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NFL and Painkillers; Primary Elections; Triple Crown Chase

Aired May 20, 2014 - 15:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And we roll on, hour two. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

And here we go, these new claims by former NFL players, and now new legal troubles and woes for the NFL. And some of these names, these are well-known players. They are making massive, explosive allegations against the pro football league.

But this time, we're not talking about concussions here. It's drugs. A new lawsuit alleges that NFL teams and their doctors knowingly gave these players an array of prescription drugs and painkillers for years and years without any regard for the long-term damage.

We talked about some names. Who is making these claims? Former Super Bowl quarterback Jim McMahon for one. He says he actually became addicted to painkillers, even taking them during the off-season. Another player, McMahon's hard-hitting former teammate Richard Dent, he is in the football Hall of Fame.

So let's talk about this with Jamal Anderson.

Hello.

JAMAL ANDERSON, FORMER NFL PLAYER: Who is not in the football Hall of Fame.

BALDWIN: Who is not. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. But you did play for, what, eight years?

ANDERSON: Yes.

BALDWIN: First, just on a playing level, you were pretty badly hurt, your knee.

ANDERSON: Yes. Yes, both of them.

BALDWIN: Both of them.

ANDERSON: Yes.

BALDWIN: When that happened, did you have doctors? Did you have teams say, hey, painkillers, let's numb the pain, get back in there?

ANDERSON: No. I was lucky. I was lucky.

There's no question in my mind that it was certainly a different culture, when you are talking about the '70s and '80s, and especially some of these guys who were big names in the '80s.

(CROSSTALK)

ANDERSON: It was a different culture.

And I'm not going to -- it's not a stretch to say that there were doctors whose intentions as they were hired by the team was to make sure that their players were on the field at all times, as much as they could possibly be.

Now, here's the thing, Brooke. The players want to play, too. Don't get -- players want to play. And there's this whole thing that you -- that has been going around the league a number of years, you can't make the club in the tub. You don't want to necessarily be known as a guy who's going to be hurt.

In fact, if you are one of those people who always continue to get hurt, you can be let go by the team. It doesn't matter who you are. Poof.

BALDWIN: Right.

ANDERSON: Yes.

BALDWIN: What happens, though, like if you are injured -- and, again, this is -- you were right in saying, this is the '80s. And it is different today.

ANDERSON: Right.

BALDWIN: But when you're hurt -- and we have all seen it, you guys down on the field.

ANDERSON: Oh, yes. Right.

BALDWIN: The team doc comes out. Everyone is rushing in. What are they saying and doing to you?

ANDERSON: Well, for the most part now, you have several different doctors, especially as it pertains to concussions or some sort of injury like that. There are doctors on there for teams who deal with certain parts of the body.

There are the doctors out there. Obviously, there's a separate doctor who checks concussions. But it depends on what it is. It depends on the severity of your injury. Again, players want to be on the field. You don't want to be a guy who's constantly injured or hurt. But there was certainly, I believe, a culture where it was, make sure we can get them out there and make sure -- and some of the -- some of the players, too.

BALDWIN: Can't the players, though, say -- and I hear you saying the players want to play as well, but we're more hearing some of the specific claims, one of the players had had a broken leg the entire season and kept playing.

ANDERSON: Yes. Yes.

BALDWIN: I was talking to a high-end sports agent last hour, and he was saying, somebody had a collapsed lung.

ANDERSON: Right.

BALDWIN: These guys, they're smart. They know they're hurt.

ANDERSON: Well, you certainly would count on the doctor to tell you the severity of your injury. You can know something is wrong with you, but you count on medical professionals to tell you how bad it is, how long it's going to take you to get back, what's the severity of that injury, whether or not you should continue to play.

And you would like to hope that those professionals are on the side of your best interests as a football player. But, again, it's a different culture now in the NFL. This would never happen in this day and age. But the reality is, it did happen. And a lot of this, Brooke, stems from the fact that there is no health care for NFL players.

The guys who put this league on their back for a number of years, they just don't have suitable health care. So you're seeing these great players, these awesome guys we grew up loving, in awful and terrible condition. And this is a billion-dollar business. And it's very, very tough; it's very, very tough to see.

BALDWIN: Incredibly profitable. Thank God things have changed. But just to hear about these guys who gave life limb and are -- were addicted and everything else --

(CROSSTALK)

ANDERSON: Remember, we would talk about Tony Dorsett last year.

BALDWIN: Right. Right.

ANDERSON: It's like, oh.

BALDWIN: I know. I know. Sorry about the Hall of Fame thing. But I'm glad you're on the CNN --

(CROSSTALK)

ANDERSON: Hey, hey, hey, hey, you never know. Could be a chance.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Thank you, Jamal Anderson. You never know. You never know.

ANDERSON: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Thank you so much.

And now this. Let's go ahead and call it Super Tuesday. Six states are holding primary elections for the off-year battle in November, and just a short time ago, you had the House speaker, John Boehner, say, forget the storyline that the GOP is divided thanks to the Tea Party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: There's not that much -- it's not big a -- that big a difference between what you all call the Tea Party and your average conservative Republican, you know?

We're against Obamacare. We think the taxes are too high. We think the government is too big. So, I wouldn't continue to sing that same -- same song.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Tell that to Mitch McConnell. The Senate Republican leader is vowing to crush -- his word -- the Tea Party and crush his Tea Party-minded opponent, Matt Bevin.

Keep in mind, Senator McConnell has his eyes on an even bigger prize, that of Senate majority leader, come January.

"CROSSFIRE" host Van Jones joins me live from Washington, and from Miami, Republican strategist Ana Navarro. She is a CNN political commentator.

So, good to see both of you.

And, Ana, you get the first at-bat here. Mitch McConnell, he's a pretty -- he's a pretty cool customer. What has gotten under his skin so much about what -- what appears, you know, this particular election, hearing the word crush and talking about the Tea Party?

ANA NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, the target on his back maybe?

(LAUGHTER)

NAVARRO: The fact that he was -- the fact that he was -- that they were aiming to get him out of the Senate, the fact that they spent over $4 million in a primary campaign against him?

I would say those are pretty definite steps to get under somebody's skin, Brooke. That's a good formula.

BALDWIN: OK, target on the back. He also has a target.

He would like to be, Van Jones, Senate majority leader come January. Do you think it's going to happen?

VAN JONES, CO-HOST, "CROSSFIRE": No, I don't.

But I tell you what. It's going to be a very, very close thing, for a number of reasons. The Republicans should do well. History, demography, geography are all on their side. Midterm election, you have a much whither and older electorate. That should go for Republicans. A lot of red state contests, that should go for Republicans.

Also, historically, by the time you get to the second year, a second term for president in midterm elections, that president's party doesn't do very well.

However --

BALDWIN: Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

JONES: -- look at what's actually going on.

In Arkansas, you have got Pryor way ahead of the Republicans. In Alaska, you have got Begich way ahead. So, I think that the Democrats have a chance to pull this thing off, especially if the Republicans say so extreme on side issues like Benghazi and overplaying their hand on Obamacare.

BALDWIN: Extreme.

I will let you response to that, Ana Navarro, in a second.

But, Van, I want to stay with you.

We talk about the red --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Hang on. Hang on. Hang on.

The red and the blue states, and let me just -- let me stay with that, because it's kind of mind-boggling when you look at this, because there are -- and we have this for you. There are five blue states, here you go, in the Northeast that have never, ever once elected a female Democratic governor, Allyson Schwartz trying to break through in Pennsylvania, as are Martha Coakley in Massachusetts, Gina Raimondo in Rhode Island.

Van, how --

JONES: Yes.

BALDWIN: How can it be you have these five blue states sending scores of women to Congress, you know, yet they never elected a female Democratic governor?

JONES: Yes. Well, "polbody is nerfect," OK?

(LAUGHTER)

JONES: So, like, that is a shame. It's a crime and it's terrible.

You have got a lot of red states in the same situation. But we're supposed to be the party that does better. I think we are going to stick to that this year. But I think keep holding Democrats accountable. We should be doing even better than we are doing with regard to women. And, also, the Republicans have actually been doing pretty well these past couple of years with regard to women. Democrats can't rest on that forever.

BALDWIN: Right. They have been trying, they have been successful. But they need to try some --

(CROSSTALK)

NAVARRO: And I think the same thing holds -- I think the same thing holds for Hispanics.

If you take a look at the number of Republican Hispanics elected statewide, it's far greater than Democrats, even though Democrats win the Hispanic vote nationally on -- in presidential races.

(CROSSTALK)

NAVARRO: A lot of that has to do with diversity of thought when it comes to Hispanics in the Republican Party.

In the Democrat Party, they run in districts specifically drawn for them. On the Republican side, you have got folks like Raul Labrador in Idaho winning in a place like rural Idaho.

(CROSSTALK)

JONES: It's very, very interesting, though, because you do have --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Hang on. Hang on, Van.

Finish your thought, Ana.

JONES: I'm sorry. Go ahead.

NAVARRO: What I -- so Van talked about three factors of why Republicans should do well in the fall.

But the fourth very important factor is that electable candidates are coming out of these primaries. That is a very important thing. It's something that was a flawed formula two years ago and why we lost some races that Republicans should have won.

I think the lessons have been learned. And you're seeing the better candidate, the more electable candidate in a general coming out of primaries over and over again this term.

BALDWIN: Mr. Jones, you get the final thought.

JONES: Well, I think it's very interesting.

First of all, it is true that we -- at the electoral level, at the leadership level, you have Hispanics breaking through. Unfortunately, the Republican Party is still so hostile toward immigration, they won't even let a bipartisan immigration bill that came out of the Senate get through the House.

And then the other thing that I would say is that it is true that you have Republicans that may have better talking points, and they position themselves better, but really the Tea Party agenda has now taken over the entire Republican Party.

And so we are going to have to see, can Democrats point that out, that you might not have people just putting their foot in their mouths, but where they're coming from --

(CROSSTALK)

NAVARRO: Oh, that's not true, Van.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: OK, OK, OK, OK.

(CROSSTALK)

JONES: Minimum wage, unemployment.

(CROSSTALK)

NAVARRO: That part is a complete Democrat talking point.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Save this for "CROSSFIRE." We will be watching tonight.

(CROSSTALK)

JONES: That's called reality.

BALDWIN: Where's my whistle? Where's my whistle?

Thank you so much, you two. Van, I know you guys are going huge on this, as you should, tonight, all over "CROSSFIRE."

JONES: Yes.

BALDWIN: Van and S.E. Cupp tonight 6:30 p.m. here on CNN.

To both of you, thank you.

Coming up: He has starred in "Forrest Gump." He's been in "The Shield," but, today, this man is behind bars, accused of killing his wife at their home with their kids inside. But it's what he told a 911 operator that could actually make this case.

Plus, the pope probably gets hundreds of letters each and every day, but one is making some headlines here, signed by 26 women, and they ask him if they could have sex with their priest boyfriends. And that's not the whole story -- live report from Rome coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: Welcome back. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

You know, he was the one slapping handcuffs on the criminals on the hit TV police drama "The Shield," but today the tables turned on actor Michael Jace.

The 51-year-old is now charged with murder in the shooting death of his wife. April Jace was 40 years of age. The couple had been married nearly 11 years. And police handcuffed the actor just outside of his Los Angeles home early this morning.

Authorities say he had dialed 911.

CNN's Alan Duke is in Los Angeles following this one for us.

And, Alan, what are investigators saying they think happened here?

ALAN DUKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they say it was domestic violence. And that's why they have charged him with homicide and set the bond at $1 million.

He's in a Los Angeles jail now. And it's -- it was only a couple of hours ago that the coroner removed the body from the South Los Angeles home. So, it's still very, very early in this investigation. But he did call 911 to report that his wife had been shot. They're not letting us hear the audio of that conversation or telling us the content of it, if there was a confession, an admission or whatever.

However, they did book him several hours later on the murder charge. Now, we have been busy going through court papers, bankruptcy papers and divorce papers relating to Michael Jace.

He was previously married, and there's a massive divorce file that we have just obtained. We're also trying to find out if there were any other 911 calls to the home in recent times about this family. And we do know that he was under severe financial distress, trying to save that home where his wife died last night. Bank of America was trying to foreclose on it. He's been in bankruptcy now since 2011.

BALDWIN: What about, Alan, the two sons, the two boys? Do we know their ages or where they are now?

DUKE: The police won't -- and appropriately so -- won't tell us much about the children, other than that they were in the home when the shooting happened and that they were taken away by police and turned over to California child protection services representatives.

BALDWIN: OK. Alan Duke for us in L.A. Alan, thank you.

Coming up next, how clean is the airplane or the airplane seats you fly in? A new study shows the seats can hold everything from, eww, E. coli to MRSA. We will tell you exactly what else could be on your flight and even steps you can take to try to avoid getting sick.

Plus, it is the talk of much of sports world and really by now beyond, nasal strips for horses, California Chrome making the product famous as he goes for the Triple crown. So what exactly do these nasal strips do? We are live at a horse track near Chicago, and a horse trainer will answer that for us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: This morning, California Chrome arrived at the racetrack where he could make history 18 days from now. The 3-year-old horse traveled from Baltimore to New York's Belmont Park. On June 7, he will try to become the first horse in 36 years to win the coveted Triple Crown.

The Belmont is the longest of the three races, earning the nickname the Test of the Champion, and California Chrome will get to run with the controversial nasal strip previously banned in New York.

So, what did we do? We sent Ted Rowlands to -- to Arlington International Racecourse outside of Chicago to help us understand much ado about these nasal strips on horses, Ted.

How -- what -- what does the horse need them for?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it helps with breathing for some horses.

And Dee Poulos is here. She will help us with that. And as we put a nasal strip on, you will be able to watch it on the horse here.

BALDWIN: Aww.

ROWLANDS: And this is -- Lakotadreamcatcher is the name of this horse, a beauty, a 3-year-old.

And, Dee, give us a sense, as you put this on, what does it do for the horse? Why would you put this on Lakota?

DEE POULOS, HORSE TRAINER: Well, the whole concept behind it is the same as with people, to help them breathe, help them breathe a little better.

(CROSSTALK)

ROWLANDS: And, as you put it on, you're just -- it is -- it is just like a Breathe Right, right?

POULOS: That's right. There's this very soft area right here, which is going to flex when they breathe. And so you position it just right above the nostrils and just press it on like that.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Oh, oh, oh, he didn't like that.

ROWLANDS: Lakota didn't like that.

POULOS: Good girl. It's hard, coming off.

ROWLANDS: It's kind of coming off there.

Now, it doesn't hurt Lakota at all.

POULOS: No.

ROWLANDS: In fact, she's more skittish of our camera, Brooke, and the noise of the Breathe Right, the little strips coming off --

BALDWIN: Sorry, Lakota.

ROWLANDS: -- she is actually -- yes, from this.

But Ruben (ph) is holding on to her. And she's fine.

POULOS: Yes.

ROWLANDS: We gave her some mints earlier.

Bottom line is, does it help or not? Does all this controversy, does California Chrome really need a Breathe Right to win the Triple Crown?

POULOS: You know, it's -- no one knows for sure.

ROWLANDS: And you were --

POULOS: It's one of those things that you hope that it does some good for them. Many, many horses have won big races, never had them. It's a recent thing. They haven't been around that many years.

ROWLANDS: Yes. And you thought the controversy was a bit of nonsense, why New York was not allowing it, because it isn't a big deal. Right?

POULOS: It's not a medicated strip or anything. There's no medication with it. It's the same thing. I mean, we put bandages on horses to help them. And it not a --

ROWLANDS: This is nothing.

POULOS: No.

(CROSSTALK)

POULOS: Yes. So, it's not a real -- it's not going to hurt them.

ROWLANDS: And it's interesting. Right.

It's interesting. Brooke, Dee was saying that when you win two horses, and happen to be the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, and your horse is wearing a Breathe Right, well, then you want the Breathe Right on for the last leg of the Triple Crown, because there's so much superstition involved that California Chrome needs this thing. Right?

(CROSSTALK)

POULOS: Don't want to change anything. When you're on a roll, you just go with what you got.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: I understand how it is in sports, whether it's beards or socks, dirty socks, whatever. You want to work with what you have and what's --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: -- for you.

ROWLANDS: Yes.

BALDWIN: So, Ted Rowlands, thank you. And thanks to Lakota for letting us try to put that -- that thing on -- on her. We appreciate both of you -- all three of you, thank you so much.

And while California Chrome hopes to make history, obviously, an 11- year-old girl has done it. Lucy Li has become the youngest golfer ever to qualify for the women's U.S. Open. Li shot a round of 68 while qualifying at a tournament in Half Moon Bay. And it wasn't close. She beat the second-place qualifier by seven strokes.

The previous youngest qualifier for the Open was 12 years old. The Open is next month at North Carolina's Pinehurst resort.

Coming up next: a group of 26 women begging Pope Francis, let us have sex with our priest boyfriends. Yes. And there's a lot more they're saying and apparently a lot of secret lovers out there. We will take you live to Rome to tell you that story and go there.

Plus, half a football field, that is how close two planes came to colliding in midair. Let me say that again. Half a football field? And it happened at one of America's busiest airports. So what went wrong? And want to make sure that doesn't happen again? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Just about the bottom of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

We're just now learning about what have been -- could have been an absolute disaster on the runway at the Newark Airport. The NTSB is investigating this incident last month in which a United Airlines 737 nearly -- see the graphic here -- nearly collided with a smaller Express jet.

So, here you have it. The larger jet was landing. The smaller jet was taking off. And, apparently, these two planes came within 50 yards of each other, incredibly close call. No one was injured. Neither aircraft was damaged. But they're looking into it.

So, let's step inside the plane for a moment and talk about an interesting, dare I say, icky study that simulated how long potentially deadly bacteria can actually live inside a plane.

Researchers tested the life span of E. coli and MRSA bacteria on the kinds of surfaces found in planes. And we have the results.

Senior medical correspondent fresh off a plane from Atlanta to Los Angeles joining me here.

And I'm afraid to hear the answers, as we're on planes a tad too often.

Tell me, what did researchers find?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know what, Brooke? What they found is that these little bugs can survive way longer than a lot of people thought.

I mean, I think people think, they're little, they must be fragile, they die off. Well, not really.

BALDWIN: Ooh.

COHEN: So, as you said, I was on a flight last night, crossing the country, with this study fresh in my mind.

(LAUGHTER)

COHEN: And so I wanted to point out some of the surfaces that the researchers tested.

So, for example, you don't usually think of this surface in particular, but window shades, right? You put them up. You put them down. Well, so did the guy who was sitting down there before you, and before them and before them.

MRSA can live for five days, five days on a window shade. And MRSA is the antibiotic-resistant type of bacteria.