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Celeb Chef's Ex-Husband Testifies He Believes 'Compelling' Drug Claims; Deadline Tomorrow To Fix Healthcare.gov; Obamas May Stay In D.C. After Presidency Ends
Aired November 29, 2013 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: And also, celebrity chef, Nigella Lawson, accused of using cocaine and marijuana on a daily basis. Today, her ex-husband testifies in court. Hear what he had to say about the alleged drug use. We're on the case.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: Celebrity Chef Nigella Lawson's millionaire ex-husband testified that he in fact never saw her do drugs during their entire ten-year marriage. That doesn't matter, though, because he says he believes there are drug allegations, he believes those allegations that are being made against her from two former assistants of theirs. You probably well know Nigella Lawson.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIGELLA LAWSON: There is for me just no bad way to eat bread. That's why I thank goodness you can get this by the quarter loaf.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: A bombshell e-mail was read in court this week from Lawson's ex-husband, Charles Saatchi, on the right of your screen. That e-mail alleged that Lawson was using cocaine and marijuana on a daily basis for a decade. He wrote the two ex-assistants would, quote, "Probably get off because Lawson was so off her head on drugs and allowed them to spend whatever they liked."
That's important because the two former personal assistants are accused of embezzling more than a million dollars from the former couple. Trial Attorney Heather Hansen joins me here in New York. Heather, this is the kind of information or at least the salacious detail I would have expected in a divorce case.
This is not a divorce case. This is a case about two assistants and embezzlement accusation, and yet this very private e- mail gets into the case, in a country where they gag everything like this. Why did it become public?
HEATHER HANSEN, TRIAL ATTORNEY: Well, it became public because it is the defense's allegation that she was allowing them to spend this money so they would continue to hide her drug use. So what would not normally come in, her alleged drug use, gets in because they say that was the reason they say they were allowed to spend this money.
BANFIELD: So ultimately on the stand, Mr. Saatchi had to admit, he never actually saw her do the drugs in all these years we have been married. Must be pretty damaging to his side of the story.
HANSEN: Without a doubt, Ashleigh. You know, they're in the middle of a divorce, so you know he's already angry with her. There's absolutely no evidence thus far of any drug use other than this e- mail. He admits he never saw her do it. There's no evidence of an understanding between these people who stole the money and Nigella Lawson that they agreed to keep her drug use secret. There's no evidence of these allegations whatsoever thus far.
BANFIELD: Obviously when something like this happens and you have a big profile like Nigella Lawson, it could be very damaging to your brand. Does she have recourse, or is this just bad luck? It's evidence. It came into a case. He didn't go and take to the microphones and call her a drug addict.
HANSEN: That's what happens. When you're in a court of law, anything that you say can't be part of a libel case. It's one of these exceptions to slander and libel, not only here, but also in London, which is where this is being tried. It is a place where they can feel happy to exchange this type of mudslinging without any real repercussions.
BANFIELD: Yes, like the Rob Ford thing. He says he's going to sue all those people who spoke to the police and many of these allegations of bad behavior. Sorry they were talking to the police, sorry it was written down. All right, Heather, thank you for that. Appreciate it.
Political pop, after two months of glitches and gremlins and bad reviews, the Obama care web site is facing a critical deadline, and it's hours away. It's supposed to be up and running properly by tomorrow.
Jill Dougherty is at the White House right now. I have been so busy watching the Christmas preparations and the tree arriving at the White House, I almost forgot that tomorrow is November 30th, the dreaded deadline. Is the White House talking about it today? Are the critics talking louder? What's the circumstance?
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: You know, the White House isn't saying much of anything, but we do have the latest is Kathleen Sebelius, who is the HHS secretary, has a little squib in "Huffington Post," and these are issues, calling them holiday shopping tips for using healthcare.gov. And essentially, what she's saying, I'll give you some of them.
She says shop healthcare.gov. That, again, is that web site, the troubled web site, during off-peak hours, mornings, nights, and weekends. Then second, have your income and tax information ready when you logon, and comparison shop to get the best deal. So these are some suggestions, but behind the scenes, they have this team of tech experts who are working around the clock, trying to get to the point.
It won't be a final fix, at least that's what they're saying. I think probably trying to downplay some of the expectations. It won't be a final fix, but they want to get it to the point where they can get 55,000 people or so online at the same time. Not more -- possibly overwhelming it. There are a lot of technical fixes, but we going to see because tomorrow is the deadline. They're self-imposed. They set it up, we'll see if they can meet it.
BANFIELD: It's probably very lucky that all of that happening not only on a Saturday, but a holiday Saturday when the news cycle is a little less excitable. Can I switch gears for a second with you? I heard something today, and I'm not sure if you know about it, but I'm going to tap you live on TV.
A little nugget of information about the Obamas possibly deciding to stay in Washington after their term is finished at the White House. I always think presidents want to get as far away as they want to, but is that actually true? Is that in the zeitgeist now?
DOUGHERTY: Yes, you know, they do have a house in Chicago, but this actually came out on ABC with Barbara Walters. She did an interview with both the president and the first lady. They were talking about the possibility that after 2016, they might stick around in D.C. and really, it has to do with their daughters especially Sasha. She'll be a sophomore in high school, right in the middle of school.
And Malia will be off in college. There was an interesting quote by the president who said, you know, they made a lot of sacrifices for his -- I think he said cockamamie ideas about running for things. So yes, it might be possible that they would stay around here.
BANFIELD: You'll have to start poking around to ask the first lady if she has designed on Washington. I have heard of ladies who develop further designs in Washington after living in the White House. Jill, good to see you. Thank you.
One of Mitt Romney's sons is today being called a hero. I don't know if you saw this tweet, but there was a terrible wreck. You got to look at this picture. Police say a driver missed an off-ramp in Utah, veered off the road, crashed right into a home. Happy to report everyone is OK after all of this, but one of the first people on the scene, Josh Romney, and here is what he tweeted out.
This picture came out this morning. He's smiling and essentially posing in front of a wreck, saying he helped lift four people to safety, that they're all OK. No word on what caused this crash. But we are told a medical condition may have been involved. Again, Josh Romney on the site, tweeting out that he was a part of it all and happy that everyone is essentially OK, as we are as well.
Still ahead, take a look at this picture. An Olympic torchbearer catches fire. Heck, look at that, during a relay. We now know how this happened and we also know his condition.
Also coming up, actress, Evan Rachel Wood takes to social media after her steamy love scene is cut out of her new movie. The actress is slamming Hollywood's ratings board and her criticism doesn't end there. It's not just because the love scene is being cut. It's because of the kind of love scene that's being cut. You have to come back to find out what it is.
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BANFIELD: Actress Evan Rachel Wood was not too happy after watching the final cut of her brand new movie. I think it's safe to say she wasn't just unhappy. She was steamed, because her steamy sex scene was not quite as steamy as she had expected it to be. And the actress took to Twitter to slam the Hollywood Ratings Board after they apparently demanded the scene be toned down or they would slap the movie with the Box Office "Kiss of Death," NC-17.
She is saying it's because all of this is a double standard. It's not just about the sex scene. It's about the kind of sex scene. Nischelle Turner. I'm glad you're here to talk about this. Let's just get it out of the way, OK, my friend. It was an oral sex scene. They happen in the movies, OK, but this was -- OK, it was a man --
NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: It was an oral sex scene where a woman was receiving oral sex from a man, yes.
BANFIELD: Thank you, take it away.
TURNER: I know, sometimes a little dicey to talk about, but it definitely is out there. This movie, "Charlie Countryman" is a romantic action comedy. It debuted at the Sundance Film Festival this year in January. Wide release in theaters on November 15th and apparently after Evan Rachel Wood got a hold of the final cut, that's when she got upset because she saw there were a number of changes in the movie. She took to Twitter.
When I say she took to Twitter, she really took to Twitter. First of all, I want to warn people at home, we're all adults here, Ashleigh, but these tweets are kind of graphic. If there are kids watching, you might want to do ear muffs. Here's what she said. She said, after seeing the new cut of hashtag #charliecountryman, I would like to share my disappointment with the MPAA who thought it was necessary to censor a woman's sexuality once again.
The scene where the two main characters make love was altered because someone felt that seeing a man give a woman oral sex made people uncomfortable, but the scenes in which people are murdered by having their heads blown off remained intact and unaltered. This is the symptom of a society that wants to shame women and put them down for enjoying sex, especially when, gasp, the man isn't getting off as well.
It's hard for me to believe, had the roles been reversed, it still would have been cut. She is very clear how she feels, Ashleigh. She thinks there's a double standard and she takes to task the movie industry, which has been taking to task before, about saying that violence is OK for us to see but sex is not.
BANFIELD: The bigger issue, she may be right. I have seen plenty of issues where the roles are reversed and it's not NC-17.
TURNER: We have seen this in movies before. There are steamy sex scenes in a lot of movies. Think about "Monster's Ball of the World," those types of things where people even questioned, was there actual sex in the movies? Those were very graphic sex scenes. We didn't see it just being a woman getting pleasured.
So that's where, you know, her issue comes in. I tell you, I think she has a bit of a point here and no movie wants to get that NC- 17 rating because that cuts the Box Office. That cuts into who can go see the movie.
BANFIELD: I declare, I'm glad you're here, Nischelle Turner, to take that from me.
TURNER: Are you blushing yet?
BANFIELD: My dress is red, but my face is redder. Thank you, my dear.
TURNER: All right.
BANFIELD: It's good you were here.
OK, moving on, forget the so-called bad guys. A store owner in Florida sets up a surveillance video to catch the so-called good guys. Up next, we'll show you where police are being accused of repeatedly issuing citations to black people, and one man arrested and jailed 56 times because he was at work. What is going on with this? We're on the case.
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BANFIELD: Hi, everybody. I'm glad you're with us today on this holiday Friday. If I were Earl Sampson, I think if you were Earl Sampson, I think we could all agree we would be really ticked because Earl Sampson in Florida has been stopped and questioned by police a total of 258 times, 258, and all of that in four years. The searches, 100 times, arrests and jailings, 56 times.
Almost every single one of these citations was issued at the same place, the convenience store where Earl Sampson works. Our correspondent John Zarrella is tracking the story in Miami. First of all, can we be clear, is Earl Sampson an incredible criminal, or is there something stinky in that town?
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, according to his attorney, there's nothing on his criminal record other than a marijuana possession charge. And most all the times when he's been picked up, detained, everything has been dismissed, thrown out, not adjudicated, nothing with Mr. Sampson.
In fact, his attorney says if you added it up, all the times you mentioned, that's the equivalent of being arrested about once a week for the last -- or picked up or detained once a week for the last four years. Now, Miami Gardens police say they're taking the allegations against their officers seriously.
They're looking into the complaints and allegations that their officers are targeting black males. And the mayor of Miami Gardens, which is just south -- north of Miami, says that, look, this is a high-crime area and we have zero tolerance. Here's what Mr. Sampson told local affiliate, WFOR.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They always stop me, going in my pockets, asking me for my I.D. want to know my name.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZARRELLA: So how did all this get started? About a year and a half ago, the owner of a convenience store had enough, so he installed surveillance cameras to catch the police in action, to see what they were doing. He recorded dozens of instances where police were stopping dozens of people including Sampson.
BANFIELD: Unbelievable. Again, that was 258 times. I'm still astounded at the number. John Zarrella reporting for us. Thank you, sir. Nice to see you. Happy holidays.
Coming up, be really, really careful when you take to the keyboard and write an online review, especially if it's not so positive, because one couple found themselves in a whole lot of financial hot water, and they have been trying for years to get their credit rating back. I'm not kidding you on this one. It could happen to all of us. It's all in the fine print, but we're going to blow it up big for you.
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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there, everybody, I am Nischelle Turner. I am going to give you a back stage look at what it takes to put this CNN Heroes award show together. You ready for this? This is going to be cool. Come with me.
(voice-over): This year we're back in New York, baby, at the American Museum of Natural History where the very first CNN Heroes took place seven years ago.
KELLY FLYNN, SENIOR EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, CNN HEROES: I can't believe it has been that long. We're thrilled to be back here. It is iconic and beautiful.
TURNER: The first stop of the night for the everyday heroes and celebrities, the red carpet.
(on camera): Wow. Look at it in here. Look at all of these lights. Work like this takes hundreds of people to set up, working around the clock.
(voice-over): And then the centerpiece of the evening.
(on camera): This year's CNN Heroes will be honored here in the Whale Room where one of the museum's biggest treasures will be watching over us all night, talking about this lady here.
(voice-over): But that's not all that has to be done to get ready for this special event, 51 tables to set up, nine cameras in place, and one giant video monitor.
JEFF KEPNES, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: You wouldn't believe what it takes to put something like this on. You know, we had two days to bring it in and set it all up.
TURNER: Transforming this beautiful room from this to this, all to honor ten everyday people who are changing the world.
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, CNN'S "AC 360": It is a nice thing to honor these people, they don't get the limelight, don't get honored, don't have celebrities saying their names, praising their work. It is a nice thing for them, a nice pat on the back.
TURNER: A pat on the back from CNN and becomes a very special night of inspiration.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BANFIELD: Trust me, it's awesome. You can catch "CNN Heroes, An All-Star Tribute" on Sunday, December 1st. All gets under way at 8:00 p.m.
Top of the hour now, I'm Ashleigh Banfield in for Brooke, and welcome to the program this holiday Friday. The holiday shopping season is off to a pretty brisk start, not just for the retailers, but for the bargain hunters, too.
