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Miami Dolphins Bullying Scandal; New Video in High School Gym Death; Twitter Debuts on NYSE; Obamacare Backlash; Former Palestinian Leader Murdered?

Aired November 07, 2013 - 09:00   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: NEWSROOM starts now.

Happening now in the NEWSROOM -- ready, set, go. From 140 characters to $14 billion, the bluebird of Twitter leaves the nest and goes public -- 26 bucks a share. Nice if you got the cash.

Also, mystery deepens. New surveillance video shows Georgia teen Kendrick Johnson walking, then running out of frame. Then the video goes blurry, leaving open the question of how the 17-year-old died inside that rolled-up gym mat.

Plus, standing O -- eight months after a horrific injury at the elite eight, Kevin Ware is back; six points, four rebounds, three standing ovations.

And dough -- the VP calls to congratulate Boston's new mayor except he dialed up the wrong Martin Walsh.

WALSH: "Congratulations, Marty, you dog." You know, "Great win." And right I said, "Mr. Vice President, I'm sorry, you've got the wrong Marty Walsh."

COSTELLO: Oops.

And Obama care, the Country Music Awards -- priceless.

(MUSIC)

COSTELLO: You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

I love Carrie Underwood. We'll get to that in just a minute. But first, good morning to you. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

New claims this morning that the Miami Dolphins knew about Jonathan Martin's struggles before he left the team because of alleged bullying. Pro football talk says Martin's agent complained to Dolphins' GM Jeff Ireland about how Richie Incognito was treating Martin. Sources telling the NBC Sports Web site that Ireland's solution was for Martin to punch Incognito.

And ESPN is reporting that Martin recently checked himself into a south Florida hospital and was treated briefly for emotional distress. The Dolphins tell CNN the organization will not comment on every report that comes out, while the NFL is reviewing this matter. But the team suspended Incognito on Sunday.

In the meantime, Dolphins players are talking about the relationship between Martin and Incognito.

CNN's John Zarrella is in Miami with more on that.

Good morning, John.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Carol, every day a new wrinkle, at least one new wrinkle. Now Ted Wells has been appointed by the commissioner's office to begin the investigation of what was going on down here. And meanwhile, with everything we have heard about the situation, you would think that Incognito and Jonathan Martin were the worst of enemies. But players are saying quite the contrary. They were tight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZARRELLA (voice-over): Dolphins' head coach Joe Philbin surrounded by more media than any 4-4 team usually gets defended his team.

JOE PHILBIN, MIAMI DOLPHINS HEAD COACH: I have full faith and confidence that we will stick together as a team.

ZARRELLA: But Philbin refused to address whether he or any of his coaches instructed Richie Incognito to toughen up another player, Jonathan Martin. When asked, did Martin need toughening up?

PHILBIN: Jonathan Martin came in here and worked hard every single day.

ZARRELLA: The storm swirling around the Dolphins is getting worse by the day. It began over allegations offensive lineman Incognito bullied Martin, another lineman, so badly he left the team. Now a report that at least one coach told Incognito, the anointed leader of the offensive line, to get Martin toughened up.

While Philbin had little to say, his players had plenty. And it was startling. Incognito wasn't a bully, they said. But a best friend like big brother/little brother.

RYAN TANNEHILL, MIAMI DOLPHINS QUARTERBACK: I think if you would have asked Jon Martin a week before, you know, who his best friend on the team was, he would have said Richie Incognito. The first guy to stand up for Jonathan when anything went down on the field, any kind of tussle, Richie was the first guy there.

TYSON CLABO, MIAMI DOLPHINS OFFENSIVE TACKLE: If there was a problem, Jonathan Martin didn't show it. And I've been here long enough to know that off the field that those two guys were thick as thieves and that they went out together and they hung out together. They did a lot of stuff together. So if he had a problem with the way that that guy was treating him, he had a funny way of showing it. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know they were good friends, best friends.

ZARRELLA: The players all insisted they had no idea Martin was about to leave the team and no idea there was any problem between Incognito and Martin.

BRIAN HARTLINE, MIAMI DOLPHINS WIDE RECEIVER: The people that can hurt you the most in this world are the people that are closest to you. And when you mistake one for the other, that's when you find problems.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZARRELLA: Now, get this, Carol. Brian Hartline, who you just heard there, also told us yesterday in the locker room that at one point, Jonathan Martin was laughing, laughing about the voice mail that Richie Incognito had sent him.

Now, of course, we have not heard from Martin. No one has. We do not know his side of the story. But that there, again, something, you know, almost hard to believe.

COSTELLO: OK. So something else to chew on. "Sports Illustrated's" NFL writer, Peter King, just released Incognito and Martin, an insider's story on his MMQB Web site. In it he quotes a former Miami Dolphins player who says, "Incognito was made a scapegoat for the hell coming down on the Dolphins organization which in turn said it knew nothing about any so-called hazing. That's the most outlandish lie of this whole thing. The coaches knew everything. The coaches know who's getting picked on and in many cases call for that player to be singled out."

So you went to the press conference with the coach of the Miami Dolphins. What exactly did he say he knew about the hazing?

ZARRELLA: He didn't. He didn't -- you know, they have maintained right along that they run a top-flight organization. They don't tolerate any of that. But they are continuing to fall back when they're asked those kinds of questions about what did you know? What did other coaches know? Was Martin singled out? They continue to say, we can't say anything about that because of the investigation that is now under way. That's what they're sticking to.

COSTELLO: All right. John Zarrella, I know you'll continue covering this story.

John Zarrella reporting live for us from Miami this morning.

A truly sad story out of the NFL. Hall of Fame running back Tony Dorsett, the great Tony Dorsett, has signs of CTE. That's the disease associated with repeated brain trauma.

In a story first reported by ESPN's "Outside the Lines," Dorsett underwent brain scans and other testing over the last three months at UCLA. Now 59 years old, Dorsett said he suffers from memory loss, depression and thoughts of suicide. He also says he unleashes angry outbursts on his family.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY DORSETT, NFL HALL OF FAMER: It's painful, man. For my daughters to say they're scared of me. It's painful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: That's just so sad.

Another NFL Hall of Famer, retired lineman Joe de DeLamielleure and the former all-pro Leonard Marshall were also involved in this UCLA testing. They, too, have been diagnosed with signs of CTE. UCLA has now tested nine retired players with concerns about concussions, and guess what, eight results are in, and they are all positive for signs of CTE.

In other news this morning, a teenager's final moments come into view as federal investigators take a new look at the gruesome discovery of his body inside a gym mat at the Georgia high school. We're talking about Kendrick Johnson.

After a lengthy legal fight by Johnson's family and an ongoing investigation by CNN, new surveillance tapes are out this morning. Johnson's family has dismissed the ruling by the local sheriff that his death was accidental. They believe he was murdered. But the new tapes seem to only raise more questions.

Consider this. You're going to see it in a moment. That's Kendrick. You'll see it here in a moment. There he is. That's Kendrick in the white shirt. Now watch the student in the pink shirt because poof, he suddenly disappears as Kendrick races out of frame, and two new students suddenly appear.

It's not clear how much time is missing from this videotape.

CNN's Victor Blackwell has been covering the story. He joins us now with more on this.

So this only deepens the mystery.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, the family was hoping to get answers once the surveillance video was released. They now have just more questions. You know, this was supposed to be the answer they were looking for. There was a hash tag, #giveusthetapes on Twitter. And the family is just disappointed.

I spoke with their attorneys last night and they said that they believe that this is not just some mistake, that some of this they believe is intentional.

I want to show you another clip. You showed one. Let's look at another one here. If we could put up the other clip from another angle on that camera. Again we see Kendrick go into the gym. He's wearing the white T-shirt. This is the wrong clip, but we do have this clip. Let's talk about this. This is the only angle inside the gym that shows the mats. This, obviously, is blurry. Now, CNN has not edited this for clarity in any way. But obviously, you can't see exactly who is around the mats. You can't make out any of these people. And again, you see some images there, and then they disappear and others come in.

Here's another image we want to talk about. This is that same image -- same angle in the gym. You see that person walking toward the corner?

COSTELLO: Yes.

BLACKWELL: This is in a dark gym, that corner where there are just a few lights on, that's the area where the mats where Kendrick Johnson was found. The attorneys want to know, who is that person?

Now we don't have any information about time stamps or dates because that has not been released. But when you see that released with this video dump, as it's -- it's called, the question is, who would have been in that dark gym with just the lights on over the mat? We spoke with Ben Crump who is one of the attorneys for the family, and here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN CRUMP, JOHNSON FAMILY ATTORNEY: His parents have always said all they want to know is the truth. And this videotape seems to tell us that the truth has not come out yet, almost as if something was done with this one video to help conceal the truth. But we're going to keep pressing to get the truth mystery.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: And they're going to start pressing legally. The lead attorney Chevene King tell me that they're going to file requests to have the court take custody of the original hard drive because what we have, it's copies from the sheriff's office, which is a copy from the school. They want to see the original to study the metadata, to see if it's been altered or blurred or if this is indeed what the school district says and the sheriff's office says is the original.

COSTELLO: I know you'll continue to investigate this story.

Victor Blackwell, thanks so much.

BLACKWELL: Sure.

COSTELLO: In just a matter of time Twitter will start trading publicly on the New York Stock Exchange. Its initial public offering priced at 26 bucks a share. But that doesn't mean regular people like you and me will be able to buy shares at that price. That -- share price is only available to people working at the investment banks running the Twitter IPO, or through a brokerage firm linked to TD Ameritrade, but guess what, you would need to have $250,000 in your account. That share price is also available to some mutual funds.

Of course, investors want to buy now and buy low because later today, Twitter's share price could skyrocket. So the rich will get richer.

CNN Money tech correspondent Laurie Segall is live at the New York Stock Exchange.

Describe the mood there.

LAURIE SEGALL, CNN MONEY TECH CORRESPONDENT: I've got to tell you, Carol, lots of excitement here. I've been -- I keep walking by traders who are making Twitter jokes and talking about tweeting because they can't -- they can't even actually live tweet from here. But you know, when you walk in the New York Stock Exchange, it's essentially draped with a huge blue sign with a -- with the Twitter bird on it. It says @Twitter.

So clearly they're very happy that they've been able to actually list Twitter here at the New York Stock Exchange. People cannot wait for it to open up to see where that price goes. You know, you say $26 is the share price, but you're right, we don't know when actually the stock -- when it opens up, how much it's going to be. It could be higher. Obviously, there's a lot of hype. You speak to traders around here. They're saying, you know, that price likely will go higher. It could be lower.

We saw kind of what happened with Facebook. But, you know, I will say this. A lot of folks -- I mean, this is a big IPO. They're saying this is the biggest IPO of the year. So clearly a lot of folks waiting to see how this is going to work out -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. We'll get back to you, Laurie Segall, because, you know, the markets open at 9:30 Eastern Time. We'll get back to you.

Laurie, thanks so much.

Concerns grow in Washington over the Obamacare Web site fallout, but they aren't all about healthcare.gov. They're about the impact on some lawmakers' political futures. We'll have a live report out of Washington for you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Checking our top stories at 15 minutes past the hour.

Just released 911 tapes reflect the terror shoppers felt when a gunman opened fire at a New Jersey mall.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Somebody is shooting at Garden State Plaza right now.

UNIDENTIFIED 911 OPERATOR: There's somebody shooting?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Somebody is shooting up Garden State Plaza right now, and I'm in the bathroom. And --

UNIDENTIFIED 911 OPERATOR: OK. All right. Stay on the phone with me, sweetheart. How many people are in the bathroom with you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Three.

UNIDENTIFIED 911 OPERATOR: Are they in your store?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: More than 100 shoppers were in the mall when those shots rang out. The gunman, Richard Shoop, didn't hurt anybody, though. Police say he later killed himself, he shot himself in the head.

The first official tied to the Obamacare Web site is leaving his post. Troy Trenkle was in charge of technology at the federal agency that developed the healthcare.gov Web site. He will be retiring next week to take a private sector job. No word on whether he was pushed out.

Was that a meteor that just flew over Southern California last night? I know you're asking that question this morning. Well, it probably was. NORAD says the fast-moving streak of light was most likely a meteor shower. There were sightings as far away as Arizona, Utah and Nevada. Now you know.

OK, let's talk politics. Democrats under pressure and increasingly nervous due to the disastrous rollout of the Obamacare Web site. Some are even blaming it for the closer-than-expected governor's race in Virginia. Democrat Terry McAuliffe barely eked out a win there.

Our senior White House correspondent Brianna Keilar live in Washington this morning with more.

Good morning, Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol. That's right. Democrats are very concerned. Some Republicans relishing what they see as a political opportunity. And in the meantime, we saw President Obama head to Texas -- that's right, Texas -- last night to ensure Americans that the Web site for Obamacare will be up and running, as he also fired back at Republicans. Specifically, though not naming names, Texas Republican Governor Rick Perry who has blocked the expansion of Medicaid in his state under the Obamacare law.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, it is wonderful to see all of you.

KEILAR (voice-over): Texas, not exactly friendly territory for Obamacare. But that's where President Obama went to criticize Republican opposition to his signature health care reform program and promise its faulty Web site will soon be up and running.

OBAMA: We are working overtime to get this fixed. And the Web site is already better than it was at the beginning of October. And by the end of this month, we anticipate that it is going to be working the way it is supposed to.

KEILAR: Back in the hot seat again, embattled Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testified before a Senate committee conceding not many people have signed up.

KATHLEEN SEBELIUS, HHS SECRETARY: Early enrollment numbers are going to be very low.

KEILAR: Republicans questioned the security of healthcare.gov and the screening of so-called navigators who help people enroll.

SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R), TEXAS: So a convicted felon could be a navigator and could acquire sensitive personal information from an individual unbeknownst to them.

SEBELIUS: That is possible. We have contracts with the organizations and they have taken the responsibility to screen their individual navigators and make sure that they are sufficiently trained for the job.

KEILAR: But it was this.

SEN. MAX BAUCUS (D), MONTANA: Why not sit down and do it right?

KEILAR: Criticism from Chairman Max Baucus who voted for Obamacare that may have stung the most.

For congressional Democrats facing re-election next year, Obamacare has become a political liability. President Obama invited 15 of them to the White House Wednesday afternoon to address their concerns.

Meanwhile, the fallout from the messy rollout seeing its first casualty. The chief information officer for the agency running the troubled Web site has resigned.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: And on that meeting that President Obama had with Senate Democrats, one of them, Mark Udall of Colorado, his office says that he actually urged President Obama to delay the deadline for signing up for health insurance under Obamacare.

Carol, as you know, that's a March 31st deadline. And he also raised the issue, the concern over security of Obamacare. So it's a really big problem for this administration when the president's own Democrats have these major concerns and aren't fully on board here.

COSTELLO: I would say so. Brianna Keilar reporting live for us from the White House, thank you.

Still to come on the NEWSROOM, the widow of the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said her late husband was murdered, the victim of a political assassin, and now scientists, well, they may be backing up her claim.

More on that story after a break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It is perhaps one of the greatest medical mysteries of our time. Was Yasser Arafat, the charismatic leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the victim of a political assassin?

There are new reports this morning that he may have been. Swiss scientists say they found significant quantities of a radioactive poison on Arafat's personal effects and in his body. Now Arafat's widow is calling his death murder.

Matthew Chance is in London with more on this story.

Good morning, Matthew.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Actually, I'm standing right outside Yasser Arafat's mausoleum in the West Bank city of Ramallah. It's still a place visited by many Palestinians out of respect for their dead Palestinian leader. But this report has come as something very controversial in this part of the world, obviously.

A report by a Swiss forensic team saying that on examination of Yasser Arafat's remains and of his personal effects, they found, quote, "unexpectedly high levels of radioactive polonium 210," this is a highly toxic poison. It was used, you may remember, back in 2006 to kill Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB agent.

The theory is that it was also used to kill Yasser Arafat. The Swiss forensic team saying they're finding some moderately supported, that's their words, the theory that Yasser Arafat was poisoned. Now immediately Suha Arafat, Yasser Arafat's widow, calling this, say, evidence of a real crime, that there was a political assassination that took place with the death of Yasser Arafat back in 2004.

But the scientists themselves have said there's plenty of room for doubt in this, saying there's all sorts of problems with the samples over many years that expired between the death of Yasser Arafat and when they collected the samples and still plenty of room for doubt about what was the actual cause of death -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So where does this go from here?

CHANCE: Well, the Palestinians, they want a full international criminal inquiry. For them, this is the smoking gun that they've been looking for. You ask any Palestinian out here in the West Bank, and they'll say, you know, look, we believe Yasser Arafat was killed, and we believe Israel is the party responsible for the killing. Israel, of course, has categorically denied any kind of involvement with this. And they've done so again over the course of the past 24 hours since this report came out.

But the Palestinians still say look, you know, we want a proper criminal investigation to find out if there was polonium, who could have administered this.

COSTELLO: Fascinating. Matthew Chance, live in Ramallah this morning, thanks so much.

Still to come on the NEWSROOM, the executives from Twitter just about to ring the Opening Bell at the New York Stock Exchange as Twitter grows up and goes public.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

The Opening Bell on Wall Street just about to ring, and guess who will ring the bell? You are so smart.

Twitter executives are behind the podium because Twitter is about to go public. Twitter's CEO Dick Costello has been preparing for this day for months. He talked to CNBC this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DICK COSTELLO, CEO, TWITTER: One of the things that's been most exciting for me on the road show is the propensity for some of these investors to come in and show me examples of how Twitter has been so powerful. So that enthusiasm from investors and their own use of the product, both from a user basis and then from the potential of it as a monetization platform has been -- has been fantastic to see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: CNN business correspondent Zain Asher is on the floor.

So 26 bucks a share. Set the mood for us.

ZAIN ASHER, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. Yes, $26 a share. I mean, that is what underwriters and also Twitter themselves decided was the sweet spot.