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Boehner Criticizes Obama; Nugent on ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT; Kerry Kennedy DUI Trial; Women With BRCA1 Advised to Remove Ovaries; CA Doctors Stumped by Polio-Like Illness; Crowe Wants Pope to See "Noah"; Leopard on Loose in India

Aired February 25, 2014 - 15:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, so this morning, this is a first in several months.

You have the president of the United States sitting down in a face-to- face meeting with the speaker of the House, Republican John Boehner.

Now, mere hours later, John Boehner went down the street to Capitol Hill, took to the House of the floor and was in total attack-mode.

This is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER (R), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Mr. Speaker, my colleagues, this week, the House will consider several measures to stop government abuse, especially when it threatens freedom and limits opportunity.

The American people expect accountability. Every day, the House is focused on carrying out responsible oversight.

As an example, late on Friday, the Obama administration released a report that we demanded detailing the impact of the health care law and what it will do to employer-sponsored health plans.

You may not have seen the report. It was released rather quietly on Friday afternoon, so I'm going to enter it into the record today. I urge every member to read it and share it with your constituents.

Keep in mind, the White House promised this law would bring down health-insurance premiums by some $2,000 per family.

Instead, according to the administration's own bookkeepers, premiums would go up for two out of three small businesses in our country.

This amounts to about 11 million employees, who are going to see more money coming out of their paycheck for their health insurance every month.

Now, remember, these premiums will be felt not just by workers, but the small-business owners themselves, making it even harder to create jobs, another sucker punch to our economy, another broken promise to hardworking Americans.

And the only reason we even know about it is that the House demanded this transparency from the administration.

That's why the House continues to focus on stopping government abuse and promoting better solutions for middle class families and small businesses.

I yield back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: You hear that? House speaker talking about broken promises, a sucker punch, hours after he met face-to-face with President Obama.

Ted Nugent, he says he did not mean for his recent insults against President Obama to be taken as racist. That's what he says.

But he's not backing off on his criticism as anyone he sees as a political adversary.

In this extended interview with Erin Burnett, he says he should have chosen his recent comments more carefully, yes, but that the president in his view is simply ruining the country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TED NUGENT, ROCK STAR/POLITICAL ACTIVIST: I think the president is intentionally disassembling the greatest quality of life in the history of the world.

I believe that he is creating class warfare intentionally to get Americans to draw this line in the sand, where I've never seen such political discourse in all my life.

And yes, I do apologize for being part of that political discourse, because greater men than myself have advised me that that kind of street language in a volatile interview, as you played earlier, is not appropriate when we're trying to get some upgrade here in America.

But I cannot put into adequate terms the condemnation I feel, and so many Americans feel, that this president's fundamental transformation of this country is, indeed, the destruction of the American dream of being compensated based on being the best that you can be.

The concept of social justice and economic equality is truly bizarro. The president's a bad man. I want to make sure that Americans are encouraged to be the best that they can be, not to be compensated for not even trying.

I really believe history will show that I have been right and the president and CNN was wrong.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR, "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT": I want to understand, because a lot of people want to understand.

And look, I understand, you're saying now, I want to elevate the discussion. A lot of people will say, that's great, if you started to do that.

But I want to understand why you used the word "mongrel," when you did, OK? Because, obviously, I looked it up in the dictionary, I'm sure you have as well at this point, the definition is a dog of mixture or indeterminate breed.

And the only use of the word mongrel in street talk was the Aryan membership form, you have to confirm that you're of a certain origin. "I agree with Aryan's Nations' biblical seclusion of Jews, negroes or mongrels."

NUGENT: I've never heard that reference before.

I've been a cop in Lake County, Michigan, since 1982 or thereabouts. I conduct federal raids with the ATF and U.S. Marshals and FBI and Texas Rangers and the heroes of law enforcement.

And we're re-arresting fugitive felons who are let out of their cages after murdering and raping and molesting children, carjacking. We keep going after these guys.

The adrenaline is something like you'll never experience. I hope you never have to experience it.

But when we're done with these kinds of raids, we get together and our hearts are broken that we have to face these monsters. And we call them mongrels. We call bad people who are destroying our neighborhood mongrels.

I knew of no racial reference. I think the president is absolutely correct. Whites, blacks, Hispanics, yellow, red, we're all mongrels, basically, because we're mixed breeds. I concur with that.

So I learned something there and I learned something from your research into history.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Wow. Erin, that was quite the roller coaster. And you talked --

BURNETT: Yes.

BALDWIN: -- for quite a while. And I know he apologized. He said he was not being racist, said he was going to back off the whole name calling thing.

But do you believe he was sincere?

BURNETT: I mean, that's the question, Brooke

And I think, you know, I guess the context I would put around it is this. Ted Nugent wants to come on and talk about things he doesn't like about the president, in particular, things that have to do with guns and gun control policy.

Yet we had an entire interview that went about 15 minutes, and that didn't come up once.

The entire interview was, in what context did you use the word chimpanzee, and was about the use of the word "sub-human mongrel," and in further, was about words I'm not going to refer to here, which he called Hillary Clinton, one of which begins with the letter "C."

So a problem for Ted Nugent, including key Republicans, including the front-runner for the governor of Texas, which have refused to denounce the statements and refused to say that they won't campaign with him.

Look, he says that he's not going to use these words again.

I find that hard to believe, because then in the same sentence, he went on and started talking about the president being a liar and engaging in criminal acts.

It seems it's very hard for him to keep that to himself.

BALDWIN: You mentioned -- going back to Hillary Clinton, and this word of which we will not speak, a word that, you know, I don't care who you are, it's a horrible word. It's an offensive word.

BURNETT: Right.

BALDWIN: What did he say when you asked him about that? And were there any apologies there?

BURNETT: You know, that's -- he didn't directly apologize to Hillary Clinton, no.

But he did -- he just said, that was where he made the moment, he said, you know what, he tried to sort of make light of it, which in the interview, I said, I don't take this lightly and I don't think people watching take this lightly.

But to make a comment, this is the Alamo, and on this date Ted Nugent says, he'll never call anybody names ever again.

That's how he responded specifically to the "C" words and other words he's used to describe Hillary Clinton.

And he brought up Bill Maher also using the "C" word to refer to Sarah Palin, which, of course, was utterly inappropriate.

The whole point is, it's inappropriate and horrendous no matter who's using it, regardless of your political party.

BALDWIN: I don't know how many times, I guess you've interviewed him in the past, but were you surprised he agreed to come on and to talk for 15 minutes? BURNETT: I was, Brooke. I have interviewed him before about guns, and as you know, our colleague, Deb Feyerick, has been down to his ranch in Texas and done extensive reporting on the cult of Ted Nugent, which is a significant -- he's a significantly influential individual, especially in a group of people, who care deeply about gun rights in country, and I was surprised.

You know, last week, as you know, he was scheduled to come on the program and he canceled --

BALDWIN: And he bailed.

BURNETT: -- a couple of hours before the show, yes.

And then decided he was going to come back on, and he came on, and yes, I was, to be honest, surprised that he did.

You know, he clearly felt the pressure that he needed to come on and talk about this more.

And when I said, was it Greg Abbott, Rick Perry, or anyone in the GOP who has said, you've gone too far, you need to dial this back?

The answer to that was, categorically, he said, no. It was his wife, his brother, who was going to be on our program tonight.

And it was his daughter who said, this is utterly inappropriate and you need to dial it back.

BALDWIN: His daughter.

BURNETT: His daughter, yes.

BALDWIN: We played a clip, but I want people, if they want to be able to watch this whole thing with you, go to CNN.com.

Erin Burnett, thank you so much. We watch you every night.

BURNETT: Thank you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: "Erin Burnett OutFront," 7:00 Eastern, only here on CNN.

BURNETT: See you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Coming up, Kerry Kennedy in court for her DUI, but she's using the so-called sleep-driving defense.

The question we're asking is, will it work? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Another criminal trial for the family really considered American royalty and niece of President John F. Kennedy is charged with driving while contacted after she hit a tractor-trailer back in 2012. The trial of Kerry Kennedy, who is Robert Kennedy's daughter, started Monday in New York, and her defense is this. The wrong pill made her do it.

Kennedy's attorney says she took this bill, the generic for Ambien, by mistake, thinking it was her thyroid medication.

Our New York affiliate reports a trooper testified today he thought Kennedy was actually having a seizure or a stroke after her car hit the truck on the interstate.

So, to New York we go, and CNN legal analyst, Sunny Hostin. Sunny, when you hear this, like, I took the wrong pill defense, is that legitimate?

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: You know, I think it could be.

Being in trial really is about relating to the jury. And I don't live too far from where this trial is taking place.

You're talking about Westchester County, a lot of soccer moms there, a lot of people that do take multi-pills, take thyroid medication, take Ambien, because they have trouble sleeping.

I think it could be very credible to a jury that, hey, I didn't mean to drive under the influence. I just took the wrong pill.

I actually think in this case, especially if she testifies, Brooke, which according to many, she will, I think it could really work out for her.

BALDWIN: And it's interesting, because you talking about playing to the jury and the soccer moms, I don't know who the jurors are, but when you have other members of the Kennedy family sitting in that courtroom, what kind of impact do you think that's having?

HOSTIN: It always has an impact when there is a family presence behind the defendant, in any case. We're not only talking about a family --

BALDWIN: Not just a family.

HOSTIN: -- we're talking about a famous family, as you mentioned earlier, sort of the royalty of the United States.

So I suspect that these jurors will know Ethel Kennedy. They'll recognize Kerry Kennedy. It is the Kennedy name. You have to be living under a rock not to know who the defendant is.

And I think it's also going to help her. I really do. I suspect that we are not going to have a guilty verdict here.

BALDWIN: Sunny Hostin, we'll continue watching it. Thank you very much.

Coming up here, this mystery illness in California affecting as many as 20 children with polio-like symptoms. It has doctors wondering what's happening.

Coming up next, we'll talk to our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: I want to tell you about these two big medical stories today. One involves women who have the breast cancer gene.

A recent study says they can reduce the potential risk for ovarian risk if women remove their perfectly healthy ovaries before the age of 35.

And in California, doctors are trying to figure out what has paralyzed five kids.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. KEITH VAN HAREN, PEDIATRIC NEUROLOGIST: The prognosis that we've seen so far is not good. Most of the children we have seen have not recovered.

Our suspicion is that it's a virus, but it's unproven. We know it's not the polio virus. There are other viruses that can do this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Joining me now, our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

And it's frightening when you think about this, these five kids that we know of so far, polio-like symptoms.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right.

BALDWIN: How concerned are you?

GUPTA: What I'm hearing from the health officials is that this isn't very contagious. That makes me less concerned.

And it does seem to be pretty rare. I mean, you know, you have -- this has been over a year-and-a-half now that they've been following these cases along, and it hasn't burgeoned into something much bigger.

What I found interesting was, Brooke, that part of this was an all- call to doctors all over the country saying, have you seen anything like this?

BALDWIN: Yeah.

GUPTA: Is there something similar where you see kids actually becoming weak in one limb or the other?

If so, don't hesitate. Go to the doctor, because you want to get a diagnosis as soon as possible to see what is tying all these cases together. BALDWIN: Is there something that doctors in another state are worried about? Wasn't this like a finite period of time in California with a finite number of kids?

GUPTA: It does seem to be.

BALDWIN: OK.

GUPTA: But they are presenting this at a big conference to try and make sure that now just refresh everyone's memory, make sure there wasn't something unusual that you're seeing in your own communities that might fit with this.

BALDWIN: Let me ask you about, totally switching gears, this new research saying that if you have -- young women from my age, perfectly healthy ovaries, if you have that sort of notorious, cancer gene, the BRCA1, you should have your ovaries removed?

GUPTA: That's right.

Look, you know, this -- some of this is not new. What is interesting here is that they are now putting a number on it.

We've known for some time that the Breast Cancer One Mutation Gene -- that's what's know as a tumor-suppressor gene.

You have things in your body that suppress tumors from growing. If those genes don't work, those tumors are allowed to grow.

And the two tumors they were most worried about were breast cancer and ovarian cancer. So, they just didn't know how significant the risk was.

When you look at all the data now, they're saying, if you test positive for this gene, your risk of cancer goes up significantly around age 35.

BALDWIN: Thirty-five is the number.

GUPTA: Thirty-five is the number.

You know, Brooke, it's one of these psychological things. If a woman decides to get this testing done, part of it is going to be, how am I going to behave based on this information?

Am I going to act differently? Am I going to get a prophylactic mastectomy like Angelina Jolie did?

BALDWIN: Right.

GUPTA: Am I going to get more frequent mammograms? Am I just going to be more careful and pay attention to my own body and see if anything seems unusual?

People are going to approach these in all sorts of different ways. But they say, look, if you're doing this because you want to reduce your risk of cancer, here is our best guidance based on what we are seeing.

BALDWIN: OK, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you very much.

GUPTA: You got it, Brooke. Thank you.

BALDWIN: All right, coming up next, Russell Crowe wants the pope's blessing for his new film about "Noah" -- as in Noah from the Bible -- but why is he reaching out to the pope?

That answer's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUSSELL CROWE, ACTOR: A great flood is coming. We build a vessel, survive the storm.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: You can say Russell Crowe, kicking the promotion for his new film "Noah" up a notch, going straight to the top.

The actor has been lobbying to get Pope Francis to agree to watch the biblical adventure story.

He actually asked him to screen it on Twitter, but so far, no response from the spiritual leader.

"Noah" opens in the U.S. in theaters next month.

Coming up next, a leopard on the loose, people fleeing in terror, even gets inside a hospital.

The pictures, you have to stick around for the pictures. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Panic in a city in northern India, this wild leopard creeps through the streets, injures seven people.

At one point, some people managed to corner this cat in a hospital. It broke through this window, escaped.

And the whole thing was caught on camera.

(VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Still has yet to be caught.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thanks for being with me. See you back here tomorrow. "THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" starts right now.