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Toronto Mayor's TV Show Cancelled; Radel Gets Probation For Cocaine Charge; Deadly Wait: U.S. Veterans Dying Due To Diagnosis Or Treatment Delays At U.S. Veterans Hospitals; Virginia State Senator Improves After Stabbing, Attention Turns To Son's Mental State; First Lady: Obama Loves Singing In The Bathroom

Aired November 20, 2013 - 14:30   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, that was quick. Toronto's crack- smoking, vulgarity dropping mayor's TV show that debuted just this past Monday night has been canceled.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Rob and Doug, totally unplugged.

MAYOR ROB FORD, TORONTO: I'm not proud of what I have done. It's very humiliating.

ANNOUNCER: The mayor of mayhem, like you have never seen him before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: It turned out you will not see this again, at least on the "Ford Nation" show. The Sun News Network said the show took too much time, too much money, quite simply to produce and the network VP said "Ford Nation" beat previous rating records for Sun with more than 100,000 viewers. The Ford brothers were not paid to do the show. Just this week, you know the deal, the Toronto city council voted 36-5 to slash the mayor's budget and transfer most of his duties to the deputy mayor.

And now this here, let's talk about this Florida congressman, Trey Radel. He pleaded guilty today to buying 3.5 grams of cocaine outside a Washington restaurant last month. This is new video here. This is Radel outside court earlier today. He was sentenced to one year probation. He's set to begin rehab in Florida. Radel has described himself as -- yes, and I'm quoting, "a hip-hop conservative."

This is according to his Twitter page. In a statement, he said he struggled with alcoholism, which led to what he called to an irresponsible choice. Today, Radel told the judge he has hit bottom. He said he needs help.

Athena Jones is joining me to talk a little bit about this. It's interesting. You say all the details that came out today in court. Let's begin specifically with the bust. What do you know?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, this is really interesting. We learned a little bit before the court appearance began. We learned that Radel was not the target here. It was dealers, not users and buyers who were the target of this broad DEA and FBI investigation. This we learned, from my colleague, a correspondent, Evan Perez.

In court today, we learned how the sting went down. This dealer was caught. The dealer said, look, one of my customers is a congressman. Law enforcement authorities thought they couldn't ignore that so they set up this sting with the help of this dealer, involved another undercover police officer who offered to sell Congressman Radel 3.5 grams of cocaine.

They did the deal in this undercover police officer's car on a Tuesday night, not too long ago, less than a month ago. He handed over $260 and they busted him right then and there. Went back to the congressman's apartment where he produced another vial of cocaine he had, so very interesting some of the details that came out today.

BALDWIN: Quickly, we know, one-year probation. Will he be drug tested regularly?

JONES: Well, we know that he is planning to down to Maples, Florida and enter an in-patient treatment facility there. He's been doing out-patient counseling here already. That's what his lawyer said today. We don't know the details on what the treatment will look like. What we know that this is a minimized supervision for his probation. So his probation officer will be in constant contact with that treatment facility discussing his -- monitoring his progress.

BALDWIN: OK, Athena Jones, thank you very much.

JONES: Thanks.

BALDWIN: Now coming up next, a CNN exclusive, a life or death situation for U.S. veterans. Not from what they faced while serving overseas, rather from what happens right here at home.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Now to CNN exclusive, an investigation shows how U.S. veterans are dying, in this case, though, not by fighting on the battlefield, but by waiting in a monster backlog at V.A. hospitals. We're not talking hours. I'm talking months. Time that all cancer patients know can mean the difference between life and death. And what's worse here, the V.A. is in the know and is doing little about these deadly wait times. Drew Griffin of CNN Investigations has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): To understand the problems with the V.A., a good place to start is the Williams Jennings Brian Dorn Veterans Center in Columbia, South Carolina, where veterans waiting for a simple gastrointestinal procedure like colonoscopy or endoscopy have been dying. Six so far confirmed. And sources tell CNN the number of vets dead or dying of cancer because they had to wait too long for diagnosis or treatment could be more than 20. DR. STEPHEN LLOYD, S.C. MEDICAL ENDOSCOPY CENTER: It's very sad because people die and they didn't have to. They paid the ultimate price at a veteran's hospital.

GRIFFIN: Dr. Steven Lloyd is a private physician specializing in colonoscopies in Columbia, South Carolina. He is also one of the few doctors in the area willing to speak on the record.

LLOYD: People who had appointments had their appointments canceled and rescheduled much later, and in some cases, that made an impact where they went into a later stage and therefore lost the battle to live.

GRIFFIN: This wasn't just some oversight by the hospital. Documents obtained by CNN showed the hospital knew its growing waiting list and delays in care were having deadly consequences. Medical investigators reviewed the cases of 280 gastrointestinal cancer patients in Dorn and found 52 of the cancer cases were associated with a delay in diagnosis and treatment.

CNN has obtained individual cases like this one, a vet who had to wait nine months for a colonoscopy, a significant delay according to VA records, which would have impacted the stage at which he was diagnosed. Records indicate by the time this veteran had surgery, his cancer was at stage three.

A second patient had to wait four months for an appointment. Ten months for an endoscopy, at which time, he learned he had later stage cancer of the esophagus. The internal VA report says without the delay, his cancer would have been diagnosed much earlier, and though the report doesn't say if the vet lived or die, it does say an earlier screening would have provided earlier detection with better survival.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is a little problem that the VA had.

GRIFFIN: Oneal Sessions, a Vietnam vet, is one of the lucky ones. He said VA doctors at Dorn Medical Center told him just this spring he didn't even need a colonoscopy. Its advice he ignored. So this fall, he had one on his own, and his private physician found and removed four polyps. Two of which were precancerous. His doctor said had he waited another few years, he would have had colon cancer.

(on camera): It has to be a little disheartening?

ONEAL SESSIONS, COLONOSCOPY PATIENT: Yes, it is. The V.A. is not doing the -- my feelings is the V.A. is not doing their pre-stuff that they should do to protect the veterans.

GRIFFIN: Most troubling of all is the problem here was identified. More money was given to fix the problem and what happened? The waiting list grew.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We appropriated a million dollars because V.A. asked for it.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Florida Congressman Jeff Miller is chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs. Of the million dollars, Congress specifically gave to Dorn to pay for care for vets on a waiting list, only a third was used for its intended purpose. Documents exclusive to CNN show at that same time, the waiting list kept growing. In just five months, from 2,500 patients to a backlog of 3,800, some patients waiting eight months for appointments.

REPRESENTATIVE JEFF MILLER (R), VETERANS AFFAIRS CHAIRMAN: They will say that we redirected those dollars to go somewhere else that was needed. Where would it be more needed than to prevent the deaths of veterans? These are real people that we're talking about that are being harmed, either made sick, will be sick in the future, or have died.

GRIFFIN: And it's not just delayed colonoscopies and it's not just in South Carolina. The VA now says other facilities have been under scrutiny over possible delays in treatment or diagnosis. At the Charlie Norwood V.A. Medical Center in Augusta, Georgia, three veterans are confirmed dead as a result of delay in care. An internal document shows a waiting list there of 4,500 patients. The VA also investigated delays in Atlanta, Georgia, North Texas, and Jackson, Mississippi, and claims in Texas and Mississippi there were no adverse outcomes due to delays.

DEBRA DRAPER, HEALTHCARE DIRECTOR, GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE: Long wait times and a weak scheduling policy in process have been persistent problems for VA, and both GAO and the VA's inspector general have been reporting on these issues for more than a decade.

GRIFFIN: Debra Draper with the Government Accountability Office has been reporting to Congress on the delays in care for years. She says it's so bad she and her staff have found evidence that VA hospitals actually try to cover up wait times, fudge numbers, back date delayed appointments just to try to make things appear better than they are. She says just getting someone to pick up the phone to make an appointment at a VA hospital can be difficult.

(on camera): Care is being delayed. There's no doubt about it.

DRAPER: Well, it's unclear how long it's being delayed because no one can really give you accurate information.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): And report after report, the Government Accountability Office makes recommendations, but the problems persist at many hospitals.

DRAPER: Nothing has been fully implemented that we know of at this point.

GRIFFIN (on camera): So you make recommendations and they say they're working on it.

DRAPER: Yes, and we will be following up.

GRIFFIN: In fact, time and time again, even at hospitals where veterans died waiting for care, administrators got bonuses, not demotions, according to congressional investigators. CNN's repeated request for interviews with the VA had been denied, and even Congress has had its request for information ignored.

MILLER: But unfortunately, if they treat members of Congress, the U.S. House and the Senate, this way, imagine how they treat the average veteran out there. The person who has served, that's trying to get information from them. I can't imagine the grief that they may be going through.

GRIFFIN: As for the veterans waiting for care at Dorn V.A. Hospital in South Carolina, the V.A. would grant no interview, but told us the consult delay at Dorn VAMC has been resolved. Cases are now tracked daily and additional staff hired. But sources at Dorn, both patients and medical staff, tell CNN that's just not true. The problems continue, and veterans are still facing delays in care that could be killing them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Drew Griffin joins me now. Why is this happening?

GRIFFIN: You know, when you read these reports, you get the documents, you talk to the sources that we talked to, I think it all boils down to one thing, completely incompetent management at these hospitals and at the Veterans Administration itself, and absolutely no accountability for the managers who are performing this disservice. I think it really boils down to that -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Drew Griffin, thank you so much, with our CNN Investigations Unit. Appreciate your digging and your reporting there.

Coming up next, the new details today on Virginia State Senator Creigh Deeds, we have an update on his condition this afternoon after he was brutally attacked, allegedly by his own son.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: One day after police say he was stabbed by his own son, Virginia State Senator Creigh Deeds is showing signs of a full recovery. After being stabbed repeatedly in his head and his chest, Senator Deeds ran from his home in remote Virginia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was able to make his way out to the road after he left the scene on foot and was able to make his way out to the road, and had evidently was picked up by a family member.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That family member was a cousin who lives at a farm nearby. Here is the new information we have from the medical center. Senator Deeds' condition was upgraded to good so that's great news for his family in that regard. His 24-year-old son, Gus, who had recently moved in with his father and his father's new wife died of a gunshot wound at that same home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CORINNE GELLER, VIRGINIA STATE POLICE: Based on the evidence we have right now, we are looking into this as an attempted murder and suicide. Now, this is not an absolute determination because it's still very much an ongoing investigation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Gus Deeds was often seen at his father's side on the campaign trail. Take a look at these pictures here. Gus attended the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, but the school says as of last month, he left the college.

The "Richmond Times Dispatch" is reporting that Gus Deeds was sent for a mental health evaluation under an emergency custody order as recent as Monday this week, but he was released that day because no psychiatric beds were available for him. According to the "Washington Post," at least two hospitals in the area said they did have beds, but never received a call.

Still to come, at the top of the hour here on CNN, she's one of the few people still alive who was there, who witnessed the assassination of John F. Kennedy 50 years ago. Tony Glover will join me live at the top of the hour. She talks about what she remembers as a little girl, 11 years of age, and why she didn't come forward as an eyewitness until years later.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: We know the president has a set of pipes and he's not afraid to use them. Well, now we know the president's crooning is not just reserved for the podium. No. The first lady says he is always singing at home, in fact, he can't resist those bathroom acoustics.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY: That was pretty awesome. I mean, he's got a pretty good voice.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He does.

OBAMA: I always think, my husband has swag.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, Michelle.

OBAMA: A little swag.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He definitely does.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That was really sweet.

OBAMA: But he sings all the time. Yes. He's in the bathroom all the time, just singing. He's always willing to sing. He's like you want me to sing that? You want me to sing that for you? He's got a good voice, so that was sweet.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BALDWIN: He can sing, but the first lady said in the interview, when it comes to the dance floor, she's the one with the skills.

The next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM, right here live, a special show from Washington, D.C. begins right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Here we go. Second hour here, back with you live from Washington, D.C. for a special edition of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Brooke Baldwin. And here, we're here in Washington with a moment of great poiniance because this happened 90 minutes ago. President Obama, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Michelle Obama, paying tribute to the life of the late president, John F. Kennedy. Kennedy assassinated in Dallas 50 years ago this Friday. Let's listen for a moment.