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Senate Leaders Call for U.S. Help in Nigeria; White House Report Says Climate Change Is Here; Eight More Girls Kidnapped in Nigeria; Can Hash Tag Help Abducted Girls?; Coca-Cola Removing Controversial Ingredient; Michelle Knight Relives Horrors of Abduction

Aired May 06, 2014 - 15:30   ET

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

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And what was really noteworthy and newsworthy in the interview I just did was that they went beyond what they called for in this letter, and Susan Collins in particular talked about the use of the U.S. military, special forces, in particular.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R), MAINE: More can be done by this administration. I would like to see special forces deployed to help rescue these young girls.

Some of these girls are as young as nine years old. We're now up to more than 300 girls who have been kidnapped by this terrorist group.

They're being sold into slavery, forced into marriages, required to convert. This is just horrible.

BASH: Senator, do you agree, special forces should be sent in?

SEN. BARBARA MIKULSKI (D), MARYLAND: I also see why that would be considered, because this is the sovereignty of another nation. I really do think that African nations forming an international effort.

But it has to start with the Nigerian president, using his resources and African original coalition, and then calling upon the expertise of nations that have special forces, special intelligence data, satellites, et cetera.

Find the girls, rescue the girls, punish the bad guys. And send a message, we won't tolerate it. You try it again, we'll come after you again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: So some pretty tough talk from the female senators who feel that when they join together as a group, a bipartisan group, as they did, at pretty warp speed -- this letter which they just sent to the president, they got all 20 signatures on it just a few hours ago today -- they feel that they'll have more power and it will help the president, help the White House get international support.

But the other thing, Pamela, is Senator Mikulski admitted that, even though she's a little more circumspect when it comes to using special forces, she thinks that the region should deal with it first and then the U.S. can come in and help.

She also admitted that the Nigerian government has been tepid in its response, and that also seems to be another problem.

One last thing I can tell you is that the senators, the female senators, are going to meet with Secretary of State John Kerry at some point in the next few days to discuss this and other things.

Pamela?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Dana Bash, thank you so much for that reporting.

Fires, floods, famine and horrific weather of all kinds, is that the scary, new world that we're facing? A new report has something for all of us to worry about.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Welcome back.

Take a look here. I want to show you two photos from the climate change report that was just released.

Here they are. On the left, a black-and-white snapped 70 years ago in the month of August at a glacier in Alaska.

On the right, a shot from the same vantage point, also in August, but in the year 2004. You can see how the glacier has melted. Now it's a scenic lake.

As Chad Myers tells us, the report says climate change is a reality right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's been like nothing I've seen. I've lived here almost 30 years.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: This past winter was one few will soon forget, snow, endless snow, and a deep freeze that went on far too long, shutting down cities, airports and highways.

But wait. Did you know the past 10 years are still the hottest on record? That's just one of the findings by some 300 scientists in a new government report, the National Climate Assessment.

The report on climate change and the warming of the earth is alarming, at best. What they found appears to be destined to have widespread, massive effects on human health, access to water, the economy, and the planet. The report says climate change is not a futuristic distant issue. It's already here, across the country, and it's man-made.

The National Climate Assessment says America's already noticed the impact, in the length and severity of seasonal allergies, in how long plants thrive in the dark, and even in the kinds of birds they see in their neighborhoods.

Americans are noticing change all around them, the report says, echoing a draft version from last year. Summers are longer and hotter. Rain comes in heavier downpours.

But the report suggests there is more to come, and the picture, well, isn't pretty.

Let's start with the northeast. Scientists warn the real future threat lies in extended heat waves, and more severe flash flooding. People's lives, homes, and infrastructure under possible threat.

In the southeast, a combination of drought and increased population is likely to threaten the region's water supply. Farming, agriculture, and a rising sea level poses a continuing threat to cities and industries at low elevations.

And to the Plains now, where the message is clear, the weather will become more extreme, higher heat, longer droughts and deeper floods.

And out West, those dreadful wildfires, already all too common today, the report suggests more drought that will lead to more wildfires, continuing to threaten precious fruits, vegetables, vegetation, not to mention homes and wildlife.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Meteorologist Chad Myers joins us now.

Chad, you touched on just about everything in this report, famine, rising sea levels, what's the big takeaway from the report for you?

MYERS: I think fewer normal days. You see your local weather guy say, the normal high today is 72. It's either going to be 50 or 90.

Sure, that's a normal at someplace, but there's not going to be that many days at that normal. It's going to be drought, heat or flooding. Those are just one of the things.

This is a graphic I showed you earlier. This is a glacier in Alaska. That's what it looked like. This is where the glacier used to be. It is no longer there. This is the ice that's melting. That's causing sea level rise.

I talked to a cab driver in New York last week when I was there. He's from Pakistan. He said, my town no longer exists because the glacier that was above my town is gone. It has completely melted. There's no water in my town. He said when the water left, the people left. That's just one example. That's worldwide. We're only talking the U.S. here, but this obviously is a global issue.

BROWN: The pictures really put it into perspective for us. Chad Myers, thank you.

MYERS: You're welcome.

BROWN: It is one of the most guarded recipes in the world, the formula for Coca-Cola.

The company announces a major change to its products, the controversial chemical that the soft drink company is now removing, and why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: As the world watches and waits, eight more girls have been kidnapped, taken to a frightening and uncertain future.

According to a villager in a northeastern Nigerian village, the men stormed in and took the girls. There's international outcry over the kidnapping of more than 200 girls taken by Boko Haram.

Let me bring in Rana Foroohar, CNN global economic analyst. She is live in Abuja, Nigeria.

Rana, first off, we're just learning Nigeria is stating that it's welcomed and accepted the U.S. offer of support.

Do you think other countries are likely to join the search?

RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST: I think it's possible.

You know, I'm here actually for the beginning of the World Economic Forum in Abuja. This is supposed to be a moment where companies were coming in with excitement to invest in Nigeria. Now everyone's preoccupied with these abductions.

There's a lot of concern within the business community. I'm talking to the heads of Western companies here that are saying, is this is a place that we want to do business?

I think there's a lot of concern on the ground, and I think that that's going to be one of the key issues discussed at this forum this week.

BROWN: Yeah. So let's talk about that.

Obviously this comes at an embarrassing time for the country there. And there's been a lot of criticism about the Nigerian government.

In fact there are reports that the first lady had told protesters to stop, that they're making the country look bad by speaking out about these kidnappings. Does it appear that the World Economic Forum is there could possibly be influencing the government for this push to save face?

FOROOHAR: I think so. It's very interesting, because there's a large military presence around the airport. They're taking great pains to make people feel secure.

But the fact is, people don't feel secure. The country is not secure. The crisis is only getting bigger, and I think this is really threatening to overshadow a forum that should be about growth in Nigeria.

Instead, it's about security in Nigeria, and despite the fact that there's an incredible amount of wealth in this country, it's not a secure place, certainly for girls and women being taken from their homes, but and also for companies that are doing business here.

I think that's a real worry to the companies that I'm talking to on the ground.

BROWN: And, Rana, CNN's security analyst Peter Bergen talked to CNN about the tricky position that this puts Nigeria in.

Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER BERGEN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: It's the richest country in Africa. It's got a huge oil trade, a hundred billion dollars in revenue, this week, staging the World Economic Forum in Africa in Nigeria. That's the one side of Nigeria.

And then you have this, competing for headlines at the same time. And I think what's at stake here is, if the Nigerian government can't reduce this insurgency, investors are going to be scared off, and what is an African success story on a lot of levels can be quite interrupted if they don't get control on this insurgency, which has killed 1,500 people just in the last three months, which by any reasonable standard is like a low-grade civil war going on in the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: All right, Rana, do you agree?

FOROOHAR: Absolutely. You know, you have this juxtaposition really in this country, but in many African countries.

Six out of the top 10 fastest growing economies in the world are in Africa, and these countries may be growing by seven, eight, nine percent a year, but they cannot maintain security within countries, and this is something that will ultimately impact their growth trajectory.

You know, one of the biggest parts of Africa's growth trajectory is about empowering women, about keeping girls in school, about empowering female entrepreneurs. That's something Hillary Clinton has done a lot with, and John Kerry now as secretary of state.

And I think that this really is a huge impediment to the African growth story. Security and the issues surrounding it are going to continue to be possibly the biggest impediment to growth in the next few years, I think.

BROWN: And of course Nigeria has the biggest economy there in Africa. They have a lot at stake.

So, Rana Foroohar, thank you for offering your perspective.

Many of the details surrounding the school girls' kidnapping are in question. Where are they now? Who's to blame for the delay in their rescue? Of course, they were kidnapped three weeks ago. And what will become of them?

One fact you can't argue, the calls to find the girls are growing, and the world is not standing by quietly, everyone from Hillary Clinton and Senator Barbara Boxer to Mary J. Blige, jumping in to help find these girls.

So let's bring in Chris Dickey, the foreign editor for "The Daily Beast." Chris, the hash tag that so many of us have seen, #BringBackOurGirls, has come on like a tidal wave, as you say.

Why this cause? Why the girls?

CHRIS DICKEY, FOREIGN EDITOR, "THE DAILY BEAST": I think there are a couple of reasons. First of all, just the incident itself is so dramatic that you have 250 girls or so taken away, out into the jungle, sold as slaves, taken as wives, whatever is happening to them, some of them probably dead. That's just a horrible incident.

But I think the fact that the world was not paying attention also horrified people as they realized slowly what was going on, so this campaign began to build.

And the people who are behind it, groups like Girls Rising and Amy Koehler's Smart Girls, these groups recognized that this is also a way to bring attention to a much bigger issue, which is the treatment of women and girls generally, their need for an education, their need to find different ways of life, the need to change the society around them so that they can have a future.

BROWN: And as we talked about, these girls, the bulk of them kidnapped three weeks ago, eight more kidnapped we're learning, how much of a role do you think this social media movement played in what we heard today, that Nigeria's now accepting assistance from the U.S., and how do you -- and the action that's sort of going into play now?

DICKEY: I think it's a huge role. I mean, look, why are we talking about this now when we weren't talking about it two weeks ago? I think the reason is because of this social media campaign, because of the hash tag, because the various NGOs, the nongovernmental organizations, have started working together to focus global attention on this. And I think anybody who looks at this situation of these particular girls, these are girls in an area where fewer than three percent of the girls ever get anything like a higher education, and these girls were studying hoping to go to college when they were abducted taken away into the jungle.

It's a horrible example, and many people in that area are going to be afraid to send their children and especially their girls to school from now on, so it drives a whole area backwards and that kind of thing happens around the world.

So the people who are pushing this social media campaign also want to make sure that we don't just care about these girls, although we certainly do, but that we also care about girls all over the world who are in similar, terrible situations.

BROWN: And also the fact this group, this Boko Haram, that kidnapped these girls, this is not the first time that they have done this. It's just now being thrust into the spotlight.

But I want to ask you sort of on the flip side of this social media movement, a lot of celebrities have jumped on the bandwagon. We saw Hillary Clinton, among others, tweeting about it. They're using that hash tag.

Is this an example, though, of "slacktivism," whereby people tweet about it, they use the hash tag and then they just sort of say, OK, I did my part?

DICKEY: Well, yes, it can be. I mean, certainly people are going to put up the new avatar that is going around, the red avatar that says "bring our girls home." These things are easy to do.

But I think the people behind this campaign also are very conscious of that and they are trying to mobilize people to go out and protest, to go and do things, to right their congressmen, to put pressure on the Nigerian government, to do all kinds of things that are tangible and that build a force, as we wrote in the piece, like a tidal wave behind the individuals who are actually trying to get things done.

Gordon Brown, for instance, the former prime minister of Britain, is at that World Economic Forum. He's going to be talking about this, and he's going to be backed up by hundreds and hundreds of thousands of signatures already on a petition that Change.org has circulating.

BROWN: Well, it's wonderful to see so many people coming together to be a part of this movement.

A really interesting article there on "Daily Beast," Chris Dickey, thank you.

DICKEY: Thank you.

BROWN: You think those online petitions don't make a difference? Tell that to Coca-Cola, the company finally bowing to pressure over a chemical that some people want out of their drinks right now. We're going to talk about that right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: This just in to CNN, just minutes ago, the NBA announced that the president of the Los Angeles Clippers is taking an indefinite leave of absence, effective immediately.

The NBA said, quote, "This will provide an opportunity for a new CEO to begin on a clean slate and for the team to stabilize under difficult circumstances."

Of course the NBA has already banned the Clippers' owner, Donald Sterling, for life, and has said that it is looking for a new CEO for the team.

Well, if you're not into drinking flame retardant, then you'll be happy to hear this. Coca-Cola says it's going to get rid of a chemical linked to them. Bromine is found in Fanta, Fresca and some citrus- flavored fountain drinks.

Alison Kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange with more on this.

So, Alison, first off, what is bromine used for?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, surprise, bromine, Pamela, is used as a flame retardant in plastics, in furniture and some clothing, as well. It's actually a key ingredient in brominated vegetable oil, also affectionately known as BVO, and what that does to the drinks is it helps to distribute flavors more evenly in these fruit-flavored drinks.

Now Coke is currently using it in Fanta, in Fresca and some citrus- flavored fountain drinks, but it's not going to be doing this for long.

Coke is actually taking BVO out of all of its drinks by the end of the year after complaints that by consuming large quantities it can be linked to memory loss, skin, and nerve problems.

Coke was saying that all of its beverages, though, are safe, and they comply with regulations and that BVO is allowed in the U.S. in small quantities.

But obviously Coke, Pamela, Coke has given in to the pressure, taking it out after actually a teenager started a petition saying we don't want it. We don't want to drink it.

Pamela?

BROWN: Good for her. Alison Kosik, thank you.

It was one year ago today when Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus finally escaped Ariel Castro house on Seymour Avenue in Cleveland after being held against their for a decade, three young victims, their lives changed forever. And to mark the anniversary of their freedom, both Berry and DeJesus have released statements thanking supporters and expressing hope for the future.

Michelle Knight talked about her recovery with CNN's Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "AC 360": What would you think about each day, I mean, just to get through?

MICHELLE KNIGHT, KIDNAPPING SURVIVOR: I would basically think about my son. And how I would like to see his loving smile again.

COOPER: 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 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.

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

COOPER: And when you heard that, what did you think?

KNIGHT: The first thought in my head is he did it.

COOPER: You knew right away?

KNIGHT: Yeah.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And part two of Anderson Cooper's interview airs tonight at 8:00 Eastern time.

I was there in Cleveland, covering this story when it happened. I was in Cleveland many times, and it's amazing to see just how strong and resilient these women are and very courageous for Michelle Knight to speak out to our Anderson Cooper.

Also, as we talked about earlier, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus are working on a book deal, talking about their stories, and that should be released sometime within the next year.

All right, I'm Pamela Brown. Thank you so much for watching.

"THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.