Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

3-Parent IVF Raises Fears; Knox's Ex-Boyfriend Questions Behavior; Hernandez Gets in A Fight; Minimum Wage Vote

Aired February 26, 2014 - 14:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, thank you.

Great to be with you on this Wednesday. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

A lot to talk about beginning with Arizona's governor. Who, by the way, could decide as early as today whether or not she will approve the state's controversial religious freedom bill. As we have been reporting, it is expected she will veto it, but publicly Governor Jan Brewer is only repeating on Twitter what she told CNN exclusively Monday, that she will do what's right for the state of Arizona.

Today, she's meeting with legislative leaders, both for and against SB 1062. Again, this is a bill that would expand current law to allow not just people but businesses and associations to refuse service based upon their religious beliefs. But critics, and there are many, say it gives people license to discriminate and reject gay customers. Protesters plan more demonstrations against 1062 tonight.

And to another governor, Chris Christie. His damage control tour made its second stop today in Long Hill, New Jersey. We've been counting. This is the governor's 111th town hall meeting, which has to be some kind of record. The government is still trying to rebound from that bridge scandal, which hurt his poll numbers. But earlier he showed the common touch that makes him such a force in politics. And coming up, we'll talk to our chief political correspondent this hour about how Governor Christie handled the town hall and how voters handled him.

To New York, where Kerry Kennedy took the stand today in that DWI trial. She again today repeated her claim that she took a sleeping pill by mistake on the morning of that crash. Kennedy allegedly swerved between lanes and careened right into this tractor-trailer. This was back in July of 2012. She drove away from the accident scene despite a shredded tire. She was later found collapsed over the steering wheel of her car. Kerry Kennedy, the daughter of the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy and ex-wife of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

And now to this one. Have you heard about this today, genetically modifying children. You know the pursuit of this perfect baby. It's always been one of those far off notions, but right now the FDA is considering this new technique that could actually pave the way for so-called designer babies. By using the DNA, not just two parents here, this is three parents. Scientists say they can eliminate genetically inherited diseases in newborns. It essentially replaces defective cells with donor's healthy cells before fertilization.

Let me walk you through this a little bit more here. So this procedure, sometimes it's called three-parent IVF. It begins with the mother's egg. If there's a problem with what's called the mitochondrial DNA, doctors then take out the egg's nucleus, which contains, you know, factors like eye color and height and gender, move that nucleus to a donor egg. This is an egg that's a much healthier, healthy mitochondrial DNA with that egg. That enhanced egg, then free of problematic DNA, can now be fertilized in a lab by the father's sperm. Are you with me? And the embryo would be implanted back in the mother like regular IVF.

So, let's talk about why maybe people should be frightened, maybe people should be excited. Jeremy Gruber, president of the Council for Responsible Genetics, and Dr. Alan Copperman, director of the division of reproductive endocrinology and infertility at Mount Sinai Hospital.

Gentlemen, welcome to both of you.

JEREMY GRUBER, PRESIDENT, COUNCIL FOR RESPONSIBLE GENETICS: Thank you.

DR. ALAN COPPERMAN, DIRECTOR, REPRODUCTIVE ENDOCRINOLOGY & INFERTILITY: Thank you.

BALDWIN: OK, Jeremy, first to you, because we know that researchers in Oregon actually tried this with monkeys. That was a success. But you say, hang on, this is moving a little too fast. I want you to tell me why.

GRUBER: Well, I think that the research to date has shown that there's a lot more work that needs to be done to ensure that the technique is safe. Even the FDA hearing that has been going on for the last two days has found almost unanimously that a lot more animal testing and other modelling and work is required. Basic research is required to ensure that this technique is safe before it is used on humans.

BALDWIN: OK.

GRUBER: Secondly, I think it's really important that before we even begin to go down this road, that we have a transparent and open public debate about whether we're ready to enter a world of genetically engineered children, even if it's for therapeutic purposes, and where the line should be. We haven't had that debate yet.

BALDWIN: Let's flirt with the idea of that debate and let's say if in fact they discover that this could be done in a healthy way, Dr. Copperman, tell me why we should be excited.

COPPERMAN: Oh, this is exciting to even begin the discussion about whether we can cure disease, about whether we can prevent disease and different ways that we could use modern medicine to help the health of our offspring. So this is not a story about designer babies. This is saying that people with a mutation in their mitochondria might have the opportunity to have healthier mitochondria, provide power for their own cells to become a healthy baby. So I don't want to turn this into sensationalism. I think the key right now is to focus on public dialogue, public discourse and conversations about responsible ways to use science to help promote health.

BALDWIN: Both of you know that people are watching, they're thinking, great, I'd love to have a healthy baby. But then could there come a day where, you know, you have this parent that says, hmm, I really like the idea of, you know, brunette, blue eyes, tall, could we make that baby happen? I mean how will we make sure that doesn't happen, that we don't play God? To either of you.

COPPERMAN: I think we're doing the right thing right now in having this type of a discourse of having the conversation on air and within Washington, D.C., with bioethists, with leaders and thinking about the social consequences. But we use antibiotics to stop disease, we use surgery to help take out cancers and now we're taking embryos and trying to make them as healthy as possible and select the healthy embryos to make sure we have healthy children. So I don't think that this is extreme.

GRUBER: You know, I -

BALDWIN: Go ahead, Jeremy. Jump in.

GRUBER: I wish we - I wish we were having that open public debate, but I would have to disagree. I don't think we are. In fact, the FDA, in its hearings, specifically said that they will not be considering ethical considerations. That they leave it to others to make those considerations and that they're going to move forward with discussing this technology outside of a public policy debate. And that debate is not happening --

BALDWIN: So what are your ethical concerns then?

GRUBER: That debate is not happening right now. The FDA is the only agency moving forward and it's moving forward outside of ethical considerations.

BALDWIN: So raise your concerns right now. Ethically, what are you most worried about?

GRUBER: Well, I'm worried that we are moving forward in allowing a technique that so far has not proven safe. And that's really important because we're not just talking about the health of a child born from this technique. This is gernline (ph) intervention. So we're talking about future generations from that child could be affected by abnormalities from this technique if we get it wrong.

BALDWIN: And we won't know about that until years down the road, right?

GRUBER: Exactly. In fact, the animal studies --

COPPERMAN: That's why we're talking about experiments to look at the safety, to look at the efficacy. We're, I think, having the right conversations. All - and the FDA is doing what their job is. If there's a new device, they're the ones, to the best of our ability as a society, to regulate that. And the society of reproductive medicine and internal review boards and institutional review boards. I think we're starting to go through the right process and we shouldn't put our heads in the sand, but we should realize that the science is here, the technology is here and we just need to use it responsibly.

BALDWIN: Let's see what the FDA decides with these -

GRUBER: Well, I agree we shouldn't put our heads --

BALDWIN: Quickly, and then we've got to go. Go ahead.

GRUBER: I agree we shouldn't put our heads in the sand, but the FDA has specifically asked our advisory committee to offer guidelines for how clinical trials might move forward. So it's clear the FDA isn't just looking at education, isn't looking at just a debate, but is looking at moving forward with a technique that's unproven.

BALDWIN: And this is just the beginning. This is just the beginning of the debate, gentlemen.

COPPERMAN: The FDA, that's their job.

BALDWIN: I mean just imagine when this thing gets the green light and we continue forward. Let's pick it up when and if that happens. Jeremy Gruber and Dr. Alan Copperman, my thanks to both of you, both your perspectives. Appreciate it.

COPPERMAN: Thank you.

GRUBER: Thank you.

BALDWIN: And now to Ukraine and what many there had feared, their former president is now an international fugitive and it appears Russia is getting ready to pounce. Pro and anti-Russian protesters are violently clashing in the Ukraine region of Primia (ph). And with his eyes now off the Winter Olympics, you know the -- Sochi is - we're finished. So President Vladimir Putin is now ordering military drills and battle readiness checks on armed forces near the nation's borders. And in the Black Sea, the U.S. is watching as Russia moves its naval fleet. What's the goal here? To storm and reclaim the Crimean peninsula. It's a peninsula that connects Ukraine - look at the map, it connects the Ukraine to Russia there in the east. It's an area where Ukraine's former president and a friend to Russia is believed to be hiding out. Of course, the violent clashes we saw in Kiev over the past couple of weeks were a direct result of a split between pro- Russian Ukrainians and those who wanted to have more western ties to join European Union with that treaty back in November.

Coming up, for years Amanda Knox and her ex seemed united -- seemed being the key word here -- in their declarations of innocence. But now that could be changing. Hear why her ex says Knox behaved strangely.

Plus, why were Ben Affleck and John Kerry hanging out together on Capitol Hill. By the way, "Argo" came up. We'll talk about that.

And former NFL star Aaron Hernandez behind bars, accused of murder. And get this, he's apparently now gotten into a fight with fellow inmates. We will tell you how, just ahead. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Is Amanda Knox's boyfriend now having some second thoughts about her innocence? In an interview this week, Raffaele Sollecito, said he has his own questions about the night Meredith Kercher was murdered. So this is what Sollecito told Italian TV. Quoting him, "certainly I asked her questions. Why did you take a shower? Why did she spend so much time there?" What does all this mean? CNN's Ashleigh Banfield, host of "Legal View," joining me.

What is this? Is -- could this be like some kind of defense strategy here?

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, ANCHOR, CNN'S "LEGAL VIEW": Yes, you bet.

BALDWIN: Yes.

BANFIELD: What I don't know, Brooke B., is why on earth he wouldn't employ this strategy, I don't know, six and a half years ago.

BALDWIN: Yes.

BANFIELD: Listen, if you're with a co-defendant in a crime, I love to do this, the hand signals. The best defense is this one, point to the other guy. Say, she did it and you say he did it and the jury has something called reasonable doubt because they don't know who did it. So for him now to be departing from the, you know, the original stories, it's somewhat problematic for him because we have something called trial transcripts and we have all sorts of things that might suggest he's now being inconsistent.

But if I were his lawyer, I would look at him and say, look, she may have been your sweetheart for a week, but it's not going to help you now. Distance yourself. You are here in Italy and you're facing the music. Whether she's ever brought back to Italy remains to be seen. So throw her under the bus the most you can, save yourself.

BALDWIN: OK. So if that would be your advice to this teen, we know that Sollecito was her alibi. If she ever comes back, you know, to Italy, what would that mean for her defense if he's doubting her?

BANFIELD: Right. Well, trial transcripts aside, they're also media transcripts. So that's the kind of thing, what you just read, that would come back in a case against her. Things he's saying of his own free will, not under investigation or interrogation, he's just talking to the press and saying these things about her and saying that she was acting strange.

Now, here in America, I like to think we have something called -- a little more freedom than just assuming that your weird behavior after a crime will completely convict you. It happens. Without question it happens. It is not right. It's not evidence. It's just circumstance. But in any case, I just find it interesting that six and a half years later, he's now suggesting, or he's acknowledging her unusual behavior. And, yes, he is her alibi. So it's very troublesome for her. I still - look, you can play this tape in a couple of years. I still don't believe she'll ever see Italy again.

BALDWIN: Ashleigh Banfield, thank you.

BANFIELD: Thank you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: We watch you every day, noon Eastern here on CNN. Thank you, ma'am.

BANFIELD: I watch you right back.

BALDWIN: Thank you very much.

A powerful new opioid pain killer will soon be making its controversial debut. The drug is called Zohydro. It is up to five times more powerful than the strongest Vicodin. Zohydro has only one ingredient, hydrocodone. It's a frequently abused opioid. An addiction expert says, quote, "it will kill people as soon as it is released." Also, he says, the FDA approval is, quote, "shocking, outrageous and genuinely frightening." More than 40 groups are urging the FDA to revoke its approval. The drug's maker and the FDA say that Zohydro's benefits in treating chronic pain outweigh the drug's risks.

Ben Affleck, anyone, let his famous name to a good cause today. The Academy Award winner appeared at the State Department to talk about violence in the Congo. He is the founder of the Eastern Congo Initiative. It's this four-year-old organization working for peace in the region. Appearing there along Secretary of State John Kerry. Affleck says he thinks there is a chance for the U.S. really to make a difference in Africa.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN AFFLECK, FOUNDER, EASTERN CONGO INITIATIVE: This is a region that's suffered enormous damage and trauma and this fire is now abating a little bit and we have a window where engagement on the part of the secretary, the president, the Congress, all collectively, can make a real difference.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Affleck also poked a little fun at the Hollywood version of the State Department saying the real one is actually really much more impressive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AFFLECK: Just a pleasure to be back here in the State Department after - the real State Department, but I had to fake it for "Argo." Now I get to see the real thing here. So it's quite intimidating. Thank you again, Mr. Secretary.

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: Happy to have you here.

AFFLECK: This part's much better. In fact this was - this area was too fancy to try to recreate, so we just recreated white hallways with colored stripes, you know. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: We should tell you, this is not Ben Affleck's first stop to Capitol Hill. He testified on the same subject, that was back in 2012. Some pundits say it would not surprise them if Ben Affleck one day runs for office.

Coming up next, we thought Aaron Hernandez was separated from the prison population as he awaits trial for murder, but we are now hearing he just got into a fight with an inmate. That story.

Plus, a warning to Muslims, don't go to Mars, especially on that one- way ticket. Hear why, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Well, what's a day without hope in the news. Say hello to the mini pope. Pope Francis came face-to-face with a tiny version of himself -- look at this - during his audiences this morning in St. Peter's Square. The child, not loving it, was dressed all up for Italy's carnival wearing a white cassic (ph), a cape and even a skull cap. The toddler did not seem to appreciate the moment. The poor little guy cried when the pope picked him up and gave him a kiss. It is common for kids to dress up in costumes during carnival in Italy.

The mission to Mars is getting an official thumbs down from one Muslim authority. The General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowment in the UAE is warning Muslims, do not apply to Mars 1. We've talked about this. This is the effort to send humans to the red planet by 2025. The authorities considers the voyage a one-way mission with, quote, "the chances of dying higher than living." And it's against the Islamic faith to take one's life. That's the connection here. Mars 1 has responded saying, "the UAE authorities should cancel the warning," called it a (INAUDIBLE) because it will only launch when conditions on Mars were ready to support life.

Ex-NFL star Aaron Hernandez may be behind bars, but he is not staying out of trouble. A spokesman for the Bristol County jail there in Massachusetts says the former New England Patriot got into a fight with another inmate. Hernandez is in jail without bond as he awaits this trial on first degree murder charge in the death of his friend Odin Lloyd. And our national correspondent, Susan Candiotti, is on the phone with me.

You've been covering this news. And, I mean, here he is. He's this high profile prisoner. I have to imagine, you know, he's separated from others behind bars. So how could he even have this confrontation with someone else?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Hi, Brooke.

Well, that is the question and it's the question that the sheriff has too. I spoke with him about what happened and he says that, yes, indeed, the two men got /physical. And they're not supposed to have contact with each other because, as you said, Aaron Hernandez is in a segregated unit. And this was a set-up where there basically are two levels and this apparently took place in front of the cells. He's not supposed to be having contact with other inmates. And so there is an investigation going on. They're looking at surveillance tapes, they're looking at (INAUDIBLE) the jail officers who were on duty at the time and they're trying to figure out how the heck these two were able to come into contact with each other.

And that also means that they're going to be interviewing the two people to figure out what led up to this and whether one of them was at fault, both of them were at fault, whether they should be disciplined and, in fact, whether any assault charges might even be contemplated. So they've got some investigating to do.

BALDWIN: How - Susan, as far as the fight itself, how serious was it? Did anyone get really hurt, injured?

CANDIOTTI: No, the sheriff tells me that nothing that required medical attention, minor injuries. He said maybe they're feeling a little bit sore. But he downplays the severity of it.

BALDWIN: OK. Susan Candiotti, thank you very much for hopping on the phone with me here.

Now to this. One of Philip Seymour Hoffman's closest friends is talking to CNN. He tells us about discovering the actor's body. He was the one. And a tabloid falsely reporting they were lovers.

Also ahead, a new poll. The numbers here show Governor Chris Christie may face an uphill fight if he wants to be president. We will get the latest on how his performance is playing among voters as he once again holds a town hall. We will tell you what he said, next here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Just about the bottom of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin here. And right now Democrats in the House of Representatives are launching their own mission impossible, if you will. They're trying to force a vote on minimum wage because they want to raise minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. And if you believe the poll numbers, this would be very, very popular. Case and point, let me show you this CBS poll. This is from the last month. And you see the number there? Seventy-two percent favored a raise. Only about a quarter of respondents opposed one. Democrats are trying to persuade a handful of Republicans to force this vote. So let's go to our chief congressional correspondent Dana Bash.

And, Dana Bash, what exactly are the Democrats trying to do and, more importantly, do we think it will work?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It depends on what the definition of it is to sort of change a famous quote. But, look, I mean, you said that its mission impossible, right? And that is very true, Brooke, when it comes to the substance of what they want to do, which is to raise the minimum wage because the way they need to go about it is what's known as a discharge petition, but what that means in reality is that they need to find 218 signatures to override the objections of the House speaker. The Republicans, of course, run the floor because Democrats are in the minority. So it is going to be very hard, if not impossible, to get that. That's the substance.