports to begin to trickle in naming Incognito as the main culprit here, one report saying Martin was required to contribute $15,000 to veteran players to go to Vegas. By the way, it's a trip Martin himself didn't even take. He paid, though, he says, because he feared the consequences. Incognito, meantime, took to Twitter blasting the reports, tweeting this.

"Shame on you, to ESPN, "Shame on you for attaching my name to false speculation. I won't be holding my breath for an apology. Hours later, the NFL took action, handed down the suspension.

For more on Mr. Incognito, I want to bring in Chris Draft, a former NFL player, former teammate of Richie Incognito. And also with me in studio seven,, criminal defense attorney Drew Findling.

So, Drew, coming to you in a minute.

But, Chris, I have a lot of questions for you. You played with Incognito both in Saint Louis, Buffalo. You say he took cheap shots on the field. Do all these accusations surprise you?

CHRIS DRAFT, FORMER NFL PLAYER: Well, they surprise me in that cheap shots on the field or, you know, when you have, I guess, unsportsmanlike conduct on the field, that doesn't necessarily mean that somebody is absolutely terrible, doing something crazy off the field.

So in terms of the allegations right now, I think you have to definitely be -- it needs to be clear exactly what happened. But I have seen in NFL kind of hazing really go from very small, meaning go pick up breakfast, or up to, you know, some high amounts of money.

BALDWIN: So I want to ask about hazing in a second. But let me go back to Incognito. Let's talk off the field. What was this guy like as you knew him off the field?

DRAFT: Well, I tell you, he was really kind of a big teddy bear off the field. My wife actually loved him. And his last name, Incognito, I would tell her that that's not his name on the field.

You know, kind of "Incognito" off the field, but on the field, you definitely knew where he was at and he was definitely running around, a very aggressive guy, getting after it.

BALDWIN: I was talking -- because I want to ask you about Jonathan Martin. I was talking to someone who has been covering the NFL for 35 years. It sounds to me like it's tough to be a smart guy in professional football. Martin, brainy, Stanford. To me, this story sounds like seventh grade, just more muscle and money.

DRAFT: It absolutely does.

You know, again, I can't say exactly what went on, because, you know, you would think he would stand up for himself and maybe deal with it with the coach in kind of deal with this. Also, the other thing is usually during the season, it doesn't get so out of control, you know, so much out of control where this guy feels like he has to walk off because he feels like nobody has his back.

I think that's really what's absolutely horrible with this situation right now, is that it wasn't -- you know, if it was Richie possibly by himself or something, but somehow within that group, that tight group of offensive linemen, he didn't feel like he belonged, or he just felt like, I just have to leave, I have to get out of here.

BALDWIN: Can you be smart in sports? Can you truly cerebral and play professional football?

DRAFT: Well, Absolutely. I played -- I have a Stanford degree. You can be. You absolutely want to be. They want smart guys.

But I think, again in this situation, somehow there was -- you know, smart is one thing, but if there is an issue between somebody taking advantage of you so much where you feel like this team that you're on, something else has to be done. And, you know, ideally, the Miami Dolphins would have handled it before it turned into whatever it is right now, which is them losing two of their starting offensive linemen and really potentially destroying their season.

BALDWIN: I want to ask what you have seen, but I just want to play a clip, because for people at home, listen, I don't know what goes on behind closed doors for professional players. This is a clip from an HBO show. It's called "Hard Knocks," takes you to training camp. Right? This is just an example, what happened to a Jets rookie. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SHOUTING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Way to be a good sport. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Chris, I don't know if you have a monitor. Basically, it's this guy hog-tied, iced, Gatorade, powder all over him. What the worst thing you have seen in your years?

DRAFT: Something similar to that.

I think probably that doesn't compare as much when somebody has to spend a lot of money. And I think somewhere in the thousands of range, I have seen those. But I think what you're seeing, there's a change. When I first came in the league, there was this hazing where a veteran felt like he wouldn't even talk to you as a rookie. And that never really flew for me because I looked at it. My dad had two kids, me and my brother at the same time that I was coming into the league.

How are you going to haze somebody that this could be a dad? But some of that stuff, you know, people are holding on to. I think what you're seeing right now with what is going on with Richie and just some of the things that have happened with the NFL is, it's going to have to go, the powder, the tape, all these things. And this day and age, it's just not -- it's just not cool to be a bully anymore.

BALDWIN: It's not at all. And on that note, you know, who knows, Drew, to you.

We have all these accusations. This guy Incognito is suspended, which seems to be sort of unprecedented in the league. But could he lose his job? But could he be fined? Do we know what could happen?

DREW FINDLING, ATTORNEY: I think we're seeing a lining up of stars, but not in a good way. I think that there are a lot of undrafted lineman that for a million dollars a year would take shaving cream and ice thrown at them.

I think the issue that we're going to see, when all said and done, Brooke, is that we're dealing with an issue of emotional instability, to some degree, combined with being harassed like he is. Bullying is for the schoolyard. Bullying is elementary school, middle school, sometimes high school.

(CROSSTALK)

FINDLING: Not NFL players. We have a combination of two events. Let there be no doubt, we now hear hints of hospitalization. We're talking about an overly sensitive person who we should all be concerned about, who the Dolphins should be concerned about, and who his teammates should be concerned about, combining that with somebody who has a reputation for being forceful and exaggerating in this long custom.

BALDWIN: Although Chris says he was like a big oversized teddy bear off the field.

(CROSSTALK) DRAFT: That may happen off the field, but who knows, but when you have somebody overly sensitive and somebody that is predisposed to emotional insecurity, to emotional instability, it's a bad combination and I think the Dolphins see that right now, which is why they have taken immediate action, because they need to hold their players accountable both as a victim and as an aggressor.

BALDWIN: Drew Findling, thank you very much.

FINDLING: Thanks, Brooke.

BALDWIN: And Chris Draft, thank you very, very much, both of you.

Meantime, classes, they have been canceled for the rest of the day at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain. The campus is locked down right now after reports of a man with a gun going into one of the dorms. No shots have been fired as far as we know. Police have been going door to door in residence halls and gradually evacuating the students. We're making phone calls. As soon as we get more information, we will pass it along on CNN.

Coming up, police missed the alleged LAX gunman by mere minutes. And now his roommate is talking to CNN, telling us what happened in the hours before that airport shooting Friday morning. Also, we're hearing now from the lawyer representing the suspect's parents. That's coming up.

Plus, Dr. Phil says no interview has changed him like this one, Michelle Knight, one of the women who survived a decade of hell in the home of Ariel Castro in Cleveland. Anderson Cooper just sat down with Dr. Phil about her riveting and honest revelations. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: So, now we find out some two years later that the German government is sitting on a stash of artwork banned by the Nazis and valued at a billion dollars or more, they say. Quick history lesson. One-time House painter Adolf Hitler considered himself an artist and he outlawed even confiscated works by Jews and other works he considered to be Jewish-influenced.

Fast forward to 2011, and German tax officials investigating this Munich apartment reportedly found this treasure-trove of stolen, confiscated or bartered masterpieces. I'm talking Picasso, Matisse, Renoir, some 1,500 paintings, but the thing is they have kept this under wraps. It's kind of strange.

With us now from London, Erin McLaughlin.

Erin, just how did they find the art? Was it accident, pure luck?

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Brooke. There's lots of questions still surrounding this find and a bit of frustration, I'm sensing, from members of the art community that I have spoken to as well. German authorities are still not confirming nor denying the presence of this find. What we know, we know based on a German magazine called "Focus." Now, "Focus" is reporting that in 2011, customs officials entered the home of an 80-year-old art dealer on suspicion of tax fraud.

They searched his place and found this incredible cache, some 1,500 pieces of art by Picasso and Matisse, and at the time, "Focus" reports that German authorities suspected this might have been the result of stealing by the Nazis back in the '30s and '40, so they removed the artwork from his apartment, stored it in a warehouse in Munich, where it's been for the past two years -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Why? Again, this is artwork worth a billion dollars. Why did they then sit on the art? Have they said?

MCLAUGHLIN: Well, it's certainly the billion dollar question. German authorities at the moment simply aren't saying.

But potential claimants are now coming forward asking German officials to disclose what exactly they have. They're asking for a list of names, descriptions, photographs so that the rightful owners of some of these pieces could possibly be found. I have talked to a lawyer by the name of Christopher Marinello. He represents a family that could possibly have a claim on a Matisse that was reportedly found inside this apartment.

Take a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER MARINELLO, ATTORNEY: We're being told that they were worried about the number of claimants that would come forward, but, you know, two years is a long time to wait. And people died. And the claimants of this era are in their 80s and 90s. And records are disappearing.

This should have been the first thing they did when they found these things, was put them online so that the entire world could stake a claim.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLAUGHLIN: Now, if this report is true, if some of these works had in fact been stolen by the Nazis, art experts tell me this would just be a drop in the bucket of an ocean of artwork that has gone missing from that time period -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Wow. Erin McLaughlin in London, Erin, thank you.

For the very first time, we are hearing from Cleveland kidnapping victim Michelle Knight. She first stood before that courtroom and told the world what Ariel Castro did to her and why he should spend the rest of his life in prison. Do you remember this?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MICHELLE KNIGHT, KIDNAPPING VICTIM: I will live on. You will die a little every day as you think about the 11 years and atrocities you have inflicted on us. The death penalty would be so much easier. You don't deserve that. You deserve to spend life in prison.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Well, today, we're now witnessing more moments of bravery from Michelle Knight.

In a paid interview with Dr. Phil, she shares some of the startling, disturbing details about her time inside that home in Cleveland. But I just have to warn you as we play the clip, some of the stuff she talks about, it's incredibly tough to hear.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. PHIL MCGRAW, HOST, "DR. PHIL": So he gets you in this room. What did he tie you up with?

KNIGHT: One of those orange extension cords. I was tied up like a fish, an ornament on the wall. You know, that's the only way I can describe it. I was hanging like this. My feet -- and I was tied by my neck and my arms with the extension cord going like that.

MCGRAW: Oh, my God. So he tied your hands and feet and also around your neck and hung you?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: In August, Castro was sentenced to life in prison plus 1,000 years after pleading guilty to 937 counts, including murder and kidnapping. And then a month later, he was found dead in his prison cell.

Anderson Cooper talked to Dr. Phil about this exclusive interview with Michelle Knight. Watch it tonight "A.C. 360," 8:30 p.m. Eastern here on CNN.

Coming up, missed by a matter of minutes, new details about the alleged shooter at LAX airport on Friday morning -- how his family alerted police, how police responded to the warnings moments too late. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: At Central Connecticut State University, one person is now in custody following reports of this gunman on campus. That is according to the school's Twitter account. No shots were fire that we know of. Classes have been canceled for the rest of the day, and the shelter in place order remains in effect. The school has scheduled a news conference at the top of the hour.

And investigators are trying to piece together Friday's shooting at LAX, Los Angeles International Airport, as we're learning new details about the suspect and a possible motive. Moments ago, the attorney for alleged gunman Paul Ciancia and his family commented on the case from Pennsville, New Jersey.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN JORDAN, ATTORNEY FOR PAUL CIANCIA: We, like most Americans, are shocked and numbed by the tragic events of last Friday. We acknowledge the need to understand what happened and why it happened.

To that end, we as the Ciancia family have fully cooperated with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies over the last several days. It's most important for us as a family to express our deep and sincere sympathy to the Hernandez family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Meanwhile, a woman who knows the alleged gunman and his three roommates is sharing details about Ciancia and the day of the shooting exclusively with CNN.

Stephanie Elam, let me bring you in. You're live outside LAX.

And, first, let's talk about police because we know his parents alerted police. Police were within minutes of his apartment on Friday morning.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Within minutes. We're talking about 45 minutes, Brooke.

What we understand happened is that, allegedly, Paul Ciancia sent a text message, rambling text message to his brother and father on that morning, on Friday morning. According to this woman who knows Ciancia, he said he was going to kill himself. So, that sent them to call the authorities in their town.

They then reached out to the Los Angeles Police Department, who then went to do a welfare check, but Ciancia was already gone. He had already asked another roommate to give him a ride to the airport. This is what the woman says happened after that. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At that moment that they're seeing this on the TV, their third roommate comes back and said, I just dropped off Paul at LAX. He had to go home. And they just knew. I think that you just dropped off Paul to a shooting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM: And they said that according to this woman, that these two -- or I should say the other roommates were actually handcuffed. They were questioned. But, at this point, police do believe that Ciancia acted alone, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Stephanie Elam for us in Los Angeles, Stephanie, thank you. Coming up, new secrets revealed from the 2012 campaign trail, including Chris Christie calling Newt Gingrich a joke, and Clint Eastwood's infamous speech made a guy on the Mitt Romney team puke. Yes, that and more coming up next.

Plus, a woman overdoses on heroin, and a new drug saves her life. The whole thing caught on video. Dr. Sanjay Gupta has her story coming up. You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)