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Michelle Knight Remembers Kidnapping; Ukraine Teeters on Edge of All-Out War; Dennis Rodman's Shocking New Interview; Blow up Over "Blah, Blah, Blah"

Aired May 06, 2014 - 10:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Checking our "Top Stories" at 29 minutes pass the hour.

Bridge fires backing up traffic for miles this morning on southern California's Interstate 15. According to officials some lanes on the major connector between Los Angeles and Las Vegas could reopen in less than nine hours but first crews have to put out the fire and demolish the damaged structure. The bridge caught fire Monday when sparks from blow torches accidentally ignited it.

A mother is in critical but stable condition after surviving for nearly a week in her mangled car. Found bleeding and dehydrated, Christine Hopkins flipped off the road and landed in an embankment after her car crashed on Tuesday.

She was stuck upside down in her car until another driver spotted her. Because of the severity of her injuries doctors had to amputate her feet but she's -- she's struggling to recover this morning.

Coca-Cola is removing a chemical linked to a fire retardant from all of its drinks by the end of the year. Brominated vegetable oil also known as BVO is used in drinks like Powerade and Fresta it helps ingredient to keep from separating. But according to the Mayo clinic's Web site the chemical has been linked to memory loss and skin and nerve problems when consumed in large amounts. It's also not approved for use in foods in Japan and the European Union. For their part Coke says its drinks are safe and have always been but they will remove that chemical in the future.

It was one year ago today that a nightmare ended for three Cleveland women who were kidnapped for more than a decade. Michelle Knight, Gina De Jesus, Amanda Berry and her daughter were able to escape the home of Ariel Castro after suffering years of torture, rape, beatings and starvation.

Their kidnapper was sentenced to life in prison and he took his own life while behind bars back in September. Michelle Knight is now talking about her terrible ordeal and the abuse she endured. She sat down with CNN's Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, AC360 (on camera): Did you ever think about screaming or yelling?

MICHELLE KNIGHT, KIDNAPPING VICTIM & MOTHER: I screamed but nobody would hear it. There was a day I screamed until I had no voice. Still nobody heard me. And when he hears you scream, he just shoves a sock or a cloth down your throat until you choke on it.

COOPER: Did you think that this would at some point end? That it wouldn't go on and that he would let you go? Did he promise that he would let you go?

KNIGHT: No he told me he would never let me go.

COOPER: He said that from the beginning?

KNIGHT: Yes. He said you don't have a family that cares about you. If I kill you right now, nobody would even care.

COOPER (voice over): For the first several months she was kept in what she refers to as the dungeon the basement of the house in Seymour Avenue sitting on the ground she was chained to a pole gagged with a sock and a motorcycle helmet placed over her head. All the while the abuse continued.

(on camera): I talked to other people who have been taken and they all say that very quickly you start to kind of adapt to the new reality and that you start to, you know, people who haven't been through this situation think oh I would try to escape I would do this I would do that but in reality very quickly your mind starts to adapt to your new environment.

KNIGHT: Yes.

COOPER: Can you explain that?

KNIGHT: What happens is hard at first. You don't really want to adapt to it. You don't want to comply. You don't want to do anything at first. But then you find yourself saying why not? I'm here. Just let him get it over with.

COOPER: It feels like you have no power over it.

KNIGHT: Yes, that you're powerless.

COOPER: What would you think about each day? I mean just to get through?

KNIGHT: Oh basically think about my son and how I would like to see his loving smile again.

COOPER (voice over): Eventually he moved her upstairs where she was kept naked and often chained to a wall in a boarded up bedroom. She only had about a foot and a half of chain, just enough to her to stand up and use a bucket for a toilet. Her only connection with the outside world, an old radio, sometimes a small TV. It was nearly eight months into her hell when she saw on that TV that a girl named Amanda Berry had gone missing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If anybody knows anything about my daughter, I wish somebody would come forward.

COOPER (on camera): And when you heard that, what did you think?

KNIGHT: First thought in my head was he did it.

COOPER: You knew right away?

KNIGHT: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: She's an incredible young woman. Part two of Anderson Cooper's interview with Michelle Knight airs tonight 8:00 p.m. Eastern right here is on CNN.

And while support for Michelle Knight is nearly universal, that's not the case for a rape victim in Texas. The controversy swirling around the sentence given to her convicted rapist in Dallas County will not die down.

Twenty year old Sir Young admitted to raping that 14-year-old victim. His sentence 45 days in jail and five years probation and he's ordered to work 250 hours at a rape crisis center -- a center that will not allow him to work there.

The judge in the case Jeanine Howard implied the 14-year-old victim was promiscuous because she had had sex in the past. That she wasn't the victim she claimed to be and the defendant she said is not your typical sex offender because he had a bright future. The judge has now recused herself from that case.

I wish I could tell you what happened in Texas has never happened before but I can't because it has happened before. And frankly, it astounds me. I wrote an op-ed for CNN.com it reads in part, "It's 2014 yet many Americans including a sitting judge apparently don't know how to define rape. They find it difficult to figure out who is an actual victim. They can't even figure out who is a rapist even when the accused pleads guilty to rape.

It seems some cannot resist blaming the victim even when it's a clear cut case -- more disturbing, how some describe the rapist in this case. In that Texas case the young man's lawyer claimed his client made a mistake and spoiled his future. I maintain rape is not a lapse of judgment. It's a crime. And who cares, Defense Attorney Allen if an admitted rapist is very talented, very gifted and had scholarship offers. As I said rape is a crime. Is murder a lapse in judgment that could spoil a killer's bright future?"

Let's talk more about this. Sondra Miller is the director of the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center she joins me this morning. Good morning.

SONDRA MILLER, DIRECTOR, CLEVELAND RAPE CRISIS CENTER: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: I'm glad you're here. And I just wonder from your perspective because you deal with this every day, do most in America -- do most in America understand what rape is?

MILLER: Most Americans do not. And in fact, the general public holds a lot of misinformation and misconceptions about reality of sexual assault and then members of the general public are appointed or elected into positions and as judges and in juries and often victims lose out.

COSTELLO: Even in Michelle Knight's case, there were questions. Why didn't she try to escape earlier? Why did she get into that car in the first place? Why does it seem that somebody always blames at least in part the victim?

MILLER: Yes in Cleveland we're celebrating the courage of these three women and yet we look at what are the lessons that we can learn and we're still saying people are saying Mr. Castro was, you know, a nice guy on the street. I can't imagine how he could do this. We think that rapists all look and act the same way and that if they're walking down the street, they must have a big "R" on their forehead so we can point them out and we know exactly who they are and we can stay away from them.

The reality is that rapists go to school with us, they work with us, they stand in line with in front of us in the grocery store. They are often charming, well educated, they do have bright futures. That doesn't mean they're not capable of doing horrendous things.

COSTELLO: There are those who feel we should do away with the term sexual assault and call it what it really is which is rape. And in fact, we should never say date rape because that sort of diminishes the crime. It's just rape. Do you agree?

MILLER: I do think that when we -- when we put the label rape, we infer the seriousness of the crime and we do by our language try to lessen it. We use words like molestation, incest, even sex crimes. Sex is not a crime. Many crimes involve sexual assault but sex in itself is not a crime. I do think by our language we diminish the effects that rape has on survivors.

COSTELLO: The other things -- the other thing I noticed, we seem squeamish about calling even men who admit to rape rapists. For example in that Texas case I was talking about the young man told police he raped this girl yet his lawyer called his actions bad judgment and sadly foretold of a future for this young man. Do you hear that kind of thing a lot?

MILLER: We do. We want to think that he's just a good guy and he made an error in judgment. But in fact what we know about rapists is many of them are serial offenders. And once they commit the crime and get away with it, they're more likely to do it again. And in Cleveland we have shelves and shelves of untested sexual assault kits dating back about 20 years that are now being tested and prosecuted and more than a third of them involve serial sex offenders. COSTELLO: So you know there are no simple answers. I just would like to gather your thoughts on maybe a small solution.

MILLER: You know, I think the number one thing that we can do is when a survivor of rape or sexual assault comes forward, we believe her unconditionally and we support her and we know that in doing that we make it easier for the next victim and the next victim to come forward and ultimately will put more sexual predators behind bars.

COSTELLO: Sondra Miller thanks for your insight. I really appreciate it.

MILLER: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: I would like to know your thoughts as well. So please go to CNN.com/opinion and weigh in and I'll join in after the show.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Ukraine teetering on the brink but feeling very much like an all-out war to the citizens caught in the deadly crossfire. We'll take you inside one city under siege.

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COSTELLO: In Ukraine, the scenes look more and more like a country toppling into civil war. Ukrainian forces try to reclaim cities and towns captured by pro-Russian militants and the world wonders if Moscow will seize on an excuse for all-out military involvement.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh has a view from one embattled city.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): On the way into Slavyansk we passed Ukraine's army edging closer to its center and we're told to hurry on. Just around the corner, pro- Russian militants were clearly massing ready. The green van driven by their best equipped nearby.

This day the probing by each side of the other stopped and broke into the chaos of open conflict. A procession of ambulances to the hospital. This man's wife shot in the head he said while on their balcony. She died moments later -- the random suffering and intimate moments of loss of what is fast becoming a civil war.

Four militants brought in too. On the other side, Ukraine said it lost four soldiers and a helicopter whose pilot survived. Closer to the front line they look for snipers. Up close, the massed are less mysterious more human in their fury. They shoot at the people to blame it on us, one said. Another saying they fought not the army but far right militants.

Urging us to film the toll on civilians, Slavyansk fears only worse can come. The self-declared mayor hours earlier showed me how Ukraine's army had the town encircled. He'll only negotiate if they withdraw and sleeps in his office under guard. He has one message for Washington. "To Barack Obama, I would like to say the following," he said. "Please stop supplying fighters with money and weapons with military forces and mercenaries like Black Water." Rhetoric that feeds loathing, fomenting bloodshed and the fear this is not the climax of recent unrest but the start of whole troubles new.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN near Slavyansk.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Dennis Rodman back in the spotlight over his friendship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un and his shocking comments about an executed uncle who is actually still alive. We'll talk about that next.

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COSTELLO: A North Korean man executed for treason or was he? Dennis Rodman now says Kim Jong-Un did not have his uncle killed. And that's not the only shocking statement Rodman is making in a new interview; Brian Todd is in Washington to tell us more. Good morning.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDNET: Good morning, Carol.

You know when talking about Kim Jong-Un, Dennis Rodman said quote, "That little kid is changing North Korea for the better."

In his interview with Du Jour Magazine, Rodman spoke of his personal fondness for the man who executed his own uncle and who's again threatening to destabilize an entire region.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD (voice over): Far from being contrite, Dennis Rodman still glowing about the trip he made to North Korea in January. And the basketball exhibition he staged for Kim Jong-Un's birthday. In an interview with Du Jour magazine, Rodman said he is still impressed with the show of worship Kim got when he entered the arena that night.

DENNIS RODMAN, FORMER NBA PLAYER: I was just so amazed to see the people crying. I mean literally crying.

TODD: Some of the interview was videotaped but in the more substantive portion, Rodman wanted just the audio recorded. He told Du Jour Kim Jong-Un's uncle, Jang Sung-taek was still alive when he was there.

RODMAN: That's his girlfriend, that's his uncle, that's his sister, that's his sister -- they're standing right behind me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The uncle is alive?

RODMAN: They're all right there, sitting right behind me.

TODD: The interviewers were skeptical asking again if the uncle was alive.

RODMAN: He was standing right there.

TODD: This despite reports from North Korea's own government news agency the previous month that Kim had had his uncle executed for treason. Other Rodman revelations, he said he paid the other former NBA stars that accompanied him to North Korea $30,000 to $35,000 each out of his own pocket. He said he held Kim's baby and portrayed the uneven, volatile young dictator as something like a cruise director.

RODMAN: He laughs, jokes and do all kind of (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Loves playing basketball, loves playing table tennis and pool. He has this 13-piece girl's band. That's not karaoke machine it's a van -- a real band that's all girls.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you ever sing?

RODMAN: Did I sing? They played "Rocky" and "Dallas".

TODD: Rodman has admitted that he was drunk for part of the time and said he went to rehab after returning from North Korea but he remains the only American ever to have personal meetings with Kim Jong-Un. Rodman says Kim wants to change that.

RODMAN: He really, really wants to talk to Obama. He says it -- I mean he can't stand it enough. These days you don't want to bother nobody. He don't want to kill Americans.

TODD: U.S. Officials are now concerned that Kim's regime is preparing to stage another underground nuclear test but Rodman told "Du Jour" Un only wants nuclear weapons to defend his country.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: Rodman was not only apologetic for the regime but in denial over North Korea's human rights record. When asked about the hundreds of thousands of people suffering in labor camps there, his response quote, "Which country does not have that?" Carol?

COSTELLO: What? OK. We'll ignore that for a moment. He also slammed the U.S. Government. Why?

TODD: He had much kinder words for North Korea's government than he did for America's government. He says he asked the U.S. Government about six months ago for help in setting up his trip to Pyongyang. He says the government ignored him.

We asked the State Department about that. A spokeswoman there Marie Harp said that to her knowledge, they had no contact with Dennis Rodman so. As far as they're concerned, he never reached out to them.

COSTELLO: Interesting. Brian Todd, thanks for entertaining us this morning. We appreciate it.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, be careful what you write. A senate candidate is outraged when he catches a reporter scribbling blah, blah, blah during the Q&A session. And the situation only escalated from here. How the Eastern Bunny got thrown in the mix when we come back.

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COSTELLO: I'm sorry. I could really relate to this story. A presumably bored reporter was caught red-handed jotting down "blah, blah, blah" during a Q&A session with senate hopefuls in Oregon. One of the candidates didn't take too kindly to his note taking.

Jeanne Moos has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If you think the news is a bunch of blah, blah, blah? Well, in this case you're right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I called you out for putting "Blah, blah, blah, blah" on your notepad.

MOOS: Five Republicans candidates for senate we're being interviewed by an Oregon paper called "Willamette Week", the only one not actually present Jo Rae Perkins was on speakerphone. When she gave one Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Nigel Jaquiss evidently considered to be a rambling answer, he got nabbed by another candidate.

MARK CALLAHAN (R), OREGON STATE SENATE CANDIDATE: You want to talk about disrespect, I see what you're writing there down. You just wrote down blah, blah, blah for everything Jo Rae said. Jo Rae is a respectable woman.

MOOS: Now, whether you prefer to say blah, blah, blah or yadda, yadda, yadda --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We went back to my place, yadda, yadda, yadda, I've never heard from him again.

MOOS: -- it's no fun getting caught saying it behind someone's back.

CALLAHAN: You put down "blah, blah, blah" when Jo Rae was giving a detailed and descriptive answer.

MOOS: But the interviewers moved on.

REPORTER: Climate change. Do you believe it's a myth or reality?

CALLAHAN: It's a myth.

REPORTER: Where are you on the Easter bunny?

CALLAHAN: What's that?

REPORTER: I said, where are you on the Easter bunny?

MOOS: That's when the climate really changed and candidate Mark Callahan started quoting "A Few Good Men".

CALLAHAN: Are these really the questions that I was called here to answer?

JACK NICHOLSON, FOX NEWS: Are these really the questions that I was called here to answer?

MOOS: The newspaper's editor warned the candidate they might ask him to leave.

CALLAHAN: That's two strikes. Who do you think you are?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, you may leave now have. Go ahead.

MOOS (on camera): The newspaper's editor didn't think his reporter's blah, blah, blah was disrespectful. He did think the Easter bunny crack went a little too far.

MARK ZUSMAN, EDITOR, WILLAMETTE WEEK: I do turn to Nigel and say, now that was disrespectful. As a reporter, Jeanne, how often have you listened to an elected official or a candidate for office who said something that was completely vapid, and you have said to yourself, not to him, blah, blah, blah.

MOOS: There was nothing boring about how this blah-blah-- blah blow up ended.

CALLAHAN: Disrespectful, things getting liberals like yourself --

AUGUST: There's the door.

CALLAHAN: I have better things to do with my time.

REPORTER: You clearly do.

MOOS (voice-over): The moral of the story, it may be OK, to sing it. But better not write it down.

CALLAHAN: You just wrote down blah, blah, blah, blah.

MOOS: Jeanne Moos CNN,

CALLAHAN: Where are you on the Easter bunny?

MOOS: -- New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: That was just crazy. Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello.

"@ THIS HOUR WITH BERMAN AND MICHAELA stars now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: So get ready for more drought, more heat waves, more extreme storms. The White House says that's coming as it lays out the most comprehensive climate change report ever in the United States.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN HOST: The Cold War is over but a spy plane from that era was in the sky over California, and it caused all sorts of major travel chaos.