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Interview With Gary Sinise; Remembering Fallen Troops

Aired May 26, 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 welcome back. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

And let's begin this hour on this Memorial Day, 20014, with these pictures. On this day, of course, the nation pauses to remember just how deer and devastating the price of freedom is. Accord the country, hundreds of thousands of Americans are going to events to pay tribute to nearly a million military service members killed in service to their country since the American Revolution.

In fact, it was the Civil War that sparked the first known day to honor the American war dead. And now you're looking at live pictures here, Washington, D.C., nearly 150 years later, the National Memorial Day Parade. And it marks this day of national pride and of grief and hope that one day Americans will no longer need to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Here now, just a few moments we wanted to share as the nation is reflecting and remembering on our fallen heroes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Here lie the Americans who fought through Vietnam and those who won a long twilight struggle against communism. And here in Section 60 lie men and women who gave their lives to keep our homeland safe over more than a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

GEN. MARTIN DEMPSEY, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF CHAIRMAN: I'm inspired each and every day by our men and women in uniform. On this Memorial Day, let us remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice for this great nation.

BRITTANY JACOBS, WIDOW: To me, it's just -- it's important me to raise him and let him know about his father. His dad would want him to know about him and I want him to know about him and how great of a man he was.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will never forget your sacrifices and those of your loved ones.

OBAMA: And because of them, our nation is stronger, safer, and will always remain a shining beacon of freedom for the rest of the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let's go now live to Barbara Starr at Section 60 there in Arlington National Cemetery.

And specifically, Barbara, where you are in that section, that is the final resting place for those who served and died both in Afghanistan and Iraq, and you have been to that section for a number of years on Memorial Day, Barbara. I'm just curious, talking to families, is there anything or anyone that really stands out this year?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, now that it's late afternoon here, Brooke, and some of the numbers of people have gone home, what we have seen here in the last maybe 45 minutes is in several cases, it's the young troops showing up late in the day to search out the graves of their fallen buddies, search out their comrades.

A few moments ago, we saw two young men, shorts, flip-flops, holiday, weekend attire, but very firmly there, sunglasses on their face, they stopped at a grave side, lit up a couple of cigars and clearly had a private moment toasting one of their buddies.

We talked -- we have talked to so many families over the years here, but earlier this morning, we talked to one young widow, very young, who brought her very young son. She wants him to know all about her father. I want you to meet and listen to Brittany Jacobs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACOBS: To me, it's just -- it's important me to raise him and let him know about his father. His dad would want him to know about him and I want him to know about him and how great of a man he was.

And I never -- I want him to always grow up knowing it and seeing it. I don't want it to ever come as a shock to him. This morning on the way here, he was asking questions, and he was like, mommy, why can't daddy come from heaven or is daddy hurting? And I'm like -- those are the hard things right now we're going through. But...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what do you tell him?

JACOBS: I tell him, daddy's not hurting. And daddy's in heaven, and that he can't come see us. I told him -- I was and like, he's in our hearts. And he's having a hard time understanding that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: Christopher -- Christopher Jacobs served five tours in the war zone, Brooke. He came home and he died here in the United States in California in a Marine Corps training accident. So, here in Section 60, we see so many lives, so much service over the last 13 years, more than 800 veterans from the combat zones laid to rest here -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: That precious son of his in that uniform, so many stories like that. Barbara Starr, thank you so much at Arlington National Cemetery.

And as we talk on this Memorial Day, the avoidable topics at today's commemorations concerns the deaths of veterans as they away treatment here at home at VA hospitals. The president's speech included somber remarks about the scandal playing out on his watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: As we've been reminded in recent days, we must do more to keep faith with our veterans and families and ensure they get the care and benefits and opportunities that they've earned and that they deserve.

These Americans have done their duty. They ask nothing more than that our country does ours, now and for decades to come.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Joining me now from Washington, Jake Tapper, host of "THE LEAD."

And, Jake, for all of the solemnity that Memorial Day -- that is all part of this day, we can't not mention this overriding story about the VA.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: That's right, because even though this is a day to commemorate those who are no longer with us, it is not Veterans Day.

Still, a lot of veterans are gathering and a topic on many of their lips is the VA scandal. I had an occasion to interview the secretary of defense, Chuck Hagel, to talk about Memorial Day, talk about other issues in the news.

And of course one of the first things I had to ask about was his reaction to the scandal, given that he's not only a member of the Obama administration and the secretary of defense, but he is, himself, a Vietnam veteran. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: You come at the VA controversy, VA scandal from an interesting perspective, because not only are you a veteran, you were once deputy administrator of the Veterans Administration. Are you appalled when you see these stories?

CHUCK HAGEL, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: Well, I suspect I'm not unlike any veteran or any American.

It makes me sick to my stomach, because it is a clear responsibility we have as a country, as a people to take care of these men and women and their families who sacrificed so much. I know systems are imperfect. I get that. But when you have got what we do know -- and you're right. We do need to get the facts. Let's see exactly what happened, why it happened, how it happened. Then we have got to fix it. Then we have to fix it. But, sure, everybody is upset with this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: And, Brooke, a little back story. Secretary Hagel, when he was deputy administrator of the VA back during the early years of the Reagan administration, he resigned in protest because the administrator was somebody who was loathed by veterans groups, somebody who was quite at odds with Vietnam veterans group, compared Agent Orange to nothing more than teenage acne.

And Hagel at the time, 1982, resigned, went to President Reagan, told him why he was resigning and then pretty much disappeared for a few years.

BALDWIN: I know we will see much more of that interview coming up on your show.

But can we just -- let me ask you about your Twitter page. You have a tremendous following, but -- and have been very involved in veterans issues. But can you just -- give me the back story, Jake Tapper, on all of these photos that all kinds of people are sharing with you.

TAPPER: It's really interesting. There was not really any plan to this.

I -- because I wrote the book "The " about Afghanistan and about one specific outpost in that country, and I now know a lot of veterans, I know a lot of Gold Star moms and Gold Star wives and Gold Star dads, I am now very cognizant of what Memorial Day is in a way that I haven't been in the past, and so I just started -- on Friday, just started tweeting some of the stories of these individuals and specifically trying to put a face to the name because I just find that people respond to that so much more when they can see and look at the face of that young kid right there.

BALDWIN: There is so much more to it once you put a face on it. Right?

TAPPER: Yes. Yes.

BALDWIN: People read names and that's one thing, but seeing these faces takes it to another level.

TAPPER: Yes. It's what -- it really changes it from a name or a number to like this is a real person, this is a real person, and, look, I can imagine my son or my husband or my brother posing in such a position, in such a photograph.

And then it just kind of like took on a life of its own, where like -- where members of Congress who had served, like Tulsi Gabbard and Congressman Kinzinger from Illinois, they -- I asked them, who are you taking about, and they told me names.

Secretary of State John Kerry sent me a picture of a buddy of his who died in Vietnam, Persh (ph), a guy named Pershing (ph).

BALDWIN: Wow.

TAPPER: And then other -- I don't even -- I don't know who these people are, but they are tweeting me photographs of people that they knew or people in their family who paid the ultimate price. And it's just -- again, it wasn't -- I didn't plan for it. But I will stop today, but it is something that I have just not been able to stop doing, just because you look at each face and you think, God, there is so much pain behind that, so much sacrifice, so much selflessness. And it's important for me to think about it on a day like today.

BALDWIN: It's awesome, it's awesome that you did this, and that you were not thinking much about it, and it just sort of came naturally and to honor all of these people and their sacrifices is tremendous.

Jake Tapper, let me just tell quickly everyone to go to your Twitter page, Twitter.com/JakeTapper. And we will see you, sir, at the top of the hour.

TAPPER: Thanks, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Thank you so much for sharing that with us.

Coming up next, we will talk to an actor who has dedicated much of his life to honoring our troops as well, Gary Sinise. He created a foundation to bring attention to those serving in our military. And earlier today, I talked to him about why he has done that, but also asked him about his thoughts on this ongoing VA scandal, what he is hearing from veterans, what are some solutions. So, we will play that for you.

Also Ahead, a major development related to the missing plane. Malaysian investigators reveal when they're going to release that satellite data to the public, so that's huge news coming up.

Also ahead, just the real raw emotion from a father dealing with the loss of his son killed over the weekend in that California rampage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD MARTINEZ, FATHER OF VICTIM: I can't tell you how angry I am. It's just awful and no parent should have to go through this. No parent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Welcome back. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

His plot may have been years in the making, but it took mere minutes for Elliot Rodger to take the lives of six innocent young people. This rampage created 10 crime scenes in some 12 locations across Isla Vista, California, just blocks from U.C. Santa Barbara's campus, the first victims, three young men in Elliot Rodger's own apartment.

And then Rodger shot three women outside of a Alpha Phi sorority house. Two were killed, another seriously injured. And then the last victim, Christopher Martinez, a young man shot and killed while getting a sandwich at a local deli. All six students who lost their lives late Friday night were students at UCSB.

And Kyung Lah is live for us right now in Isla Vista, California.

And, Kyung, we have to talk about this interview you did with one of the victim's fathers. When I first saw it, I stopped in my tracks. It gave me chills. And I was just -- you can't help but just be infuriated for this father.

KYUNG LAH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And this father wants to share that. He wants you to be infuriated. He wants that reaction.

He says there is -- he knows this now because he has seen it so many times -- the news cycle, public attention, it is going to be a very limited period of time that anyone is going to care about him. He says he's one of six sets of parents who are affected here. But when you count the number of mass shootings that America has seen in recent years, he says that that is a very large club and that, he says, is what is driving him to go before cameras.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTINEZ: Our son Christopher Martinez and six others are dead.

LAH: It was an extraordinary moment when you walked into the news conference.

MARTINEZ: They talk about gun rights. What about Chris' right to live?

LAH: Very unexpected. Why did you do that?

MARTINEZ: To honor the memory of my son, to make it try to mean something.

That's why I'm here. If there's all these things in the media about the shooter, and there's nothing about the victims, then it sends the wrong message. And the people need to understand that real people died here.

LAH (voice-over): Chris Martinez was just 20 years old. An English major at UCSB, he went to the I.V. Deli Mart to get a snack Friday night when the gunman opened fire. The boy who loved sports as a child dreamed of being a lawyer, like his father.

MARTINEZ: He's our only child and he died on Friday. I'm 61 years old now. I will never have another child. He's gone.

You're sitting out there safe in your family room with your children safely around you, and I'm telling you they walk out on that street, it can happen. It's happened far too many times now.

LAH (on camera): I don't know how many mass shootings I have covered. I don't know how many parents I have interviewed who have been in the position you have been in. How do you make that difference? How do you as one parent make that difference? MARTINEZ: I can anticipate that the NRA and some of the gun people are going to be saying, it's the rants of a grieving father. He's just emotional and we shouldn't be listening to him. But, in fairness to me, I think I can be both emotional and rational at the same time.

LAH (voice-over): Martinez is a veteran, has owned guns, but wants to know why a mentally unstable man legal owned three semiautomatic handguns and hundreds of rounds.

MARTINEZ: Where is the leadership? Where are the frigging politicians that will stand up and say, we need to do this, we're going to do something? Those gutless bastards have done nothing. And my son died because of it. It's outrageous, absolutely outrageous.

LAH: He's talking about Newtown, Connecticut, 20 children, six adults gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary. President Obama pushed for tougher federal gun control laws, expanded background checks. That failed in the Senate, despite huge public support.

MARTINEZ: My kid died because nobody responded to what occurred at Sandy Hook. Those parents lost little kids. It's bad enough that I lost my 20-year-old, but I had 20 years with my son.

That's all I will ever have, but those people lost their children at 6 and 7 years old. How do you think they feel? And who's talking to them now? Who's doing anything for them now?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAH: Now, Mr. Martinez says that there are many things that he wants, but two things that he's trying to get at least right now is he wants to try to get all of the family members here in Isla Vista together. He wants to have a conversation. He wants to include the shooter's parents. And he says, Brooke, that he also wants to see his son's body one last time to say farewell -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Wow. Let me just ask this. And maybe this isn't front of his mind as obviously his son is. But is Mr. Martinez taking a moment to take care of himself?

LAH: He says that doing these interviews is how he's taking care of himself.

I asked him that very question. How are you sitting here with me for an hour-plus talking and expressing all this? He says, this is how I'm taking care of myself. This is something I can do for my son, for myself, for my family. He says that the country desperately needs to have a conversation, whether -- how you feel about the mental health care system, how you feel about gun rights. He says, this has to continue. There has to be a real conversation. If government won't do it, the people should.

BALDWIN: I am glad you sat with him for as long as you possibly could. I'm glad we are sharing his story and hopefully more will happen beyond the conversation. Kyung Lah, thank you. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: We could be just hours away from seeing a crucial clue to the mystery of Flight 370. Malaysian investigators say they will finally release that raw data that has been guiding their search. And that is supposed to happen tomorrow. Families, as you know, have been begging for this data for weeks and weeks.

Here is CNN's Saima Mohsin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Last week, the acting minister for transport promised to release the Inmarsat data that the families have been demanding. Now, CNN has been told that Inmarsat handed that data over to Malaysian authorities last week. Now the minister assures me that it will be released within the next 24 hours.

HISHAMMUDDIN HUSSEIN, MALAYSIAN TRANSPORT MINISTER: Inmarsat probably tomorrow.

MOHSIN (on camera): Probably tomorrow?

HUSSEIN: Yes. So, wait until tomorrow. What's the hurry? It doesn't matter. The most important is getting to the truth.

MOHSIN: Well, isn't it important to release the data, as promised?

HUSSEIN: Yes, so 24 hours is not going to be -- make that much difference to the truth. Right?

(CROSSTALK)

MOHSIN: So we will get the data tomorrow?

HUSSEIN: Hopefully.

MOHSIN (voice-over): But it does matter. It matters to the loved ones of those on board Flight MH370, because this satellite data is all that the multinational search is relying on to locate the plane.

And, in fact, today, we have learned that the minister says that they have been reviewing the data themselves since receiving it from Inmarsat.

HUSSEIN: The possibility of maybe there might be other areas that we need to focus on. But all the signs, as Angus has indicated in the last week or so, Angus Houston, all the signs still point to that -- to the area that we are looking at. But even the area that we're looking at is not small.

MOHSIN (on camera): This is undeniably an unprecedented situation the Malaysian government has fond themselves and a huge challenge for the multinational effort to find the missing plane. And it's because of this great mystery that the families of those on board want their own independent review of the raw satellite data in its original form.

Saima Mohsin, CNN, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Saima, thank you.

Again, that's supposed to happen tomorrow.

Meantime, coming up here on CNN, the identity of a CIA agent working in Afghanistan revealed, and it was the White House that leaked it? We will explain how and the repercussions on that.

Also ahead, Gary Sinise has dedicated much of his life to honoring our veterans, and I got a chance to talk to him today. He's there for the parade and the events in Washington, D.C. And in part of the interview I asked him, since he's talking to veterans in the wake of this VA scandal, what they think should come of this, instead of just heads rolling, if they have ideas on solutions. We will share that with you coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)