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Arizona NAACP Reported V.A. Issues in 2012; Alleged American Suicide Bomber in Syria; Bloomberg to Give Fiery Graduation Speech.

Aired May 29, 2014 - 14:30   ET

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

REV. OSCAR TILLMAN, PRESIDENT, MARICOPA COUNTY NAACP: So, the only thing -- I have not spoken -- ultimately, I quit calling when a young man that I spoke to in Shinseki's office asked me, do you know who our secretary is? He just don't accept anybody's letter. And I said, well, obviously, you didn't read the letter.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: I have a copy of the letter than Senator John McCain did send in February 2013 to the assistant director, Office of Congressional Legislative Affairs. We have that letter. I know you didn't get a response from Shinseki or McCain. This is the statement that they have released with your story: "Senator McCain's office acted immediately and appropriately to Reverend Tillman's concerns. Any question to the contrary is flatly untrue. In fact, our office immediately forwarded his concerns to the V.A.'s Congressional Affairs Office in Washington. And within weeks, he received a personal letter from then-Phoenix V.A. head, Sharon Helman, offering to meet to discuss his concerns. It is bizarre and unfortunate that Reverend Tillman would try to turn this tragedy into a partisan issue."

Did you receive that issue from Sharon Helman, who is now out?

TILLMAN: I received that letter from her. But the point remains, I spoke to a Black History program with her sitting in the audience in January. I totally let them know what I felt about the V.A. with her sitting there. It was only after, later down the road when Senator McCain's letter got to her or whomever, that she's got another letter and said that she would meet with me.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Did she follow up with you, sir, in person after you stood in front of that room and outlined your concerns and frustrations?

TILLMAN: No. She walked up to the podium and congratulated me for speaking and said I heard you very clear. We'll get together. That was January. AS you can see from her letter, she didn't try to set up a meeting until after March. So all this was going on.

But let's just take it one step back, before they say that I put this there. If you sent a letter to the secretary, would it have been something for you to get in touch with me to say what would work here and --

(CROSSTALK) BALDWIN: I hear you, and it's a lot of letter writing back and forth. Anyone who I have talked, be it a whistleblower or you yourself, a veteran, is just frustrated because you want action, you want something happening. We learned yesterday about the additional facilities being investigated. We learned about these lists of veterans that are not on the list at all at the Phoenix V.A. We also learned about these allegations of mismanaged hiring practices. You yourself, sir, I wanted to follow up with you. You say you have proof of mismanagement, that employees at this V.A. facility were hired inappropriately. Without naming names, can you explain -- forgive me. My ear piece is popping out of my ear. Can you explain how you know that or how you have proof of that?

TILLMAN: I have because people that trust me, even gave me documentation that I have in my hand that I carry with me and keep it in the safe when I'm not there, because the fact is that even by job description and how they got their jobs, I have that documentation. So the thing about it is that's the reason I sent the letter to Shinseki because I was hoping that if I could get him or his office to look into the way the employees are being treated, if the employees are not being treated fairly, you think they will treat me fairly? No.

BALDWIN: Do you think -- following this story, talking to people such as yourself -- a lot of people we mentioned, a lot of Democrats in addition to Republicans are calling for Shinseki to resign. Do you think he should, or will that create a large abyss of a lack of leadership within the V.A. and that creates a whole other issue besides the crux of the matter, which is fixing the problem?

TILLMAN: He's not doing the job. So what he should be out of there. He should have been out of there. As a matter of fact, once when I called his office and spoke to a legal person, I have her name, I said get a janitor, get anybody to call to make it appear that you care what's going on here.

BALDWIN: A janitor?

TILLMAN: That didn't happen. All calls were made through my office, not theirs. And Shinseki should go. He should not spend another day. If he's mad, tell him that we're mad, too. I served, my father in World War II, and four uncles in World War II. I have a son that was a Desert Storm, another one that was Afghanistan, and a daughter-in- law that was in Iraq. I have served my time and I'm sick of seeing the way we have being treated here.

BALDWIN: Thank you for your time. Thank you for your family's time, your service. Reverend Tillman, I hear the anger in your voice. It is justified.

Thank you so much, sir, for your time.

TILLMAN: Thank you very much.

BALDWIN: Just ahead, insurgents say an American has carried out a suicide attack inside of Syria? How did he get there and recruited to the front lines?

And former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg set to give the commencement address at Harvard, and it's expected to be pretty fiery, we're hearing. Because many students in Cambridge, they don't want him there. Stay with me.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: The Indiana Pacers beat the Miami Heat last night. A very close game five, but it wasn't quite --

(LAUGHTER)

-- the blow-out. But maybe it was. Some court antics stole the show. It gone the attention of Lebron James.

Here is CNN Sports' Lara Baldesarra.

I guess we can laugh. I'm going to guess I have never seen somebody do this. No one has ever seen this before.

LARA BALDESARRA, CNN SPORTS: This was one of the best side shows in such a big do-or-die game that really I have ever seen, that pretty much anyone has ever seen. Lance Stephenson, we've come to know him for his antics.

BALDWIN: Sassy.

BALDESARRA: He is sassy. Likes to find ways to get into the players' heads. He's having fun. He's 23, rather young. Anyway, an ear blow into Lebron James' ear.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDESARRA: Look at Lebron's face.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDESARRA: Priceless. That's not all Lance did. He was pinching, giving nudges.

BALDWIN: That's a no, no.

BALDESARRA: You know what else is a big no, no? Getting in the other team's huddle. Oh yeah. Lance actually goes over and gets in the other team's huddle. The Miami coach is like, what are you doing buddy, get out of here. Pushes him out of there. But this is just Lance being Lance. But the ear-blowing thing, everybody wanted to talk about this.

And CNN's own Rachel Nichols, she asked Lebron James if he had ever considered the ear blowing as defensive tactics.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Have either one of you thought about blowing in someone's ears as defensive tactics?

(LAUGHTER)

LEBRON JAMES, NBA PLAYER: I blew in my wife's ear before. That was definitely a defensive tactic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Was it a defense attack?

BALDESARRA: It was. But you can see it was a little uncomfortable. It really did get into his head.

BALDWIN: He did handle it in the pro.

BALDWIN: He did. There could be more ear-blowing action.

BALDWIN: Watch out.

Lara Baldesarra, thank you very much.

BALDWIN: Coming up, this picture -- wait for it. Here we go -- of a man smiling with his cat, actually allegedly shows an American suicide bomber responsible for this. What was he doing in Syria and why? Right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: And an American travels abroad following a passion in Syria. That passion is allegedly this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CROSSTALK)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Syrian insurgents say that attacks on Sunday was carried out by this man, and that man is an American. He likely has an American connection, though U.S. authorities are not sure he was in fact a U.S. citizen. It is believed this would be the first time an American has been known to carry out this kind of attack in the Syrian civil war.

I want to bring in "Time" magazine national editor, Bobby Ghosh.

Bobby, welcome to you.

Seeing this, this is a huge deal. How exactly does an American allegedly end up there on the front lines in Syria?

BOBBY GHOSH, NATIONAL EDITOR, TIME MAGAZINE: It is remarkably easy. Hundreds of foreign fighters from all over the Western world have been flooding into Syria usually via turkey where the border is pretty open for people going into Syria to join the fight there. Many of them are joining secular forces. Some join al Qaeda groups. An al Qaeda- linked group claims this guy, the name sounds like a pseudonym. They are claiming this man is an American citizen.

BALDWIN: But how -- that's how they are getting there physically. How are they getting there mentally? How are they getting recruited? Is this online?

GHOSH: It's mostly online. A lot of people are watching on YouTube. There is an enormous body of citizen journalism. A lot of people are emotionally roused by that. A lot of people want to fight against that. With simply the objective of fighting back against the regime. There will always be a small number. Last year, we heard up to 70 American fighters was involved. That would be basically, either go there with religious motivations or go there to fight for secular motivations that gradually evolve and join a more religious group.

In terms of Syria and this piece you have in "Time," we know there has been a hard push by the administration to get Bashar Assad out of power but he has not moved. We have heard this before in Libya. Is it more the devil you know versus the devil you don't?

GHOSH: At this point, it would seem Assad and his forces are on the offense. Our story this week shows disturbing pictures in Homs. Assad's forces and essentially retaken the city and bombing it to smithereens. It looks like something out of the movies. The level of war as our story shows. At this point, they are exhausted. This has gone on for more three years. 160,000, 170,000 people have died. Lives have been disrupted. A lot of people on both sides want nothing more than to go back to normal. That actually helps Assad. That's what he is selling to the people, I can restore normal.

BALDWIN: Bobby Ghosh, we will be reading your piece. Thank you so much.

GHOSH: Thank you.

Coming up, Michael Bloomberg set to give the commencement address at Harvard today. It is a speech that is expected to get fiery. A lot of the students don't want him there at all. That is coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Next hour, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg gives the commencement address at Harvard, but not all of those grads are looking forward to this. A number of students have spoken out against him. They are angry over the controversial Stop and Frisk. Bloomberg said he kept the city safe. That's what he maintains. His critics say it overwhelmingly targeted minorities. His successor, De Blasio, ended that tactic. But since leaving his office as mayor, Bloomberg has focused his time, energy and wealth on pushing for new gun control laws. How will these students respond today? We will hear from him. Plus, we will talk live to a student who led the effort to push Condoleezza Rice out of her speaking role. That's coming up.

Also ahead, we will hear from a family friend of Elliot Rodger, that college student who went on a rampage murder six young people.

Plus, a deadly disease thought nearly eradicated in the U.S. making an alarming return. The number of measles cases is hitting a record here in the U.S. What we all need to know, next on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: In today's "Human factor," Dr. Sanjay Gupta has the story of a country star fighting to overcome multiple sclerosis and to continue singing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(SINGING)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nowhere does country singer, Julie Roberts, look more at home than on stage performing for her fans.

(SINGING)

JULIE ROBERTS, SINGER WITH MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS: I decided at a young age that I wanted to be a singer like Barbara Mandrel.

(SINGING)

ROBERTS: And I would pray every night when I was a little girl that I would get a record deal.

GUPTA: During college in Nashville, Roberts interned at Mercury Records and she was offered a job as a receptionist, eventually becoming the assistant to the CEO. A demo without Roberts' name on it, found its way to Lewis's desk and her days of answering the phone were over. She got to work on her first record.

(SINGING)

ANNOUNCER: Please welcome Julie Roberts.

(CHEERING)

GUPTA: CMT was there, in the moment, when Roberts' first single debuted on the radio.

(SINGING)

GUPTA: Roberts' album went gold. She was living the dream. And then, one night on stage, a nightmare.

ROBERTS: The first time that I knew something wasn't right with my health, I was on stage.

GUPTA: Roberts kept on singing but she knew something wasn't right. A few tests led to a quick diagnosis, multiple sclerosis.

(SINGING)

ROBERTS: And I was so afraid that all would be taken away from me if I told the world that I had MS. GUPTA: Fortunately, that hasn't happened. And these days, Roberts manages her MS with three shots a week, plus a healthy diet and plenty of exercise.

ROBERTS: I have never missed a show because of MS and I will never miss a show because of MS. This is what I'm supposed to do. It's what I love.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)