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Congressman In Court On Cocaine Charge; Coast Guard Searching 20 Square Miles Of Ocean For Possible Plane Crash Survivors; Police: State Senator Stabbed By Son; Ocean Search For Two Missing After Jet Crash; White Supremacist Serial Killer Executed; Rob Ford's TV Show Canceled After One Episode; Helicopter Crew Rescues Stranded Hikers; Zimmerman Free On Bond, Can't Have Guns
Aired November 20, 2013 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE TYSON: I'm sorry if -- it's your ear.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you OK?
BRET FAVRE: It's great. The man has got to know when to walk away.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Rodman, round trip to North Korea?
DENNIS RODMAN: One way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDY SCHOLES, "BLEACHER REPORT": That's great. Vander saying -- welcoming actually Mike Tyson getting his ear back.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm looking at the box thinking, it's really in there.
SCHOLES: He just grabs it.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Clever.
BERMAN: All right, Andy, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
ROMANS: The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM begins right now.
All right, everybody. It's 10:00 a.m. in the east. Good morning. I'm Christine Romans.
BERMAN: And I'm John Berman. Carol Costello is off today. And this morning, a U.S. congressman is in court facing charges of possessing cocaine.
ROMANS: And we're learning new details about how police allegedly caught Republican Trey Radel buying cocaine. A law enforcement official told federal agents arrested a drug dealer who said he sold cocaine to a congressman. So they set up a sting on October 29th and Radel bought a small amount of cocaine from an undercover agent, but they didn't arrest Congressman Radel right away.
BERMAN: Interesting, right? CNN's Athena Jones is in Washington where she was just in the court room. Athena, what can you tell us?
ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. The whole session took about 25 minutes. Congressman Radel said I plead guilty to one count of misdemeanor cocaine possession. He's been sentenced to one year probation. The judge described it as under minimal supervision.
This is because Congressman Radel plans to go into an in-patient drug facility in Naples, Florida. He's already also gone into counseling, outpatient counseling here in Washington, D.C. there was some debate about how well he could be surprised if he's going down to Florida.
So they agreed to have a monitoring that would involve getting information, updates from that drug treatment center. But interestingly, you saw the statement that he put out on his Facebook page and that he tweeted, very, very contrite. He was similar in court today just as we expected. I'll give you a little bit of what he had to say after pleading guilty.
He said, "I apologize for what I have done. I think in life I have hit a bottom where I realize I need help. I have aggressively pursued that help." This is with the help of a support system here. He said, "I am so sorry to be here. I know that I let my constituents down, my country down, my wife down, and my 2-year-old son who doesn't know it yet." He said, "I want to come out of this stronger."
It's something that he says he'll work at for the rest of his life and that he hopes to be a better man coming out of this and to continue serving his country. Those are some of the details from the courtroom. One more thing that I should add that we learned about the bust, how he was arrested in this sting. You gave some of those details. The targets of this wider investigation were not the users and the buyers, but the dealers.
But through a dealer they learned that they had Congressman Radel as a customer. We learned that he went on the night of October 29th to a restaurant here and met up with an acquaintance who said who -- who he then invited back to his apartment. This is according to the statement by the government's attorney in court today. And he invited those two back to his apartment. They declined to go. But then the undercover police officer offered to sell him 3.5 grams of cocaine. That deal went down in the undercover police officers car and moments later they and to arrest the congressman.
They later went to his apartment where he according to the government presented another vial of cocaine that he already had. He said in court, he stipulated that both of these -- he believed these substances were to be cocaine. Only one of them was tested, but all in all, it was clear that the congressman and his lawyer wanted to wrap this up, and get the sentencing out of the way today. And that's what they did -- John.
BERMAN: Wow. The details of the deal going down in the car. Athena Jones, thank you so much. Appreciate it. ROMANS: Happening now, a desperate search at sea. Authorities are looking for two people missing after their medical plane crashed off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Now the bodies of two other people on board, they have already been recovered. Now the Coast Guard is frantically searching 22 square miles of ocean in hopes of finding the other two people alive. CNN's John Zarrella is on Fort Lauderdale with more for us this morning -- John
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, certainly there is still hope. But it's fading probably very quickly. It is now more than 12 hours since that search and rescue operation got underway. As you can see behind me, the water conditions are near ideal for such an operation. But still, no sign of those two other people.
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ZARRELLA (voice-over): Disaster, moments after takeoff, a terrifying scene, a frantic call for help.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Going back to Fort Lauderdale.
ZARRELLA: Seconds before this small medical aircraft plummeted into the sea.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maintain 4,000 and turn left heading 330.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to do a 180.
ZARRELLA: The pilot made a last ditch effort to turn back around towards the Fort Lauderdale only to crash a mile off the coast.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mayday.
DANIEL FIGUEROA, WITNESS: It was flying really low over the water. It's strange for a plane to be flying so low and maybe about 30 minutes later, the Coast Guard --
ZARRELLA: In the pitch black of night, search and rescue crews. Helicopters and about a dozen votes scoured the area.
LT. COMMANDER GABE SOMMA, U.S. COAST GUARD: Searchers and responders, located debris, shortly thereafter located two bodies.
ZARRELLA: The wreckage two bodies immediately brought aboard a Coast Guard boat. The two bodies immediately brought to shore.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's still an ongoing and very active scene.
ZARRELLA: The learjet 35 pictured here was part of Air Evac International, a medical plane originating in Mexico to transport patients. According to Fort Lauderdale airport officials, the patient was cropped off and the plane was returning to Mexico with a pilot, co-pilot, doctor and nurse on board when the accident occurred.
(END VIDEOTAPE) ZARRELLA: Now the Coast Guard is telling us that the debris field is moving to the north, as you would expect with the currents that run along Florida and it is moving very, very slowly. But again, even with these optimal conditions, they're having no luck finding the two other people -- John, Christine.
ROMANS: All right, John Zarrella there off of Fort Lauderdale for us. Thanks, John.
BERMAN: Moving on now to Virginia where police are investigating why the son of a prominent state Senator Creigh Deeds' son stabbed him several times.
ROMANS: One of the state senator's friends tells CNN that the lawmaker had concerns about his son who had been living at home after recently withdrawing from college.
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CHAP PETERSON, VIRGINIA STATE SENATE: He was living with his son and the two of them were living together. And that was a conscious choice to try and help his son get back on his feet. To get some stability in his life and I just know that Creigh had made a commitment to his son in that way. And again, I hadn't talked to him specifically about it in the last few months. But I know it weighed on his mind as a father.
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BERMAN: Joining us now to discuss this is psychiatrist, Dr. Gail Saltz. Gail, we know -- explain to me how this type of thing happens and what that means exactly.
DR. GAIL SALTZ, PSYCHIATRIST: There are different kinds of holds, if you will, and some are more limited than the others. So this, really, just allowed doctors to evaluate him for a maximum of four hours. You can potentially extend that by another few hours. In that time he should have been evaluated. If it he was deemed to be a true threat to himself or someone else, seriously or eminently, then they technically would be able to look for an involuntary commitment so that they would hold him until there was a bed available even though at that time there wasn't.
People are often held in marches for long periods of time if there are not beds available. But if there wasn't immensely a threat, even if he should have been hospitalized or could have benefited from that, he would have to be let go after that time if he wanted to be. He's over 18.
And this is the balance, the very difficult balance between civil liberties and the feeling that we can't hold people without a certain criteria. And I think that we've erred potentially too far on the side of civil liberties so that things like this do occasionally happen.
ROMANS: What about the time when they're trying to get an adult, child into a hospital situation and then can't keep them there? This must be so frustrating for families.
SALTZ: It is. And there's a small zone of a real problem. You know, the early 20s is a time when serious illnesses can occur. I don't know about this young man -- bipolar disorder, schizophrenia often present at that age --
ROMANS: At a time when they're gaining their freedom and their independence.
SALTZ: Exactly. And it may be a psychosis developing. You might know the extent of it. And it maybe in development and of course, there's the other issue, which is no beds available, which is a major problem in many areas. Why, because we don't have enough mental health funding. At a time when we're increasingly aware that there is need for more treatment and more beds available, more research to be done to look at treatment options, $1.8 billion in funding has been cut across the United States between 2008 and 2012.
BERMAN: He could have been held for days more if there were only beds available.
SALTZ: If there was a beds available, it sounds like he would have been admitted and gotten treatment.
BERMAN: What's your advice to a family when considering going through with something like this because this is aggressive to go out and get an emergency custody order.
ROMANS: Well, obviously they were -- someone understood that they were in a desperate situation. My advice to families is as early as possible when you see signs of mental illness that is the time to get them into treatment, whether we're talking about depression, seriously low mood, any discussion of any suicidal thoughts, strange or odd behavior. Looking like they're responding to something else that's not there, very expansive moods. There's sort of a host of things and certainly involvement with substance use and abuse. Because the combination of mental illness and substance use and abuse often is really tragic, actually.
BERMAN: So tragic we have to deal with this. This is something as we as a society have to deal with it.
SALTZ: We have to. We have to look at how we're getting more dollars to this area that gets to some degree the fewest dollars of all.
BERMAN: All right, Dr. Gail Saltz, thank you very much. Appreciate you being here today.
ROMANS: Still to come, just hours ago, white supremacist serial killer, the man who put Larry Flynt in a wheel wheelchair put to death. Our live report is next.
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ROMANS: Just hours ago, a white supremacist serial killer and Larry Flynt's would be assassin was put to death in Missouri. The execution of Joseph Paul Franklin came shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his final appeal. CNN spoke to Franklin just two days ago as he was waiting for the court's decision.
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JOSEPH PAUL FRANKLIN: The same length of time Jesus was on his mission.
KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What was your mission?
FRANKLIN: To try to get a race war started.
LAH: Do you think you're a hero to those hate groups?
FRANKLIN: Well, that's what they tell me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Bizarre and creepy, CNN's George Howell live in Chicago for us. Good morning, George.
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, so by count we understand that he killed 22 people. His mission, and he stated quite flatly as you heard there, was to start a race war. From 1977 to 1980, that's when he basically committed a lot of murders during this time. We know that thinks targets were interracial couples, men, women, two boys ages 13 to 14 years old.
We know that he shot and seriously injured Vernon Jordan and he also shot and paralyzed Larry Flynt, the publisher of "Hustler" magazine. It wasn't, though, until the murder of Gerald Gordon that Franklin was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. In an unexpected turn, it was Flynt who filed a legal motion to stop the constitution and there were several appeals. But the Supreme Court stepped in and overturned the appeals and Franklin was pronounced dead this morning at 6:17.
ROMANS: Such a bizarre story and Larry Flynt trying to, until the very end, trying to stop that. That's an interesting twist on that. George Howell, thanks, George.
BERMAN: Checking some other top stories right now. Toronto's Mayor Rob Ford, now known as Toronto's crack-smoking mayor, has found out the hard way that it's not easy to make it on a small screen. After just one episode, the much hyped "Ford Nation" has been canceled.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think that the mayor of America's third largest city should be a role model?
MAYOR ROB FORD, TORONTO: Absolutely, you should be a role model. I'm only human. I am not perfect. I've yet to see someone who has never made a mistake in their life.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BERMAN: The show featured the mayor and his brother, Doug, who was a city councilor. It was supposed to be a regular outlet for the Fords to speak to the voters. But they say it turned out to be too expensive to produce.
A pair of hikers gets lost in the Kadian (ph) Mountains and ends up getting lost, and end up swinging to safety. That's them in the yellow there hanging from a 150 foot line. Look at that. They called for help after realizing they were lost and didn't have the right equipment. The only way to rescue them was by that helicopter. The man and woman say they have learned their lesson. They will be better prepared next time.
ROMANS: Always better to watch television.
BERMAN: Still to come, why George Zimmerman will have keep his hands off of guns if he wants to stay out of jail. Stay with us.
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BERMAN: Welcome back, everyone. George Zimmerman is out of jail on bond. As part of his bail, he's not allowed to possess any guns and has to wear an ankle bracelet so police can keep track of him.
ROMANS: Overnight, we learned overnight the authorities were at the home of Zimmerman's new Samantha Schiebe to get his belongings. He was charge was insulting after an incident Monday captured on this 911 tape.
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SAMANTHA SCHIEBE: He's in my house breaking all my -- because I asked him to leave. He has a freaking gun breaking all of my stuff right now.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 OPERATOR: OK.
SCHIEF: I'm doing this again? You just broke my glass table. You just broke my sunglasses and you put your gun in my freaking face and told me to get -- out. This is not your house. No, get out of here.
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BERMAN: CNN's Alina Machado is live for us in Sanford, Florida. And Alina, these restrictions from the judge, tell us about these.
ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there are several restrictions, John. The ones that you mentioned about the fact that he cannot -- he needs to have an electronic monitoring device with him. He cannot have any access to firearms. He has to stay in the state of Florida, according to the judge. And he has to avoid contact, no contact with Samantha Scheibe, the alleged victim in this case.
The judge also said that he could not go to two addresses here in Florida. One is a home in Altamonte Springs and the other one is the home where this alleged incident happened. In court, he said he had several personal items at that home and he wanted permission to go back to that home and pick those up.
The judge said that was not going to happen. And that's why last night we saw law enforcement officers at the home retrieving some of George Zimmerman's items and handing them over to a third party just as the judge had ordered.
ROMANS: And Alina, in his court proceeding, we hear more about another domestic violence allegation that had not been reported to police. What can you tell us about that?
MACHADO: That new allegation surfaces during yesterday's court hearing. And basically prosecutors said he had attacked Scheibe about a week and a half earlier in a different dispute. They say that he choked her. No incident report was filed and no charges were filed. And attorneys representing Zimmerman said that the first time they had heard of these allegations was in open court along with the rest of us.
BERMAN: Controversy seems to follow wherever he goes. Alina Machado for us in Sanford, Florida. Thank you so much.
ROMANS: All right, still to come this morning, today Bill Clinton is back at the White House. But this time his visit has nothing to do with politics. The former president, along with Oprah Winfrey and others are set to receive the presidential Medal of Freedom. A live report from the White House is next.
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BERMAN: So the first lady opening up about life inside the White House and in particular, some habits of the president in particular, apparently singing.
ROMANS: Maybe you remember this.
BERMAN: He manages to nail that.
ROMANS: The first lady appeared on BET yesterday and she told them that the president had a habit of something that he likes to do around the house. Listen.
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MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY: That was pretty awesome. He's got a pretty good voice. I always say, my husband's got swag.
