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New York City Elects Bill de Blasio; New Info On NFL Bullying Allegations

Aired November 06, 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: And now this --

A Miami Dolphin is accusing a teammate of bullying, and now another NFL player is stepping forward, saying it's the apparent victim's fault for letting it happen. I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.

Just in to CNN, new research shows autism could be detected in the first months of life. Find out what this means for the mysterious disorder.

A young hunter is paralyzed from the neck down and decides he wants to die. Hear why his decision is so rare.

Plus, patriotic or poor taste, a football team's new uniforms showing blood splatter to honor those who fight.

And the market for marijuana expected to grow faster than smartphones. Is America changing right before our very eyes?

And we roll on. I'm Brooke Baldwin. I have to tell you about this American who hijacked a plane to Cuba. This man is now back on U.S. soil and under arrest. Last time William Potts was on a plane to Miami, this was in 1984, but it was a different kind of plane because he was hijacking it. He was hijacking the Piedmont Air flight with 57 passengers on board, and with a gun in his hand, Potts told the pilot his name was Lieutenant Spartacus, and demanded this plane go to Cuba.

Well, at the time, he was a member of the Black Panthers. Potts hoped to learn military skills, he says, to overthrow the U.S. government. That was his plan then. Today, he's in U.S. custody after being in Cuba for the last 29 years. And he's the one who arranged his capture.

CNN's Patrick Oppmann was the only reporter on that plane from Cuba this morning along with Potts.

You're live in Miami for us. And, Patrick, two of his daughters live in Georgia. I'm thinking perhaps this is part of the reason why he said, OK, I'm going to hop on a plane and come home.

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's really the main reason, Brooke. He obviously feels remorse. He wants to clear his legal situation, but he says that he misses his young daughters terribly. They were born in Cuba, raised in Cuba. He sent them to the United States last year. He expected to be able to do what he did today, turn himself over last year, but there was just a lot of paperwork involved in a fugitive turning himself in. He had to be taken off the no-fly list temporarily, given a temporary passport that he can only use from Cuba to the United States, and arrange to be escorted by two U.S. officials who were on the plane, were next to him, keeping him from hijacking the plane again, from having second thoughts perhaps.

But we talked to him on the plane. Let's listen in to the exclusive interview, what he had to say minutes before he was taken into custody.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM POTTS, 1984 HIJACKER: I don't know why anyone would have in their mind that I have to serve more prison time.

OPPMANN: But you prepared yourself?

POTTS: Oh, yes. I am prepared for the worst. OK, worst-case scenario, I go to prison.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OPPMANN: But the nightmare may not be over just yet for William Potts, Brooke. There's a legal element to the case. He, of course, was sentenced and tried in Cuba for the hijacking, served 15 years in some of Cuba's toughest prisons.

So, William Potts is hoping that time could be subtracted from any sentence he might face in the United States. And that's not clear if that could happen. There's some precedent for it. But we just received a statement from the U.S. attorney's office in Miami where they said William Potts is in custody, will be arraigned tomorrow, and he faces a minimum of 20 years in federal prison and a maximum of life.

BALDWIN: Wow.

OPPMANN: So William Potts is going to have to go before a judge and jury and make his case why he shouldn't go to prison for the rest of husband life. That may be a tough case to make, Brooke, because this is somebody who committed by his own admission a terrible crime that endangered the lives of dozens of people, Brooke. He's only now some 30 years later beginning to pay the price for his actions.

BALDWIN: A terrible crime. I can't imagine how the crew on the plane back in 1984 must have felt, absolutely terrified for their lives. You have talked to the captain of the plane. What does he have to say about this return of Potts?

OPPMANN: We spent weeks trying to track down members of this flight, people who were on board, and many of them have simply died. It's been 30 years. But the captain of the flight, a man named Carl Gamble, was nice enough to talk to me, remembers it like it happened yesterday, remembers Lieutenant Spartacus saying that he had a gun, that he had a bomb and he was going to bring the plane down, that there were two pilots and he would shoot one if he had to, but they needed to take him to Cuba and that's what they did.

But, despite all that, Carl Gamble says he would be willing to listen, hear out Potts, accept his apology, consider an apology that William Potts said now after all those years he wants to give to the people he terrorized.

BALDWIN: That's incredible and that forgiveness may come with this guy spending a lifetime behind bars. We will wait and see. Patrick Oppmann in Miami, Patrick, thank you.

And now a new tool in the fight against autism. Doctors say this technique called eye tracking may help with early detection, even in babies as young as one, maybe two months old. Researchers at Atlanta's Marcus Autism Center showed more than 100 infants these videos of an actress playing the role of a caregiver. And watch this baby's eyes because they measured the baby's responses. And what they found, they found more of those with diminished eye responses were later diagnosed with autism.

New York City changing political course and decisively so. Last night, the Big Apple elected a big liberal, Bill de Blasio. That's him hugging, right there, right-hand side of your screen there, hugging his wife, hugging his college-aged daughter. He's the first Democrat tapped to lead the city since the 1980s. Here is Bill de Blasio.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL DE BLASIO (D), New York MAYOR-ELECT: The people of this city have chosen a progressive path.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That is Bill de Blasio, landslide win after pledging the raise taxes on wealthy New Yorkers to pay for pre-K and after-school care.

More on Bill de Blasio here. Here you go. He's the first Democrat elected mayor of New York in 24 years. You see the number there. He won 73 percent of the vote last night. That is absolutely huge. An audacious liberal, that's what "The New York Times" is calling him, and he assumes the mayorship January 1. Bill de Blasio, 52 years of age, he's 6'5'' tall. Back in his long-haired youth, friends called Bill de Blasio Big Bird with a beard. His marriage is interracial. His wife is a writer.

And the new mayor elect has been known to introduce himself as Bill de Blasio, not a boring white guy.

With me now from New York, Errol Louis, CNN political commentator and political anchor at New York One news. Everything you needed to know about de Blasio there in 30 seconds or less, that's how we roll on this show, Errol.

ERROL LOUIS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: That was pretty good, actually.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: You like that? Let's go ahead, though, and I want to start with the family. It's a rather unusual history. It's not your typical political family, is it?

LOUIS: No, it's not.

In fact, we were trying to sort of figure out what was going to happen as far as the traditional categories, the black vote, the white vote, which way are neighborhoods going to go. And then you realized looking at his mixed race family, all those categories go out the window. It's impossible to sort of game it out, and in fact he did quite well with black voters, in fact better than the black candidate he faced in a crowded field in the Democratic primary back in September.

So a lot of things are new about this. It's part, actually, of the charm and frankly political appeal of the mayor-elect is that he looks more like what our diverse city looks like, and he takes it to heart. It's real. It's not a political construct. It's the life that he lives.

BALDWIN: I hear you on his life, his charisma, but politically speaking, Errol, how does New York City go from 24 years, 24 long years of moderate conservative rule? You had Rudy Giuliani, you had Michael Bloomberg, and now the city elected this guy who once supported a Marxist government, Nicaragua, and said his first task is to reduce inequality in New York. How about that?

LOUIS: Well, it's a little unusual, but this is an unusual city. We have 70 billionaires, and we have close to 400,000 people with a net worth of a million dollars or more, and we also have 1.7 million people living in poverty.

BALDWIN: Wow.

LOUIS: What he said he was going to do, and believe me, the voters had their choice of many candidates offering many different programs, but what he said was that he was going to try to do something to close the gap between the people who are desperately poor and the people who are doing fabulously well.

There are a lot of people really in all income groups, including those making over $100,000, who supported this man. This is why he got the 73 percent that he got yesterday, because even people who are doing well in the city recognize that it's not such a great place when every time you get on the train there are people begging for spare change. Every time you walk down the street, you're running into people who are homeless or who are mentally ill or both.

And he's said that, you know, it's not the New York that we wanted. And he's going to try and create a different New York for us.

BALDWIN: We will see how that New York changes and evolves, the Big Apple, over the next couple years. Errol Louis, thank you very much, as always.

LOUIS: Thanks, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Coming up, a young hunter has an accident, leaving him paralyzed from the neck down. His family gives him the choice to live or die. You will hear his decision.

Plus, take a look at this video with me. See these uniforms? You consider this patriotic or is this really bad taste? They're supposed to honor wounded warriors. Blood splatter?

And a new twist in the case of the NFL player accusing his teammate of bullying. Another pro player coming forward, suggesting it's the apparent victim's fault. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: OK, let's talk about what's happening in Miami. I first just want to show you this videos that actually runs on that big screen at the Miami Dolphins stadium before home games. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHIE INCOGNITO, NFL PLAYER: Hi, I'm Richie Incognito. On the field, players have called me overly aggressive. We greatly appreciate you guys being loud and proud for the Dolphins, but please be respectful and civilized and be sure to follow the fan code of conduct.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: OK, so that is suspended Dolphins lineman Richie Incognito telling fans be civilized, no foul language. Keep that in mind as I read you a transcript of a voice-mail Richie Incognito reportedly sent to fellow teammate Jonathan Martin.

This is according to ESPN and NFL.com. Let me quote this for you. Incognito to Martin -- quote -- "Hey, what's up, you half 'blank' piece of 'blank'? I saw you on Twitter. You been training for 10 weeks. I will 'blank' in your 'blank' mouth. I'm going to slap your real mother across the face. 'blank' you. You're still a rookie. I will kill you."

OK? Then there's this video that has surfaced as well. You will see Richie Incognito shirtless and swearing at a bar in South Florida.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

INCOGNITO: Who wants a mother (EXPLETIVE DELETED) piece?

(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: Wow. Then there's the report today. This is from "The Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel" that Dolphins' coaches asked Incognito to -- quote, unquote -- "toughen up" the teammate he allegedly bullied.

Linda Robertson is a sports columnist for "The Miami Herald."

Linda, welcome to you.

LINDA ROBERTSON, "THE MIAMI HERALD": Hi, Brooke.

BALDWIN: She dug into Richie Incognito's past for a piece today.

In reading your piece, Linda, you begin way back in Incognito's childhood. You say he was relentlessly tormented because of his larger size. It was his father, you say, this Vietnam veteran, who really taught him to fight back, right?

ROBERTSON: Correct. He was believe it or not, bullied when he was an elementary school kid in New Jersey.

BALDWIN: What was it about when he was young and this fire, according to friends and coaches, that his far instilled in him?

ROBERTSON: I think he was a big kid. He got teased a lot. There was one particular classmate who really picked on him.

And his father was a real tough guy and encouraged him to fight back. He finally did. He punched out the kid, gave him two black eyes. And was sort of so surprised and upset at what he had done to his classmate that he actually ran home crying.

And I don't think it takes Sigmund Freud to see what has happened, possibly, with Richie, who was picked on because he was a big fat kid. And now he sees a weakness in another person, maybe sees a little bit of himself in Jonathan Martin. And we have these reports that he's been harassing Jonathan since he was a rookie.

BALDWIN: So you trace him, not just from when he was a kid through Nebraska, on and off the field, when he was in college. But at Miami, he has been on the team's leadership council. He got the good guy award for being nice, playing nice with local media, even narrated, as we just showed, showed the video, pregame video telling fans to act civilized. So what changed in him?

ROBERTSON: Well, he did have a long history dating from his college days in Nebraska of fights, penalties, suspensions, being kicked off teams, coaches becoming just, you know, fed up with him.

And I think he realized, you know, I want to be a professional football player. This is my last chance. I'm costing my teams games. I have got to control myself.

And so he actually started seeing a therapist. He was prescribed Paxil, which I think helped him sort of control some of his moods, his hair-trigger temper. He started meditating. You know, he sort of became a more calm individual, became a leader in the locker room. And then all this springs up.

BALDWIN: All of a sudden.

ROBERTSON: Yes, all of a sudden. You wonder what happened.

BALDWIN: You talked to a number of teammates. I want to quote from your piece. You talk to Mike Wallace. He's a receiver on the Dolphins.

He tells you: "It's what football teams do, like playing with your brothers. I don't feel like he was out of hand. I wish he was here right now."

Linda, in all your reporting and all your talking with folks in the league and beyond, what's the most surprising thing you have heard about this story?

ROBERTSON: It is surprising sort of the volume and the number of players who are really sticking up for Richie.

I think part of that, of course, is the code of the locker room and this fraternity that it's us against them, and you never turn on your brother. No one understands football players and the violent game that they play and how they have to, you know, stick up for each other and sort of beat each other down to make each other stronger. So they have really come to his defense.

And they have kind of said that this is all allowed within the culture. He didn't necessarily cross the line with the racism and the threats. That's been surprising to me, that no one would stand up and say, this does cross the line. It's hurt our team. You know, the offensive line has been the weak Achilles' heel of the Dolphins all season long. And this is this is not right. This is not right.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: It's a question about the team. It's a question about how far the hazing has gone beyond just this team within the league. We know a lot of questions are being asked.

I do want to ask you quickly, since I have you here, there's this report from ESPN, Linda. Just quickly, do you know about the ESPN report, that Jonathan Martin here, the apparent victim, has recently checked himself into the hospital for emotional distress?

ROBERTSON: That was the early report we had when he abruptly left the team Monday, a week ago, after a lunchroom prank. The early report was he had first sought, you know, emotional help at a facility.

Now we hear that he's back home in California. I think, you know, part of the argument is that, you know, this guy may have had some emotional issues before and perhaps Richie's harassment of him or harassment from other teammates was sort of the trigger for Jonathan as well.

BALDWIN: Linda Robertson, sports columnist, "Miami Herald," Linda, thank you so much for your time today.

ROBERTSON: Thank you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Coming up, take a look at this. Have you seen these football uniforms? This is Northwestern University with new American flag uniforms. This is all supposed to be benefiting the Wounded Warrior Project. But when you see the blood splatter here, is that appropriate? That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Northwestern University caught up in this controversy over a special uniform that some say appears to be splattered in blood.

Take a look for yourself. You be the judge here. Northwestern, great school, will be wearing this flag-themed uniform for the Michigan game later this month. Why? To help raise awareness for the Wounded Warrior Project. This is a nonprofit dedicated to helping service members who were wounded in battle.

But, here's the but, critics say it looks like, you look at this, that there are blood splatters on the American flag design, on the helmets, the jerseys, and that that's inappropriate. A spokesman for the university apologized for any misrepresentation, saying the streaks of red and blue represent, and I'm quoting them, "a distressed pattern on both the stars and stripes." What do you think? Send me a tweet.

Blockbuster announced today it will be closing all of its remaining stores and ending its DVD-by-mail services by January of next year.

For more on that, let's go to the New York Stock Exchange and Zain Asher.

What was the final straw for them?

ZAIN ASHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Brooke.

Basically, Blockbuster really could not keep up with the evolving technology. It kind of reminds me about what happened to BlackBerry. This is a company that had aggressive competition from Netflix, from Redbox, Amazon. Netflix has 31 million U.S. customers and there's been this gradual progression to digital on-demand services.

Blockbuster has been doing mass store closings until 2009. The company eventually went bankrupt. It was bought by Dish, and Dish's president has actually come out and said, listen, consumers are moving towards digital technology. So the company is now going to be closing 300 company-owned stores by January and all of its distribution centers as well, so certainly quite a bit of a downward spiral -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Zain Asher, thank you very much.

Coming up, the mayor who has admitted now to smoking crack says voters will decide his future. How do the voters decide who to forgive and which scandal to forget? We will talk to a so-called reputation doctor.

And two amazing videos, first, this dramatic rescue of a kayaker, and then the one on the right, this is Jetman soaring high above Mt. Fuji -- the stories behind those videos next here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: He is the mayor we talked a lot about yesterday with this stunning crack cocaine confession, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford admitting that while he was in office, approximately some time last year, he smoked crack. He went on to say probably during one of his -- quote -- "drunken stupors."

But if you think he's taking a leave of absence or resigning, no, no, you're wrong. At least for now, this mayor says he continues to work.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROB FORD, MAYOR OF TORONTO, CANADA: Yes, I have smoked crack cocaine. There is important work that we must advance and important decisions that must be made. For the sake of the taxpayers of this great city, for the sake of the taxpayers, we must get back to work immediately.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Not only is he getting back to work immediately. He says he plans to run for reelection next year.

And let's be clear, this mayor here has not been charged with a crime. His comments come nearly a week after Toronto's police chief said his department had a video that does indeed show this mayor smoking what appeared to be a crack pipe. And soon after that was released, Ford's approval rating went up five points.