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Lawmakers Grill IRS Executive Over Lost E-mails; Highest Price For Summer Gas In Six Years; Investigation Not Part Of Bergdahl Routine; Sterling's Angry Voicemails To Doctors

Aired June 20, 2014 - 10:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Happening right now in the CNN NEWSROOM, a day in the life of Bowe Bergdahl, new details about how America's most famous prisoner of war spends his time. It involves very few people and a lot of story telling.

Plus:

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

DONALD STERLING, OWNER, L.A. CLIPPERS: I'm not incompetent. You're (EXPLETIVE DELETED) incompetent you stupid. I'm going to get you fired from UCLA because you're nothing but a tramp.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

LEMON: Donald Sterling and phones and recording devices -- not a good mix. Hear who was on the other end of that call and what it means for the future of the Clippers?

They are coming by the thousands, Central American children crossing the border into the U.S. along. Can anyone slow the surge?

The vice president visits Guatemala today to find out.

Good Friday morning, everyone. I'm Don Lemon. Carol is off today. Thank you so much for joining me. Appreciate it. Happening now on Capitol Hill, we may learn more about that IRS scandal that claims political foes were targeted and now has many skeptics screaming cover-up. It involves former Director Lois Lerner.

Her IRS unit used criteria to flag specific groups such as anyone that used Tea Party in its name. That led to Republican charges that the extra scrutiny was politically motivated and the anger and suspicion has only grown with new claims that tax agency has lost all traces of those emails because of a computer hard drive failed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KOSKINEN, IRS COMMISSIONER: It was determined that it was dysfunctional and that with experts no email could be retrieved, was recycled and destroyed in the normal process. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So was it physically destroyed?

KOSKINEN: That's my understanding.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was it melted down. Do you know?

KOSKINEN: I have no idea what the recycler does with it. That was three years ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Chief congressional correspondent, Dana Bash, monitoring the hearing of the House Ways and Means Committee. I mean, Dana, you know, it does sound a little fishy. We don't know exactly what happened, right? But lawmakers won't get any answers now from Lois Lerner, will they?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Definitely not from Lois Lerner. She has pleaded the fifth and they've gone through many, many hoops to try to get her to come and it hasn't worked. But what is going on as we speak is really, really contentious and really partisan. Originally, this IRS scandal was more bipartisan because Democrats understood the political problem of the IRS appearing to target any American, never mind just the Tea Party.

At this point, it is incredibly divided with Republicans pulling no punches and frankly the new IRS commissioner was only been in there for six months put in place by the president to try to fix the agency is pulling no punches either.

I want you to listen to one of the exchanges with the chairman of this committee, Dave Camp, frustrated that he wasn't getting answers and saying that there needs to be a special prosecutor.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REPRESENTATIVE DAVE CAMP (R), MICHIGAN: What I've learned in the last week calls into question every document and response the IRS has given or for that matter has failed to give this committee and the only way I can see hope of establishing confidence is appointing a special prosecutor. For the sake of the agency and to restore the trust of the American people, will you support the appointment of a special prosecutor?

KOSKINEN: There are six investigations going on of this event --

CAMP: Yes or no?

KOSKINEN: The IG is already investigating --

CAMP: Can you give a definitive answer to this committee? Yes or no, do you support the appointment of a special prosecutor? I'm asking a question that can have a simple yes or no answer.

KOSKINEN: I think -- I think --

CAMP: Regular order.

KOSKINEN: I think the appointment of a special prosecutor after the six investigations ongoing and the IG investigation into this matter ongoing would be a monumental waste of taxpayer funds.

CAMP: So is that a yes or a no?

KOSKINEN: That's a no.

CAMP: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: He also argued that the IRS itself has already spent $16 million trying to recover documents and answer Congress's questions about whether the -- why there were inappropriate questions to Tea Party groups and others who were trying to get tax exempt status. Just to give our viewers a little bit background because we dove right in here with these exchanges going on, Don.

The idea is that just last Friday, Congress learned that emails from a two-year period from Lois Lerner, who was the head of the tax exempt group at the IRS are gone and they are gone for good because as we heard today, the hardware that she had these emails on crashed and was now destroyed.

So the tension in the room is really the disbelief by these lawmakers A, that this was really destroyed and they have no chance of getting at it. B, why after so much has been going on, this investigation has been going on for so long, why the IRS didn't tell Congress real time when they found about it. It took two months apparently after the IRS knew that these e-mails were gone for them to tell Congress.

LEMON: Especially in this day and age where everything can be saved and recorded and documented. Dana Bash in Capitol Hill. Dana, thank you very much. Appreciate that. We'll get back to you as we get new developments.

Also happening on Capitol Hill right now, the House Veterans Affair Committee tries to peel back another layer of the deepening VA scandal. Specifically lawmakers want to know why executives were rewarded with hefty bonuses even as their facilities stonewalled veterans and left dozens to die while awaiting treatment.

In all, as much as $10,000 was paid out over the last three years and a new audit shows the problem is worse than first believed. VA's own accounting more than 43,000 veterans waited more than three months for a medical appointment. That's three times higher than what the first audit reported less than two weeks ago.

Summer driving season, putting the pinch on your wallet. Summer gas prices are closing in on levels we have not seen since 2008. If you are wondering why, you only have to look overseas, to the turmoil in Iraq to find some answers. And our chief business correspondent, of course, is Christine Romans and she is here to explain. Christine, here we go. CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Here we go and you are absolutely right. Motorists are really upset about this. The highest June for gas prices in six years and they are feeling it. And here's why, Iraq is the fourth largest proven reserves of oil. It's been slowly regaining its oil production over the past few years, 3.3 million barrels as day and now here you've got this conflict. Already you've got a major pipeline that have been closed even before today.

Now you've got this part of the country, the Iraqi oil minister telling us is still safe. This is an oil-rich producing area, but you've also get these concerns about a refinery that's been taken over by ISIS rebels. You've got concerns about a potential march on Baghdad.

You've got some oil companies who are trimming down the number of people they have on their facilities. All of this is a real problem. So here's what you are talking about here. Oil prices rising, when oil prices rise, gas price rises are not very far behind it. This is what the year looks like.

Just this month, oil prices up 4 percent. Knocking on the door again of $107 a barrel. So what does that mean for gas? June last year, you were paying about $3.60. By May of this year, already up to $3.64. Today we're talking $3.68. Experts tell us it could go up to $3.86. Just because really the Iraq situation and then hurricane season is this fall.

That's when you can sometimes get a lot of volatility because of what's happening in the weather and the U.S. and the refinery situation along the Gulf of Mexico. It's a little tricky time, and people you are going to feel it when you fill up your gas tank this summer.

LEMON: Everybody, this is when people get out on the road and drive and do their vacations, and all of a sudden the prices are up. Thank you, Christine. I'll be watching you this weekend. Have a great weekend.

Still to come, chatting with other people, eating a meal, sleeping through the night, it's all in a day's work for Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, now trying to restart his life after he was held nearly five years by the Taliban. Our Martin Savidge has new details on his reintegration. Hi, Marty.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Don. Yes. It is very interesting look at this life and part of his daily routine is storytelling, but it isn't once upon a time. We'll explain after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Now check your top stories here on CNN, a major health scare in Atlanta, some 87 workers at the Centers for Disease Control may have been unintentionally exposed to anthrax. It happened when a lab didn't properly deactivate samples before moving them to other labs. The workers in those labs were not equipped to handle live anthrax. CDC officials say the risk of infection for those involved is low and there is no risk to the general public.

Three people were shot after a rap concert at Colorado's historic Red Rocks Amphitheater. That was early this morning. All three were to a local hospital with wounds not considered life threatening. The shooting happened in a parking lot outside the theater. The suspect is still at large.

Amazing pictures from the banks of Mississippi today to show you. A historic rainfall in Minnesota triggered a landslide dangerous close to the University of Minnesota Medical Center. Some 20 medical workers were evacuated. No patients had been affected and today engineers are saying the facility, luckily, is stable.

It has been a full week since Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl stepped off a military jet in San Antonio and began the hard work of readjusting to ordinary life after nearly five years in Taliban captivity. Experts at Brook Army Medical Center gradually have been introducing Bergdahl to the media firestorm that erupted over his release in return for Taliban detainees.

We go to Martin now. Martin, my question is what's an ordinary day in the life of Bowe Bergdahl?

SAVIDGE: Yes, good morning, Don. Routine is the keyword here and I mean that in a number of ways. Routine as in typical, normal, as best they can make it for him and as in a predictable and regular schedule. We have a to-do-list on a daily basis. Let's take a look at some of the things. He eats and sleeps on a normal schedule. Sounds pretty typical but that's important that he gets up at a certain time.

He goes to bed at a normal time and his meals are served at regular scheduled intervals. He shares a floor with other patients. It's a huge medical facility. He's got a typical room I'm told nothing special except there is security outside of his room, not to prevent him from leaving, but to prevent those who are unwanted from coming in. He also interacts with less than a dozen people.

There are hundreds of people at that hospital to help him but he only interacts with about 12 and the emphasis is on telling his story. What I mean by that is that daily he gets and sits down with a small group of people and recounts everything of his captivity. It's if you are time they have actually heard it in his own words and no inquiry about his disappearance.

I asked about this General that's been appointed to investigate how he came to leave post. I've asked has the general made contact. I was told you have to ask the Pentagon about that. I was told investigation is not part of reintegration.

LEMON: The controversy has been around how he disappeared. Whether he walk off, his disappearance in Afghanistan in 2009. We don't know yet. He's not participating with investigators yet. No questions about that have started?

SAVIDGE: Here's the interesting thing, of course, it would be easy to see. Could that be used in a court martial? We don't know. The focus is getting him well. Not the investigation. They simply aren't saying much about that -- Don.

LEMON: So the reporting has been that he hadn't -- maybe you heard -- he hadn't spoken or met with his family? When is he expected to meet with his parents?

SAVIDGE: We don't know. He said for the moment he does not want to speak with his parents. I've told that has not changed in the week since. For the reason, I am not told and those I've spoken with do not know. We don't know when it will happen. There is a large menu that the experts can pull from to help him come home and perhaps it won't be with a reunion at least for now.

LEMON: It the fascinating. Thank you, Martin Savidge. Appreciate that.

Still to come, another offensive recording believed to be embattled L.A. Clippers owner, Donald Sterling.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD STERLING: You're nothing but a fraud and a liar and a cheat and I'm suing you for conspiracy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Boy, here we go again and again and again. What do these new rage-filled recording mean for Sterling's legal battle over the Clippers team?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Donald Sterling apparently at it again, new recordings, Donald Sterling caught on tape again, cursing and ranting. The embattled L.A. Clippers owner allegedly threatening doctors who certified him as mentally incapacitated. CNN Miguel Marquez reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE))

STERLING: I'm not incompetent. You are -- incompetent.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Apparently nothing can stop the profanity-laden voice mails by none other than Donald Sterling. A California court ruling, the controversial Clippers owner can still contact witnesses as a brutal litigation between Sterling and his wife, Shelly, moves forward. This after Sterling back out of $2 billion deal to sell the team.

STERLING (via telephone): You're nothing but a fraud and a liar and a cheat. And I'm going to see that you lose your license. I'm suing you for conspiracy.

MARQUEZ: Sterling threatening two physicians who diagnosed the owner as mentally incapacitated, both presenting their evidence in court on behalf of Shelly who is vying to uphold the negotiated sale.

STERLING: I'm going to call UCLA now and I'm going to get you fired from UCLA because you are nothing but a tramp.

MARQUEZ: Sterling's attorney says the calls were nothing more than a man upset, angry that his medical records were made public. With Doctor Platzer, a neurologist who had diagnosed him with signs of Alzheimer's and dementia. He got personal.

STERLING: How dare you. What a horrible woman you are, all you did was go to the Beverly Hills Hotel and drink liquor, I've got two deck calculations from people in my house that all you did was and drink and complain about your life and then you lie about me that I'm incompetent.

MARQUEZ: In court papers, Shelly's lawyer, Pierce O'Donnell even claimed Mr. Sterling called him and began yelling you're an A-hole then said in a menacing tone, I'm going to take you out, O'Donnell!

PIERCE O'DONNELL, SHELLY STERLING'S ATTORNEY: I took that as a death threat.

MARQUEZ: Sterling's attorney says his client said no such thing and the billionaire fierce intimidation caught on tape might be enough for Shelly to win the fight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: So what does this all mean for Sterling's legal challenge to his wife's sale of the Clippers? I want to bring in Stephanie Elam and criminal defense attorney, Danny Cevallos. To say this is a soap opera would be an understatement. No one wants their medical records released. You can understand him being upset about that. But recording voice mails, he should know better. How much do these new recordings hurt him and will they be admissible in an actual trial?

DANNY CEVALLOS, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes. There's a huge distinction to be made. When you talk to a phone conversation, that conversation may be protected by wiretapping law, but it's a totally different game when you leave a voicemail because you are willingly allow yourself to be recorded. That's what voicemail is so that will come in as evidence.

The moral of the story is be careful what you say on the phone, but even more careful if you are leaving a voicemail because not only can the recording possibly be introduced, but it can be transcribed and the effect as evidence is pretty compelling and the moral of the story for Donald Sterling is stay away from the telephone. Switch to telegrams, use smoke signals.

Stay away from anything that will record your voice because look I have sympathy for his attorneys, we've all had a client that makes you go like this once in a while and the clients they ultimately make the decision.

LEMON: Danny, I know you are an attorney. I don't have sympathy for his attorneys. Number one, they are not in trouble. They are getting paid a whole lot of money and number three, they can advise him to be quiet or sell the team. I don't feel sorry the attorneys. They are making out like bandits.

CEVALLOS: I will agree with you with that. This entire filing is based on them being in fearful of their life. The real effect is public relations and its brilliant strategy. It's now on the internet and all of us can read about the rantings yet again, chapter, two, three, and four of his rants.

LEMON: All right, Stephanie, you've waited apparently. What if Sterling wins blocking Shelly's right to sell without his permission? What will this mean for the NBA?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The NBA is paying close attention to what is going on here. There's another party who is very interested in how this is working out and that would be Steve Ballmer. Remember that his lawyer has been present for this because he wants it clear that Shelly Sterling has the right to sell the people. That's part of the reason why they are going to probate court on July 7th, for that 4-day trial there.

To make sure that is clear. The NBA is also wanting this to go through. If it comes out that she doesn't have the right to sell and we have heard from her camp that Donald Sterling has gone back and forth on whether or not he is blessing the sale, the NBA could re- enact those moves to ouster the Sterlings and then to get the team sold and force that sale.

So if we don't see anything happening by the end of summer here then we could have this conversation coming back up and as we also heard Adam Silver telling Rachel Nichols, it's not a done deal until it's done. Everyone is very curious how this is going to play out and all of this is out there.

And I should also point out that Shelly's camp is also saying that they needed two doctors to -- that one party wasn't capable of running the business. They now have three doctors saying that. It will be interesting to see if they say they have another doctor to say that by the time we get to the trial.

LEMON: You said could be coming up. It will be and you'll be covering it. So rest up, my friend. Thank you, Danny. Thank you, Stephanie. Appreciate both of you. Have a great weekend.

Still to come here on CNN, the White House is taking on the crisis of the border, sending the highest officials to address the issue. We are going to bring you a live report next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Hello, everyone. Don Lemon in for Carol today.

Bottom of the hour, White House addressing the border crisis head on today. Vice President Joe Biden is in Guatemala right now, holding high level meetings to discuss a massive surge in children crossing from Mexico into the United States.