Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Arthur Chu's Op-ed; Flight 370 Search Area Discounted; Ashleigh Banfield Interviews Bryan Cranston; Veteran Talking about His Negative Experience with VA

Aired May 29, 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: Hi there. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you so much for joining me here. Off the bat we begin with Veteran Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki and some news we have today because he now, according to the White House, may be, quote, "on thin ice." And now you have this growing list of Senate Democrats already having him in hot water. It seems like every hour there is another press release out. You have senators Al Franken, Kay Hagan, Martin Heinrich, Jeanne Shaheen, Mark Udall, Tom Udall, John Walsh and Mark Warner all saying it's time for the secretary of Veterans Affairs to go.

Along with the pressure of the investigation at the V.A., it is now widening after a scathing report that we brought to you right around this time yesterday. It says at least 1,700 veterans at just one hospital were never scheduled for an appointment. They were just not on the list, period.

And then there were more allegations of mismanagement, sexual harassment, bullying by managers. Today, the demand for action went higher than the secretary. It went all the way to the Oval Office.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: I'm going to continue to reserve judgment on General Shinseki. You know, the question I ask myself is, is him resigning going to get us to the bottom of the problem? Is it going to help us find out what's really going on? And the answer I keep getting is no. But the real issue here is that the president is the one who should be held accountable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Well, in just a couple of minutes, we'll talk live with a veteran in Phoenix who says he warned Secretary Shinseki and Senator John McCain. Here's his letter to McCain. And we have McCain's response as well. Hear about these problems that he outlined, but he says no one listened. That's the issue. McCain's camp, though, (INAUDIBLE) say something different. Both sides of that story. Hear from this veteran himself coming up live in just a moment.

But now that this disease, thought to be nearly irradiated in the United States, it's making an alarming return. A new report from the CDC today shows 288 cases of measles this year. And it's just May. Compare that to 10 years ago when the CDC says there were only 37 measles cases in the U.S. for the entire year. The highly contagious respiratory disease is easily preventable with a childhood vaccine, but more than half of these cases were people who never got that shot. Complicating the problem because measles has been so rare for so long, today most doctors have never treated a case.

And the grieving at UC Santa Barbara has now moved to the ocean. Students joined in what's called a paddle out in honor of six of their own. Victims of Friday's rampage. And as tributes to the murdered continue, so do the questions about why they died. His writings about rejection by society and women indicate this killer here was unstable and deluded. But they also hit a real nerve among men. "Jeopardy" winner Arthur Chu, a self-professed nerd, wrote this in "The Daily Beast." And I'm quoting him here, "I have heard Elliot Rodger's voice before. I was expecting his manifesto to be incomprehensible madness. Hoping for it to be, but it wasn't. It's a standard, frustrated, angry, geeky guy manifesto, except for the part about mass murder." And Arthur Chu joins me now live.

Arthur, welcome.

ARTHUR CHU, CONTRIBUTOR, "THE DAILY BEAST": Thank you.

BALDWIN: It was an incredible piece. A very real, very honest piece you wrote for "The Daily Beast." And here, you know, as you say this -- as you are a self-professed nerd, can you just explain to me why this shooting in particular hit you so strongly, so personally?

CHU: Well, it's the fact that this is kind of a script that we've all heard before. That, you know, I think every guy who's struggled with fitting into society, with feeling excluded, we kind of locate a lot of that in women. That we look at rejection by women as being this huge significant thing in our lives.

And, I mean, I was inspired to write the piece mainly by this hash tag, this topic on Twitter, "yes all women," where a lot of women began just spontaneously sharing stories about how, no, mass shootings don't happen every day but this kind of language, this kind of logic of entitlement, men thinking they have the right to something from women and acting out in violence if they don't get it, that that's part of lots and lots of people's lives and we need to think about that and not turn away from it.

BALDWIN: Let me get right to that because it's interesting, I keep hearing you say "we." And in this piece you call yourself a coward. You say that you have known nerdy male stalkers. You say, yes, you have known (INAUDIBLE) female rapists and that you did not stick your neck out and say, stop. Why?

CHU: That's the - I mean that's the - the terrible thing is it's human nature when something is the way that it's always been or you've been taught it's the way it's always been. You look at it and you feel that it's terrible but you don't - you don't feel moved to take action. You know, it's the - as soon as we get the sense that it's normal, you know, the whole Kitty Geniveses (ph) story, it was the bystander affect. We get the sense it's not my job to deal with it and --

BALDWIN: The normal. When you say the normal, you're going beyond. You're saying the nerdy guy who not just fixates on some hot chick - forgive me but I'm just being real with you - and then stalks that person et cetera. You're saying that is accepted?

CHU: That it happens, yes.

BALDWIN: Yes.

CHU: It happens - it happens a lot. And, you know, I don't think anybody approves of it or likes it. But speaking just from my own experience, I know that we saw that happen, you know? Other people saw that happen. We all have stories of seeing - saying, something's not right about this situation or hearing accounts, something's not - is not right that's going on but it's not my business so I'll stay out of it. And that's how you get stories of horrible abuse, you know, child abuse, abuse of partners, stalking, harassment, that goes on for a long, long time. And all the signs are there and no one does anything and it's very frustrating.

BALDWIN: Yes. I want to - we'll get to your point at the very end of sort of this message to all of us and the responsibility to stop this. But you cite, Arthur, you cite these multiple examples in TV and pop culture of nerdy guys who lust after, you know, the hot chick. You point out Lewis from "Revenge of the Nerds." You point out Steve Urkel from "Family Matters." You say we are not Preston Meyers from "Can't Hardly Wait." We are not Seth Rogan in every Seth Rogan movie that he's been in. But, you know, then you can't blame Hollywood, Arthur Chu. No one, you know, makes nerds this - or the delusional Elliot Rodgers of the world. No one makes them watch the shows. That's just wrong of you. What do you say to those people?

CHU: I'm not - I'm not looking to blame. I'm not going to put anyone on trial. I don't think the point is to find out who's at fault. Hollywood isn't - you know, doesn't control our society. Our society controls Hollywood. All Hollywood does is amplify and reflect the messages that we send to producers that we want to hear. They tell us what we want to hear.

BALDWIN: And fill the theaters and make the money, right?

CHU: Yes. Yes. So it's a conversation we should have. We can't do it by banning movies or yelling at filmmakers, but we need to ask ourselves, you know, when I say I enjoy this movie and identify with it, what am I really saying? Is there other things that I need to address in my attitude instead of just, you know, assuming that it's a fantasy, so anything goes, you know?

BALDWIN: In the adjusting, and I just have to get this in, you end your piece with, "what did Elliot Rodger need? He didn't need to get laid. None of us nerdy, frustrated guys need to get laid. When I was a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) with rant full of self-pity and entitlement, getting laid would not have helped me. He needed to grow up. We all do."

Just finally, 30 seconds, Arthur, how did you grow up?

CHU: That's the million dollar question, isn't it? BALDWIN: Right.

CHU: There's no - there's no magic switch. There's no magic pill. I don't know how to help Elliot Rodger, if he could have been helped. But the first thing is to just listen. You know, listen to women and listen to their perspective instead of making it about you. The whole thing about Elliot Rodgers, he talked for 140 pages about himself, never even like named other people that supposedly he was so fixated on, these women that he was obsessed over, you know? It's -- it's striking.

BALDWIN: It's beyond striking, but, Arthur Chu, I loved your - I loved the genuineness and the candor in your piece. Folks, go to "Daily Beast" to read this. Arthur, thank you so much for coming on with me. Appreciate it.

CHU: Thank you.

BALDWIN: And now to this. Outrage and just absolute embarrassment. A couple of words to describe this devastating new development here in the hunt for this missing plane, Malaysian Airlines Flight 370. You remember when Australian authorities said last month that they were quote/unquote very confident that pings picked up in the area of the southern Indian Ocean were, in fact, the missing plane's black boxes? About that. A U.S. Navy official telling CNN that the pings were not from the plane's black boxes at all. Authorities now believe the sound came from some other man made source unrelated to the jetliner.

And if the blows here couldn't get any worse, you have now Australian authorities saying this search area in the Indian Ocean can now be discounted as the plane's final resting place. Translation, this underwater drone that scoured the ocean floor for weeks and weeks was a waste of time, money, and it searched the wrong area.

CNN aviation correspondent Richard Quest is joining me now.

I tell you, when I read that word discounted this morning -

RICHARD QUEST, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Whoa.

BALDWIN: Whoa, whoa, whoa.

QUEST: How - whoa. (INAUDIBLE).

BALDWIN: It's -- that's what they're saying.

QUEST: I'm taking you to task here. The -- they were working with the best information they had at the time. And, yes, of course Australia is now going to say that that's - that the plane isn't there because they've searched it and they've realized they were in the wrong place. But when they heard - well, let's go back. Let's have a reality check.

BALDWIN: Take me back. Take me back.

QUEST: When they - when they heard the pings, it was in the right vicinity of the seventh handshake. It was at the endurance limit of the aircraft's fuel supply. So it's not as if - that they - I mean they were searching in that area particularly for a reason. They then heard the pings which comported to a particular form. They then passed it on to the Australian Acoustic Center for Excellence who agrees. The manufacturer also agrees. To be sure, Brooke, there are some certain questions about the frequency, about the distances, but they've got nothing else to go on.

Now you tell me, what would you have had them do?

BALDWIN: And they have families clamoring and wanting answers and so they search and they search and they search.

Here's my next question then.

QUEST: It is -

BALDWIN: Here's my next question then. I mean are they - were they at least in the ballpark? Do we know that at least this plane is somewhere in this southern arc, this southern Indian Ocean?

QUEST: (INAUDIBLE) is the important point from today. That is the crucial point.

BALDWIN: What's the answer though?

QUEST: Yes, they are still saying, absolutely -

BALDWIN: OK.

QUEST: They are still believing the Inmarsat data is good. The Australians are still saying that they believe it is in that vicinity. They've just got to work out where on the arc that it actually is. And that's why the search is going to be expanded. That's why they are biometrically - bathymetrically, I beg your pardon, going over the ground. That's why they're going to put it out to tender. But I think the level of Monday morning quarterbacking that now goes to this search that clearly was wrong and clearly was failed doesn't hold up bearing in mind the intensity to get the thing underway.

BALDWIN: OK. Just quickly, when does that new search begin?

QUEST: Bad news on that. They will be searching the ground for a few more months. They will then put it out to tender. The tender should be underway by maybe August or September. They'll be back in the water. And here's the really bad news. The Australians say it could take up to 12 months for a newly defined area to be searched.

BALDWIN: OK. Richard Quest, thank you. We'll wait until then, I suppose.

Just ahead here, the number of Democrats calling on the Veteran Affairs secretary to resign is now rising by the hour. My next guest says he tried to warn Secretary Eric Shinseki and the senator from his own state, John McCain, about the problems a couple of years ago. You will hear from this man directly live coming up. Plus, Brad Pitt attacked on the red carpet by a man who apparently has this long history of incidents with stars. Who is that guy and what happened?

Also ahead of tonight's very exciting premiere of the CNN TV series, "The Sixties," you are about to hear from the man playing LBJ on Broadway. I've seen it. It is awesome. "Breaking Bad's" own Bryan Cranston. Do not miss this CNN interview.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: You probably know him as the chemistry teacher turned meth dealer, Walter White, anyone?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRYAN CRANSTON, ACTOR: Power washer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is why you just take a second and talk about all this?

CRANSTON: Yeah, yeah. Sure. Yeah.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: But long before actor Bryan Cranston became the megastar as we now know him on AMC's Breaking Bad, he spent years honing his craft on screen and on stage. And my colleague, Legal View anchor Ashleigh Banfield stalked actor Bryan Cranston today, three whole blocks. You and I have been talking about this behind the scenes for a couple of months because you were like, I'm working on it, I'm working on it. He is going to come to CNN. I was glued, my friend. Glued. Can we begin with all the way? Phenomenal.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: So, look, this is what a nerd I am. I went to the Broadway play and I kept the playbill, Brooke.

BALDWIN: You kept giving it to me! You were like, you have to go.

BANFIELD: And I gave - I'm even nerdy times two. I had two of them and I gave you my other one. First of all, the play is so amazing, I wish it were on television so that our audience could watch it if they are not going to be in New York City. It's such a limited run. It's ending, you know, at the end of June.

BALDWIN: Let me jump in. Let's play a clip. And I don't want to hear from the man - other side. Here he is, all the way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: In preparing for the role you were listening to a lot of the LBJ tapes.

CRANSTON: Yes.

BANFIELD: Was there anything specific along the way? (LAUGHTER)

CRANSTON: Are you baiting me?

BANFIELD: I'm so baiting you right now, Bryan, because I've run it as the new - I can't say it, but you can.

(LAUGHTER)

CRANSTON: OK, well, yeah, he had - in a conversation, he had a conversation with a tailor down and Texas and he said now - and he's eating - you could tell he's eating while he is doing this. He is eating and belching at the same time. I need them slacks because my weight goes up and down in the White House and I need a little more room there between my nut sack and my bung hole.

(LAUGHTER)

CRANSTON: That got through.

BANFIELD: It totally got through the censors. You're good to go. Yes.

CRANSTON: And I went, my god, that's the president of the United States talking. And he - he's - no, I need some more room there, because, and then he also said in this little clips, you know, I need more - a button an inch longer in the pockets so my knife doesn't fall out.

(LAUGHTER)

CRANSTON: He's the president of the United States. He carries a knife in case he needs to whittle something.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Amazing. Continue where you were, please.

BANFIELD: I know

BALDWIN: That was like the opening scene. Because I finally saw the - I finally saw the play.

BANFIELD: It's a great play. And you know what, it's like a history lesson that is awesome. And you truly feel that you are sitting in the Oval Office listening to LBJ, because he's so incredibly convincing. A little bit of prosthetics, but not a whole lot. That is just all him.

BALDWIN: And just MLK and their relationship then and civil rights. It's a phenomenal play. It's interesting, though, because you also asked him, you had this whole conversation about how he wanted to be, what, a cop when he was 16. He talked about working what, before then on his grandfather's farm and that's when he really learned that work ethic that he so embodies today. BANFIELD: Honestly, Brooke, I saw - if you hear his life story, you know, his father left at a very early age, and he was reunited with him only ten years later. He was sent off to live on the grandparents' farm like you said. It is - this could have gone a big other direction with that kind of a start to life. But man, did that guy ever see the positive in life. He loved working with the egg collection on the farm. And he enjoyed that. And then like you said, he was going to be a police officer, and he started on that - he did the training. And then ultimately he ended up in an acting class where the girls were hot.

BALDWIN: That's ...

BANFIELD: And that's why he chose ...

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: And that's how we got Walter White. There you have it. Ashleigh Banfield, I'm sure you're posting the whole interview on CNN.com.

BANFIELD: Wait. Wait.

BALDWIN: No, no, no. You have got to listen.

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: He said Walter White might not be dead, Brooke.

BALDWIN: I heard that. You were like well the body bag wasn't zipped all the way. Spoiler alert, by the way, for everyone. Ashleigh Banfield, phenomenal, phenomenal, thank you so much, wonderful seeing him on air.

BANFIELD: Thanks, Brooke. Good to see you.

BALDWIN: And just a quick reminder to all of you. The Space race, free love, civil rights and more, "The "60s" tune in tonight on a clock Eastern and Pacific only here on CNN.

Coming up, the number of Democrats calling on the Veterans Affairs secretary to resign is rising by the hour. My next guest says he tried to warn Eric Shinseki and Senator John McCain about the problems a couple of years ago. You hear from him, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Welcome back. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Have some breaking news as far as a Ford recall here. Ford announcing today it's recalling at least 1.1 million of their SUVs. Could have steering issues here. I'm just glancing down at this - right, the recall involves about 915,000 of the 2008 to 2011 Ford Escapes and Mercury Mariners and about roughly 200,000 of the 2011 to 2013 Ford Explorers. I know I just blew through that. Make sure you go to CNN Money.com for more information on this massive Ford recall. CNN Money.com. Moving along to the - the huge story that CNN cracked wide open. Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki may be, and I'm quoting, on thin ice with the White House now, but there's a growing list of Senate Democrats who already have him in that hot water. And thin ice. It seems like every hour there's an update, there's a new press release coming out here. So, taking a look at these faces so far, you have Senators Al Franken, Kay Hagan, Martin Heinrich, Jeanne Shaheen, Mark Udall, Tom Udall, John Walsh and Mark Warner. All saying, it is time for the secretary to go.

The outrage in Washington is fresh, but these allegations into all these different VA facilities and issues, this is not new, and especially to the - joining me here. This is our Reverend Oscar Tillman, he is a veteran of the Air Force who lives in Arizona. He is also the president of the Maricopa County NAACP and a member of the board of the national NAACP. Reverend Tillman, welcome.

REV. OSCAR TILLMAN, PRESIDENT, MARICOPA COUNTY NAACP: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Let's begin with just your personal story. You have been dealing with these delays and issues with that VA facility. Specifically, in Phoenix firsthand four years.

TILLMAN: Maybe a year. Since 1987.

BALDWIN: Tell me what happened. How many times you went to this VA facility. What did you not get?

TILLMAN: I quit going to the VA facility because the treatment and the way that you're dealt with there. So, I started going external for my treatments and I was very, very fortunate. I was one of those that were elected when I retired to use Blue Care Cross (ph) , which has been fantastic, compare to the VA. I refused to go to the VA, and although I am a disabled veteran. And haven't dealt with time and time again, the number of complaints and the number of people that I talk to and have to deal with and to shake it to the side. It's frustrating. And to know that ...

BALDWIN: Forgive me, but what were, I just want to be crystal clear hearing from you, what were the complaints you heard and what was your number one complaint?

TILLMAN: My number one complaint was the way that you had - you got service when you went there. You were more or less treated less than a person when you went through there, and so I was dealing with some very serious medical issues, and I didn't have time to sit there for hours on end. And I remember numerous times that there would be appointments scheduled. And they - They call you or you get there and say we're sorry, we have to change this. It's going to have to be rescheduled and the rescheduling was something out of nowhere.

But other part, the number of complaints. I guess from being on the - going on news at least yesterday, there was three people that now, this morning. Saying please, can you help us? Three this morning. So, this I something a serious business. But I'm frustrated and I'm angry that all appear to be now a political thing, but nobody who was getting involved way back when.

BALDWIN: Well, let's talk about way back when. And trust me, sir. I know this is incredibly serious business. You, yourself -- and I have copies of your letter here to Eric Shinseki in 2012 and also to Senator John McCain. Tell me what you said to them. Raising the red flag.

TILLMAN: Well, number one, I never got a chance to get even a written response from Shinseki's office. I even went to my Washington bureau, the national NAACP bureau and they gave me some numbers to call. I talked to some people in the office and they gave me a bunch of, well, we'll look into it, we'll get back with you. But no one.

Then ultimately, when I went to Senator McCain, sent him the whole package along with some other congressmen and senators, and I got a letter that someone from Shinseki's office sent to Senator McCain saying that they were going to respond to me. That didn't happen.