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Bulger Sentenced; Obama Offers Fix for ObamaCare

Aired November 14, 2013 - 15:30   ET

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN CO-ANCHOR: The architect of a violent New England criminal enterprise will spend the rest of his life in prison.

Convicted mobster James "Whitey" Bulger was sentenced to two life terms plus five years. He was sentenced today in a federal court room. He's never getting out of jail.

ZORAIDA SAMBOLIN, CNN CO-ANCHOR: The judge admonished the 84-year-old former gangster for terrorizing Boston and called his actions depraved and callous.

Bulger refused to speak during his hearing. After the sentencing, Steven Davis, the brother of one of the alleged victims, had this to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVEN DAVIS, BROTHER OF ALLEGED BULGER VICTIM: I just wanted to say to him, speak up. You know, spit out what you have to say.

I'm sitting and trying to -- what more punishment are they going to give you than two life sentences plus five? I mean, say something.

There has to be something, whether you didn't like the prosecutor said, you didn't like your lawyers, or you didn't like me. You know, he hates me.

You know, say something. Be a man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAMBOLIN: Steven Davis, author of the book, "Impact Statement," joins us now.

Steven, how do you feel about the sentence? Do you think it's just?

DAVIS: It's good enough because of his age.

But if the man was 25-, 35-years-old, he would have had the chance of getting out some day because they didn't give him a sentence of life without parole, so I'm glad he's 84 and deserves what he got.

BERMAN: You know, he is clearly never getting out.

You expressed, I think, some frustration that he was not willing to speak in the courtroom, and a lot of frustration yesterday when you spoke during sentencing, giving a victim impact statement.

He wouldn't even look at you in the courtroom. How did that feel to be in there with him talking and having him not even look?

DAVIS: Well, I wanted to get him to look at me, because, you know, same way he wanted me to look at him back in '82, and I gave him that much respect.

And I thought he was kind of a coward. He didn't look at anybody in the courtroom that was, you know, giving off their statement, their impact statement. I thought he owed it to myself and the other families.

I would have expected him, and all the fame and glory he got of getting the motorcade from Plymouth to the federal courthouse, I would have expected him to want to go out with some kind of a bang, speaking up the glorified gangster rat he is.

He should have said something. It probably would have made people look at him in a slightly different way. Not with any kind of respect, but I mean, if you're going that high on yourself, go out with a bang. Say something.

You know, he had nothing to lose. He had two life sentences plus five.

BERMAN: You have said you will see Bulger on the other side. If and when that happens, sir, what will you say to him?

DAVIS: I won't say anything. I'll have to -- I'll meet him on the other side after that one.

He's not going to be -- I think a lot of families feel the same way. If there is the other side, that's where we're going to have to meet him, see who gets there first, and that's life.

BERMAN: Well, Steven Davis, we're glad there's some closure in this.

We're so sorry for this decades-long ordeal you and your family have been through. Thank you so much for joining us.

SAMBOLIN: You can still see the anguish in his face, right?

BERMAN: Up next for us, the big admission and the big new offer from the White House, President Obama today saying he fumbled the launch of ObamaCare.

He's offered a fix. Question is, is it all too late?

Our panel will debate this as the president gets ready to speak live in Cleveland. Stay ready for all that, right here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAMBOLIN: Just about 20 minutes away from the closing bell. Markets are inching up slightly up today, the Dow up slightly.

This comes as Federal Reserve chairman nominee Janet Yellen testified at her confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill.

She indicated that she intends to keep the stimulus money flowing into the economy because unemployment is still too high.

The president, speaking live in Cleveland just hours after his big health care reveal, we'll dip in when he's done with all his welcomes.

President Obama's trying to resolve his broken promise that under ObamaCare, if you like your health insurance, you could keep it. As we know, that has not been the case for several millions Americans.

Appearing today in the White House briefing room, he said he will allow insurers to extend noncompliant insurance policies for one year, but they also would have to alert their customers to potentially better options under ObamaCare.

They can't offer the noncompliant to new customers, just those who had them before.

Worth noting, state insurance commissioners will have the right to override these administrative changes.

BERMAN: Yeah, and I should note that Washington state says they have not going to accept these changes. That's news we're just getting now, so not every state is going to comply with this.

With us now from Washington, D.C., Maria Cardona, Democratic strategist and CNN political commentator, and here in New York, Cheri Jacobus, Republican strategist and columnist for The Hill.

Maria, I want to start with you with this news we just received from Washington state that they will not do this.

This is an administrative fix that the president is offering now to try to get insurance back to people who lost it. Do you think this is going to work, especially with states saying they're not going to co comply?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: We'll see. I hope other states will take a look at this and realize the constituents in their states who are really upset that this happened actually want this, and hope that they will work with this new fix to actually get their constituents the kind of fix they need.

I mean, at the end of the day, John, the whole focus of this was for folks who could not get insurance, for them to be able to go on to the insurance marketplaces and get affordable insurance.

For those who had it but did not have plans that were up to snuff, if you will, who did not have the kind of coverage and protections under the -- under ObamaCare that they needed to have, they would also be also able to go into the marketplace and get better plans for either the same money or sometimes even less.

And so I hope that insurance commissioners will work with us, will work with this administration to get this fix done. And if not, then hopefully they will tell their constituents to go onto the marketplaces and find plans that frankly will be better than the ones that have been canceled.

BERMAN: Cheri, a lot of people are saying this is the beginning of what could be a death spiral for ObamaCare.

What could happen is that healthy people who would be signing up for the exchanges will stay on these health care plans that may be extended in some places, not in Washington state, though.

Do you think Republicans will be work willing to work with Democrats now to keep ObamaCare afloat, to implement it, to get it in place so it can help people who right now are losing their insurance?

CHERI JACOBUS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: What Republicans want to do is make sure all of the millions of people who were promised they could keep their health insurance if they liked it, 80 percent liked it, and keep their doctors, do indeed get to do so.

You have Howard Dean and others, questioning whether what the president is saying can be done.

This is the president's problem and it wasn't a mistake. He lied and he got caught in a lie, and now there's questions on both sides whether this fix is really a fix.

I think it's a political fix, saying he's going to allow us to keep our health care. The insurance companies might not be able to, so a lot of this is a band-aid until we can figure out what to do.

We have Democrats up for midterm elections who are desperate now, trying to run from this president on this issue. They know he's been caught. They backed him. They're all tied up in it.

Some of them reportedly knew that this was a lie, regarding being able to keep your health care and your doctors. That's the real scandal.

As long as everybody is talking about the messy rollout and the people who can't get on the Web site, believe it or not, the president is actually in pretty good shape because the minute they really start focusing on the fact that he lied, that he knew we wouldn't be able to keep our insurance, he has a real problem.

Now to make it seem like the onus is on the Republicans to, quote, "work with us to make it work," he shoved it through without any Republican vote. We tried to warn the country. He's been caught.

We're interested in what he has to say, but my question is, I think everyone Republican should sit back and do what's best for their constituents and the country. And they seem to be two different things.

CARDONA: Can I clarify just a little bit of hyperbole, both from the Republicans and the insurance companies.

There are more than twice as many insured in the individual insurance market today who are over 45.

So the young people, the young "invincibles," are not the majority of those who hold the policies today.

To call this a death spiral on behalf of the insurance companies is huge hyperbole.

On behalf of the Republicans --

JACOBUS: I didn't call it that, by the way.

CARDONA: No, I'm not saying you called it that. I'm saying the insurance companies.

On behalf of the Republican, let's be very clear. They have tried to sabotage this law every step of the way, so their option, their alternative, is to repeal ObamaCare.

If you think millions of people will be mad by receiving cancellation notices now, let's look at the over 100 million people who will receive cancellation notices if the Affordable Care Act gets repealed.

That's exactly what Republicans want. They want to go back to the era where people would get kicked off their insurance plans, where you did not cover pre-existing plans, and that's exactly what they wanted.

(CROSSTALK)

CARDONA: As a result, that is going to hurt Americans.

BERMAN: All right. Cheri and Maria, guys, I thank you both for being with us.

I think one thing is for certain, the ObamaCare debate will not end today. So we'll have you both back soon to speak about this again.

CARDONA: Thanks so much, John.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAMBOLIN: We have breaking news out of Florida. Rescue crews are searching for a person who fell from a plane in the Florida Keys. We're just getting this information into the newsroom.

It says that the Coast Guard and Miami-Dade fire rescue is searching by boat and helicopter now for a person who fell into the water from an airplane. Apparently it was at an altitude of 1,800 feet. And this happened at about 1:30 p.m. today.

BERMAN: And the pilot just reported he fell out of the plane. We don't know how that happened. It sounds incredibly peculiar.

SAMBOLIN: Yeah, we don't know if maybe they were skydiving or what was happening, but we do know that they're in the middle, right now, of that search and rescue. The pilot, again, was the one who reported that the person fell from the plane. It happened around 11:30 today, not sure exactly what's happening there.

It said right near the Florida Keys. The pilot was piloting a Piper PA-46 aircraft and he told air traffic controllers that a passenger fell from the aircraft. It was about eight miles southeast of the Tamiami airport at about 1:30 today.

And you were looking up where that was, right?

BERMAN: The airport is in Miami. I think they're looking in the range of the Keys, seven miles south or so. That is the range.

No word yet on if they have spotted him, and again, no word on how he may have fallen out of this plane.

Obviously, we will keep following this. If we learn any news about perhaps spotting this man in the water, we will let you know.

SAMBOLIN: The only thing I have here also is that Miami-Dade fire is sending out a tweet, and they said that air rescue is returning to the Tamiami airport to refuel before resuming the search for the person who fell from the plane.

So, as John said, we are going to continue to follow this developing story for you and bring you information as soon as we have it.

BERMAN: We have other news from Florida right now this afternoon. A Florida family wakes to the sound of their home collapsing.

That's amazing. And now that sinkhole that is swallowing their house is just getting bigger.

At this point, seven homes have been evacuated. Thankfully, the sinkhole appears to be slowing down.

SAMBOLIN: It turns out there were warning signs more than a year ago that the ground could actually give way.

This is happening in the town of Dunedin. That is where our John Zarrella is. And, John, how big is this sinkhole now?

I know we said it wasn't growing, but when you talked to the fire chief earlier, it sounds like it is expanding.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, it is expanding, not quite as rapidly as it had been earlier, but right now it's about 70 feet in diameter and more than 50 feet deep, expanding to the north and west of us, so away from our position.

And two homes of the seven condemned. They are going to be total losses. There are a couple other homes that appear to be in some danger at this point.

But bottom line is, the best news, no one was hurt in this incident. That's the good news in all of this.

Now, I want you to take a look at this video shot by our cameraman, Jerry Simonson, a couple hours ago. And that is behind Michael Dupre's home. He's the homeowner who lost his home.

And you can actually see in this video a portion of the back of his home collapsing as the hole continues to open up wider and the structure continues to fall into that hole, along with the neighbor's house next door, which is continuing to collapse into the sinkhole.

Now, we did talk to Michael Dupre, also, a little bit ago and he told us what happened early this morning when he first heard the noise of the sinkhole.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL DUPRE, EVACUATED HOMEOWNER: I saw our screen room already going down into that sinkhole, and at that point I just turned around and said everybody out, grab some clothes and try to get out of the house, and called 911.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZARRELLA: Dupre said he and his family will stay at a local hotel for the next couple nights. Hotel has donated those rooms to him.

He doesn't know when, if, he will be able to get any of his belongings out of the house. They basically got out with just the clothes on their backs. Some of the other neighbors, of course, in pretty much the same boat.

Here is one really cool story. The fire department went into the house because he told them he had left his wedding band in his office. And they put harnesses around one of the firefighters, went into the house, saw the ring sitting on a table in his office and they managed to retrieve Dupree's wedding band, so a pretty cool story.

SAMBOLIN: Fire department risking their lives to get his wedding band. That is very cool. Thank you.

BERMAN: Probably won't take that off again. John Zarrella, thank you so much.

Up next, Senator John McCain calls a member of President Obama's cabinet a "human wrecking ball," folks. He calls him a "human wrecking ball."

Find out who he's talking about and why, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATE: You work at a company with a strong union that gives you good health benefits, but you know friends and family members who don't have it, and you know what it's like when they get sick.

You know what it's -- how scary it is for them when they get sick.

Or some of them have health insurance, they think they do, and they get sick and suddenly the insurance company says I'm sorry, you owe $50,000. That's not covered.

Or they jack up your premium so you can't afford it because you had some sort of pre-existing condition. That happens every day.

So we're not going to let that happen. We're not going to let folks who pay their premiums on time get jerked around, and we're not going to walk away from the 40 million Americans without health insurance.

We are not going to gut this law. We will fix what needs to be fixed, but we're going to make the Affordable Care Act work, and those who say they are opposed to it and can't offer a solution will push back.

I got to give your governor a little bit of credit. John Kasich, along with a lot of state legislators who are here today, they expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.

And think about that. Just that one step means as many as 275,000 Ohioans are going to have health insurance, and it doesn't depend on a Web site. That's already happening because of the Affordable Care Act.

I think it's fair to say that the governor didn't do it because he just loves me so much. We don't agree on much, but he saw this makes sense. Why wouldn't we do this? Why wouldn't we make sure that hundreds of thousands of people right here in Ohio have some security? It was the right thing to do.

And by the way, if every Republican governor did what Kasich did here rather than play politics about it, you would have another 5.4 million Americans who could get access to health care next year, regardless of what happens with the Web site.

That's their decision not to do it and it's the wrong decision. They've got to go ahead and sign folks up.

So bottom line is, sometimes we just have to set aside the politics and focus on what's good for people, what's good to grow our middle class, what's going to help keep plants like this growing, what's going to make sure we're putting more people back to work, what's going to really make a difference in terms of our kids getting a great education.

And you know, look, we've done it before. That's the good news.

BERMAN: All right. You can continue watching this on CNN.com if you like.

That is all for us this afternoon. There will be much more coverage on the president's fixes for health care coming up on "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper which begins right now.